Donatello

Donatello ( Donato di Niccolo) (b Florence, c.1386; d Florence, 13 Dec. 1466). Florentine sculptor. He was the greatest European sculptor of the 15th century and one of a remarkable group of artists—including his friends Alberti, Brunelleschi, and Masaccio—who created the Renaissance style in Florence. His long career was hugely productive, and he was unrivalled in the variety of his output, his emotional range and depth, his formal inventiveness, and his versatility in the handling of materials, which included bronze, stone, wood, terracotta, and stucco. He worked in Padua, Pisa, Rome, and Siena as well as Florence (he also turned down invitations to work in Mantua, Modena, and Naples), and he had an enormous impact on his contemporaries and artists of the following generation—painters as well as sculptors—through his wide repertoire of pose and expression, his use of antique motifs, and his sophisticated handling of perspective in his reliefs; indeed he was unquestionably the most influential Italian artist of his time in any medium. In spite of his fame and success, and the high opinion in which he was held by his eminent patrons, he is said to have lived simply, utterly devoted to his work and preferring criticism to praise, as it inspired him to greater heights.

At the outset of his career Donatello worked as an assistant to Ghiberti (1404–7), but he developed a style that departed radically from his master's Gothic elegance. He was unconcerned with the surface polish or linear grace so typical of Ghiberti, and excelled rather in emotional force. His individuality was first revealed in a series of powerfully realistic but deeply spiritual figures (mainly in marble) that he made for the external decoration of Florence Cathedral, the adjacent campanile, and the church of Orsanmichele. The series began with the imperious St John the Evangelist (1408–15) for the cathedral (now Cathedral Mus.), included the celebrated St George (c.1415–17) for Orsanmichele (now in the Bargello, Florence), and culminated in the uncompromisingly unidealized Habakkuk (completed 1436), usually known by its nickname of Zuccone (bald-pate), for the campanile (now Cathedral Mus.).

Vasari conveys the brilliance of Donatello's characterization in his description of the St George: ‘The head exhibits the beauty of youth, its spirit and valour in arms, a proud and terrifying lifelikeness, and a marvellous sense of movement within the stone.’ With this acute psychological insight went a technique of daring originality that shows how concerned Donatello was with the optical effects of his works. He carefully took into consideration the position from which they would be viewed, adjusting the proportions of a figure when it would be seen from below, for example, and carving with almost brutal power and boldness when it was positioned to be seen at a distance. On the other hand, his relief of St George and the Dragon (1417, Bargello), done for the base of his St George statue, is executed with great delicacy in the technique Donatello invented called rilievo schiacciato (relief so low it is like ‘drawing in stone’); originally situated on the north side of Orsanmichele, the relief was seen in a soft, diffused light, so the subtlety of the carving could be appreciated.

In 1430–3 Donatello worked in Rome, and the impact of the antique art he saw there can be seen most clearly in his famous Cantoria (Singing Gallery) for Florence Cathedral (now Cathedral Mus., 1433–9), which makes a lavish show of freely interpreted classical motifs. His bronze statue of David (Bargello), which is credited with being the first free-standing nude statue since antiquity, is also sometimes seen as a response to Donatello's visit to Rome and assigned to the 1430s, but some scholars date it much later. The subject as well as the date is controversial, for it has been proposed that it represents Mercury with the head of Argus rather than David.

From 1443 to 1453 Donatello was based in Padua, where he carried out three major commissions. Two of them were for the church of S. Antonio (the Santo) and they are still there: a life-size bronze Crucifix (1443–9), originally made for the rood-screen but now placed above the high altar, and the high altar itself (begun 1446), an imposing architectural structure featuring seven free-standing bronze statues, four large reliefs of the miracles of St Anthony, and various other elements (the altar has been remodelled several times and no longer looks as Donatello intended). His third great work in Padua is the famous monument to the condottiere Erasmo da Narni, known as Gattamelata, in the Piazza del Santo (1447–53), which begins the modern tradition of the equestrian statue (see Marcus Aurelius). It has been imitated many times but never surpassed in grandeur and dignity.

From 1454 until his death Donatello was based mainly in Florence, although he also worked in Siena on an abortive project for a set of bronze doors for the cathedral. In his final years his style became even more emotionally intense. The most important works of this period include the bronze Judith and Holofernes (Palazzo Vecchio, Florence), which is an allegory of humility triumphing over pride, and a series of bronze reliefs (mainly of scenes from Christ's Passion) for a pair of pulpits in S. Lorenzo. The harrowing and emaciated Mary Magdalene in painted wood (Cathedral Mus.) has also traditionally been considered one of his late works, but there is evidence to suggest it belongs to an earlier period. Although the S. Lorenzo reliefs were unfinished at Donatello's death and were completed by his pupil Bertoldo, they are essentially the master's work and show how freely he exploited the expressive possibilities of distortion, creating what has been called ‘the first style of old age in the history of art’.

In addition to his major independent works, Donatello produced three important tombs in partnership with Michelozzo di Bartolommeo, and he also made numerous smaller works. They include bronze plaquettes, reliefs of the Virgin and Child in marble and stucco, which became prototypes for the following generation of sculptors, and a portrait bust in painted terracotta (Niccolò da Uzzano, Bargello), which is thought to date from the 1430s and is probably the earliest portrait bust of the Renaissance, preceding the first dated example (by Mino da Fiesole, 1453) by several years.