Welcome to the Renaissance Period
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Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi
He studied classical sculpture and used this to develop a complete Renaissance style in sculpture, whose periods in Rome, Padua and Siena introduced to other parts of Italy a long and productive career.
1386
1466
Donatello was born in Florence, in 1386. His father was Niccolo di Betto Bardi, and he was a member of the Florentine Arte della Lana.
In Pistoia in 1401, Donatello met the older Filippo Brunelleschi, with whom he may have had a romantic relationship. They likely went to Rome together around 1403, staying until the next year, to study the architectural ruins. Brunelleschi informally tutored Donatello in goldsmithing and sculpture. Brunelleschi's buildings and Donatello's sculptures are both considered supreme expressions of the spirit of this era in architecture and sculpture, and they exercised a potent influence upon the artists of the age.
In 1411–1413, Donatello worked on a statue of Saint Mark for the guild church of Orsanmichele.
Donatello was commissioned by the linen weavers' guild to complete three pieces for the project. St. Mark was the first of his contributions. The niche itself was not of Donatello's hand, but created by two stone carvers named Perfetto di Giovanni and Albizzo di Pietro.
Donatello's sculpture is notable for its detailed realism, evidence of the artist's skills. Even the veins of St. Mark's left hand are visible as he holds a text upon his hip, natural pose, is used with Donatello's St. Mark. The saint has more weight on his right leg, his left knee is bent, and his torso is slightly twisted. The style is much more naturalistic than the symmetry and unrealistic nature of art from the Dark Ages.
Also Donatello's sculpture differs from medieval works in the way that drapery is used, specifically in that St. Mark's figure is revealed by a realistic draping of linen. According to Renaissance scholar Gene A. Brucker, Donatello's statue of St. Mark - is generally recognized as the first Renaissance monument.
Between 1415 and 1426, Donatello created five statues for the campanile of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, also known as the Duomo.
Beardless Prophet
The Sacrifice of Isaac
Jeremiah
These works are the Beardless Prophet; Bearded Prophet (both from 1415); the Sacrifice of Isaac (1421); Habakkuk (1423–25); and Jeremiah (1423–26); which follow the classical models for orators and are characterized by strong portrait details.
Bearded Prophet
Habakkuk
By this time, Donatello was gaining a reputation for creating imposing, larger-than-life figures using innovative techniques and extraordinary skills. His style incorporated the new science of perspective, which allowed the sculptor to create figures that occupied measurable space.
Before this time, European sculptors used a flat background upon which figures were placed. Donatello also drew heavily from reality for inspiration in his sculptures, accurately showing suffering, joy and sorrow in his figures’ faces and body positions.
These works are the Beardless Prophet; Bearded Prophet (both from 1415); the Sacrifice of Isaac (1421); Habakkuk (1423–25); and Jeremiah (1423–26); which follow the classical models for orators and are characterized by strong portrait details.
By this time, Donatello was gaining a reputation for creating imposing, larger-than-life figures using innovative techniques and extraordinary skills. His style incorporated the new science of perspective, which allowed the sculptor to create figures that occupied measurable space.
Before this time, European sculptors used a flat background upon which figures were placed. Donatello also drew heavily from reality for inspiration in his sculptures, accurately showing suffering, joy and sorrow in his figures’ faces and body positions.
Bronze David, now in the Bargello museum, is Donatello's most famous work, and the first known free-standing nude statue produced since antiquity.
Conceived fully in the round, independent of any architectural surroundings, and largely representing an allegory of the civic virtues triumphing over brutality and irrationality, it is arguably the first major work of Renaissance sculpture. It was commissioned by Cosimo de' Medici for the courtyard of his Palazzo Medici, but its date remains the subject of debate. It is most often dated to the 1440s, but sometimes dates as later as the 1460s have support from some scholars.
Some have perceived the David as having homoerotic qualities, and have argued that this reflected the artist's own orientation. The historian Paul Strathern makes the claim that Donatello made no secret of his homosexuality, and that his behaviour was tolerated by his friends. The main evidence comes from anecdotes by Angelo Poliziano in his "Detti piacevoli", where he writes about Donatello surrounding himself with "handsome assistants" and chasing in search of one that had fled his workshop.
This may not be surprising in the context of attitudes prevailing in the 15th and 16th century Florentine republic. However, little detail is known with certainty about his private life, and no mention of his sexuality has been found in the Florentine archives.
By 1455, Donatello had returned to Florence and completed Magdalene Penitent, a statue of a gaunt-looking Mary Magdalene.
For convent at Santa Maria di Cestello, the work was probably intended to provide comfort to the repentant prostitutes.
Donatello died of unknown causes on December 13, 1466, in Florence and was buried in the Basilica of San Lorenzo, next to Cosimo de' Medici. An unfinished work was faithfully completed by his student Bertoldo di Giovanni.
Donatello was noted for his superb command of sculpture, he was a master.
One of the foremost sculptors of the Italian Renaissance, Donatello was a master of both marble and bronze and had an extensive knowledge of ancient sculpture. Donatello also developed his own style of relief known as schiacciato (flattened out). His technique for carving reliefs revolutionized existing relief techniques. Shallow relief, was a way of carving marble so as to give a three-dimensional impression on a flat surface.