Donatello - Italian Sculptor of the Renaissance

Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, better known to us today as Donatello, was born in Florence, Italy in 1383. He is one of the best known sculptors of the Renaissance and his work was considered influential to other well-known Italian sculptors of the time, including Michelangelo.

Donatello was the son of Niccolò di Betto Bardi, a Florentine wool carder. It is believed that he learned art of stone carving from one of the sculptors working for the cathedral of Florence around 1400. Sometime between 1404 and 1407 he became a member of the workshop of Lorenzo Ghiberti. Ghiberti was a sculptor who worked in bronze and in 1402 won a competition for the creation of the doors of the Florentine baptistery. Ghiberti was the leading proponent of a style referred to as International Gothic. This style was strongly influenced by northern European art and is known by it's graceful, softly curved lines.


DONATELLO'S EARLY WORK

- A statue of St. Mark for the church of Orsanmichele, circa 1411 - 1413

- A marble sculpture of David, which was placed in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence in 1416.

- A wooden crucifix for the church of Santa Croce

- A seated marble sculpture of St. John the Evangelist

- A marble sculpture of Saint George, completed circa 1417 for the Confraternity of the Cuirass-makers. The bas-relief of St. George and the Dragon on the statue's base is believed to be one of the first example of what is known as "central-point perspective."

- A gilt-bronze statue of Saint Louis of Toulouse, completed circa 1422 - 1425 for the Church of Santa Croce, Florence

- A bronze relief of the Feast of Herod, along with statuettes of the angels Faith and Hope, on the baptismal font, completed circa 1425 - 1429 for the Baptistery of Siena

- Five statues for the campanile of Santa Maria del Fiore were completed between 1415 and 1426. These works are:

- Beardless Prophet (1415)
- Bearded Prophet (1415)
- The Sacrifice of Isaac (1421)
- Habbakuk (1423 - 1425)
- Jeremiah (1423 - 1426)

- The funererary monument of the Antipope John XXIII was made in collaboration with Michelozzo for the Battistero in Florence.

- A marble panel for the funerary monument of Cardinal Rainaldo Brancacci of the church of Sant'Angelo a Nilo in Naples was completed in 1427.

- The bronze David, considered Donatello's most famous work, was commissioned by Cosimo de' Medici for his Palazzo Medici.At the time of its completion in 1430 it was the first known free-standing nude statue produced since ancient times and is considered the first major work of Renaissance sculpture.


DONATELLO'S MIDDLE PERIOD
During the time of Cosimo de' Medici's exile from Florence, Donatello travelled to Rome where he remained until 1433. During this time he produced the following works:

- The Tomb of Giovanni Crivelli at Santa Maria in Aracoeli

- The Ciborium at St. Peter's Basilica

Back in Florence in May of 1434, Donatello contracted to create the marble pulpit on the Prato cathedral facade, again in collaboration with Michelozzo.

- The Cantoria, or singing tribune, completed in 1440 for the Duomo in Florence

Donatello spent the ten years between 1443 and 1453 working in the city of Padua in northern Italy. It was here that he designed the famed sculpted high altarpiece for the Santa, a church in Padua. During this time he also created a great bronze equestrian statue of the military commander Gattemelata. This statue, erected in 1453, is considered to be the first Roman revival type piece to be completed during the Renaissance.


DONATELLO'S LATER YEARS
Donatello returned to Florence, where he spent his last years on the following works commissioned by the Medici family.

- The bronze group entitled Judith Slaying Holofernes, circa 1455 - 1460, originally located in the Medici Palazzo Vecchio in Florence

- A series of bronze reliefs for the pulpits in San Lorenzo narrating the "Passion of the Christ." This work was still unfinished at the time of his death.

Donatello's last commission in Florence were the reliefs for the bronze pulpits in the church of San Lorenzo. Students Bartolomeo Bellano and Bertoldo di Giovanni worked on these in conjunction with Donatello, who provided the general design and personally created the Martyrdom of St. Lawrence and the Deposition from the Cross. He also worked on the reliefs of Christ before Pilate and Christ before Caiphus with Bellano.

Donatello died in Florence in 1466 and was buried in the Basilica of San Lorenzo, next to his patron Cosimo de' Medici the Elder.


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