Donatello - Early years, Work in Florence, Later work

The greatest of the early Tuscan sculptors, born in Florence, NC Italy. He may be regarded as the founder of modern sculpture, as the first producer since classical times of statues complete and independent in themselves, and not mere adjuncts of their architectural surroundings. Among his works are the marble statues of saints Mark and George for the exterior of Or San Michele; and the tomb of Pope John XXIII in the Baptistery.

Donatello (Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi) (1386 – December 13, 1466) was a famous Florentine artist and sculptor of the early Renaissance.

Early years

Donatello was the son of Nicolo di Betto Bardi, a member of the Florentine Woolcombers Guild, and was born in Florence, probably in 1386. However, he received his first training (according to the custom of the period) in a goldsmith's workshop, and then he worked for a short time in Lorenzo Ghiberti's studio. Brunelleschi's buildings and Donatello's monuments are the supreme expression of the spirit of this era in architecture and sculpture and exercised a potent influence upon the painters of that age.

Work in Florence

Donatello probably did not return to Florence before 1405, since the earliest works in that city that can be traced to his chisel are two small statues of prophets for the north door of the cathedral, for which he received payment in November 1406 and in the beginning of 1408.

Later work

When Cosimo de' Medici, the greatest art patron of his time, was exiled from Florence in 1433, Michelozzo accompanied him to Venice, while Donatello went to Rome to drink for the second time at the source of classic art. Donatello's return to Florence in the following year almost coincides with Cosimo's. Almost immediately, in May 1434, he signed a contract for the marble pulpit on the facade of Prato cathedral, the last work executed in collaboration with Michelozzo, a veritable bacchanalian dance of half-nude putti, pagan in spirit, passionate in its wonderful rhythmic movement the forerunner of the singing tribune for Florence cathedral, at which he worked intermittently from 1433 to 1440. But Donatello's greatest achievement of his classic period is the bronze David, which is currently located at the Bargello in Florence.

Donatello became well recognized for his creation of the shallow relief style of sculpting which made the sculpture seem much deeper than it actually was. Or San Michele, Florence St. George Tabernacle, c. Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence Prophet (Zuccone), 1423–1425. Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence The Feast of Herod, c. Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence Equestrian Monument of Gattamelata, 1445–1450. Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence Judith and Holofernes, 1455-1460. Palazzo Vecchio, Florence