Donatello

Donatello

Donatello is known as one of the most important sculptors of the Early Renaissance. His techniques are still used today. Donatello, or Donato di NiccolÐ"І Betto Bardi, was born in Florence, Italy around 1386. He was an Italian sculptor and became an associate of the architect Filippo Brunelleschi, with whom he traveled to Rome to study the classical art and the Roman Ruins. Donatello started sculpting at the age of 20 and later became a humanist. He did not marry and had no children. He died in Florence at the age of eighty in 1466. Most of his well-known masterpieces were created in Florence. Three periods of Donatello’s life show how important he was to the Renaissance: the first period is influenced by Gothic sculpture, the second period is characterized by the reliance on the models and principles of the sculpture of antiquity, and the third period emphasized realism and the portrayal of character and the dramatic action.

The first period comprised the years before 1425, when Gothic sculpture influenced his work but also shows classical and realistic tendencies. Donatello was a realist. Most of Donatellos masterpieces are located in Florence. Some of the masterpieces include: St. Peter, St. Mark, Zuccone, St. George and the Dragon, St. John the Evangelist, Magdalen, and Angel with a Tambourine. Some other fine pieces of work are: Herod's Feast, St. Louis of Toulouse, St. Peter, St, Anthony, and Equestrian's statue called Gattamelata, and Jeremiah. Most of his sculptures were Renaissance breakthroughs. Equestrian's statue called Gattamelata is the most proportional sculptures he ever created. In Donatello's Gothic style he would express ugliness to give the statue a life of its own. He used a powerful realism that gives the Equestrian's statue called Gattamelata a distinct look.

The second period deals with the years between 1425-1443 and is generally characterized by a reliance on the models and principles of the sculpture of antiquity. Donatello worked with Michelozzo, a Florentine sculptor and architect, on many projects. One of the projects was the monument to Bartolomeo Aragazzi known as the Cathedral of Montepulciano. From 1430 to 1433, he spent periods in Rome, where Donatello created numerous works of art. The most recognizable is the ciborium in the sacristy of the Basilica of Saint Peter, decorated with the relief's Worshiping Angels and Burial of Christ. In Florence, Donatello created the bronze statue of David around 1440. David was the first all nude sculpture during the Renaissance.

In his third period, Donatello broke away from the classical influence and in his work emphasized realism and the portrayal of character and dramatic action. The most notable examples of his sculpture of this period are the Miracles of St. Anthony (Sant' Antonio, Padua); Gattamelata (in the square before Sant' Antonio), the first bronze equestrian statue since ancient times; and Judith and Holofernes (Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence). The sculpture of Donatello