DONATELLO
1386-1466
Amanda Brauer
BIOGRAPHY
Donato di Niccolo Bardi, known as Donatello was one of the most influential,
artists of the Italian Renaissance. Not much is known about Donatello’s life except for
that he was very gifted from the start. Born into a family of wood carders, he
developed his skills at a very young age. Giorgio Vasari’s book Lives of the Artists has
many short stories about his life, but none can be proven true. Donatello first became
an apprentice for Lorenzo Ghiberti, but soon went to sculpt bronze reliefs on the
doors of the Florentine Baptistery.
Donatello’s earliest; most famous work of art is his statue of David. Done in the
gothic style, David was dramatic, had given off much energy, and had a graceful feel
with soft curved lines. The statue of David stood as a civic-patriotic symbol in the
Palazzo Vecchio before being replaced with Michelangelo’s version. Donatello had
many other works in the course of the next few years, including the marble statues of
St. John the Evangelist, St. Mark, St. George, and in bronze a statue of St. Louis of
Toulouse. Donatello soon teamed up with Michelozzo, a sculptor and architect.
Together, they created very pure sculptures including the Feast of Herod, which first
displayed Donatello’s use of linear perspective.
After Donatello left Michelozzo, and went to work in Padua, his last three years
there he was very stationary with his art. He was going through a crisis that kept him
from doing his artwork. He was quoted as saying he almost died from the “frogs in
Padua”. He was then soon treated and created the wooden statue of John the Baptist.
Donatello changed Florence’s view on art when he returned. Donatello returned sick
and died in December of 1466 while he was working on twin bronze pulpits for San
Lorenzo. Donatello still to this day, along with many others is one of the most
significant artists of not only the Italian Renaissance period, but of all time.
Statue of David
Influenced by northern European Art, this
statue of David was one of Donatello’s earliest and
most famous works. Sculpted from Bronze in the
Gothic style, it was a very feminine and unusual
sculpture for this time. David is the first selfsupporting nude male statue and the first
unsupported bronze statue in the Renaissance
period. Inspired by Lorenzo Ghiberti, Donatello has
produced two versions of the David statue. Taken in
2008 for renovations, David is now displayed in the
Bargello.
The story behind this famous sculpture is to
portray David stepping on Goliath’s head after his
victorious win against him; only wearing a hat and
boots bearing Goliath’s sword. David’s stance
portrays that Goliath was no threat to him, and being
fully naked portrays the idea that god is present. This
was very controversial at the time. Because David is
naked, and because of the feather wrapped around
his leg, it was thought of as a homosexual statue. At
the time, sodomy was illegal which made this type of
artwork very risky to display.
St. Mark
Sculpted in marble, this statue of St. Mark
was one of Donatello’s three deal contributions
to the Orsanmichele Church in Florence.
Although, when Donatello had finished this
sculpture, the committee asked him to change it.
He did not change his work, but replied with
“they were not viewing it from the right angle
and that it would look fine once it was in place”.
Donatello made the torso elongated and the legs
shorter so when it was viewed by people, it would
look proportionate. After Michelangelo viewed
the sculpture he said he had “never seen a more
convincing image of an honest man than this
statue”
Donatello was noted for his use of detailed
realism, and his extreme skill shows in this
sculpture by the way you see the veins in his left
hand. A very naturalistic and new Renaissance
style was used. Donatello used classical ideas
and his own knowledge to create a unique but
traditional sculpture of St. Mark.
St. John the
Evangelist
This wooden statue of St. John the
Evangelist portrays many fine details and
new techniques from the Renaissance
period including schiacciato (flattened
out); created by Donatello. This type of
technique gave a feeling of depth to the
sculpture. The statue was made for the
Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari Church of
Venice, along with many other pieces of
art.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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<http://www.florencenewspaper.it/vediarticolo.asp?id=a8.12.08.12.59>.
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<http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/ewb_05/ewb_05_01819.html>.
Donatello. Web. 15 Oct. 2009.
<http://www.notablebiographies.com/images/uewb_04_img0242.jpg>.
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<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_(Donatello)>.