Italian (Florentine) · Early Renaissance
Donatello
b. c. 1386, Florence — d. 13 December 1466, Florence
Donatello (c. 1386–1466) was the greatest sculptor of the early Italian Renaissance, whose bronze David was the first freestanding male nude since antiquity.
Donatello (Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, c. 1386–1466) was a Florentine sculptor and the founding genius of Renaissance sculpture. He worked in marble, bronze, wood, terracotta and stucco, and his bronze David (Bargello, Florence) is usually described as the first freestanding nude male statue made since antiquity.
Life in brief
The son of a Florentine wool carder, Donatello probably trained in a goldsmith's workshop and then worked as an assistant to Lorenzo Ghiberti on the bronze doors of the Florence Baptistery. With the architect Filippo Brunelleschi he studied ancient ruins in Rome. In Florence he carved prophets for the cathedral bell tower and the Saint George for the church of Orsanmichele, became the favorite sculptor of Cosimo de' Medici, and from 1443 to 1453 worked in Padua, where he made the Gattamelata, the first large equestrian bronze since Roman times. He died in Florence in 1466 and was buried near Cosimo in San Lorenzo.
Style and technique
Donatello invented rilievo schiacciato ("flattened relief"), carving scenes only a few millimeters deep that still suggest deep space, as in the relief beneath Saint George. His figures range from classical calm to the harrowing late wooden Penitent Magdalene, gaunt and ragged.
Donatello's David, and Michelangelo's
Donatello made two Davids. The marble (1408–09) is clothed; the bronze (probably 1440s) shows a slim, nude youth in a shepherd's hat, one foot on Goliath's severed head. Both are in the Bargello.
They are often confused with Michelangelo's colossal marble of 1501–04. The work catalogued as Statue of David is in fact Michelangelo's, now in the Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence. Comparing them is instructive: Donatello's boy is relaxed and almost dreamy after victory; Michelangelo's young man is tense, watching his enemy before the fight.
Influence
Every Florentine sculptor after him, Michelangelo included, learned from Donatello. See Renaissance art and Famous Sculptures.
Where to see his work
The Bargello and the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Florence hold the largest collections; Padua's Piazza del Santo has the Gattamelata and the Basilica of Sant'Antonio his high altar bronzes.
Questions & answers
Did Donatello make the famous statue of David?
Donatello made two Davids, a marble of 1408–09 and the famous bronze nude of the 1440s, both in the Bargello, Florence. The colossal marble David in the Accademia is by Michelangelo (1501–04), a different and later work.
Why is Donatello's bronze David important?
It is usually considered the first freestanding, life-size nude male statue made since antiquity. Cast in bronze, probably in the 1440s for the Medici, it shows David as a slender youth standing on Goliath's head.
Where can I see Donatello's sculpture?
The Bargello in Florence holds both Davids and Saint George, and the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo has the Penitent Magdalene and his cantoria. In Padua, the Gattamelata stands in Piazza del Santo and his altar bronzes are in the Basilica of Sant'Antonio.