DONATELLO

Donatello: translation

(ca. 1386-1466)

Popular name of the Florentine sculptor who is generally regarded as the first and greatest figure of early Renaissance sculpture. Born Donato di Niccolö di Betto di Bardi, he is first documented in 1401 as an assistant to the sculptorLorenzo Ghibertiduring work on the first of Ghiberti's two famous sets of bronze doors for the baptistery atFlorence. By 1408 he seems to have been working independently.

From an early point in his career (for example, his marble free-standingSt.Mark, executed in 1411-1414), Donatello demonstrated a mastery of the classical technique ofcontrappostothat gave his figures an air of movement and life unequalled since theantiquity.He also executed important work in low relief such asThe Feast of Herod, produced at Siena about 1425, that demonstrated mastery of the principles of single-pointperspectivediscovered by his friendFilippo Brunelleschi. Donatello also mastered sculpture in bronze, of which his most striking example was the nude David (1425-1430), a startling expression of his consciousness of the anatomical structure concealed under the clothing of earlier subjects such as theSt.Markand the statue for Florence cathedral known asII Zuccone(1423-1425). Later in his career, Donatello spent 12 years working atPadua, but he then returned to Florence. His ability to create attention-catching figures infused with personality and a sense of life survived throughout his career. His last works, such as the emaciatedSt.Mary Magdalene(1445-1455) executed for the Florentine baptistery, demonstrate that he retained his ability to portray deep emotion and to create dramatic effect. Donatello was famous in his own lifetime, and his works did much to shape sculpture by later Renaissance artists.