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Donatello
Italian, 1384 - 1466
Donatello's works demonstrate his mastery with marble, bronze and wood. Perhaps as a result of his liking for Brunelleschi, Donatello's means of expression, from his very earliest works, were firmly rooted in reality. He is reputed to have told a friend: 'Your job is making Christs, mine is making peasants'. In this, he must have been influenced, some say by Claus Sluter, while others claim that he was more probably influenced by his Italian contemporaries. The new method of painting drapery in St Louis of Toulouse, produced in 1425, and in the chapel of Orsanmichele, may have been inspired by Jacopo della Quercia. An important stage was reached in Feast of Herod, a bronze low relief sculpted in 1427 for the baptismal fonts in Siena. In it may be seen for the first time the striking, almost brutal, expression of emotion that was henceforth to characterize depictions of the protagonists of the great Christian dramas - in this case, the horror felt by the guests on seeing the severed head of John the Baptist. This horror is as much evident in the faces of the onlookers as in the way they turn away or cover their faces. The influence of Brunelleschi can still be detected, in the dramatic intensity of the work and also in the decoration, particularly in the application of the rules of perspective, an important development attributed in part to the Florentine architect. Another feature of Donatello's work, interpretation through a direct study of the nature of inspiration in antiquity, is evident in several statuettes, including Hope and the Putti musicians (both 1429) both for the Siena baptistery. A further example is the execution of the tomb of Cardinal Brancaccio, in the church of S Angelo in Naples, with its low relief of the Assumption, to which Donatello applied a gentle relief technique, known as schiacciato (literally 'flattened'), without affecting the precision of the contours, nor the expression of the figures. This effect could not have been achieved with the degree of projection that is given to figures on the low reliefs of antiquity. In Donatello's treatment, the sculpture acquires an almost pictorial character.
Donatello's trip to Rome in 1433 is generally considered the final stage of his preparatory period. The knowledge of antiquity that he had acquired in Florence suddenly bodied forth in highly original works. Monuments existing at that time were principally triumphal arches, columns and sarcophagi. In the works Donatello produced in Rome, the Tabernacle of St Peter and the Entombment, reproducing the composition and attitudes of Death of Meleager sculpted on a sarcophagus, his personality comes through in the violence of the pain expressed by some figures and in the realism of the mourner, whose utter wretchedness he did not shy away from portraying.
Donatello returned to Florence at the age of 48. At the cathedral in nearby Prato, he and Michelozzo created the external Pulpit of the Sacred Girdle. No sooner was this completed than Donatello went on to produce the cathedral's Cantoria, which he finished in 1438; in this work, the happy dancing children that Donatello depicted again hark back to antique models. The work is framed in brilliant decoration, in which classical forms are arranged unconventionally, almost whimsically, and in which the play of light is enhanced by the use of gold mosaics, a technique borrowed from Orthodox Christian basilicas. All the new elements of Donatello's art, which was taking on an almost violent sense of realism, are encapsulated in the famous statue of Habakkuk (popularly known as Zuccone ('pumpkin'), thanks to his bald head), which, together with the equally striking sculpture of Jeremiah, finally completed the interrupted series of Prophets in 1435. The figure is intensely human, with a sad, disenchanted expression. This is a sober, large work, apparently designed to be viewed from below at a great height.
Donatello went on to produce work commissioned by Cosimo de' Medici, his friend and enlightened protector, primarily for the Church of S Lorenzo (the singers' gallery, decoration of the sacristy including a bust of St Lawrence, terracotta low reliefs and two bronze doors comprising a series of small panels), and also secular work, restoring antiques. During this period, he produced the celebrated bronze David in the Bargello museum in Florence. Habakkuk the Bald and David represent two elements of life, one showing the vanity of people and things, and the other, still a child, barely able to take in the grandeur of his creation. The low relief Annunciation, in S Croce, which inspired Botticelli, is remarkable for the attitude of the Virgin, fleeing at the arrival of the Archangel Gabriel and, at the same time, turning back towards the kneeling messenger. This scene is an extremely faithful interpretation of the account in the Gospel of St Luke, and is brilliantly framed within a background heightened with gold. This work was to give rise to the grotesque style that flourished during the second half of the 15th century.
Donatello was summoned to Padua around 1444, and there produced the first large equestrian statue made since antiquity, of the Venetian condottiere Gattamelata, cast in 1447. The energetic horserider and the massive horse exude an impression of power. The classicism of Marcus Aurelius should not obscure the fact that Donatello's work inspired all subsequent equestrian statues, starting with Verrochio's Colleoni. Attention is drawn more to the horse, showing the strength and allure of the great battle steed. The rider himself has the bearing of an emperor, with a cold and proud gaze.
From 1446 to 1450, Donatello was engaged on a major undertaking, the reconstruction of the high altar of the basilica of St Antony, which was demolished in the 17th century and only partially rebuilt. His work there included the moving bronze Christ on the Cross, the equally impressive bronze reliefs Two Angels Weeping for the Dead Christ and Entombment, and a bronze statue of St Francis. His statue of the Virgin for this building has a curious expression, and is very different to the same subject matter in his Annunciation, with her priestly stance. The four large bronze low reliefs depicting the saint's miracles and including a large number of figures, in the style of Ghiberti, later captivated Raphael's attention.
In 1456, at the age of 70, Donatello returned to Florence. Even at the end of his career, he created unsurpassed works. Following the bronze group Judith and St John the Baptist in the Desert, for Siena cathedral, he produced Mary Magdalene for the baptistery in Florence. This work far exceeded Habakkuk the Bald in its realism, even horror, yet this wooden statue exudes a spirituality heightened by the physical misery of flesh mortified by penitence. Donatello was unable to complete the two bronze pulpits that he designed for the church of S Lorenzo, but he did sculpt some low reliefs, including Deposition, in which for the last time the tragic intensity of the holy drama is expressed.
Previous studies of Donatello have been concerned with naturalism. Donatello's realism tended towards the expression of pain or mysticism, rather than the depiction of grimacing ugliness. With his contemporaries Nani di Banco, Jacopo della Quercia and Lorenzo Ghiberti, Donatello created the sculpture of the first half of the 15th century, which influenced its subsequent development. Paralysis ended his long career, three years before his death at 80 years of age.
"DONATELLO." In Benezit Dictionary of Artists. Oxford Art Online, http://www.oxfordartonline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/benezit/B00052634 (accessed April 10, 2012).
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