Biography of renaissance artist donatello

Instead, however, it was set up in the Palazzo Vecchio the town hall as an inspiring symbol of defiance of authority to Florentines, who were engaged in a struggle with the king of Naples at the time. Rapidly maturing in his art, Donatello soon began to develop a style all his own, with figures much more dramatic and emotional. Between and , he sculpted the marble figure St.

In , Donatello completed the marble statue of a seated St. John the Evangelist for the cathedral in Florence. Both works show a decisive move away from the Gothic style and toward a more classical technique. By this time, Donatello was gaining a reputation for creating imposing, larger-than-life figures using innovative techniques and extraordinary skills.

His style incorporated the new science of perspective, which allowed the sculptor to create figures that occupied measurable space. Before this time, European sculptors used a flat background upon which figures were placed. Around , Donatello entered into a partnership with Italian sculptor and architect Michelozzo, who also studied with Lorenzo Ghiberti.

These innovations in burial chambers would influence many later Florentine tombs. In , the eminent art patron commissioned Donatello to do another statue of David, this time in bronze. The sculpture is fully independent of any architectural surroundings that might support it. Standing a little over five feet tall, David represents an allegory of civic virtue triumphing over brutality and irrationality.

Celebrated for its radical realism, the Early Renaissance masterpiece also prefigured later movements. The precise date for this early work by Donatello is not known, but between the artist worked on this large-scale marble figurative sculpture depicting Saint John the Evangelist. Typically depicted as a young man, Donatello decided to portray the apostle as an aging prophet, holding the Bible, which was a departure from legend toward a more humanizing rendition.

While the top half of the sculpture still represents an idealized point of view, the subject's facial expression is carefully considered, and the sculpting of the legs and hands points to a more realistic figuration. Donatello pays attention to the anatomy of the saint's legs, even though they are hidden under his robes, demonstrating a new preoccupation with representing the body with accuracy and naturalism.

This sculpture is seen as an important step away from the Gothic style that predominated in Florentine and European art at this point. Moreover, Donatello shows a new understanding of the requirements of perspective, compensating for the fact that viewers would see the sculpture from below and therefore making the body disproportionately longer than the legs.

As the curator and art historian Daniel M. Zolli points out, Donatello was aware that the base of the sculpture would be set approximately four feet above human height: "Not only are John's proportions far closer to nature when observed from this angle, but his presence is much more formidable: the fabric of his raiment hangs heavily from the frame of his body, and the whole composition organizes itself into a stable pyramid.

Donatello was commissioned by the swordmakers' and armorers' guild to carve this sculpture of their patron saint, St. George, for a niche on the exterior of the church of Orsanmichele in Florence. The work is a life-sized depiction of the saint standing atop a marble panel which is carved to illustrate the famous mythical moment when George slayed the dragon.

Although the work was meant to reflect the Florentine spirit of holding strong against all adversaries, Donatello's meticulous rendering of the emotionality of the face also betrays a distinct vulnerability and softness. This expertise in portraying emotion, as is also seen in his equestrian statue of condottiero Erasmo da Narni, was a signature technique of the artist toward humanizing subjects that would traditionally be presented in a more idealized fashion.

The work marks an important moment in the development of sculpture because Donatello brought back the ideals of classical sculpture and married them with a new realism, departing boldly from the prior Gothic mannerism. The marble panel at the base is also an important work of art in its own right. It is a key early example of a bas-relief made using the principles of linear perspective, which was infiltrating painting at the time.

The shift from empirical perspective to linear perspective is one of the key discoveries that contributed to the development of Renaissance art. Donatello would have been familiar with the experiments with perspective drawn by his friend Brunelleschi, and his skill was to apply them to the challenging medium of bas-relief carving. Niccolo da Uzzano was an important figure in Florentine politics in the early decades of the 15th century, who acted as a respected intermediary figure between the city's powerful rival families.

Donatello produced the bust although its authorship is sometimes contested soon after Uzzano's death in It was the first half-bust of a private citizen produced since antiquity. Donatello's use of carefully molded terracotta clay, the unusual facial expression, and the choice of polychrome paint all suggest that this was intended to be an accurate portrait of an individual, rather than an idealized image representing an abstract concept of leadership or virtue.

Donatello's craft emphasizes Uzzano's humanity and personality in a way that had not previously been seen, or felt credible in art. Yet alongside the Humanist movement in Florence at the time, artists were transitioning to a more authentic rendition of people, whether royal or plebian, that emphasized genuine expression. The Florentine Renaissance expert Irving Lavin argues that presenting the figure as a half-bust is key to its power and highlights Donatello's revolutionary approach.

By cutting off the figure at the bust and avoiding traditional presentation on an elaborate plinth, Donatello suggests that this is a true portrait, and a mimetic representation of a real human being: "The arbitrary amputation specifically suggests that what is visible is part of a larger whole, that there is more than meets the eye. By focusing on the upper part of the body but deliberately emphasizing that it is only a fragment, the Renaissance bust evokes the complete individual - that sum total of physical and psychological characteristics that make up the "whole man".

In the early s, Donatello's friend and peer, Brunelleschi, was finalizing his ambitious design for the dome of Florence Cathedral. The Opera del Duomo, which was the body responsible for decorating and maintaining the building, turned its attention to interior decoration. They commissioned Luca della Robbia to design one of the internal organ lofts, and then, in when Donatello returned from Rome, they immediately commissioned him for the other.

Donatello's project contrasted greatly with della Robbia's. Whereas della Robbia's divided the cantoria's panels into separate scenes illustrating the different verses of Psalm , Donatello's consisted of a continuous narrative that flowed around the three visible sides of the loft. This resulted in a sense of animation and movement for the viewer.

What also made his work innovative was its inspiration taken directly from the classical friezes and ancient sarcophagi he had encountered in Rome. The work also reflects Donatello's mastery of sculpture and his signature techniques, cultivated to manipulate the viewing experience. As the art historian Timothy Verdon notes, "the sculptor's design took carefully into account his cantoria's principle light source: mere feet below the work was a group of torches and candles elaborately ordered atop an architrave".

Instead of polishing the marble to a customary sheen, Donatello left parts rough so that when hit by the candlelight coming up from below, various shadows, textures, and points of luminosity would add another element to the overall composition. It is interesting that Donatello took such pains over the materiality of marble in this work, as it was the last major commission that he completed in this medium.

This small but exquisite bronze is one of Donatello's most famous works. It is a five foot, freestanding bronze sculpture of David, from the classic story David and Goliath. He created paintings that expressed a genuine realism over the glorified images of the past by adding realistic proportions, emotions, and expressiveness to his themes, whether legendary, historical, or daily people.

Donatello was a multi-media artist who worked with stone, metal, stucco, wood, clay, and wax. Among contemporary painters, he was the first to depict the art of sculpture. His adaptability and resourcefulness would serve as a model for many future sculptors interested in exploring new material possibilities. Statue of Donatello on the facade of the Uffizi Gallery building; Frieda at it.

Although the exact date of this early artwork is unknown, the sculptor labored on this large-scale marble statue representing Saint John the Evangelist between and Donatello opted to represent the apostle as an aged prophet clutching the Bible, a break from mythology, and a more humanizing portrayal. This sculpture is considered a significant departure from the Gothic style, which dominated Florentine and European art at the time.

Furthermore, Donatello demonstrates a new grasp of perspective needs, accounting for the fact that visitors would view the sculpture from below, causing the body to be abnormally longer than the legs. Donatello was fully cognizant that the base of the statue would be set roughly four feet above human height, as Daniel M. The piece is a life-sized representation of the saint standing on a marble panel depicting the renowned fabled event when George killed the dragon.

The work is significant in the evolution of sculpture because Donatello reintroduced classical sculpting standards and coupled them with a new realism, moving decisively from the previous Gothic mannerism. The marble panel at the foundation is also a significant piece of art in and of itself. It is an important early instance of a bas-relief created with the ideas of linear perspectives, which were permeating art at the time.

One of the important discoveries that led to the creation of Renaissance painting was the change from empirical to linear perspective. Since antiquity, it was the very first half-bust of a private individual manufactured. Nevertheless, alongside the Humanist movement in Florence, artists were shifting to a more truthful picture of humans, whether royal or plebian, that highlighted genuine feeling.

They employed Luca Della Robbia to create one of the interior organ lofts and subsequently commissioned Donatello to create the other after returning from Rome in This gave the spectator a sensation of liveliness and movement. His art was also unusual since it was inspired directly by the classical friezes and ancient sarcophagi he saw in Rome.

Instead of polishing the marble to a gloss, Donatello left certain areas rough so that when illuminated by candles from below, diverse shadows, textures, and points of brightness would add to the overall composition. Instead of a mighty man, he is shown as a young, naked child wearing an odd cap wreathed with laurels a triumph emblem and a pair of lavishly gilded boots.

This was the first free-standing naked statue of a man made since antiquity. Beyond the daring reappearance of the naked in art, art historian Dr. And since he is self-contained, he is more human, more real. He appears to be able to move around in the globe, as does the contrapposto. This figure is easily imagined in the Medici palace garden, encircled by the ancient Greek and Roman artwork that they were also acquiring.

Indeed, the diminutive scale and position of the monument were intended to create an intimate encounter for family visitors. Donatello deviated from mythology and established conceptions about his topic, depicting Magdalene as an elderly, hungry lady rather than the more frequent young and beautiful nude nourished by angels, as he did in many of his paintings.

The bronze David uses proportions very close to those Alberti recommends. In the s and s Donatello made many sculptures of young children dancing, as well as putti cherubs and a variant of these traditionally called spiritelli " imps " or "sprites". Putti were not new in Italian sculpture, but were given a rather unusual prominence by Donatello.

Some early examples are three out of a group of six freestanding bronze spiritelli on the cover for the font of the Siena Baptistery , standing over his earlier relief of the Feast of Herod discussed above. One dances and two play musical instruments. They have been said to be "the first true free-standing figurines of the Renaissance" and were enormously influential, expressing "what was at the heart of the Renaissance—the classical reborn into the Christian".

His most famous work in this genre is his relief frieze for the cantoria or singing gallery of Florence Cathedral. There are two of these galleries rather high on the walls of the nave. They develop the style of the Prato pulpit reliefs, [ 79 ] the figures "primarily symbols of Dionysiac abandon, and the childish character of their bodies is forgotten in our sense of their liberated animal life.

If in a photograph we cover their heads our first glance reveals a Bacchic sarcophagus more intricate and vigorous than anything in antique art; and only on looking more carefully are we aware of their fat tummies and chubby legs". Six spiritelli in animated conversation crowd at the top of the large classical frame of his Cavalcanti Annunciation in Santa Croce, Florence , made for a brother in law of the Medici, c.

The remarkable bronze statue called the Amore-Attis , perhaps from the early s, has one foot in the world of the spiritelli and the other in the sensuous eroticism of the bronze David. The figure has wings and a tail, stands on a snake, and has a variety of classical attributes, too many for a simple identification. He wears leggings that emphasize rather than hide his private parts.

Donatello's bronze David , now in the Bargello museum, is his most famous work, and the first known free-standing nude statue produced since antiquity. It is conceived fully in the round, independent of any architectural surroundings, and nearly at life-size. Although the commission is not documented, the statue is first recorded placed on a column in the courtyard of the newly-built Palazzo Medici at a wedding in , [ 85 ] but it probably pre-dates the start of that building in It was most likely commissioned by Cosimo de' Medici for the older Medici palace on the same street, probably between and , after Donatello returned from Rome and Cosimo from exile.

David was well-established as a symbol of the Republic of Florence , victorious in defence against larger surrounding powers, with at this period the Duchy of Milan the most threatening. Though the statue certainly was intended to convey this meaning, it also has a sensuous and erotic power that was original. Donatello's "innovation One foot rests casually on the severed head of Goliath , giving the figure a contrapposto pose.

The feathers of Goliath's helmet crest brush against the inside of David's thigh, in a further sensuous touch. The David and the Amore-Attis supplement various pieces of contemporary gossip to suggest Donatello's sexual interests. It seems likely that Donatello's homosexuality was well known, and tolerated and protected by the Medici and so others.

He was said to hire especially beautiful boys, and "stained" them probably meaning make-up so that no one else would find them pleasing; when one assistant left after a quarrel, they made up by "laughing" at each other, a slang term for sex. Wood was still used for crucifixes for its lightness. It was also cheap and convenient for carrying it on liturgical processions.

Donatello's early crucifix for Santa Croce has lowerable arms for this purpose. Wooden sculptures were almost always painted and partly gilded as terracotta and even marble and bronze often were. When a Florentine confraternity in Venice commissioned a statue of John the Baptist , patron saint of Florence, still in the Frari Church there, wood was chosen.

The statue is probably the only work by Donatello in the city. He usually did not sign his work, except for some commissions destined for outside Florence. Before this was revealed in conservation work it had been dated later, after his stay in Padua, according to the idea that Donatello's works became more and more expressive. The redating of the Saint John had knock-on consequences for a far more celebrated wooden figure, the Penitent Magdalene long in the Florence Baptistery now Museo dell'Opera del Duomo , where the carving style is comparable.

This is "formidably expressive" in a stark style found in Donatello's last years, and had been dated to around , [ ] until the date was found on the other figure; it is now dated generally to the late s, or at any rate before Donatello went to Padua. According to Kenneth Clark , it shows "a female fakir whose small sunken eyes, gazing across the desert, have beheld the vision of God.

Her body is no longer of the least importance to her". In the painted wooden crucifix of the church of Sant'Angelo in Legnaia , a suburb of Florence, was attributed by the diocese to Donatello, and dated to the s. This is in a simpler style. The Sagrestia Vecchia , as it is now called, [ ] of San Lorenzo, Florence was Donatello's last major project before his years in Padua, and forms the only large space almost wholly decorated by him.

Opinions have varied as to the success of his scheme ever since. The various parts combine experimentation in some places and conservatism in others, and the whole has failed to achieve the iconic status of the rather similar Pazzi Chapel of a few years later, which perhaps learnt the lessons of the sacristy; Luca della Robbia was the sculptor there.

The sacristy was newly built, designed by Brunelleschi, [ ] and the first part completed of a major reconstruction of the church by the Medicis. It combined the functions of a Medici funerary chapel, containing the tomb of Giovanni and his wife under the vesting table for the vestments to be laid out; both are still in place. Donatello's additions were two pairs of bronze doors with relief panels, and elaborate architectural surrounds for them, and two sets of large relief roundels below the main dome.

In the pendentives are four scenes from the life of John the Baptist, and at the top of the purely decorative arches in pietra serena are ones of the Four Evangelists , sitting at large desks on which their attributes perch. These are all in painted stucco , the evangelists mostly white on a now rather muddy blue-grey background, with gold highlights for the halos.

Three of the scenes from John's life have many small figures and complicated architectural settings and backgrounds, while the fourth, set on Patmos , has a landscape background. All use a colour scheme of white for the figures, different shades of a terracotta brown for the settings, and the muddy blue-grey for the sky. There are also two large reliefs of pairs of standing Medici patron saints over the doorways, in the same technique and colours.

In different places, the stucco was painted both when wet, in a kind of fresco technique, and when dry. The bronze doors were relatively small and had a stack of five panels on each door, each containing a pair of standing figures on a plain background, a conservative design, possibly influenced by Early Christian art , such as the doors of Santa Sabina in Rome, or consular diptychs.

One pair has the Twelve Apostles with other saints making up the numbers, and the other has martyrs, who in most cases cannot be confidently identified. The execution is again uneven, with much probably done by assistants. The scheme received criticism, by now rather unusual for Donatello, from very early on. The modelling and execution of some of the reliefs was crude, especially the scenes from John's life, and it is often thought that the various added elements distract from the simplicity and harmony of the architecture.

Biography of renaissance artist donatello

The level of detail in the higher reliefs makes them simply hard for the viewer to read from below. According to Antonio Manetti , Brunelleschi's biographer, Donatello did not consult the architect about the additions to the doorways at all, such was his "pride and arrogance". Filarete , perhaps echoing a comment by Alberti, wrote that the paired figures on the doors looked like fencers; he referred to the apostle doors, though the remark is more fairly applied to the martyrs, most of whom hold thin palm fronds.

In , Donatello was called to Padua by the heirs of the famous condottiere Erasmo da Narni better known as the Gattamelata , or 'Honey-Cat' , who had died that year. Designing and planning his Equestrian Monument of Gattamelata probably began that year or the next, with the casting mostly done in or , and the bronze work finished in , although it was not installed on its high stone pedestal until Padua was a prosperous city with a university, long under the control of Venice, and generally friendly to the Medici and their artists; Cosimo had almost certainly given his blessing to Donatello's stay.

It was unexpected that the Venetian government then ordered a grand public monument for a general who had served them for less than a decade, with rather mixed success. This was slightly smaller than life-size, with the marquis in civilian dress rather than armour. He had died at the end of , and the monument was in place by , before being destroyed by the French in a replica is now in place.

The Gattamelata was placed on the square outside the Basilica of St Anthony , a famous pilgrimage church locally called il Santo , in ground then used as a cemetery. Donatello may have seen the Regisole at Ravenna , a late Roman example which was another victim of the French, and he certainly knew the Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius c. Donatello's work is strongly classicising, with Roman motifs on the armour and saddle almost impossible to see in situ , and the horse perhaps derived from the ancient Horses of Saint Mark in Venice.

Andrea del Caldiere, a Paduan metalworker, led the team doing the actual casting for this and his other Paduan bronzes. This work became the prototype for other equestrian monuments executed in Italy and Europe in the following centuries. Donatello was based in Padua for ten years, though he returned to Florence soon after the Gattamelata was finally in place in In Padua itself, he completed several works for il Santo , including the first life-sized bronze crucifix with a wooden cross, — , which originally hung well down the nave.

All these were begun in and nearly complete by June , though some of the statues seem not quite finished, and other sculptors seem to have done some of the work. The four reliefs of scenes from the Life of Saint Anthony , with highlights in gold, are of a uniform high standard. After more than one rearrangement, the first in , the original disposition of the statues is uncertain, but they were probably closer together, in one row, than they are now, with two now placed on a railing below and forward of the others.

The Madonna and Child Enthroned , between St. Francis and St. Anthony, in bronze c. The Madonna is neither standing nor sitting on the throne but is portrayed in the act of rising. She is flanked by two saints, Anthony of Padua and Francis of Assisi. Shown at the base of her throne, to each side of the Madonna, are sphinxes , allegorical figures of knowledge.

On the throne's back is a relief of the Fall of Man , depicting Adam and Eve. Between and Donatello was active in and for Siena , though he was now aging, and perhaps mostly contributed designs and modelli rather than carving much himself, at least in stone. Firstly there were bronze doors for the cathedral, of which only a possible trial cast of one panel survives in the Victoria and Albert Museum ; the Sienese may have been unable to fund what would have been a very expensive project.

His bronze Judith and Holofernes is an important late work, which ended in a Medici courtyard in Florence, while his bronze John the Baptist was delivered minus a forearm and is now in Siena Cathedral. The signed Judith and Holofernes is in his late, stark, style, showing the killing in progress, with Judith about to strike a second blow.

Relief scenes on the triangular base seem to show the drunken feast and revels that preceded the killing, in a final outing for Donatello's sensual mode. However, most of the younger revellers have wings. Donatello used real cloth to give texture in some of the modelling, and perhaps Holofernes' legs were moulded from a live model. It may have been planned as a fountain, as there are spouts at the corners of the base, though there now seems to be no internal plumbing.

When the Medici were expelled in it and the bronze David were moved to the Palazzo della Signoria; the Medici were now intended to be seen as the tyrannical victims rather than the liberating underdogs. After returning from Siena he remained in Florence until his death in He was evidently unable to work for a period, of uncertain extent, before his death; Vasari records this, but without any timing.

They were only assembled in this way in the following century, and the panel sizes vary. At least the designs of most of these are thought to have by Donatello himself, and the modelling of many parts; the precise attribution of the reliefs remains much discussed. Some appear to have been cast from unfinished modelli , and there is considerable stylistic disparity between panels, and sometimes sections of the same panel.

The treatment of the spaces in which the scenes are set is especially varied and experimental, part of "the absolutely uncompromising use of every possible means to express emotion and suffering" that marks these works. Donatello's inventiveness and search for new effects is shown by his various, mostly novel, uses of glass, a material hardly used in European sculpture before.