Donatello

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Donatello
Donatello
Colette Roth Period 3
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Basic Information
Donatello

• Donatellos real name was Donato di Niccolò di
  Betto Bardi
• Lived 1386-1466
• Born in Florence, Italy
• Son of Niccolò di Betto Bardi, a Florentine wool
  carder

www.weltchronik.de/ws/bio/d/donatello/da01466...
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Early Years
Tomb of Giovanni Crivelli

• Donatello was educated in the house of the
  Martelli family.
• He received his first training in a goldsmith's
  workshop.
• Donatello learned stone carving from one of the
  sculptors working for the cathedral of Florence.
• When he was 17 years old, he assisted the
  sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti in constructing and
  decorating the famous bronze doors of the
  baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence.
• Later, Donatello was also an associate of the
  architect Filippo Brunelleschi, with whom he
  visited Rome to study the monuments of antiquity.

http//www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/d/donatell/i
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Donatellos Career can be Divided into 3
Different Periods

• First period
• This period comprised the years before 1425
• In this period his work is influenced by Gothic
  sculpture but also shows classical and realistic
  tendencies.
• Second period
• This period lasted from 1425-1443
• It is generally characterized by a reliance on
  the models and principles of the sculpture of
  antiquity.
• Third period-
• During this period Donatello broke away from the
  classical influence and his work emphasized
  realism and the portrayal of character and
  dramatic action.

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The First Period

• In this period his work is influenced by Gothic
  sculpture but also shows classical and realistic
  tendencies.
• While in Florence, Donatello assisted Lorenzo
  Ghiberti with the statues of prophets for the
  north door of the Battistero di San Giovanni.
• He was also entrusted with the important
  commissions for the marble David for the Duomo di
  Santa Maria del Fiore.
• Between 1409-1411 he executed the colossal seated
  figure of Saint John the Evangelist, which until
  1588 occupied a niche of the old cathedral
  facade, and is now placed in a dark chapel of the
  Duomo.
• This work marks a decisive step forward from
  late-Gothic Mannerism in the search for
  naturalism and the rendering of human feelings.
  The face, the shoulders and the bust are still
  idealized, while the hands and the pannings over
  the legs are more realistic.
• Between the years 1411-1413 Donatello also worked
  on a statue of St. Mark for the church of
  Orsanmichele.

St. John the Evangelist
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St. Mark
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The First Period (Continued)

• In 1417 he completed a statue of St. George for
  the confraternity of the Cuirass-makers.
• The bas-relief on the statue's base, in
  stiacciato, or low relief, is one of the first
  examples of central perspective.
• In 1423 St. Louis of Toulouse, now in the Museum
  of the Basilica di Santa Croce, was created.
• From 1415-1426 he executed five statues for the
  campanile of Florence's Duomo. These are the
  Beardless Prophet, Bearded Prophet (both from
  1415), the Sacrifice of Isaac (1421), Habacuc
  (1423-1425) and Jeremy (1423-1426), which follow
  the classic model for orators, and are
  characterized by a strong portrait detail.
• In 1422 Madonna Pazi was made, which is now
  located in Berlin.
• In 1425 he completed the Crucifix for Santa
  Croce, which portrays Christ in the exact moment
  of the agony, with his eyes and mouth partially
  opened and body contracted in an ungraceful
  posture.

Crucifix
St. George
St. Louis of Toulouse
Madonna Pazi
ALL FOUR IMAGES ARE FROM http//www.wga.hu/frames
-e.html?/html/d/donatell/index.html
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The Five Statues Created for Florence's Duomo
Habacuc
Bearded Prophet
Sacrifice of Isaac
Beardless Prophet
Jeremy
ALL FIVE IMAGES ARE FROM http//www.wga.hu/frames
-e.html?/html/d/donatell/index.html
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The Second Period

• This period is generally characterized by a
  reliance on the models and principles of the
  sculpture of antiquity.
• From 1425 to 1435 Michelozzo, a Florentine
  sculptor and architect, worked with Donatello on
  a number of projects including the monument of
  Bartolomeo Aragazzi (Cathedral of Montepulciano).
• From 1430 to 1433 Donatello spent periods in
  Rome, where he created a numerous amount of
  works.
• The most important was the ciborium in the
  sacristy of the Basilica of Saint Peter,
  decorated with the relief's Worshiping Angels and
  Burial of Christ.
• In Florence he created his most noted work of
  this period, the bronze David which was the first
  nude statue of the Renaissance.
• The city of Florence paid for his sculptures of
  David.
• The Patrons found Donatello very hard to work
  with. He was not a very cultured intellect as
  Leonardo or Michelangelo.

The Bronze David
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The Second Period (Continued)

• During their partnership, Michelozzo created the
  architectural design and helped in the making of
  the bronze castings and Donatello executed some
  of the statues.
• Donatello had an immense impact on the art and
  some of the artists of the Renaissance.
• David, for instance, was one of the first to be
  nude in a statue of the Renaissance, and the
  Equestrian statue, Gattamelata, is considered to
  be one of the best proportional sculptures ever.
• In Donatello's Gothic style he expressed ugliness
  to give the statue a life of its own. He used a
  most powerful realism that gives this statue a
  distinct look.

Candelabra Angels
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Ciborium
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The Third Period

• During this period, Donatello broke away from the
  classical influence and his work emphasized
  realism and the portrayal of character and
  dramatic action.
• Some of his sculptures from this period are
  Miracles of St. Anthony, Gattamelata, the first
  bronze equestrian statue since ancient times and
  Judith and Holofernes.
• Donatellos sculptures were the cause of the
  development of realism in Italian painting,
  especially in the work of the great Paduan artist
  Andrea Mantegna.

Gattamelata
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Shallow Relief Technique
Full Length View of the Bronze David

• Donatello invented the shallow relief technique.
• In this technique the sculpture seems very deep,
  but is actually done on a shallow plane.
• Donatello carved delicate shallow lines to create
  background imagery. This created a feeling of
  depth in the work that had not been seen before
  in relief sculptures. It allowed viewers to
  better discern atmospheric perceptions depicted
  in the work.
• Donatello created the first bronze sculpture.
  This began the start of sculptors using other
  materials to create their works.

http//www.lifeinitaly.com/art/early-renaissance-2
.asp
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Donatellos Influence During the Renaissance

• Donatello introduced one of the first examples of
  central perspective on the bas-relief of his
  statue of St. George.
• Donatello invented the shallow relief technique
  which opened the doors for later artists.
• He experimented with many different materials to
  build his sculptures, which caused future artists
  to use a wide variety of materials to create
  their works.
• Donatellos sculptures were also the cause of the
  development of realism in Italian painting.
• Donatellos sculpture of David was one of the
  first to be nude in a statue of the Renaissance.
• In Donatello's Gothic style he expressed ugliness
  to give the statue a life of its own. He used a
  powerful realism that gives this statue a
  distinct look.
• Many of Donatellos works inspired other artists
  to create pieces using his techniques.

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Works Cited

• Blood, Lindsey. "Donatello." CYESIS. CYESIS Teen
  Parent Program. 29 Mar 2007 lthttp//www.cyesis.o
  rg/student.projects/renaissance/lindsey/do natello
  .htmgt.
• Kren, Emil and Marx, Daniel. "Early Works by
  Donatello." Web Gallery of Arts. Web Gallery of
  Art. 29 Mar 2007 lthttp//www.wga.hu/frames- e.htm
  l?/html/d/donatell/index.htmlgt.
• "Donatello." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 3
  Apr 2007, 2206 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 4
  Apr 2007 lthttp//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donatellogt.