Donatello Italy. Sculptor Donatello - biography, personal life, creativity and interesting facts

Donatello (full name Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi) is an Italian Renaissance sculptor, representative of the Florentine school. Years of life - 1386-1466.

Donatello, as the great artist and sculptor of the Florentine Renaissance is commonly called, was born in the vicinity of Florence in 1386. His father, the wealthy wool carder Niccolo di Betto Bardi, could have educated his son. But the head of the family died when the boy was not yet fifteen years old.

At first, Donatello, forced to earn a living by his own labor, was apprenticed to a jeweler and worked as an apprentice in a small town in the suburbs of Florence. Beginning in 1403, for four years, the future great sculptor worked in the foundry of Bicci di Lorenzo, mastering the technique of bronze casting, which marked the beginning of his brilliant biography.

The young man's tuition was paid for by a wealthy patron and philanthropist, the Florentine banker Martelli, who was fond of high art. Lorenzo Ghiberti became the teacher of Donatello and his peer Filippo Brunelleschi, who later became a famous architect. These two remained best friends sculptor for life, and their paths crossed more than once after graduation.

Creation

In 1404, both aspiring sculptors, Brunelleschi and Donatello, went to Rome to complete their studies. Soon after returning to Florence, the young sculptor creates his first works - a high relief depicting the Annunciation and the first statue of David in marble. This sculpture still has strong echoes of Gothic traditions, but it is valuable because it is considered the first reliable work of the sculptor that has survived to this day.

Statue of Donatello "Marble David" and bas-relief "Annunciation"

In subsequent years, the sculptor worked on orders from the city, creating sculptures and bas-reliefs for various public buildings and religious buildings. Thus, for the facade of the Orsanmichele Church, built with donations from parishioners as a token of gratitude for deliverance from the plague, Donatello created sculptural images of a seated John the Evangelist and a standing Saint Mark.

In 1415-1416, the sculptor worked on a statue of St. George, intended for the same cathedral. In the figure of St. George the Victorious one can already clearly discern distinct features of realism, graceful proportions of the figure, a clear celebration of the beauty of the human body in the proud posture and face of the young man shining with courage. These features of Donatello's work are associated with his passion for ancient art and the skill of ancient Greek and Roman masters.

Statue of Donatello "St. George"

Traditionally, it was customary to depict George on horseback, with a spear in his hands, most often at the moment when a brave warrior pierces the dragon or snake with which he was fighting. Donatello depicts the young and beautiful saint in a moment of calm and awareness of his own victory, standing, leaning on his shield and confidently looking forward.

In the period from 1416 to 1432, the sculptor worked on orders from the city, creating one after another statues of the prophets. In the early works of the master, the late Gothic traditions are still clearly visible: static figures, dense folds of clothing hiding bodies, typical, expressionless facial features.

Donatello "Prophets" statues

With each subsequent statue, Donatello gets closer and closer to the realism of antiquity and the late Renaissance; real people seem to appear through the marble, and not biblical legends and canonical types. Already in the features of St. George one can see portraitness, individuality, and further work they become even more flexible, figures and poses become more natural, folds of clothing fit the body, echoing their curves and movements.

Donatello's next masterpiece was the tombstone for the tomb of Pope John XXIII. In collaboration with the architect Bartolommeo di Michelozzo, he created a kind of model for the further design of the burials of leading Catholic clergy. Donatello's carver owns the reclining figure of the pope, and Michelozzo worked on the tomb.

In 1420, the artist returned to the technique of bronze casting, which he had perfectly mastered during his apprenticeship. From 1422 to 1429, Donatello created several bronze masterpieces, which marked the beginning of a whole movement in Renaissance sculptor. He worked on large statues and small figures, including for the Baptistery in Sienna.

The pinnacle of Donatello's creativity using bronze casting technique is considered to be the second statue of David he cast in 1430-1432. The conqueror of Goliath is depicted in the prime of youth and glory. A young man in a shepherd’s hat, completely naked, stands with his foot on the head of the fallen giant. The revolutionary nature of Donatello's masterpiece lies in the fact that David became the first free-standing nude image designed for all-round viewing since antiquity.

David once stood on a column in the courtyard of the Palazzo Medici in Florence, then, after the overthrow of the Medici, he was moved to the courtyard of the Signoria. Donatello's masterpiece became a kind of symbol of Florence's struggle for independence, and today it can be seen in the Bargello Museum.

Bronze statue of Donatello "David"

In addition to statues, the sculptor also worked with bas-reliefs, radically changing existing traditions and techniques. In an effort to give the image realism, Donatello carefully carved out the foreground figures, giving them volume and plasticity, and made the background characters graphic, “flattened.” The master achieved depth to the picturesque reliefs using an architectural technique, bringing the lines to one point on the “horizon”.

In 1432-1433, Donatello again traveled to Rome, where he met his friend, the Roman Brunelleschi, and began to study ancient masterpieces of architecture and sculpture. The result was the master’s subsequent works, in which the classics of antiquity were revealed, expressed in simple lines, realistic figures, portraits, clear faces with clear individual features.

Personal life

Almost nothing is known about the master’s personal life, but historians have preserved the details of the creative biography of Donatello, who is considered the founder of the Renaissance traditions in sculpture.

The skill of the mature Florentine was manifested in the reliefs he created in the 40s: “The Vision of John on the Island of Patmos”, “The Resurrection of Drusiana”, “Release from a Cauldron of Boiling Oil” and “The Ascension to Heaven”.

Relief of Donatello's Ascension into Heaven

In the compositions, instead of calm and static, movement, drama, aggravation of the psychological characteristics of the characters and the depth of the images appeared.

In 1443, Donatello went to Padua, where four years later he cast an equestrian statue of Erasmo de Narni, the Venetian condottiere nicknamed Gattamelata. The rider and horse, standing at the intersection of streets, are united in a harmonious composition, emphasized by the diagonal formed by the knight’s sword and staff.

Statue of Donatello "Erasmo de Narni"

Upon returning from Padua, where several more wonderful reliefs and a church altar emerged from under the master’s chisel, Donatello no longer worked so hard and productively. Beginning in 1453, he lived in his native Florence and, apparently, was seriously ill. Thoughts about death, illness, suffering, and the futility of earthly existence are reflected in the works of the master of the late period.

Death

Some art critics call last period Donatello's creativity is decadent, a return to Gothic traditions and speaks of the predominance of spiritual expression, breakdown, tragedy to the detriment of the realism of classical sculpture.

Statue of Donatello "Mary Magdalene"

In line latest works The sculptor's works include a bronze group of Judith and Holofernes, created around 1456, and a wooden statue of Mary Magdalene, complete with dramatic damage. The saint was always depicted young, in company, mourning his death or rejoicing at the Ascension of the Lord. Donatello created the image of Mary in her old age, showing her tired and exhausted. Magdalene is a tormented woman, an ascetic recluse, emaciated, thin, with sunken eyes and a sad expression on her face.

The great sculptor died in 1466, leaving his descendants with many magnificent masterpieces.

Works

tomb of John XXIII;
marble statue of David;
bronze statue of David;
statue of Mark the Evangelist;
statue of the Evangelist John;
equestrian statue of Gattamelata;
bronze dancing Atis;
Madonna and Child with Saints Francis and Anthony (bronze);
Mary Magdalene (tree);
Prophet Habakkuk;
St. George;
Saint Rossore Reliquary;
Judith and Olfern.

One of the most famous sculptors of world art, Donatello (full name Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi) was born in 1386 in Florence. The master was a true genius in plaster modeling, sculpture in marble and bronze, and is considered one of the greatest artists of the Italian Renaissance.

Quite a lot is known from official sources about Donatello's life and career, but very little information is available about his character and personality, and what is known cannot be considered completely reliable. Based on his biography, Donatello never married, and was a man who preferred simplicity and modesty in everyday life. Patrons often had to face difficulties in communicating with the great sculptor when the working conditions of the artists were regulated by the rules of the guild. Donatello always demanded artistic freedom and refused to adjust his work to generally accepted rules and standards.

Despite his close acquaintance with a number of famous humanists, the artist was not a cultural intellectual. His humanist friends confirm that he was an expert ancient art. The inscriptions on his works are among the earliest examples of the revival of classical Roman script. Donatello had more detailed and extensive knowledge ancient sculpture, in comparison with any other sculptor and artist of that time. His work was inspired by ancient visual examples, which he often boldly transformed. Although Donatello is traditionally considered a realist, later studies show that the master often deliberately emphasized the most unaesthetic aspects of life in his works.

Early career

Donatello was the son of Niccolo di Betto Bardi, a Florentine wool carder. It is not known for certain how he began his career, but most historians claim that the future genius studied techniques for working with plaster stucco and stone carving from one of the sculptors working in the Florence Cathedral (Duomo) starting in 1400. Between 1404 and 1407 he became an apprentice in the workshop of Lorenzo Ghiberti, a sculptor working primarily with the casting of statues in bronze.

One of Donatello's first works to show clear skill in plaster and marble, the statue of David shows the strong influence of Ghiberti, who was then the leading Florentine exponent of international Gothic. The David was originally created for the main Florentine cathedral, but was moved in 1416 to the Palazzo Vecchio, city hall, where it stood for a long time as a civic-patriotic symbol. In the 16th century, Donatello's sculpture was eclipsed by Michelangelo's giant David, which served the same purpose.

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Other early works by Donatello - the impressive seated marble figure of St. John the Evangelist (1408-15), created for the facade of the cathedral of Florence, and the wooden crucifix (1406-08) in the church of Santa Croce, retained Gothic elements that became business card masters The latter, according to one popular anecdote, was done in friendly competition with Filippo Brunelleschi, the sculptor and famous architect.

The full force of Donatello's talent and creativity was first revealed in two marble statues, St. Mark and St. George (both completed in 1415), intended for niches on the outside of the church of the Florentine guilds. George was later replaced by a copy, and the original is in the National Museum. In these sculptures, for the first time since the period of classical antiquity and in contrast to medieval art, the human body is demonstrated as a functional organism, and the individual's personality radiates a confidence in his own worth.

The same qualities increasingly came to the fore in the series of five statues of prophets that Donatello worked on starting in 1416 for the niches of the bell tower of the Duomo. The appearance of the prophets, especially the characteristic individual facial features inspired by ancient Romanesque portraits, has exceptional expressive power and makes an impression on each and every viewer. The statues are so different from traditional depictions of prophets Old Testament that by the end of the 15th century they could be mistaken for portrait sculptures.

The unique pictorial tendency in Donatello's sculpture and stucco work is largely related to the technique of creating the famous relief panels by Ghiberti, which were intended for the north door of the baptistery of the Duomo Cathedral. The master managed to expand the apparent depth of the scene by boldly rounding the foreground figures against more delicately modeled elements of the landscape and architecture. Donatello created his own new way relief known as schiacciato ("flattened"). Distinctive feature This technology is considered by experts to be extremely fine carvings and fine stucco, which creates a striking effect of atmospheric space.

Donatello continued to explore and expand his capabilities new technology in his marble bas-reliefs created in the late 1420s and early 1430s. At the same time, the master also succeeded in working in bronze. His earliest bronze work was a life-size statue of Saint Louis of Toulouse. Interestingly, for a long time scholars had an unfavorable opinion of St. Louis, but later leading art historians began to consider the sculpture truly unique, both technically and artistically. The clothing completely hides the figure's body, but Donatello successfully conveys the impression of a harmonious organic structure of the body under the drapery.

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Donatello was commissioned not only to create the statue, but also the niche and its frame. The niche is the earliest example demonstrating the new Renaissance architectural style, significantly different from Brunelleschi's architecture, without residual Gothic forms. In his work, Donatello actively collaborated with Michelozzo. The departure from Brunelleschi's standards led to a estrangement between the two old friends, who were never able to restore their relationship. Brunelleschi even wrote epigrams against Donatello.

Many scholars believe that it was the collaboration with Michelozzo that formed the basis for the creation of the famous bronze David, the first large-scale free-standing nude statue of the Renaissance. Well balanced and superbly proportioned, it was conceived independently of architectural guidelines. The harmonious calm makes David the most classic of Donatello's works. The statue was undoubtedly made for a private patron, but his identity has not yet been clearly established. The sculpture originally occupied the center of the courtyard of the Medici Palace in Florence during the wedding of Lorenzo the Magnificent in 1469. After the expulsion of the Medici in 1496, the statue was placed in the courtyard of the Palazzo Vecchio, from where it later moved to the Bargello.

Regardless of whether David was commissioned by the Medici, Donatello worked for them from 1433 to 1443, creating sculptural decoration for old church Medici in San Lorenzo. His work there consisted of creating 10 large bas-reliefs in plaster and two small bronze doors.

Paduan period

In 1443, when Donatello was about to begin work on two more ambitious pairs of bronze doors for the Medici Cathedral, he was invited to Padua by commissioning a bronze equestrian statue of the famous Venetian condottiere Erasmo da Narmi, who had died shortly before. At that time, such a project was unprecedented - indeed, scandalous, because bronze equestrian statues had previously been dedicated only to the greatest Roman rulers.

Completion of the monument was plagued by delays. Donatello completed most of the work between 1447 and 1450, but the statue was not placed on its pedestal until 1453. He depicts Gattamelata in magnificent armor, in a calm, proud pose, reflecting the dignity of the rider as realistically as possible. The rider's face is an idealized portrait with an intellectual expression. This statue became the ancestor of all equestrian monuments built since then. His fame, enhanced by numerous rave reviews, spread everywhere. Even before the sculpture was presented to the public, the King of Naples wanted Donatello to make the same equestrian statue for him.

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In the early 1450s, Donatello worked on the decoration of the Church of Padua in San Antonio. Here the sculptor created a magnificent, expressive bronze crucifix and a new high altar, the most ambitious of its kind and unparalleled in 15th-century Europe. Its ornate architectural frame of marble and limestone is complemented by seven life-size bronze statues, 21 bronze bas-reliefs of varying sizes and a large limestone relief depicting Christ.

Donatello experienced an obvious decline in creativity during his last three years in Padua. The work for the San Antonio altar was not paid, and Gattamelata's monument was not placed until 1453, forcing him to abandon the work of the auxiliary sculptors and masons used in these projects. Although other proposals were submitted, none of them were implemented. Obviously, Donatello was experiencing a creative crisis, which prevented him from working. He later said that he almost died “among those frogs in Padua.” In 1456, the Florentine physician Giovanni Cellini in his account noted that he successfully treated the master for a long illness.

Donatello completed only two works between 1450 and 1455 - a wooden statue of St. John the Baptist in Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari (Venice) and an even more unusual figure of St. Mary Magdalene for the baptistery in Florence. Both works show a new understanding of the author’s reality, against the backdrop of a difficult psycho-emotional state. Donatello's previously powerful and well-built bodies became withered, and their faces expressed strong emotional stress inside. When the statue of Mary Magdalene was damaged during the 1966 flood in Florence, restoration work revealed the original painted surface, including realistic flesh tones and golden highlights in the saint's hair.

Late Florentine period

During Donatello's absence, a new generation of sculptors emerged in Florence who excelled in sensuous and realistic depictions of marble surfaces. Thus, wooden figures Donatello came as a real shock to the spoiled Florentines. Many projects were then suspended and proposals were withdrawn.

IN recent years During his lifetime, Donatello designed two bronze pulpits for San Lorenzo. At this time, the sculptor was again in the service of his old Medici patrons. It was while working on this order that the master died. Decorating walls with stucco reliefs showing the passion of Christ is a work of enormous spiritual depth and complexity. At the same time, some elements of the bas-reliefs remained unfinished and were completed by other artists after Donatello’s death.

Today, Donatello's works are recognized as true masterpieces of world art and occupy an important place among the exhibits of the richest museum collections and architectural complexes.

Donatello (Donatello) (real name Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi, Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi) (c. 1386-1466), Italian sculptor. Representative of the Florentine school of the Early Renaissance. He developed the democratic traditions of the culture of Florence. Reflecting on the experience of ancient art, he created classical forms and types of Renaissance sculpture: a new type of round statue and sculptural group (“St. George”, 1416, “David”, 1430, “Judith and Holofernes”, 1456-57), a monumental equestrian monument ( "Gattamelata" in Padua, 1447-53), a picturesque relief (the altar of the Church of Sant'Antonio in Padua, 1446-50), a majestic tomb (the tomb of Antipope John XXIII in the Florentine Baptistery, 1425-27).

Donatello (Donatello) (real name Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi, Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi) (1386/87, Florence - December 13, 1466, ibid.), Italian sculptor, representative of the Florentine school of the Early Renaissance.

Donatello's personality

Born in Florence, in the family of a wealthy wool carder, Niccolo di Betto Bardi. In 1403-07 he studied in the workshop of Lorenzo Ghiberti, where he studied bronze casting techniques. Donatello's work was greatly influenced by his acquaintance with Filippo Brunelleschi. Ghiberti and Brunneleschi remained the sculptor's closest friends throughout their lives. Giorgio Vasari gives an idea of Donatello’s personality: “He was an extremely generous, kind man and treated his friends better than himself; I never attached any value to money...”

Early period of creativity

Donatello's activities in the 1410s were associated with communal orders for decorating public buildings in Florence. To decorate the facade of the Or San Michele building, Donatello creates statues of St. Mark (1411-13) and St. George (1415-17). In 1415 he completed the statue of St. John the Evangelist for the façade of the Florentine Cathedral. In 1415, the construction commission of the Florentine Cathedral, to decorate the campanile, ordered Donatello statues of the prophets, on the creation of which the master worked for almost twenty years (1416-35; five statues are in the Cathedral Museum). The statues of the prophets and “David” (c. 1430-32) are still largely associated with the late Gothic tradition: the figures are subordinated to an abstract decorative rhythm, the faces are interpreted in an ideally monotonous manner, the bodies are hidden behind heavy folds of robes. However, already in them Donatello sets himself the task of reproducing the new ideal of the era - the individual heroic personality (especially St. Mark, 1412; St. George, 1415, Habakkuk, the so-called Zuccone, and Jeremiah, 1423-26): the forms gradually acquire plastic clarity , the volumes become solid, the typical expression of faces is replaced by portraiture, the folds of clothes naturally envelop the body and echo its curves and movement.

In collaboration with the architect Bartolommeo di Michelozzo in 1425-27, Donatello created the tomb of Pope John XXIII in the Florentine Baptistery (Donatello created only the reclining figure of the pope), which became a classic model for all later tombs of the Renaissance, designed to perpetuate the glory of the deceased. The creation of the tomb of John XXIII marks the beginning of a long collaboration between Donatello and Michelozzo.

In the early 1420s, Donatello turned to the technique of bronze casting. His first work in this material is a statue of St. Louis of Toulouse, commissioned by the council of the Guelph party in 1422 to decorate one of the niches in Or San Michele (later moved to Santa Croce, now kept in the museum at the church) - one of the most beautiful monuments that reflected the Renaissance understanding of holiness as a personal achievement .

The pinnacle of Donatello's work in bronze is the statue of David (c.1430-32, Bargello Museum, Florence). “David” was first mentioned in documents in 1469 (at that time he stood on a column in the middle of the courtyard of the Palazzo Medici in Florence); after the expulsion of the Medici in 1495, the statue was moved to the courtyard of the Signoria and became a kind of symbol of Florence and its struggle for independence and freedom. Unlike medieval sculpture, the statue is designed to go around in a circle; the sculptor’s approach to the theme of nudity was also innovative: for the first time since the Middle Ages, the naked body was depicted on such a large scale and so realistically. Other works by Donatello from the 1410s and early 1420s include a wooden crucifix from the Church of Santa Croce in Florence (c. 1410), a sandstone figure of a lion, the so-called Marzocco, the emblem of Florence (1418-20, National Museum, Florence), bronze reliquary of San Rossore for the church of Ognisanti (1427, National Museum, Pisa), bronze figurine from the National Museum in Florence (the so-called “Attis Amorino”; ca. 1440, apparently a depiction of Priapus, the ancient deity of fertility) .

Donatello's experiments in relief techniques were revolutionary. The desire for a realistic rendering of a visually convincing illusory space leads him to create “rilievo schiacciato” (flattened relief), in which the impression of depth is achieved through gradation of volumes. The use of the principles of direct perspective enhances the illusion of spatiality - the sculptor, “drawing” with a chisel, is likened to a painter, painting a picture(“The Battle of George with the Dragon”, c. 1417, Bargello Museum; “Pazzi Madonna”, c. 1422, Berlin-Dahlem; “Herod’s Feast” for the font of the Siena Baptistery, c. 1425; “Assumption of Mary”, c. 1427- 1428, Church of Sant'Angelo a Nilo in Naples; "The Ascension of Christ and the Delivery of the Keys to the Apostle Peter", 1428-30, Victoria and Albert Museum, London). In Donatello’s “picturesque” reliefs, the architectural background is depicted according to the rules of direct perspective with a single vanishing point of lines. The master manages to create several spatial zones where the characters are located; the sense of spatiality is enhanced due to the subtle gradation of the volumes of the characters’ figures and illusory architecture - more plastic, voluminous in the foreground, and graphically interpreted, made in the “relievo schiacciato” technique - in the background.

Second Florentine period

From August 1432 to May 1433, Donatello was in Rome, where, together with his friend Brunelleschi, he measured Roman monuments and studied monuments of ancient sculpture (according to legend, local residents considered them treasure hunters). Reflections of these Roman impressions are: the tabernacle commissioned by Pope Eugene IV for the Chapel del Sacramento (now in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome), the "Annunciation" (the so-called Altar of Cavalcanti, Florence, Church of Santa Croce), outstanding for the calm rhythm of its simple generalized lines and completely ancient clarity and beauty of the faces, the singing platform of the Florence Cathedral (1433-40) and the external pulpit of the Cathedral in Prato (1434-38), decorated with reliefs of people dancing and playing on various musical instruments half-naked putti, similar to ancient cupids.

Donatello achieves true “classicism” in the relief created upon his return from Rome on the subject of “Herod’s Feast” (c. 1435, Musee Vicar, Lille), where impressions from Brunelleschi’s architecture were reflected in the complex spatial structure, in the variety of combinations of arches, porticoes and architectural decorations and L.B.

Around 1440 Donatello creates eight medallions and bronze doors for the Old Sacristy of San Lorenzo in Florence (1435-43). In four reliefs sculpted from knock ("Vision of John on the Island of Patmos", "Resurrection of Drusiana", "Liberation from a Cauldron of Boiling Oil", "Ascension to Heaven"), the sculptor achieves amazing freedom in depicting huge buildings, interiors and human figures. The complex movement of the masses of figures, their deep emotional pathos, dynamic, intense compositions, the aggravation of psychological characteristics - instead of simple generalized lines, plastic clarity and purity of the drawing - speak of a change in the master's manner in the 1440s.

Paduan period

With Donatello's departure to Padua in 1443, the next period of his work begins. In Padua he made an equestrian statue of the Venetian condottiere Erasmo de Narni, nicknamed Gattamelata (Black Cat) (cast in 1447, installed in 1453). Donatello's model was the Roman monument to Marcus Aurelius: the condottiere is depicted sitting in a saddle, wearing antique armor and holding a commander's staff in his hand. Placed at the intersection of the main streets leading to the cathedral square, the monument is visible primarily from a side point of view. With the help of the diagonal formed by Gattamelata's staff and sword, and the position of his hands, Donatello combined the figures of the rider and horse into a single solid silhouette. The appearance of the hero is marked by nobility and self-esteem (virtu) - for the first time since the Middle Ages, a person was awarded a monument for his personal merits and military valor.

In addition to the statue of Gattamelata, Donatello creates a sculptural altar of St. Anthony of Padua (installed June 13, 1450) and four reliefs with scenes from the life of this saint (1446-48). The huge (about 5 m long) altar was rebuilt twice in the 16th and 17th centuries; its original appearance can only be judged by reconstruction. The figure of Mary and Child, surrounded by six saints (Francis, Anthony, Daniel and Justina, Prozdocimus and Louis) formed a monumental group in the space of the church. Reliefs from the life of St. Anthony in the Padua Cathedral (“Miracle of the Donkey”, “Miracle of the Talking Baby”, “Miraculous Healing of the Angry Son”, “Miracle of the Miser’s Heart”) is the pinnacle of Donatello’s creativity in the field of “picturesque” relief. The backdrop for the saint’s miracles is grandiose architecture, organizing and ordering the action; crowd scenes are full of drama.

In the last years of his stay in Padua, Donatello works little and, apparently, is seriously ill. In 1453 he returned to Florence, where he lived, with the exception of a short trip to Siena in 1457, until his death in 1466.

Late Florentine period

Donatello's later work contains many problems; sometimes they talk about the “decline” of skill or a return to Gothic techniques and an increase in spiritual expression. In the sculpture of Donatello in the 1450s - early 1460s - in the wooden statue of Mary Magdalene (Baptistery, Florence), in the bronze group “Judith and Holofernes” (c. 1456-57, Piazza della Signoria, Florence), the statue of John the Baptist ( 1451, Santa Maria dei Frari), in reliefs on the themes of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ of two cathedras (“Crucifixion”, “Descent from the Cross”, “Entombment”, “Resurrection”, “Mary at the Holy Sepulcher”, etc.) in the Church of San Lorenzo in Florence (1460s) - the tragic theme predominates, the naturalism of the performance borders on spiritual breakdown. A number of compositions were completed by Donatello's students, Bellago and Bertoldo, after his death.

The meaning of Donatello's art

In the history of Renaissance sculpture, Donatello was a central figure. He was the first to undertake a systematic study of the mechanism of movement of the human body, the first to depict complex mass action, the first to interpret clothing in close connection with the movement and plasticity of the body, the first to set himself the task of expressing an individual portrait in sculpture, and focused attention on the mental life of the characters he depicted.

Donatello was a bold reformer in technology: he brought marble modeling and bronze casting to exceptional perfection, extracting the finest pictorial effects from stone and metal. The coloring he used formed the basis of the Florentine polychrome terracotta sculpture (Della Robbia family), and the picturesque three-plane relief he developed, based on an accurate knowledge of perspective and on a masterly gradation of volumes, indicated the path for further development not only of sculpture, but also of painting.

Donatello is an Italian sculptor who is a representative of the early Renaissance, the Florentine school. We will talk about his life and works in this article. The biography of this author is unknown in detail, so it is possible to present it only briefly.

Brief biographical information about the sculptor Donatello

The future sculptor Donatello was born in Florence in 1386, in the family of Nicollo di Betto Bardi, a wealthy wool carder. He trained from 1403-1407 in the workshop of a man named Lorenzo Ghiberti. Here he mastered, in particular, the technique. The work of this sculptor was greatly influenced by his acquaintance with another great man - Filippo Brunelleschi. Ghiberti and Brunneleschi remained the master's closest friends for life.

He said that the sculptor Donatello was a very generous person, very kind, treated his friends very well, and never attached importance to money. His students and friends took from him as much as they needed.

Early period of creativity

The activities of this sculptor in early period, in the 1410s, was associated with communal orders that were provided to him to decorate various public buildings in Florence. For the building of Or San Michele (its facade), Donatello makes statues of St. George (period from 1415 to 1417) and St. Mark (from 1411 to 1413). In 1415 he completed the statue of St. John the Evangelista, who decorated the Florence Cathedral.

In the same year, the construction commission commissioned Donatello to make statues of the prophets to decorate the campanile. The master worked on their creation for almost two decades (from 1416 to 1435). Five figures are in the cathedral museum. "David" and the statues of the prophets (approximately 1430-1432) are in many ways still associated with the late Gothic tradition that existed at that time. The figures are subordinated to an abstract decorative rhythm, the faces are ideally monotonous, the bodies are covered with heavy robes. But already in these creations he tries to convey the new ideal of his era - heroic individual personality- Donatello. The sculptor created works of various themes, in which this ideal is manifested. This is especially noticeable in the image of St. Mark (1412), St. George (1415), as well as Habakkuk and Jeremiah (years of creation - 1423-1426). Gradually, the forms acquire clarity, the volumes become solid, the typical is replaced by portraiture, and the folds of the clothes wrap the body naturally, echoing its movement and bends.

Tomb of John XXIII

The sculptor Donatello creates the tomb together with Michelozzo between 1425 and 1427. It became the classic model used for later tombs dating back to the Renaissance. The long-term collaboration of these two sculptors begins with this work.

Casting figures from bronze

At the beginning of the 1420s, Donatello turned to casting figures in bronze. In this material, his first work is a statue of Louis of Toulouse, which was commissioned from him in 1422 to decorate a niche in Or San Michele. This is one of the most remarkable monuments, which reflected the understanding of holiness as a personal achievement that dominated the Renaissance.

David statue

The pinnacle of this master’s work in bronze technique is created around 1430-1432. It is designed, unlike medieval sculpture, to go around in a circle. Another innovation was the theme of nudity, which Donatello addressed. The sculptor depicted David naked, and not in robes, as was customary before, for the first time since the Middle Ages so realistically and on such a large scale.

Other works by Donatello dating from the 1410s to the early 1420s include a lion carved from sandstone, the emblem of Florence, a wooden crucifix for the Church of Santa Croce, a bronze reliquary for the Church of Ognisanti, a bronze figurine housed in the National Museum of Florence under called "Attis Amorino", which is apparently an image of the ancient deity of fertility, Priapus.

Works in relief technique

Donatello's experiments in relief techniques were also revolutionary. The desire for a realistic depiction of illusory space leads the sculptor to create a flattened relief, where the impression of depth is produced through the gradation of volumes. The use of direct perspective techniques enhances the spatial illusion. By “drawing” with a chisel, the sculptor is likened to an artist painting a picture. Let us note here such works as “The Battle of George with the Dragon”, “Pazzi Madonna”, “Herod’s Feast”, “The Ascension of Mary” and others. The architectural background in the pictorial reliefs of this master is depicted using the rules of direct perspective. He managed to create several spatial zones in which the characters are located.

Trip to Rome, second Florentine period

The sculptor Donatello was in Rome from August 1432 to May 1433. Here he, together with Brunelleschi, measures the city’s monuments and studies ancient sculpture. Local residents, according to legend, considered the two friends treasure hunters. Roman impressions are reflected in such works as the tabernacle, made for the Chapel del Sacramento by order of Eugene IV (pope), the Annunciation (otherwise known as the Cavalcanti Altar, see photo below), the singing platform of one of the Florentine cathedrals, as well as the external pulpit, made for the cathedral in Prato (time of creation - 1434-1438).

Donatello achieves true classicism in the relief "Herod's Feast", created upon his return from a trip to Rome.

Around 1440, the sculptor creates bronze doors, as well as eight medallions for the Florentine Old Sacristy of San Lorenzo (period from 1435 to 1443). In the four reliefs sculpted from knock, amazing freedom was achieved in the depiction of interiors, buildings and human figures.

Paduan period

Donatello goes to Padua in 1443. This is where the next stage of his creativity begins. He performs the equestrian statue of Erasmo de Narni (Gattamelata statue). Donatello cast it in 1447, and this work was installed a little later - in 1453. The image was the monument to Marcus Aurelius. With the help of the diagonal, which is formed by the sword and the rod of Gattamelata (nickname of Erasmo), as well as the position of the hands, the sculptor Donatello combined the figures of the horse and rider into a solid silhouette. The sculptures he created during this period are truly magnificent. In addition to the above, he performs the altar of St. Anthony of Padua, as well as four reliefs depicting scenes from his life, which are considered the pinnacle of this master’s work in pictorial relief.

Even when Donatello depicts real movement, as in the two statues of St. in Florence (in Casa Martelli and in the Bargello), he confines himself to the most modest. In both cases, St. John is represented as walking, and every last toe participates in this movement. A new secret was wrested from nature.

A distinctive feature of Donatello's skill is that this sculptor depicted energy, strength, comeliness and grace with equal skill. For example, a bas-relief of a marble balcony carved in 1434 in the Cathedral of Prato depicts half-naked geniuses and children playing musical instruments and dancing with wreaths of flowers. Their movements are extremely lively, playful and varied. The same can be said about other marble bas-reliefs made for the Florence Cathedral.

Donatello does not work much in the last years of his stay in Padua. Apparently he is seriously ill. The sculptor returned to Florence in 1453 and continued to live here until his death (in 1466), with the exception of a short trip in 1457 to Siena.

Late Florentine period

Donatello's later work raises many questions. This sculptor late period didn't create much creativity interesting works. Sometimes they talk about the decline of his skill, as well as a return to some Gothic techniques. Donatello's sculpture from the 1450s to the early 1460s is represented by a statue of Mary Magdalene (1455, see photo below), made of wood, a group of "Judith and Holofernes", a statue of John the Baptist, reliefs on the themes of the Resurrection and Passion of Christ two pulpits in the Church of San Lorenzo. These works are dominated by the tragic theme that Donatello develops. The sculptor adhered to naturalism in his execution, which bordered on spiritual breakdown. A number of compositions were completed after the master's death by his students - Bertoldo and Bellago.

The sculptor died in 1466. He was buried in the church of San Lorenzo, which was decorated with his works, with great honors. This is how Donatello's career ends. The sculptor, whose biography and works were presented in this article, played a significant role in world architecture. Let us note what it consisted of.

The significance of this master's work

Donatello was key figure in the history of Renaissance plastic arts. It was he who first began to systematically study the mechanism of movement of the human body, depicted complex mass action, began to interpret clothing in connection with the plasticity of the body and movement, set the task of expressing an individual portrait in sculpture, and focused on conveying the mental life of the characters. He perfected bronze casting and marble modeling. The three-plane relief developed by him indicated the path for the further development of sculpture, as well as painting.

Donatello was born in or near Florence between 1382 and 1387, most likely in 1386.

The real name of the sculptor? Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi, but he is better known as diminutive name Donatello, which can be translated as “little Donat.”

Donatello came from a fairly wealthy family. Was his father, who came from the old Bardi family, a craftsman? a wool carder, but lost his fortune and died quite early. Therefore, from his youth, the sculptor had to earn a living by his labor.

After his father's death, Donatello lived with his mother in a small, modest house. Donato did not attend school as a child and understood Latin rather poorly.

He was believed to have received his first training from a goldsmith and in workshops that worked on the decoration of the Florence Cathedral. It is likely that here he became close to Brunelleschi, with whom he had a close friendship throughout his life.

Like his friend Brunelleschi, he played a decisive role in the development of new art. He was a tireless worker who dedicated himself to hard work in pursuit of artistic excellence. Florence, Pisa, Siena, Prato, Rome, Padua, Ferrara, Modena, Venice? These are the cities where his activities took place, which aroused the admiration of his contemporaries. But at the same time, Donatello did not compromise, did not pursue external beauty that attracted general public, did not strive to polish his statues too much, fearing to deprive them of the freshness of the first plan, and continued to do everything in his own way.

Alberti believed that Donatello was not inferior in genius to the most famous artists of antiquity. Little is known about his creative method; not a single drawing or model of his has survived, although there were several of his drawings in Vasari’s collection.

According to Pomponio Gaurico, Donatello taught that the basis of sculpture is a drawing, and used the drawing in the process of arranging statues and reliefs, then made a small model from clay or wax, which he remade several times, according to the recollections of Paolo Giovio.

Donatelo made the statues with his own hands, trusting his students and assistants mainly with only minor details. Although he himself was an expert in bronze casting technology, he usually entrusted the casting of his bronze sculptures and reliefs to qualified bell-makers.

Then Donatello finished and polished the surface of the work - without excessive care, without smoothing, leaving them with a kind of “unfinishedness”? non-finito, moving away from jewelry traditions, taking into account the distance from which they will be viewed. In contrast to the classical direction of Florentine sculpture, in which many of his contemporaries worked, in particular Michelozzo and Luca della Robbia, Donatello's creations are executed with realism and liveliness, with greater freedom and courage.

The innovation of Donatello's creative method is clearly manifested in the reliefs, in which he achieves the finest chiaroscuro and the desired play of highlights, freely varying the depth of the surface.

The great Michelangelo adopted a lot from Donatello, his craving for the realism of sculptures, their inner beauty and monumentality, which enlivened the “incompleteness” of a dead stone.

The first period of creativity can be considered the years before 1433, when Donatello worked mainly on decoration cathedral and the church of Or San Michele in Florence. Already the master’s first major works placed Donatello in an exceptional position among his contemporaries; they revealed the exceptional originality of his creative searches.

He executed two figures for the façade of the Florence Cathedral: ? statue of David the victor (1408-1416, National Bargello Museum, Florence), ? statue of seated John the Evangelist (1408-1415, Cathedral Museum, Florence). For the Church of Santa Croce, the master carved a wooden “Crucifix” (1412-1413).

In 1412 Donatello was admitted to the Guild of St. Luke? guild of painters, as a painter, sculptor and goldsmith. In the early period of his work, Donatello was a truly people's artist, performing almost exclusively public orders (communes, workshops, churches). Did he create his statues for public viewing? for squares and facades. Later, Donatello also carried out private orders. His fame grew rapidly and everything that came out of his hands invariably surprised his contemporaries with its unexpected novelty.

The statues of saints intended for the facade of the church of Or San Michele in Florence, which were located in the external niches, immediately attracted attention with the stern expressiveness and inner strength of the images:

? statue of Mark the Evangelist (1411-1413, Church of Or San Michele, Florence),
? statue of Saint Louis of Toulouse (c. 1413), Santa Croce Museum, Florence),
? statue of St. George with a relief on the base “The Battle of St. George with the Dragon” (1415-1417, National Museum of Florence).

Among the master's early works are:

? statue of the lion "Marzocco", symbol of Florence (1418-1420),
? marble relief "Pazzi Madonna" (c. 1422),

Works for the Siena Cathedral (1423-1429), Tomb of Baldassare Coscia, Antipope John XXIII (1425-1427), Statues of the Prophets of the Florentine Bell Tower (1418-1436), Reliquary Bust of San Rossore (1425-1427), Tomb of Cardinal Rainaldo Brancacci ( 1427-1428), marble relief "Assumption of Mary" (1427-1428).

In his works, Donatello strove for the objective correctness of the proportions and construction of the figure, and also took into account the impression that the statue would produce when installed in its intended place. According to Vasari, Donatello “worked as much with his hands as with his calculations,” in contrast to the masters, whose “works are finished and seem beautiful in the room in which they are made, but are then taken out from there and placed in another place, in another lighting or at a higher altitude take on a completely different appearance and produce an impression exactly the opposite of what they produced in their previous place.”

One of the most outstanding works can confidently be called the statue of a seated John the Evangelist.

In 1408-1415, various sculptors created statues of the four Evangelists for the facade of the Cathedral in Florence - John the Evangelist, patron of the woolen workshop, the work of Donatello, as well as St. Luke - Nanni di Banco, St. Mark - Nicolo Lamberti, St. Matthew - Ciuffagni (1410-1415), now they are in the Cathedral Museum, Florence.

The statue of the seated John the Evangelist is rightfully considered the first Renaissance sculpture in which a new humanistic idea of man was expressed. In the Tretechento era, sculptures were disembodied images, but Donatello endows them with realistic, earthly characters. With this statue begins a fruitful stage in the life of the master, who opened a new era in art, he creates one masterpiece after another,

When the construction commission in 1408 distributed orders for the statues of the four Evangelists, the young Donatello received a block of Carr marble, quarried in 1405. Tall and wide, but of small depth - not exceeding half a meter - sufficient for Gothic sculpture, but clearly small for a more realistic depiction of a seated person, and therefore the sculpture, in fact, is a high relief. Donatello solved the problem by choosing a position for the figure with an oblique turn of the legs, opposite to the turn of the head, at the same time introducing hidden tension in the passively seated figure. The courageous image of John strikes with a combination of firmness and seriousness, with energy and burning inner strength.

The sitting Apostle is a strong, powerful old man, with powerful hands, full of restrained dignity and nobility. Massive head, masculine, strong face, framed by large, seemingly flowing strands of hair and beard. A piercing gaze, heavy hands accustomed to work give John impressiveness and power, reminiscent of Michelangelo’s “Moses”, who was called “the son of this father”, thus, by right, the sitting “John” Donatello is considered the inspirer and brilliant predecessor of this grandiose creation of the Renaissance.

The figure of the Evangelist is full of calm, not constraint. Through the mass of deep, heavy folds, a strong torso emerges. In comparison, “St. Luca" Nanni di Banco seems more fragile, more proportionally built, he does not have Donatella's power.

At first, the statue of John was located on the side of the main portal, now it is in the left nave of the cathedral.

So, since the time of Giovanni Pisano, Italian sculpture has not known such scale, internal strength, intense life of images, such plastic power and richness of language. In Donatello's sculptures, the image of a man is embodied, radiating calm confidence, courageous firmness, sublime heroism, endowed with a new measure of concreteness and vitality, naturalness and simplicity. The harmony of these statues is of a different order than that of Donatello's contemporaries - Lorenzo Ghiberti and Nanni di Banco. However, Gothic influences are still noticeable in Donatello's early works; later the sculptor came to create new classical forms, combining the ancient and the modern.