DONATELLO

 

Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi was born in the year 1386 (or the following year) in Florence to Niccolò and Madonna Ursa. Six years prior to his birth, his father Niccolò, a wool carder by trade, killed a man connected to the Ciompi revolution in Pisa (where they had been expelled for supporting a plan to dismantle the government), and the family was forced to flee the country. Soon after seeking support in Lucca and Genoa, the Ciompi government fell in 1382, and Niccolò returned to Florence, his original home. He lived there with his wife, daughter, and a nephew until his death in 1415. Little is known about Niccolò’s family, but one can assume that Donatello received a fair education in the structure of a middle-class family.

 

            Due to the numerous accounts of Donatello’s life, particularly within the first century after his death, several legends regarding his life, personality, upbringing, and characteristics attempt to reveal the “true” Donatello, though few accounts maintain any historical credibility. Some stories, however, possess a suspicious consistency. Donatello has often been described as a short-tempered man like his father, throwing fits of rage when faced with irritating patrons or difficult merchants. As for his sexuality, no sources reveal a distinct orientation, but he maintained a close friendship later in life with Cosimo il Vecchio and Piero de’ Medici. Donatello’s likeness is preserved in various contexts: a painting by Paolo Uccello, a panel by Francesco Salviati in Padua, a fresco by Vasari, and in other places. Most depictions seem to rely on a common source, likely that of Uccello. John Pope-Hennessy writes of Donatello’s countenance in reference to a portrayal in the Louvre:

 

The light catches his cheeks, eyelids, and forehead, leaving in shadow his cavernous eye sockets and his deep-set eyes, which look out at us with smoldering intensity. The right ear is pressed down by what remains of his cappucio (the headdress is recorded in greater detail in Vasari’s fresco). The protruding cheekbones and the furrow of concentration above the nose are registered with great fidelity. The chin is concealed by a sparse, bristly beard, and the obstinate mouth is framed by a full moustache, which extends—as was the practice in the early fifteenth century—below the level of the jaw. (13)

 

The above portrayal of Donatello reveals a deeper side to his personality, which was embodied in his work. Early in life, he began to develop tangible skills that would allow him to express his emotions through sculpture.

 

            Sources indicate that Donatello was not only a contemporary of Brunelleschi, but the two were closely associated and perhaps even involved in a type of apprenticeship. It is suggested that both parties were trained as metalworkers. The two, according to Vasari, were “determined to leave Florence and go to Rome for a year or so, the one to study architecture and the other sculpture” (Pope-Hennessy, 14.). Following his stay in Rome, Donatello was hired as Ghiberti’s assistant in making the first bronze door for the Baptistery of the Florence Cathedral. Gaining important statuary skills from Ghiberti, Donatello went on to spend a significant part of his life in Duomo and Or San Michele. “Donatello’s earliest authenticated works (1406—1408) are two statuettes for the ‘second’ Northern Cathedral door” (Meyer 12). Soon after, Donatello created the marble David, a sort of “first fruits” of his sculpting career, and several sculpted figures were soon to come.

 

             In the years 1416—1433, Donatello pursued work on the Campanile along with other individual figures. He spent some of these years in Rome, for Cosimo de’ Medici, his beloved contemporary, had been expelled from Florence. His marble statues were not appreciated in his workshop but drew eager attention when situated for the public eye. Donatello’s figures for the Campanile in Florence and his series of individual sculptures, David (marble), St. John, St. Mark, and St. George, placed him in the spotlight of the early Renaissance. His work was desirous, and thus influential persons commissioned him. The Medici family became a source of income for Donatello, particularly Cosimo de’ Medici. Some of his works to this day exist in Medici family chapels (Poeschke).

 

             Donatello’s later life attended to works in Padua where he produced the famous Equestrian Monument of Gattamelata and the Crucifix for the Basilica of St. Anthony. Many other reliefs and statues were produced in Padua before his return to Florence in 1453. Home for the final time, Donatello continued to create sculptures and reliefs with help from assistants. Castelfranco describes the final years of Donatello’s career until his death: “Unfortunately the health of the artist as he approached his eightieth year broke down; he was smitten by one of those forms of paralysis so common among aged workers and after months of suffering he died on 13 December 1466” (75). Donatello was buried in S. Lorenzo by request alongside his patron and dear friend Cosimo de’ Medici (Meyer 153).

 

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