DONATELLO

 

Donatello is known for famous works such as his statues of Christian figures like the

St. Mark, the St. George, and the St. John. His Crucifix and Equestrian Monument of Gattamelata possess telling characteristics of his skill in emotional expression and detail (Meyer). Although Donatello compiled an impressive oeuvre, no work so masterfully encompasses his early Renaissance style like his David formed of bronze, David with the Head of Goliath.

It was commissioned by Cosimo de’ Medici around the year 1430. Much of what is

known about the David is shrouded by inconsistent historical accounts. Alfred Meyer illustrates the confusion in his volume on Donatello in Monographs on Artists:

We have no date to work upon, since Vasari’s account, which connects the removal of this statue from the court of the Casa Medici to that of the Palazzo Vecchio with the banishment of Cosimo in 1433, is based on error. The bronze David did not get into the Palazzo Vecchio before 1495. It is moreover probable, that this statue was made for the court of the new Medici palace, which was erected by Michelozzo! (93)

Perhaps the obscurity of the bronze David lends itself to a greater degree of scrutiny, making it most interesting in terms of scholarship and criticism. Whatever the case, a major theme is revealed in the style and form of Donatello’s masterpiece—the resurrection of antiquity. His focus and attention on form present a clear embodiment of classicism in sculpture, which would be followed in step by artists of such magnitude as Michelangelo himself. However, Meyer goes on to reveal a harsher criticism of the David:

One can understand, that the cinquecentists praised this work of Donatello’s with particular warmth! They saw him here on the same road, on which they had embarked themselves. Yea, even more, the “classicism” of the general conception went so far, that the second half of the fifteenth century did not follow it . . . By its side Donatello’s David is not only somewhat archaical, but even a little impersonal: it has a slight touch of “classicist coldness”. In his bronze David, Donatello is not as completely under the star of his innate, individual, creative power, as he was, when he worked the St. George. (95)

Despite the claims of “coldness,” the David stands confidently over the head of Goliath

with a sword in his right hand, stone in the left. Laurels encircle David’s hat, a symbol of Roman antiquity reborn. The figure stands 62¼ in. high, just over five feet. Scholars debate on its dating; years range from an early 1430 to a late 1457. The most popularly held dates of production range from c. 1444–46 (Poeschke). The nudity of the structure adds to its movement and free spirit. John Pope-Hennessy holds that it was possibly the first freestanding nude statue since antiquity. Accounts of it standing atop a column in the courtyard of the Palazzo Medici reveal clues to its original purpose. The David had multiple homes before its ultimate display at the Bargello in Florence. After Medici rule, the statue is said to have moved with Donatello’s Judith to the Palazzo Vecchio in 1495. It supposedly remained there until 1555, when it moved to a location similar to the previous in the center of the cortile. The statue eventually came to rest where it is located today in 1880.