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| Sagrestia Vecchia- La cupolina affrescata. |
By Lynea B.
Donatello, born Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi in Florence around1386. He was a popular early Italian Renaissance artist who produced many sculptures during his lifetime. His sculptures were made of marble and bronze. Having been educated in his youth at the home of the Martellis (a weathy family of art patrons and bankers) he received artistic training from a goldsmith and then apprenticed with a metalsmith and sculptor. His early work followed the Gothic style but he later developed a more emotional style that incorporated perspective for a realistic look. I’ve selected a few images from the book “Donatello in San Lorenzo a Firenze” that showcased photographs taken by Aurelio Amendola of some of his works. Most of the images in the book depicted Biblical scenes—Donatello was known for doing commissions for churches and of Biblical characters. Donatello died in 1466 in Florence.
I was drawn to the image above because I was particularly drawn to the colors, which the scanner did no justice to. The contrast of the gold and yellow to the backdrop of the dark blues of the night sky are really amazing. This painting was done on a high, domed ceiling. This is one of the few, non-Biblical works of Donatello.
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| Pulpito Della Passione- Crocefissione. |
The reason I chose Donatello was because while browsing the stacks in Lily library, I was drawn to the long spine of the book that had his name written on it in all caps. I honestly knew nothing about Donatello beside the fact that one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was named after him, meaning he was a Renaissance artist. I wanted to know more about him and see some of his work. That proved to be a bit difficult when web search kept giving me the Ninja Turtle instead of the Italian Renaissance Artist. Donatello was mostly a sculptor, but using the internet to find images of sketches he might’ve done was pretty much impossible because sketches of turtles was all I was finding. Unfortunately, the book I used as my main source had only photographs of sculptures and buildings. This makes sense granted that sculptures are more likely than sketches to survive hundreds of years.
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| Pulpito Della Resurrezione- Ascensione. |
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| Sagrestia Vecchia- San Giovanni. |
I think these sculptures really show the emotional style Donatello became well known for. He moved farther and farther away from the expressionless, Gothic style with long emphasized lines and more into a emotional, realistic style. One of his most famous works, a sculpture of David, was done during an earlier part in his career and exemplifies the Gothic style.
References
"Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History." Donatello (ca. 1386–1466). N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2014. <http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/dona/hd_dona.htm>.
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