It felt wonderful to return to Italy for the Spring of 2022. After settling in at our apartment in Pienza, our first adventure was a trip to Florence to see the highly-touted Donatello exhibit. The exhibit featured more than 130 pieces…so large it was shared by two museums: the Palazzo Strozzi (the Strozzi family were bankers, for a time the most influential family in Florence, and rivals of the Medici’s) and the Bargello National Museum.
The exhibit scoured the world for Donatello art and got pieces on loan from museums in Detroit, London, Berlin, and across Italy.
Donatello was born Donato Niccolo di Betto Bardi in 1386. He apprenticed to Lorenzo Ghiberti, famous for creating the cast bronze doors on the Florence Baptistry.
The stated purpose of the exhibition is to inform the world what an innovative and ground-breaking figure Donatello was…as influential to the Renaissance as Picasso was to cubism.
Prior to Donatello, sculpture was more representational than realistic. The facial expressions of the subjects seemed frozen and not necessarily reflective of the emotion the sculpture was trying to convey.
The same goes for the body language.
Note how Donatello’s David has struck a more natural pose…and how the expression on his face reflects the relief and triumph of his slaying Goliath.
This sculpture was intended as a political statement. Cast for Giovanni di Medici, the founder of the Medici dynasty, it was a warning to family rivals that, like David, the Medici may have started out under-dogs but were destined for great things.
Another Donatello innovation was the use of perspective in bas-relief. In the photo at the left..from Donatello’s statue of St. George…note the use of perspective in the background.
(In fact, the statue of David [above] looks slightly out of proportion when viewed at eye level…because Donatello designed it using perspective, knowing the piece would be placed on a tall pedestal and viewed from below.)
A third Donatello innovation was the use of putti in Renaissance art. Putti, or little winged cherubs, had been used in classical Roman art. But the practice died out, and Donatello revived their use to represent various emotions…something then picked up by numerous painters and sculptors who followed.
The most common theme among the many pieces in the Donatello exhibition was Madonna and Child…either as statuary or bas-relief.
There’s a reason for this. In the early to mid-15th century, well-to-do Florentine families wanted to have a Madonna and Child in their homes.
Donatello crafted so many…in statuary or bas-relief…because that’s what his clients were willing to pay for.
Donatello’s pieces were in high demand because they…better than any of the other artists at the time…displayed an emotional connection between mother and baby.
(Carol’s favorite)
Donatello was also willing to break with tradition. When he cast this monumental horse head as part of a tribute to Venetian military hero Erasmo da Narni, he caused a scandal. No one had cast larger-than-life statues of military heroes since the time of the Roman Emperors.
After Donatello, it became common practice to portray powerful political figures as Roman emperors…to make a political point.
We found this piece of sculpture puzzling. It lacked the dynamism of most of the other pieces in the exhibition. But why?
It turns out this statue of St. George was commissioned by the armorers’ guild for the church of Orsanmichele in Florence. The guild was interested in showing off examples of its armor…note the shield, breastplate, and arm protectors.
Below the statue is the bas-relief of St. George slaying the dragon, part of which is shown as the example of perspective displayed above.
In a later version of St. George, Donatello shows the same figure in a more dynamic pose.
Roger’s favorite sculpture in the exhibit was Donatello’s John the Baptist. He portrays St.John as an old man, with spindly legs, dressed in a hair coat that looks like rags.
Note the face of John. The skin is parched and dry, like an old man’s. You can see the veins standing out on his hand.
Donatello was so influential, many of the artists of his time blatently copied his style…as in this Andrea del Verrocchio statue of David.
Both Leonardo Da Vinci and Michaelangelo admitted their debt to Donatello…as a source of their inspiration.
This exhibition will hopefully create the recognition Donato Niccolo di Betto Bardi deserves, as a ground-breaking figure in Renaissance art.
