Sculptor (c. 1385/6 - 1466)

01.12.11: Gallery Text

Donatello is one of the greatest sculptors that ever lived owing to his astonishing ability to portray the spectrum of human emotion and character. Long-lived and versatile, he worked in a great range of materials. This work offers a clear picture of the artist and the man.

His own heroic style, first seen in the "St Mark" (1411-12) and his "St John Evangelist" (1413-15), made his reputation. In both these he created a new kind of humanity, slightly larger than life and exemplifying those qualities of will that were so highly prized in the early renaissance. His "St George" (1416-c.1420) for Osanmichele the Saint is a portrayal of the Christian hero, but more significantly it is the earliest datable example of perpective being used to create definable space for the figures to occupy.

01.12.11: Images

Many of the images below are available as giclee prints at allposters.com. It's a good place to start your collection of Donatello posters. Anything obscure and for the completist then you have to look elsewhere but for the popular pieces then this is the place. See their Donatello page here.