Donatello facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Donatello
Donatello, in a 15th-century portrait by an unknown artist
Born	Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi c. 1386 Republic of Florence
Died	13 December 1466(1466-12-13) (aged 79–80) Republic of Florence
Nationality	Florentine
Education	Lorenzo Ghiberti
Known for	Sculpture
Notable work	Saint George, David, Equestrian Monument of Gattamelata
Movement	Early Renaissance

Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi (c. 1386 – 13 December 1466), better known as Donatello, was an Italian sculptor of the Renaissance period.

He studied classical sculpture and used this to develop a complete Renaissance style in sculpture. He spent time in in Rome, Padua, Siena, and other Italian cities, and while there he worked on commissions and taught others.

Life and death

Donatello was born in Florence, probably in the year 1386. He was the son of Niccolò di Betto Bardi, who was a member of the Florentine Arte della Lana. Donatello was educated in the house of the Martelli family. He apparently received his early artistic training in a goldsmith's workshop, and then worked briefly in the studio of Lorenzo Ghiberti.

In Pistoia in 1401, Donatello met the older Filippo Brunelleschi. They likely went to Rome together around 1403, staying until the next year, to study the architectural ruins. Brunelleschi informally tutored Donatello in goldsmithing and sculpture. Brunelleschi's buildings and Donatello's sculptures are both considered supreme expressions of the spirit of this era in architecture and sculpture.

He worked in Florence from about 1406 through 1430. After that, he spent some time in Rome and returned to Florence around 1433-1434. Until 1443 he worked in Prato and Venice.

In 1443, he was invited to work in Padua. He remained there until 1453, when he returned to Florence.

The cause of Donatello's death is not known, but it is known that he died on December 13, 1466 in Florence.

Artistic style

Donatello's work was inspired by ancient sculpture. He was the first sculptor of his time to celebrate the human body, an idea that had died out after Greek and Roman times.

His life-size statue of David is his best-known work. The David is the first known free-standing nude statue made since antiquity. Much of his work was done for display in grand churches. Between 1415 and 1426, he made five statues for the Florence Cathedral, also known as the Duomo.

Donatello was a realist: an artist whose sculpture showed the subjects as real people. Naturalism and the showing of human feelings are his influences.

Interesting facts about Donatello

• He worked with stone, bronze, wood, clay, stucco, and wax.
• Donatello had several assistants, with four perhaps being a typical number.
• His best-known works mostly were statues, but he also created small and large bas-reliefs.
• He sculptured statues for churches, covents and private houses, for Cosimo de' Medici, and for various city authorities.
• Donatello has been featured in popular culture in various forms such as movies, TV shows, and video games.
• A character in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise is named after him.

Gallery

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  Saint John the Evangelist (1408-1415), which until 1588 occupied a niche of the old Florence Cathedral façade, now at the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo

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  Donatello's David head and shoulders front right

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  Madonna and Child, painted terracotta, c. 1440, Louvre

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  Equestrian Monument of Gattamelata (1445–1450), Padua

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  Statue of St. John the Baptist in the Duomo di Siena, c. 1455

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  Penitent Magdalene, wood, c. 1440-1442, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence

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  Il Cristo di Sant'Angelo di Legnaia

Works

2020 discovery

In 2020 art historian Gianluca Amato, as part of his research on wooden crucifixes crafted between the late thirteenth and the first half of the sixteenth century for his doctoral thesis at the University of Naples Federico II, discovered that the crucifix of the church of Sant'Angelo a Legnaia was sculpted by Donatello.

This discovery has been evaluated historically. Silvia Bensì performed restoration work on the crucifix.

Related pages

• Italian Renaissance art

See also

In Spanish: Donatello para niños