This is a preview of the content in our Florence Art & Culture app. Get the app to:
  • Read offline
  • Remove ads
  • Access all content
  • Use the in-app Map to find sites, and add custom locations (your hotel...)
  • Build a list of your own favourites
  • Search the contents with full-text search functionality
  • ... and more!
iOS App Store Google Play

Donatello

First Among Sculptors

Portrait of Donatello

Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, is better known as Donatello (1386–1466). The greatest early Renaissance sculptor appeared as suddenly as a comet at the beginning of Florence’s quattrocento. Never equalled in technical ability, expressiveness, or imaginative content, his works influenced Renaissance painters as much as sculptors. A prolific worker, and a quiet fellow who lived with his mum, Donatello was the perfect model of the early Renaissance artist–passionate about art, self-effacing, occasionally hot-tempered and more than a little eccentric.

The few antecdotes about his life make for an attractive character. Besides the famous dropping his eggs incident at Santa Maria Novella, another story tells how he gave money to a beggar asking alms for the love of God. 'No, not for the love of God,' Donatello said. 'But because you need it.'

Read the full content in the app
iOS App Store Google Play

Renaissance Art & Architecture

Sculptors

Text © Dana Facaros & Michael Pauls

Images by Anonymous, Donatello, Patrick A. Rodgers, Sailko, GNU Creative Commons License