Donatello

 



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("Donatello", History Resource Center)



//**Style**// As a prominent Italian artist during the fifteenth century, Donatello gained universal acknowledgment and praise for both his paintings and sculptures. According to The Art of the Renaissance, “The influence of Gothic on Donatello survives in his use of dramatic silhouette, but in him all is permeated by an ultra-powerful realism and even by a cult of ugliness used for expressive reasons” (Murray 29). It is due to his replacement of the common Gothic style with the expression of realism, drama, and movement that resulted in his universal fame. In fact, “He was an innovator so that most Florentine sculpture after 1450 and until Michelangelo was in some way a response to Donatello’s art” (Eglinski 42). His expression of classical antiquity and appreciation of human nature and uniqueness further separated him from his fellow artists.

//**Works of Art**// The work of Donatello is characterized by his great technicality and optical accuracy, which resulted in the recognition of his art not only during his time but in modern day as well. A few of his most famous works include the bronze David sculpture, the bronze Erasmo sculpture, and the wooden statue of Mary Magdalen as well as tombs of popes and cardinals and a bronze high altar. The over-life-sized figure of St. Mark established Donatello as a unique and dynamic artist due to the statue's classical and ornate details. Furthermore, his creation of the Feast of Herod relief displayed the emerging style of linear perspective. Another of his works, the statue of St. George, is "set within an unusually shallow niche, projects forward into the space of the observer as a startling presence, a real, not an ideal, hero. He is ready for action, alert, confident, and very human in his psychological and postural tensions" ("Donatello"). In conclusion, “Donatello was perhaps the first artist to create a truly Renaissance expression” (Eglinski 42). Not only did Donatello succeed in capturing the essence of the Renaiss ance, but he was also able to establish a remarkable, unique style appreciated and practiced by many after him.





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Blabberize. 20 Feb. 2009 . “Donatello.” Biography Collection Complete. 2006. EBSCOhost. 12 Feb. 2009 . “Donatello.” Biography Resource Center. 1998. Galenet. 12 Feb. 2009 . “Donatello.” Biography Resource Center. 1990. Galenet. 10 Feb. 2009 . “Donatello.” Biography Resource Center. 2001. Galenet. 11 Feb. 2009 . Eglinski, Edmund. The Art of the Italian Renaissance. Dubuque: Wm. C. Brown Company Publishers, 1968. Murray, Peter, and Linda Murray. The Art of the Renaissance. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, Inc., Publishers, 1963.


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