Donatello And His Art Revolution

English/ Western Civilizations 10 Pre-I

“Our Glory is all the greater since we, with neither precursors nor models, are creating arts and sciences of a kind never seen or heard of before” (Alberti qtd. in Poeschke). In the Early Renaissance, artists and scholars were incorporating the values and ideals of Ancient Rome and Greece into the growth that became important concepts of the High Renaissance. Donatello made his own place during a time when sculpture was in transition from Gothic traditionalism to classical realism. During the Gothic period, art and sculpture depicted Christian ideas. In Donatello’s lifetime (1386? -1466), the patrons of sculpture were still primarily interested in church purposes, but the new trends in style were being influenced by realism. This stylistic realism drew strongly from classical forms to depict human endeavors and emotions. Donatello developed artistic trends appearing at the time by expanding on the humanistic qualities, mastering the depiction of realistic expression and perspective in his sculptures, and refusing to compromise his ideals for the sake of conventional patrons. The church’s hold on daily life and thought was changing. Even though Donatello was not the only influential artist of the time, some others were Nanni di Banco, Ghiberti, and Brunelleschi; Donatello led them in revolutionizing the ideals of art.

In conformance to virtually every other aspect of Renaissance culture, Donatello was a humanist. Webster tells us that humanism is the “[…] study of classical Greek and Latin literature and culture during the Middle Ages and was one of the factors giving rise to the Renaissance […] characterized by an emphasis on human interests rather than on the natural world or religion”(707). Donatello did first hand research of the Ancient Roman styles. After his friend, Brunelleschi, lost the competition for the commission of the Florentine Baptistery, the two of them went to Rome. There the locals called them ‘treasure seekers’ because they sought to study anything and everything that they could of the ancient influences and knowledge (Munro 136). Before Donatello went to Rome, he carved the wooden Crucifix (Fig. 1-2) at Santa Croce, Florence. When this is compared to his marble The Prophet David (Fig. 3-4), there are several differences between the two. The Crucifix is an extremely religious figure and the only human interest involved in it is the suffering of Jesus for man’s sins. Whereas The Prophet David is shown as a natural man who seemingly could be singing or talking with or amongst the people. The feet and ankles are exposed, one knee is bent to show natural movement, and realistic veins are in both hands. This breaks from the conventionally pillar like prophets used by the church to show authority. Also, the St. George was made with humanistic qualities. Simply the arrangement of the armed saint in a niche that frames and idolizes him with a god (in this case God) watching over him is fashioned from the “[…] countless antique Roman military stelai erected in the cemeteries and along the main road of the Roman Empire” (Greenhalgh 48). Apart from that, his armor derives from the Byzantine era and the saint‘s posture that is original. By dressing the Byzantine St. George in “[…] antique references […]” Donatello materialized an eternal hero (62). Furthermore, Donatello’s “[…] enthusiasm for antiquity […] is proved […] by the statue of St. Mark, outside Orsanmichele”(11). It is clearly defined as needing to possess a greater skill to accomplish what would be due to a greater understanding of the classics. Being an absolute refusal of the Gothic principals; its flexed leg, rough hands and feet, and especially the drapery imply movement and animation in St. Mark. His exposed feet give a sense of a man standing on his own, which only extends to the “[…] gestures and facial expressions that extend toward the audience […]”, similar to The Prophet David in that he could be walking amongst the people (Bennett 199). By gazing at these miraculous works, event the untrained eye can see that Donatello“[…] studied the antique profitably and at the same time, developed a style which avoids [a] cold […] antiquarianism […] and yet, retains such clear connections with the mediaeval past” (Greenhalgh 2).

In the early 15th century, Donatello sculpted his first figures showing emotion in their faces and postures. His first major sculpture, Crucifix (the same that was previously mentioned), which was made of wood, displayed his all-new concept of showing pain, exhaustion, and by making the torso at a curve. In the face of this statue there is an “[…] extremely human and universal reality of anguish and death” (Grassi 30). Another innovation in this piece is that he made the arms on hinges so they could be lowered for the Good Friday liturgy. Though this figure passionately shows pain; after Rome, Donatello mastered the skill even further by displaying emotion in a more natural human way in the statue of The Prophet David. For the St. George, Donatello strove after ideal expression; and not only did he achieve his goal, but also an unprecedented realism in his representation of the Heroic Youth (Rea 44, 48). Every detail was presumably planned out the face, hair, armor, and support. Amazingly, Donatello has achieved an affect of movement while still triumphant over a most difficult pose of ease (Rea 49). One thing to notice is that the right shoulder is lowered, offset, and slightly “[…] back in a gesture at once arrogant and defensively effective” (Bennett 199). But more important than the attitude of the posture is the emotional impression of the face. The eyes, curls of the hair, and the slight wrinkle in the brow contribute, along with the posture, to convey what Vasari saw:

In the head can be read the beauty of youth, spirit and valor

in arms, a proud and terrible energy and a marvelous sense

of movement within the stone. Certainly in modern figures

no such vivacity and spirit is to be seen in marble as nature

and art effected through the hand of Donatello in this statue

(Vasari 1550 qtd. in Pope Hennessy 47-48).

Within his niche, St. George appears isolated and alone; and because his head is tilted slightly back, his stare seems fixated on the some “[…] distant destiny […]”, perhaps it is the dragon he is about to slay (Greenhalgh 50, 53). Many times it has been suggested that St. George originally wore a metal helmet and held a metal sword or lance. Without the helmet he would be vulnerable to his dragon opponent and without a weapon, he would naturally hesitate; hence the expression on his face. If these metal parts were added, then the whole aspect of the sculpture would change to an intense warrior determination (50). It would be the same fermentative theme of the bas-relief St. George and the Dragon of the tabernacle. Donatello portrays the terrorizing dragon, the heroic saint, and the fright of the princess as a narrative while making it his first work in any medium to utilize the conception of Brunelleschan linear perspective. “This is undoubtedly one of the very first instances of linear perspective […] applied to a relief. […] The inherent risk that [the figures in the foreground] might appear to rest upon nothing is apparent, and so id the fact that Donatello experimented” (Grassi 14). And experimented successfully, for the diminishing lines of the palace facade, retreating entrance to the dragon’s cave, and the receding body of the horse all focus the eye back to a far off landscape of trees and hills (Pope Hennessy 118). “[Donatello] cut through the visual pyramid not just to portray a perfect geometrical composition but in order to create an immense vibrating resonance of emotion, exclamations, hopes, fears among the people witnessing the miracle” even today (Grassi 32).

The patrons, church, and all the people were not used to seeing the intense expressions in Donatello’s works. Such works would often strike a nerve and bring in complaints. Some were considered so inappropriate that they were “[…] threatened to get lost in space” (Grassi 30). One such work was the bronze doors for the Old Sacristy in San Lorenzo, Florence, he depicts martyrs and apostles (Fig. 5-6). Each figure has a different posture, implied movement, and facial expression, yet each are involved in a related activity. Many of them are absorbed in books, but others are fully engaged in heated debated (Fig 7-17). Filarete makes an exaggerated description of the doors by saying that Donatello represented the apostles “[…] in the guise of fencers […]” (qtd. in Grassi 27). The figures are set against plain backgrounds, focusing attention on the human activities depicted. This was a departure from the past of heavily ornamented backgrounds usually used (Greenhalgh 114). Donatello also designed the frames of the doors, which did mach the scheme of the rest of the interior, “[…] but in the frames of the doors he adhered to a plan all his own, which was considered not in strict harmony with the rest of the building” (Rea 32). The bronze doors were not in conformity with the rest of the interior of the Old sacristy (Fig. 18-19) and were nearly rejected had Donatello not installed them himself and convinced the patrons and collaborating architect (Brunelleschi) that the doors were in harmony with their surroundings. “Donatello does not seem to have ever shrunk from controversy [with contemporaries], and controversy certainly surrounded [him]” (Bennett 74). As you can tell, his relations with patrons were often strained as in the instance of the bronze doors and also when the Parte Guelfa moved St. Louis of Toulouse (Fig. 20-24) from its originally intended location to underscore the strong political message that it conveyed. It was a work of art to Donatello, but to everyone else it was his least successful piece (Bennett 73-74). Greenhalgh states that “he even appears to have avoided portrait sculpture […]” although he must have been the first choice by many. Not only of the church, but also of patrons looking for a portrait bust to be made by the man whose art seemed to be ahead of its time (Greenhalgh 2, Rea 19). The “[…] inevitable conflict between the new individualism of early Renaissance art and a patronage system [that was] still largely mediaeval,” could be why working with the ideas of patrons went so against Donatello’s methods (Janson xvi). But because he spoke out against them, he paved the way for future artists to be able to break away from a world of regulators.

Throughout Donatello’s career, he was his own boss on how he wanted to innovate art with expressive realism, and by doing so he cleared the path for future sculptors and painters alike. The artist “had not only to think of his commission but of his mission […] to add to the glory of the age through the progress of art” (Bennett 66). And, indeed Donatello just that by conveying realistic expression and his own humanistic characteristics into the artwork without forcing himself to conform to the orders of his patrons in every single one out of dozens of sculptures. Sculptures that still influence artists today, so “Indeed it is no exaggeration to say that Donatello’s work was the frame for the artistic accomplishments of the [15th] century” (Grassi 10).

Bibliography:

Bennett, Bonnie Apgar. Donatello. Oxford: Phaidon Press, 1984.

Grassi, Luigi. All the Sculpture of Donatello: Part 1 and Part 2. (Paul Colacicchi, trans.) New York: Hawthorn, 1964.

Greenhalgh, Michael. Donatello and His Sources. Great Britain: Holmes and Meier, 1982.

“Humanism.” Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language. College Ed. 1956.

Janson, H. W. The Sculpture of Donatello. New Jersey: Princeton, 1963.

Munro, Eleanor C. The Encyclopedia of Art. New York: Western Pub, 1977.

Poeschke, Joachim. Donatello and His world: Sculpture of the Italian Renaissance. (Russell Stockman, trans.) New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1993.

Pope Hennessy, John. Donatello Sculptor. New York: Abbeville, 1993.

Rea, Hope. Donatello. London: George Bell & Sons, 1904.