Donatello

This fourteenth century master has left behind so much work that there seems to be no artist who worked harder than him. He was an all round sculptor equally at home in low relief, in wood, in marble and in bronze.

His thorough knowledge of human anatomy is evident in his work, the arresting expressiveness in his work Mary Magdalene consumed by fasts and abstinence is attributed to this fact. His knack of expressing emotions tellingly and aptly by a scowl, a stare, and a wonderous gaze shows his response to physiognomy.

A page of tidbits on Donatello, which makes very interesting reading. The personality that was Donatello is brought out through little bits of information. His genious is unarguable, but his personality is made all the more attractive by the unknown facts than what is written.

Donatello influenced Italian sculptors, notably Michelangelo, well into the sixteenth century. His work outside Italy is exceedingly rare; there is only one relief by him in the United States, a fine marble Madonna in rilievo schiacciato in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The Metropolitan Museum has only works that benefited from his style, the best being a fountain figure of a winged infant from the mid-fifteenth century, almost certainly made to surmount a fountain in the Palazzo Medici, Florence. In it can be seen the sinuous forms of the figura serpentinata that originated with Donatello. The model has even been attributed to Donatello himself.

The fascinating works of this Renaissance Sculptor finds imitations all over the world and is still considered a wonder. Michelangelo is said to be considerably influenced by Donatello and his works reflect this a lot.