Universally known as Donatello, or for our contemporary movie going crowd he is also known as a Ninja Turtle who has intelligence, cool calculation, and a gift for inventing. Donatello was one the Renaissance masters that would become one of the most influential artists of 15th century Italy. Predating Michelangelo, Donatello was one of Florentine 's greatest sculptors with a very multifaceted outlook of his craft, and drive to invent and reinvent that would shoot him to the top of the charts to earn his place in history along with the likes of Raphael, Leonardo Da Vinci and even Michelangelo years after him. During his life, Donatello became one of the most clamored-for artist for his life-like and intensely emotional and powerful sculptures.
Donatello was born on 1386 in Florence, Italy. He died at age 80 also in Florence Italy. Donatello lived a long life and created many masterpieces that were known by many people. He was an Italian sculpture and was the greatest Florentine sculpture of the Renaissance before Michelangelo. Donatello was also the most influential artist of the 15th century in Italy.
The Italian Renaissance was a marvelous time period. During this time, many new artists were introduced. Let’s talk about the Florentine sculptor named Donatello. Through sculptural advancements in the usage of human anatomy, Donatello created the sculptural influence during the renaissance. Donatello was unquestionably one of the key figures in Italian Renaissance sculpture. Donatello practically reinvented the meaning of sculpture during his the Italian Renaissance. These influences are still seen in many sculptures created today.(LATER!!!!) The way Donatello used human anatomy, perspective and realism in his work was like no other at the time. Donatello worked with bronze, stone and wood. Although Donatello’s greatest strength was his
Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi better known as, Donatello, was an artist during the Renaissance art movement. He
Lorenzo Ghiberti who was born in Pelago, near Florence, Italy, in 1378, was well-trained by his father, Bartoluccio Ghiberti who was a well-respected goldsmith in Florence. In 1401, Lorenzo Ghiberti began work for a commission sponsored by the Arte Di Calimala (cloth importers guild) to make a pair of bronze doors for the Baptistery of Florence. Ghiberti brought more of Gothic/Christian side into the renaissance; his influence was seen as keeping a darker side of the world alive. He soon opened a workshop where now legendary sculptures Donatello and Michelozzo would study under
The development of Italian painting in the years around the 1300 or the proto-renaissance is in some sense the rebirth of art and culture. The painters of Renaissance Italy usually attached to particular courts and with loyalties to certain cities, still explored the extensive span of Italy. Many of the Italian painters grew artistically during this time, which is noticeable in Duccio’s painting compared to Giotto’s. In the renaissance period it was highly popularized to mainly draw depictions of religious figures, which is what the concentration of Duccio’s artwork mainly was. Before the painting of the Betrayal of Christ, Duccio’s paintings were highly composed and reliant upon the ancient tradition of icon painting. In the time around 1300 Duccio took steps toward depicting images in a more naturalistic form; Whereas, Giotto, in the 1300’s, was already established as painting more three-dimensional and naturalistic forms.
Donatello and Leonardo Da Vinci played a big role in the new art during the Renaissance for Europe. Donatello was born in 1386 and his birth name was Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi. Donatello was a very successful artist. Specifically, he was a sculptor. Many people say he might be the second most talented and greatest artist ever: “Second only to Michelangelo in terms of skill and sheer greatness” (Artble 1). The background skill that helped him be so successful was that when he was young he got training from a goldsmith's shop. Donatello was one of the first to start doing sculptures and he was one of the most talented at it. Since his sculpturing was so advanced for back then it made his work very popular. His impact was so great his sculpting techniques are still used to todays date. Many say that Donatello is the founder of modern sculpting. Also, Leonardo Da Vinci also helped impact art during the Renaissance. Leonardo Da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 and his birth name was Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci. Leonardo Da Vinci was one of the most talented artists to ever live. Leonardo Da Vinci was talented enough to be able to a successful painter, sculptor and drawer. Although he is mainly known for his painting skills. His painting skills was something that Europe had not seen before. His most popular painting was the Last Supper which was an iconic piece of art, history and religion. His art is said to be like nothing else: “marvelously endowed with beauty, grace and talent in abundance” (Vasari 254). This new style he brought to the Renaissance made people go crazy for his stuff. Da Vinci was very popular with art and with people. One of his closest friends was Nico Machiavelli.
These sculptures presented the body in a way no had ever seen before. Most of the sculptures were very detailed, had Greek and Roman classical influences, and were free standing with the often use of bronze to construct them. A few examples of sculptures are Michelangelo’s David, Moses, and Pieta. His David marble sculpture glorifies the human body and is standing in a contrapposto stance, with more weight on one leg. Contrapposto is very humanistic as it was used a lot by ancient Greek and Roman sculptures. The facial expressions as well were very individualistic and emotional. Michelangelo’s Pieta was the most “perfect” block of marble he had ever used. This sculpture is Mary holding the dead body of Christ before he was placed in the tomb. The proportions of the body are not entirely natural in relation to the other as Mary’s body appears much larger than Christ’s. Michelangelo’s Moses was another example of a sculpture in the Renaissance. This sculpture is very large and shows the power of the man which gave people even more ideas about the
In the Medici Chapel, commissioned by Pope Leo X and Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici around 1520, Michelangelo sculptured four nudes, two around the tomb of Lorenzo and two over the tomb of Giuliano, although two of the nudes were female, Night and Dawn, it is believed that male models were used and their bodies are strong and athletic looking. The figure Day over the tomb of Giuliano, is a most unusual pose: left arm under the body, right arm crossing to show a muscular back, legs crossed in the opposite way, and a partially blocked out head. This figure provides another testament to the evolution of the artist’s style, talent and uniqueness.
Influenced by individualist principles, early Renaissance sculpture was marked by a greater and more meticulous understanding of the human body. Donatello’s David brought to Italian culture a revival of the free-standing nude, prompting an appreciation for perfected human anatomy that is palpable throughout the remainder of the Renaissance and still noticeable in the artistic context of Western culture that follows. The peculiarity of the bronze statue from those of the preceding Middle Ages is archetypically Renaissance in nature; David's pose is nonchalant and his expression pensive, neither of which seems to coincide with the narrative chapter; the Biblical hero's soft body and lack of pronounced muscular development is often interpreted as uncharacteristically effeminate. While the statue’s nudity can be explain in terms of Biblical anthology, as David was said to have refused to wear armor to his battle with Goliath, the accessories in which he is clad seem nonsensical contextually—a laurel on his hat indicates that David was a poet, and the hat on his head is of a foppish Renaissance design. Perhaps most controversially, the statue’s presence has been interpreted as homosexual in nature; while homosexuality was usual in classical antiquity, during the time of the Renaissance such “sodomy” was illicit and believed to be heathen in nature. Donatello show's here, truly, a coalescence of Christian narrative with both the glory of ancient artists and the contemp...