A beautiful appraisal of the Renaissance sculptor's achievements, contextualized with works by his contemporaries.
The first thorough overview of the artist in many years, Donatello: The Renaissance reconstructs the outstanding career of one of the greatest sculptors in Western art. Famed for his incredibly sensual sculpture of David--the first freestanding nude male sculpture since antiquity--Donatello (c. 1386-1466) also made reliefs, but was best known for statues in the round.
Accompanying a truly historic exhibition at the Palazzo Strozzi and Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence, and featuring a wealth of color plates of the artist's key works, this volume also contextualizes Donatello's innovations by juxtaposing them with masterpieces by other Renaissance masters such as Brunelleschi, Masaccio, Andrea Mantegna, Giovanni Bellini, Raphael and Michelangelo. These revelatory, expert juxtapositions help define Donatello's style: for example, comparison of his Madonna col Bambino relief with Giovanni di Pietro da Pisa's Madonna col Bambino shows how Donatello eschewed decorative gestures (such as putti, garlands and vases) in favor of a more vital simplification of form.
For the Tuscan tourist, a user-friendly guidebook to the Renaissance sculptor's masterpieces.
Donatello (c. 1386-1466) is one of Western art's greatest sculptors, the brilliant exponent of a new simplified, elegant form in Renaissance art. Many of Donatello's most revered masterpieces remain in Tuscany--the region in which he was born--including St. George (1415-17), David (1430-40) and Penitent Magdalene (1455)--a fact that significantly contributes to the region's status as one of Italy's top tourist destinations.
This publication is part survey, part guidebook, mapping the sculptor's preserved works throughout Tuscany, organized by location. Published alongside the major touring exhibition--which is set to travel to Berlin and London after Florence--Donatello: In Tuscany distinguishes itself from other publications on the Florentine sculptor by indexing the artwork that is accessible to visitors with up-to-date scholarship and geographical information.
