WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.060 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we are setting 00:00:02.060 --> 00:00:04.860 aside the titans of the high renaissance, you 00:00:04.860 --> 00:00:07.620 know, the Michelangelos and the Leonardos, to 00:00:07.620 --> 00:00:10.919 look at the man who really carved the foundation 00:00:10.919 --> 00:00:13.980 upon which they built. Absolutely. We're diving 00:00:13.980 --> 00:00:16.140 into the cornerstone of the entire movement. 00:00:16.460 --> 00:00:19.160 the Florentine sculptor Donatello. Donato di 00:00:19.160 --> 00:00:22.699 Niccolò di Betto Bardi, born around 1386. And 00:00:22.699 --> 00:00:24.980 our goal today, well, it's to synthesize the 00:00:24.980 --> 00:00:27.399 sources, look at his long and incredibly productive 00:00:27.399 --> 00:00:30.320 career, and really try to uncover the key innovations 00:00:30.320 --> 00:00:33.119 that made him such a foundational figure. Exactly. 00:00:33.340 --> 00:00:35.640 What was it that allowed him to sort of drag 00:00:35.640 --> 00:00:38.700 Western art out of the Gothic era and launch 00:00:38.700 --> 00:00:40.859 it into this, well, this new world of classical 00:00:40.859 --> 00:00:43.000 ideas and expressive power? That's what we want 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:44.979 to explore. And it really was quite a journey. 00:00:45.079 --> 00:00:46.659 I mean, when you look... at his output, the sheer 00:00:46.659 --> 00:00:48.899 versatility is just astonishing. He wasn't just 00:00:48.899 --> 00:00:52.039 stuck in one medium. Not at all. Stone, bronze, 00:00:52.299 --> 00:00:56.280 wood, clay, stucco, wax. He even found incredibly 00:00:56.280 --> 00:00:59.100 inventive ways to use glass, which is pretty 00:00:59.100 --> 00:01:01.479 unusual for a sculptor. Truly a pioneer across, 00:01:01.780 --> 00:01:03.899 well, pretty much every material available at 00:01:03.899 --> 00:01:06.959 the time. And that versatility, combined with, 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:09.420 I think, his singular achievement, the bronze 00:01:09.420 --> 00:01:12.579 David, that's what really cemented his status. 00:01:12.780 --> 00:01:14.459 Ah, yes, the David. We'll definitely get into 00:01:14.459 --> 00:01:17.060 that. The first freestanding nude male sculpture 00:01:17.060 --> 00:01:19.239 since antiquity, right? That's the one. It's 00:01:19.239 --> 00:01:21.680 like a visual manifesto. It perfectly encapsulates 00:01:21.680 --> 00:01:24.040 his vision, you know, blending that classical 00:01:24.040 --> 00:01:27.739 monumentality with a completely new kind of naturalistic 00:01:27.739 --> 00:01:31.239 expressiveness, radical for its time. But behind 00:01:31.239 --> 00:01:33.840 this monumental genius, there's this fascinating... 00:01:35.379 --> 00:01:37.519 contradiction in his personality, what we're 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:39.879 calling the persona paradox. Right. The sources 00:01:39.879 --> 00:01:42.439 describe him as, well, amiable, generally well 00:01:42.439 --> 00:01:45.099 -liked, even generous, not the sort of brooding, 00:01:45.159 --> 00:01:46.939 isolated artist you might imagine. But on the 00:01:46.939 --> 00:01:49.120 other hand, he was apparently terrible at the 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:51.980 business side of things. Notoriously so. Constantly 00:01:51.980 --> 00:01:54.400 overcommitted, often incredibly late delivering 00:01:54.400 --> 00:01:57.219 commissions, sometimes just walking away, leaving 00:01:57.219 --> 00:02:00.000 works unfinished for years. So how did he manage 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:02.560 to be so fiercely innovative with that kind of 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:06.390 chaos? Patronage. steady, incredibly powerful 00:02:06.390 --> 00:02:09.849 patronage. Especially, and this is key, from 00:02:09.849 --> 00:02:11.870 the Medici family as they were rising to power. 00:02:12.490 --> 00:02:14.770 They seem to have been remarkably tolerant of 00:02:14.770 --> 00:02:18.229 his, let's say, eccentricities and his lifestyle. 00:02:18.469 --> 00:02:20.490 And that gave him the cushion he needed. Exactly. 00:02:20.569 --> 00:02:23.090 The economic cushion required for his endless 00:02:23.090 --> 00:02:25.069 experimentation, even when he wasn't, you know, 00:02:25.129 --> 00:02:27.310 meeting deadlines. Okay, so let's unpack his 00:02:27.310 --> 00:02:31.069 beginnings. Born around 1386 in Florence. His 00:02:31.069 --> 00:02:34.250 father, Niccolo di Betto Bardi, was a wool stretcher. 00:02:34.430 --> 00:02:37.270 Now that might sound a bit mundane to us. But 00:02:37.270 --> 00:02:39.770 it wasn't. Not really. Being a wool stretcher 00:02:39.770 --> 00:02:41.770 meant he was part of the Arti della Lana, the 00:02:41.770 --> 00:02:44.150 powerful wool workers' guild. That actually gave 00:02:44.150 --> 00:02:47.009 the family significant status and presumably 00:02:47.009 --> 00:02:50.550 a decent income. Right. And the name Bardi, any 00:02:50.550 --> 00:02:52.710 connection to the famous banking family? It's 00:02:52.710 --> 00:02:54.069 important to note the connection was distant. 00:02:54.250 --> 00:02:56.409 He wasn't part of that Bardi banking dynasty. 00:02:56.729 --> 00:02:58.870 However, in Florence, even a distant connection 00:02:58.870 --> 00:03:01.310 mattered. Especially later. Especially after 00:03:01.310 --> 00:03:03.250 Contesina de Bardi married Cosima de' Medici 00:03:03.250 --> 00:03:07.550 around 1415. You have to think, having that Barty 00:03:07.550 --> 00:03:10.189 lineage, even distantly, probably didn't hurt 00:03:10.189 --> 00:03:11.849 Donatello's standing when he was looking for 00:03:11.849 --> 00:03:13.849 those big public commissions later on. Okay, 00:03:13.870 --> 00:03:17.069 so not exactly rags to riches, but maybe a helpful 00:03:17.069 --> 00:03:20.129 connection. But before the smelting fame, his 00:03:20.129 --> 00:03:22.930 first appearance in the records is, well, less 00:03:22.930 --> 00:03:26.530 than promising. Ah, yes. January 1401, he's about 00:03:26.530 --> 00:03:30.469 15. He's in Pistoia, and he gets formally accused 00:03:30.469 --> 00:03:32.490 of hitting a German guy with a stick and drawing 00:03:32.490 --> 00:03:35.810 blood. Wow. Not quite the Renaissance man image 00:03:35.810 --> 00:03:38.849 we might expect. A rather feisty start for the 00:03:38.849 --> 00:03:41.509 artist who would define grace and form. But it's 00:03:41.509 --> 00:03:43.229 right around this time, maybe even during that 00:03:43.229 --> 00:03:46.110 Pistoia trip, that things start to shift. It's 00:03:46.110 --> 00:03:48.949 suggested he struck up his close, lifelong friendship 00:03:48.949 --> 00:03:51.210 with Filippo Brunelleschi. Brunelleschi, the 00:03:51.210 --> 00:03:53.229 architect, who was about 10 years older. That's 00:03:53.229 --> 00:03:55.479 him. And almost as soon as they get back to Florence, 00:03:55.659 --> 00:03:57.780 they're potentially involved in something huge. 00:03:57.960 --> 00:04:01.199 The 1401 baptistry door competition. Exactly. 00:04:01.620 --> 00:04:05.479 The legendary contest that many see as the absolute 00:04:05.479 --> 00:04:08.419 starting gun for the Renaissance. The showdown 00:04:08.419 --> 00:04:11.120 between Ghiberti and Brunelleschi. And Donatello, 00:04:11.259 --> 00:04:13.819 just a teenager, might have been involved. It's 00:04:13.819 --> 00:04:16.040 plausible he assisted Brunelleschi with his trial 00:04:16.040 --> 00:04:19.199 piece. Imagine him absorbing those early ideas 00:04:19.199 --> 00:04:21.819 about perspective and classical form directly 00:04:21.819 --> 00:04:24.259 from his older friend. right at the crucible 00:04:24.259 --> 00:04:27.439 moment. That's incredible context. But Ghiberti 00:04:27.439 --> 00:04:29.899 famously won that commission. He did. And what's 00:04:29.899 --> 00:04:32.439 fascinating is what happens next. Donatello and 00:04:32.439 --> 00:04:34.160 Brunelleschi don't just hang around Florence 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:36.920 feeling defeated. No. No, they pack up and head 00:04:36.920 --> 00:04:41.019 to Rome. Around 1402, 1403. And this wasn't just 00:04:41.019 --> 00:04:43.240 a holiday. Right. You mentioned this was a serious 00:04:43.240 --> 00:04:45.819 intellectual pursuit. Deeply serious. It was 00:04:45.819 --> 00:04:47.579 essentially an archaeological expedition that 00:04:47.579 --> 00:04:49.420 would change everything. They were systematically 00:04:49.420 --> 00:04:52.439 studying, measuring, digging up ancient Roman 00:04:52.439 --> 00:04:54.660 art and architecture, trying to unlock the secrets 00:04:54.660 --> 00:04:57.339 of classical proportion, monumentality. Doing 00:04:57.339 --> 00:05:00.040 the groundwork, literally. Literally. Much of 00:05:00.040 --> 00:05:02.079 ancient Rome was still buried then. And they 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:04.420 supported themselves, the sources say, by working 00:05:04.420 --> 00:05:07.910 for Roman goldsmiths. Ugh, goldsmithing. That 00:05:07.910 --> 00:05:09.529 sounds like important training for Donatello, 00:05:09.610 --> 00:05:12.129 especially for Braun's work later. Crucial training. 00:05:12.290 --> 00:05:15.110 Understanding metal casting, intricate detail 00:05:15.110 --> 00:05:19.610 work. It was a baptism by fire into ancient techniques, 00:05:19.769 --> 00:05:22.110 you could say. Brunelleschi took that knowledge 00:05:22.110 --> 00:05:25.129 towards architecture. The dual modem. While Donatello 00:05:25.129 --> 00:05:27.629 applied it to the human form, moving away from 00:05:27.629 --> 00:05:30.649 that stiff Gothic style. Precisely. But before 00:05:30.649 --> 00:05:32.850 he fully launched his own career, there was one 00:05:32.850 --> 00:05:35.689 more, slightly ironic step. An apprenticeship. 00:05:36.089 --> 00:05:38.800 With Ghiberti. The guy who beat Brunelleschi. 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:42.660 Yep. From about 1404 to 1407, he's listed as 00:05:42.660 --> 00:05:45.139 being in Ghiberti's workshop, likely working 00:05:45.139 --> 00:05:47.879 on those very baptistry doors Ghiberti had won 00:05:47.879 --> 00:05:50.000 the commission for. So he learned the prevailing 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:52.220 style from the inside. Learned it inside out. 00:05:52.279 --> 00:05:54.480 The international Gothic style, with all its 00:05:54.480 --> 00:05:56.639 detailed drapery and high polish, he mastered 00:05:56.639 --> 00:05:59.279 it, which makes his later deliberate move away 00:05:59.279 --> 00:06:01.579 from it, starting with his stone carving for 00:06:01.579 --> 00:06:03.759 the cathedral's Porta della Mandorla even more 00:06:03.759 --> 00:06:06.199 significant. He knew the rules perfectly before 00:06:06.199 --> 00:06:09.100 he decided to break them. OK, so early 15th century 00:06:09.100 --> 00:06:12.000 Florence, a great time to be a sculptor, lots 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:14.560 of public commissions, but also big challenges, 00:06:14.639 --> 00:06:16.720 right? These statues weren't for quiet contemplation 00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:19.060 in a gallery. Exactly. They were for public squares 00:06:19.060 --> 00:06:21.620 high up on buildings. Donatello had to figure 00:06:21.620 --> 00:06:24.259 out how to make these monumental figures communicate 00:06:24.259 --> 00:06:27.399 powerfully, clearly to people looking up from 00:06:27.399 --> 00:06:30.329 way below. often at sharp angles. His work for 00:06:30.329 --> 00:06:32.149 the Duomo, the Florence Cathedral, seems like 00:06:32.149 --> 00:06:34.790 the first big test of that, like the colossal 00:06:34.790 --> 00:06:37.629 seated St. John the Evangelist from around 1409, 00:06:37.870 --> 00:06:40.970 1411. Right. Destined for the old facade, placed 00:06:40.970 --> 00:06:43.610 high up the base, was about three meters off 00:06:43.610 --> 00:06:45.730 the ground. So the big problem is distortion. 00:06:46.110 --> 00:06:48.430 If you just carve a perfectly proportioned statue, 00:06:48.649 --> 00:06:50.730 it'll look weird from down below. Precisely. 00:06:50.930 --> 00:06:53.939 So Donatello had to adjust the composition. Make 00:06:53.939 --> 00:06:56.360 the head, the hands, maybe the upper torso slightly 00:06:56.360 --> 00:06:59.319 larger, anticipating how the perspective, the 00:06:59.319 --> 00:07:01.740 distance, would make them look visually correct 00:07:01.740 --> 00:07:04.120 once they were installed. That sounds incredibly 00:07:04.120 --> 00:07:06.279 sophisticated, a real break from just carving 00:07:06.279 --> 00:07:08.980 what looks right up close. It's a huge intellectual 00:07:08.980 --> 00:07:12.240 leap, rooted in classical ideas about optics 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:15.079 and a humanist focus on visual reality, not just 00:07:15.079 --> 00:07:17.430 convention. And it's great that today in the 00:07:17.430 --> 00:07:20.470 museum, they often display these sculptures at 00:07:20.470 --> 00:07:22.290 something close to their original height, so 00:07:22.290 --> 00:07:24.550 you can really appreciate that foresight. Then 00:07:24.550 --> 00:07:26.709 came the figures for Giotto's Campanile, the 00:07:26.709 --> 00:07:29.750 bell tower, starting around 1415. Even bigger 00:07:29.750 --> 00:07:32.910 scale, same visual challenge. Eight life -size 00:07:32.910 --> 00:07:35.389 marble figures needed for these very high, narrow 00:07:35.389 --> 00:07:38.269 niches. Fine detail would be totally lost from 00:07:38.269 --> 00:07:41.009 street level. Donatello ended up doing six of 00:07:41.009 --> 00:07:43.569 them. And among those is the famous Zucconi. 00:07:44.100 --> 00:07:46.819 Baldy. That's the one. Probably representing 00:07:46.819 --> 00:07:50.560 Havokuk or Jeremiah, carved between 1423 -1425. 00:07:51.459 --> 00:07:53.899 Reportedly Donatello's personal favorite. Vasari 00:07:53.899 --> 00:07:56.199 tells that story about him swearing by it, by 00:07:56.199 --> 00:07:58.579 the faith I placed in my Zucconi. Which suggests 00:07:58.579 --> 00:08:01.399 how personal this move towards expressive realism 00:08:01.399 --> 00:08:03.459 was for him. Absolutely. It wasn't just technical 00:08:03.459 --> 00:08:05.779 skill, it was about capturing inner life, character, 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:08.120 even in figures destined to be seen from afar. 00:08:08.649 --> 00:08:10.790 And speaking of challenges at height, there's 00:08:10.790 --> 00:08:13.250 that amazing story about the White Colossus, 00:08:13.310 --> 00:08:16.769 Homo Magnus at Elbis, Donatello and Brunelleschi 00:08:16.769 --> 00:08:19.889 working together again. Yes, on this figure of 00:08:19.889 --> 00:08:22.829 Joshua, meant for the very highest parts of the 00:08:22.829 --> 00:08:26.230 cathedral. It's a perfect example of their practical 00:08:26.230 --> 00:08:28.750 engineering minds collaborating. Because marble 00:08:28.750 --> 00:08:31.050 is just too heavy for that height. Way too heavy. 00:08:31.149 --> 00:08:33.029 They didn't want the kind of structural problems 00:08:33.029 --> 00:08:35.769 Michelangelo later faced with his David. They 00:08:35.769 --> 00:08:38.350 needed something large but lightweight. So what 00:08:38.350 --> 00:08:41.470 was their solution? Radical. A core made of brick. 00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:44.820 covered with mottled clay or terracotta, and 00:08:44.820 --> 00:08:47.440 then the whole thing painted white. Innovative, 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:49.899 cost -effective, surprisingly modern, really. 00:08:50.039 --> 00:08:52.039 It solved the problem and apparently stayed up 00:08:52.039 --> 00:08:54.299 there until the 18th century. Incredible. Okay, 00:08:54.340 --> 00:08:56.840 moving from the cathedral to Orsanmichel, the 00:08:56.840 --> 00:08:59.259 guild church. Here, the statues were lower down, 00:08:59.379 --> 00:09:01.519 right? About three meters up? Yes, a different 00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:04.500 context, more visible detail, demanding a different 00:09:04.500 --> 00:09:07.230 kind of realism. His Marble Saint Mark for the 00:09:07.230 --> 00:09:10.690 Linen Weavers Guild from 1411 -1413 is a prime 00:09:10.690 --> 00:09:12.909 example. And this is where he uses that classical 00:09:12.909 --> 00:09:15.830 contrapposto pose. Beautifully. For anyone listening, 00:09:16.009 --> 00:09:18.809 contrapposto is that counterpoised stance, weight 00:09:18.809 --> 00:09:21.549 on one leg. hips and shoulders tilting slightly 00:09:21.549 --> 00:09:25.110 it makes the figure look relaxed natural alive 00:09:25.110 --> 00:09:28.889 ready to move a world away from rigid gothic 00:09:28.889 --> 00:09:30.710 figures and we have to tell the bizarre story 00:09:30.710 --> 00:09:32.570 about this one the guild members saw it on the 00:09:32.570 --> 00:09:35.309 ground first and hated it complained it looked 00:09:35.309 --> 00:09:39.309 crude unfinished so what did donatello do classic 00:09:39.309 --> 00:09:41.629 donatello he apparently convinced them to let 00:09:41.629 --> 00:09:44.460 him put it up in its niche covered it, and promised 00:09:44.460 --> 00:09:46.840 to fix it over two weeks. But he didn't actually 00:09:46.840 --> 00:09:49.220 change anything. Nope, just maybe polish the 00:09:49.220 --> 00:09:51.740 base a bit. Then he unveiled it in position, 00:09:51.860 --> 00:09:54.440 and suddenly, from the correct viewing angle, 00:09:54.600 --> 00:09:58.139 it looked powerful, sublime. They loved it. It 00:09:58.139 --> 00:10:00.440 just shows his deep understanding of how context 00:10:00.440 --> 00:10:02.960 and perspective transform the artwork. Amazing. 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:05.700 Then his St. George for the Armorer's Guild around 00:10:05.700 --> 00:10:08.860 1415 -17, that had a different problem, a shallow 00:10:08.860 --> 00:10:12.000 niche. Right. The space wasn't as deep. So Donatello, 00:10:12.179 --> 00:10:14.419 again, turning a limitation into an advantage, 00:10:14.620 --> 00:10:17.159 pushes the figure slightly forward, breaking 00:10:17.159 --> 00:10:18.840 the plane of the niche. Creating what effect? 00:10:19.159 --> 00:10:22.620 A sense of immediacy, alertness. And that anxious 00:10:22.620 --> 00:10:25.220 look people noted on his face, it wasn't accidental. 00:10:25.460 --> 00:10:29.039 It suggests prontessa readiness, military alertness, 00:10:29.120 --> 00:10:31.799 very fitting for the Armorer's Guild. He's tailoring 00:10:31.799 --> 00:10:33.539 the psychology of the figure to its patrons. 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:36.659 Such smart choices. And then comes a big shift, 00:10:36.759 --> 00:10:39.200 the gilt bronze St. Louis of Toulouse around 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:43.679 1423 -25. This is really the start of his major 00:10:43.679 --> 00:10:46.500 documented work in bronze, isn't it? It marks 00:10:46.500 --> 00:10:49.039 a definite transition, moving from primarily 00:10:49.039 --> 00:10:52.409 stone to mastering metal on a large scale. And 00:10:52.409 --> 00:10:55.230 this piece was technically immense. How so? It 00:10:55.230 --> 00:10:57.309 was over life -size, and it had to be constructed 00:10:57.309 --> 00:11:00.669 from separately cast and gilded sections. Fire 00:11:00.669 --> 00:11:02.690 gilding a whole figure that big would have been 00:11:02.690 --> 00:11:04.909 incredibly difficult, maybe impossible, certainly 00:11:04.909 --> 00:11:07.389 dangerous back then. Which suggests... It strongly 00:11:07.389 --> 00:11:09.769 suggests his collaboration with Micheloso, who 00:11:09.769 --> 00:11:12.070 was skilled in metalwork and organization, was 00:11:12.070 --> 00:11:14.590 likely already underway by this point. He needed 00:11:14.590 --> 00:11:16.450 that kind of support for such a complex undertaking. 00:11:17.019 --> 00:11:19.120 Okay, but before all these huge public commissions, 00:11:19.240 --> 00:11:21.500 there's that famous story again from Vasari about 00:11:21.500 --> 00:11:24.259 the wooden crucifix feud with Brunelleschi, the 00:11:24.259 --> 00:11:27.879 Santa Croce crucifix. Ah, yes, around 1407, 1408. 00:11:29.279 --> 00:11:32.779 Donatello carves this crucifix, and it's startlingly 00:11:32.779 --> 00:11:35.799 realistic. Christ is shown in agony, contracted 00:11:35.799 --> 00:11:39.779 body, mouth partly open. Not the idealized divine 00:11:39.779 --> 00:11:41.940 figure people were used to. Not at all. It was 00:11:41.940 --> 00:11:45.759 brutally honest. The image of a dying man. Donatello 00:11:45.759 --> 00:11:48.139 proudly shows it to Brunalecki, who'd just come 00:11:48.139 --> 00:11:50.799 back steeped in Roman classicism. And Brunalecki 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:53.500 was not impressed. Scornful, apparently. Said 00:11:53.500 --> 00:11:55.899 it looked like a peasant on a cross un contadino 00:11:55.899 --> 00:11:59.279 in Croce. Ouch. And Donatello's response? That 00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:01.179 famous line, take some wood and make one yourself. 00:12:01.639 --> 00:12:04.620 Basically daring him. And Brunelleschi did. He 00:12:04.620 --> 00:12:07.179 carved his own much more classical, idealized 00:12:07.179 --> 00:12:09.580 crucifix for Santa Maria Novella. He did. And 00:12:09.580 --> 00:12:11.559 at the time, Brunelleschi's elegant version was 00:12:11.559 --> 00:12:14.059 probably seen as aesthetically superior. But 00:12:14.059 --> 00:12:17.440 Donatello's raw realism, that was a choice that 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:19.259 pointed directly towards the intense emotional 00:12:19.259 --> 00:12:21.879 expression he'd explore much later in his career. 00:12:22.019 --> 00:12:24.580 It was prophetic in a way. So Donatello is not 00:12:24.580 --> 00:12:27.259 just mastering monumental sculpture. He's simultaneously 00:12:27.259 --> 00:12:29.919 revolutionizing relief work. He invents this 00:12:29.919 --> 00:12:32.450 technique called stiacciato. Right? Literally 00:12:32.450 --> 00:12:35.009 flattened out. And this was a genuinely radical 00:12:35.009 --> 00:12:37.789 shift in technique. Think about Ghiberti. His 00:12:37.789 --> 00:12:41.049 old master, Ghiberti, used high relief. Figures 00:12:41.049 --> 00:12:43.350 almost jumping out from the background. But Stiacciato 00:12:43.350 --> 00:12:45.669 is the opposite. Completely. It's an incredibly 00:12:45.669 --> 00:12:47.950 shallow bass relief style. We're talking millimeters 00:12:47.950 --> 00:12:50.899 deep sometimes. The whole point... was to create 00:12:50.899 --> 00:12:54.139 the illusion of depth using perspective, overlapping 00:12:54.139 --> 00:12:58.379 forms, subtle carving, not actual physical projection. 00:12:58.740 --> 00:13:00.720 And the first big example is on the base of his 00:13:00.720 --> 00:13:03.379 St. George statue, the St. George Fring, the 00:13:03.379 --> 00:13:05.679 Princess Relief. Exactly. If you look closely 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:07.940 at that piece, the figures are barely raised 00:13:07.940 --> 00:13:10.539 off the marble. But Donatello uses overlapping 00:13:10.539 --> 00:13:13.139 figures, and this clever partial perspective, 00:13:13.240 --> 00:13:15.830 you see that little arcade on the right. to create 00:13:15.830 --> 00:13:18.549 this convincing sense of deep space on an incredibly 00:13:18.549 --> 00:13:20.830 thin surface. It was like inventing a whole new 00:13:20.830 --> 00:13:23.190 visual language. Wow. And he took this even further 00:13:23.190 --> 00:13:25.370 with his bronze work for the Siena Baptistery 00:13:25.370 --> 00:13:28.590 font, right? The Feast of Herod from 1423 -1427. 00:13:28.610 --> 00:13:30.450 He did. And this one was designed to be seen 00:13:30.450 --> 00:13:33.169 up close, placed quite low down, near knee level 00:13:33.169 --> 00:13:35.669 for the viewer. So even more demanding. In a 00:13:35.669 --> 00:13:39.610 way, yes. The composition is masterful. He uses 00:13:39.610 --> 00:13:42.029 these three distinct receding planes, defined 00:13:42.029 --> 00:13:44.750 by architectural lines, to structure the scene. 00:13:45.100 --> 00:13:46.940 But here's where it gets really interesting, 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:50.019 technically, and reveals Donatello's psychological 00:13:50.019 --> 00:13:53.600 genius. How so? It deliberately doesn't use a 00:13:53.600 --> 00:13:56.279 perfect single vanishing point, the kind Brunelleschi 00:13:56.279 --> 00:13:58.700 was theorizing about as the scientific standard 00:13:58.700 --> 00:14:01.100 for perspective. Wait, so he's breaking the rules? 00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:04.179 Wasn't one -point perspective seen as the correct 00:14:04.179 --> 00:14:07.820 way? It was becoming the standard, yes. But Donatello 00:14:07.820 --> 00:14:09.279 seems to be breaking the rules intentionally 00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:12.049 here. Art historians suggest that using multiple 00:14:12.049 --> 00:14:14.750 slightly conflicting vanishing points creates 00:14:14.750 --> 00:14:17.809 this subtle spatial disharmony. To what end? 00:14:17.909 --> 00:14:20.169 To create a subliminal tension, an unease that 00:14:20.169 --> 00:14:22.129 perfectly mirrors the gruesome subject matter. 00:14:22.389 --> 00:14:25.269 You know, Herod recoiling in horror from John 00:14:25.269 --> 00:14:27.610 the Baptist's head, Salome standing there almost 00:14:27.610 --> 00:14:30.779 nonchalantly. The skewed perspective adds to 00:14:30.779 --> 00:14:33.259 that psychological punch. It's not unskilled. 00:14:33.259 --> 00:14:35.600 It's deliberate emotional manipulation through 00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:37.720 technique. That's fascinating. Using perspective 00:14:37.720 --> 00:14:40.620 for feeling, not just accuracy. He also used 00:14:40.620 --> 00:14:43.419 the acciato for smaller pieces, right, like Madonna's. 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:46.440 Yes, more intimate domestic works like the Pazzi 00:14:46.440 --> 00:14:49.080 Madonna or the Ascension with Christ giving the 00:14:49.080 --> 00:14:51.840 keys to St. Peter. But as his fame and commissions 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:54.159 exploded, so did his organizational problems. 00:14:54.720 --> 00:14:57.200 He was taking on too much. Which leads us directly 00:14:57.200 --> 00:14:59.980 to that crucial partnership with Mikulota. The 00:14:59.980 --> 00:15:04.899 Mikulota partnership. roughly 1425 to 1434. It 00:15:04.899 --> 00:15:07.059 seems like he was born out of pure necessity, 00:15:07.299 --> 00:15:10.220 but also a kind of complimentary genius. Donatello, 00:15:10.279 --> 00:15:12.340 the creative force, Michelotto, the organizer. 00:15:12.720 --> 00:15:15.000 Pretty much. Donatello was brilliant, but as 00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:17.559 we said, financially chaotic. Michelotto was 00:15:17.559 --> 00:15:20.399 an architect, also a skilled bronze caster. But 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:22.240 importantly, he was organized. He could manage 00:15:22.240 --> 00:15:24.200 the workshop, handle the finances, the complex 00:15:24.200 --> 00:15:26.840 logistics of these big projects. And their collaboration 00:15:26.840 --> 00:15:29.159 produced some landmark works, like the tomb of 00:15:29.159 --> 00:15:31.820 Antipope John Tecky III. the Florence Baptistery. 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:35.120 A hugely influential piece. It basically established 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:37.720 the template for the grand Quattrocento wall 00:15:37.720 --> 00:15:40.820 tomb. It beautifully integrates Michelazzo's 00:15:40.820 --> 00:15:43.519 stone architecture and figures with Donatello's 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:46.559 absolute masterpiece centerpiece, that stunning, 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:49.659 realistic, recumbent bronze effigy of the Pope. 00:15:50.259 --> 00:15:53.659 All contained elegantly within a narrow vertical 00:15:53.659 --> 00:15:56.720 space. It was a new fusion of sculpture and architecture. 00:15:57.309 --> 00:15:58.809 And they weren't just working in Florence. They 00:15:58.809 --> 00:16:01.610 took on projects elsewhere. They did. Their workshop 00:16:01.610 --> 00:16:05.029 executed the Brancacci Monument for Naples. Though 00:16:05.029 --> 00:16:06.909 it seems Donatello's personal involvement was 00:16:06.909 --> 00:16:09.090 likely focused on the beautiful Assumption Relief. 00:16:09.250 --> 00:16:12.009 The work was actually done in Pisa and then shipped 00:16:12.009 --> 00:16:14.649 south. Shows the scale of their operation. But 00:16:14.649 --> 00:16:16.909 the partnership didn't last forever. What caused 00:16:16.909 --> 00:16:19.049 the split? It seems to have buckled under the 00:16:19.049 --> 00:16:22.230 strain of Donatello's infamous delays. The commission 00:16:22.230 --> 00:16:24.750 for the outdoor pulpit at Prado Cathedral, received 00:16:24.750 --> 00:16:28.029 in 1428, really stretched things thin. This is 00:16:28.029 --> 00:16:30.009 the one with the dancing children release. That's 00:16:30.009 --> 00:16:32.269 the one. It was meant for displaying a famous 00:16:32.269 --> 00:16:35.450 relic, the Sacra Centola, Mary's girdle. But 00:16:35.450 --> 00:16:36.909 the reliefs weren't actually delivered until 00:16:36.909 --> 00:16:41.210 1438, a whole decade late. So how did Nicoloso 00:16:41.210 --> 00:16:44.679 put up with that for nearly nine years? The Medici 00:16:44.679 --> 00:16:47.279 might have provided a cushion, but surely Micheloso 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:51.000 needed paying. Well, Micheloso was probably compensated 00:16:51.000 --> 00:16:53.200 well for taking on the risk and the management 00:16:53.200 --> 00:16:56.799 burden. And the prestige of partnering with Donatello, 00:16:56.919 --> 00:16:59.580 securing these major commissions, likely made 00:16:59.580 --> 00:17:02.860 it worthwhile for a long time. But the Prado 00:17:02.860 --> 00:17:04.680 pulpit seems to have been the breaking point. 00:17:04.779 --> 00:17:07.000 It was just an organizational nightmare. And 00:17:07.000 --> 00:17:09.000 the reliefs themselves. When they finally arrived, 00:17:09.200 --> 00:17:10.619 they were pretty radical, too, weren't they? 00:17:10.680 --> 00:17:13.240 Absolutely explosive. Described as a veritable 00:17:13.240 --> 00:17:17.019 bacchanalian dance of half -nude putti, pagan 00:17:17.019 --> 00:17:20.200 in spirit. Pagan spirit on a cathedral pulpit. 00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:23.269 Exactly. This wild, liberated energy. focusing 00:17:23.269 --> 00:17:25.690 on rhythmic movement almost completely detached 00:17:25.690 --> 00:17:28.410 from traditional Christian themes. It stood in 00:17:28.410 --> 00:17:31.049 stark contrast to most religious art of the time. 00:17:31.150 --> 00:17:33.710 This shift in Donatello's style, this embrace 00:17:33.710 --> 00:17:36.190 of the untamed, probably also contributed to 00:17:36.190 --> 00:17:38.789 the partnership ending around 1434. He was just 00:17:38.789 --> 00:17:40.730 constantly pushing boundaries, regardless of 00:17:40.730 --> 00:17:43.009 deadlines or patron expectations. Around this 00:17:43.009 --> 00:17:45.470 time after the partnership ended, Donatello makes 00:17:45.470 --> 00:17:48.400 another trip to Rome. His second visit, the Rome 00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:52.779 Interlude. Yes, around 1430 to 1433. This seems 00:17:52.779 --> 00:17:54.819 to have been primarily for more deep study of 00:17:54.819 --> 00:17:57.220 antiquity, perhaps solidifying his direction 00:17:57.220 --> 00:17:59.240 after branching out on his own again. And did 00:17:59.240 --> 00:18:01.819 this trip influence his work? Significantly. 00:18:01.940 --> 00:18:04.980 The marble relief tabernacle surround he created 00:18:04.980 --> 00:18:07.740 for St. Peter's basically defined the standard 00:18:07.740 --> 00:18:10.619 early Renaissance wall tabernacle type, integrating 00:18:10.619 --> 00:18:13.180 classical architectural motifs with these lovely 00:18:13.180 --> 00:18:16.039 child angels. It's also speculated this is when 00:18:16.039 --> 00:18:18.759 he might have met the great theorist Leon Battista 00:18:18.759 --> 00:18:21.430 Alberti. He likely returned to Florence with 00:18:21.430 --> 00:18:23.490 an even deeper understanding of classical proportion 00:18:23.490 --> 00:18:26.349 and form, which you see feeding directly into 00:18:26.349 --> 00:18:28.569 his next major phase, including the Bronze David. 00:18:28.769 --> 00:18:32.210 Okay, so mid -1430s, Donatello's back from Rome, 00:18:32.329 --> 00:18:34.589 the partnership with Micheloso is over, and he 00:18:34.589 --> 00:18:37.170 enters this incredible period focusing on sensuous 00:18:37.170 --> 00:18:39.609 bronzes, deeply connected with the Medici circle. 00:18:39.829 --> 00:18:42.069 And he seems particularly interested in finds 00:18:42.069 --> 00:18:44.569 of children. Yes, Pudi, the classical winged 00:18:44.569 --> 00:18:47.470 infants, but also these figures he really championed, 00:18:47.470 --> 00:18:50.460 called Spiritelli's... sort of like imps or sprites. 00:18:50.640 --> 00:18:52.900 Weren't putting already around in art. They were. 00:18:53.390 --> 00:18:55.970 But Donatello gave them a totally new life and 00:18:55.970 --> 00:18:58.710 prominence. You see early examples on the cover 00:18:58.710 --> 00:19:01.650 he made for the Siena font back in 1429. These 00:19:01.650 --> 00:19:04.049 three little bronze spiritelli playing musical 00:19:04.049 --> 00:19:07.089 instruments. They're often called the first true 00:19:07.089 --> 00:19:10.569 freestanding figurines of the Renaissance. Freestanding, 00:19:10.569 --> 00:19:14.390 like small independent sculptures. Exactly. Not 00:19:14.390 --> 00:19:16.950 just part of a relief. It was a huge step, bridging 00:19:16.950 --> 00:19:19.390 classical motifs with contemporary forms and 00:19:19.390 --> 00:19:21.890 incredibly influential for later small bronzes. 00:19:22.759 --> 00:19:24.660 A famous exploration of this youthful energy 00:19:24.660 --> 00:19:28.180 is probably the Cantoria, the singing gallery 00:19:28.180 --> 00:19:31.640 for Florence Cathedral from 1433 -1438. This 00:19:31.640 --> 00:19:33.779 was a direct competition, wasn't it? A head -to 00:19:33.779 --> 00:19:36.619 -head artistic duel with Luca Della Robbia, who 00:19:36.619 --> 00:19:38.519 was creating a matching gallery for the other 00:19:38.519 --> 00:19:41.079 side of the choir. And the pressure was on. Intense 00:19:41.079 --> 00:19:43.660 pressure. Donatello's contract actually specified 00:19:43.660 --> 00:19:46.599 he'd get paid 20 % more if his finished gallery 00:19:46.599 --> 00:19:48.740 was judged more beautiful than Della Robbia's. 00:19:49.069 --> 00:19:51.309 Wow. So how did their approaches differ? Completely 00:19:51.309 --> 00:19:53.690 different. Della Robbia produced these serene, 00:19:53.690 --> 00:19:56.509 beautifully ordered, classically restrained figures 00:19:56.509 --> 00:19:59.950 of choir boys and musicians. Very elegant, very 00:19:59.950 --> 00:20:02.289 controlled. And Donatello? With the absolute 00:20:02.289 --> 00:20:05.250 opposite way. His freeze is just bursting with 00:20:05.250 --> 00:20:07.880 energy. It's described as... primarily symbols 00:20:07.880 --> 00:20:10.539 of Dionysiac abandon. These aren't well -behaved 00:20:10.539 --> 00:20:13.519 choir boys. They're wild, bachic figures, almost 00:20:13.519 --> 00:20:16.059 frantic, dancing with this incredible rhythmic 00:20:16.059 --> 00:20:18.680 intensity. They seem to almost escape the architectural 00:20:18.680 --> 00:20:22.019 frame. So one calm and classical, the other wild 00:20:22.019 --> 00:20:25.119 and pagan, side by side in the cathedral. Exactly. 00:20:25.119 --> 00:20:27.539 It shows the amazing breadth of the early Renaissance, 00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:30.259 that these two totally different, high -quality 00:20:30.259 --> 00:20:33.660 artistic visions could coexist. Donatello was 00:20:33.660 --> 00:20:36.259 deliberately rejecting serene idealism for something 00:20:36.259 --> 00:20:38.940 much more untamed, echoing that spirit we saw 00:20:38.940 --> 00:20:41.940 in the Pareto release. This pagan, almost untamed 00:20:41.940 --> 00:20:44.339 energy seems to flow directly into another really 00:20:44.339 --> 00:20:47.319 strange and fascinating bronze figure, the Amor 00:20:47.319 --> 00:20:51.599 Addis from around 1440 -1442. Ah, the Amor Attis. 00:20:51.839 --> 00:20:55.200 It's such a puzzle of a piece. It's a smallish 00:20:55.200 --> 00:20:58.720 bronze figure, but it has wings like Cupid, Amor, 00:20:58.740 --> 00:21:02.079 but also this phrygian cap associated with Attis, 00:21:02.079 --> 00:21:04.799 a strange little tail, leggings that really emphasize 00:21:04.799 --> 00:21:07.059 his nudity and genitals, and he's standing on 00:21:07.059 --> 00:21:09.700 a snake. What does it all mean? Nobody's entirely 00:21:09.700 --> 00:21:13.039 sure. It blends classical references in a really 00:21:13.039 --> 00:21:16.160 unique, maybe even deliberately obscure way. 00:21:16.599 --> 00:21:19.799 Its artistic quality is so high that despite 00:21:19.799 --> 00:21:22.460 Vasari mentioning it centuries later in the 17th 00:21:22.460 --> 00:21:24.519 century, people thought it was a genuine Roman 00:21:24.519 --> 00:21:27.180 antique. So it perfectly embodies that blend 00:21:27.180 --> 00:21:30.559 of classical form and a new, maybe slightly unsettling, 00:21:30.559 --> 00:21:32.900 sensuousness. Precisely. It feels like a bridge 00:21:32.900 --> 00:21:35.619 between the playful spiritelli and the complex 00:21:35.619 --> 00:21:37.839 sensuality of his next and most famous work. 00:21:38.109 --> 00:21:41.650 The bronze, David. C1434, 1440. We have to really 00:21:41.650 --> 00:21:43.430 stress the importance of this one. Absolutely. 00:21:43.650 --> 00:21:45.690 Cannot overstate it. It's arguably the single 00:21:45.690 --> 00:21:47.569 most important sculpture of the entire early 00:21:47.569 --> 00:21:49.609 Quadrigendo. The fact that it's the first known 00:21:49.609 --> 00:21:51.910 freestanding nude male sculpture made since the 00:21:51.910 --> 00:21:54.269 fall of Rome, conceived entirely in the round, 00:21:54.329 --> 00:21:56.750 not tied to a niche or a wall. That alone is 00:21:56.750 --> 00:21:58.589 history ultimate. Nothing else really prepares 00:21:58.589 --> 00:22:01.430 you for it. Nothing. It's this astonishing leap. 00:22:01.819 --> 00:22:04.500 That revival of the classical nude combined with 00:22:04.500 --> 00:22:08.039 this very particular, almost languid sensuality. 00:22:08.099 --> 00:22:10.859 Okay, politically, David was a symbol for Florence, 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:14.299 right? The underdog republic beating bigger enemies, 00:22:14.519 --> 00:22:16.539 like Milan. That's the standard interpretation, 00:22:16.859 --> 00:22:20.000 yes. David is a symbol of Florentine civic virtue 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:22.819 and liberty. But Donatello does something radical 00:22:22.819 --> 00:22:25.410 with the figure itself. He doesn't look much 00:22:25.410 --> 00:22:28.470 like a biblical hero king. Not at all. He transforms 00:22:28.470 --> 00:22:30.930 the king of Israel into something closer to a 00:22:30.930 --> 00:22:33.970 young, beautiful, almost androgynous Greek god. 00:22:34.069 --> 00:22:36.430 He's wearing only this rather jaunty hat and 00:22:36.430 --> 00:22:39.329 boots. Which just emphasizes the nudity. Exactly. 00:22:39.329 --> 00:22:41.769 And the eroticism isn't just general. It's quite 00:22:41.769 --> 00:22:44.390 specific and has drawn a lot of commentary. You 00:22:44.390 --> 00:22:47.250 mean the detail with Goliath's helmet? Yes. The 00:22:47.250 --> 00:22:49.710 gigantic feather from Goliath's helmet crest 00:22:49.710 --> 00:22:52.789 runs right up the inside of David's bare thigh. 00:22:53.259 --> 00:22:56.279 It's an incredibly deliberate, sensuous touch. 00:22:56.519 --> 00:22:59.759 Some see it as homoerotic, others as symbolizing 00:22:59.759 --> 00:23:02.940 luxury or pride being overcome, but it's undeniably 00:23:02.940 --> 00:23:06.099 charged. He's completely reinterpreting the subject 00:23:06.099 --> 00:23:09.119 through a classical humanist and perhaps personal 00:23:09.119 --> 00:23:12.609 lens. And David, along with the Amor Addis, seems 00:23:12.609 --> 00:23:14.809 to connect with the contemporary gossip about 00:23:14.809 --> 00:23:17.470 Donatello's own life and workshop. It certainly 00:23:17.470 --> 00:23:20.009 fuels that interpretation. There's a collection 00:23:20.009 --> 00:23:22.390 of anecdotes from the period, the Deddy P. Cheveley, 00:23:22.509 --> 00:23:25.289 basically celebrity gossip that strongly suggests 00:23:25.289 --> 00:23:27.829 Donatello's homosexuality was pretty widely known 00:23:27.829 --> 00:23:29.650 or at least rumored. What kind of anecdotes? 00:23:29.769 --> 00:23:31.589 Things about him hiring handsome assistants. 00:23:31.829 --> 00:23:34.710 And one story claims he used to stain them maybe 00:23:34.710 --> 00:23:37.430 with makeup or dye. so that other patrons wouldn't 00:23:37.430 --> 00:23:39.069 find them attractive and try to poach them from 00:23:39.069 --> 00:23:41.789 his workshop. Seriously? That's the story. There's 00:23:41.789 --> 00:23:44.210 even slang used in one anecdote about a quarrel 00:23:44.210 --> 00:23:46.390 and then a reconciliation with an assistant that 00:23:46.390 --> 00:23:48.890 pretty clearly implies sexual activity. But wasn't 00:23:48.890 --> 00:23:51.069 Florence quite strict about sodomy back then? 00:23:51.910 --> 00:23:54.529 Denunciations were common, right? Artists could 00:23:54.529 --> 00:23:58.390 get into serious trouble. Extremely strict. Denunciations 00:23:58.390 --> 00:24:01.109 through the tambourine boxes were frequent, and 00:24:01.109 --> 00:24:04.039 penalties could be severe, even death. Think 00:24:04.039 --> 00:24:07.279 of Botticelli later facing accusations. This 00:24:07.279 --> 00:24:09.319 is where the Medici connection becomes absolutely 00:24:09.319 --> 00:24:12.140 critical. They protected him. Seems very likely. 00:24:12.579 --> 00:24:15.380 Donatello's freedom to explore these unconventional, 00:24:15.400 --> 00:24:18.039 sensuous subjects and to live a lifestyle that 00:24:18.039 --> 00:24:20.799 was apparently commented upon was almost certainly 00:24:20.799 --> 00:24:23.519 enabled by the powerful shield of Medici patronage, 00:24:23.599 --> 00:24:26.180 particularly Cosimo de' Medici's support. So 00:24:26.180 --> 00:24:28.279 their tolerance was invaluable, allowing his 00:24:28.279 --> 00:24:31.380 genius to flourish without facing the legal repercussions 00:24:31.380 --> 00:24:34.740 others might have. Exactly. It meant that Donatello, 00:24:34.839 --> 00:24:37.079 despite being, by all accounts, terrible with 00:24:37.079 --> 00:24:39.759 money and organization, always had this powerful 00:24:39.759 --> 00:24:41.839 ally. And his financial character really was 00:24:41.839 --> 00:24:44.039 something else. Legendary. The classic story 00:24:44.039 --> 00:24:46.720 perfectly sums it up. He supposedly kept a bucket 00:24:46.720 --> 00:24:48.519 full of money hanging from the rafters in his 00:24:48.519 --> 00:24:51.259 workshop. A bucket of money. Yeah. And if his 00:24:51.259 --> 00:24:53.460 assistants or suppliers needed cash for materials 00:24:53.460 --> 00:24:56.029 or... wages, they could just reach up and take 00:24:56.029 --> 00:24:57.630 what they needed. No bookkeeping, apparently. 00:24:57.809 --> 00:25:00.829 That's incredible. Amiable and generous, but 00:25:00.829 --> 00:25:04.490 utterly unconcerned with finances. His 1427 tax 00:25:04.490 --> 00:25:07.089 return confirms that his declared income was 00:25:07.089 --> 00:25:09.809 way lower than his competitor, Ghiberti's, even 00:25:09.809 --> 00:25:12.029 though Donatello was arguably at the peak of 00:25:12.029 --> 00:25:14.769 his fame. He was clearly driven by the art, by 00:25:14.769 --> 00:25:17.789 experimentation, not by the bottom line. The 00:25:17.789 --> 00:25:19.930 Medici provided the safety net that let that 00:25:19.930 --> 00:25:24.579 revolutionary spirit thrive. So in 1443, Donatello 00:25:24.579 --> 00:25:26.660 makes a big move. He leaves Florence and heads 00:25:26.660 --> 00:25:29.119 north to Padua, where he stays for about 10 years. 00:25:29.339 --> 00:25:32.099 Why Padua? What was the context there? Padua 00:25:32.099 --> 00:25:34.420 was a prosperous city, part of the Venetian Republic's 00:25:34.420 --> 00:25:36.759 territory on the mainland. Importantly, it was 00:25:36.759 --> 00:25:38.980 politically friendly to the Medici back in Florence. 00:25:39.240 --> 00:25:41.420 It's quite possible Cosimo de' Medici encouraged 00:25:41.420 --> 00:25:43.839 or facilitated the move. As a way to sort of 00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:46.319 export Florentine artistic prestige. Exactly. 00:25:46.440 --> 00:25:48.539 Spread the influence. And Donatello's decade 00:25:48.539 --> 00:25:50.920 there was incredibly productive, dominated by 00:25:50.920 --> 00:25:54.119 huge monumental commissions, none more significant 00:25:54.119 --> 00:25:56.640 than the Equestria. statue of Gadamelada. The 00:25:56.640 --> 00:26:00.220 equestrian monument of Gadamelada, 1443 -1453. 00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:03.500 This is another major landmark piece, isn't it? 00:26:03.599 --> 00:26:06.039 A historical watershed, absolutely. It's the 00:26:06.039 --> 00:26:09.200 first life -size equestrian statue cast in bronze 00:26:09.200 --> 00:26:12.220 since antiquity. Think Roman emperors on horseback. 00:26:12.700 --> 00:26:15.059 Donatello revived that tradition. And it became 00:26:15.059 --> 00:26:18.140 the model for countless later equestrian monuments 00:26:18.140 --> 00:26:21.359 across Europe. Precisely. He'd clearly studied 00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:23.700 ancient examples like the famous bronze horses 00:26:23.700 --> 00:26:26.779 of St. Mark in nearby Venice and the Marcus Aurelius 00:26:26.779 --> 00:26:29.240 statue in Rome. You see those classical influences 00:26:29.240 --> 00:26:32.259 in the horse's powerful stance, the details of 00:26:32.259 --> 00:26:34.900 the rider's Roman -style armor. Gadamalada himself 00:26:34.900 --> 00:26:37.759 was a condottiere, a mercenary captain, named 00:26:37.759 --> 00:26:41.299 Erasmo de Narni. That's right. Nicknamed Gadamalada, 00:26:41.359 --> 00:26:44.099 which means something like honeyed cat. But there's 00:26:44.099 --> 00:26:45.839 a bit of a mystery around the commission itself. 00:26:46.279 --> 00:26:49.119 His will, left by his heirs who commissioned 00:26:49.119 --> 00:26:51.519 the work, apparently only specified a fearing 00:26:51.519 --> 00:26:54.000 modest tomb inside the Basilica of St. Anthony 00:26:54.000 --> 00:26:56.440 il Santo in Padua. But Donatella delivered this 00:26:56.440 --> 00:26:59.619 massive public monument outside the church. Exactly. 00:26:59.700 --> 00:27:02.859 A grand statement in the piazza. The huge expense 00:27:02.859 --> 00:27:04.859 ended up being shared by the Venetian government 00:27:04.859 --> 00:27:07.559 and the family. It transformed what was meant 00:27:07.559 --> 00:27:10.960 to be a private memorial into a very public civic 00:27:10.960 --> 00:27:13.880 symbol of Venetian power and military leadership. 00:27:14.380 --> 00:27:16.859 Gadamelata is presented almost like an idealized 00:27:16.859 --> 00:27:19.640 Roman general, a Caesar. So Donatello's presence 00:27:19.640 --> 00:27:23.539 alone in Padua must have had a huge impact. Transformative. 00:27:23.619 --> 00:27:26.680 His being there, casting this huge bronze statue, 00:27:26.940 --> 00:27:28.839 spurred the development of a whole local school 00:27:28.839 --> 00:27:31.700 of bronze casting in Padua. He trained sculptors, 00:27:31.779 --> 00:27:34.460 founders. His influence directly led to Padua 00:27:34.460 --> 00:27:37.220 becoming a major center for those small, collectible 00:27:37.220 --> 00:27:39.880 table bronzes later in the century. He basically 00:27:39.880 --> 00:27:42.200 created an artistic ecosystem wherever he worked. 00:27:42.319 --> 00:27:44.039 And while he was there, he wasn't just working 00:27:44.039 --> 00:27:46.440 on the gata mulata. He also did a massive amount 00:27:46.440 --> 00:27:48.769 of work for the high altar. inside Il Santo. 00:27:49.069 --> 00:27:53.029 A huge project between 1446 and 1450. We're talking 00:27:53.029 --> 00:27:56.309 over 20 bronze reliefs plus multiple life -size 00:27:56.309 --> 00:27:58.390 bronze figures. Including the first life -size 00:27:58.390 --> 00:28:00.549 bronze crucifix designed to hang above the altar. 00:28:00.829 --> 00:28:03.470 Yes, and the main altar composition itself was 00:28:03.470 --> 00:28:06.950 incredibly complex. A Madonna and child enthroned, 00:28:06.950 --> 00:28:10.269 surrounded by six saints. But the Madonna isn't 00:28:10.269 --> 00:28:12.369 just sitting there passively. How is she portrayed? 00:28:12.789 --> 00:28:14.930 She's shown in the act of rising from her throne. 00:28:15.230 --> 00:28:18.430 It adds this dynamic sense of movement, of presence, 00:28:18.569 --> 00:28:20.809 to the whole devotional group. And the throne 00:28:20.809 --> 00:28:24.049 itself sounds elaborate. Very. Packed with sophisticated 00:28:24.049 --> 00:28:27.130 classical details, sphinxes, symbols of knowledge, 00:28:27.309 --> 00:28:29.769 allegorical figures, and fascinatingly, on the 00:28:29.769 --> 00:28:33.049 back, a relief depicting the fall of man, Adam 00:28:33.049 --> 00:28:36.029 and Eve. It was this dense combination of classical 00:28:36.029 --> 00:28:38.210 learning, allegory, and Christian narrative. 00:28:38.430 --> 00:28:40.809 Plus, the 21 bronze release telling stories, 00:28:41.069 --> 00:28:43.349 including the beautifully detailed scenes from 00:28:43.349 --> 00:28:46.079 the life of St. Anthony. a monumental achievement. 00:28:46.380 --> 00:28:48.980 Okay, so after this incredibly productive, monumental 00:28:48.980 --> 00:28:51.940 decade in Padua, he eventually returns to Florence. 00:28:52.140 --> 00:28:54.539 And this is where we see a really dramatic shift 00:28:54.539 --> 00:28:57.059 in his style, right? Towards something much starker, 00:28:57.059 --> 00:29:00.160 more emotionally raw. Yes. The late Florentine 00:29:00.160 --> 00:29:02.759 period shows a move towards a kind of intense, 00:29:02.920 --> 00:29:06.240 sometimes disturbing, expressive realism. It's 00:29:06.240 --> 00:29:08.380 quite a shock compared to the idealized beauty 00:29:08.380 --> 00:29:11.480 of, say, the Bronze David. The prime example 00:29:11.480 --> 00:29:13.980 being the wooden penitent Magdalene. Absolutely. 00:29:14.099 --> 00:29:16.380 That figure is just... Formidably expressive. 00:29:16.920 --> 00:29:19.319 For a long time, people thought it was very late, 00:29:19.380 --> 00:29:23.019 maybe from the mid -1450s after Padua. But some 00:29:23.019 --> 00:29:25.000 redating, based on his wooden scene John the 00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:28.259 Baptist from 1438, suggests the Magdalene might 00:29:28.259 --> 00:29:30.500 actually be earlier. From before Padua, maybe 00:29:30.500 --> 00:29:33.640 around 1440, 1442. It's possible. Which makes 00:29:33.640 --> 00:29:35.779 the stylistic shift even more intriguing if he 00:29:35.779 --> 00:29:38.039 was capable of this kind of raw expression alongside 00:29:38.039 --> 00:29:40.500 the sensuous bronzes. But regardless of the exact 00:29:40.500 --> 00:29:43.539 date, stylistically, it's a world away from classical 00:29:43.539 --> 00:29:45.799 ideals. Completely. She's described as looking 00:29:45.799 --> 00:29:49.079 like a female figure. Her body is wasted, skeletal, 00:29:49.099 --> 00:29:51.599 hidden beneath this mass of long, stringy hair 00:29:51.599 --> 00:29:54.200 that acts as her only garment. all the focuses 00:29:54.200 --> 00:29:57.160 on her emaciated face, the sunken eyes, the open 00:29:57.160 --> 00:29:59.819 mouth conveying pure spiritual agony and penitence. 00:29:59.900 --> 00:30:02.519 Physical beauty is utterly rejected. It's all 00:30:02.519 --> 00:30:04.160 about the intensity of the soul's suffering. 00:30:04.359 --> 00:30:07.240 It must have been profoundly shocking to Florentine's 00:30:07.240 --> 00:30:10.160 use to the sweet style he himself had helped 00:30:10.160 --> 00:30:12.599 establish earlier. Deeply shocking, I imagine, 00:30:12.720 --> 00:30:15.099 and deeply moving. It shows him pushing into 00:30:15.099 --> 00:30:18.890 entirely new emotional territory. And this trajectory 00:30:18.890 --> 00:30:22.509 towards raw, uncompromised emotion seems to culminate 00:30:22.509 --> 00:30:25.809 in his very last major project in Florence, the 00:30:25.809 --> 00:30:27.730 bronze pulpits for the Church of San Lorenzo. 00:30:27.809 --> 00:30:30.549 Yes, the San Lorenzo pulpits, worked on in the 00:30:30.549 --> 00:30:33.410 1460s, probably left slightly unfinished at his 00:30:33.410 --> 00:30:36.250 death. These are two large pulpits covered in 00:30:36.250 --> 00:30:38.589 bronze reliefs depicting scenes from Christ's 00:30:38.589 --> 00:30:40.690 Passion and the events after his resurrection. 00:30:41.180 --> 00:30:44.119 And stylistically, they are. Extreme. You see 00:30:44.119 --> 00:30:46.319 incredible experimentation, almost abstraction 00:30:46.319 --> 00:30:48.480 sometimes. The spatial treatment varies wildly 00:30:48.480 --> 00:30:50.799 between panels. The scale of figures changes. 00:30:50.980 --> 00:30:53.299 There's a stylistic roughness, a messy, vigorous 00:30:53.299 --> 00:30:55.720 energy that feels almost desperate. Described 00:30:55.720 --> 00:30:58.500 as showing the absolutely uncompromising use 00:30:58.500 --> 00:31:00.839 of every possible means to express emotion and 00:31:00.839 --> 00:31:03.240 suffering. It sounds almost painful to experience. 00:31:03.720 --> 00:31:07.599 It can be. The figures are contorted. The composition's 00:31:07.599 --> 00:31:10.240 crowded and chaotic. There's a suggestion he 00:31:10.240 --> 00:31:12.019 was working with incredible speed and urgency, 00:31:12.299 --> 00:31:15.279 maybe even casting directly from roughly finished 00:31:15.279 --> 00:31:18.579 wax models, Modelli. It seems his final artistic 00:31:18.579 --> 00:31:20.859 goal wasn't about polished beauty or classical 00:31:20.859 --> 00:31:23.299 harmony anymore, but about conveying the raw, 00:31:23.579 --> 00:31:26.259 immediate, overwhelming power of human suffering 00:31:26.259 --> 00:31:29.160 and divine drama. We've talked about his mastery 00:31:29.160 --> 00:31:33.700 of stone, wood, bronze. But his innovation didn't 00:31:33.700 --> 00:31:35.720 stop there. He even experimented with glass, 00:31:36.079 --> 00:31:38.619 which seems unusual for a sculptor. Highly unusual. 00:31:38.759 --> 00:31:41.299 But yes, around 1434, he was actually commissioned 00:31:41.299 --> 00:31:44.019 to design a stained glass window for Florence 00:31:44.019 --> 00:31:47.819 Cathedral. He also used little glass cubes, tesserae, 00:31:47.819 --> 00:31:50.000 sometimes set into the backgrounds of his release, 00:31:50.119 --> 00:31:52.359 like on the Prado pulpit, for textural effect. 00:31:52.660 --> 00:31:55.119 But his most inventive use of glass was the Cellini 00:31:55.119 --> 00:31:57.759 Madonna. Ah, yes, the Cellini Madonna from around 00:31:57.759 --> 00:32:00.470 1450. This is technically fascinating. It's a 00:32:00.470 --> 00:32:02.630 bronze round old latando showing the virgin and 00:32:02.630 --> 00:32:04.710 child, but it's cast with remarkable precision 00:32:04.710 --> 00:32:06.990 so that it has exactly the same thickness all 00:32:06.990 --> 00:32:09.690 over. Meaning the front relief matches the back 00:32:09.690 --> 00:32:13.049 indentation perfectly. Exactly. The convex relief 00:32:13.049 --> 00:32:15.670 on the front has a perfectly matching concave 00:32:15.670 --> 00:32:18.329 hollow on the reverse side, and the idea was 00:32:18.329 --> 00:32:20.490 that this reverse side could function as a mold. 00:32:20.690 --> 00:32:23.369 A mold for what? For casting replicas in molten 00:32:23.369 --> 00:32:26.609 glass, or possibly cheaper materials like wax 00:32:26.609 --> 00:32:29.809 or plaster. He actually gave this bronze tondo 00:32:29.809 --> 00:32:33.829 to his doctor, Giovanni Cellini, in 1456, perhaps 00:32:33.829 --> 00:32:36.609 partly as payment. It shows this incredibly forward 00:32:36.609 --> 00:32:38.569 -thinking approach, almost like proto -industrial 00:32:38.569 --> 00:32:41.029 design, where the original artwork itself serves 00:32:41.029 --> 00:32:43.630 as a master mold for potential mass reproduction. 00:32:45.079 --> 00:32:47.319 Now, on a different note, what about portraiture? 00:32:47.319 --> 00:32:49.259 We have these incredibly realistic figures like 00:32:49.259 --> 00:32:51.819 the Zucconi or the Magdalene. Did he do many 00:32:51.819 --> 00:32:54.680 actual portraits? It's a bit tricky. Aside from 00:32:54.680 --> 00:32:56.819 his very realistic tomb effigies, like the one 00:32:56.819 --> 00:32:59.960 for Antipope John III, verifiable portraits by 00:32:59.960 --> 00:33:02.359 Donatello are surprisingly scarce. What about 00:33:02.359 --> 00:33:04.759 the famous terracotta bust of Niccolo d 'Ausano? 00:33:04.920 --> 00:33:08.200 That looks incredibly realistic. It does. It's 00:33:08.200 --> 00:33:11.480 dated to the 1430s and shows this really uncompromising 00:33:11.480 --> 00:33:13.640 realism, suggesting it might have been made from 00:33:13.640 --> 00:33:17.019 a life mask or even a death mask. But modern 00:33:17.019 --> 00:33:19.599 scholars really debate the attribution. Some 00:33:19.599 --> 00:33:21.799 question if it's actually by Donatello. Some 00:33:21.799 --> 00:33:24.140 even question its quality, suggesting it might 00:33:24.140 --> 00:33:29.119 be later in the century. That's not a real likeness. 00:33:29.200 --> 00:33:31.839 Generally considered not. It's more of a stylized, 00:33:31.859 --> 00:33:34.799 idealized, Caesar -like head representing the 00:33:34.799 --> 00:33:37.140 idea of a commander rather than a specific portrait 00:33:37.140 --> 00:33:40.200 of Erasmo Di Narni. It seems Donatello was more 00:33:40.200 --> 00:33:42.680 interested in capturing character, type, or an 00:33:42.680 --> 00:33:45.359 idealized form than literal individual fidelity 00:33:45.359 --> 00:33:48.200 in many cases. Okay, so much of the story of 00:33:48.200 --> 00:33:50.660 Donatello, the anecdotes, the sense of his personality, 00:33:51.000 --> 00:33:53.500 comes down to us through Giorgio Vasari's Lives 00:33:53.500 --> 00:33:55.640 of the Artists, written about a century after 00:33:55.640 --> 00:33:58.900 his death. Vasari is crucial, absolutely. He 00:33:58.900 --> 00:34:01.420 fully recognized Donatello's monumental importance 00:34:01.420 --> 00:34:03.839 and gave us so many of those memorable stories, 00:34:03.920 --> 00:34:06.119 the St. Mark unveiling trick, the bucket of money. 00:34:06.240 --> 00:34:08.699 They bring the artist to life. But we need to 00:34:08.699 --> 00:34:11.820 read Vasari carefully. Very carefully. Vasari, 00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:14.840 writing in the mid -16th century, had his own 00:34:14.840 --> 00:34:17.860 agenda. His book contained significant factual 00:34:17.860 --> 00:34:21.300 errors. Most notably, he got Donatello's birth 00:34:21.300 --> 00:34:24.360 year wrong by 17 years. Why would he do that? 00:34:24.599 --> 00:34:26.800 It artificially compressed the timeline of the 00:34:26.800 --> 00:34:29.059 early Renaissance, making the progression seem 00:34:29.059 --> 00:34:31.769 quicker and more Florentine -centric. Vasari 00:34:31.769 --> 00:34:34.489 saw Donatello as the essential starting point 00:34:34.489 --> 00:34:37.110 for Florence's artistic dominance, and he wanted 00:34:37.110 --> 00:34:39.989 to draw a clear, direct line of influence leading 00:34:39.989 --> 00:34:42.710 straight to his own ultimate hero, Michelangelo. 00:34:43.150 --> 00:34:46.630 So Vasari is invaluable for the narrative, but 00:34:46.630 --> 00:34:49.409 not always reliable on the facts. Got it. But 00:34:49.409 --> 00:34:52.429 inaccuracies aside, Donatello's actual influence 00:34:52.429 --> 00:34:55.530 was immense and undeniable. Absolutely fundamental. 00:34:55.809 --> 00:34:57.550 His sheer variety, think of the range from the 00:34:57.550 --> 00:34:59.570 classical David to the expressive Magdalene, 00:34:59.590 --> 00:35:01.530 influenced basically all Florentine sculpture 00:35:01.530 --> 00:35:03.710 throughout the 15th century. Yeah. Everyone had 00:35:03.710 --> 00:35:05.369 to react to Donatello. Even if they didn't always 00:35:05.369 --> 00:35:08.269 understand his later work. Right. That late, 00:35:08.449 --> 00:35:13.369 incredibly bold, expressive style. The boldness 00:35:13.369 --> 00:35:16.019 of imagination and execution. in the San Lorenzo 00:35:16.019 --> 00:35:18.159 pulpits that seemed to have been difficult for 00:35:18.159 --> 00:35:20.880 his immediate successors. Many of them reverted 00:35:20.880 --> 00:35:23.500 to a safer, sweeter style, a kind of refined 00:35:23.500 --> 00:35:26.739 classicism that, ironically, Donatello himself 00:35:26.739 --> 00:35:29.360 had helped create decades earlier. But later 00:35:29.360 --> 00:35:31.880 artists picked up on it. Yes, the next generation, 00:35:32.119 --> 00:35:34.219 the more progressive masters like Verrocchio, 00:35:34.340 --> 00:35:37.059 who taught Leonardo, and Antonio del Palaiolo, 00:35:37.260 --> 00:35:39.719 they clearly studied and absorbed the power and 00:35:39.719 --> 00:35:42.219 emotional intensity of Donatello's late work. 00:35:42.380 --> 00:35:44.639 They carried that challenging legacy forward. 00:35:45.050 --> 00:35:47.570 and his influence spread geographically too because 00:35:47.570 --> 00:35:50.090 of his time away from florence definitely his 00:35:50.090 --> 00:35:52.510 decade in padua and time spent working for sienna 00:35:52.510 --> 00:35:54.530 earlier wasn't just a personal detour it was 00:35:54.530 --> 00:35:56.929 like planting artistic seeds by training local 00:35:56.929 --> 00:35:58.929 sculptors and bronze founders in those cities 00:35:58.929 --> 00:36:01.550 he helped transform them into significant art 00:36:01.550 --> 00:36:04.230 centers in their own right He effectively exported 00:36:04.230 --> 00:36:06.750 the Florentine Renaissance across Italy. So it's 00:36:06.750 --> 00:36:08.610 really no surprise then that when Michelangelo 00:36:08.610 --> 00:36:11.489 comes to carve his own colossal David in 1501, 00:36:11.610 --> 00:36:14.630 he's not just making a statue. No, he's absolutely 00:36:14.630 --> 00:36:17.670 making it in dialogue with Donatello. Michelangelo's 00:36:17.670 --> 00:36:20.170 David is both an ode to Donatello's achievement 00:36:20.170 --> 00:36:23.269 and a direct challenge to it. It confirms Donatello's 00:36:23.269 --> 00:36:25.610 enduring relevance, setting the benchmark for 00:36:25.610 --> 00:36:28.329 mastering the human form that all future artists 00:36:28.329 --> 00:36:30.730 would have to measure themselves against. Hashtag 00:36:30.730 --> 00:36:34.000 tag outro. So, wrapping this up. We've journeyed 00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:36.179 through the incredibly long and varied career 00:36:36.179 --> 00:36:39.320 of Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi, the master 00:36:39.320 --> 00:36:41.679 of pretty much every material imaginable, the 00:36:41.679 --> 00:36:44.079 pioneer who went back to Rome to rediscover classical 00:36:44.079 --> 00:36:47.280 forms, the genius inventor of stat shadow relief, 00:36:47.500 --> 00:36:49.519 and this complex character whose revolutionary 00:36:49.519 --> 00:36:52.159 art was protected by that crucial Medici shield. 00:36:52.420 --> 00:36:54.400 He really was the ultimate artistic chameleon, 00:36:54.400 --> 00:36:56.760 wasn't he? Fearless in tackling political statements 00:36:56.760 --> 00:36:59.380 like the Gattamelata, intimate devotional works, 00:36:59.599 --> 00:37:02.320 classical erotica like the David, sometimes all... 00:37:02.409 --> 00:37:04.929 seemingly at the same time. His body of work 00:37:04.929 --> 00:37:08.550 is just this amazing study in contrast and relentless 00:37:08.550 --> 00:37:11.110 technical ambition. And maybe that contrast is 00:37:11.110 --> 00:37:13.090 the real core insight here, the thing to take 00:37:13.090 --> 00:37:15.690 away. How could one single artist contain such 00:37:15.690 --> 00:37:18.289 radically different, almost contradictory artistic 00:37:18.289 --> 00:37:20.590 visions within one lifetime? It's an amazing 00:37:20.590 --> 00:37:23.769 question. You have the polished, sensuous, near 00:37:23.769 --> 00:37:26.550 -perfect beauty of the bronze David on one side, 00:37:26.710 --> 00:37:29.750 and then on the other, the stark, suffering, 00:37:29.929 --> 00:37:32.789 almost painfully honest realism of the penitent 00:37:32.789 --> 00:37:35.929 Magdalene, or the raw, chaotic energy of those 00:37:35.929 --> 00:37:38.829 late San Lorenzo pulpits. And perhaps that very 00:37:38.829 --> 00:37:41.389 versatility, that ability to pivot so completely 00:37:41.389 --> 00:37:45.130 from idealized classical beauty to brutally raw 00:37:45.130 --> 00:37:47.820 expression. Driven by his own interests and his 00:37:47.820 --> 00:37:50.699 incredible technical skill, perhaps that's what 00:37:50.699 --> 00:37:52.780 truly defines the spirit of the Renaissance itself. 00:37:53.139 --> 00:37:55.400 Calso. It was an era obsessed with humanity, 00:37:55.579 --> 00:37:58.159 with man at the center. But maybe Donatello was 00:37:58.159 --> 00:38:00.260 the first artist who dared to show humanity in 00:38:00.260 --> 00:38:02.599 its full spectrum. The beautiful, the ideal, 00:38:02.659 --> 00:38:05.420 the sensual, but also the suffering, the flawed, 00:38:05.519 --> 00:38:09.199 the intensely agonizingly real. All of it. A 00:38:09.199 --> 00:38:11.460 truly profound way to look at his legacy. A fantastic 00:38:11.460 --> 00:38:13.639 deep dive into the man who really launched it 00:38:13.639 --> 00:38:15.059 all. Thank you so much for sharing all that. 00:38:15.159 --> 00:38:17.000 My pleasure. Always fascinating to talk about 00:38:17.000 --> 00:38:17.400 Donatel.