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diff --git a/18099-8.txt b/18099-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6908d93 --- /dev/null +++ b/18099-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8300 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Donatello, by David Lindsay, Earl of Crawford + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Donatello + + +Author: David Lindsay, Earl of Crawford + + + +Release Date: April 1, 2006 [eBook #18099] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DONATELLO*** + + +E-text prepared by Suzanne Lybarger, Linda Cantoni, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) from +page images generously made available by Internet Archive/Canadian +Libraries (http://www.archive.org/details/toronto) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 18099-h.htm or 18099-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/0/9/18099/18099-h/18099-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/0/9/18099/18099-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries. See + http://www.archive.org/details/donatello00crawuoft + + +Transcriber's note: + + In the original text the name "Verrocchio" is, except for one + instance, misspelled as "Verrochio"; the name "Buonarroti" is + twice misspelled as "Buonarotti"; the name "Orcagna" is once + misspelled as "Orcagra"; and the name "Vasari" is once + misspelled as "Vassari." These have been corrected in this + e-text. + + Variants, archaic forms, or Anglicizations of other names + (e.g., "Michael Angelo" for "Michelangelo"; "Or San Michele" + for "Orsanmichele"; "Brunellesco" for "Brunelleschi") have + been retained as they appear in the original. + + Characters with macrons are indicated in brackets, e.g. [=U]. + + Characters following a caret character are superscripted, e.g. + M^a. + + + + + +DONATELLO + +by + +LORD BALCARRES + + + + + + + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +CHRIST ON THE CROSS + +SANT' ANTONIO, PADUA] + + + +[Illustration: DESORMAIS] + + + +London: Duckworth and Co. +New York: Charles Scribner's Sons +1903 +All rights reserved +Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co. +at the Ballantyne Press + + + + +PREFACE + + +An attempt is made in the following pages to determine the position +and character of Donatello's art in relation to that of his +contemporaries and successors. The subject must be familiar to many +who have visited Florence, but no critical work on the subject has +been published in English. I have therefore quoted as many authorities +as possible in order to assist those who may wish to look further into +problems which are still unsettled. Most of the books to which +reference is made can be consulted in the Art Library at South +Kensington, and in the British Museum. Foreign critics have written a +good deal about Donatello from varied, if somewhat limited aspects. +Dr. Bode's researches are, as a rule, illustrative of the works of art +in the Berlin Museum. The main object of Dr. Semper was to collect +documentary evidence about the earlier part of Donatello's life; +Gloria and Gonzati have made researches into the Paduan period; Lusini +confines his attention to Siena, Centofanti to Pisa; M. Reymond and +Eugène Müntz are more comprehensive in their treatment of the subject. + +With eleven or twelve exceptions I have seen the original of every +existing piece of sculpture, architecture and painting mentioned in +this book. I regret, however, that among the exceptions should be a +work by Donatello himself, namely, the Salome relief at Lille--my +visits to that town having unfortunately coincided with public +holidays, when the gallery was closed. I must express my thanks to the +officials of Museums, as well as to private collectors all over +Europe, for unfailing courtesy and assistance. I have also to +acknowledge my indebtedness to the invaluable advice of Mr. S. Arthur +Strong, Librarian of the House of Lords. + +21.vi.1903 + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + +INTRODUCTION 1 + +COMPETITION FOR THE BAPTISTERY GATES 2 + +FIRST JOURNEY TO ROME 3 + +THE PREDECESSORS OF DONATELLO 5 + +FIRST WORK FOR THE CATHEDRAL 7 + +THE CATHEDRAL FAÇADE 8 + +THE DANIEL AND POGGIO 10 + +ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST AND THE MARBLE DAVID 14 + +STATUES OF THE CAMPANILE 17 + +ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST 18 + +JEREMIAH AND THE CANON OF ART 20 + +HABAKKUK AND THE SENSE OF DISTANCE 23 + +THE ZUCCONE, "REALISM" AND NATURE 26 + +THE ZUCCONE AND THE SENSE OF LIGHT AND SHADE 29 + +ABRAHAM AND THE SENSE OF PROPORTION 30 + +DRAPERY AND HANDS 31 + +MINOR WORKS FOR THE CATHEDRAL 33 + +OR SAN MICHELE, ST. PETER AND ST. MARK 35 + +ST. LOUIS 38 + +ST. GEORGE 39 + +DONATELLO AND GOTHIC ART 42 + +THE CRUCIFIX AND ANNUNCIATION 47 + +MARTELLI, DAVID, AND DONATELLO'S TECHNIQUE 52 + +EARLY FIGURES OF ST. JOHN 56 + +DONATELLO AS ARCHITECT AND PAINTER 59 + +THE SIENA FONT 70 + +MICHELOZZO AND THE COSCIA TOMB 72 + +THE ARAGAZZI TOMB 76 + +THE BRANCACCI TOMB 77 + +STIACCIATO 80 + +TOMBS OF PECCI, CRIVELLI, AND OTHERS 82 + +THE SECOND VISIT TO ROME 88 + +WORK AT ROME 94 + +THE MEDICI MEDALLIONS 97 + +THE BRONZE DAVID 99 + +DONATELLO AND CHILDHOOD 103 + +THE CANTORIA 107 + +THE PRATO PULPIT 109 + +OTHER CHILDREN BY DONATELLO 113 + +BOYS' BUSTS 116 + +NICCOLÒ DA UZZANO AND POLYCHROMACY 121 + +PORTRAIT-BUSTS 125 + +RELIEF-PORTRAITS 131 + +SAN LORENZO 133 + +THE BRONZE DOORS 135 + +THE JUDITH 140 + +THE MAGDALEN AND SIMILAR STATUES 144 + +THE ALTAR AT PADUA 149 + +THE LARGE STATUES 152 + +THE BRONZE RELIEFS 156 + +THE SYMBOLS OF THE EVANGELISTS 161 + +THE CHOIR OF ANGELS 163 + +THE PIETÀ AND THE ENTOMBMENT 164 + +DONATELLO'S ASSISTANTS 167 + +BELLANO AND THE GATTAMELATA TOMBS 170 + +GATTAMELATA 173 + +SMALLER RELIEFS AND PLAQUETTES 176 + +THE MADONNAS 179 + +THE PULPITS OF SAN LORENZO 186 + +DONATELLO'S INFLUENCE ON SCULPTURE 190 + +EARLY CRITICISM OF DONATELLO 193 + +CHARACTER AND PERSONALITY OF DONATELLO 194 + +APPENDIX I 199 + +APPENDIX II 201 + +APPENDIX III 204 + +INDEX 207 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Christ on the Cross _Frontispiece_ + +Joshua _To face page_ 10 + +Poggio " 12 + +Mocenigo Tomb " 14 + +Marble David " 16 + +St. John the Evangelist " 18 + +Jeremiah " 20 + +Habakkuk " 24 + +The Zuccone " 26 + +Abraham and Isaac " 30 + +St. Mark " 36 + +St. George " 40 + +St. George " 42 + +Annunciation " 48 + +San Giovannino " 56 + +St. John Baptist, Marble " 58 + +Clay Sketch of Crucifixion and Flagellation " 62 + +Niche of Or San Michele " 64 + +The Marzocco " 66 + +The Martelli Shield " 68 + +Salome Relief, Siena " 70 + +Tomb of Coscia, Pope John XXIII. " 72 + +Effigy of Pope John XXIII. " 74 + +Tomb of Cardinal Brancacci " 78 + +Tomb Plate of Bishop Pecci " 86 + +Tabernacle " 94 + +The Charge to Peter " 96 + +The Bronze David " 100 + +Cantoria " 106 + +Cantoria (Detail) " 108 + +The Prato Pulpit " 110 + +Bronze Amorino " 114 + +San Giovannino " 118 + +Niccolò da Uzzano " 122 + +Bronze Doors " 136 + +Judith " 140 + +St. Mary Magdalen " 144 + +St. John the Baptist " 146 + +Saint Francis, the Madonna, and Saint + Anthony " 152 + +Miracle of the Speaking Babe " 156 + +Miracle of the Miser's Heart " 158 + +Miracle of the Mule " 160 + +Symbol of St. Matthew " 162 + +Choristers " 164 + +Choristers " 164 + +Christ Mourned by Angels " 166 + +Super Altar by Giovanni da Pisa " 168 + +Tomb of Giovanni, Son of General Gattamelata " 170 + +Tomb of General Gattamelata " 172 + +Shrine of St. Justina " 172 + +General Gattamelata " 174 + +Colleone " 176 + +Madonna and Child " 180 + +"Pazzi" Madonna " 182 + +Madonna and Child " 184 + +Madonna " 186 + +Side Panel of Pulpit " 188 + +End Panel of Pulpit " 190 + + _The reproductions from photographs which illustrate this + volume have been made by Messrs. J.J. Waddington, Ltd. 14 + Henrietta Street, W.C._ + + + + +DONATELLO + + +The materials for a biography of Donatello are so scanty, that his +life and personality can only be studied in his works. The Renaissance +gave birth to few men of productive genius whose actual careers are so +little known. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Donatello composed no +treatise on his art; he wrote no memoir or commentary, no sonnets, and +indeed scarcely a letter of his even on business topics has survived. +For specific information about his career we therefore depend upon +some returns made to the Florentine tax-collectors, and upon a number +of contracts and payments for work carried out in various parts of +Italy. But, however familiar Donatello the sculptor may be to the +student of Italian art, Donatello the man must remain a mystery. His +biography offers no attraction for those whose curiosity requires +minute and intimate details of domestic life. Donatello bequeathed +nothing to posterity except a name, his masterpieces and a lasting +influence for good. + +The _Denunzia de' beni_, which was periodically demanded from +Florentine citizens, was a declaration of income combined with what +would now be called census returns. Donatello made three statements of +this nature,[1] in 1427, 1433 and 1457. It is difficult to determine +his age, as in each case the date of his birth is differently +inferred. But it is probable that the second of these returns, when he +said that he was forty-seven years old, gives his correct age. This +would place his birth in 1386, and various deductions from other +sources justify this attribution. We gather also that Donatello lived +with his mother Orsa, his father having died before 1415. The widow, +who is mentioned in 1427, and not in 1433, presumably died before the +latter date. One sister, Tita, a dowerless widow, is mentioned in the +earliest _denunzia_, living with her mother and Donatello, her son +Giuliano having been born in 1409. It is probable that Donatello had a +brother, but the matter is somewhat obscure, and it is now certain +that he cannot be identified with the sculptor Simone, who used to be +considered Donatello's brother on the authority of Vasari. + +[Footnote 1: Gaye, Carteggio, i. 120. See Appendix II. A.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Competition for the Baptistery Gates.] + +The year 1402 marks an event of far-reaching importance in the history +of Italian art. Having decided to erect bronze doors for their +Baptistery, the Florentines invited all artists to submit competitive +designs. After a preliminary trial, six artists were selected and a +further test was imposed. They were directed to make a bronze relief +of given size and shape, the subject being the Sacrifice of Isaac. Few +themes could have been better chosen, as the artist had to show his +capacity to portray youth and age, draped and undraped figures, as +well as landscape and animal life. The trial plaques were to be sent +to the judges within twelve months. Donatello did not compete, being +only a boy, but he must have been familiar with every stage in the +contest, which excited the deepest interest in Tuscany. A jury of +thirty-four experts, among whom were goldsmiths and painters as well +as sculptors, assembled to deliver the final verdict. The work of +Jacobo della Quercia of Siena was lacking in elegance and delicacy; +the design submitted by Simone da Colle was marred by faulty drawing; +that of Niccolo d'Arezzo by badly proportioned figures; while +Francesco di Valdambrino made a confused and inharmonious group. It +was evident that Ghiberti and Brunellesco were the most able +competitors, and the jury hesitated before giving a decision. +Brunellesco, however, withdrew in favour of his younger rival, and the +commission was accordingly entrusted to Ghiberti. The decision was +wise: Ghiberti's model, technically as well as æsthetically, was +superior to that of Brunellesco. Both are preserved at Florence, and +nobody has regretted the acceptance of Ghiberti's design, for its +rejection would have made a sculptor of Brunellesco, whose real tastes +and inclinations were towards architecture, to which he rendered +services of incomparable value. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: First Journey to Rome.] + +For a short time Donatello was probably one of the numerous _garzoni_ +or assistants employed by Ghiberti in making the gates, but his first +visit to Rome is the most important incident of his earlier years. +Brunellesco, disappointed by his defeat, and wishing to study the +sculpture and architecture of Rome, sold a property at Settignano to +raise funds for the journey. He was accompanied by Donatello, his +_stretissimo amico_, [Transcriber's Note: Probably should be +"strettissimo."] and they spent at least a year together in Rome, +learning what they could from the existing monuments of ancient art, +and making jewelry when money was wanted for their household expenses. +Tradition says that they once unearthed a hoard of old coins and were +thenceforward known as the treasure-seekers--_quelli del' tesoro_. But +the influence of antiquity upon Donatello was never great, and +Brunellesco had to visit Rome frequently before he could fully realise +the true bearings of classical art. It has been argued that Donatello +never made this early visit to Rome on the ground that his subsequent +work shows no traces of classical influence. On such a problem as this +the affirmative statement of Vasari is lightly disregarded. But the +biographer of Brunellesco is explicit on the point, giving many +details about their sojourn; and this book was written during the +lifetime of both Donatello and Brunellesco. The argument against the +visit is, in fact, untenable. Artists were influenced by classical +motives without going to Rome. Brunellesco himself placed in his +competition design a figure inspired by the bronze boy drawing a thorn +out of his foot--the _Spinario_ of the Capitol. Similar examples could +be quoted from the work of Luca della Robbia, and it would be easy to +show, on the other hand, that painters like Masaccio, Fra Angelico, +and Piero della Francesca were able to execute important work in Rome +without allowing themselves to be influenced by the classical spirit +except in details and accessories. Moreover, if one desired to press +the matter further, it can be shown that in the work completed by +Donatello before 1433, the year in which he made his second and +undisputed visit, there are sufficient signs of classical motive in +his architectural backgrounds to justify the opinion that he was +acquainted with the ancient buildings of Rome. The Relief on the font +at Siena and that in the Musée Wicar at Lille certainly show classical +study. At the same time, in measuring the extent to which Donatello +was influenced by his first visit to Rome, we must remember that it is +often difficult and sometimes impossible to determine the source of +what is generically called classical. The revival or reproduction of +Romanesque motives is often mistaken for classical research. In the +places where Christianity had little classical architecture to guide +it--Ravenna, for instance--a new line was struck out; but elsewhere +the Romanesque had slowly emerged from the classical, and in many +cases there was no strict line of demarcation between the two. But +Donatello was very young when he went to Rome, and the fashion of the +day had not then turned in favour of classical study. The sculptors +working in Rome, colourless men as they were, drew their inspiration +from Gothic and pre-Renaissance ideals. In Florence the ruling motives +were even more Gothic in tendency. It is in this school that Donatello +found his earliest training, and though he modified and transcended +all that his teachers could impart, his sculpture always retained a +character to which the essential elements of classical art contributed +little or nothing. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: The Predecessors of Donatello.] + +Florence was busily engaged in decorating her great buildings. The +fourteenth century had witnessed the structural completion of the +Cathedral, excepting its dome, of the Campanile, and of the Church of +Or San Michele. During the later years of the century their adornment +was begun. A host of sculptors was employed, the number and scale of +statues required being great. There was a danger that the sculpture +might have become a mere handmaid of the architecture to which it was +subordinated. But this was not the case; the sculptors preserved a +freedom in adapting their figures to the existing architectural lines, +and it is precisely in the statuary applied to completed buildings +that we can trace the most interesting transitions from Gothic to +Renaissance. It is needless to discuss closely the work which was +erected before Donatello's return from Rome: much of it has unhappily +perished, and what remains is for the purposes of this book merely +illustrative of the early inspiration of Donatello. Piero Tedesco made +a number of statues for the Cathedral, Mea and Giottino worked for the +Campanile. Lorenzo di Bicci, sculptor, architect, and painter, was one +of those whose influence extended to Donatello; Niccolo d'Arezzo was +perhaps the most original of this group, making a genuine effort to +shake off the conventional system. But, on the whole, the last quarter +of the fourteenth century showed but little progress. Indeed, from the +time of the later Pisani there seems to have been a period of +stagnation, a pause during which the anticipated progress bore little +fruit. Orcagna never succeeded in developing the ideas of his master. +The shrine in Or San Michele, marvellous in its way, admirable alike +for diligence and sincerity, stands alone, and was not imbued with the +life which could make it an influence upon contemporary art. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: First Work for the Cathedral.] + +The first recorded payment to Donatello by the Domopera, or Cathedral +authorities, was made in November 1406, when he received ten golden +florins as an instalment towards his work on the two prophets for the +North door of the church, which is rather inaccurately described in +the early documents as facing the Via de' Servi. Fifteen months later +he received the balance of six florins. These two marble figures, +small as they are, and placed high above the gables, are not very +noticeable, but they contain the germ of much which was to follow. The +term "prophet" can only be applied to them by courtesy, for they are +curly-haired boys with free and open countenances; one of them happens +to hold a scroll and the other wears a chaplet of bay leaves. There is +a certain charm about them, a freshness and vitality which reappears +later on when Donatello was making the dancing children for the Prato +pulpit and the singing gallery for the Cathedral. The two prophets, +particularly the one to the right, are clothed with a skill and +facility all the more remarkable from the fact that some of the +statues made soon afterwards, show a stiff and rigid treatment of +drapery. Closely allied to these figures is a small marble statue, +about three feet high, belonging to Madame Edouard André in Paris. It +is a full-length figure of a standing youth, modelled with precision, +and intended to be placed in a niche or against a background. Like the +prophets just described, it has a high forehead, while the drapery +falls in strong harmonious lines, a corner being looped up over the +left arm. It is undoubtedly by Donatello, being the earliest example +of his work in any collection, public or private, and on that account +of importance, apart from its intrinsic merits. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: The Cathedral Façade.] + +Donatello soon received commissions for statues of a more imposing +scale to be placed on the ill-fated façade of the Cathedral. All +beautiful within, the churches of Florence are singularly poor in +those rich façades which give such scope to the sculptor and +architect, conferring, as at Pisa, distinction on a whole town. The +churches of the Carmine, Santo Spirito and San Lorenzo are without +façades at all, presenting graceless and unfinished masonry in place +of what was intended by their founders. Elsewhere there are late and +florid façades alien to the spirit of the main building, while it has +been left to our own generation to complete Santa Croce and the +Cathedral. The latter, it is true, once had a façade, which, though +never finished, was ambitiously planned. A large section of it was, +however, erected in Donatello's time, but was removed for no reason +which can be adequately explained, except that on the occasion of a +royal marriage it was thought necessary to destroy what was contrived +in the _maniera tedesca_, substituting a sham painted affair which was +speedily ruined by the elements. The ethics of vandalism are indeed +strange and varied. In this case vanity was responsible. It was +superstition which led the Sienese, after incurring defeat by the +Florentines, to remove from their market-place the famous statue by +Lysippus which brought them ill-luck, and to bury it in Florentine +territory, so that their enemies might suffer instead. Ignorance +nearly induced a Pope to destroy the "Last Judgment" of Michael +Angelo, whose colossal statue of an earlier Pontiff, Julius II., was +broken up through political animosity. One wishes that in this last +case there had been some practical provision such as that inserted by +the House of Lords in the order for destroying the Italian Tombs at +Windsor in 1645, when they ordained that "they that buy the tombs +shall have liberty to transport them beyond the seas, for making the +best advantage of them." The vandalism which dispersed Donatello's +work could not even claim to be utilitarian, like that which so nearly +caused the destruction of the famous chapel by Benozzo Gozzoli in the +Riccardi Palace (for the purposes of a new staircase);[2] neither was +it caused by the exigencies of war, such as the demolition of the +Monastery of San Donato, a treasure-house of early painting, razed to +the ground by the Florentines when awaiting the siege of 1529. The +Cathedral façade was hastily removed, and only a fraction of the +statuary has survived. Two figures are in the Louvre; another has been +recently presented to the Cathedral by the Duca di Sermoneta, himself +a Caetani, of Boniface VIII., a portrait-statue even more remarkable +than that of the same Pope at Bologna. Four more figures from the old +façade, now standing outside the Porta Romana of Florence, are misused +and saddened relics. They used to be the major prophets, but on +translation were crowned with laurels, and now represent Homer, +Virgil, Dante and Petrarch. Other statues are preserved inside the +Cathedral. Before dealing with these it is necessary to point out how +difficult it is to determine the authorship and identity of the +surviving figures. In the first place, our materials for +reconstructing the design of the old façade are few. There were +various pictures, some of which in their turn have perished, where +guidance might have been expected. But the representations of the +Cathedral in frescoes at San Marco, Santa Croce, the Misericordia and +Santa Maria Novella help us but little. Up to the eighteenth century +there used to be a model in the Opera del Duomo: this also has +vanished, and we are compelled to make our deductions from a rather +unsatisfactory drawing made by Bernardo Pocetti in the sixteenth +century. It shows the disposition of statuary so sketchily that we can +only recognise a few of the figures. But we have a perfect idea of the +general style and aim of those who planned the façade, which would +have far surpassed the rival frontispieces of Siena, Pisa and Orvieto. +We are met by a further difficulty in identifying the surviving +statues from the fact that the contracts given to sculptors by the +Chapter do not always specify the personage to be represented. +Moreover, in many cases the statues have no symbol attribute or +legend, which usually guide our interpretation of mediæval art. Thus +Donatello is paid _pro parte solutionis unius figure marmoree_;[3] or +for _figuram marmoream_.[4] Even when an obvious and familiar +explanation could be given, such as Abraham and Isaac, the accounts +record an instalment for the figure of a prophet with a naked boy at +his feet.[5] + +[Footnote 2: Cinelli, p. 22.] + +[Footnote 3: 23, xii. 1418.] + +[Footnote 4: 12, xii. 1408.] + +[Footnote 5: 30, v. 1421.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +JOSHUA + +CATHEDRAL, FLORENCE] + + +[Sidenote: The Daniel and Poggio.] + +Nine large marble figures for the Cathedral are now accepted as the +work of Donatello. Others may have perished, and it is quite possible +that in one at least of the other statues Donatello may have had a +considerable share. With the exception of St. John the Baptist and St. +John the Evangelist, all these statues are derived from the Old +Testament--Daniel, Jeremiah and Habbakuk, Abraham and the marble David +in the Bargello, together with the two figures popularly called +Poggio and the Zuccone. Among the earliest, and, it must be +acknowledged, the least interesting of these statues is the prophet +standing in a niche in the south aisle close to the great western door +of the Cathedral. It has been long recognised as a Donatello,[6] and +has been called Joshua. But, apart from the fact that he holds the +scroll of a prophet, whereas one would rather expect Joshua to carry a +sword, this statue is so closely related to the little prophets of the +Mandorla door that it is almost certainly coeval with them, and +consequently anterior in date to the period of the Joshua for which +Donatello was paid some years later. We find the same broad flow of +drapery, and the weight of the body is thrown on to one hip in a +pronounced manner, which is certainly ungraceful, though typical of +Donatello's early ideas of balance. It probably represents Daniel. He +has the high forehead, the thick curly hair and the youthful +appearance of the other prophets, while his "countenance appears +fairer and fatter in flesh,"[7] reminding one of Michael Angelo's +treatment of the same theme in the Sistine Chapel. + +[Footnote 6: Osservatore Fiorentino, 1797, 3rd ed., iv. 216.] + +[Footnote 7: Daniel i. 15.] + +Like several of Donatello's statues, this figure is connected with the +name of a Florentine citizen, Giannozzo Manetti, and passes for his +portrait. There is no authority for the tradition, and Vespasiano de' +Bisticci makes no reference to the subject in his life of Manetti. The +statue is, no doubt, a portrait and may well have resembled Manetti, +but in order to have been directly executed as a portrait it could +scarcely have been made before 1426, when Manetti was thirty years +old, by which date the character of Donatello's work had greatly +changed. These traditional names have caused many critical +difficulties, as, when accepted as authentic, the obvious date of the +statue has been arbitrarily altered, so that the statue may harmonise +in point of date of execution with the apparent age of the individual +whom it is supposed to portray. A second example of the confusion +caused by the over-ready acceptance of these nomenclatures is afforded +by the remarkable figure which stands in the north aisle of the +Cathedral, opposite the Daniel. This statue has been called a portrait +of Poggio Bracciolini, the secretary of many Popes. Poggio was born in +1380 and passed some time in Florence during the year 1456. It has, +therefore, been assumed[8] that the statue was made at this time or +shortly afterwards, either as Donatello's tribute of friendship to +Poggio or as an order from the Cathedral authorities in his +commemoration. This theory is wholly untenable. We have no record of +any such work in 1456. The statue does not portray a man seventy-six +years old. Distinguished as Poggio was, his nature did not endear him +greatly to the Florentine churchmen; and, finally, the style of the +sculpture predicates its execution between 1420 and 1430. We can, of +course, admit that Poggio's features may have been recognised in the +statue, and that it soon came to be considered his portrait. In any +case, however, we are dealing with a portrait-statue. The keen and +almost cynical face, with its deep and powerful lines, is certainly no +creation of the fancy, but the study of somebody whom Donatello knew. +It is true there are contradictions in the physiognomy: sarcasm and +benevolence alternate, as the dominating expression of the man's +character. The whole face is marked by the refinement of one from whom +precision and niceness of judgment would be expected. It is not +altogether what Poggio's achievements would lead one to expect; +neither is it of a type which, as has been suggested, would allow us +to call it the missing Joshua. The idea that Job may be the subject is +too ingenious to receive more than a passing reference.[9] + +[Footnote 8: Semper, I., p. 132.] + +[Footnote 9: Schmarsow, p. 10.] + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +POGGIO + +CATHEDRAL, FLORENCE] + +There is one detail in the statue of Poggio which raises a problem +familiar to students of fifteenth-century art, especially frequent in +paintings of the Madonna, namely, the cryptic lettering to be found on +the borders of garments. In the case of Poggio, the hem of the tunic +just below the throat is incised with deep and clear cyphers which +cannot be read as a name or initials. Many cases could be quoted to +illustrate the practice of giving only the first letters of words +forming a sentence.[10] In this case the script is not Arabic, as on +Verrocchio's David. The lettering on the Poggio, as on Donatello's +tomb of Bishop Pecci at Siena and elsewhere, has not been +satisfactorily explained. Even if painters were in the habit of +putting conventional symbols on their pictures in the form of +inscriptions, it is not likely that this careful and elaborate carving +should be meaningless. The solution may possibly be found in Vettorio +Ghiberti's drawing of a bell, the rim of which is covered with similar +hieroglyphics. The artist has transcribed in plain writing a pleasant +Latin motto which one may presume to be the subject of the +inscription. If this were accurately deciphered a clue might be found +to unravel this obscure problem.[11] + +[Footnote 10: The conclusion of Dello's epitaph, as recorded by +Vasari, is H.S.E.S.T.T.L.--_i.e._, _Hic sepultus est, sit tibi terra +levis_. The bas-relief of Faith in the Bargello is signed O.M.C.L., +_i.e._, _Opus Mattæi Civitali Lucensis_. There is a manuscript of St. +Jerome in the Rylands Library at Manchester in which long texts are +quoted by means of the initial letters alone.] + +[Footnote 11: MS. Sketch-Book in Bibl. Naz., Florence, lettered +"Ghiberti," folio 51a.] + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +MOCENIGO TOMB + +SAN GIOVANNI E PAOLO, VENICE] + +Closely analogous to the statue which we must continue to call Poggio +is a striking figure of Justice surmounting the tomb of Tommaso +Mocenigo in the Church of San Giovanni e Paolo at Venice. Mocenigo +died in 1423, and the tomb was made by two indifferent Florentine +artists, whose poor and imitative work must be referred to later on in +connection with the St. George. But the Justice, a vigorous and +original figure, holding a scroll and looking downwards, so absolutely +resembles the Poggio in conception, attitude, and fall of drapery, +that the authorship must be referred to Donatello himself. It is +certainly no copy. One cannot say how this isolated piece of +Donatello's work should have found its way to Venice, although by 1423 +Donatello's reputation had secured him commissions for Orvieto and +Ancona and Siena. But it is not necessary to suppose that this Justice +was made to order for the Mocenigo tomb; had it remained in Florence +it would have been long since accepted as a genuine example of the +master. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST + +CATHEDRAL, FLORENCE] + + +[Sidenote: St. John the Evangelist and the marble David.] + +The third great statue made for the façade by Donatello is now placed +in a dark apsidal chapel, where the light is so bad that the figure is +often invisible. This is the statue of St. John the Evangelist, and is +much earlier than Poggio, having been ordered on December 12, 1408. +Two evangelists were to be placed on either side of the central door. +Nanni di Banco was to make St. Luke, Niccolo d'Arezzo St. Mark, and +it was intended that the fourth figure should be entrusted to the most +successful of the three sculptors; but in the following year the +Domopera changed their plan, giving the commission for St. Matthew to +Bernardo Ciuffagni, a sculptor somewhat older than Donatello. +Ciuffagni was not unpopular as an artist, for he received plenty of +work in various parts of Italy; but he was a man of mediocre talent, +neither archaic nor progressive, making occasional failures and +exercising little influence for good or ill upon those with whom he +came in contact. He has, however, one valued merit, that of being a +man about whom we have a good deal of documentary information. +Donatello worked on the St. John for nearly seven years, and, +according to custom, was under obligation to complete the work within +a specified time. Penalty clauses used to be enforced in those days. +Jacopo della Quercia ran the danger of imprisonment for neglecting the +commands of Siena. Torrigiano having escaped from England was recalled +by the help of Ricasoli, the Florentine resident in London, and was +fortunate to avoid punishment. Donatello finished his statue in time, +and received his final instalment in 1415, the year in which the +figures were set up beside the great Porch. This evangelist, begun +when Donatello was twenty-two and completed before his thirtieth year, +challenges comparison with one worthy rival, the Moses of Michael +Angelo. The Moses was the outcome of many years of intermittent +labour, and was created by the help of all the advances made by +sculpture during a century of progress. Yet in one respect only can +Michael Angelo claim supremacy. Hitherto Donatello had made nothing +but standing figures. The St. John sits; he is almost inert, and does +not seem to await the divine message. But how superb it is, this +majestic calm and solemnity; how Donatello triumphs over the lack of +giving tension to what is quiescent! The Penseroso also sits and +meditates, but every muscle of the reposing limbs is alert. So, too, +in the Moses, with all its exaggeration and melodrama, with its aspect +of frigid sensationalism, which led Thackeray to say he would not like +to be left alone in the room with it, we find every motionless limb +imbued with vitality and the essentials of movement. The Moses +undoubtedly springs from the St. John, transcending it as Beethoven +surpassed Haydn. In spite of nearly unpardonable faults verging on +decadence, it is the greater though the less pleasing creation of the +two. The St. John surveys the world; the Moses speaks with God. + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +MARBLE DAVID + +BARGELLO, FLORENCE] + +The fourth statue made for the Cathedral proper is contemporary with +the St. John. The marble David, ordered in 1408 and completed in 1416, +was destined for a chapel inside the church. The Town Commissioners, +however, sent a somewhat peremptory letter to the Domopera and the +statue was handed over to them. It was placed in the great hall of the +Palace, was ultimately removed to the Uffizzi, and is now in the +Bargello Museum. The David certainly has a secular look. This ruddy +youth of a fair countenance, crowned with a wreath, stands in an +attitude which is shy and perhaps awkward, and by his feet lies the +head of Goliath with the smooth stone from the brook deeply embedded +in his forehead. The drapery of the tunic is close fitting, moulded +exactly to the lines of his frame, and above it a loose cloak hangs +over the shoulders and falls to the ground with a corner of cloth +looped over one of the wrists in a familiar way.[12] It would be +idle to pretend that the David is a marked success like the St. John. +It neither attains an ideal, as in the St. George, nor is it a +profound interpretation of character like the Habbakuk or Jeremiah. +Its effect is impaired by this sense of compromise and uncertainty. It +is one of the very rare cases in which Donatello hesitated between +divergent aims and finally translated his doubts into marble. + +[Footnote 12: _Cf._ Madame André's prophet and figures on Mandorla +door.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Statues of the Campanile.] + +We must now refer to a group of statues which adorn the Campanile, the +great Bell tower designed by Giotto for the Cathedral. Not counting +the numerous reliefs, there are sixteen statues in all, four on each +side of the tower, and in themselves they epitomise early Florentine +sculpture. Donatello's statues of Jeremiah, Abraham, and St. John the +Baptist offer no difficulties of nomenclature, but the Zuccone and the +Habbakuk are so called on hypothetical grounds. The Zuccone has been +called by this familiar nickname from time immemorial: bald-head or +pumpkin--such is the meaning of the word, and nobody has hitherto +given a reasoned argument to identify this singular figure with any +particular prophet. As early as 1415 Donatello received payment for +some of this work, and the latest record on the subject is dated 1435. +We may therefore expect to find some variety in idea and considerable +development in technique during these twenty years. Donatello was not +altogether single-handed. It is certain that by the time these +numerous works were being executed he was assisted by scholars, and +the Abraham was actually made in collaboration with Giovanni di +Bartolo, surnamed Il Rosso. It is not easy to discriminate between the +respective shares of the partners. Giovanni was one of those men whose +style varied with the dominating influence of the moment. At Verona he +almost ceased to be Florentine: at Tolentino he was himself; working +for the Campanile he was subject to the power of Donatello. The +Prophet Obadiah, which corresponds in position to the St. John Baptist +of Donatello on the western face of the tower, shows Rosso to have +been a correct and painstaking sculptor, with notions much in advance +of Ciuffagni's; noticeable also for a refinement in the treatment of +hands, in which respect many of his rivals lagged far behind. Judging +from the inscription at Verona, Rosso was appreciated by others--or by +himself:[13] he is, in fact, an artist of merit, rarely falling below +a respectable average in spite of the frequency with which he changed +his style. + +[Footnote 13: On the Brenzoni tomb in the Church of San Fermo: "Quem +genuit Russi Florentia Tusca Johañis: istud sculpsit opus ingeniosa +manus."] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: St. John the Baptist.] + +Rosso does not compare favourably with Donatello. Obadiah is less +attractive than St. John the Baptist, its _pendant_. The test is +admittedly severe, for the St. John is a figure remarkable alike in +conception and for its technical skill. Were it not for the scroll +bearing the "Ecce Agnus Dei," we should not suggest St. John as the +subject. Donatello made many Baptists--boys, striplings and men young +and mature: but in this case only have we something bright and +cheerful. He is no mystic; he differs fundamentally from the gloomy +ascetic and the haggard suffering figures in Siena and Berlin. So far +from being morose in appearance, clad in raiment of camel's hair, fed +upon locusts and wild honey, and summoning the land of Judæa to +repent, we have a vigorous young Tuscan, well dressed and well fed, +standing in an easy and graceful attitude and not without a tinge of +pride in the handsome countenance. In short, the statue is by no means +typical of the Saint. It would more aptly represent some romantic +knight of chivalry, a Victor, a Maurice--even a St. George. It +competes with Donatello's own version of St. George. In all essentials +they are alike, and the actual figures are identical in gesture and +pose, disregarding shield and armour in one case, scroll and drapery +in the other. The two figures are so analogous, that as studies from +the nude they would be almost indistinguishable. They differ in this: +that the Saint on the Campanile is John the Baptist merely because we +are told so, while the figure made for Or San Michele is inevitably +the soldier saint of Christendom. It must not be inferred that the +success of plastic, skill less that of pictorial, art depends upon the +accuracy or vividness with which the presentment "tells its story." +Under such a criterion the most popular work of art would necessarily +bear the palm of supremacy. But there should be some relation between +the statue and the subject-matter. Nobody knew this better than +Donatello: he seldom incurred the criticism directed against Myron the +sculptor--_Animi sensus non expressisse videtur_.[14] The occasional +error, such as that just noticed, or when he gives Goliath the head of +a mild old gentleman,[15] merely throws into greater prominence the +usual harmony between his conception and its embodiment. The task of +making prophets was far from simple. Their various personalities, +little known in our time, were conjectural in his day: neither would +the conventional scroll of the prophet do more than give a generic +indication of the kind of person represented. Donatello, however, made +a series of figures from which the [Greek: êthos] of the prophets +emanates with unequalled force. + +[Footnote 14: Pliny, xxxiv. 19, 3.] + +[Footnote 15: Bargello David.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +JEREMIAH + +CAMPANILE, FLORENCE] + + +[Sidenote: Jeremiah and the Canon of Art.] + +The Jeremiah, for instance, which is in the niche adjacent to the +still more astonishing Zuccone (looking westwards towards the +Baptistery), is a portrait study of consummate power. It is the very +man who wrote the sin of Judah with a pen of iron, the man who was +warned not to be dismayed at the faces of those upon whose folly he +poured the vials of anger and scorn; he is emphatically one of those +who would scourge the vices of his age. And yet this Jeremiah has his +human aspect. The strong jaw and tightly closed lips show a decision +which might turn to obstinacy; but the brow overhangs eyes which are +full of sympathy, bearing an expression of sorrow and gentleness such +as one expects from the man who wept for the miserable estate of +Jerusalem--_Quomodo sedet sola civitas!_ + +Tradition says that this prophet is a portrait of Francesco Soderini, +the opponent of the Medici; while the Zuccone is supposed to be the +portrait of Barduccio Cherichini, another anti-Medicean partisan. +Probabilities apart, much could be urged against the attributions, +which are really on a par with the similar nomenclatures of Manetti +and Poggio. The important thing is that they are undoubted +portraits, their identity being of secondary interest; the fact that a +portrait was made at all is of far greater moment to the history of +art. Later on, Savonarola (whose only contribution to art was an +unconscious inspiration of the charming woodcuts with which his +sermons and homilies were illustrated) protested warmly against the +prevailing habit of giving Magdalen and the Baptist the features of +living and well-known townsfolk.[16] The practice had, no doubt, led +to scandal. But with Donatello it marks an early stage in emancipation +from the bondage of conventionalism. Not, indeed, that Donatello was +the absolute innovator in this direction, though it is to his efforts +that the change became irresistible. Thus in these portrait-prophets +we find the proof of revolution. The massive and abiding art of Egypt +ignored the personality of its gods and Pharaohs, distinguishing the +various persons by dress, ornament, and attribute. They had their +canon of measurement, of which the length of the nose was probably the +unit.[17] The Greeks, who often took the length of the human foot as +unit, were long enslaved by their canon. Convention made them adhere +to a traditional face after they had made themselves masters of the +human form. The early figures of successful athletes were +conventional; but, according to Pliny, when somebody was winner three +times the statue was actually modelled from his person, and was called +a portrait-figure: "_ex membris ipsorum similitudine expressa, quas +iconicas vocant!_" Not until Lysistratus first thought of reproducing +the human image by means of a cast from the face itself, did they get +the true portrait in place of their previous efforts to secure +generalised beauty.[18] In fact, their canon was so stringent that it +would permit an Apollo Belvedere to be presented by foppish, +well-groomed adolescence, with plenty of vanity but with little +strength, and altogether without the sign-manual of godhead or +victory. Despite shortcomings, Donatello seldom made the mistake of +merging the subject in the artist's model: he did not forget that the +subject of his statue had a biography. He had no such canon. Italian +painting had been under the sway of Margaritone until Giotto destroyed +the traditional system. Early Italian coins show how convention breeds +a canon--they were often depraved survivals of imperial coins, copied +and recopied by successive generations until the original meaning had +completely vanished, while the semblance remained in debased outline. +Nothing can be more fatal than to make a canon of art, to render +precise and exact the laws of æsthetics. Great men, it is true, made +the attempt. Leonardo, for instance, gives the recipe for drawing +anger and despair. His "Trattato della Pintura"[19] describes the +gestures appropriate for an orator addressing a multitude, and he +gives rules for making a tempest or a deluge. He had a scientific law +for putting a battle on to canvas, one condition of which was that +"there must not be a level spot which is not trampled with gore." But +Leonardo da Vinci did no harm; his canon was based on literary rather +than artistic interests, and he was too wise to pay much attention to +his own rules. Another man who tried to systematise art was Leon +Battista Alberti, who gave the exact measurements of ideal beauty, +length and circumference of limbs, &c., thus approaching a physical +canon. The absurdity of these theories is well shown in the "Rules of +Drawing Caricatures," illustrated by "mathematical diagrams."[20] +Development and animation are impossible wherever an art is governed +by this sterile and deadening code of law. The religious art of the +Eastern Church has been stationary for centuries, confined within the +narrow limits of hieratic conventions. Mount Athos has the pathetic +interest of showing the dark ages surviving down to our own day in the +vigour of unabated decadence. Though not subjected to any serious +canon, the predecessors of Donatello seemed at one time in danger of +becoming conventionalised. But Donatello would not permit his art to +be divorced from appeals to reason and intellect; once started, his +theory held its own. Donatello was bound by no laws; with all its +cadence and complexity his art was unsuited to a canon as would be the +art of music. He seems almost to have disregarded the ordinary +physical limitations under which he worked. He had no "cant of +material," and whether in stone, bronze, wood, or clay, he went +straight ahead in the most unconcerned manner. + +[Footnote 16: In 1496. See Gruyer, "Les Illustrations," 1879, p. 206.] + +[Footnote 17: C. Müller, "Ancient Art and its Remains," p. 227.] + +[Footnote 18: Pliny, xxxvi. 44.] + +[Footnote 19: Printed in Richter's "Literary Works of Leonardo da +Vinci," vol. i.] + +[Footnote 20: By Francis Grose, the Antiquary. London, 1788.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +HABAKKUK + +CAMPANILE, FLORENCE] + + +[Sidenote: Habbakuk and the Sense of Distance.] + +We do not know much about Habbakuk. He left two or three pages of +passionate complaint against the iniquity of the land, but his +"burden" lacks those outbursts of lyric poetry which are found in most +of the other minor prophets. Donatello gives him the air of a thinker. +He holds a long scroll to which he points with his right hand while +looking downward, towards the door of the Cathedral. It is a strong +head, as full of character as the Jeremiah. But Habbakuk is less the +man of action, and the deep lines about the mouth and across the +forehead show rather the fruits of contemplation. There may be a note +of scepticism in the face. But this Habbakuk is no ascetic, and there +is much strength in reserve: his comment though acrid would be just. +The veins in the throat stand out like cords. They are much more +noticeable in the photograph than when one sees the statue from the +Piazza. It must be remembered that these figures on the Campanile are +something like fifty-five feet from the ground: they were made for +these lofty positions, and were carved accordingly. They show +Donatello's sense of distance; the Zuccone shows his sense of light +and shade, the Abraham his sense of proportion. Donatello had the +advantage of making these figures for particular places; his sculpture +was eminently adapted to the conditions under which it was to be seen. +In the vast majority of cases modern sculpture is made for +undetermined positions, and is fortunate if it obtains a suitable +_emplacement_. It seldom gets distance, light and proportion in +harmony with the technical character of the carving. Donatello paid +the greatest care to the relation between the location of the statue +and its carving: his work consequently suffers enormously by removal: +to change its position is to take away something given it by the +master himself. The Judith looks mean beneath the Loggia de' Lanzi; +the original of the St. George in the museum is less telling than the +copy which has replaced it at Or San Michele. Photography is also apt +to show too clearly certain exaggerations and violences deliberately +calculated by Donatello to compensate for distance, as on the +Campanile, or for darkness, as on the Cantoria. The reproductions, +therefore, of those works not intended to be seen from close by +must be judged with this reservation. The classical sculptors seem to +have been oblivious of this sense of distance. Cases have been quoted +to show that they did realise it, such as the protruding forehead of +Zeus or the deep-set eyes of the Vatican Medusa. These are accidents, +or at best coincidences, for the sense of distance is not shown by +merely giving prominence to one portion or feature of a face. In Roman +art the band of relief on the Column of Trajan certainly gets slightly +broader as the height increases: but the modification was +half-hearted. It does not help one to see the carving, which at the +summit is almost meaningless, while it only serves to diminish the +apparent height of the column. So, too, in the triumphal arches of the +Roman Emperors little attention was paid to the relative and varying +attitudes of the bas-reliefs. From Greek art the Parthenon Frieze +gives a singular example of this unrealised law. When _in situ_ the +frieze was only visible at a most acute angle and in a most +unfavourable light: beyond the steps it vanished altogether, so one +was obliged to stand among the columns to see it at all, and it was +also necessary to look upwards almost perpendicularly. The frieze is +nearly three feet four inches high and its upper part is carved in +rather deeper relief than the base: but, even so, the extraordinary +delicacy of this unique carving was utterly wasted, since the +technical treatment of the marble was wholly unsuited to its +_emplacement_. The amazing beauty of the sculpture and the unsurpassed +skill of Phidias were never fully revealed until its home had been +changed from Athens to Bloomsbury. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +THE ZUCCONE + +CAMPANILE, FLORENCE] + + +[Sidenote: The Zuccone, "Realism" and Nature.] + +The Zuccone is one of the eternal mysteries of Italian art. What can +have been Donatello's intention? Why give such prominence to this +graceless type? Baldinucci called it St. Mark.[21] Others have been +misled by the lettering on the plinth below the statue "David Rex": +beneath the Jeremiah is "Salomon Rex."[22] These inscriptions +belonged, of course, to the kings which made way for Donatello's +prophets. The Zuccone must belong to the series of prophets; it is +fruitless to speculate which. Cherichini may have inspired the +portrait. Its ugliness is insuperable. It is not the vulgar ugliness +of a caricature, nor is it the audacious embodiment of some hideous +misshapen creature such as we find in Velasquez, in the Gobbo of +Verona, or in the gargoyles of Notre Dame. There is no deformity about +it, probably very little exaggeration. It is sheer uncompromising +ugliness; rendered by the cavernous mouth, the blear eyes, the flaccid +complexion, the unrelieved cranium--all carried to a logical +conclusion in the sloping shoulders and the simian arms. But the +Zuccone is not "revenged of nature": there is nothing to "induce +contempt." On the other hand, indeed, there is a tinge of sadness and +compassion, objective and subjective, which gives it a charm, even a +fascination. _Tanto è bella_, says Bocchi, _tanto è vera, tanto è +naturale_, that one gazes upon it in astonishment, wondering in truth +why the statue does not speak![23] Bocchi's criticism cannot be +improved. The problem has been obfuscated by the modern jargon of art. +Donatello has been charged with orgies of realism and so forth. There +may be realism, but the term must be used with discretion: nowadays +it generally connotes the ugly treatment of an ugly theme, and is +applied less as a technical description than as a term of abuse. +Donatello was certainly no realist in the sense that an ideal was +excluded, nor could he have been led by realism into servile imitation +or the multiplication of realities. After a certain point the true +ceases to be true, as nobody knew better than Barye, the greatest of +the "realists." The Zuccone can be more fittingly described in +Bocchi's words. It is the creation of a verist, of a naturalist, +founded on a clear and intimate perception of nature. Donatello was +pledged to no system, and his only canon, if such existed, was the +canon of observation matured by technical ability. We have no reason +to suppose that Donatello claimed to be a deep thinker. He did not +spend his time, like Michael Angelo, in devising theories to explain +the realms of art. He was without analytical pedantry, and, like his +character, his work was naïve and direct. Nor was he absorbed by +appreciation of "beauty," abstract or concrete. If he saw a man with a +humped back or a short leg he would have been prepared to make his +portrait, assuming that the entity was not in conflict with the +subject in hand. Hence the Zuccone. Its mesmeric ugliness is the +effect of Donatello's gothic creed, and it well shows how Donatello, +who from his earliest period was opposed to the conventions of the +Pisan school, took the lead among those who founded their art upon the +observation of nature. A later critic, shrewd and now much neglected, +said that Titian "contented himself with pure necessity, which is the +simple imitation of nature."[24] One could not say quite so much of +Donatello, in whom, curiously enough, the love of nature was limited +to its human aspect. He seems to have been impervious to outdoor +nature, to the world of plants and birds and beasts. Ghiberti, his +contemporary, was a profound student of natural life in all its forms, +and the famous bronze doors of the Baptistery are peopled with the +most fanciful products of his observation. "I strove to imitate nature +to the utmost degree," he says in his commentary.[25] Thus Ghiberti +makes a bunch of grapes, and wanting a second bunch as _pendant_, he +takes care to make it of a different species. The variety and richness +of his fruit and flower decoration are extraordinary and, if possible, +even more praiseworthy than the dainty garlands of the Della Robbia. +With Donatello all is different. He took no pleasure in enriching his +sculpture in this way. The Angel of the Annunciation carries no lily; +when in the Tabernacle of St. Peter's he had to decorate a pilaster he +made lilies, but stiff and unreal. His trees in the landscape +backgrounds of the Charge to Peter and the Release of Princess Sabra +by St. George are tentative and ill-drawn. The children of the +Cantoria, the great singing gallery made for the Cathedral, are +dancing upon a ground strewn with flowers and fruit. The idea was +charming, but in executing it Donatello could only make _cut_ flowers +and withered fruit. There is no life in them, no savour, and the +energy of the children seems to have exhausted the humbler form of +vitality beneath their feet. Years afterwards, when Donatello's +assistants were allowed a good deal of latitude, we find an effort to +make more use of this invaluable decoration: the pulpits of San +Lorenzo, for instance, have some trees and climbing weeds showing keen +study of nature. But Donatello himself always preferred the +architectural background, in contrast to Leonardo da Vinci, who, with +all his love of building, seldom if ever used one in the backgrounds +of his pictures: but then Leonardo was the most advanced botanist of +his age. + +[Footnote 21: Edition 1768, p. 74.] + +[Footnote 22: _E.g._, Milanesi, Catalogo, 1887, p. 6.] + +[Footnote 23: Cinelli's edition, 1677, p. 45.] + +[Footnote 24: Raffaelle Mengs, Collected Works. London, 1796, I., p. +132.] + +[Footnote 25: Printed in Vasari, Lemonnier Ed., 1846, vol. i.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: The Zuccone and the Sense of Light and Shade.] + +Speaking of the employment of light and shade as instruments in art, +Cicero says: "_Multa vident pictores in umbris et in eminentia, quæ +nos non videmus_." One may apply the dictum to the Zuccone where +Donatello has carved the head with a rugged boldness, leaving the play +of light and shade to complete the portrait. Davanzati was explicit on +the matter,[26] showing that the point of view from which the Zuccone +was visible made this coarse treatment imperative, if the spectator +below was to see something forcible and impressive. "The eyes," he +says, "are made as if they were dug out with a shovel: eyes which +would appear lifelike on the ground level would look blind high up on +the Campanile, for distance consumes diligence--_la lontananza si +mangia la diligenzia_." The doctrine could not be better stated, and +it governs the career of Donatello. There is nothing like the Zuccone +in Greek art: nothing so ugly, nothing so wise. Classical sculptors in +statues destined for lofty situations preserved the absolute truth of +form, but their diligence was consumed by distance. What was true in +the studio lost its truth on a lofty pediment or frieze. They +preserved accuracy of form, but they sacrificed accuracy of +appearance; whereas relative truth was in reality far more +important--until, indeed, the time comes when the lights and shades of +the studio are reproduced in some art gallery or museum. + +[Footnote 26: In Introduction to his translation of Tacitus.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +ABRAHAM AND ISAAC + +CAMPANILE, FLORENCE] + + +[Sidenote: Abraham and the Sense of Proportion.] + +The statue of Abraham and Isaac on the east side of the Campanile is +interesting as being the first group made by Donatello. The subject +had already been treated by Brunellesco and Ghiberti in relief. +Donatello had to make his figures on a larger scale. Abraham is a +tall, powerful man with a long flowing beard, looking upwards as he +receives the command to sheath the dagger already touching the +shoulder of his son. The naked boy is kneeling on his left leg and is +modelled with a good deal of skill, though, broadly speaking, the +treatment is rather archaic in character. It is a tragic scene, in +which the contrast of the inexorable father and the resigned son is +admirably felt. Donatello had to surmount a technical difficulty, that +of putting two figures into a niche only intended for one. His sense +of proportion enabled him to make a group in harmony with its position +and environment. It _fits_ the niche. Statues are so often unsuited to +their niches; scores of examples could be quoted from Milan Cathedral +alone where the figures are too big or too small, or where the base +slopes downwards and thus fails to give adequate support to the +figure. There is an old tradition which illustrates Donatello's +aptitude for grouping. Nanni di Banco had to put four martyrs into a +niche of Or San Michele, and having made his statues found it +impossible to get them in. Donatello was invoked, and by removing a +superfluous bit of marble here, and knocking off an arm there, the +four figures were successfully grouped together. The statues, it must +be admitted, show no signs of such usage, and Nanni was a competent +person: but the story would not have been invented unless Donatello +had been credited in his own day with the reputation of being a +master of proportion and grouping. Donatello, however, never really +excelled in the free standing group. His idea was a suite or series of +figures against a background, a bas-relief. The essential quality of a +group is that there should be something to unite the figures. We find +this in the Abraham, but the four martyrs by Nanni di Banco are +standing close together as if by chance, and cannot properly be called +a group in anything but juxtaposition of figures. Il Rosso helped to +make Abraham. The commission was given jointly to the two sculptors in +March 1421, and the statue was finished, with unusual expedition, by +November of the same year. The hand of Rosso cannot be easily detected +except in the drapery, which differs a good deal from Donatello's. The +latter must have been chiefly responsible for the grouping and wholly +so for the fine head of Abraham. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Drapery and Hands.] + +Rosso's drapery was apt to be treated in rather a small way with a +number of little folds. Donatello, on the other hand, often tended to +the opposite extreme, and in the Campanile figures we see the clothes +hanging about the prophets in such ample lines that the Zuccone and +Jeremiah are overweighted with togas which look like heavy blankets. +Habbakuk and the Baptist are much more skilfully draped, deference +being shown to the anatomy. "To make drapery merely natural," said Sir +Joshua Reynolds, "is a mechanical operation to which neither genius +nor taste are required: whereas it requires the nicest judgment to +dispose the drapery so that the folds have an easy communication, and +gracefully follow each other with such natural negligence as to look +like the effect of chance, and at the same time show the figure under +it to the utmost advantage."[27] The sculptors of the fifteenth +century did not find it so easy to make drapery look purely natural, +and we are often confronted by cases where they failed in this +respect. It arose partly from a belief that drapery was nothing more +than an accessory, partly also from their ignorance of what was so +fully realised by the Greeks, that there can be very little grace in a +draped figure unless there are the elements of beauty below. Another +comment suggested by Donatello's early work in marble is that he was +not quite certain how to model or dispose the hands. They are often +unduly big; Michael Angelo started with the same mistake: witness his +David and the Madonna on the Stairs. It was a mistake soon rectified +in either case. But till late in life Donatello never quite succeeded +in giving nerve or occupation to his hands. St. Mark, St. Peter, and +St. John all have a book in their left hands, but none of them _hold_ +the book; it has no weight, the hand shows no grip and has no sense of +possession. Neither did Donatello always know where to put the hands, +giving them the shy and self-conscious positions affected by the +schoolboy. The Bargello David is a case in point. His hands are idle, +they have really nothing to do, and their position is arbitrary in +consequence. It is all a descent from the Gothic, where we find much +that is inharmonious and paradoxical, and a frequent lack of concord +between the component parts. St. George, standing erect in his niche, +holds the shield in front of him, its point resting on the ground. +But, notwithstanding the great progress made by Donatello in +modelling these hands--(so much indeed that one might almost suspect +the bigger hands of contemporary statues to be faithful portraits of +bigger hands)--one feels that the shield does not owe its upright +position to the constraint of the hands. They do not reflect the +outward pressure of the heavy shield, which could almost be removed +without making it necessary to modify their functions or position. It +was reserved for Michael Angelo to achieve the unity of purpose and +knowledge needed in portraying the human hand. He was the first among +Italian sculptors to render the relation of the hand to the wrist, the +wrist to the forearm, and thence to the shoulder and body. In the +fifteenth century nobody fully understood the sequence of muscles +which correlates every particle of the limb, and Donatello could not +avoid the halting and inconclusive outcome of his inexperience. + +[Footnote 27: Discourses, 1778, p. 116.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Minor Works for the Cathedral.] + +There remain a few minor works for the Cathedral which require notice. +In October 1421 an unfinished figure by Ciuffagni was handed over to +Donatello and Il Rosso. It is probable that Dr. Semper is correct in +thinking that this may be the statue on the East side of the Cathedral +hitherto ascribed to Niccolo d'Arezzo, though it can hardly be the +missing Joshua. We have here a middle-aged man with a long beard, his +head inclined forward and supported by his upraised hand with its +forefinger extended. Donatello was fond of youth, but not less of +middle age. With all their power these prophets are middle-aged men +who would walk slowly and whose gesture would be fraught with mature +dignity. Donatello did not limit to the very young or the very old the +privilege of seeing visions and dreaming dreams. Two other statues by +Donatello have perished. These are Colossi,[28] ordered probably +between 1420 and 1425, and made of brick covered with stucco or some +other kind of plaster. They stood outside the church, on the buttress +pillars between the apsidal chapels. One of them was on the north +side, as an early description mentions the "_Gigante sopra la +Annuntiata_,"[29] that is above the Annunciation on the Mandorla door. +The perishable material of these statues was selected, no doubt, owing +to the difficulty and expense of securing huge monoliths of marble. In +this case one must regret their loss, as the distance from which they +would be seen would amply justify their heroic dimensions. But the +idea of Colossi, which originated in Egypt and the East, is to +astonish, and to make the impression through the agency of bulk. The +David by Michael Angelo is great in spite of its unwieldiness. Michael +Angelo himself was under no illusions about these Colossi. His letter +criticising the proposal to erect a colossal statue of the Pope on the +Piazza of San Lorenzo is in itself a delightful piece of humour, and +ridiculed the conceit with such pungency that the project was +abandoned. Finally, Donatello made two busts of prophets for the +Mandorla door. The commission is previous to May 1422, when it is +noted that Donatello was to receive six golden florins for his work. +They are profile heads carved in relief upon triangular pieces of +marble, which fill two congested architectural corners. They look like +the result of a whim, and at first sight one would think they were +ordered late in the history of the door to supplement or replace +something unsatisfactory. But this is not the case. Half corbel and +half decoration, they are curious things: one shows a young man, the +other an older bearded man. Both have long hair drawn back by a +fillet, and in each case one hand is placed across the breast. They +have quite a classical look, and are the least interesting as well as +the least noticeable of the numerous sculptures made for the Cathedral +by Donatello. The Domopera evidently appreciated his talent. To this +day, besides these busts and the two small prophets, there survive at +least nine marble figures made for the Duomo, some of them well over +life size. There were also the Colossi, and it will be seen later on +that the Domopera gave him further commissions for bronze doors, +Cantoria, altar and stained glass; he also was employed as an +architectural expert. Years of Donatello's life were spent on the +embellishment of Santa Maria del Fiore, a gigantic task which he +shared with his greatest predecessors and his most able +contemporaries. The task, indeed, was never fully accomplished. The +Campanile is not crowned by the spire destined for it by Giotto: the +façade has perished and the interior is marred by the errors of +subsequent generations. But the Cathedral of Florence must +nevertheless take high rank among the most stately churches of +Christendom. + +[Footnote 28: They were standing as late as 1768. Baldinucci, p. 79.] + +[Footnote 29: Memoriale, 1510.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +ST. MARK + +OR SAN MICHELE] + + +[Sidenote: Or San Michele, St. Peter and St. Mark.] + +From the earliest times there used to be a church dedicated to St. +Michael, which stood within the _orto_, the garden named after the +saint. The church was, however, removed in the thirteenth century and +was replaced by an open _loggia_, which was used for a corn market and +store. In the following century the open arches of the _loggia_ were +built up, again making a church of the building, in which a venerated +Madonna, for which Orcagna made the tabernacle, was preserved. The +companies and merchant guilds of Florence undertook to present statues +to decorate the external niches of the building. Besides Donatello, +Ghiberti, Verrocchio, Gian Bologna and Nanni di Banco were employed; +and there are also some admirable medallions by Luca della Robbia. +Donatello made four statues--St. Peter, St. Mark, St. Louis and St. +George. He was to have made St. Phillip as well, but the shoemakers +who ordered the statue could not afford to pay Donatello's price and +the work was entrusted to Nanni di Banco. Two only of Donatello's +statues are left at Or San Michele, the St. Louis being now in Santa +Croce, while the St. George has been placed in the Bargello. All these +statues were put into niches of which the base is not more than eight +feet from the ground, and being intended to be seen at a short +distance are carved with greater attention to detail and finish than +is the case with the prophets on the Campanile. St. Peter is probably +the earliest in date, having been made, judging from stylistic +grounds, between 1407 and 1412. This statue shows a doubt and +hesitation which did not affect Donatello when making the little +prophets for the Mandorla door. The head is commonplace and +inexpressive; the pose is dull, and the drapery with its crimped edges +ignores the right leg. There is, however, nothing blameworthy in the +statue, but, on the other hand, there is nothing showing promise or +deserving praise. Had it been made by one of the _macchinisti_ of the +time it would have lived in decent obscurity without provoking +comment. In fact the statue does not owe its appearance in critical +discussions to its own merits, but to the later achievement of the +sculptor. Thus only can one explain Bocchi's opinion that "living man +could not display truer deportment than we find in the St. Peter."[30] +One of the figures from the Cathedral façade now in the Louvre, an +apostle or doctor of the Church, shows whence Donatello derived his +prosy idea, though the St. Peter is treated in a less archaic manner. +The St. Mark is much more successful: there is conviction as well as +vigour and greater skill. Michael Angelo exclaimed that nobody could +disbelieve the Gospel when preached by a saint whose countenance is +honesty itself. The very drapery--_il prudente costume e +religioso_--[31] was held to contribute to Michael Angelo's praise. +The grave and kindly face, devout and holy,[32] together with a +certain homeliness of attitude, give the St. Mark a character which +would endear him to all. He would not inspire awe like the St. John or +indifference like St. Peter. He is a very simple, lovable person whose +rebuke would be gentle and whose counsel would be wise. In 1408 the +_Linaiuoli_, the guild of linen-weavers, gave their order to select +the marble, and in 1411 the commission was given to Donatello, having +been previously given to Niccolo d'Arezzo, who himself became one of +Donatello's guarantors. The work had to be finished within eighteen +months, and the heavy statue was to be placed in the niche at the +sculptor's own risk. The statement made by Vasari that Brunellesco +co-operated on the St. Mark is not borne out by the official +documents. It is interesting to note that the guild gave Donatello the +height of the figure, leaving him to select the corresponding +proportions. The statue was to be gilded and decorated.[33] A further +commission was given to two stone-masons for the niche, which was to +be copied from that of Ghiberti's St. Stephen. These niches have been +a good deal altered in recent times, and the statues are in +consequence less suited to their environment than was formerly the +case. Judging from the plates in Lasinio's book, the accuracy of which +has not been contested, it appears that the niches of St. Eligius and +St. Mark have been made more shallow, while the crozier of the former +and the key in St. Peter's hand are not shown at all, and must be +modern restorations. + +[Footnote 30: Cinelli ed., p. 66.] + +[Footnote 31: Bocchi, 1765 ed., p. 128.] + +[Footnote 32: _Spira il volto divozione e Santità_, Cinelli, p. 66.] + +[Footnote 33: Gualandi, "Memorie," Series 4, p. 106.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: St. Louis.] + +The St. Louis is made of bronze. The reputation of this admirable +figure has been prejudiced by a ridiculous bit of gossip seriously +recorded by Vasari, to the effect that, having been reproached for +making a clumsy figure, Donatello replied that he had done so with set +purpose to mark the folly of the man who exchanged the crown for a +friar's habit. Vasari had to enliven his biographies by anecdotes, and +their authenticity was not always without reproach. In view of his +immense services to the history of art one will gladly forgive these +pleasantries; but it is deplorable when they are solemnly quoted as +infallible. One author says: "... _impossibile a guardare quel goffo e +disgraziato San Lodovico senza sentire una stretta al cuore_." This is +preposterous. The statue has faults, but they do not spring from +organic error. The Bishop is overweighted with his thick vestments, +and his mitre is rather too broad for the head; the left hand, +moreover, is big and Donatellesque. But the statue, now placed high +above the great door of Santa Croce, is seen under most unfavourable +conditions, and would look infinitely better in the low niche of Or +San Michele. Its proportions would then appear less stumpy, and we +would then be captivated by the beauty of the face. It has real +"beauty"; the hackneyed and misused term can only be properly applied +to Donatello's work in very rare cases, of which this is one. The face +itself is taken from some model, which could be idealised to suit a +definite conception, and in which the pure and symmetrical lines are +harmonised with admirable feeling. Every feature is made to +correspond, interrelated by some secret necessary to the art of +portraiture. The broad brow and the calm eyes looking upwards are in +relation with the delicately chiselled nose and mouth, while the right +hand, which is outstretched in giving the blessing, is rendered with +infinite sentiment and grace. St. Louis, in short, deserves high +commendation, as, in spite of errors, it achieves something to which +Donatello seldom aspired; and it has the further interest of being his +earliest figure in bronze, a material in which some of his most +renowned works were executed. The whole question of Donatello's share +in the actual casting will be considered at a later stage. It will be +enough to say at this point that the St. Louis, which was probably +finished about 1425, was cast with the assistance of Michelozzo. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +ST. GEORGE + +IN NICHE ON OR SAN MICHELE] + + +[Sidenote: St. George.] + +The St. George is the most famous of Donatello's statues, and is +generally called his masterpiece. The marble original has now been +taken into the Museum, and a bronze cast replaces it at Or San +Michele. The cause of this transfer is understood to be a fear that +the statue would be ruined by exposure, although one would think that +this would apply still more to the exquisite relief, which remains _in +situ_, though unprotected by the niche. In the side-lighted Bargello, +the St. George is crowded into a shallow niche (with plenty of highly +correct detail) and is seen to the utmost disadvantage; but no +incongruity of surroundings, no false relations of light can destroy +the profound impression left by this statue, which was probably +completed about 1416, in Donatello's thirtieth year. Vasari was +enthusiastic in its praise. Bocchi wrote a whole book about it,[34] in +which we might expect to find valuable information; but the interest +of this ecstatic eulogy is limited. Bocchi gives no dates, facts or +authorities; nothing to which modern students can turn for accurate or +specific knowledge of Donatello. Cinelli says the St. George was held +equal to the rarest sculpture of Rome,[35] and well it might be. The +St. George was made for the Guild of Armourers; he is, of course, +wearing armour, and the armour fits him, clothes him. It is not the +clumsy inelastic stuff which must have prevented so many soldiers from +moving a limb or mounting a horse. In this case the lithe and muscular +frame is free and full of movement, quite unimpeded by the defensive +plates of steel. He stands upright, his legs rather apart, and the +shield in front of him, otherwise he is quite unarmed; the St. George +in the niche is alert and watchful: in the bas-relief he manfully +slays the dragon. The head is bare and the throat uncovered; the face +is full of confidence and the pride of generous strength, but with no +vanity or self-consciousness. Fearless simplicity is his chief +attribute, though in itself simplicity is no title to greatness: with +Donatello, Sophocles and Dante would be excluded from any category of +greatness based on simplicity alone. St. George has that earnest and +outspoken simplicity with which the mediæval world invested its +heroes; he springs from the chivalry of the early days of Christian +martyrdom, the greatest period of Christian faith. Greek art had no +crusader or knight-errant, and had to be content with Harmodius and +Aristogeiton. Even the Perseus legend, which in so many ways reminds +one of St. George, was far less appreciated as an incident by +classical art than by the Renaissance; and even then not until patron +and artist were growing tired of St. George. M. Reymond has pointed +out the relation of Donatello's statue to its superb analogue, St. +Theodore of Chartres Cathedral. "_C'est le souvenir de tout un monde +qui disparaît._"[36] Physically it may be so. The age of chivalry may +be passed in so far that the prancing steed and captive Princess +belong to remote times which may never recur. But St. George and St. +Theodore were not merely born of legend and fairy tale; their spirit +may survive in conditions which, although less romantic and +picturesque, may still preserve intact the essential qualities of the +soldier-saint of primitive times. The influence of the St. George upon +contemporary art seems to have been small. The Mocenigo tomb, which +has already been mentioned, has a figure on the sarcophagus obviously +copied from the St. George; and elsewhere in this extremely curious +example of plagiarism we find other figures suggested by Donatello's +statues. The little figure in the Palazzo Pubblico at Pistoja is +again an early bit of piracy. In the courtyard of the Palazzo +Quaratesi in Florence, built by Brunellesco between 1425 and 1430, an +early version of the head of St. George was placed in one of the +circular panels above the pillars. It is without intrinsic importance, +being probably a cast, but it shows how early the statue was +appreciated. A more important cast is that of the bas-relief now in +London, which has a special interest from having been taken before the +original had suffered two or three rather grievous blows.[37] +Verrocchio made a drawing of the St. George,[38] and Mantegna +introduced a similar figure into his picture of St. James being led to +execution.[39] But Donatello's influence cannot be measured by the +effect of St. George. In this particular case his work did not +challenge competition; its perfection was too consummate to be of +service except to the copyist. In some ways it spoke the last word; +closed an episode in the history of art--[Greek: eschatos tou idiou +genous]. + +[Footnote 34: "Eccelenza della Statua del San Giorgio di Donatello," +1571.] + +[Footnote 35: Bellezze, 1677, p. 67.] + +[Footnote 36: "La Sculpture Florentine," vol. ii. p. 91.] + +[Footnote 37: Victoria and Albert Museum, 7607, 1861.] + +[Footnote 38: Uffizzi, frame 49.] + +[Footnote 39: Eremitani, Padua, about 1448-50.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +ST. GEORGE + +BARGELLO] + + +[Sidenote: Donatello and Gothic Art.] + +The relation of St. George and other Italian works of this period, +both in sculpture and painting, to the Gothic art of France cannot be +ignored, although no adequate explanation has yet been given. St. +George, the Baptists of the Campanile and in Rome, and the marble +David are intensely Franco-Gothic, and precisely what one would expect +to find in France. The technical and physical resemblance between the +two schools may, of course, be a coincidence; it may be purely +superficial. But St. Theodore might well take his place outside Or +San Michele, while the St. George (in spite of the difference in date) +would be in complete ethical harmony with the statues on the portals +of Chartres. Even if they cannot be analysed, the phenomena must be +stated. Donatello may have spontaneously returned to the principles +which underlay the creation of the great statuary of France, the +country of all others where a tremendous school had flourished. But +what these fundamental principles were it is impossible to determine. +It is true there had always been agencies at work which must have +familiarised Italy with French thought and ideas. From the time of the +dominant French influence in Sicily down to the Papal exile in +France--which ended actually while Donatello was working on these +statues, one portion or another of the two countries had been +frequently brought into contact. The Cistercians, for instance, had +been among the most persistent propagators of Gothic architecture in +Italy, though nearly all their churches (of which the ground-plans are +sometimes identical with those of French buildings) are situated in +remote country districts of Italy, and being inaccessible are little +known or studied nowadays. France, however, was herself full of +Italian teachers and churchmen, who may have brought back Northern +ideas of art, for they certainly left small traces of their influence +on the French until later on; their presence, at any rate, records +intercourse between the two countries. A concrete example of the +relation between the two national arts is afforded by the fact that +Michelozzo was the son of a Burgundian who settled in Florence. +Michelozzo was some years younger than Donatello, and it is therefore +quite out of the question to assume that the St. George could have +been due to his influence: he was too young to give Donatello more +than technical assistance. In this connection one must remember that +French Gothic, though manifested in its architecture, was of deeper +application, and did not confine its spirit to the statuary made for +the tall elongated lines of its cathedrals. What we call Gothic +pervaded everything, and was not solely based on physical forms. +Indeed, whatever may be the debt of Italian sculpture to French +influence, the Gothic architecture of Italy excluded some of the chief +principles of the French builders. It was much more liberal and more +fond of light and air. Speaking of the exaggerated type of Gothic +architecture, in which everything is heightened and thinned, Renan +asks what would have happened to Giotto if he had been told to paint +his frescoes in churches from which flat spaces had entirely +disappeared. "Once we have exhausted the grand idea of infinity which +springs from its unity, we realise the shortcomings of this egoistic +and jealous architecture, which only exists for itself and its own +ends, _régnant dans le désert_."[40] The churches of Umbria and +Tuscany were as frames in which space was provided for all the arts; +where fresco and sculpture could be welcomed with ample scope for +their free and unencumbered display. Donatello was never hampered or +crowded by the architecture of Florence; he was never obliged, like +his predecessors in Picardy and Champagne, to accommodate the gesture +and attitude of his statue to stereotyped positions dictated by the +architect. His opportunity was proportionately greater, and it only +serves to enhance our admiration for the French sculptors. In spite of +difficulties not of their own making, they were able to create, with a +coarser material and in a less favourable climate, what was perhaps +the highest achievement ever attained by monumental sculpture. The +Italians soon came to distrust Gothic architecture. It was never quite +indigenous, and they were afraid of this "German" transalpine art. +Vasari attacks "_Questa maledizione di fabbriche_," with their +"_tabernacolini l'un sopra l'altro, ... che hanno ammorbato il +mondo_."[41] One would expect the denunciation of Milizia to be still +more severe. But he admits that "_fra tante monstruosità +l'architettura gottica ha alcune bellezze_."[42] Elsewhere mentioning +the architect of the Florentine Cathedral (while regretting how long +the _corrotto gusto_ survived), he says, "_In questo architetto si +vede qualche barlume di buona architettura, come di pittura in Cimabue +suo contemporaneo_."[43] He detects some glimmer of good architecture. +Sir Joshua Reynolds was cautious: "Under the rudeness of Gothic +essays, the artist will find original, rational, and even sublime +inventions."[44] It should be remembered that the word _Tedesca_, as +applied to Gothic art, meant more than German, and could be almost +translated by Northern. Italians from the lakes and the Valtellina +were called _Tedeschi_, and Italy herself was inhabited by different +peoples who were constantly at war, and who did not always understand +each other's dialects. Dante said the number of variations was +countless.[45] Alberti, who lived north of the Apennines during his +boyhood, took lessons in Tuscan before returning to Florence. The word +_Forestiere_, now meaning foreigner, was applied in those days to +people living outside the province, sometimes even to those living +outside the town. Thus we have a record of the cost of making a +provisional altar to display Donatello's work at Padua--"_per +demonstrar el desegno ai forestieri_."[46] No final definition of +Gothic art, of the _maniera tedesca_ is possible. Some of its +component parts have been enumerated: rigidity, grotesque, naturalism, +and so forth; but the definition is incomplete, cataloguing the +effects without analysing their cause. Whether Donatello was +influenced by the ultimate cause or not, he certainly assimilated some +of the effects. The most obvious example of the Gothic feeling which +permeated this child of the Renaissance, is his naturalistic +portrait-statues. Donatello found the form, some passing face or +figure in the street, and rapidly impressed it with his ideal. +Raffaelle found his ideal, and waited for the bodily form wherewith to +clothe it. "In the absence of good judges and handsome women"--that is +to say, models, he paused, as he said in one of his letters to +Castiglione. One feels instinctively that with his Gothic bias +Donatello would not have minded. He did not ask for applause, and at +the period of St. George classical ideas had not introduced the +professional artist's model. Life was still adequate, and the only +model was the subject in hand. The increasing discovery of classical +statuary and learning made the later sculptors distrust their own +interpretation of the bodily form, which varied from the primitive +examples. Thus they lost conviction, believing the ideal of the +classicals to surpass the real of their own day. The result was +Bandinelli and Montorsoli, whose world was inhabited by pompous +fictions. They neither attained the high character of the great +classical artists nor the single-minded purpose of Donatello. Their +ideal was based on the unrealities of the Baroque. + +[Footnote 40: "Mélanges d'Histoire," p. 248.] + +[Footnote 41: Introduction, i. 122.] + +[Footnote 42: "Vita de' Architetti," 53.] + +[Footnote 43: _Ibid._ 151.] + +[Footnote 44: "Discourses," 1778, p. 237.] + +[Footnote 45: "Qua propter si primas et secundarias et subsecundarias +vulgaris Ytalie variationes calculare velimus, in hoc minimo mundi +angulo, non solum ad millenam loquele variationem venire contigerit, +sed etiam at magis ultra."--De Vulg. Eloq. Lib., I., cap. x. § 8.] + +[Footnote 46: 23, iv. 1448.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +ANNUNCIATION + +SANTA CROCE, FLORENCE] + + +[Sidenote: The Crucifix and Annunciation.] + +Donatello loved to characterise: in one respect only did he typify. +Where there was most character there was often least beauty. This is +illustrated by two works in Santa Croce, the Christ on the Cross and +the Annunciation. They differ in date, material, and conception, but +may be considered together. As to the exact date of the former many +opinions have been expressed. Vasari places it about 1401, Manetti +about 1405, Schmarsow 1410, Cavalucci 1416, Bode 1431, Marcel Reymond +1430-40. It is quite obvious that the crucifix is the product of +rather a timid and uncertain technique, and does not show the verve +and decision which Donatello acquired so soon. It is made of olive +wood, and is covered by a shiny brown paint which may conceal a good +deal of detailed carving. The work is sober and decorous, and not +marred by any breach of good taste. It is in no sense remarkable, and +has nothing special to connect it with Donatello. Its notoriety +springs from a long and rather inconsequent story, which says that, +having made his Christ in rivalry with Brunellesco, who was occupied +on a similar work, Donatello was so much saddened at the superiority +of the other crucifix that he exclaimed: "You make the Christ while I +can only make a peasant: _a te è conceduto fare i Cristi, ed a me i +contadini_".[47] Brunellesco's crucifix,[48] now hidden behind a +portentous array of candles, is even less attractive than that in +Santa Croce. Brunellesco was the aristocrat, the builder of haughty +palaces for haughty men, and may have really thought his cold and +correct idea superior to Donatello's peasant. To have thought of +taking a contadino for his type (disappointing as it was to Donatello) +was in itself a suggestive and far-reaching departure from the earlier +treatment of the subject. In the fourteenth century Christ on the +Cross had been treated with more reserve and in a less naturalistic +fashion. The traditional idea disappeared after these two Christs, +which are among the earliest of their kind, afterwards produced all +over Italy in such numbers. As time went on the figure of Christ +received more emphasis, until it became the vehicle for exhibiting +those painful aspects of death from which no divine message of +resurrection could be inferred. The big crucifix ascribed to +Michelozzo shows how far exaggeration could be carried.[49] The opened +mouth, the piteous expression, the clots of blood falling from the +wounds, combine to make a figure which is repellent, and which lost +all justification, from the fact that this tortured dying man shows no +conviction of divine life to come. Donatello's bronze crucifix at +Padua, made years afterwards, showed that he never forgot that a dying +Christ must retain to the last the impress of power and superhuman +origin. In the conflict of drama and beauty, Donatello allowed drama +to gain the upper hand. But the Annunciation would suggest a different +answer, for here we find what is clearly a sustained effort to secure +beauty. The Annunciation is a large relief, in which the angel and the +Virgin are placed within an elaborately carved frame, while on the +cornice above there are six children holding garlands. Its date has +been the subject of even more discussion than that of the +Crucifix,[50] and the conflict of opinion has been so keen that the +intrinsic merits of this remarkable work have been sometimes +overlooked. The date is, of course, important for the classification +of Donatello's work, but it is a pity when the attention of the critic +is monopolised by minor problems. Milizia, when in doubt about the +date of Alberti's birth, did not go too far in saying "_disgrazia +grande per chi si trova la sua felicità nelle date_." The Annunciation +was erected by the Cavalcanti family, and the old theory that it was +ordered to commemorate their share in the victory over Pisa in 1406 +has been upheld by the presence on the lower frieze of a winged +wreath, an emblem of victory. The object of the donor is conjectural: +we know nothing about it; and the association of wings and a wreath is +found elsewhere in Donatello's work.[51] Moreover, the rich +Renaissance decoration is quite sufficient to demonstrate that the +work must be much later than 1406, though whether immediately before +or after the second Roman visit must be founded on hypothesis. The +precise date of the particular decoration is too nebular to permit any +exact statement on the subject. There was never any line of +demarcation between one school and another. One can find Gothic ideas +long after the Renaissance had established its principles,[52] while +the period of transition lasted so long, especially in the smaller +towns, that the old and new schools often flourished concurrently. +This relief is made of Pietra Serena, of a delicate bluish tint, very +charming to work in, according to Cellini, though without the +durability needed for statues placed out of doors.[53] It has been +enriched with a most lavish hand and there is no part of the work +without sumptuous decoration. The base, with the central wreath, is +flanked by the Cavalcanti arms: above them rise two rectangular shafts +enclosing the relief on either side. These columns are carved with a +fretwork of leaves, and their capitals are formed of strongly +chiselled masks of a classical type, like those on the Or San Michele +niche. Above the shafts comes the plinth, which has a peculiar egg and +dart moulding, in its way ugly, and finally the whole thing is crowned +with a bow-shaped arch, upon which the six terra cotta _Putti_ are +placed, two at either extremity and the other pair lying along the +curved space in the centre;[54] the panelled background and the throne +are covered with arabesques. But this intricate wealth of decoration +does not distract attention from the main figures. The Virgin has just +risen from the chair, part of her dress still resting on the seat. Her +face and feet turn in different directions, thus giving a dualism to +the movement, an impression of surprise which is in itself a _tour de +force_. But there is nothing bizarre or far-fetched, and the general +idea one receives is that we have a momentary vision of the scene: we +intercept the message which is well rendered by the pose of the +angel, while its reception is acknowledged by the startled gesture of +the Virgin. "_È stupendo l'artifizio._"[55] The scheme is what one +would expect from Luca della Robbia. Nothing of the kind reappears in +Donatello's work, and the attainment of beauty as such is also beyond +the sphere of his usual ambition. Indeed, so widely does the +Annunciation differ from our notions about the artist, that it has +been recently suggested that Donatello was assisted in the work: while +some people doubt the attribution altogether. The idea that Michelozzo +should have done some of the actual carving may be well or ill +founded; in any case, no tangible argument has been advanced to +support the idea. Donatello's authorship is vouched for by Albertini, +who wrote long before Vasari, and whose notice about the works of art +in Florence is of great value.[56] But we have no standard of +comparison, and Donatello himself had to strike out a new line for his +new theme. The internal evidence in favour of Donatello must therefore +be sought in the accessories; and in architectural details which occur +elsewhere,[57] such as the big and somewhat incontinent hands, the +typical _putti_, and the rather heavy drapery. To this we may add the +authority of early tradition, the originality and strength of +treatment, and finally the practical impossibility of suggesting any +alternative sculptor. + +[Footnote 47: Vasari, iii. 247.] + +[Footnote 48: In the Capella Gondi, Santa Maria Novella.] + +[Footnote 49: In San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice.] + +[Footnote 50: Borghini, Donatello's earliest work. Semper, 1406. +Schmarsow, 1412. Bode, before the second journey to Rome in 1433. +Reymond, 1435.] + +[Footnote 51: _E.g._, on the Or San Michele niche, round the Trinity. +Verrocchio also used it on his sketch model for the Forteguerri tomb, +Victoria and Albert Museum, No. 7599, 1861.] + +[Footnote 52: _E.g._, Pacifico tomb about 1438 and the Francesco +Foscari tomb about 1457, both in the Frari.] + +[Footnote 53: "Due Trattati di Benvenuto Cellini," ed. Carlo Milanesi, +1857. Ch. 6 on marble.] + +[Footnote 54: _Cf._ _Putti_ on the Roman Tabernacle.] + +[Footnote 55: Bocchi, p. 316.] + +[Footnote 56: "Memoriale di molte statue e pitture della città di +Firenze," 1510.] + +[Footnote 57: Or San Michele niche, San Lorenzo Evangelists.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Martelli, David and Donatello's Technique.] + +Tradition says that Ruberto Martelli was the earliest of Donatello's +patrons. So far as we know, there were two Rubertos: the elder was +seventy-three at the time of Donatello's birth, and must therefore +have been a nonagenarian before his patronage could be effectively +exercised; the other was twenty-two years younger than the sculptor, +whom he could not have helped as a young man. But there is no question +about the interest shown by the family in Donatello's work. The David +and the St. John, together with a portrait-bust and the coat of arms, +still show their practical appreciation of his work and Donatello's +gratitude to the family. Vasari is the first to mention these works, +and it must be remarked that Albertini, who paid great attention to +Donatello, mentions nothing but antique sculpture in the Martelli +palace. The David and the St. John Baptist are both in marble, and +were probably made between 1415 and 1425. The David, which was always +prized by the family, is shown in the background of Bronzino's +portrait of Ugolino Martelli.[58] It was then standing in the +courtyard of the palace, but was taken indoors in 1802 _per +intemperias_. The statue is not altogether a success. Its _allure_ is +good: but the anatomy is feminine, the type is soft and yielding; the +attitude is not spontaneous; and the head of Goliath, tucked +uncomfortable between the feet, is poor. There is a bronze statuette +in Berlin which has been considered a study for this figure, though it +is most unlikely that Donatello himself would have taken the trouble +to make bronze versions of his preparatory studies. The work, however, +is in all probability by Donatello, and most of the faults in the +marble statue being corrected, it may be later than the Martelli +figure, from which it also varies in several particulars. The +statuette is full of life and vigour, and the David is a sturdy +shepherd-boy who might well engage a lion or a bear. In one respect +the Martelli figure is of great importance. It is unfinished--the only +unfinished marble we have of the master, and it gives an insight into +the methods he employed. It is fortunate that we have some means of +understanding how Donatello gained his ends, although this statue does +not show him at his best; indeed it may have been abandoned because it +did not reach his expectations. However, we have nothing else to judge +by. The first criticism suggested by the David is that Donatello +betrays the great effort it cost him. Like the unfinished Faith by +Mino da Fiesole,[59] it is laboured and experimental. They set to work +hoping that later stages would enable them to rectify any error or +miscalculation, but both found they had gone too far. The material +would permit no such thing, and with all their skill one sees that the +blocks of marble did not unfold the statues which lay hidden within. +As hewers of stone, Donatello and Mino cannot compare with Michael +Angelo. Jacopo della Quercia alone had something of his genius of +material. Nobody left more "unfinished" work than Michael Angelo. The +Victory, the bust of Brutus, the Madonna and Child,[60] to mention a +few out of many, show clearly what his system was. In the statue of +Victory we see the three stages of development or completion. The +statue is _in_ the stone, grows out of it. The marble seems to be as +soft as soap, and Michael Angelo simply peels off successive strata, +apparently extracting a statue without the smallest effort. The three +grades are respectively shown in the rough-hewn head of the crouching +figure, then in the head of the triumphant youth above him, finally in +his completed torso. But each stage is finished relatively. Completion +is relative to distance; the Brutus is finished or unfinished +according to our standpoint, physical or æsthetic. Moreover, the +treatment is not partial or piecemeal; the statue was in the marble +from the beginning, and is an entity from its initial stage: in many +ways each stage is equally fine. The paradox of Michael Angelo's +technique is that his _abozzo_ is really a finished study. The Victory +also shows how the deep folds of drapery are bored preparatory to +being carved, in order that the chisel might meet less resistance in +the narrow spaces; this is also the case in the Martelli David. As a +technical adjunct boring was very useful, but only as a process. When +employed as a mechanical device to represent the hair of the head, we +get the Roman Empress disguised as a sponge or a honeycomb. These +tricks reveal much more than pure technicalities of art. +Gainsborough's habit of using paint brushes four or five feet long +throws a flood of light upon theory and practice alike. There is, +however, another work, possibly by Donatello himself, which gives no +insight into anything but technical methods, but which is none the +less important. This is the large Madonna and Child surrounded by +angels, belonging to Signor Bardini of Florence. It is unhappily a +complete wreck, five heads, including the Child's, having been broken +away. It is a relief in stucco, modelled, not cast, and is closely +allied with a group of Madonnas to which reference is made +hereafter.[61] We can see precisely how this relief was made. The +stucco adheres to a strong canvas, which in its turn is nailed on to a +wooden panel. The background, also much injured, is decorated with +mosaic and geometrical patterns of glass, now dim and opaque with age. +The relief must have been of signal merit. Complete it would have +rivalled the polychrome Madonna of the Louvre: as a fragment it is +quite sufficient to prove that the Piot Madonna, in the same museum, +is not authentic. One more trick of the sculptor remains to be +noticed. Vasari and Bocchi say that Donatello, recognising the value +of his work, grouped his figures so that the limbs and drapery should +offer few protruding angles, in order to minimise the danger of +fracture. It was his insurance against the fragility of the stone: +when working in bronze such precautions would be less necessary. It is +quite true that in the larger figures there is a marked restraint in +this respect, while in his bas-reliefs, where the danger was less, the +tendency to raise the arms above the head is often exaggerated. But +too much stress should not be laid upon this explanation: it is hard +to believe that Donatello would have let so crucial a matter be +governed by such a consideration. Speaking generally, Donatello was +neither more nor less restrictive than his Florentine contemporaries, +and it was only at a later period that the isolated statue received +perfect freedom, such as that in the Cellini Perseus, or the Mercury +by Gian Bologna, or Bernini's work in marble. + +[Footnote 58: In the Berlin Gallery.] + +[Footnote 59: Berlin Museum.] + +[Footnote 60: All three in Bargello.] + +[Footnote 61: See p. 185.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +SAN GIOVANNINO + +PALAZZO MARTELLI, FLORENCE] + + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +ST. JOHN BAPTIST, MARBLE + +BARGELLO] + + +[Sidenote: Early Figures of St. John.] + +Another important statue in the Martelli palace is that of St. John +the Baptist. Besides being the earliest patron of Florence, St. John +was the titular saint of every Baptistery in the land. This accounts +for the frequency with which we find his statues and scenes from his +life, particularly in Tuscany. With Donatello he was to some extent a +speciality, and we can almost trace the sculptor's evolution in his +presentment of the Baptist, beginning with the chivalrous figure on +the Campanile and ending with the haggard ascetic of Venice. We have +St. John as a child in the Bargello, as a boy in Rome, as a stripling +in the Martelli palace. On the bell-tower he is grown up, in the Frari +he is growing older, and at Siena he is shown as old as Biblical +history would permit. The St. John in the Casa Martelli, _oltra tutti +singolare_,[62] was so highly prized that it was made an heirloom, +with penalties for such members of the family who disposed of it. This +St. John is a link between the Giovannino and the mature prophet. He +is, as it were, dazed, and sets forth upon his errand with +open-mouthed wonder. He has a strain of melancholy, and seems rather +weakly and hesitating. But there is no attempt after emaciation. The +limbs are well made, and as sturdy as one would expect, in view of the +unformed lines of the model: the hands also are good. As regards the +face, one notices that the nose and mouth are rather crooked, and that +the eyes diverge: not, indeed, that these defects are really +displeasing, since they are what one sometimes finds in living youth. +Another Baptist which has hitherto escaped attention is the small +marble figure, about four feet high, which stands in a niche over the +sacristy door of San Giovanni Fiorentino in Rome. It was placed there +a few years ago, when, owing to the prevalent mania of rebuilding, it +became necessary to demolish the little oratory on the Corso which +belonged to the Mother Church close by. The statue was scarcely seen +in its old home: how it got there is unknown. The church itself was +not founded by the Florentines until after Donatello's death, and this +statue looks as if it had been made before Donatello's visit to Rome +in 1433. But its authenticity cannot be questioned. We have the same +type as in the Martelli Baptist, with something of the Franco-Gothic +sentiment. This St. John is rather younger, a Giovannino, his thin +lithe figure draped with the camel-hair tunic which ends above the +knees. Hanging over the left shoulder is a long piece of drapery, +falling to the ground behind him, and giving support to the marble, +just as in the other Baptist. We have the open mouth, the curly hair +and the broad nostrils: in every way it is a typical work of the +sculptor. There are two other early Baptists, both in the Bargello. +The little relief in Pietra Serena[63] is a delightful rendering of +gentle boyhood. The modelling shows Donatello's masterful treatment of +the soft flesh and the tender muscles beneath it. Everything is +subordinated to his object of showing real boyhood with all the charm +of its imperfections. The head is shown in profile, thus enabling us +to judge the precise nature of all the features, each one of which +bears the imprint of callow _morbidezza_. Even the hair has the +dainty qualities of childhood: it has the texture of silk. It is a +striking contrast to the life-sized Baptist who has just reached +manhood. We see a St. John walking out into the desert. He looks +downward to the scroll in his hand, trudging forward with a hesitating +gait,--but only hesitating because he is not sure of his foothold, so +deeply is he absorbed in reading. It is a triumph of concentration. +Donatello has enlisted every agency that could intensify the oblivion +of the world around him. It is from this aloofness that the figure +leaves a detached and inhospitable impression. One feels instinctively +that this St. John would be friendless, for he has nothing to offer, +and asks no sympathy. There is no room for anybody else in his career, +and nobody can share his labours or mitigate his privations. In short, +there is no link between him and the spectator. Unless we interpret +the statue in this manner, it loses all interest--it never had any +beauty--and the St. John becomes a tiresome person with a pedantic and +ill-balanced mind. But Donatello can only have meant to teach the +lesson of concentrated unity of purpose, which is the chief if not the +only characteristic of this St. John. Technically the work is +admirable. The singular care with which the limbs are modelled, +especially the feet and hands, is noteworthy: while the muscular +system, the prominent spinal cord, and the pectoral bones are rendered +with an exactitude which leads one to suppose Donatello reproduced all +the peculiarities of his model. It has been said that Michelozzo +helped Donatello on the ground that certain details reappear on the +Aragazzi monument. The argument is speculative, and would perhaps gain +by being inverted,--by pointing out that when making the Aragazzi +figures, Michelozzo, the lesser man, was influenced by Donatello, the +greater. + +[Footnote 62: Bocchi, 23. Like the David, it used to live out of +doors, until in 1755 Nicolaus Martelli "in aedes suas transtulit." Its +base dates from 1794.] + +[Footnote 63: It was acquired for nine zechins in 1784. Madame André +has a version in stucco, on rather a larger scale. A marble version +from the Strawberry Hill Collection now belongs to Sir Charles Dilke, +M.P.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: CLAY SKETCH OF CRUCIFIXION AND FLAGELLATION + +LONDON] + + +[Sidenote: Donatello as Architect and Painter.] + +Fully as Donatello realised the unity of the arts, we cannot claim him +as a universal genius, like Leonardo or Michael Angelo, who combined +the art of literature with plastic, pictorial and architectural +distinction. But at the same time Donatello did not confine himself to +sculpture. He was a member of the Guild of St. Luke: he designed a +stained-glass window for the Cathedral: his opinion on building the +Cupola was constantly invited, and he made a number of marble works, +such as niches, fountains, galleries and tombs, into which the pursuit +of architecture and construction was bound to enter. Moreover, his +backgrounds were usually suggested by architectural motives. Donatello +joined the painters' guild of St. Luke in 1412, and in a document of +this year he is called _Pictor_.[64] There is a great variety in the +names and qualifications given to artists during the fifteenth +century. In the first edition of the Lives, Vasari calls Ghiberti a +painter. Pisano, the medallist, signed himself Pictor. _Lastrajuolo_, +or stone-fitter, is applied to Nanni di Banco.[65] Giovanni Nani was +called _Tagliapietra_,[66] Donatello is also called _Marmoraio_, +_picchiapietre_,[67] and woodcarver.[68] In the commission from the +Orvieto Cathedral for a bronze Baptist he is comprehensively described +as "_intagliatorem figurarum, magistrum lapidum atque intagliatorem +figurarum in ligno et eximium magistrum omnium trajectorum_."[69] +Finally, like Ciuffagni,[70] he is called _aurifex_, goldsmith.[71] +Cellini mentions Donatello's success in painting,[72] and Gauricus, +who wrote early in the sixteenth century, says that the favourite +maxim inculcated by Donatello to his pupils was "_designate_"--"Draw: +that is the whole foundation of sculpture."[73] The only pictorial +work that has survived is the great stained-glass Coronation of the +Virgin in the Duomo. Ghiberti submitted a competitive cartoon and the +Domopera had to settle which was "_pulchrius et honorabilius pro +ecclesia_." Donatello's design was accepted,[74] and the actual +glazing was carried out by Bernardo Francesco in eighteen months.[75] +The background is a plain blue sky, and the two great figures are the +centre of a warm and harmonious composition. The window stands well +among its fellows as regards colour and design, but does not help us +to solve difficult problems connected with Donatello's drawings. +Numbers have been attributed to him on insufficient foundation.[76] +The fact is that, notwithstanding the explicit statements of Borghini +and Vasari that Donatello and Michael Angelo were comparable in +draughtsmanship, we have no authenticated work through which to make +our inductions. A large and important scene of the Flagellation in the +Uffizzi,[77] placed within a complicated architectural framework, and +painted in green wash, has some later Renaissance features, but +recalls Donatello's compositions. In the same collection are two +extremely curious pen-and-ink drawings which give variants of +Donatello's tomb of John XXIII. in the Baptistery. The first of them +(No. 660) shows the Pope in his tiara, whereas on the tomb this symbol +of the Papacy occupies a subordinate place. The Charity below carries +children, another variant from the tomb itself. The second study (No. +661) gives the effigy of a bareheaded knight in full armour lying to +the left, and the basal figures also differ from those on the actual +tomb. These drawings are certainly of the fifteenth century, and even +if not directly traceable to Donatello himself, are important from +their relation to the great tomb of the Pope, for which Donatello was +responsible. But we have no right to say that even these are +Donatello's own work. In fact, drawings on paper by Donatello would +seem inherently improbable. Although he almost drew in marble when +working in _stiacciato_, the lowest kind of relief, he was essentially +a modeller, rather than a draughtsman. Leonardo was just the reverse; +Michael Angelo was both, but with him sculpture was _the_ art. +Donatello had small sense of surface or silhouette, and we would not +expect him to commit his ideas to paper, just as Nollekens,[78] who +drew so badly that he finally gave up drawing, and limited himself to +modelling instead--turning the clay round and round and observing it +from different aspects, thus employing a tactile in place of a +pictorial medium. Canova also trusted chiefly to the plastic sense to +create the form. But Donatello must nevertheless have used pen and ink +to sketch the tombs, the galleries, the Roman tabernacle, and similar +works. It is unfortunate that none of his studies can be identified. +There is, however, one genuine sketch by Donatello, but it is a sketch +in clay. The London Panel[79] was made late in life, when Donatello +left a considerable share to his assistants. It is therefore a +valuable document, showing Donatello's system as regards his own +preliminary studies and the amount of finishing he would leave to +pupils. We see his astonishing plastic facility, and the ease with +which he could improvise by a few curves, depressions and prominences +so complex a theme as the Flagellation, or Christ on the Cross. It +is a marvel of dexterity. + +[Footnote 64: Domopera archives, 12, viii., 1412.] + +[Footnote 65: _Ibid._, 31, xii., 1407.] + +[Footnote 66: Padua, 3, iv., 1443.] + +[Footnote 67: When working at Pisa in 1427. See Centofanti, p. 4.] + +[Footnote 68: Commission for bronze Baptist for Ancona, 1422.] + +[Footnote 69: Contract in Orvieto archives, 10, ii., 1423.] + +[Footnote 70: Domopera, 2, ix., 1429.] + +[Footnote 71: _Ibid._ 18, iii., 1426.] + +[Footnote 72: "Due Trattati," ch. xii.] + +[Footnote 73: Pomponius Gauricus, "De Sculptura," 1504, p. b, iii.] + +[Footnote 74: April 1434.] + +[Footnote 75: See _American Journal of Arch._, June 1900.] + +[Footnote 76: The so-called St. George in the Royal Library at Windsor +has been determined by Mr. R. Holmes to be Perugino's study for the +St. Michael in the National Gallery triptych. In the Uffizzi several +pen-and-ink drawings are attributed to Donatello. The four eagles, the +group of three peasants, the two figures seen from behind (Frame 5, +No. 181), and the candlestick (Frame 7, No. 61 s.), are nondescript +studies in which no specific sign of Donatello appears. The five +winged _Putti_ (Frame 7, No. 40 f.) and the two studies of the Madonna +(Frame 7, No. 38 f.) are more Donatellesque, but they show the +niggling touch of some draughtsman who tried to make a sketch by mere +indications with his pen. There is also a study in brown wash of the +Baptistery Magdalen: probably made from, and not for, the statue. The +Louvre has an ink sketch (No. 2225, Reynolds and His De la Salle +Collections) of the three Maries at the Tomb, or perhaps a fragment of +a Crucifixion, with a fourth figure, cowled like a monk. It is a gaunt +composition, made with very strong lines. It may be noted that the +eyes are roughly suggested by circles, a mannerism which recurs in +several drawings ascribed to Donatello. This was also a trick of +Baldassare Peruzzi (Sketch-Book, Siena Library, p. 13, &c.). In the +British Museum there is an Apostle holding a book (No. 1860, 6. 13. +31), with a Donatellesque hand and forearm; also a Lamentation over +the dead Christ (No. 1862, 7. 2. 189). Both are interesting drawings, +but the positive evidence of Donatello's authorship is _nil_. Mr. +Gathorne Hardy's drawing, which has been ascribed to Donatello, is +really by Mantegna, a capital study for one of the frescoes in the +Eremitani.] + +[Footnote 77: Uffizzi, Frame 6, No. 6347 f.] + +[Footnote 78: See Life by J.T. Smith, 1828.] + +[Footnote 79: Victoria and Albert Museum, No. 7619, 1861. This sketch, +which appears to have been made for the Forzori family, has been +mistaken for a study for the San Lorenzo pulpit.] + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +NICHE OF OR SAN MICHELE + +THE GROUP BY VERROCCHIO] + +Sculpture relies upon the contour, architecture upon the line. The +distinction is vital, and were it not for the number and importance of +the exceptions, from Michael Angelo down to Alfred Stevens, one would +think that the sculptor-architect would be an anomaly. In describing +the pursuits of Donatello and Brunellesco during their first visit to +Rome, Manetti says that the former was engrossed by his plastic +researches, "_senza mai aprire gli occhi alla architettura_." It is +difficult to believe that Donatello had no eyes for architecture. +There are several reasons to show that later on he gave some attention +to its study. Like the Roman Tabernacle, the Niche on Or San +Michele[80] is without any Gothic details. Albertini mentions +Donatello as its sole author, but it is probable that Michelozzo, who +helped on the statue of St. Louis, was also associated with its niche. +It is a notable work, designed without much regard to harmony between +various orders of architecture, but making a very rich and pleasing +whole. It is decorated with some admirable reliefs. On the base are +winged _putti_ carrying a wreath; in the spandrils above the arch are +two more. The upper frieze has also winged cherubs' heads, six of them +with swags of fruit and foliage, all of exceptional charm and +vivacity. The motive of wings recurs in the large triangular space at +the top; flanking the magnificent Trinity, three grave and majestic +heads, which though united are kept distinct, and though similar in +type are full of individual character. This little relief, placed +rather high, and discountenanced by the bronze group below, is a +memorable achievement of the early fifteenth century and heralds the +advent of the power and solemnity, the _Terribilità_ of Michael +Angelo. Donatello's aptitude for architectural setting is also +illustrated by the choristers' galleries in the Cathedral and San +Lorenzo. The former must be dealt with in detail when considering +Donatello's treatment of childhood. As an architectural work it shows +how the sculptor employed decorative adjuncts such as mosaic and +majolica[81] to set off the white marble; he also added deep maroon +slabs of porphyry and bronze heads, thus combining various arts and +materials. Having no sculpture, the Cantoria of San Lorenzo is perhaps +more important in this connection, as it is purely constructive, while +its condition is intact: the Cathedral gallery having been rebuilt on +rather conjectural lines. In San Lorenzo we find the same ideas and +peculiarities, such as the odd egg and dart moulding which reappears +on the Annunciation. The colour effects are obtained by porphyry and +inlaid marbles. But we see how much Donatello trusted to sculpture, +and how indifferently he fared without it. This gallery does not +retain one's attention. There is a stiffness about it, almost a +monotony, and it looks more like the fragment of a balcony than a +_Cantoria_, for there is no marked terminal motive to complete and +enclose it at either end. Two gateways have been ascribed to +Donatello, but there is nothing either in their architecture or the +treatment of their heraldic decoration, which is distinctive of the +sculptor.[82] There can be no doubt that Donatello was employed as +architect by the Chapter of Sant' Antonio at Padua,[83] and his love +of buildings is constantly shown in the background of his reliefs. But +the strongest testimony to his architectural skill is derived from the +fact that he was commissioned in 1416 to make a model for the then +unfinished cupola of the Cathedral at Florence. Brunellesco and Nanni +di Banco also received similar orders. Brunellesco alone understood +the immense difficulty of the task, and in the next year he announced +his return to Rome for further research. In 1418 the sum of two +hundred gold florins was offered for the best model, and in 1419 +Ghiberti, Nanni di Banco, Donatello and Brunellesco all received +payments for models. Donatello's was made of brick. Ultimately the +work was entrusted to Brunellesco, who overcame the ignorance and +intrigues which he encountered from all sides, his two staunch friends +being Donatello and Luca della Robbia. As to the nature of Donatello's +models we know nothing; it is, however, clear that his opinion was at +one time considered among the best available on a problem which +required knowledge of engineering. As a military engineer Donatello +was a failure. He was sent in 1429 with other artists to construct a +huge dam outside the besieged town of Lucca, in order to flood or +isolate the city. The amateur and _dilettante_ of the Renaissance +found a rare opportunity in warfare; and this passion for war and its +preparations occurs frequently among these early artists. Leonardo +designed scores of military engines. Francesco di Giorgio has left a +whole bookful of such sketches, in one of which he anticipates the +torpedo-boat.[84] So, too, Michael Angelo took his share in erecting +fortifications, though he did not fritter away so much time on +experiments as some of his contemporaries. Donatello and his +colleagues did not even leave us plans to compensate for their +ignominious failure. One is struck by the confidence of these +Renaissance people, not only in art but in every walk of life. They +were so sure of success, that failure came to be regarded as +surprising, and very unprofessional. Michael Angelo had no conception +of possible failure. He embarked upon the colossal statue of the Pope +when quite inexperienced in casting; he was the first to taunt +Leonardo on his failure to make the equestrian statue. When somebody +failed, the work was handed over to another man, who was expected to +succeed. Thus Ciuffagni had to abandon an unpromising statue, _quod +male et inepte ipsam laboravit_,[85] and the David of Michael Angelo +was made from a block of marble upon which Agostino di Duccio had +already made fruitless attempts. + +[Footnote 80: The niche was completed about 1424-5. There is a drawing +of it in Vettorio Ghiberti's Note-book, p. 70. Landucci, in his +"Diario Fiorentino," says that Verrocchio's group was placed in it on +June 21, 1483.] + +[Footnote 81: _Cf._ Payments to Andrea Moscatello, for painted and +glazed terra-cotta for the Paduan altar. May 1449.] + +[Footnote 82: From the Residenza dell' arte degli Albergatori, and +that of the Rigattieri of Florence, figured on plates xii. and xv. of +Carocci's "Ricordi del Mercato Vecchio," 1887.] + +[Footnote 83: _Cf._ Payments for work on "_Archi de la balconà de lo +lavoriero de la +_," _i.e._, the crociera of the church, March 30 and +April 11, 1444.] + +[Footnote 84: Siena Library.] + +[Footnote 85: Domopera, 7, vii. 1433.] + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +THE MARZOCCO + +BARGELLO] + + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +THE MARTELLI SHIELD] + +Two fountains are ascribed to Donatello, made respectively for the +Pazzi and Medici families. The former now belongs to Signor Bardini. +It is a fine bold thing, but the figure and centrepiece are +unfortunately missing. The marble is coated with the delicate patina +of water: its decoration is rather nondescript, but there is no reason +to suppose that Rossellino's _fonte_ mentioned by Albertini was the +only one possessed by the Great House of the Pazzi. The Medici +fountain, now in the Pitti Palace, is rather larger, being nearly +eight feet high. The decoration is opulent, and one could not date +these florid ideas before Donatello's later years. The boy at the top +dragging along a swan is Donatellesque, but with mannerisms to which +we are unaccustomed. The work is not convincing as regards his +authorship. The marble Lavabo in the sacristy of San Lorenzo is also a +doubtful piece of sculpture. It has been attributed to Verrocchio, +Donatello and Rossellino. It has least affinity to Donatello. The +detailed attention paid by the sculptor to the floral decoration, and +the fussy manner in which the whole thing is overcrowded, as if the +artist were afraid of simplicity, suggest the hand of Rossellino, to +whom Albertini, the first writer on the subject, has ascribed it. +Donatello made the Marzocco, the emblematic Lion of the Florentines, +and it has therefore been assumed that he also made its marble +pedestal. This is held to be contemporary with the niche of Or San +Michele. So far as the architectural and decorative lines are +concerned this is not impossible, though the early Renaissance motives +long retained their popularity. There is, however, one detail showing +that the base must be at least twenty-five years older than the niche. +The arms of the various quarters of Florence are carved upon the +frieze of the base. Among these shields we notice one bearing "on a +field semée of fleurs-de-lys, a label, above all a bendlet dexter." +These are not Italian arms. They were granted in 1452 to Jean, Comte +de Dunois, an illegitimate son of the Duc d'Orléans. His coat had +previously borne the bendlet sinister, but this was officially turned +into a bendlet dexter, to show that the King had been pleased to +legitimise him in recognition of his services to Joan of Arc. Jean was +a contemporary of Donatello, and the coat may have been placed among +the other shields as a compliment to France. Certainly no quarter of a +town could use a mark of cadency below a bendlet, and Florence was +more careful than most Italian towns to be precise in her heraldry. +Numbers of stone shields bearing the arms of Florentine families were +placed upon the palace walls. When high up and protected by the broad +eaves they have survived; but, as a rule, those which were exposed to +the weather, carved as they usually were in soft stone, have +perished.[86] Bocchi mentions that Donatello made coats-of-arms for +the Becchi, the Boni and the Pazzi. Others have been ascribed to him, +namely, the Stemma of the Arte della Seta, from the Via di Capaccio, +that on the Gianfigliazzi Palace, the shield inside the courtyard of +the Palazzo Davanzati, and that on the Palazzo Quaratesi, all in +Florence. These have been much repaired, and in some cases almost +entirely renewed. The shield on the eastern side of the old Martelli +Palace (in the Via de' Martelli, No. 9) is, perhaps, coeval with +Donatello, but it is insignificant beside the shield preserved inside +the present palace. This coat-of-arms, which is coloured according to +the correct metals and tinctures, is one of the finest extant +specimens of decorative heraldry. It is a winged griffin rampant, with +the tail and hindlegs of a lion. The shield is supported by the stone +figure of a retainer, cut in very deep relief, as the achievement was +to be seen from the street below. But the shield itself rivets one's +attention. This griffin can be classed with the Stryge, or the +Etruscan Chimæra as a classic example of the fantastic monsters which +were used for conventional purposes, but which were widely believed to +exist. It possesses all the traditional attributes of the griffin. It +is fearless and heartless: its horrible claws strike out to wound in +every direction, and the whole body vibrates with feline elasticity, +as well as the agile movement of a bird. Regarding it purely as a +composition, we see how admirably Donatello used the space at his +command: his economy of the shield is masterly. It is occupied at +every angle, but nowhere crowded. The spaces which are left vacant are +deliberately contrived to enhance the effect of the figure. It is the +antithesis of the Marzocco.[87] The sculptor must have seen lions, but +the Marzocco is not treated in a heraldic spirit, although it holds +the heraldic emblem of Florence, the _fleur de lys florencée_. +Physically it is unsuccessful, for it has no spring, there is very +little muscle in the thick legs which look like pillars, and the back +is far too broad. But Donatello is saved by his tact; he was +ostensibly making the portrait of a lion; though he gives none of its +features, he gives us all the chief leonine characteristics. He +excelled in imaginary animals, like the Chinese artists who make +admirable dragons, but indifferent tigers. + +[Footnote 86: _Cf._ those high up on the Loggia de' Lanzi, or in other +Tuscan towns where the climate was not more severe, but where there +was less cash or inclination to replace the shields which were worn +away.] + +[Footnote 87: The marble original is now in the Bargello, and has been +replaced by a bronze _replica_, which occupies the old site on the +Ringhiera of the Palazzo Pubblico. Lions were popular in Florence. +Albertini mentions an antique porphyry lion in the Casa Capponi, much +admired by Lorenzo de' Medici. Paolo Ucello painted a lion fight for +Cosimo. The curious rhymed chronicle of 1459 describes the lion fights +in the great Piazza ("Rer. It. Script.," ii. 722). Other cases could +be quoted. Donatello also made a stone lion for the courtyard of the +house used by Martin V. during his visit to Florence in 1419-20.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +SALOME RELIEF, SIENA. + +STATUETTE OF FAITH (TO LEFT)] + + +[Sidenote: The Siena Font.] + +Siena had planned her Cathedral on so ambitious a scale, that had not +the plague reduced her to penury the Duomo of Florence would have been +completely outrivalled. The Sienese, however, ordered various works of +importance for their Cathedral, and among these the Font takes a high +place. It was entrusted to Jacopo della Quercia, who had the active +assistance of Donatello and Ghiberti, as well as that of the Turini +and Neroccio, townsmen of his own. Donatello was thus brought under +new influences. He made a relief, a _sportello_ or little door, two +statuettes, and some children, all in bronze, being helped in the +casting by Michelozzo. Jacopo, who was about ten years older than +Donatello, had been a competitor for the Baptistery gates. He was a +man of immense power, in some ways greater than Donatello; never +failing to treat his work on broad and massive lines, and one of the +few sculptors whose work can survive mutilation. The fragments of the +Fonte Gaya need no reconstruction or repair to tell their meaning; +their statuesque virtues, though sadly mangled, proclaim the +unmistakable touch of genius. But Donatello's personality was not +affected by the Sienese artists. Jacopo, it is true, was constantly +absent, being busily engaged at Bologna, to the acute annoyance of the +Sienese, who ordered him to return forthwith. Jacopo said he would die +rather than disobey, "_potius eligeret mori quam non obedire patriæ +suæ_"; but the political troubles at the northern town prevented his +prompt return. However, after being fined he got home, was reconciled +to the Chapter, and ultimately received high honours from the city. +His font is an interesting example of transition; the base is much +more Gothic than the upper part. The base or font proper is a large +hexagonal bason decorated with six bronze reliefs and a bronze +statuette between each--Faith, Hope, Charity, Justice, Prudence, and +Strength. The reliefs are scenes from the life of the Baptist. From +the centre of the font rises the tall Renaissance tabernacle with five +niches, in which Jacopo placed marble statues of David and the four +major prophets, one of which suggested the San Petronio of Michael +Angelo. A statue of the Baptist surmounts the entire font. In spite of +the number of people who co-operated with Jacopo, the whole +composition is harmonious. Donatello made the gilded statuettes of +Faith and Hope. The former, looking downwards, has something of +Sienese severity. Hope is with upturned countenance, joining her hands +in prayer; charming alike in her gesture and pose. Two instalments for +these figures are recorded in 1428. The authorities had been lax in +paying for the work, and we have a letter[88] asking the Domopera for +payment, Donatello and Michelozzo being rather surprised--"_assai +maravigliati_"--that the florins had not arrived. The last of these +bronze Virtues, by Goro di Neroccio, was not placed on the font till +1431. Donatello also had the commission for the _sportello_, the +bronze door of the tabernacle. But the authorities were dissatisfied +with the work and returned it to the sculptor, though indemnifying him +for the loss.[89] This was in 1434, the children for the upper cornice +having been made from 1428 onwards. The relief, which was ordered in +1421, was finished some time in 1427. It is Donatello's first relief +in bronze, and his earliest definitive effort to use a complicated +architectural background. The incident is the head of St. John being +presented on the charger by the kneeling executioner. Herod starts +back dismayed at the sight, suddenly realising the purport of his +action. Two children playing beside him hurriedly get up; one sees +that in a moment they, too, will be terror-stricken. Salome watches +the scene; it is very simple and very dramatic. The bas-relief of St. +George releasing Princess Sabra, the Cleodolinda of Spencer's Faerie +Queen, is treated as an epic, the works having a connecting bond in +the figures of the girls, who closely resemble each other. Much as one +admires the _élan_ of St. George slaying the dragon, this bronze +relief of Siena is the finer of the two; it is more perfect in its +way, and Donatello shows more apt appreciation of the spaces at his +disposal. The Siena plaque, like the marble relief of the dance of +Salome at Lille, to which it is analogous, has a series of arches +vanishing into perspective. They are not fortuitous buildings, but are +used by the sculptor to subdivide and multiply the incidents. They +give depth to the scene, adding a sense of the beyond. The Lille +relief has a wonderful background, full of hidden things, reminding +one of the mysterious etchings of Piranesi. + +[Footnote 88: 9. v. 1427. Milanesi, ii. 134.] + +[Footnote 89: Lusini, 28.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +TOMB OF COSCIA, POPE JOHN XXIII. + +BAPTISTERY, FLORENCE] + + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +EFFIGY OF POPE JOHN XXIII. + +BAPTISTERY, FLORENCE] + + +[Sidenote: Michelozzo and the Coscia Tomb.] + +For ten years Donatello was associated with Michelozzo,[90] who began +as assistant and finally entered into a partnership which lasted until +1433. The whole subject is obscure, and until we have a critical +biography of Michelozzo his relation with various men and monuments of +the fifteenth century must remain problematical. Michelozzo has not +hitherto received his due meed of appreciation. As a sculptor and +architect he frequently held a subordinate position, and it has +been assumed that he therefore lacked independence and originality. +But the man who was Court architect of the Medici, and director of the +Cathedral building staff, was no mere hack; while his sculpture at +Milan, Naples, and Montepulciano show that his plastic abilities were +far from mean. He was a great man with interludes of smallness. When +Donatello required technical help in casting, Michelozzo was called +in. Though Donatello had worked for Ghiberti on the bronze gates, he +was never quite at home in the science of casting. Gauricus says he +always employed professional help--"_nunquam fudit ipse, campanariorum +usus opera semper_."[91] Caldieri cast for him at Padua. Michelozzo +also helped Luca della Robbia in casting the Sacristy gates which +Donatello should have made; the commissions which Donatello threw over +were those for work in bronze. The partnership extended over some of +the best years of Donatello's life, and three tombs, the St. Louis, +and the Prato pulpit are among their joint products. The tombs of Pope +John XXIII. in the Baptistery, that of Aragazzi the Papal Secretary at +Montepulciano, and that of Cardinal Brancacci at Naples, are +noteworthy landmarks in the evolution of sepulchral monuments, which +attained their highest perfection in Italy. In discussing them it will +be seen how fully Michelozzo shared the responsibilities of Donatello. +Baldassare Coscia, on his election to the Papacy, took the title of +John XXIII. He was deposed by a council and retired to Florence, where +he died in 1418. He was befriended by the Medici, who erected the +monument, the last papal tomb outside Rome, to his memory. "_Johannes +Quondam Papa XXIII._" is inscribed on it, and it is said that Coscia's +successful rival objected to this appellation of his predecessor, but +the protest went unheeded. The tomb is remarkable in many ways. Its +construction is most skilful, as it was governed by the two upright +pillars between which the monument had to be fitted. We have a series +of horizontal lines; a frieze at the base, then three Virtues; above +this the effigy, and finally a Madonna beneath a baldachino. Each tier +is separated by lines which intersect the columns at right angles. The +task of making a monument which would not be dwarfed by these huge +plain pillars was not easy. But the tomb, which is decorated with +prudent reserve, holds its own. The effigy is bronze: all the rest is +marble. It was probably coloured, and a drawing in Ghiberti's +note-book gives a background of cherry red, with the figures +gilded.[92] Coscia lies in his mitre and episcopal robes, his head +turned outwards towards the spectator. The features are admirably +modelled with the firmness and consistency of living flesh: indeed it +is the portrait of a sleeping man, troubled, perhaps, in his dream. +The tomb was made some years after Coscia's death, and Donatello has +not treated him as a dead man. The effigy is a contrast to that of +Cardinal Brancacci, where we have the unmistakable lineaments and +fallen features of a corpse. The dusky hue of Coscia's face should be +noticed; the bronze appears to have been rubbed with some kind of dark +composition, similar in tone to that employed by Torrigiano. Below the +recumbent Pope is the sarcophagus; two delightful winged boys hold +the cartel on which the epitaph is boldly engraved. The three marble +figures in niches at the base, Faith, Hope and Charity, belong to a +different category. Albertini says that the bronze is by Donatello, +and "_li ornamenti marmorei di suoi discipuli_." Half a century later, +Vasari says that Donatello made two of them, and that Michelozzo made +the Faith, which is the least successful of the three. Modern +criticism tends to revert to Albertini, assigning all to Michelozzo, +with the presumption that Hope, which is derived from the Siena +statuette, was executed from Donatello's design. Certainly the basal +figures are without the _brio_ of Donatello's chisel; likewise the +Madonna above the effigy, which is vacillating, and may have been the +earliest work of Pagno di Lapo, a man about whom we have slender +authenticated knowledge, but whom we know to have been well employed +in and around Florence. In any case, we cannot reconcile this Madonna +with Michelozzo's sculpture. As will be seen later on, Michelozzo had +many faults, but he was seldom insipid. The Madonna and Saints on the +façade of Sant' Agostino at Montepulciano show that Michelozzo was a +vigorous man. This latter work is certainly by him, the local +tradition connecting it with one Pasquino da Montepulciano being +unfounded. The Coscia tomb is among the earliest of that composite +type which soon pervaded Italy. At least one other monument was +directly copied from it, that of Raffaello Fulgosio at Padua. This was +made by Giovanni da Pisa, and the sculptor's conflict between respect +for the old model, and his desires after the new ideas, is apparent in +the whole composition. + +[Footnote 90: See "Arch. Storico dell' Arte," 1893, p. 209.] + +[Footnote 91: "De Sculptura," 1504, folio e. 1. On the other hand, the +sculptor Verrocchio cast a bell for the Vallombrosans in 1474, and +artillery for the Venetian Republic.] + +[Footnote 92: _Op. cit._ p. 70. In this drawing two _putti_ are also +shown holding a shield, above the monument; this has now +disappeared.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: The Aragazzi Tomb.] + +In the _Denunzia de' beni_ of 1427 Donatello states that he was +working with Michelozzo on the tomb of Bartolommeo Aragazzi, and the +monument has therefore been ascribed to them both. But recent research +has established that, though preparatory orders were given in that +year, a fresh contract was made two years later, and that Donatello's +share in the work was nil. Michelozzo alone got payment up to 1436 or +thereabouts, when the tomb was completed. Donatello's influence would, +perhaps, have been visible in the design, but unhappily we can no +longer even judge of this, for the tomb is a wreck, having been broken +up to make room for structural alterations.[93] Important fragments +are preserved, scattered about the church; but the sketch of the tomb, +said to be preserved in the local library, has never yet been +discovered. The monument had ill-fortune from the very beginning. An +amusing letter has come down to us, pathetic too, for it records the +first incident in the tragedy. Leonardo Aretino writes to Poggio, that +when going home one day he came across a party of men trying to +extricate a wagon which had stuck in the deep ruts. The oxen were out +of breath and the teamsmen out of temper. Leonardo went up to them and +made inquiries. One of the carters, wiping the sweat from his brow, +muttered an imprecation upon poets, past, present and future (_Dii +perdant poetas omnes, et qui fuerunt unquam et qui futuri sunt_.) +Leonardo, a poet himself, asked what harm they had done him: and the +man simply replied that it was because this poet, Aragazzi, who was +lately dead, ordered his marble tomb to be taken all the way to +Montepulciano from Rome, where he died; hence the trouble. "_Hæc est +imago ejus quam cernis_," said the man, pointing to the effigy, having +incidentally remarked that Aragazzi was "_stultus nempe homo ac +ventosus_."[94] Certainly Aragazzi was not a successful man, and he +was addicted to vanity. In the marble we see a wan melancholy face, +seemingly of one who failed to secure due measure of public +recognition. The monument need not be further described, except to say +that two of the surviving figures are very remarkable. They probably +acted as caryatides, of which there must have been three, replacing +ordinary columns as supporters of the sarcophagus. They can hardly be +Virtues, for they are obviously muscular men with curly hair and +brawny arms. They are not quite free from mannerisms: the attitudes, +granting that the bent position were required by their support of the +tomb, are not quite easy or natural. But, in spite of this, they are +really magnificent things, placing their author high among sculptors +of his day. + +[Footnote 93: The effigy is placed in a niche close to the great door +of the Cathedral, put there "lest the memory of so distinguished a man +should perish"--"_Simulacrum ejus diu neglectum, ne tanti viri memoria +penitus deleretur, Politiana pietas hic collocandum curavit anno +MDCCCXV_." The remainder consists of a frieze now incorporated in the +high altar, on either side of which stand two caryatides. The Christ +Blessing is close by. Two bas-reliefs are inserted into pillars +opposite the effigy.] + +[Footnote 94: "Letters," Florence ed. 1741, vol. ii. 45.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +TOMB OF CARDINAL BRANCACCI + +NAPLES] + + +[Sidenote: The Brancacci Tomb.] + +The Church of Sant' Angelo a Nilo at Naples contains the monument of +Cardinal Brancacci, one of the most impressive tombs of this period. +The scheme is a modification of the Coscia tomb. Instead of the three +Virtues in niches at the base, there are three larger allegorical +figures, which are free standing caryatides below the sarcophagus. +They are allegorical figures, perhaps Fates, and correspond with the +two somewhat similar statues at Montepulciano. The Cardinal's effigy +lies upon the stone coffin, the face of which has a bas-relief between +heraldic shields. Two angels stand above the recumbent figure, holding +back the curtain which extends upwards to the next storey, surrounding +a deep lunette in which there is a Madonna between two Saints. Here +the monument should have ended, but it is surmounted by an ogival +arch, flanked by two trumpeting children and with a central medallion +of God the Father. This topmost tier may have been a subsequent +addition. It overweights the whole monument, introduces a discordant +architectural motive, and is decorated by inferior sculpture. The +Madonna in the lunette is also poor, and the curtain looks as if it +were made of lead. But the lower portion of the tomb compensates for +the faults above. The caryatides, the bas-relief of the Assumption, +the Cardinal himself and the mourning angels above him, are all superb +in their different ways. Michelozzo may have been responsible for the +architecture, and Pagno di Lapo for the upper reliefs. Donatello +himself made the priceless relief of the Assumption, also the effigy, +and the two attendants standing above it. The entire tomb is marble: +it was made at Pisa,[95] close to the inexhaustible quarries which, +being near to the sea, made transport easy and cheap. From the time of +Strabo, the _marmor Lunense_ had been carried thence to every port of +the Peninsula.[96] Michelozzo took the tomb to Naples, and perhaps +added the final touches: not, indeed, that the carving is quite +complete, the Cardinal's ear, for instance, being rough-hewn. +Brancacci lies to the left, wearing a mitre on his head, which is +raised on a pillow. The chiselling of the face is masterly. The +features are shown in painful restless repose. The eyes are sunken and +half closed: the lips are drawn, the brow contracted, and the throat +shows all the tendons and veins which one notices in the Habbakuk, but +which are here relaxed and uncontrolled. It is a death-mask: a grim +and instantaneous likeness of the supreme moment, when the agony may +have passed away, but not without leaving indelible traces of the +crisis. The two angels look down on the dead prelate. They hold back +the curtain which would conceal the effigy, thus inviting the +spectator into the privacy of the tomb. In some ways these two angels +are among the noblest creations of the master. They are comparatively +small, their position is subordinate, and they have been repaired by a +clumsy journeyman. Yet they have a majestic solemnity. They are calm +impersonal mourners--not shrouded like the bowed figures which bear +the effigy of the Sénéchal of Burgundy.[97] They stand upright, simply +posed and simply clad guardian angels, absorbed by watching the dead. +The three large figures which support the sarcophagus are by +Michelozzo, and are intimately related to the Aragazzi caryatides. +That on the right has a Burgundian look. They form a striking group, +and their merits are not appreciated as they should be owing to the +excellence of the sculpture immediately above them. + +[Footnote 95: Donatello worked there for eighteen months. See +documents in Centofanti, p. 4, &c.] + +[Footnote 96: "_... Lapides albi et discolores ad coeruleum vergente +specie._" Strabo, "Geog.," 1807 ed., I. v. p. 314.] + +[Footnote 97: Louvre, No. 216. Tomb of Philippe Pot, circa 1480.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Stiacciato.] + +The Assumption of the Virgin occupies the central position of the +tomb. It is a small panel. The Virgin is seated in a folding-chair +which is familiar in fifteenth-century art. Surrounding her are angels +supporting the clouds which make an oval halo round her, a _mandorla_. +The cloud, curiously enough, is very heavy, yielding to the touch, and +upheld by the flying angels, whose hands press their way into it, and +bear their burden with manifest effort. There is none of the limpid +atmosphere which Perugino secured in painting, and Ghiberti in +sculpture. But, on the other hand, the air is full of drama, presaging +an event for which Donatello thought a placid sky unsuitable. There +are seven angels in all; the lowest, upon whose head the Virgin rests +her foot, is half Blake and half Michael Angelo. But there are many +other busy little cherubs swimming, climbing, and flying amidst the +interstices of cloudland. The Virgin herself, draped in easy-flowing +material, has folded her hands, and awaits her entry to Paradise. Her +face is the picture of anxiety and apprehension. The Assumption is +carved in the lowest possible relief, called _stiacciato_. The word +means depressed or flattened. It is the word with which Condivi +describes the appearance of Michael Angelo's nose after it had been +broken--it was "_un poco stiacciato; non per natura_," but by the blow +of a certain Torrigiano, "_huomo bestiale e superbo_."[98] Donatello +was fond of this method of work. We have a fine example in London,[99] +and his most successful use of _stiacciato_ is on the Roman Tabernacle +made a few years after the Brancacci relief. Donatello did not invent +this style. It had been used in classical times, though scarcely to +the extent of Donatello, who drew in the marble. The Assyrians also +used this low-relief; we find the system fully understood in what are +perhaps the most spirited hunting scenes in the world.[100] In these +we also notice the square and rectangular undercutting similar to that +in many of Donatello's reliefs. Another specimen of this very +low-relief is found in Mr. Quincy Shaw's marble panel of the Virgin +and Child seated among clouds and surrounded by _putti_. This has been +attributed to Donatello on good authority,[101] though it must be +remarked that the cherubs' faces show poverty of invention which might +suggest the hand of a weaker man. Moreover, the cherubs have halos, +which is a later development, and quite contrary to Donatello's early +practice. But the relief is an interesting composition, and if by +Donatello, may be regarded as the parent of a group which attained +popularity. M. Gustave Dreyfus has a smaller marble variant of great +charm, made by Desiderio. A stucco panel treated in much the same +manner is preserved at Berlin. The Earl of Wemyss has an early version +in _repoussé_ silver of high technical merit. From this point of view +nothing is more instructive than a Madonna and Child at Milan.[102] It +is probably the work of Pierino da Vinci, and is a thin oval slab of +marble carved on either side. One side is unfinished, and is most +valuable as showing the facility with which the sharp graving tools +were employed to incise the marble. The composition bears a +resemblance to the reliefs just mentioned, and the pose of the two +heads is Donatellesque, but the Child is elongated and ill-drawn. +Again, from a technical point of view, a medallion portrait of the +late Lord Lytton shows that artists of our own day have used +_stiacciato_ with perfect confidence and success.[103] Donatello was +not always quite consistent in its employment. In the Entombment at +Padua it is combined with high-relief. He, no doubt, acted +deliberately; that is to say, he did not sketch a hand in +_stiacciato_, because he had forgotten to provide for it in deeper +relief. But the result is that the quality of the different planes is +lost, and there are discrepancies in the relative values of distance. +The final outcome of _stiacciato_ is the art of the medallist. It is +said that Donatello made a medal, but nobody has determined which it +is. Michelozzo certainly made one of Bentivoglio, about 1445.[104] +This admirable art, which reached its perfection during Donatello's +lifetime, owes something of its progress to the pioneer of +_stiacciato_. + +[Footnote 98: "Vita di Michael Angelo," Rome, 1553, p. 49.] + +[Footnote 99: Victoria and Albert Museum, Charge to Peter. See p. 95.] + +[Footnote 100: British Museum, Assyrian Saloon, Nos. 63-6.] + +[Footnote 101: Bode, "Florentiner Bildhauer," p. 119.] + +[Footnote 102: In the Museo Archeologico in the Castello, unnumbered.] + +[Footnote 103: By Alfred Gilbert, R.A., belonging to the present Earl +of Lytton.] + +[Footnote 104: See Armand, "Les Médailleurs Italiens," 1887, iii. p. +3.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +TOMB PLATE OF BISHOP PECCI + +SIENA CATHEDRAL] + + +[Sidenote: Tombs of Pecci, Crivelli, and Others.] + +The tomb of Giovanni de' Medici in San Lorenzo is interesting, and has +been ascribed to Donatello. There is no documentary authority for this +attribution, and on stylistic grounds it is untenable.[105] It is a +detached tomb, so common elsewhere, but of singular rarity in Italy. +The isolated tomb like this one, like that of Ilaria del Carretto, or +that of Pope Sixtus IV. in St. Peter's, has great advantages over the +tall upright monument _appliqué_ to a church wall. The latter is, +however, the ordinary type of the Renaissance. The free-standing tomb +can be seen from all aspects and lights. Although it must be +smaller--some of the later wall-tombs are fifty feet high--the +sculptor was obliged to keep his entire work well within the range of +vision, and had to rely on plastic art alone for success. Much +admirable sculpture, especially the effigies, has been lost by being +placed too high on some pretentious catafalque in relief against a +wall. The tomb of Giovanni, it is true, though standing in the centre +of the sacristy, is covered by a large marble slab, which is the +priest's table. It throws the tomb into dark shadow and makes it +difficult to see the carving. There are few tombs of important people +upon which so much trouble has been expended with so little result. +Donatello is also said to have made a tomb for the Albizzi, but it has +perished.[106] The tomb of Chellini in San Miniato, which tradition +ascribed to Donatello, is probably the work of Pagno di Lapo. The prim +and priggish Cardinal Accaiuoli in the Certosa of Florence does not +suggest Donatello's hand. Though conscientious and painstaking, the +work is without a spark of energy or conviction. These latter are +slab-tombs, flat plates fastened into the church pavements. We have +two authentic tombs of this character, on both of which Donatello has +signed his name. Had he not done so, we could never have established +his authorship of the marble slab-tomb of Archdeacon Crivelli in the +Church of Ara Coeli at Rome. It has been trampled by the feet of so +many generations, that all the features have been worn away; the +legend is wholly effaced in certain parts, and one corner has had to +be restored (though at some early date). But at best it cannot have +compared with Donatello's similar tomb of Bishop Pecci at Siena, and +one could quote numerous instances of equally good work by nameless +men. There is one close to the Crivelli marble itself, another in the +Pisa Baptistery, two in Santa Croce, and so forth. This kind of tomb +had to undergo rough usage. Everybody walked upon it: the deep relief +made it a receptacle for mud and rubbish. The effigy of the deceased, +as was probably intended by him, was humbled in the dust: _adhesit +pavimento_. The slabs got injured, and were often protected by low +tables with squat legs. Later on the slabs were raised enough to +prevent people standing on them, and thus became like free-standing +tombs; but it only made them more suitable for the sitting +requirements of the congregation. These sunken tombs, in fact, became +a nuisance. Although they were not carved in the very deep relief like +those one sees in Bavaria, they collected the dirt, and a papal brief +was issued to forbid them--_ut in ecclesiis nihil indecens +relinquatur_,[107] and the existing slabs were ordered to be removed. +Irretrievable damage must have resulted from this edict, but +fortunately it was disobeyed in Rome and ignored elsewhere. Nowadays +it has become the custom to place these slabs upright against the +walls, thus preventing further detrition. To Cavaliere D. Gnoli we owe +the preservation of the Crivelli tomb, which was in danger of complete +demolition.[108] By being embedded in a wall instead of lying in a +pavement this kind of monument, while losing its primitive position, +often gains in appearance. Crivelli, for instance, lies within an +architectural niche. His head rests on a pillow, the tassels of which +fall downwards towards his feet. When placed against a wall the need +for a pillow may vanish, but the meaning and use of the niche becomes +apparent, while the tassels no longer defy the laws of gravitation. He +becomes a standing figure at once, and the flying _putti_ above his +head assume a rational pose. It has been suggested that this and +similar tomb-plates were always intended to be placed upright, and +that the delicate ornamentation, of which some traces survive, would +never have been lavished on marble doomed to gradual destruction. No +general rule can be laid down, but undoubtedly most of these slabs +were meant to be recumbent. There are few cases where some +contradiction of _emplacement_ with pose cannot be detected. But two +examples may be noted where the slabs were clearly intended to be +placed in walls. An unnamed bishop at Bologna lies down, while at +either end of the slab an angel _stands_, at right angles to the +recumbent figure, holding a pall or curtain over the dead man.[109] +Signor Bardini also has an analogous marble effigy of a mitred bishop, +about 1430-40, who lies down while a friar stands behind his head. +These slabs were, therefore, obviously made for insertion in a wall, +and they are quite exceptional. The tomb-plate of Bishop Pecci in +Siena Cathedral is less open to objection on the ground of incongruity +between its position and the Bishop's pose. It is made of bronze, and +is set in the tessellated pavement of green, white and mauve marble. +Technically it is a triumph. Although the surface is considerably +worn, we have the sense of absolute calm and repose--in striking +contrast to the wearied look of Brancacci. The Bishop died on March 1, +1426; a few days previously he wrote his will, while he lay +dying--"_sanus mente licet corpore languens_"--and left careful +instructions as to his burial in an honourable part of the Cathedral +and how the exact cost of his funeral was to be met.[110] In a way the +figure resembles St. Louis, and Donatello probably had the help of +Michelozzo in the casting. The work itself is extremely good, and the +bronze has the rich colour which one finds most frequently in the +smaller provincial towns where time is allowed to create its own +_patina_. Donatello was a bold innovator, and the Tomb of Coscia, +though not the parent of the Renaissance theory of funeral monuments, +had marked influence upon its evolution. From the simple outdoor tombs +placed upon pillars, such as one principally finds north of the +Apennines, there issued a grander idea which culminated in the +monuments of the Scaligers at Verona. But Donatello reverted to the +earlier type of indoor tomb, and from his day the tendency to treat +them as an integral feature of mural and structural decoration +steadily increased. A host of sculptors filled the Tuscan churches +with those memorials which constitute one of their chief attractions. +These men imbued death with its most gentle aspect, concealing the +tragedy and sombre meaning of their work with gay arabesques and the +most living and lovable creations of their fancy. The _putti_, the +bright heraldry, the play of colour, and the opulence of decoration, +often distract one's eye from the effigy of the dead: and he, too, is +often smiling. He may represent the past: the rest of the tomb is +born of the present, and seldom--exception being made for a group of +tombs to which reference will be made later on[111]--seldom is there +much regard for the future. The dead at least are not asked to bury +their dead. They lie in state, surrounded by all that is most young +and blithe in life: it is a death which shows no indifference to the +life which is left behind. With them death is in the midst of life, +not life in the midst of death. Donatello was too severe for the later +Renaissance, and the brilliant sculptors who succeeded him lost +influence in their turn. With the development of sculpture, which +during Michael Angelo's lifetime acquired a technical skill to which +Donatello never aspired, the tomb became a vehicle for ostentation and +display; and there was a reaction towards the harsher symbols of +death. Instead of the quiet mourner who really mourns, we have the +strident and professional weeper--a parody of sorrow. Tier upon tier +these prodigious monuments rise, covering great spaces of wall, +decorated with skulls and skeletons, with Time carrying his scythe, +with negro caryatides, and with apathetic or showy models masquerading +as the cardinal virtues. The effigy itself is often perched up so high +as to be invisible, or sitting in a ridiculous posture. "Princes' +images on their tombs," says Bosola in Webster's play, "do not lie as +they were wont, seeming to pray up to heaven; but with their hands +under their cheeks, as if they had died of toothache."[112] Venice +excelled in this rotund and sweltering sculpture. Yet it cannot be +wholly condemned. Though artificial, theatrical and mundane, its +technical supremacy cannot be denied. The amazing ease with which +these huge monuments are contrived, and the absolute sense of mastery +shown by the sculptor over the material are qualities too rare to be +lightly overlooked. Whatever we may think of the artist, our +admiration is commanded by the craftsman. + +[Footnote 105: Wreaths and _putti_ form its decoration, and though +Donatellesque, they are not by Donatello. This was pointed out as +early as 1819. See "Monumenti Sepolcrali della Toscana," p. 28.] + +[Footnote 106: Bocchi, 354.] + +[Footnote 107: Bull., "Cum primum," § 6, "_et ut in ecclesiis nihil +indecens relinquatur, iidem provideant, ut capsæ omnes, et deposita, +seu alia cadaverum, conditoria super terram existentia omnino +amoveantur, pro ut alias statutum fuit, et defunctorum corpora in +tumbis profundis, infra terram collocentur_." Bullarium, 1566, vol. +iv., part ii., p. 285. For the whole question of the evolution of +these tombs, see Dr. von Lichtenberg's valuable book, "Das Porträt an +Grabdenkmalen," Strassburg, 1902.] + +[Footnote 108: See "Archivio Storico dell' Arte," 1888, p. 24, &c.] + +[Footnote 109: In Santo Stefano, Cortile di Pilato.] + +[Footnote 110: "Misc. Storica Senese," 1893, p. 30.] + +[Footnote 111: See p. 171.] + +[Footnote 112: From the Duchess of Malfi, quoted in Symonds' "Fine +Arts," p. 114.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: The Second Visit to Rome.] + +During the year 1433, when Florence enjoyed the luxury of driving +Cosimo de' Medici into exile, Donatello went to Rome in order to +advise Simone Ghini about the tomb of Pope Martin V.--_temporum suorum +filicitas_, as the epitaph says.[113] This visit to Rome, which is not +contested, like the visit thirty years earlier, did not last long, and +certainly did not divert Donatello from the line he had struck out. At +this moment the native art of Rome was colourless. A generation later +it became classical, and then lapsed into decadence. The number of +influences at work was far smaller than would at first be imagined. It +is generally assumed that Rome was the home of classical sculpture. +But early in the fifteenth century Rome must have presented a scene of +desolation. The city had long been a quarry. Under Vespasian the +Senate had to pass a decree against the demolition of buildings for +the purpose of getting the stone.[114] Rome was plundered by her +emperors. She was looted by Alaric, Genseric, Wittig and Totila in +days when much of her art remained _in situ_. She was plundered by her +Popes. Statues were used as missiles; her marble was exported all over +the world--to the Cathedrals of Orvieto and Pisa, even to the Abbey +Church of Westminster. Suger, trying to get marble columns for his +church, looked longingly at those in the baths of Diocletian, a +natural and obvious source, though happily he stole them +elsewhere.[115] The vandalism proceeded at an incredible pace. Pius +II. issued a Bull in 1462 to check it; in 1472 Sixtus IV. issued +another. Pius, however, quarried largely between the Capitol and the +Colosseum. The Forum was treated as an ordinary quarry which was let +out on contract, subject to a rental equivalent to one-third of the +output. But in 1433, and still more during the first visit, there was +comparatively little sculpture which would lead Donatello to classical +ideas. Poggio, writing just before Donatello's second visit, says +he sees almost nothing to remind him of the ancient city.[116] +He speaks of a statue with a complete head as if that were very +remarkable--almost the only statue he mentions at all. Ghiberti +describes two or three antique statues with such enthusiasm that one +concludes he was familiar with very few. In fact, before the great +digging movement which enthralled the Renaissance, antique sculpture +was rare. But little of Poggio's collection came from Rome: Even +Lorenzo de' Medici got most of his from the provinces. A century later +Sabba del Castiglione complains of having to buy a Donatello owing to +the difficulty of getting good antiques.[117] Rome had been devastated +by cupidity and neglect as much as by fire and sword. "Ruinarum urbis +Romæ descriptio" is the title of one of Poggio's books. Alberti says +that in his time he had seen 1200 ruined churches in the city.[118] +Bramantino made drawings of some of them.[119] Pirro Ligorio, an +architect of some note, gives his recipe for making lime from antique +statues--so numerous had they become. But much remained buried before +that time, _sotterrate nelle Rovine d'Italia_,[120] and Vasari +explains that Brunellesco was delighted with a classical urn at +Cortona, about which Donatello had told him, because such a thing was +rare in those times, antique objects not having been dug up in such +quantities as during his own day.[121] But the passion for classical +learning developed quickly, and was followed by the desire for +classical art. Dante had scarcely realised the art of antiquity, +though more was extant in 1300 than in 1400. Petrarch, who was more +sympathetic towards it, could scarcely translate an elementary +inscription. From the growing desire for knowledge came the search for +tangible relics: but love of classical art was founded on sentiment +and tradition. As regards the sculptors themselves, their art was less +influenced by antiquity than were the arts of poetry, oratory and +prose. While Rossellino, Desiderio, Verrocchio and Benedetto da Maiano +maintained their individuality, the indigenous literature of Tuscany +waned. Sculpture retained its freedom longer than the literary arts, +and when the latter recovered their national character sculpture +relapsed in their place into classicism. From early times sculptors +had, of course, learned what they could from classical exemplars. +Niccola Pisano copied at least four classical motives. There was no +plagiarism; it was a warm tribute on his part, and at that time a +notable achievement to have copied at all. But the imitation of +antiquity was carried to absurd lengths. Ghiberti, who was a literary +man, says that Andrea Pisano lived in the 410th Olympiad.[122] But +Ghiberti remained a Renaissance sculptor, and his classical +affectation is less noticeable in his statues than in his prose. +Filippo Strozzi went so far as to emancipate his favourite slave, a +"_grande nero_," in his will.[123] But Gothic art died hard. The +earlier creeds of art lingered on in the byways, and the Renaissance +was flourishing long before Gothic ideas had completely perished--that +is to say, Renaissance in its widest meaning, that of reincarnated +love of art and letters: if interpreted narrowly the word loses its +deep significance, for the Renaissance engendered forms which had +never existed before. But it must be remembered that in sculpture +classical ideas preceded classical forms. Averlino, or Filarete, as a +classical whim led him to be called, began the bronze doors of St. +Peter's just before Donatello's visit. They are replete with classical +ideas, ignoble and fantastic, but the art is still Renaissance. +Comparatively little classical art was then visible, and its +infallibility was not accepted until many years later, when Rome was +being ransacked for her hidden store of antiquities. Statues were +exhumed from every heap of ruins, generally in fragments: not a dozen +free-standing marble statues have come down to us in their pristine +condition. The quarrymen were beset by students and collectors anxious +to obtain inscriptions. Traders in forgeries supplied what the diggers +could not produce. Classical art became a fetish.[124] The noble +qualities of antiquity were blighted by the imitators, whose inventive +powers were atrophied, while their skill and knowledge left nothing to +be desired. Excluding the Cosmati, Rome was the mother of no period or +movement of art excepting the Rococo. As for Donatello himself, he was +but slightly influenced by classical motives. His sojourn in Rome was +short, his time fully occupied; he was forty-seven years old and had +long passed the most impressionable years of his life. He was a noted +connoisseur, and on more than one occasion his opinion on a question +of classical art was eagerly sought. But, so far as his own art was +concerned, classical influences count for little. His architectural +ideas were only classical through a Renaissance medium. When a patron +gave him a commission to copy antique gems, he did his task faithfully +enough, but without zest and with no ultimate progress in a similar +direction. When making a portrait he would decorate the sitter's +helmet or breastplate with the cameo which actually adorned it. With +one exception, classical art must be sought in his detail, and only +in the detail of work upon which the patron's advice could be suitably +offered and accepted. Donatello may be compared with the great +sculptors of antiquity, but not to the extent of calling him their +descendant. Raffaelle Mengs was entitled to regret that the other +Raffaelle did not live in the days of Phidias.[125] Flaxman was +justified in expressing his opinion that some of Donatello's work +could be placed beside the best productions of ancient Greece without +discredit.[126] These _obiter dicta_ do not trespass on the domain of +artistic genealogy. But it is inaccurate to say, for instance, that +the St. George is animated by Greek nobility,[127] since in this +statue that quality (whether derived from Gothic or Renaissance +ideals) cannot possibly have come from a classical source. +Baldinucci is on dangerous ground in speaking of Donatello as +"_emulando mirabilmente la perfezione degli antichissimi scultori +greci_"[128]--the writer's acquaintance with archaic Greek sculpture +may well have been small! We need not quarrel with Gori for calling +Donatello the Florentine Praxiteles; but he is grossly misleading in +his statement that Donatello took the greatest pains to copy the art +of the ancients.[129] Donatello may be the mediæval complement of +Phidias, but he is not his artistic offspring. + +[Footnote 113: It is a bronze slab, admirably wrought and preserved, +in S. Giovanni Laterano. Were it not for an exuberance of decoration, +one might say that Donatello was responsible for it; the main lines +certainly harmonise with his work. Simone Ghini was mistaken by Vasari +for Donatello's somewhat problematical brother Simone.] + +[Footnote 114: See Codex. Just. Leg. 2. Cod. de ædif. privatis. A +similar law at Herculaneum had forbidden people to make more money by +breaking up a house than they paid for the house itself, under penalty +of being fined double the original outlay. This shows the extent of +speculative destruction. Reinesius, "Synt. Inscript. Antiq.," 475, No. +2.] + +[Footnote 115: See his Libellus in "Rer. Gall. Script.," xiv. 313.] + +[Footnote 116: _Nihil fere recognoscat quod priorem urbem +repræsentet_, in "De Varietate fortunæ urbis Romæ." Nov. Thes. Antiq. +Rom., i. 502.] + +[Footnote 117: "Ricordi," 1544. No. 109, p. 51.] + +[Footnote 118: Written about 1450. "De re ædificatoria." Paris ed. +1553, p. 165.] + +[Footnote 119: _Cf._ Plate 49 in "Le Rovine di Roma." "Tempio +circolare." Written beside it is "_Questo sie uno tempio lo quale e +Atiuero_ (i.e., _che è presso al Tevere_) _dove se chauaue li prede +antigha mente_ (i.e., _si cavavano le pietre anticamente_)."] + +[Footnote 120: Vasari, "Proemio," i. 212.] + +[Footnote 121: _Cosa allora rara, non essendosi dissotterata quella +abbondanza che si è fatta ne' tempi nostri_, i. 203.] + +[Footnote 122: "2nd Commentary," in Vasari, I. xxviii.] + +[Footnote 123: Gaye, i. 360.] + +[Footnote 124: _Cf._ the action of the Directory in year vi. of the +French Republic. They ordered the statues looted in Italy to be +paraded in Paris--hoping to find the clue to ancient supremacy. Louis +David pointedly observed, "_La vue ... formera peut-être des savans, +des Winckelmann: mais des artistes, non_."] + +[Footnote 125: "Works," 1796, i. 151.] + +[Footnote 126: "Lectures," 1838, p. 248.] + +[Footnote 127: Semper, p. 93.] + +[Footnote 128: Ed. 1768, p. 74.] + +[Footnote 129: "Donatellus, qui primum omnium vetustis monumentis +mirifice delectatus est, eaque imitari ac probe exprimere in suis +operibus adsidue studuit."--"Dactyliotheca Smithiana," 1768, II. p. +cxxvi.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +TABERNACLE + +ST. PETER'S, ROME] + + +[Illustration: THE CHARGE TO PETER + +LONDON] + + +[Sidenote: Work at Rome.] + +Up till a few years ago the most important work Donatello made in Rome +was unknown. We were aware that he had made a tabernacle, but all +record of it was lost, until Herr Schmarsow identified it in +1886.[130] It was probably made for the Church of Santa Maria della +Febbre,[131] and was transported to St. Peter's when Santa Maria was +converted into a sacristy. The tabernacle is now in the Sacristy of +the Canons, surrounded by sham flowers and tawdry decoration, which +reduce its charms to a minimum. Moreover, the miraculous painting of +the Madonna and Child which fills the centrepiece--having, perhaps, +replaced a metal grille or marble relief, has been so frequently +restored that a discordant element is introduced. The tabernacle is +about six feet high; it is made of rather coarse Travestine marble, +and in several parts shows indications of the hand of an assistant. It +has suffered in removal; there are two places where the work has been +repaired, and the medallion in the lower frieze has been filled with +modern mosaic; otherwise it is in good order. It is essentially an +architectural work, but the number of figures introduced has softened +the hard lines of the construction, giving it plenty of life. Four +little angels, rather stumpy and ill-drawn, are sitting on the +lower plinth. Above them rise the main outer columns which support +the upper portion of the tabernacle, and enclose the central opening, +where the picture is now fixed. At the base of these columns there +are two groups of winged children, three on either side, looking +inwards towards the central feature of the composition. They +bend forward reverently with their hands joined in prayer and +adoration--admirable children, full of shyness and deference. The +upper part of the tabernacle, supported on very plain corbels, is +occupied by a broad relief, at either end of which stand other winged +angels, more boyish and confident than those below. This relief +is, perhaps, Donatello's masterpiece in _stiacciato_. It is the +Entombment, his first presentment of those intensely vivid scenes +which were so often reproduced during his later years. Christ is just +being laid in the tomb by two solemn old men with flowing beards, St. +Joseph and St. Peter. The Virgin kneels as the body is lowered into +the tomb. Behind her is St. Mary Magdalene, her arms extended, her +hair dishevelled; scared by the frenzy of her grief. To the right St. +John turns away with his face buried in his hands. The whole +composition--striking in contrast to the quiet and peaceful figures +below--is treated with caution and reserve. But we detect the germ of +the pulpits of San Lorenzo, where the rough sketch in clay could +transmit all its fire and energy to the finished bronze. In this case +Donatello not only felt the limitations of the marble, but he was not +yet inclined to take the portrayal of tragedy beyond a certain point. +The moderation of this relief entitles it to higher praise than we can +give to some of his later work. The other panel in _stiacciato_ made +about this time belonged to the Salviati family.[132] Technically the +carving is inferior to that in St. Peter's, and it may be that in +certain parts, especially, for instance, round the heads of Christ +and one of the Apostles, the work is unfinished. Christ is seated on +the clouds, treated like those on the Brancacci panel, and hands the +keys to St. Peter. The Apostles stand by, the Virgin kneels in the +foreground, and on the left there are two angels like those on the +tabernacle. Trees are lightly sketched in, and no halos are employed. +The work is disappointing, for it is carved in such extraordinarily +low-relief that parts of it are scarcely recognisable on first +inspection; the marble is also rather defective. As a composition--and +this can best be judged in the photograph--the Charge to Peter is +admirable. The balance is preserved with skill, while the figures are +grouped in a natural and easy fashion. The row of Apostles to the left +shows a rendering of human perspective which Mantegna, who liked to +make his figures contribute to the perspective of the architecture +around them, never surpassed. This panel, in spite of Bocchi's praise, +shares one obvious demerit with the relief in St. Peter's. The Virgin, +who kneels with outstretched hands as she gazes upwards to the Christ, +is almost identical with a figure on the Entombment. She is ugly, with +no redeeming feature. The pose is awkward, the drapery graceless, the +contour thick, and her face, peering out of the thick veil, is +altogether displeasing. One has no right to look for beauty in +Donatello's statues of adults: character is what he gives. But neither +does one expect this kind of vagary. There is great merit in the +plaintive and wistful ugliness of the Zuccone: Here the ugliness is +wanton, and therefore inexcusable. The Crivelli tomb and the Baptist +in San Giovanni Fiorentino have been already described. There were +other products of Donatello's visit to Rome, but they are now lost. +Tradition still maintains that the wooden Baptist in S. Giovanni +Laterano is his work. But it cannot possibly be by him, though it may +be a later copy of a fifteenth-century original. Curiously enough, +there is another Baptist in the same church which is Donatellesque in +character and analogous in some respects to the St. John at Siena, +namely, the large bronze statue signed by Valadier and dated 1772. +Valadier was a professional copyist, some of his work being in the +Louvre. Where he got the design for this Baptist we do not know; but +it is certainly not typical of the late eighteenth century. Titi +mentions a head in Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, and a medallion portrait +of Canon Morosini in Santa Maria Maggiore.[133] Neither of them can be +found. + +[Footnote 130: See Schmarsow, p. 32.] + +[Footnote 131: See "Arch. Storico dell' Arte," 1888, p. 24.] + +[Footnote 132: Victoria and Albert Museum, No. 7629, 1861. Bocchi +says: "_Un quadro di marmo di mano di Donatello di basso relievo: dove +è effigiato quando da le chiavi Cristo a S. Pietro. Estimata molto da +gli artefici questa opera: la quale per invenzione è rara, e per +disegno maravigliosa. Molto è commendata la figura di Cristo, e la +prontezza che si scorge nel S. Pietro. E parimente la Madonna posta in +ginocchione, la quale in atto affetuoso ha sembiante mirabile e +divoto_," p. 372.] + +[Footnote 133: "Ammaestramento Utile," 1686, p. 141. "_Una testa nel +deposito a mano destra della Porta Maggiore, è scoltura di Donatello +Fiorentino._" In Chapel of Paul V., Sta. M. Maggiore: "_In terra in +una lapide vi è di profilo la figura del Canonico Morosini, opera di +Donatello famoso scultore e architetto._" _Ibid._ p. 241.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: The Medici Medallions.] + +The Medici did not remain in exile long, and their return to Florence +marks an epoch in the artistic as well as the political history of +Tuscany. From this moment the sway of the private collector and patron +began. Gradually the great churches and corporations ceased giving +orders on the grand scale, for much of the needful decoration was by +then completed. By the middle of the century patronage was almost +wholly vested in the magnates of commerce and politics: if a chapel +were painted or a memorial statue set up, in most cases the artist +worked for the donor, and not for the church authorities. The +monumental type of sculpture became more rare, _bric à brac_ more +common. Well-known men like Donatello received the old kind of +commission to the end of their lives, while younger men, though fully +occupied, were seldom entrusted with comprehensive orders. Even +Michael Angelo was more dependent on the Pope than upon the Church. +Among the earliest commissions given by the Medici after their return +was an order for marble copies of eight antique gems. These were +placed in the courtyard of their Florentine house, now called the +Palazzo Riccardi. They are colossal in size, and represent much labour +and no profit to art. Nothing is more suitably reproduced on a cameo +than a good piece of sculpture; but the engraved gem is the last +source to which sculpture should turn for inspiration. Donatello had +to enlarge what had already been reduced; it was like copying a +corrupt text. The size of these medallions accentuates faults which +were unnoticed in the dainty gem. The intaglio of Diomede and the +Palladium (now in Naples) is too small to show the fault which is so +glaring in the marble relief, where Diomede is in a position which it +is impossible for a human being to maintain. But the relief is +admirably carved: nothing could be better than the straining sinews of +the thigh; and it is of interest as being the only one which is +related to any other work of the sculptor. The head of one of the +angels in the Brancacci Assumption is taken from this Diomede or from +some other version of it. A similar treatment is found in Madame +André's relief of a young warrior. It has been pointed out that some +of the gems from which these medallions were made did not come into +the Medici Collections until many years later.[134] Cosimo may have +owned casts of the originals, or Donatello may have copied them in +Rome, for they belonged at this time to the Papal glyptothek, from +which they were subsequently bought. The subjects of these roundels +are Ulysses and Athena, a faun carrying Bacchus, two incidents of +Bacchus and Ariadne, a centaur, Dædalus and Icarus, a prisoner before +his victor, and the Diomede. Gems became very popular and expensive: a +school of engravers grew up who copied, invented, and forged. +Carpaccio introduced them into his pictures,[135] and Botticelli used +them so freely that they almost became the ruling element of +decoration in the "Calumny." Gems are incidentally introduced in +Donatello's bust of the so-called Young Gattamelata, and on Goliath's +helmet below the Bronze David. The Medusa head occurs on the base of +the Judith, on the Turin Sword hilt, and on the armour of General +Gattamelata. So much of Donatello's work has perished that it is +almost annoying to see how well these Medici medallions are +preserved--the work in which his individuality was allowed little +play, and in which he can have taken no pride. + +[Footnote 134: Molinier, "Les Plaquettes," 1886, p. xxvi.] + +[Footnote 135: _Cf._ St. Ursula, Accademia, Venice, No. 574.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +THE BRONZE DAVID + +BARGELLO, FLORENCE] + + +[Sidenote: The Bronze David.] + +According to Vasari, the Bronze David was made for Cosimo before the +exile of the Medici, and consequently previous to Donatello's second +journey to Rome. It was removed from the courtyard of the palace to +the Palazzo Pubblico, where it remained for many years. Doni mentions +it as being there in 1549,[136] and soon afterwards it was replaced by +Verrocchio's fountain of the Boy squeezing the Dolphin. It is now in +the Bargello. The base has been lost. Albertini says it was made of +variegated marbles.[137] Vasari says it was a simple column.[138] It +has been suggested that the marble pillar now supporting the Judith +belonged to the David, but the David is even less fitted to this +ill-conceived and pedantic shaft than Judith herself. The David soon +acquired popularity; the French envoy, Pierre de Rohan, wanted a copy +of it. It was certainly a remarkable innovation, being probably the +first free-standing nude statue made in Italy for a thousand years. +There had been countless nude figures in relief, but the David was +intended to be seen from every side of Cosimo's _cortile_. There was +no experimental stage with Donatello; his success was immediate and +indeed conclusive. David is a stripling. He stands over the head of +Goliath, a sword in one hand and a stone in the other, wearing his +helmet, a sort of sun-hat in bronze which is decorated with a chaplet +of leaves; below his feet is a wreath of bay. It is a consistent study +in anatomy. The David is perhaps sixteen years old, agile and supple, +with a hand which is big relative to the forearm, as nature ordains. +The back is bony and rather angular; the torso is brilliantly wrought, +with a purity of outline and a _morbidezza_ which made the artists in +Vasari's time believe the figure had been moulded from life. One might +break the statue into half a dozen pieces, and every fragment would +retain its vitality and significance. The limbs are alert and full of +young strength, with plenty more held in reserve: it is heroic in all +respects except dimension. The face is clear cut, and each feature +is rendered with precision. The expression is one of dreamy +contemplation as he looks downwards on the spoils and proof of +conquest. David hath slain his tens of thousands! Finally the quality +of the statue is enhanced by the care with which the bronze has been +chiselled. Goliath's helmet, and David's greaves, on which the _fleur +de lys florencée_ has been damascened, are decorated with unfailing +tact. The embellishment is in itself a pleasure to the eye, but it is +prudently contained within its legitimate sphere; for Donatello would +not allow the accessory to invade the statue itself, which is the +chief fault of the rival David by Verrocchio. Donatello's statue marks +an epoch in the study of anatomy. It is a genuine interpretation of a +very perfect piece of humanity; but his knowledge compared with that +of his successors was empiric. Leonardo's subtle skill was based upon +dissection. Michael Angelo likewise studied from the human corpse, +distasteful as he found the process. Donatello had no such scientific +training: he had no help from the surgeon or the hospital, hence +mistakes; his doubt, for instance, about the connection between ribs +and pectoral bones was never resolved. But, notwithstanding this lack +of technical data, the Bronze David has a distinction which is absent +in statues made by far more learned men. Donatello's intuition +supplied what one would not willingly exchange for the most exact +science of the specialist. The David was an innovation, but the phrase +must be guarded. It was only an innovation so far as it was a +free-standing study from the nude. Nothing is more misleading than the +commonplace that Christianity was opposed to the representation of the +nude in its proper place. The early Church, no doubt, underwent a +prolonged reaction against all that it might be assumed to connote; +one might collect many quotations from patristic literature to this +effect. But the very articles of the Christian Creed militated against +the ultimate scorn of the human body: the doctrine of the Resurrection +alone was enough to give it more sanctity than could be derived from +all the polytheism of antiquity. The Baptism of Christ, the descent +into Limbo, and the Crucifixion itself, were scenes from which the use +of drapery had to be less or more discarded. The porches and frontals +of Gothic churches abounded in nude statuary, from scenes in the +Garden of Eden down to the Last Judgment. Abuses crept in, of course, +and the Faith protested against them. The advancing standard of +comfort and, no doubt, a steadily deteriorating climate, diminished +the everyday familiarity with undraped limbs. Clothes became numerous +and more normal; the artist came to be regarded as the purveyor of +what had ceased to be of natural occurrence. He was encouraged by the +connoisseur, lay and cleric, who found his literature in antiquity, +and then demanded classical forms in his art. The nude was arbitrarily +employed: there was no biblical authority for a naked David, and +Donatello was therefore among the first to err in this respect. The +taste for this kind of thing sprang from humanism, and throve with +hellenism, till a counter-reaction came suddenly in the sixteenth +century. Michael Angelo was hotly attacked for his excessive study +from the nude as prejudicial to morals.[139] Ammanati wrote an abject +apology to the Accademia del Disegno for the very frank nudity of his +statues.[140] Some of the work of Bandinelli and Bronzino had to be +removed. What was a rational and healthy protest has survived in +grotesque and ill-fitting drapery made of tin--very negation of +propriety. Although needed for biblical imagery, the nude in Italy was +always exotic; in Greece it was indigenous. From the time of Homer +there had been a worship of physical perfection. The Palæstra, the +cultivation of athletics in a nation of soldiers, the religions of the +country, with its favourable atmosphere, climate, and stone, all +combined to make the nude a normal aspect of human life. But it was +not the sole inspiration of their art: in Sparta, where there was most +nude there was least art; in Italy, when there was worst art there was +most nude. + +[Footnote 136: "_... una colonna nel mezzo dove è un Davitte di +Donatello dignissimo._" Letter to Alberto Lollio, 17. viii. 1549, +Bottari, iii. 341.] + +[Footnote 137: _Giù abasso è Davit di bronzo sopra la colonna fine di +marmo variegato._ "Memoriale."] + +[Footnote 138: "Life of Bandinelli," x. 301.] + +[Footnote 139: "Due dialogi di Giovanni Andrea Gilio da Fabriano," +1564; a tiresome and discursive tirade.] + +[Footnote 140: 22. viii. 1582. Reprinted in Bottari, ii. 529.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +CANTORIA + +IN OPERA DEL DUOMO, FLORENCE] + + +[Sidenote: Donatello and Childhood.] + +Michael Angelo strove to attain the universal form. His world was +peopled with Titans, and he realised his ambition of portraying +generic humanity: not, indeed, by making conventional, but by +eliminating everything that was not typical. The earliest plastic art +took clay and moulded the human form; the next achievement was to make +specific man--the portrait; lastly, to achieve what was universal--the +type. The progress was from man, to man in particular, and ultimately +to man in general. There was a final stage when the typical lost its +type without reverting to the specific, to the portrait. The +successors of Michael Angelo were among the most skilful craftsmen who +ever existed; but their knowledge only bore the fruit of unreality. +Donatello did not achieve the typical except in his children: it was +only in children that Michael Angelo failed. He missed this supreme +opportunity; those on the roof of the Sistine Chapel are solemn and +grown old with care: children without childhood. With Donatello all is +different. His greatness and title to fame largely rest upon his +typical childhood: his sculpture bears eloquent witness to the closest +observation of all its varying and changeful moods. Others have +excelled in this or that interpretation of child-life: Greuze with his +sentimentalism, the Dutch painters with their stolidity. In Velasquez +every child is the scion of some Royal House, in Murillo they are all +beggars. They are too often stupid in Michelozzo: in Andrea della +Robbia they are always sweet and winsome; Pigalle's children know too +much. Donatello alone grasped the whole psychology. He watched the +coming generation, and foresaw all that it might portend: tragedy and +comedy, labour and sorrow, work and play--plenty of play; and every +problem of life is reflected and made younger by his chisel. How far +the sculptors of the fifteenth century employed classical ideas is not +easily determined. There was, however, one classical form which was +widely used, namely, the flying _putti_ holding a wreath or +coat-of-arms between them: we find it on the frieze of the St. Louis +niche, and it is repeated on Judith's dress. The wreath or garland, of +which the Greeks were so fond, became a favourite motive for the +Renaissance mantelpiece. The classical _amoretti_, of which many +versions in bronze existed, were also frequently copied. But there was +one radical difference between the children of antiquity and those of +the Renaissance. Though children were introduced on to classical +sarcophagi and so forth, it is impossible to say that it was for the +sake of their youth. There are genii in plenty; and in the imps which +swarm over the emblematic figure of the Nile in the Vatican the +sculptor shows no love or respect for childhood. There is no child on +the Parthenon frieze, excepting a Cupid, who has really no claim to be +reckoned as such. Donatello could not have made a relief 150 yards +long without introducing children, whether their presence were +justified or not. He would probably have overcrowded the composition +with their young forms. Whether right or wrong, he uses them +arbitrarily, as simple specimens of pure joyous childhood. Antique +sculpture, too, had its arbitrary and conventional adjuncts--the Satyr +and the Bacchic attendants; but how dreary that the vacant spaces in a +relief should have to rely upon what is half-human or offensive--the +avowedly inhuman gargoyles of the thirteenth century are infinitely to +be preferred. Donatello was possessed by the sheer love of childhood: +with him they are boys, _fanciulli ignudi_,[141] very human boys, +which, though winged and stationed on a font, were boys first and +angels afterwards. And he overcame the immense technical difficulties +which childhood presents. The model is restive and the form is +immature, the softness of nature has to be rendered in the hardest +material. The lines are inconsequent, and the limbs do not yet show +the muscles on which plastic art can usually depend. Nothing requires +more deftness than to give elasticity to a form which has no external +sign of vigour. So many sculptors failed to master this initial +difficulty--Verrocchio, for instance. He made the bronze fountain in +the Palazzo Pubblico, and an equally fine statue of similar dimensions +now belonging to M. Gustave Dreyfus. Both have vivacity and movement, +but both have also a fat stubby appearance; the flesh has the +consistency of pudding, and though soft and velvety in surface is +without the inner meaning of the children on the Cantoria. In this +work, where Donatello has carved some three dozen children, we have a +series of instantaneous photographs. Nobody else had enough knowledge +or courage to make rigid bars of children's legs: here they swing on +pivots from the hip-joint. It is the true picture of life, rendered +with superlative skill and _bravura_. But Donatello's children serve a +purpose, if only that of decoration. At Padua they form a little +orchestra to accompany the duets. The singing angels there are among +the most charming of the company; and whether intentionally or not, +they give the impression of having forgotten the time, or of being a +little puzzled by the music-book! But Donatello fails to express the +exquisite modulation by which Luca della Robbia almost gives actual +sound to his Cantoria: where one sees the swelling throat, the +inflated lungs, the effort of the higher notes, and the voice falling +to reach those which are deep. Luca's children, it is true, are bigger +and older; but in this respect he was unsurpassed, even by painters +whose medium should have placed them beyond rivalry in such a respect. +The choir of Piero della Francesca's Nativity is so well contrived +that one can distinguish the alto from the tenor; but Luca was able to +do even more. He gives cadence, rhythm and expression where others did +no more than represent the voice. Donatello's dancing children are +more important than his musicians. He was able to give free vein to +his fancy. We have flights of uncontrollable children, romping and +rioting, dashing to and fro, playing and laughing as they pass about +garlands among them. And their self-reliance is worth noticing; +they are absorbed in their dance--children dance rather heavily--and +only a few of them look outwards. There is no self-consciousness, no +appeal to the spectator: they are immensely busy, and enjoy life to +the full. Then we have a more demure type of childhood: they are +shield-bearers on the Gattamelata monument, or occupy an analogous +position on the lower part of the Cantoria. Others hold the cartel or +epitaph as on the Coscia tomb. And again Donatello introduces children +as pure decoration. The triangular base of the Judith, for instance, +and the bronze capital which supports the Prato pulpit, have childhood +for their sole motive. He smuggles children on to the croziers of St. +Louis and Bishop Pecci: they are the supporters of Gattamelata's +saddle: they decorate the vestments of San Daniele. They share the +tragedy of the Pietà, and we have them in his reliefs. The entire +frieze of the pulpits of San Lorenzo is simply one long row of +children--some two hundred in all. + +[Footnote 141: Contract with Domopera of Siena. Payment for wax, for +making the bronze figures for the Baptistery. 16, iv. 1428. Lusini, +38.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +CANTORIA (DETAIL) + +FLORENCE] + + +[Sidenote: The Cantoria.] + +The Cantoria, or organ-loft, of the Florentine Cathedral was ordered +soon after Donatello's return from Rome, and was erected about 1441. +It was placed over one of the Sacristy doors, corresponding in +position with Luca della Robbia's cantoria on the opposite side of the +choir. The ill-fortune which dispersed the Paduan altar and +Donatello's work for the façade likewise caused the removal of this +gallery. Late in the seventeenth century a royal marriage was +solemnised, for which an orchestra of unusual numbers was required, +and the two _cantorie_ were removed as inadequate. The large brackets +remained _in situ_ for some time, but were afterwards taken away also. +The two galleries have now been re-erected at either end of the chief +room of the Opera del Duomo. But the size of the galleries is +considerable, and they occupy so much of the end walls to which they +are fixed, that it is impossible to see the sides or outer panels of +either cantoria. In the case of Luca's gallery, the side panels have +been replaced by facsimiles, and the originals can be minutely +examined, being only four or five feet from the ground, and very +suggestive they are. As the side panels of Donatello's gallery are +equally invisible in their present position they might also be brought +down to the eye level. Comparison with Luca's work would then be still +more simplified. But though in a trying light, and too low down, the +sculpture shows that it was Donatello who gave the more careful +attention to the conditions under which the work would be seen. The +delicacy and grace of Luca's choir make Donatello's boys look coarse +and rough-hewn. But in the dim Cathedral, where Donatello's children +would appear bold and vivacious, the others would look insipid and +weak. Moreover, the lower tier of Luca's panels beneath the projection +and enclosed by the broad brackets, would have been in such a subdued +light that some of the heads in low-relief would have been scarcely +emphasised at all. In reconstructing Donatello's gallery an error has +been made by which a long band of mosaic runs along the whole length +of the relief, above the children's heads. M. Reymond has pointed out +that the ground level should have been raised in order to prevent what +Donatello would undoubtedly have avoided, namely, a blank and +meaningless stretch of mosaic.[142] M. Reymond's brilliant +suggestion about a similar point in regard to the other cantoria, a +criticism which has been verified in a remarkable manner, entitles his +suggestion to great weight. The angles of the cantoria where the side +panels join the main relief lack finish: something like the pilasters +which cover the angles of the Judith base are required. As for the +design, the gallery made by Luca della Robbia has an advantage over +Donatello's in that the figures are not placed behind a row of +columns. There is something tantalising in the fact that the most +boisterous and roguish of all the troop is concealed by a pillar of +spangled white and gold. These pillars were perhaps needed to break +the long line of the relief: but they have no such significance, as, +for instance, the row of pillars on the Saltarello tomb,[143] behind +which the Bishop's effigy lies--a barrier between the living and the +dead, across which the attendant angels can drop the curtain. +Donatello's gallery is, perhaps, over-decorated. There is less gilding +now than formerly, and the complex ornament does not materially +interfere with the broad features of the design: but a little more +reserve would not have been amiss. + +[Footnote 142: Reymond, I., p. 107.] + +[Footnote 143: By Nino Pisano, in Sta. Caterina, Pisa.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +THE PRATO PULPIT] + + +[Sidenote: The Prato Pulpit.] + +The second work in which Donatello took his inspiration exclusively +from childhood is at Prato. It is an external pulpit, fixed at the +southern angle of the Cathedral façade, and employed to display the +most famous relic possessed by the town, namely, the girdle of the +Virgin. The first contract was made as early as 1428 with Donatello +and Michelozzo, _industriosi maestri_, to whom careful measurements +were given.[144] The sculptors promised to finish the work by +September 1, 1429. Five years later, there was still no pulpit, and +having vainly invoked the aid of Cosimo, they finally sent to Rome, +where Donatello had by then gone, and a revised contract was made with +the industrious sculptors, though Michelozzo is not mentioned by +name.[145] The work was finished in about four years, and within three +weeks of signing the new contract one of the reliefs was completed; it +may, of course, have been already begun. Its success was immediate. +"All say with one accord that never has such a work of art been seen +before;" and the writer of the entertaining letter from which this +eulogy is quoted goes on to say that Donatello is of good disposition; +that such men are not found every day, and that he had better be +encouraged by a little money.[146] The Prato pulpit has seven marble +reliefs on mosaic grounds, separated by twin pilasters: there are +thirty-two children in all.[147] It is a most attractive work, +cleverly placed against the decorous little Cathedral and not +surrounded by sculpture of the first order with which to make +invidious comparisons. But beside the cantoria it is almost +insignificant. The Prato children dance too, but without the perennial +spring; they have plenty of movement, but seem apt to stumble. They do +not scamper along with the feverish enthusiasm of the other children: +they must get very tired. Moreover, several of the panels are +confused. They are, of course, crowded, for Donatello liked crowds, +especially for his children; but his crowds were well marshalled and +the individual figures which composed them were not allowed to +suffer by their surroundings anatomically. The Prato children belong +to a chubby and robust type. They have a tendency to short necks and +unduly big heads which sink on to the torso. Michelozzo never grasped +the spirit of childhood; those at Montepulciano were not a success, +and he was largely responsible for the Prato Pulpit; it has been +suggested that Simone Ferrucci also assisted. Certainly it would be +Michelozzo's idea to divide the frieze into compartments, which +interrupt the continuity of the relief and necessitate fourteen +terminal points instead of four on the cantoria. We can also detect +Michelozzo's hand in the rather stiff and professional details of the +architecture. But he seems to have also executed some of the reliefs, +even if the general idea from which he worked should have been +Donatello's. Thus the panel most remote from the cathedral façade is +involved in design and faulty in execution; and the children's +expression is aimless and dull. But it must not be inferred that the +Prato Pulpit is in any sense a failure, or even displeasing. Its +popularity is thoroughly well deserved. The test of comparison with +the cantoria is most searching, too severe indeed, for such a high +standard could not be maintained. But if the _capo d'opera_ of +sculptured child-life be excluded, the Prato Pulpit will always retain +a well-deserved popularity. Two further points should be noted. Below +the pulpit is a bronze relief, shaped like the capital of a large +column. There should be two of them, and it used to be believed that +the second was destroyed in 1512 when the Spanish troops sacked the +town. But the story is apocryphal, for the documents show that payment +was only made for one relief, and that Michelozzo was entirely +responsible for the casting. It is a most decorative panel, the +motive being ribands and wreaths, among which there are eleven winged +_putti_ of different sizes. At the top of the capital is a big baby in +high-relief peeping over the edge; an exquisite fancy reminding us of +the two inquisitive children clambering over the heraldic shields on +the Pecci monument. On the base of the capital are two other _putti_ +of equal charm, winged like the rest, and sedately looking outwards in +either direction. The volutes of the bronze are decorated with other +figures, less boyish and almost suggesting the touch of Ghiberti, who, +it may be remarked, was appointed assessor of the contract by the +Wardens of the Girdle. Finally, one may inquire what Donatello's +motive can have been in designing the frieze: what may be the relation +of the sculpture to the precious Girdle. No conclusive answer can be +given. In the organ-loft of Luca della Robbia the object was to show +praise of the Lord "with all kinds of instruments"[148]: Donatello's +was to "let them praise his name in the dance."[149] At Prato we have +dance and music for no apparent reason, except perhaps as a display of +joyfulness appropriate to the great festival of exhibiting the +_Cingolo_. It is possible that the curious little reliquary in which +the Girdle is actually preserved may supply the clue to some legend or +tradition connected with the relic. This _cofanetto_ was remodelled +about this time, and the primitive motive and design may have been +impaired. But we have a series of winged _putti_ made of ivory, who +dance and play about much as those on the pulpit, but amongst whom one +can see scraps of rope, signifying the Girdle, from which they derive +their incentive to joy and vivacity. + +[Footnote 144: 14, vii. 1428.] + +[Footnote 145: 27, v. 1434.] + +[Footnote 146: Letter from Matteo degli Orghani, printed with the +other documents in C. Guasti, opere, iv. 463-477.] + +[Footnote 147: A pair of terra-cotta variants of these panels are +preserved in the Wallace Collection at Hertford House.] + +[Footnote 148: Psalm cl.] + +[Footnote 149: Psalm cxlix.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +BRONZE AMORINO + +BARGELLO] + + +[Sidenote: Other Children by Donatello.] + +There are six _putti_ above the Annunciation in Santa Croce. They are +made of terra-cotta, while the rest of the work is in stone, and +designed in such a way that the children are superfluous. They are, +however, undoubtedly by Donatello, and may have been added as an +afterthought. Two stand on either side of the curved tympanum, +clinging to each other as they look downwards, and afraid of falling +over the steep precipice. Their attitude is shy and timid, as Leonardo +said was advisable when making little children standing still.[150] +Though unnecessary, their presence on the relief is justified by +Donatello's skill and humour. In the great reliefs at Padua, Siena and +Lille he introduces them without any specific object, though he +contrives that they shall show fear or surprise in response to the +incident portrayed. It is puzzling to know what the bronze boy in the +Bargello should be called. Perseus, Mercury, Cupid, Allegory and +Amorino have been suggested: he combines attributes of them all +together with the budding tail of a faun, and the _gambali_, the +buskin-trouser of the Tuscan peasant[151]--"_vestito in un certo modo +bizzarro_" as Vasari says. Cinelli thought it classical, and it +resembles an undoubted antique in the Louvre. Donatello has clearly +taken classical motives; the winged feet and the serpents twining +between them are not Renaissance in form or idea. But the statue +itself is closely akin to the Cantoria children, but being in bronze +shows a higher polish, and, moreover, is treated in a less summary +fashion. It is a brilliant piece of bronze: colour, cast and +chiselling are alike admirable, and there is a vibration in the +movement as the saucy little fellow looks up laughing, having +presumably just shot off an arrow; or possibly he has been twanging a +wire drawn tightly between the fingers. It throws much light on the +bronze boys at Padua made ten or fifteen years later. This Florentine +boy shows how completely Donatello, perhaps with the assistance of a +caster, could render his meaning in bronze. In two or three cases at +Padua the work is clumsy and slipshod, showing how he allowed his +assistants to take liberties which he would never have countenanced in +work finished by his own hands. The Bargello has another Amorino of +bronze, a nude winged boy standing on a cockleshell, and just about to +fly away; quite a pleasing statuette, and executed with skill except +as regards the extremities of the fingers, where the bronze has +failed. It resembles Donatello's _putti_ who play and dance on the +corners of the tabernacle of Quercia's font at Siena; but the base of +this figure differs from that of the other four. A fifth of the +Sienese _putti_ was recently bought in London for the Berlin Gallery, +an invaluable acquisition to that growing collection.[152] This group, +however, is less important than the wonderful pair of bronze _putti_ +belonging to Madame André.[153] These are much larger: they carry +candle-sockets and are lightly draped with a few ribands and garlands: +judging from the way they are huddled up, it is possible that they +formed part of a larger work. They appear to be a good deal later than +the Cantoria, though they do not show any technical superiority to +the large Bargello Amorino; but they have not quite got that freshness +which cannot be dissociated from work made between 1433 and 1440. +Madame André has another superb Donatello--a marble boy: his attitude +is unbecoming, but the modelling of this admirable statue--the urchin +is nearly life-sized--is almost unequalled. There is a similar figure +in the Louvre made by some imitator. It need hardly be said that +Donatello's children, especially the free-standing bronze statuettes, +were widely copied. According to Vasari, Donatello designed the wooden +_putti_ carrying garlands in the new Sacristy of the Duomo. There are +fourteen of these boys, and they overstep the cornice like +Michelozzo's angels in the Capella Portinari at Milan. Donatello may +have given the sketch for one or two, but there is a lack of +intelligence about them, besides a certain monotony. Moreover, it is +improbable that Donatello would have designed garlands so bulky that +they threaten to push the little boys who carry them off the cornice. +In spite of its faults, this frieze is charming. The _naïveté_ of the +quattrocento often invests its errors with attraction. It would be +wearisome to catalogue the scores of bronze children which show +undoubted imitation of Donatello. They exist in every great +collection, one of exceptional merit being in London.[154] A large +school sprang into existence, chiefly in Padua and Venice, whence it +spread all over Northern Italy, and produced any number of bronze +works which recall one or other feature of Donatello's children. But +they never approached Donatello. Their work was a sort of +_minuteria_--table ornaments, plaquettes, inkstands, and the ordinary +decoration of a sitting-room. Monumental childhood almost ceased to +exist in Italian plastic art, and, after Michael Angelo, degenerated +into stout and prosperous children lolling in clouds and diving among +the draperies which adorned the later altars and tombs. Their didactic +value was soon lost to Italian sculpture, and with it went their +inherent grace and significance. Donatello was among the first as he +was among the last seriously to apply to sculpture the words _ex ore +infantium perfecisti laudem_. + +[Footnote 150: "Trattato della Pintura," Richter, i. 291.] + +[Footnote 151: This open form of trouser, of which one sees a variant +on the Martelli David, was also classical. The Athis or Phrygian +shepherd usually wears something of the kind.] + +[Footnote 152: Very similar classical types are in the British Museum, +No. 1147; and the Eros springing forward in the Forman Collection +(dispersed in 1899) is almost identical.] + +[Footnote 153: From the Piot Collection. Figured in "Gaz. des Beaux +Arts," 1890, iii. 410.] + +[Footnote 154: Victoria and Albert Museum, No. 475, 1864. A winged boy +carrying a dolphin.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +SAN GIOVANNINO + +FAENZA MUSEUM] + + +[Sidenote: Boys' Busts.] + +It is inexplicable that modern criticism should withdraw from +Donatello all the free-standing or portrait-busts of boys, while going +to the opposite extreme in ascribing to him an enormous number of +Madonnas. We know that Donatello was passionately fond of carving +children on his reliefs: we also know that only two versions of the +Madonna can be really authenticated as his work. Why should Donatello +have made no busts of boys when it is not denied that he was +responsible for something like one hundred boys in full-length; and +how does it come about that scores of Madonnas should be attributed to +him when we only have the record of a few? There can be no doubt that +Donatello would not have rested content with children in relief or in +miniature. The very preparation of his numerous works in this category +must have led him to make busts as well, quite apart from his own +inclinations. The stylistic method of argument should not be abused: +if driven to a strict and logical conclusion it becomes misleading. It +ignores the human element in the artist. It pays no attention to his +desire to vary the nature of his work or to make experiments. It +eliminates the likelihood of forms which differ from the customary +type, and it makes no allowance for possibilities or probabilities, +least of all for mistakes. It is purely on stylistic grounds that each +bust connected with Donatello's name has been withdrawn from the list +of his works. A fashion had grown up to ascribe to Donatello all that +delightful group of marble busts now scattered over Europe. Numbers +were obviously the work of competent but later men: Rossellino, +Desiderio, Mino da Fiesole, and so forth. There remain others which +are more doubtful, but which in one detail or another are alleged to +be un-Donatellesque, and have therefore been fearlessly attributed to +other sculptors from whose authenticated work they often dissent. +That, however, was immaterial, the primary object being to disinherit +Donatello without much thought as to his lawful successor in title. A +critical discrimination between these busts was an admitted need; +everything of the kind had been conventionally ascribed to Donatello +just as Luca della Robbia was held responsible for every bit of glazed +terra-cotta. These ascriptions to the most fashionable and lucrative +names had become conventional, and had to be destroyed. Invaluable +service has been rendered by reducing the number given to Donatello +and adding to the number properly ascribed to others. But the process +has gone too far. The difficulties are, of course, great, and +stylistic data offer the only starting-point; but as these data are +readily found by comparison with Donatello's accepted work, it ought +to be possible, on the fair and natural assumption that Donatello may +well have made such busts, to determine the authenticity of a certain +proportion. In any case, it would be less difficult to prove that +Donatello did, than that he did not make statues of this description. +Among the busts of very young boys which cannot be assigned to +Donatello are those belonging to Herr Benda in Vienna, and to M.G. +Dreyfus in Paris. Nothing can exceed their softness and delicacy of +modelling, and they are among the most winning statuettes in the +world. They were frequently copied by Desiderio and his _entourage_. +One of the little heads in the Vanchettoni Chapel at Florence is +likewise animated by a similar exemplar. There is something girlish +about them, a pursuit of prettiness which is no doubt the source of +their singular attraction, and which invests them with an irresistible +charm. The San Giovannino, also in the Vanchettoni, is a more concrete +version of childhood, but is by the same hand as its fellow. These +four busts fail to characterise the child's head; not indeed that +characterisation was needed to make an enchanting work, but that +Donatello's children elsewhere show more of the individual touches of +the master and personal notes of the child. The Duke of Westminster +possesses a life-sized head of a boy,[155] which is palpably by +Donatello, though no document exists to prove it. We have all the +essentials of Donatello's modelling; the handling is uncompromising +and firm; the child is treated more like a portrait. Indeed, many of +these children's busts, even when symbolised by St. John's rough +tunic, were avowed portraits--the Martelli San Giovannino, for +instance, which from Vasari's time has been ascribed, and probably +with justice, to Donatello. This little head enjoys a reputation which +it scarcely deserves. The expression is dull, the hair grows so low +that scarcely any forehead is visible; the cheeks bulge out, and +the mouth is too small. We have, in fact, a lifelike presentment of +some boy, perhaps of the Martelli family, showing him at his least +prepossessing moment, when the bloom of childhood has passed away, and +before the lines have been fined down and merged into the stronger +contours of youth. Desiderio would have improved Nature by modifying +the boy's features, and we should have had a work comparable to those +previously mentioned. But Donatello (and perhaps his patrons) +preferred a less idealised version. The Martelli figure, and a most +important boy's bust belonging to Frau Hainauer in Berlin, are now +usually ascribed to Rossellino. But his St. John in the Bargello, +where all the features are softened down, and his authenticated work +in San Miniato and elsewhere, make the attribution open to question. +The St. John at Faenza is also denied to be by Donatello; one of the +critics who is quite certain on the point believes the bust to be made +of wood! These problems cannot be settled by spending ten _lire_ on +photographs. The bust at Faenza,[156] though a faithful portrait, is +one of the most romantic specimens of childhood depicted by Donatello. +Admirably modelled, and with a surface like ivory, it gives the +intimate characteristics of the model. Nothing has been embellished or +suppressed, if we may judge from the absolute sequence and +correspondence of all the features. The flat head, the projecting +mouth, and the much-curved nose, are sure signs of accurate and +painstaking observation; they combine to give it a personal note which +adds much to its abstract merits. The St. John in the Louvre[157] is +also a portrait, but of an older boy, in whom the first signs of +maturity are faintly indicated: lines on the forehead, a stronger +neck, and a harder accentuation of nose and mouth. But he is still a +boy, though he will soon go forth into the wilderness. By the side of +the Faenza Giovannino he would appear rough; beside the Vienna and +Dreyfus statuettes he would be harsh and unsympathetic. He has no +smiling countenance, no fascinating twinkle of the eye: the type has +not been generalised as in Desiderio's work, and it therefore lacks +those qualities, the very absence of which makes it most +Donatellesque. The fundamental distinction between Donatello and the +later masters can be emphasised by comparing this bust with another +group of terra-cotta heads, which are analogous, although the boy in +them is older. One in the Berlin Gallery[158] has been painted, and no +final judgment can be passed until the more recent accretions of +oil-colour have been removed. But the whole conception is weakly and +vapid. The brown eyes, the nicely rouged cheeks, the mincing look, and +the affectation of the pose make a genteel page-boy of him, and all +suggest a later imitation--about 1470 perhaps--and contemporary with +the somewhat analogous though better rendering in the Louvre.[159] The +version belonging to M. Dreyfus differs in certain details from the +Berlin bust, and it has been fortunate in escaping careless painting; +it has more vigour and virility. One remark may be made about the +Faenza, Grosvenor House, Martelli, Hainauer and Louvre busts: they all +show a peculiarity in the treatment of the hair. It is bunched +together and drawn back from behind the ears, and is gathered on the +nape of the neck, down which it seems to curl. This is precisely the +treatment observed in the Mandorla relief, the Martelli David, the +young Gattamelata, and the Amorino in the Bargello: in a lesser degree +it is observable in the Isaac and the Siena Virtues. The point is not +one upon which stress could properly be laid, but it is a further +point of contact between Donatello's accepted work and some few out of +the numerous boys' busts which he must inevitably have made. + +[Footnote 155: In Grosvenor House. Bronze; generally known as "The +Laughing Boy."] + +[Footnote 156: Its proportion is impaired by the basal drapery, which +was grafted to the statue at a later date. This bust belonged to Sabba +da Castiglione, who was very proud of it. He was born within twenty +years of Donatello's death.] + +[Footnote 157: No. 383. Marble. Goupil Bequest.] + +[Footnote 158: Stucco, No. 38A. _Cf._ also one belonging to +Herr Richard von Kaufmann, Berlin.] + +[Footnote 159: No. 1274, St. John, Florentine School, a painting.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +NICCOLÒ DA UZZANO + +BARGELLO, FLORENCE] + + +[Sidenote: Niccolò da Uzzano and Polychromacy.] + +The bust of Niccolò da Uzzano has gained its widespread popularity +from its least genuine feature--namely, the paint with which it is +disfigured. The daubs of colour give it a fictitious importance, an +actual realism which invests it with the illusion of living flesh and +blood. This is all the more unfortunate, as the bust is a remarkable +work, and does not gain by being made into a "speaking likeness." Its +merits can best be appreciated in a cast, where the form is reproduced +without the dubious embellishments of later times. Niccolò was a +high-minded patrician, an implacable opponent of the Medici, and a +warm friend of higher education: it is also of interest that he should +have been an executor of the will of John XXIII. He was born in 1359, +and died in 1432. The bust is made of terra-cotta, and shows a man of +sixty-five or so, and would therefore be coeval with the later +Campanile prophets (but nothing beyond old tradition can be accepted +as authority for the nomenclature). The modelling of the head is quite +masterly. Niccolò is looking rather to the left; his keen and +hawklike countenance, and his piercing eyes, deep set and quivering +within pendulous eyelids, give a sense of invincible logic and +penetration. The laconic, matter-of-fact mouth, and the resolute jaw +add strength and courage to the physiognomy: the nose and its +disdainful nostrils are those of the haughty optimate. The head is, +however, less fine than the face: a skull of rather common +proportions, and a sloping though broad forehead are its marked +features. Donatello has given him an ugly ear; Niccolò's ear was, +therefore, ugly, and the throat is swollen. The shoulders are covered +with a thick piece of drapery, leaving the throat and upper part of +the breast bare. Such is the impression conveyed by Niccolò in the +cast. In the Bargello the colouring modifies what the form itself was +meant to suggest. The smallest error of a paint-brush, the slightest +deepening of a pigment, are quite sufficient to make radical +alterations in the sentiment of a statue. When applied to plastic art, +colour is potent enough to change the essential purpose of the +sculptor. The chief reason why the terra-cotta bust of St. John at +Berlin looks flippant and fastidious is, that the painter was +indiscreet in drawing the eyebrows and lips: owing to his +carelessness, they do not coincide with the features indicated by the +modeller, and the entire character of the boy is consequently changed. +The question of polychromacy in Donatello's sculpture is of great +importance, and requires some notice. It is no longer denied that +classical statues were frequently coloured. The Parthenon frieze and +many celebrated monuments of antiquity were picked out with colour. +Others received some kind of polish, _circumlitio_,--like the dark +varnish which is on the face of the Coscia effigy. Again, the use +of ivory, precious stones, and metal was common. The lips and eyeballs +were frequently overlaid by thin slabs of silver.[160] The origin of +polychromacy, doubtless, dates back to the most remote ages. It was +first needed to conceal imperfections, and to supply what the carver +felt his inability to render. It connotes insufficiency in the form. +The sculptor, of all people, ought to be able to see colour in the +uncoloured stone: he ought to realise its warmth, texture and shades. +Nobody has any right to complain that a statue is uncoloured: the +substance and quality of the marble is in itself pleasing, but +relative truth is all that is required in a portrait-bust. If one +wants to know the colour of a man's eye, or the precise tint of his +complexion, the painter's art should be invoked, but only where its +gradations and subtleties can be fully rendered--on the canvas. +Polychromacy is a mixture of two arts: it is one art trying to steal a +march upon another art by producing illusion. That is why the +pantaloon paints his face, and why the audience laughs: the spirit +which tolerates painted statues ends by adorning them with necklaces. +Donatello, whose sense of light and shade was acutely developed, least +required the adventitious aid of colour. Polychromacy was to a certain +extent justified on terra-cotta, to soften the toneless colour of the +clay, and on wood it served a purpose in hiding the cracks of a +brittle substance. Nowadays it is happily no more than a _refugium +peccatorum_. There is, however, no doubt that in Donatello's day it +was widely used, and used by Donatello himself. It began in actual +need, then became a convention, and long survived: _il n'y a rien de +plus respectable qu'un ancien abus_. During the fifteenth century +statues were coloured during the highest proficiency of sculpture: +buildings were painted,[161] and bronze was habitually gilded. +Donatello's Coscia, and his work at Siena and Padua, still show signs +of it. The St. Mark was coloured, and the Cantoria was much more +brilliant with gold than it is now. The St. Luke, which was removed +from Or San Michele,[162] has long been protected from the weather, +and still shows traces of a rich brocade decorated with coloured +lines. The Christ of Piero Tedesco on the façade of the Cathedral had +glass eyes. Roland and Oliver, two wonderful creations on the façade +of the Cathedral at Verona, had blue enamel eyes. The Apostles in the +Church of San Zeno, in the same city, are exceptionally interesting, +being one of the rare cases where the genuine colouring is visible, +although it has been much worn. The early colourists used +tempera;[163] as this perished, oil paint was substituted, and there +are very few painted statues extant on which restoration has never +taken place, and consequently where the original colour of the +sculptor is intact. With repainting, the original artist disappears: +even if the work is cast, the delicate tints of the first colouring +must be impaired, and repainting follows. Thus the Niccolò da Uzzano +is covered with inferior oil colour, and only in a few details can the +primitive tempera be detected. The later addition creates the +fictitious interest, and immensely reduces the real importance of this +masterly production. + +[Footnote 160: _Cf._ Naples Museum, No. 5592.] + +[Footnote 161: _Cf._ drawings of façades in Vettorio Ghiberti's +Note-book.] + +[Footnote 162: Bargello Cortile, No. 3, by Niccolo di Piero.] + +[Footnote 163: Borghini, in 1586, gave a curious recipe for colouring +marble according to antique rules. Florentine ed. 1730, p. 123.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Portrait-busts.] + +It is a singular fact admitting of no ready explanation that +portrait-busts, so common in Tuscany, should scarcely have existed in +Venice. Florence was their native home. From the time of Donatello +every sculptor of note was responsible for one or more, while certain +artists made it a regular occupation. Luca della Robbia, however, one +of the most consummate sculptors of his day, made no portrait except +the effigy of Bishop Federighi. There are one or two small heads in +the Bargello, but they scarcely come within the category of studied +portraits, while the heads on the bronze doors of the Duomo, though +modelled from living people, are small and purely decorative in +purpose. Glazed terra-cotta was a material so admirably adapted to +showing the refinements of feature and character, as we can see in +both Luca's and Andrea's work, that this absence is all the more +surprising. At the same time, numerous as portrait-statues were in +Tuscany, they do not compare in numbers with those executed in +classical times. In the fifteenth century the statue was a work of +art, and its actual carving was an integral part of the art: so the +replica in sculpture was rare. But under the Roman Empire statues of +the same man were erected in scores and hundreds in the same city; +their multiplication became a profession in itself, and a large class +of artisans must have grown up, eternally copying and recopying +portrait-busts and giving them the haunting dulness of mechanical +reproductions. The artist himself was more interested in the torso +than the head; some artists came to be regarded as specialists in +their own lines; Calcosthenes for instance, who made athletes, and +Apollodorus, who made philosophers. Donatello made several +portrait-busts, and two or three others, such as the head of St. +Laurence, and the so-called St. Cecilia in London, which are portraits +in all essentials. These two are idealised heads, both made late in +life, judging from a certain sketchiness, in no way detracting from +their sterling qualities, but indicative of Donatello's fluency as an +oldish man. Both are in terra-cotta. The St. Laurence is placed on the +top of one of the great chests in the Sacristy of San Lorenzo, too +high above the eye-level.[164] It has no connection with the +decorative work carried out there by the master, and it is difficult +to see how it could have been meant to fit in with the altar. However, +the authorship of Donatello is beyond question. St. Laurence is almost +a boy, wearing his deacon's vestments. His head is raised up as if he +had just heard something and were about to reply. The eager and +inquiring look is most happily shown. The sentiment of this bust is +quite out of the common; it has an engaging expression which is rare +in the sculpture of all ages, differing from what is called animation +or vivacity. These also may be found in the St. Laurence, where the +exact but indescribable movement of the face as he is about to speak +is rendered with immense skill. The bust, though modelled with a free +hand, is not carelessly executed; everything is in concord, and the +treatment of the clay shows exceptional dexterity, more so, at any +rate, than is the case in the St. Cecilia.[165] The name given to this +bust is traditional, there being no symbol to connect it with her; but +it suggests at least that the work was not meant purely as a portrait. +In technique and conception it is not quite equal to the St. +Laurence, but it is none the less a work of rare merit, and being +Donatello's only clay portrait in this country has a special value to +us. The Saint looks downwards, pensive, quiet and modest, the +embodiment of tranquillity and calm. There is no movement or effort +about her, neither does the work show any effort on the part of the +sculptor. It is equable in a very marked degree; the smooth regular +features are simple and well defined, and the hair, brushed back from +the forehead, has a softness which could scarcely be obtained in +marble. The bust known as Louis III. of Gonzaga is interesting in +another way: it is bronze and has been left in an unfinished state. +Two versions of it exist--one in Berlin, the other in Paris, belonging +to Madame André, the latter being perhaps the less ugly of the two. It +used to be known as Alfonso of Naples, on the assumption that +Donatello must surely have made a bust of that prince. This theory, +however, had to be abandoned, and it is now held to be a portrait of +the Gonzaga as being a closer resemblance to him than to Alfonso, or +Giovanni Tornabuoni. Mantegna's portrait of Gonzaga, though made +later, shows a rather different type, less displeasing than the +bronze. In the bust we have what is probably the portrait of a coarse +and clumsy person; he is petulant in the mouth, weak in the chin, +gross in the thick and heavy jaw. The bronze is extremely rough, and +shows no signs of the nervous and individual touches which we find in +Donatello's terra-cotta. Both the busts are unfinished; in the absence +of chasing and hammering they are covered with bubbles and splotches +of metal. They have, therefore, not passed through the hands of +assistants, except so far as the actual casting of the bronze was +concerned. During the process of casting the refinements of a clay +model would often be impaired, but this shows no sign of having been +made from an original of merit. The man is ugly, it is true; but the +broad expanse of his lifeless cheek and the bulbous forehead would in +real life have been explained and justified by bone and muscle, which +the sculptor would have rendered in his clay study. The ugliness of +the man, however, is unrelated to the qualities of the bust. Nobody +could make the likeness of an ugly man better than Donatello; and +since the faults of this portrait lie more in the modelling than in +the sitter, one is driven to conclude that the bust must be entirely +the work of an assistant, or else a failure of the master. + +[Footnote 164: It used to be over one of the doors, preserved _in una +custodia_ which Richa thought ought to have been made of crystal, so +precious was the bust.--"Ch. Fiorentine," 1758, v. 39.] + +[Footnote 165: Victoria and Albert Museum, No. 7585, 1861.] + +An effective counterpart to this bust exists in Berlin. It is also a +life-sized bronze of an older man, and in many ways the likeness to +the Gonzaga bust is notable. But wherever Gonzaga's features lack +distinction this portrait shows fine qualities and good breeding. +Nothing could better illustrate how minute are the plastic details +which will revolutionise a countenance; how easily noble and handsome +features can degenerate into what is sordid and vulgar. In this bust +the chin, though receding, is far from weak; the lips are full but not +sensual; the nose has the faint aquiline curve of distinction. There +is benevolence in the eyes, meditation in the brow, dignity and +reserve throughout the physiognomy: it is the portrait of a man who +may be great, but who must be good. When a bronze _abozzo_ has to be +finished the detail is added by hammering the metal, or incising it +with gravers. Thus the bronze has to be reduced, it being seldom +possible to enlarge it at any point. But the Gonzaga bust would +require to be enlarged in several places to make it a lifelike head. +In the case of the portrait just described, the metal was cast from a +rough sketch which, in the first place, had the qualities of a living +and consistent head, and which, in the second place, was modelled with +sufficient amplitude to permit the entire head to be hammered, and the +exquisite details to be added. Technically this head is almost +unequalled among Donatello's bronze portraits; it is quite superb. +Comparison with the Gattamelata at Padua is fair to neither. But it +can be suitably compared with the bronze portrait in the Bargello +generally known as the Young Gattamelata. The tomb of Giovanni +Antonio, son of the famous Condottiere, is in the Santo at Padua. The +effigy resembles this bust. Giovanni died young in 1456, and on the +whole there is sufficient reason for considering it to be his +portrait. On this assumption the bust can be dated about 1455. It is a +happy combination of youth and maturity. On the one side we have the +smooth features, still unmarked by frowns and furrows, the soft +youthful texture of the skin, and something young in the thick curly +hair. On the other hand, the character of the face shows perfect +self-confidence in its best sense, as well as self-control and +determination. A scrap of drapery covers the outer edge of either +shoulder, and round his neck is a riband, at the end of which hangs a +large oval gem, Cupid in a chariot making his horses gallop. Thus the +throat and breast are bare, and show exceptionally good rendering of +those thin bones and thick tendons which must always be a severe test +to the modeller. As for the bronze itself, the surface is wrought with +much care and finish, though the Berlin bust is unapproached in this +respect. A few other portrait-busts remain to be noticed, which at +one time or another have been attributed to Donatello. The Vecchio +Barbuto, a thoroughly poor piece of work, and the Imperatore +Romano[166] with its sadly disjointed and inconsequential appearance, +are works which scarcely recall the touch of Donatello. The bust of a +veiled lady is more interesting.[167] In the old Medici catalogue it +used to be called _Donna velata incognita_, or _sacerdotessa velata_: +and it was also called Annalena Malatesta: a suggestion has been +recently made that it represents the Contessina de' Bardi, who married +Cosimo de' Medici. Vasari certainly mentions a bronze bust of the +Contessina by Donatello; but the family records would scarcely have +called so important a person a nun or an _incognita_: moreover, she +did not die till 1473, and as this bust is obviously made from a +death-mask, it is clear that Donatello could not be its author. The +custom of making death-masks is described by Polybius: in Donatello's +time it became very popular, and Verrocchio became one of the foremost +men in this branch of trade, which combined expedition and accuracy +with cheapness. The wax models were coloured and used as chimney-piece +decorations, _in ogni casa di Firenze_. The bronze bust of San Rossore +in the Church of Santo Stefano at Pisa has been attributed to +Donatello. From the _denunzia_ of 1427 we know that Donatello was +occupied on a bust of the saint, and certain payments are +recorded.[168] But beyond this fact there is no reason for assigning +the Pisa bust to him. No explanation is offered of its removal from +Florence to Pisa, and had we not known that Donatello made such a +bust, this uncouth and slovenly thing would never have been ascribed +to him. It is a reliquary, the crown of the head being detachable, +and the head can also be separated from the bust. It is heavily gilded +and minutely chased with the trivial work of some meagre craftsman; +the eyes seem to have been enamelled. It is merely interesting as a +school-piece. Speaking generally, Donatello's portraits are less +important as busts than when they are portions of complete statues. +Excluding Niccolò da Uzzano and the old man at Berlin, the heads he +made cannot compare with the portraits of John XXIII., Brancacci, +Habbakuk and St. Francis at Padua. Donatello helped to lay the +foundations of the tremendous school of portraiture which flourished +after his death, both in sculpture and painting; based, in certain +parts of Italy, on the principles he had laid down, though thriving +elsewhere upon independent lines; such, for instance, as the +remarkable group of portraits ascribed to Laurana or Gagini. But at +his best Donatello rarely approached the comprehensive powers of +Michael Angelo. With the latter we see the whole corpus or entity made +the vehicle of portraiture; everything is forced to combine, and to +concentrate the [Greek: êthos] of the conception; everything is driven +into harmony. Michael Angelo gives a portrait which is also typical, +while preserving the real. Donatello seldom got beyond the real; but +he went far towards realising the highest forms of portraiture, and +two or three of his works, though differing in standard from the +Brutus or the Penseroso, surpass anything achieved by his +contemporaries. + +[Footnote 166: Bargello, No. 18, and No. 6, life-sized bronze.] + +[Footnote 167: Bargello, 17.] + +[Footnote 168: Gaye, i. 121.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Relief-portraits.] + +A few portraits in relief require a word of notice. As a rule they are +later in date, though they are often given to Donatello. It became +fashionable to have one's portrait made as a Roman celebrity: an +Antonine for instance; a Galba or a Faustina; or as some statesman, +like Scipio or Cæsar. Donatello was not responsible for these +portraits, though several have been attributed to him. But he made one +or two such reliefs, such as the little St. John in the Bargello which +has already been described. The oval-topped portrait in the same +collection, made of pietra serena--a clean-shaved man with longish +hair and an aquiline nose, is wrongly ascribed to Donatello. There is +a much more interesting portrait, two copies of which exist; one is in +London, the other in Milan.[169] It is a relief-portrait of a woman in +profile to the right; her neck and breast are bare, treated similarly +to the magnificent bust in the Bargello (177). The two reliefs, of +which the Milan copy is oval, while ours is rectangular with a +circular top, are modelled with brilliant and exquisite _morbidezza_: +the undercutting is square, so that the shadows assert themselves; the +wavy hair is brushed back and retained by a fillet, leaving the neck +and temples quite free. In many ways it is the marble version of those +portraits attributed to Piero della Francesca in the National +Gallery[170] and elsewhere, but treated so that while the painting is +curious the marble is beautiful. These reliefs cannot be traced to +Donatello, though they show his style and influence in several +particulars. Madame André has a marble relief of an open-mouthed boy +crowned with laurels, and with ribands waving behind. It is very close +to the Piot St. John in the Louvre, and analogous in some respects to +two other reliefs of great interest, both in Paris, belonging +respectively to La Marquise Arconati-Visconti and to M. Gustave +Dreyfus. These are marble reliefs of St. John and Christ facing each +other, exquisite in their childhood. The former is round, the latter +square. It is usual to ascribe them to Desiderio, and there are +details which lead one to agree on the point. They show, however, that +Donatello's influence was strong enough to survive his death in +particulars which later men might well have ignored. And the two +reliefs combine the strength of Donatello with the sweetness of +Desiderio. + +[Footnote 169: Victoria and Albert Museum, No. 923, 1900, and Museo +Archeologico, No. 1681, both marble.] + +[Footnote 170: Nos. 585 and 758.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: San Lorenzo.] + +Donatello must have completed the most important decorative work in +the Sacristy of San Lorenzo by 1443. Brunellesco was the architect, +and there were differences between them as to their respective spheres +of work. Donatello made the bronze doors, a pair of large reliefs, +four large circular medallions of the Evangelists, as well as four +others of scenes from the life of St. John the Evangelist. Excluding +the doors, everything is made of terra-cotta. The reliefs over the +inner doors of the Sacristy represent St. Stephen and St. Laurence on +one side, and St. Cosmo and St. Damian on the other. They are nearly +life size, modelled in rather low-relief upon panels with circular +tops, and of exceptional size for works in terra-cotta. The reliefs +are enclosed in Donatello's framework of latish Renaissance design, +but the figures themselves are very simple. There is a minimum of +ornament, and they harmonise with the remarkable scheme of the bronze +doors below them, with which they have so many points in common. The +ceiling of the chapel has been repeatedly whitewashed, and the eight +medallions are consequently blurred in surface and outline. It is a +real misfortune, for, so far as one can judge, they contain +compositions and designs of great interest, by which a new light would +probably be thrown upon several doubtful problems were it possible to +study them with precision. Criticism must therefore be guarded, and +their position is such as to make examination difficult. The Roundels +of the Evangelists are modelled with boldness and severity, qualities +which one is not surprised to find in Donatello, but which are here +emphasised, for they stand out in spite of the coats of whitewash. In +some ways they resemble the Evangelists of the Capella Pazzi. Here one +notices a delicacy of decoration on the seats, desks, &c., contrasting +with the rugged grandeur of the figures themselves, and with the +absence of ornament, which is so marked a feature of the other reliefs +in the Sacristy. The four scenes from the life of St. John (Vasari +says from the lives of the Evangelists) are even more interesting than +the panels just mentioned. It appears from the few words Vasari +devotes to the Sacristy that Donatello also painted views upon the +ceiling, but no trace remains. The incidents depicted in the roundels +are St. John's Apotheosis, Martyrdom, and Sojourn on Patmos, and the +Raising of Drusiana. There are landscapes and architectural +backgrounds; many figures are introduced, and there is a good deal of +nude study. We also notice a feature of frequent occurrence--a trick +of giving depth to the scene and vividness to the foreground, by +letting figures be cut off short by the frames. Men seem to be +standing on the spectator's side of the relief, and only appear at the +point where they can be partly included in the composition. The field +becomes one that would be included within the range of vision as seen +through a round window or telescope. Mantegna made great use of this +idea. The more one looks at these eight medallions the more one +regrets their present condition: washing is all that is required. If +they could be carefully cleaned we would certainly find details of +interest, and in all probability facts of importance. The frieze of +angels' heads which surrounds the Sacristy is of secondary interest, +as there are only two different cherubs, which are reproduced by +moulds all along its entire length. Signs of gilding and colour are +still visible. Pretty as they are, these angels cannot challenge +comparison with the Pazzi frieze or with Donatello's similar work +elsewhere--for instance, on the base of the Cantoria or upon the Or +San Michele niche. The marble balustrade of the altar may have been +designed by Donatello. The Sacristy shows how well adapted terra-cotta +was for decoration on a large scale. But Donatello was too wise to +cover the walls with his reliefs, as is the case in the Capella +Pellegrini at Verona. Here the sculpture is used to decorate the +chapel walls, there the walls are merely used to uphold the sculpture. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +BRONZE DOORS + +SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE] + + +[Sidenote: The Bronze Doors.] + +There is no more instructive study than the bronze doors of Italian +churches. They are the earliest specimens of bronze casting to be +found in Italy of Christian times; they show the gradual transition +from Eastern to Western forms of art, and they were usually made by +the most prominent sculptor of the day. Their size is considerable, +they are frequently dated, and their condition is often +extraordinarily good. Donatello's are relatively small, but they +adhere to the best traditions. Excluding the great doors made by Luca +della Robbia for the Sacristy of the Duomo, these in San Lorenzo are +among the latest which were produced according to the ancient model +and the correct idea. Thenceforward the doors ceased to be doors; the +reliefs ceased to show the qualities of bronze, and disregarded the +principles of sculpture. Donatello made two pairs of doors, one on +either side of the altar. The doors open in the middle; there are thus +four long-hinged panels of bronze, and each panel has five reliefs +upon it. It is doubtful if the most archaic doors in Italy show such +uniformity of design, for all the twenty bronze reliefs illustrate one +single theme, namely, the conversation of two standing men. The panels +simply consist of two saints, roughly sketched in somewhat low-relief +upon an absolutely flat background: there is great variety in the +drapery, and some of the figures might come out of thirteenth-century +illuminations. Never was a monotonous motive invested with such +variety of treatment: never was simplicity better attained by +scrupulous elimination. Donatello's symmetrical idea had been +previously employed, and Torrigiano put his figures in couples on what +Bacon called one of the "stateliest and daintiest monuments of +Europe."[171] Luca della Robbia put his figures in threes on the +Cathedral gates, a seated figure in the centre, with a standing figure +on either side. But Donatello had to make twice as many panels as +Luca. Martyrs, apostles and confessors are talking on the San Lorenzo +doors. Thus St. Stephen shows the stone of his martyrdom to St. +Laurence. Elsewhere St. Peter's movement suggests that he is +upbraiding his fellow, for the argument excites these saints. They +gesticulate freely; martyrs seem to fence with their palm-leaves. One +will turn away abruptly, another will pay sudden attention to his +book, while his companion continues to talk. One man slaps his book to +clinch the discussion, another jots down a note; two others are ending +their controversy and prepare to leave--in opposite directions. But, +though these are literal descriptions of the scenes, there is no +levity; everything is ordained according to Donatello's strict +formula. He was none the less determined to adhere to the old +conventional and non-pictorial treatment of the gates, and at the same +time to give animation to every panel. In this he has succeeded, but +the symmetrical arrangement in pairs preserves a decorum in spite of +the vigorous movement pictured on the doors. These doors open and +shut: they were meant to do so, especially to shut. Ghiberti's second +pair of doors for the Baptistery do not _shut_: they are closed, but +they do not give the sense of shutting anything in or keeping anything +out. They are more like windows than doors. They give no impression of +defence or resistance: they are doors in nothing but name, and the +chance that they hang on hinges. Were it merely a contest between +Ghiberti and Donatello as to which sculptor were the more skilled +constructor of doors, further comment would be unprofitable; but it +raises the wider question of the laws and limitations of +bas-relief--the application to sculpture of the principles of +painting; in short, the broad line of demarcation between two +different arts. Michael Angelo probably realised the unity of the arts +better than Donatello, but Donatello knew enough to treat sculpture +with due respect: he valued it too highly to confuse the issue by +pictorial embellishments. It is no question of a convention, still +less of a canon. But there are inherent boundaries between the two +arts; and where the boundaries are overstepped, one or the other art +must lose some of its essential quality and charm. Donatello's reliefs +at Padua are crowded: Ghiberti's (on the second gates) are +overcrowded. The difference in degree produces a difference in +principle. If Ghiberti had made pictures instead of reliefs, the +atmosphere would keep the objects in their right places, while +differences of colour would give distinction to certain parts and the +chief figures would still predominate. In other reliefs Ghiberti +lavished so much care on landscape and architecture that the figures +become of secondary importance: on one relief a tree casts its shadow +on a cloud.[172] Ghiberti, in fact, with all his plastic elegance, +with a grace, suavity and sense of beauty which Donatello never +approached, was a painter at heart. "_L'animo mio alla pittura era in +grande parte volto_," he says in his Commentary,[173] and the faults +of his sculpture are due to this versatility. Donatello only used his +pictorial knowledge to perfect form and feature; and, complex as his +architectural backgrounds often are, they never suggest experiments in +perspective, and they never detract from the primacy of the people and +the incident. Michael Angelo was under no illusion on this point: he +never confused painting and sculpture. Yet he said Ghiberti's gates +would be worthy portals of paradise. "_Ce n'est pas la seul sottise +qu'on lui fasse dire_," drily remarked the Chevalier des Brosses;[174] +and, curiously enough, about the time that Michael Angelo made his +famous Judgment, an amateur of the day made a much shrewder criticism, +long since forgotten, that the doors would be adequate to stand at the +gates of Purgatory:--"_sarebbon bastanti a stare alle porte del +Purgatorio._"[175] The ambiguity is not without humour. Sculpture, +indeed, had no reason to ape or imitate painting. Sculpture, in fact, +was in advance of painting during the first half of the fifteenth +century. Donatello, Luca della Robbia, Jacopo della Quercia, and +Ghiberti were greater men in sculpture than their contemporaries in +painting. The arts were in rivalry; the claim for precedence was +zealously canvassed. The sculptors claimed superiority because their +art was older, because statuary has more points of view than one. You +can walk round it, while a picture has only one light and one view. +Moreover, the argument of utility applies most to sculpture, which can +be used for tombs, columns, fountains, caryatides, &c. Sculpture has +finality, for, though it takes longer to make, it cannot be constantly +altered like a picture. While all arts try to imitate nature, +sculpture gives the actual form, but painting only its semblance. A +man born blind has a sense of touch which gives him pleasure from +sculpture, which is better suited to theology, which has greater +durability, and so forth. The painter replied that, if a statue has +more than one point of view, a picture containing many figures can +give even greater variety. Then the argument of utility denies the +essence of art, which is to imitate nature, not to adorn brackets and +pilasters; but even if decoration be an end in itself, painting can be +used where sculpture would be too heavy. The painter continues that +his art requires higher training in such things as atmosphere and +perspective. As to the greater durability of sculpture, the material +and not the art is responsible; but, in any case, painting lasts long +enough to be worth achieving. Finally, sculpture cannot always imitate +nature: the sense of colour can make a sunset, a storm at sea, +moonlight, landscape and human emotions, which are best translated by +varying colour and light. The controversy is unsettled to this +day.[176] The wise man, like Donatello, selected his art and never +overstepped the boundary. + +[Footnote 171: "Life of Henry VII.," ed. 1825, iii. 417.] + +[Footnote 172: See Westmacott's lectures on Sculpture, II. III., +_Athenæum_, 1858.] + +[Footnote 173: 2nd Comm. Vasari, I. xxx.] + +[Footnote 174: Letter of 1739, p. 186.] + +[Footnote 175: 17, viii. 1549, Antonio Doni, printed in Bottari, iii. +341.] + +[Footnote 176: These dialogues will be found at great length in +Borghini, Vasari, Leonardo da Vinci, Alberti, &c. Castiglione also +devotes a canto of the "Cortegiano" to the subject.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +JUDITH + +LOGGIA DEI LANZI, FLORENCE] + + +[Sidenote: The Judith.] + +The bronze statue of Judith was probably made shortly before +Donatello's journey to Padua. It is his only large bronze group, and +its faults are accentuated by the most unfortunate position it +occupies in the lofty Loggia de' Lanzi. It was meant to be the +centrepiece of some large fountain. The triangular base, and the +extremities of the mattress on which Holofernes sits, have spouts from +which the water would issue, though the bronze is not worn away by the +action of water. As we see the statue now, it looks small and dwarfed. +In a courtyard it would look far more imposing, and when it came from +Donatello's workshop, placed upon a pedestal designed for it, its +present incongruities would have been absent. For instance, the feet +of Holofernes would have been upheld by something from below, as the +marks in the bronze indicate. With all its disadvantages, the statue +is extremely interesting. Judith stands over Holofernes. With her left +hand she holds him up by clutching his hair: her right arm is +uplifted, in which she holds the sword. The action seems arrested +during a moment of suspense: one doubts if the sword will ever fall. +Judith, who was the ideal of courage and beauty, seems to hesitate; +there is nothing to show that her arm is meant to descend, except +her inexorable face--and even that is full of sadness and regrets. It +is more dramatic that this should be so. Cellini's Perseus close by +has already committed his murder. The crisis has passed, the blood +spurts from the severed head and trunk of the Medusa; so we have +squalid details instead of the overpowering sense of impending +tragedy. With Cellini there was no room for mystery: no imagination +could be left to the spectator. "_Celui qui nous dict tout nous +saousle et nous dégouste._" Holofernes is an amazing example of +Donatello's power. He is a really drunken man: we see it in the +comatose fall of the limbs, in the drooping features, the languid +inanition of the arms. The veins throb in his hands and feet: the +spine has ceased to be rigid, and were it not for the support of +Judith's hands buried in his hair, he would topple over inanimate. The +treatment of the bronze is successful and its patina is admirable. +Judith's drapery, it is true, has a restless crackling appearance. It +is furrowed into small and rather fussy folds, almost suggesting, like +the figures of the Parthenon pediment, the pleats of wetted linen on a +lay figure. Judith's arm is overweighted by the heavy sleeve. There +are, however, pleasing details, especially the band of embroidery over +her breast decorated with the flying _putti_; and her veil, Michael +Angelesque in its way, is treated with skill and distinction. The base +consists of three bronze reliefs joined into a triangle, separated at +each angle by a narrow bronze plaque, beyond which is a curved +pilaster giving extra support to the figures above. These reliefs are +bacchic in idea and Renaissance in execution. Children dance, play and +sleep around the mask from which the jet of water would issue. These +reliefs, much inferior to the bronze capital at Prato, have been +over-rated. As a group the Judith is not really successful. It is a +pile of figures, less telling in some ways than the Abraham and Isaac, +though, having no niche, it has to undergo the severer test of +criticism from every aspect. But before Michael Angelo the Italian +free-standing group was tentative. Even in Michael Angelo's sculpture, +when we consider its massive scale, the extent and number of his +commissions, and the ease with which he worked his material, it is +astonishing how few free-standing groups were made. His grouping was +applied to the relief. The free group is, of course, the most +comprehensive vehicle of intensified emotion or action; it gives an +opportunity of doubling or trebling the effect on the spectator. +Sculpture has never realised to the full the chances offered by +grouped plastic art of heroic proportions. Classical groups cannot be +fairly judged by the Laocoon, the Farnese Bull, or even the Niobe +reliefs. Their theatrical character is so patent, that it is obvious +how far inferior they must be to the work of greater men whose genuine +productions have perished. But, even so, the group being the medium +through which emotions could be intensified to the uttermost, it is +not necessary to assume that they were common in classical times; +partly owing to the technical difficulties and expense, and partly +owing to their disinclination to make sculpture interpret profound +impressions, mental or intellectual. + +There are only four life-sized statues of women by Donatello: this +Judith, the Magdalen, the St. Justina, and the Madonna at Padua. The +Dovizia is lost, and she was treated as an emblematic personage. These +figures and the statuettes at Siena show that, although not accustomed +to make female statues, Donatello was perfectly competent to do so. +The little Eve, on the back of the Madonna's throne at Padua--the +only nude figure of a woman he ever made, and here only in relief--is +exquisite in sentiment and form. The statue of Judith had an +adventurous life. After the revolution in 1495, the group was removed +from the Medici palace to the Ringhiera of the Palazzo Pubblico, and +the words of warning against tyranny were engraved on its new base: +"_Exemplum salutis publicæ cives posuere_, 1495." Judith was the type +of nationalism, the heroine of a war of independence: and this mark of +the Florentine love of liberty has lasted to our own day. No Medici +dared to obliterate the ominous words. Donatello was not much in +politics: his father had taken too violent a share in the feuds of his +day, and narrowly escaped execution. Nor was Donatello's art coloured +by politics: the Florentines did not give commissions like the Sienese +for allegorical representations of the life and duties of citizenship. +Differing from Michael Angelo, Donatello made no Brutus; he did not +concentrate the political tragedies of his day into a Penseroso and a +group of statues full of grave symbolical protests against the +statecraft of his time; and, except for the accidental loss of +Judith's pedestal, Donatello's art never suffered from the curse of +politics. Michael Angelo was always surrounded by the pitfalls of +intrigue and politics: some of his work was sacrificed in consequence. +The colossal statue of Pope Julio was hurled from its place on the +façade of San Petronio, Maestro Arduino the engineer, having covered +the ground where it was to fall with straw and fascines, in order that +no damage should be done--to the pavement! And the broken statue was +sent away to Ferrara, where it was converted into a big cannon, which +they felicitously christened Juliana![177] + +[Footnote 177: Gotti, "Vita," i. 66.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +ST. MARY MAGDALEN + +BAPTISTERY, FLORENCE] + + +[Sidenote: The Magdalen and similar Statues.] + +We have now to consider a group of rugged statues differing in date +but animated by the same motive, the Magdalen in Florence and three +statues of St. John the Baptist in Siena, Venice, and Berlin. Of +these, the Magdalen in the Baptistery at Florence is the most typical +and the most uncompromising. She stands upright, a mass of tattered +rags, haggard, emaciated, almost toothless. Her matted hair falls down +in thick knots; all feminine softness has gone from the limbs, and +nothing but the drawn muscles remain. It is a thin wasted form, +piteous in expression, painful in all its ascetic excess. The Magdalen +has, of course, been the subject of hostile criticism. It gives a +shock, it inspires horror: it is an outrage on every well-clothed and +prosperous sinner.[178] In point of fact, Donatello's summary method +of carving the wood has given a harshness and asperity to features +which in themselves are not displeasing. In a dimmed light, or looking +with unfocused eyes on the reproduction, it is clear that the +structural lines of the face were once well favoured. But from the +beginning the Magdalen was a work which made a profound impression, +and its popularity is measured by the number of statues of a like +nature. Charles VIII. wanted to buy it in 1498, but the Florentines +thought it priceless and hid it away. Two years later they had the +bronze diadem added by Jacopo Sogliani.[179] Finally, at a period when +this type of sculpture with all its appeal to the traditions of the +Thebaid, was least likely to have been acceptable in art or exemplar, +the statue was placed in a niche above an altar erected on purpose for +its reception, where an inscription testifies to the regard in which +it was then held.[180] This Magdalen is didactic in purpose. Donatello +seems to have given less attention to the modelling, subtle as it is, +than to the concentration of the one absorbing lesson which was to be +conveyed to the spectator. His object was to show repentance, abject +unqualified remorse; purified by suffering, refined by bodily +hardship, and sustained by the "sun of discipline and virtue." There +is no luxury in this Magdalen, but she may have contributed to the +reaction when Pompeo Battoni and the like transformed her into an +opulent personage, dressed in purple, who reclines in some luscious +glade while simpering over a bible. By then art had ceased to know how +penitence could be decently portrayed, and the penitent was not long a +genuine subject of art. The Greeks, of course, had no penitent or +ascetic in their theocracy: even the cynic scarcely found a place in +their art. In Italy the Thebaids of Lorenzetti are among the earliest +versions; the sculpture of the following century brought it still more +home to the public, and then the true mediæval sentiment upon which +this and similar works were founded vanished and has never reappeared. +The date of the Magdalen has provoked a good deal of controversy: +whether it was made immediately before or after the visit to Padua +cannot be determined. But the statue has so many features in common +with the Siena Baptist of 1457 that one can most safely ascribe it to +some date after Donatello's return to Florence. It is certainly more +easy to justify the Magdalen from the pulpits of San Lorenzo than from +anything made before his journey to Northern Italy. One +misapprehension may be removed. It is argued that the Magdalen cannot +be posterior to Padua on the ground that by 1440 Donatello had ceased +to work in any material but soft and ductile clay, which was converted +into bronze by his assistants. The argument is that of one who +probably thinks that the Entombment at Padua is made of terra-cotta, +and who forgets that Donatello executed a number of works in stone for +the Marchese Gonzaga about 1450.[181] + +[Footnote 178: Rumour was very severe. "_Elle m'a pour toujours +dégoûte de la pénitence_," sighed Des Brosses. This inimitable person +was the critic who, after visiting the Arena chapel at Padua, observed +that nowadays one would scarcely employ Giotto to paint a +tennis-court.] + +[Footnote 179: Richa, III., xxxiii.] + +[Footnote 180: The inscription is: "Votis publicis S. Mariæ Magdalenæ +simulacrum ejus insigne Donati opus pristino loco elegantiario +repositum anno 1735."] + +[Footnote 181: See p. 199. Moreover, in 1458 Donatello accepted a +commission at Siena for a marble San Bernardino. And the Anonimo +Morelliano mentions four other marble reliefs at Padua.] + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST + +FRARI CHURCH, VENICE] + +The statues of St. John at Siena, Berlin, and Venice[182] are closely +analogous to the Magdalen. St. John is the ascetic prophet who spent +years in seclusion, returning from the desert to preach repentance. +These three figures have one curious feature in common--a flavour of +the Orient. The St. John is some fakir, some Buddhist saint. Asiatic +as the Baptist was, it is seldom that Italian art gave him so Eastern +a type; but the explanation is simply that Donatello evolved his own +idea of what a self-centred and fasting mystic would resemble, and his +conception happens to coincide with the outcome of similar conditions +actually put into practice elsewhere. The Berlin bronze is St. John as +Baptist, the others show him with the scroll as Precursor. He always +wears the camel's-hair tunic, which ends just below the knee; at Siena +it is thick, like some woolly fleece; it conceals and broadens the +frame, thus suggesting a stoutness which is not warranted by the +size of the leg. The modelling of legs and arms in these statues is +noteworthy. They are thin, according to Donatello's idea of his +subject; and though the thinness takes the natural form of slender +circumference, one sees that the limb with its angular modelling and +its flat surfaces has _become_ thin: the thinness is explained by the +character. The feet of the Siena bronze are exceptionally good; the +wrist and forearm of the Venice figure are admirable. The Siena +Baptist is nearly life-sized, and was made in 1457. He is the least +introspective of the three, a mature strong man, and the oldest of the +many Baptists Donatello made. The Berlin figure is the flushed +eccentric, holding up the cup he used in baptizing. The figure is half +the size of life, and was doubtless one of the numerous statuettes +which crowned fonts. It has been suggested that this bronze, which is +defective in several places, was commissioned for the Cathedral of +Orvieto in 1423.[183] But the type would appear more advanced than the +busts on the Mandorla doorway or the Siena work made about this time. +Moreover, the contract specifies a St. John _cum signo crucis et +demonstratione ecce agnus Dei_. A Baptist was made at the same time +for Ancona, and is now lost. On first seeing the St. John in Venice +one's impression is to laugh. But he is not really a wild man of the +woods--he is simply covered with and made grotesque by thick masses of +oil paint. A close examination of the figure shows that in some places +the paint is over a quarter of an inch thick, and the last coating it +has received is glutinous in quality, and has been laid on with such +freedom that the position and shape of certain features are altered. +But if seen close at hand, the statue (which it is understood will +shortly be cleaned) shows distinct merits. The modelling of the +extremities is good, and though it is clear that Donatello was never +quite willing to treat St. John as on a par with the other Saints, we +have a systematic and generic rendering of his idea. In some measure +painting was needed as a preservative for wood statues, otherwise it +is difficult to justify the covering of a fine material by paint which +cannot do justice to itself, while it must hide the refinements of the +carving. Donatello worked but little in wood. Crucifixes were commonly +made of it, but the material was one which could never receive _quella +carnosità_ and _morbidezza_[184] of marble or metal. The Greeks +limited their use of it to garden and woodland themes: the Egyptians +used it but little, because they had so few trees. In Donatello's time +it was popular, and came to be regarded as a distinct art. Thus the +Sienese wood-carvers were forbidden to work in stone,[185] but the +great masters like Donatello did not strictly adhere to the rules, and +did not refrain from invading the art of the woodcarver. There is a +large class of statues derived from the four just described. One of +these, attributed to Donatello, is the St. Jerome at Faenza, also made +of wood.[186] Chocolate-coloured paint has been ladled all over the +body. The beard is faint lavender, and the canvas loin-cloth is blue. +The pose and expression are mannered. It is usual to dismiss it in an +offhanded way as a bad and later work; but the modelling shows signs +of skill, and until the paint is removed it is useless to make +guesses. Two bronze statuettes of the Baptist[187] are distinctly +Donatellesque, and made about 1450, though it is impossible to assign +them with certainty to the master himself. Michelozzo's versions of +St. John at Montepulciano, on the Cathedral altar in Florence, and in +the Annunziata, show the influence of Donatello; but the Baptist is a +milder prophet, and no longer the hermit. In the Scalzi at Florence +there is a Baptist which is typical of many others of the same +character. The Magdalen was less copied than the St. John. The version +nearest Donatello himself is in London, a large grim bust;[188] in the +same collection is a relief of her apotheosis, and the Louvre +possesses a similar work.[189] Neither of the latter is by Donatello +himself, but they recall his influence.[190] The large Magdalen in +Santa Trinità at Florence is a good example of the _bottega_. + +[Footnote 182: Siena Cathedral, bronze; Berlin Museum, bronze; Frari +Church, Venice, wood.] + +[Footnote 183: 10, ii. 1423. On 29, iv. 1423, Donatello received 5 +lbs. 3 oz. of wax for modelling the figure. Luzi, "Duomo di Orvieto," +1867, p. 406.] + +[Footnote 184: Vasari, i. 147.] + +[Footnote 185: _Che niuno maestro di legname possa fare di pietra._ +Rules of Sculptors of Sienna, 1441, ch. 39. Milanesi, i. 120.] + +[Footnote 186: In Museum. From the Capella Manfredi in San Girolamo +degli Osservanza outside the town, suppressed in 1866. _Cf._ two +similar statuettes in terra-cotta, Bargello, Nos. 174 and 175.] + +[Footnote 187: Louvre, about 12 inches high, unnumbered. Museo +Archeologico, Venice, No. 8. Frau Hainauer's bronze Baptist, signed by +Francesco di San Gallo, is interesting in this connection.] + +[Footnote 188: Victoria and Albert Museum, No. 157, 1894.] + +[Footnote 189: _Ibid._ No. 7605, 1861, terra-cotta. Louvre, No. 465, +ditto.] + +[Footnote 190: _Cf._ Herr von Beckerath's in Berlin, and the +Verrocchio-school Magdalen in the Berlin Gallery, No. 94.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: The Altar at Padua.] + +Donatello was fifty-seven when he left Florence in 1443 to spend ten +eventful years at Padua. There he carried out his masterpieces of +bronze for the Cathedral and the equestrian statue of Gattamelata on +the Piazza opposite Donatello's little house, which to this day is +occupied, appropriately enough, by a carver--Bortolo Slaviero, +_tagliapietra_. It is now established that Donatello was invited to +Padua for the Church and that the Gattamelata was not commissioned +until later.[191] At this time Padua was a centre of humanistic +learning and intellectual activity. There was a hive of antiquarians +and collectors, and, according to its lights, a thriving school of +painters.[192] The Florentine Palla Strozzi was living there in +retirement, and he may have been partly responsible for the invitation +to Donatello. But the indigenous art of Padua was dependent on Venice, +and needed some fertilising element. Squarcione with his 140 pupils +founded his art upon traditional and conventional data: had it not +been for Donatello and the radical changes which resulted from his +sojourn at Padua, a fossilised school would have become firmly rooted, +and would probably have influenced the whole of the Veneto. Mantegna +was still young when Donatello arrived, and though there is no reason +to suppose that he received work from Donatello as Squarcione did, it +is clear that, without this influx of Southern ideas, he would have +had some difficulty in shaking off the conventionalisms of his home. +But though Donatello's immediate influence on Paduan art was decisive +(and its ramifications soon extended to Venice), he was himself +influenced by his fresh surroundings, and his native bent towards +complexity was increased. He assimilated many of the local likes and +dislikes. If Gattamelata had been erected in some Florentine square +there would have been less ornament; if Colleone had been commissioned +for Siena there would have been less _braggadocio_. Leonardo never +recovered his Tuscan frame of mind after his sojourn in Milan. +Donatello himself realised these novelties to the full, and their +results upon his art. While he was making the intricate bas-reliefs, +the selective genius of Luca della Robbia was composing the Florence +Lunettes,[193] monumental in their simplicity. And though Vasari +records the enthusiasm with which Donatello's productions were greeted +in the North, the sculptor recognised the dangers of unqualified +praise, and said he must return home to Florence to receive criticism +and censure, the stimulus to better work and greater glory. But the +_maggiore gloria_ was not to be attained. He was old when he left +Padua, and on his departure he had completed the greatest undertaking +of his career--the High Altar of the Santo, with all its marble +setting and the bronze figures. A crucifix, the Madonna and Child, six +saints, a Pietà, twelve panels of angels, four reliefs of St Anthony's +Miracles, the Symbols of the Evangelists, and a large marble +Entombment. Donatello's altar was unfortunately dismantled in the +seventeenth century, and the statues were dispersed throughout the +Church. The altar was reconstructed a few years ago, and the bronzes +have suffered during their exile, but they are still in good +preservation. The new marble altar is a thoughtful and painstaking +construction; its details are derived from Donatellesque motives, and +the bronzes are fitted in with skill. It cannot, however, be in any +sense a reproduction of the old altar, of which no drawing is +preserved. And the earliest description, which has been carefully +followed as far as circumstances allow, shows that the existing +sculpture is incomplete: at least four marble reliefs have been +lost.[194] One may further remark that the twelve angels in high +relief, now forming the face of the altar frontal, are so designed, +especially as regards their aureoled heads, that one concludes it must +have been Donatello's intention for them to have been looked up to +rather than looked down upon. The present arrangement of the altar is +simple and effective. The frontal itself is composed of children +singing and playing music. In the centre is the Pietà, and on either +side is an Evangelist's symbol flanked by two saints on the level of +the top of the altar. The retable has two miracle reliefs, and between +them a small bronze Christ, which has been put there in error. Above +the retable is the Madonna with two saints on either side: the +crucifix surmounts the whole composition. The back of the altar has +the remaining Miracle reliefs and Evangelist symbols, together with +the Entombment. + +[Footnote 191: Michael Angelo Gloria; Donatello Fiorentino e le sue +opere ... a Padova, 1895, from which the dates are all quoted.] + +[Footnote 192: See Kristeller's Mantegna, translated by S.A. Strong, +1901, p. 17.] + +[Footnote 193: Over the Sacristy doors in the Cathedral.] + +[Footnote 194: Anonimo Morelliano (1520-40). Ed. of Bassano, 1800, p. +3. _E da dietro l'altar sotto il scabello il Cristo morto, con le +altre figure a circo, e le due figure da man destra con le altre due +da man sinistra, pur de basso rilevo, ma de marmo, furono de mano de +Donatello._] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +SAINT FRANCIS, THE MADONNA, AND SAINT ANTHONY + +SANT' ANTONIO, PADUA] + + +[Sidenote: The Large Statues.] + +Of the seven large free-standing statues, that of the Madonna and +Child worthily occupies the central position. Nobody was more modern +than Donatello, nobody less afraid of innovation. But in this Madonna +he went back to archaic ideas, and we have a conception analogous to +the versions of the two previous centuries:[195] indeed, his idea is +still older, for there is something Byzantine in this liturgical +Madonna, who gazes straight in front of her, and far down the nave of +the Santo--a church with mosque-like domes, like those of the early +Eastern architects. The Child is seated in her lap, as in the +earliest representation of the subject: here, however, the Christ +is a child, with an element of helplessness almost indicated, whereas +the primitive idea had been to show the vigour and often the features +of a biggish boy. Donatello's version is much more pathetic, as the +little Christ raises a tiny hand in benediction. The Virgin herself is +of unequalled solemnity, while her young and gracious face, exquisite +in expression and contour, is full of queenly beauty. But there is +still this atmosphere of mystery, an enigmatic aloofness in spite of +the warm human sentiment. The Sphinx's faces, with all their +traditions of secrecy, contribute their share to the cryptic +environment. Donatello uses them as the supports of the throne on +which the Madonna is seated; behind it are Adam and Eve in relief: in +front she herself shows the New Adam to the multitude, on whom he +confers his blessing. St. Francis of Padua [Transcriber's Note: Should +be "Assisi."] stands on the right of the Madonna, as founder of the +Order, and taking precedence of St. Anthony, to whom the church is +dedicated. He holds the crucifix and the book of rules. He is draped +in the ordinary Franciscan habit, which falls round his feet, giving a +stiffness to the figure as seen in profile, and making him appear +rather short when seen from the front. The workmanship is good, the +hands, with lightly shown stigmata, being excellent; but the lack of +distinction in the figure makes one look more closely at the head, +which is modelled with great power and freedom, showing that Donatello +still possessed the vigour and penetration for which the Campanile +prophets are notable. The head is full of character; not perhaps what +one would expect from the apostle of self-abnegation: but it is +determined, strong in the mouth and broad chin. It was, of course, +only meant to be seen a few feet from the ground, and the lines do +not compare in depth with the Habbakuk or the Zuccone; but there is +none the less an analogy in the manner by which Donatello calls in the +assistance of light and shade to add tone and finish to the modelling. +St. Anthony was a deservedly popular saint in Padua, where he preached +and denounced the local tyrant; and he may be accounted the greatest +man of Portuguese birth. But Donatello does not seem to have found the +subject very inspiring. He has taken his idea from rather an ordinary +friar such as he or we might see any day. It is a good homely face, +neither worldly nor spiritual, and only redeemed from the commonplace +by technical ability. St. Daniel is more interesting; the young deacon +is extremely well posed, the plain and massive features being drawn +with a firm and confident touch; and the deacon's vestments, which +always take an easy and becoming fall, are decorated in a typical way +with winged children arbitrarily introduced, and looking more like the +detail of some bas-relief than a piece of embroidered ornament. St. +Justina wears the coronet as princess, and bears the palm-leaf as +martyr. She has no pronounced characteristic, the face being rather +unemotional; but the gesture of her outstretched hand is not without +an appealing dignity. The hair, like that of the Madonna, is parted in +the centre, and stands off from the forehead, and then falls in rich +tresses about her shoulders. It has not the soft and silken texture of +the Madonna's hair, which is rendered with as great a skill as one +sees in the Virgin of the Annunciation. In both these latter cases +Donatello succeeds in giving to the hair an indescribable suggestion +of something full of elasticity and lustre. But St. Justina's hair at +least grows: so many sculptors of ability failed to indicate that +needful quality. St. Procdocimus and St. Louis are of subordinate +merit, and show the work of assistants in several particulars. The +former was first Bishop of Padua and converted the father of St. +Justina to Christianity. At first sight the statue is pleasing, but on +closer examination the weaknesses, especially in the face, become +marked. There is indecision, not in the pose or general idea, but in +the details which give character to the whole conception. The features +are chiselled by a small _mesquin_ personality, and what might have +been a fine statue if carried out by Donatello has been ruined by his +assistants. The ewer which the Bishop carries is a later addition, +from the design of which one might almost argue that the statue itself +is later than the others.[196] The St. Louis, wearing his episcopal +robes above the Franciscan habit, his mitre decorated with a +fleur-de-lys of royal France, is also hammered all over, giving the +bronze the appearance of being dotted with little pin-holes. The head +is, however, marked by the grave austerity for which the St. Louis in +Santa Croce is so remarkable, and which became the typical rendering +of the saint in fifteenth-century plastic art. However much Donatello +may have allowed a free hand to his assistants in this statue, the +fine qualities of the head are attributable to a strict adherence to +his own sketch. The last of the great bronze figures is the crucifix +above the high altar. It is magnificent, apart from the technical +qualities which rival Donatello's most brilliant achievements. All the +lines droop together in a wonderful _cadenza_; the face is +transfigured by human pain, but all the superhuman power remains. +Donatello combines the literal and symbolical meaning of the Cross; +the Godhead is still there. Donatello did not forget that the +crucified Christ, when represented by the sculptor, had to preserve +all the immortality of the Son of God. His _contadino_ Christ in +Florence has its interest in art; this Christ marks the summit of his +plastic ability; but it shows that, without any appeal to terror or +emotionalism, without, indeed, suppressing the signs of physical pain, +Donatello was able to give an overwhelming portrait of Christ's agony. +The celestial and the terrestrial are unified and fused into one +tremendous concentration of human suffering, tempered by divine power. + +[Footnote 195: _Cf._, for instance, the Madonna over the door of the +Pisa Baptistery.] + +[Footnote 196: _Cf._ drawings of ewers in Uffizzi by Giacomone da +Faenza, sixteenth century.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +MIRACLE OF THE SPEAKING BABE + +SANT' ANTONIO, PADUA] + + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +MIRACLE OF THE MISER'S HEART + +SANT' ANTONIO, PADUA] + + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +MIRACLE OF THE MULE + +SANT' ANTONIO, PADUA] + + +[Sidenote: The Bronze Reliefs.] + +The four panels of Miracles take the highest rank among Donatello's +bas-reliefs. Their size is considerable, being about four feet long. +They have one theme in common, namely, the supernatural gifts of St. +Anthony and the veneration of the populace. Donatello's crowds are +admirable; they are deep crowds. The people are rather hot and +jostling each other: they stand on benches or stairs in order to get a +better view of what is proceeding. The edges of the crowds, where the +people are too far off to be active spectators, lose interest in the +central incident; they gossip as bystanders or sit down: often they +are shown actually leaving the place. It is singular how ill-designed +many of the classical crowds are, especially the battle-scenes: they +are constructed without regard for the human necessity of standing on +something; and we have grotesque topsy-turvy compositions, the +individual parts of which are unrivalled in technique.[197] Michael +Angelo's first and last representation of a crowd in sculpture shows +the same fault, which, indeed, was far from uncommon.[198] It arose +from a desire to show more of the crowd than could be naturally seen +from the eye level, and the whole relief was consequently covered with +figures, the background proper being suppressed. In these Paduan +reliefs Donatello manages to give ample density and variety, and there +is never any doubt as to the ownership of legs or arms. His early +relief at Siena, on the other hand, has a group where there is +confusion, which is not justified in a quiet gathering of people. +Another feature which the four reliefs have in common is Donatello's +treatment of narrative. Ghiberti's plan was to put several incidents +into one relief, forming a sequence of events leading up to the +critical episode, to which he usually gave the best place in the +foreground. He consistently followed up his formula in the second +gates, and brought the practice to its perfection. Whether suitable or +not for gates, it would have been an intelligible treatment of purely +decorative reliefs, like those at Padua. Donatello, however, confines +his plaques to single incidents: in one case only does he add a second +detail, and there only as a corroborative fact. The narrative is shown +in the crowd itself. Attitudes and expression are made to reflect the +spirit of what has gone before, while the actual occurrence suffices +to show the final issue of the story. Thus we have all the ideas of +which others would have made a series of subordinate scenes: +incredulity, fear, surprise, mockery, apathy and worship. The crowd +shows everything which has already passed, and the composition of the +bas-reliefs thus secures a striking homogeneity. It is difficult to +say which of them is best. The variety in dress, scene and physiognomy +is so remarkable; varying, no doubt, according to the tastes of the +_garzone_ responsible for finishing it. Probably the miracle of the +Speaking Babe is the best known. A nobleman of Ferrara doubted the +honour of his wife; St. Anthony conferred the power of speech on her +infant child, which proclaimed its mother's innocence. Donatello has +put an exquisite little Madonna and Child just above the central +figures of the legend. The composition of this group, as in the +others, is broken by the architecture, otherwise the length of the +bronzes might have tended to a monotonous row of figures. But the +projecting background does not make the episode less coherent. The +mother is just receiving back her baby from the saint; behind her are +women, friends and others; whereas the opposite side of the relief is +entirely occupied by men, who are around her husband; and the +suggested conflict of the sexes is averted by the miracle. The +husband, who wears an odd sort of _bonnet tricolore_, and several of +his comrades are simply dressed in short cloaks open at the sides and +ending just below the hip. The legs and arms, and especially the +hands, are very well modelled. In this relief the actors are quiet and +decorous, and where not motionless are moving slowly. The miracle of +the Miser's Heart is more emotional: "where thy heart is there shall +thy treasure be also." The miser having died, St. Anthony said that +his heart would be found in his strong box: this was proved to be the +case, and then when the body was opened it was found that his heart +was absent. The scene is nominally inside a church: in the background +is a procession of clergy and choristers with their cross and candles. +In the centre is the bier with the corpse lying on it. The body is +opened and the crowd looks on in feverish though suppressed +excitement. St. Anthony is pointing towards the dead man: and the +crowd realises that the heart is absent--_ubi thesaurus ibi cor_. +Numbers of people have dropped on to their knees, others kiss the +ground where the saint stands. There are signs of distress and +apprehension on all sides. Some children scuttle back to their +parents; one of the mothers bends down to catch her child just as it +is going to fall. Two boys have climbed on to an altar or pedestal to +get a better view: one of them wears the peaked cap still worn by the +undergraduates of _Padova la dotta_. The whole scene is immensely +dramatic and grim, without any frenzy or excess; and its solemn effect +is enhanced by the reserve of the people in spite of their excitement. +The background is full of detail, largely obtained by the chisel: one +part of it, with the stairs, ladders and upper storey, resembles the +Lille relief. There are two important inscriptions, cut into the +metal, to which reference will be made later. The subject of the third +relief (now placed on the retable and already getting dimmed by +candle-grease) is the healing of the youth Leonardo, who kicked his +mother and confessed to St. Anthony, who properly observed that so +sinful a foot should be cut off. The injunction was taken too +literally, and the saint's miraculous power replaced the severed limb. +Strictly speaking, this miracle takes place in the open air, for +Donatello has introduced a rudimentary sun with most symmetrical rays, +and half a dozen clouds which look like faults in the casting. But the +whole relief is framed by an architectural structure, some +amphitheatre with the seats ranged like steps. A balustrade runs all +round the huge building, and a number of idlers standing about at the +far end are reduced to insignificant proportions, thus giving +distance and depth to the scene. Leonardo lies on the ground in sad +pain, and Anthony has just restored the foot. The central group is not +much animated, but two or three of the men's heads are telling +character-studies. Donatello has concentrated his crowd into the +centre: at the sides the miracle passes unheeded. A fat man is +soliloquising with his hand reposing on an ample stomach: a boy with a +long stick and something like a knapsack on his back is attracting the +attention of a young woman, who seems absorbed in watching the +miracle: her child tries to pull her along to go closer. In the corner +are some strange recumbent figures, almost classical in idea; and a +tall woman completely veiled, with her face buried in her hands. The +last of the reliefs illustrates St. Anthony's power over animals. One +Bovidilla, a sceptic, possessed a mule; the saint offered the +consecrated wafer to the animal when starving, and Bovidilla was +converted by the refusal of the animal to eat it. The scene takes +place within a church, which, so far as we see the apse and choir, is +composed of three symmetrical chapels with vaulted and coffered roofs. +There is plenty of classical detail, but still more of the +Renaissance; there is no occasion to assume the design to have been +copied from the Tempio di Pace or the Caracalla baths. St. Anthony +occupies the centre, and the kneeling mule is on the right, his master +close at hand. The church is crowded with people, who, on the whole, +show more curiosity than reverence. Several garrulous boys by the door +are amused; an old beggar hobbles in; a mother tries to keep a child +quiet. Others take any post they can secure, and a good many are +crouching on the ground in all sorts of postures, making a variety +which amounts to unevenness. In all these panels the head of St. +Anthony is of a finer type than that shown in the other version on +the altar. The features are clear cut, and there is an air of earnest +distinction which is not observed on the large statue. Speaking +generally, one notices that while ample scope is allowed to the +fancies of picturesque architecture in all these reliefs, Donatello +always keeps it within proper bounds. Donatello was not tempted into +the interacting problems of perspective and _intarsia_, which caused +so many Paduan artists to lose grasp of the wider aspects of their +calling. Then we notice how the crowd _qua_ crowd plays its proper +part: out of some two hundred faces in these panels not more than two +or three look out to the spectator--a quality inherited by Mantegna. +The reliefs are essentially local pictures of local significance; not +only the costume, but the types are Paduan, such as we find in the +local school of painting: but we find nothing of the kind in Donatello +before the journey to the north, and the types scarcely reappear on +the altar of San Lorenzo. But, in spite of this, the reliefs have a +catholicity which extends their influence far beyond the limits within +which Donatello confined his work. Finally, the wealth of local +colouring and animation makes these reliefs among the earliest in +which "genre" or "conversation" has prominence. They offer a most +striking contrast to the sedate Florentine crowds painted in the +Brancacci chapel by Masaccio. + +[Footnote 197: _Cf._ Battle of Romans and Barbarians, No. 12. Museo +Nazionale, Rome.] + +[Footnote 198: Battle, Casa Buonarroti, Florence.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +SYMBOL OF ST. MATTHEW + +SANT' ANTONIO, PADUA] + + +[Sidenote: The Symbols of the Evangelists.] + +There are four other bronze reliefs, the Symbols of the Evangelists. +Donatello has contrived to invest these somewhat awkward themes with +alternate drama and poetry. The emblems of Ezekiel's vision were too +intricate for Western art, and long before the fifteenth century they +had been reduced to the simple forms of the lion, ox, eagle and angel, +with no attribute except wings. All four reliefs are rectangular, +about eighteen inches square. The ox is, of course, the least +inspiring, and here as elsewhere is treated in a dry perfunctory +manner. The oxen on the façade of Laon Cathedral offered some scope to +the sculptor, being life-sized; but in a small relief the subject was +not attractive. The lion is more vigorously treated. As a work of +natural history he is better than the Marzocco, and he has a certain +heraldic extravagance as well. The limbs have tension, the muscles are +made of steel, and there is strength and watchfulness, attributes +which led the early architects to rest the pilasters of the pulpit and +portal upon lions' backs. But the eagle of St. John is superb, even +grander than the famous classical marble of the same subject.[199] It +has the broad expanse of wings, vibrating as though the bird were +about to take flight: the long lithe body with its soft pectoral +feathers, the striking claws, and the flattened head with cruel +gleaming eye, all combine to give a _terribilità_ which is, perhaps, +unsurpassed in all the countless versions of the symbol. But the drama +of the eagle is eclipsed by the quiet unostentatious poetry of the +angel of St. Matthew. We see a girl of intense grace and refinement, +winged as an angel and looking modestly downwards to the open gospel +in her hands. Delicacy is the keynote pervading every detail of the +relief: in her hands, arms and throat, in the soft curves of the young +frame, and in the drapery itself, which suggests all that is dainty +and pure--everywhere, in fact, we find charm and tenderness, rare even +in a man like Ghiberti, almost unique in Donatello. + +[Footnote 199: The Walpole Eagle from the Tiber, belonging to the Earl +of Wemyss.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: The Choir of Angels.] + +In the original contract with Donatello, ten angels were commissioned, +and were exhibited on the provisional wooden altar (13, vi. '48). It +appears, however, that they were insufficient, and two more panels +were ordered. These may possibly be the reliefs in each of which a +couple of angels are represented singing, certainly the most +successful of all. There is a palpable inequality in the remainder. +They not only show differences of treatment in the details of drapery, +chiselling and general decoration, but there is a substantial lack of +harmony in their broad conception. It is impossible to believe that +the two angels leaning inwards against the edge of the relief (the +fourth respectively from either end of the altar) could have been +modelled by Donatello. Not only are they vulgar and commonplace, but +they are malformed: well might Donatello long for criticism and +censure if these two stupid little urchins were standards of his +production. Next to one of these pipers is a child playing the lute, +delicious in every respect: he is made by the genius, the other by the +hack. They contrast in every particular--drapery, anatomy, face and +technique. The lutist is admirable as he looks down at his instrument +to catch the note; capital also is the boy playing the double pipe, +with the close drapery swirling about his plump limbs, as one sees in +San Francesco of Rimini, that temple dedicated to Isotta and to +Childhood. The head of the boy playing the harp shows the best +characteristics of this group. The hair is relatively short, and falls +in thick glossy ringlets over his ears; it is bound by a heavy chaplet +of leaves and rosettes; above this wreath the hair is smooth and +orderly. There was no occasion to exclude the pleasing little touches, +as in the case of the Cantoria children, where deep holes penetrate +the children's hair, so that the "distance should not consume the +diligence." At Padua, where the choristers were to be seen a few feet +only from the ground, the sculptor's efforts to show the warm shades +and recesses of the hair were amply repaid. The boys singing the duets +differ from the remainder: they are busily occupied with their music, +carefully following the score. The disposition of two children in a +panel only large enough for one has not been so successfully met as +when Abraham and Isaac were fitted into the narrow niche on the +Campanile; but the affectionate attitude of these boys and their +sincerity make one overlook a slight technical shortcoming. The two +heads in close proximity give a certain sense of atmosphere between +them, not easily rendered when one of them had to be modelled in +comparatively high-relief. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +CHORISTERS + +SANT' ANTONIO, PADUA] + + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +CHORISTERS + +SANT' ANTONIO, PADUA] + + +[Illustration: CHRIST MOURNED BY ANGELS + +LONDON] + + +[Sidenote: The Pietà and the Entombment.] + +The remaining work for the high altar consists of a marble Entombment +and a bronze relief of Christ mourned by Angels, treated as a Pietà. +The tabernacle door, which occupies the centre of the high altar, +differs in shape, quality and design from everything else, and is +wholly unworthy of its prominent position. The lower relief is, +however, a work of exceptional interest. It is placed in the centre of +the frontal with the reliefs of choristers on either side of it, a +tragic culmination to all the happy children around it. The Christ is +resting upright in the tomb, half of the figure only being visible. +The head is bowed and the hands crossed: the face is wan and haggard. +The body is modelled to emphasise the pronounced lines of the big +curve formed by the ribs from which the lower part of the body is fast +sinking: Donatello did the same thing with the crucifix. An angel +stands at each side of the Christ, holding up a curtain or pall behind +the figure. Each of these boys has a hand pressed against his cheek, +the picture of tragedy: they weep over the dead Saviour, their anguish +is indescribable. In the marble version of the same subject in +London,[200] the angels are actually supporting the Christ, who, +without their maintenance, would fall down. His head is resting +against one of the children's hands: one of the arms has slipped down +inanimate, while the other hangs over the shoulder of the second +angel, a consummate rendering of what is dead: the veins are tumified, +the skin is shrinking, and the muscles are uncontrolled. This Christ +is in some ways the more remarkable plastic achievement, though it is +not so characteristic as the Paduan version. The two reliefs are +probably coeval, though that in London, with its attendant angels, has +indications of being rather earlier in date, and almost shows the hand +of Michelozzo in one or two details. But the head of Christ, with its +short thin beard, and the hair held back by a corded fillet, is +similar to much that is exclusively Paduan. The Entombment, a very +large marble relief, consists of eight life-sized figures, four of +whom are lowering the body into the sepulchre. Here for the first time +we have that frenzied and impassioned scene which became so common in +Northern Italy. The Entombment on the St. Peter's Tabernacle is +insipid by the side of this, where grief leads the Magdalen to tear +out thick handfuls of her hair; others throw up their hands as they +abandon themselves, as they scream in ungovernable sorrow. It is a +riot of woe, and the more solemn figures who are engaged with the dead +body have grown grey with care. This relief dates a new departure: the +Entombment and other episodes of the Passion henceforward lose their +calm emblematic character, and are fraught with tragedy and gloom. +Donatello's relief became the prototype for the Bellini, for Mantegna, +and a host of artists who, without, perhaps, having seen the original, +drew their inspiration from what it had already inspired. For a while +this intensification of the last scenes of Christ's life bore good +fruit for art, especially in the northern provinces: but after a +certain point nervous exhaustion ensued and produced a kind of +hysteria, where the Magdalen's tears must end in convulsive laughter, +and where the tragedy is so demonstrative that the solemn element is +utterly lost.[201] The profound pathos and teaching of the earlier +scenes were exchanged for what was theatrical. But Tragedy always held +a place in Italian, or rather in Christian art: it was out of place in +antiquity. The smiling and perennial youth of the gods, their +happinesses, loves, and adventures, gave relatively small scope for +the personal aspects of tragedy. There was no need for vicarious or +redemptive suffering: what pain existed, and they rarely expressed it +in marble, was human in its origin and punitive in effect: Icarus, +Niobe, Laocoon, Prometheus; and even here the proprieties of good +taste imposed strict limits, beyond which the portrayal of tragedy +could not go without violating unwritten laws. It had to occupy a +secondary place in their art: the dying gladiator was merely a broken +toy tossed aside. Their tragedies were largely limited to Nemesis, the +Moirai, the Erinnydes, and lower forms, such as harpies. But +occasionally one gets a breath of mediævalism and its haunting +mysteries. The Sleeping Fury at Rome, for instance,[202] where sleep +steals in during a moment of respite from torture, is superb, and, +moreover, stands almost alone in its presentment of a certain +impelling tragedy, which, with the advent of Christianity, became an +integral and dominating feature of its art. + +[Footnote 200: Victoria and Albert Museum, No. 7577, 1861. M.G. +Dreyfus has a fine plaquette analogous to these large reliefs.] + +[Footnote 201: _Cf._, for instance, Madame André's Pietà lunette, or +the stone "Lamentation" in Victoria and Albert Museum, No. 314, 1878, +almost German in its harsh realism. This came from the Palazzo Lazzara +at Padua.] + +[Footnote 202: In Ludovisi Buoncompagni Collection, Museo Nazionale, +marble. _Cf._ also the bust of Minatia Polla, so called, which might +be by Verrocchio.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +SUPER ALTAR BY GIOVANNI DA PISA + +EREMITANI CHURCH, PADUA] + + +[Sidenote: Donatello's Assistants.] + +The variety of workmanship at Padua would be an infallible proof that +Donatello had the assistance of a number of disciples, even if we had +no documentary evidence on the point. Bandinelli refers to their +numbers: when needing help he wrote to the Grand Duke saying that +Donatello always had eighteen or twenty assistants, without whose aid +it would have been impossible for him to have made the Paduan +altar.[203] But we also possess bills, contracts, and schedules, in +which we can find the names of Donatello's _garzoni_. The work, it +must be remembered, was not wholly confined to sculpture: among the +earliest recorded payment to Donatello is that for structural work on +the Loggia (30, iii. 1444). Giovanni Nani of Florence was already +engaged there (3, iii. 43) as a sort of master mason on Donatello's +arrival: he made the marble pedestal for the crucifix (19, vi. 47), +and several others are mentioned in a subordinate capacity, such as +Niccolo Cocaro (23, iv. 49), Meo and Pipo of Florence (30, iv. 49), +Antonio of Lugano, _taia pria_ (12, v. 49); Bartolomeo of Ferrara went +to Valstagna to open up the quarry--_una montagna de lo alabastro_ +(13, viii. 46). Employment was also given to Jacomo, a goldsmith (9, +v. 48), to Squarcione the painter (21, xi. 47), to Moscatelo, the +maker of majolica (v. 49), and to Giovanni da Becato, who made a metal +grille behind the altar. Francesco del Mayo and Andrea delle Caldiere +were the chief bronze casters; a dozen or fifteen other names are +recorded. None of these can have had much influence on the sculpture +itself; but there were men of greater calibre, Giovanni da Pisa, +Urbano da Cortona, Antonio Celino of Pisa, and Francesco Valente of +Florence. Though called _garzoni_ and _disipoli_ of Donatello (June +and Sept. 47), they soon became men of trained capacity, and were +specifically mentioned in some of the contracts. Thus it appears that +each was entrusted with one of the evangelist's symbols; they were +also largely responsible for the bronze choristers (27, iv. 46). Their +whims and idiosyncrasies are visible in many particulars: in the halos +for instance. The gospel emblems all have halos, likewise most of the +singing children, whereas there are none on the Madonna and the great +statues of canonised saints on the altar. But it is impossible here to +enter upon the most interesting problem of their respective shares on +the altar sculpture, and how far they were independent of Donatello +beyond the chiselling and polishing of the bronze; the subject would +need discussion at too great length. It is, however, worth while to +refer to some of their work, for which they were exclusively +responsible. Thus the Fulgosio tomb in the Santo, and the superaltar +in the Eremitani at Padua (though much disfigured by paint), show +that Giovanni da Pisa was influenced by Donatello to a remarkable +degree. The composition of the altar consists of a broad relief of the +Madonna with three saints on either side of her: below it is a +_predella_ divided into three panels; above, a frieze of dancing +children similar to those on the pulpits of San Lorenzo. The +composition is crowned by a tympanum and _putti_ suggested by +Donatello's Annunciation. Several of the larger figures might almost +be the work of Donatello, though the personality of Giovanni makes +itself felt throughout. Urbano of Cortona was another interesting man. +He received a commission to decorate the chapel of the Madonna delle +Grazie in the Sienese Cathedral,[204] and he had to make the Symbols +of the Evangelists: _nel fregio ... si debi fare IIII. evangelisti in +forma d'animali_. Donatello himself, _excellentissimus sculptor, seu +magister sculture_,[205] was commissioned later on to work in this +chapel; but there can be no doubt that the angel of St. Matthew, now +preserved in the Opera del Duomo,[206] is the work of Urbano. It is +the identical design of the emblem on the Paduan altar, pleasant in +its way, but differing in all the material elements of charm; but it +is an important document in that it shows a further stage in the +evolution of Donatello through the hand of a painstaking pupil. Of +Celino and Valente our knowledge is less--perhaps because there was +never any friction between the master and his assistants, which gives +so unenviable a record to the relation of Michael Angelo with his +pupils.[207] The two inscriptions on the background of the Miracle of +the Miser's Heart, read as follows: "S. ANT. DI GIOV DE SE E +SUOR[=U]": and "[=S] DI PIERO E BARTOLOMEO E SU[=O]." They have been +variously interpreted. Some have suggested that they indicate the +names of donors, or that the letter s means _sepulchrum_, and that +they are in the nature of epitaphs. It would seem more probable that +they are signatures of those who were occupied in giving final touches +to the chiselling of the background. + +[Footnote 203: 7, xii. 1549. Printed in Bottari, ii. 70.] + +[Footnote 204: 19, x. 1451. Milanesi, ii. 271.] + +[Footnote 205: 17. x. 1457; _ibid._ 295.] + +[Footnote 206: Marble, No. 149.] + +[Footnote 207: The rules of the Sienese guild of painters provided +against strife within their own circles by imposing a fine upon +whoever _dicesse vilania o parole ingiuriose al retore_: Art. 55. +Milanesi, i. 25.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +TOMB OF GIOVANNI, SON OF GENERAL GATTAMELATA + +PADUA] + + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +TOMB OF GENERAL GATTAMELATA + +SANT' ANTONIO, PADUA] + + +[Illustration: SHRINE OF ST. JUSTINA + +LONDON] + + +[Sidenote: Bellano and the Gattamelata Tombs.] + +One other sculptor, Bellano, is said by Vasari to have been so much +affected by Donatello's influence that the work of the two men was +often indistinguishable. This places Bellano too high. Scardeone, it +is true, says he was _mirus coelatura_;[208] but Gauricus is more +accurate in calling him _ineptus artifex_.[209] He was really a +lugubrious person, though on rare occasions he made a good thing, +such, for instance, as the statuette of St. Jerome, belonging to M. +Gustave Dreyfus. But his large bas-relief of St. Anthony and the +Mule[210] is stiff and laboured. The tomb of Roycelli, the _monarcha +sapientie_ in the Santo, with its wealth of poverty-stricken +decoration, shows that Bellano was a man who could work on a large +scale, but whose sense of fitness and harmony was weak. So also the +Roccabonella fragments, in spite of a rugged, rough-hewn appearance, +show an absence of ethical and intellectual qualities; while the fussy +and breathless reliefs round the choir of the Santo are farcical in +several respects. There was another man influenced by Donatello, who +must be nameless pending further investigation: his style cannot be +identified with anything on the great altar, but he was a sculptor of +immense power. He made the so-called shrine of Santa Giustina in +London,[211] and the two Gattamelata monuments in the Santo. These +tombs are very simple, consisting of the effigies of the two +Condottieri, fully armed, but with bared heads. Below is a broad stone +relief of children holding the scroll between them, as on the Coscia +tomb in Florence. Above is a lunette containing painting, the whole +composition being framed by a severe moulding, and surmounted by the +family crest and badge. They are most remarkable. The two recumbent +figures lie calm and peaceful: they show the ennobling aspect of +death, the belief in a further existence. This sculptor with his +sensitive touch makes us realise the migration. To "make the good end" +was, indeed, a product of Christianity: antiquity was content if a +man parted from life "handsomely." Greek art can, of course, show no +sign of the Christian virtues of death. Like the Egyptians, their +object was to present the dead as still alive, even where the aid +of fiction had to be invoked. To them sleep and death are often +indistinguishable; often again one is left in doubt as to which of the +figures on a funeral relief represents the departed. With death the +human body, having ceased to be the home of life, ceased also to be a +welcome theme of art. These two Gattamelatas, father and son, have +fought the good fight, and in the carved effigy acquire a statuesque +repose which is full of dignity and pathos. The famous warrior of +Ravenna, Guido Guidarelli as he is called, though of a later date, is +fashioned in the same spirit; showing, moreover, certain peculiarities +in the armour which one notices in the tombs at Padua. The d'Alagni +monument in S. Domenico at Naples, and a tomb in the Carmine of Pisa, +are similar in respect of sentiment. So, too, is the shrine of Santa +Giustina in London, of which the details as well as the organic +treatment leave no doubt as to its authorship, so closely does it +resemble the tomb of Giovanni Gattamelata. It is a work of singular +refinement and beauty. We see the recumbent figure of the saint on the +façade of a sarcophagus, at either side of which are little angels +made by the same hand and at the same date as those on Giovanni's +tomb. Santa Giustina is modelled in low-relief; the sculptor seems to +draw in the stone, and the drapery is like linen: not a blanket or +counterpane, but some thin clinging material which is moulded to the +form below. In some ways this precious work is analogous to the more +famous bas-relief belonging to the Earl of Wemyss, the St. Cecilia +which has been ascribed to Donatello. This wonderful thing is not well +known: it has been seldom exhibited, and the photograph by which it is +usually judged is taken from a reproduction moulded a generation ago. +The original, of rather slaty Lavagna stone, has never been +photographed, and the cast, many thousands of which exist, entirely +fails to show the intangible and diaphanous qualities of the original. +The widespread popularity of the St. Cecilia would (if possible) be +enhanced were we more familiar with the genuine work itself. It is +certainly one of the most accomplished examples of Italian plastic +art; not, indeed, by Donatello himself, for there is a softness and +glamour which cannot be associated with his chisel. But it has the +unequalled tenderness and grace for which the Gattamelata tomb is +so notable, placing its nameless author in the highest ranks of +Italian sculpture. + +[Footnote 208: "De antiq. urbis Patavii," 1560, p. 374.] + +[Footnote 209: "De Sculptura," 1504, gathering f.] + +[Footnote 210: Marble, in Sacristy of S. Antonio.] + +[Footnote 211: Victoria and Albert Museum, No. 75, 1879.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +GENERAL GATTAMELATA + +PADUA] + + +[Sidenote: Gattamelata.] + +Erasmo Narni, General Gattamelata, died in 1443, and the Venetians, +whom he had honourably served, granted the privilege of a site in the +tributary town of Padua for the monument, the cost of which was borne +by the family of the dead Condottiere. Donatello had to reconstruct +the anatomy of a horse on a colossal scale. He was faced by the +formidable task of making the first equestrian bronze statue erected +in Italy during the Renaissance, and no model existed except the +antique statue of Marcus Aurelius at Rome. Donatello was, however, +familiar with the four horses on the façade of San Marco at Venice. He +undertook to complete the Gattamelata monument by September 1453, but +the bulk of the casting was finished as early as 1448, though the +chiselling and chasing of the bronze required further work for two or +three years. The statue was placed on the pedestal before the agreed +date, and a conference was held at Venice to settle the price.[212] +There were four assessors on either side, and it was finally agreed +that the total payment should be a sum equivalent to about two +thousand guineas in our own day. Donatello does not seem to have been +hampered by his lack of experience. The work is adroitly handled, the +technical difficulty of welding the large pieces of bronze is +successfully overcome, and the metal is firm and self-supporting. +There are faults, of course, though the fact that the horse ambles +need not be considered an error. But the relative proportions of the +horse and rider are not quite accurately preserved, Gattamelata being, +if anything, rather below the right scale. The monument is, however, +so massive and grandiose that criticism seems out of place; indeed, in +the presence of the statue one feels that everything is subordinated +to the power and mastery of Gattamelata himself. The general is +bareheaded, and the strong courageous face is modelled with directness +and energy. The gesture is commanding, and he rides easily in the +saddle. Colleone's statue at Venice is superior in many ways: yet the +radical distinction between them is that whereas Gattamelata is the +faithful portrait of a modest though successful warrior, it must be +confessed that Verrocchio makes an idealised soldier of fortune, full +of bravado and swagger, a _Malbrook s'en va-t-en guerre_ of the +Quattrocento. But, striking as the contrast of sentiment is, +noticeable alike in the artist and his model, these two statues remain +the finest equestrian monuments in the world, their one possible rival +being Can Grande at Verona. Donatello has decorated Gattamelata's +saddle and armour with a mass of delicate and vivacious detail, which +modifies the severity without distracting the eye. The _putti_ which +act as pommels to the saddle are delightful little figures, and the +damascened and chased fringes of the armour are excellent. Moreover, +the armour does not overweight the figure. The horse, of rather a +thick and "punchy" breed, is well suited to carry a heavy load; he is +full of spirit, and is neighing and chafing, as the old critics +pointed out. An enormous wooden horse, some twenty-four feet long, is +preserved in the Sala della Raggione at Padua. It used to belong to +the Capodalista family, and has been considered Donatello's model +for the Gattamelata charger. This is unlikely, and it was more +probably used in some procession, being ridden by a huge emblematic +figure. It is improbable that Donatello should have done more than +sketch the design; but the head of the horse is admirable, with the +feathery ears and bushy topknot which one finds in the Venice +quadriga, on Gattamelata's steed, and on the colossal bronze head of a +horse now preserved in the Naples Museum. This used to be considered +an antique, but it is now established beyond all question that +Donatello made it; and it was presented in 1471 to Count Mataloni by +Lorenzo de' Medici. It is an interesting work, defective in some +places, and treated similarly to classical examples; indeed, Donatello +was obviously influenced in all his equine statuary by the most +obvious classical horses at his command, namely, those at Venice. He +does not seem to have taken ideas from the Marcus Aurelius, which he +had not seen for upwards of ten years when commissioned to make the +Gattamelata. The base of the statue is simple, but scarcely worthy of +the monument it supports. The pedestal made by Leopardi for the +Colleone monument is both more decorative and dignified. On +Donatello's pedestal there are two marble reliefs of winged boys +holding the general's helmet, badge and cuirass. The reliefs on the +monument are copies of the maimed originals now preserved in a dark +passage of the Santo cloister. There must be many statues elsewhere, +now taken for originals, which are nothing more than replicas of what +had gradually perished. If one closely examines the sculpture on some +of the church façades--Siena Cathedral, for instance--one finds that +most of the statues are only held together by numberless metal ties +and clamps; and one may safely assume that many of those in really +good condition have been placed there at later dates. + +[Footnote 212: 29, vi. 1453. Donatello is still described as _abitante +in Padova_.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +COLLEONE + +VENICE] + + +[Sidenote: Smaller Reliefs and Plaquettes.] + +The Gattamelata reliefs seem to be sixteenth-century work. They show a +detail of which Donatello and his scholars were fond, namely, the +Medusa's head. It reappears on the Martelli Patera[213] and on the +sword-hilt in the Royal Armoury at Turin. The former has been ascribed +to Donatello, but the attribution is untenable. It is a bronze +medallion of a Satyr and Bacchante, executed with much skill, but not +recalling the spirit or handling of Donatello. It is an admirable +example of the bronze-work which became popular in Northern Italy, to +which Donatello gave the initial impetus, and which soon became +ultra-classical in style. The sword-hilt is more interesting, and it +is signed "Opus Donatelli Flo." Some of the detail has a richness +which might suggest rather a later date; but the general outline, +especially the small crouching _putti_, was, no doubt, designed by the +master. The history of this curious and unusual specimen is unknown, +and it is outside Donatello's sphere of activity. Michael Angelo, it +may be remembered, also had the caprice of making a sword for the +Aldobrandini family. The manufacture of plaquettes, small bronze +plates which were widely used for decorating caskets, inkstands, +candlesticks, &c., became a specialised art; and some of these dainty +reliefs are possibly made from Donatello's own designs. There are, +however, a few larger bronzes of greater importance in which his +personality was able to assert itself more freely than in the reduced +plaquettes. But the work of scholars and imitators has been +frequently mistaken for Donatello's own productions. Thus the Ambras +(Vienna) relief of the Entombment, with its exaggerated ideas of +classical profile, must be the work of a scholar. The Sportello at +Venice[214] also shows later Renaissance decoration in its rich +arabesques, though two hands seem to have been employed--the four +central _putti_ and the two angels being more Donatellesque than the +remainder. The relief of the Flagellation in Paris[215] is more +important, as we have a rugged and severe treatment both in the +subject and its execution: but the summary treatment of such details +as the hair makes one doubtful if Donatello can have been wholly +responsible. A somewhat analogous Flagellation in Berlin[216] is the +work of a clever but halting plagiarist. He has inserted a +Donatellesque background of arches showing the lines of stonework, and +a pleasant detached girl who reminds us of the figure on the Siena and +St. George reliefs. But the imitator's weak hand is betrayed by the +anatomy of the three principal figures. The positions are those of +force and energy, but there is no tension or muscular effort, and +there is no vestige of vigour in the rounded backs and soft limbs. +Even if Donatello furnished the original sketch, it is quite +impossible that he should have executed or approved the carving. +Madame André's Martyrdom of St. Sebastian is work in which the +finishing-touches were probably added by a pupil, but this striking +composition shows dramatic qualities which one must associate with +Donatello himself. So also the tondo Madonna belonging to M. Gustave +Dreyfus, in which the figures are ranged behind a balustrade, making +the "garden enclosed"--a popular symbolical treatment of the Virgin +and Child--is doubtless from one of Donatello's designs.[217] Though +imperfect, the London Deposition or Lamentation[218] is an important +work, and has a value as showing the methods of fastening figures in +relief on to the foundation of the background, though in this case the +bulk of the background is missing. Three other reliefs should be +mentioned, all representing Christ on the Cross. Of these, the Berlin +example,[219] though sadly injured since its acquisition for the +museum, is notable; being, in fact, a genuine sketch by Donatello +himself, and in a degree comparable to the clay study of the same +subject in London.[220] The bronze relief, belonging to Comte Isaac de +Camondo in Paris, is a most remarkable work of the Paduan period. +Donatello has succeeded in conveying the sense of desolating tragedy +without any adventitious aid of violence or movement. The whole thing +is massive, and treated with a studied simplicity which concentrates +the silence and loneliness of the scene. It is superb, and superior to +a varied treatment of the same subject in the Bargello. In this +well-known relief the crowded scene is full of turmoil and confusion. +In the foreground are the relatives and disciples of Christ. Many +soldiers are introduced, some of whom closely resemble the tall +men-at-arms in Mantegna's frescoes at Padua. Donatello's hand is +obvious in the angels and in the three crucified figures, which are +modelled with masterly conviction. The rest of the composition has +been ruthlessly gilded and chased until the statuesque lines are lost +in a mass of tiresome detail; which is regrettable, for the conception +is fine. + +[Footnote 213: Victoria and Albert Museum, No. 8717, 1863.] + +[Footnote 214: Museo Archeologico, Doge's Palace.] + +[Footnote 215: Louvre, "His de la Salle Collection," No. 385.] + +[Footnote 216: Marble, No. 39 B.] + +[Footnote 217: _Cf._ a Donatellesque stucco Madonna beneath a +_baldachino_ belonging to Signor Bardini, who also possesses a stucco +Entombment similar to the London bronze.] + +[Footnote 218: Victoria and Albert Museum, No. 8552, 1863. Bronze.] + +[Footnote 219: Stucco No. 41.] + +[Footnote 220: See p. 62.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +MADONNA AND CHILD + +SIENA CATHEDRAL] + + +[Illustration: _W.A. Mansell_ + +"PAZZI" MADONNA + +BERLIN] + + +[Sidenote: The Madonnas.] + +A whole treatise would be required to describe all the Madonnas which +have been attributed to Donatello. Within the limits of this volume +the discussion must be confined to certain groups which are directly +related to him, ignoring a much larger number of subordinate interest. +The tendency is to ascribe to Donatello many more than he can possibly +have made--varying inversely from the attitude of modern criticism, +which has asserted that not twenty paintings by Giorgione have +survived. Hundreds of artists must have made these Madonnas, of which +only a small minority are in bronze or marble. Many names of sculptors +are recorded to whom we can only attribute one or two works; the +remainder being generically ascribed to the school of some great man, +and often enough to the great man himself. The bulk of these reliefs +of the Madonna and Child are in stucco, terra-cotta, carta pesta and +gesso--cheap malleable materials which were easily and rapidly worked: +the reliefs were manufactured in great numbers for the market. Then +again, well-known works were cast, and small differences in colour and +finish often gave them the semblance of original work. Vasari says +that almost every artist in Florence possessed a cast of Pollaiuolo's +battle-piece.[221] Such facsimiles are eagerly sought after nowadays, +and are treated as genuine works of the sculptor. It must also be +remembered that during the last decades there has been a systematic +multiplication of these reliefs, and that forgeries can be found in +most of the great collections of Europe. The first difficulty +encountered in trying to discept between Donatello and his school, is +that authenticated examples from which to make our inductions are very +rare. Donatello certainly made Madonnas in relief: Vasari mentions +half a dozen; Neroccio, the Sienese sculptor, possessed _una Madonna +di gesso di Donatello_.[222] There are Madonnas on the tombs of Pope +John and Cardinal Brancacci. The latter shows no trace of Donatello's +craft, and the former is of indifferent merit, and was certainly not +made by Donatello alone. There are two Madonnas at Padua, one the +large altar statue, the other a tiny relief three inches in diameter +on one of the bronze Miracle panels. The sources of stylistic data are +therefore most scanty. One may say generally that in the authenticated +Virgins as well as in the other heads of women, Donatello makes a +marked nasal indenture, thus separating him from those later men who +drew their heads with the classical profile, showing a straight and +continuous line from the forehead down the nose. But even this cannot +be pressed too far. As regards the Christ, Donatello seems to preserve +the essence and immaturity of childhood. His treatment of the Child is +never hieratic, and it is always full of warm human sentiment. The +Paduan relief, for instance, is almost a _genre_ representation of a +mother and child, domestic and intimate, with nothing but the halos to +indicate the higher meaning of the theme. Having said so much, we come +to the other Madonnas which are assigned on various grounds to +Donatello: those known as the Madonnas Pazzi, Orlandini, Siena +Cathedral, Pietra Piana; the London oval, the Madonna of the Rose, +the Capella Medici group, and the Piot and Courajod Madonnas in the +Louvre. All of these have one or more features which conflict with our +ideas of Donatello. It is impossible to say that any one of them must +inevitably be by Donatello himself; none of them carry their own +sign-manual of authenticity. The Pazzi Madonna in Berlin[223] is now +generally ascribed to Donatello himself, and certainly no more +grandiose version of the subject exists. The Virgin is holding up the +Child close to her beautiful face; she broods over him, and the +countenance is full of foreboding. The solemnity of the large Paduan +Madonna is visible here, and it is only made to apply to the Virgin, +for the Child is a typical _bambino_. So, too, in the relief outside +the transept door of Siena Cathedral we find this grim careworn +expression and the sense of impending drama: the massacre of the +Innocents is still to come. This relief, a marble _tondo_, is in such +abnormally perfect condition that one wonders if it may not be a later +_replica_ of some original which the atmosphere disintegrated. +Donatello must have provided the design; at any rate, it is difficult +to suggest an alternative name. The four winged cherubs are, however, +lifeless and ill-drawn, while the Christ is more like some of the +_putti_ on the Aragazzi reliefs than Donatello's typical boy. The +share of Michelozzo in the reliefs ascribed to Donatello is larger +than has been hitherto acknowledged. The Orlandini Madonna[224] yearns +like a tigress as she holds up her child and gazes into its face; here +again we have a composition for which Donatello must have been +primarily responsible, though the full profile is attributable to +inefficient handling of the marble rather than to deliberate +intention. Signor Bardini's version of this relief has a delicacy +lacking in the original; one touch of colour removes a certain +awkwardness of the profile. The Madonna in the Via Pietra Piana at +Florence belongs to a different category. Here again the design is +Donatellesque, but the face of the Madonna has a dull and vacant look; +not only is it without the powerful modelling of the Pazzi or Siena +reliefs, but it shows none of the sentiment for which those two +Madonnas are so remarkable. There are several reproductions in Berlin +and London,[225] all differing from the Florentine version in the +drapery of the head-dress. Closely related to this Madonna is another +composition which only exists in soft materials.[226] The Virgin, with +long wavy hair, looks downwards towards her Child, who is looking +outwards to the spectator. This is a work of merit, with something +attractive in the anxious and clinging attitude of the Madonna. The +large clay Madonna and Child in London,[227] the Christ sitting in a +chair and the Virgin with hands joined in worship, has been the +subject of much controversy. There are good grounds for doubting its +authenticity. The angular treatment of the head and a dainty roundness +of the wrist often indicate that Bastianini had a share in this class +of work.[228] This relief has all the merits and demerits of the +circular Piot Madonna in the Louvre.[229] Here, too, the handling of +Bastianini has been detected, though there is a clumsiness which is +seldom seen in the productions of that distinguished artist. The frame +and the background, which are integral features of the composition, +can leave no doubt as to the origin of this work. But the Piot relief +has an interest which the London terra-cotta cannot boast, for a +fifteenth-century original from which the copyist worked is in +existence, now belonging to Signor Bardini. This is a tondo Madonna of +uncoloured stucco, of no particular value in itself; but it is the +model from which the Piot sophistication was contrived; or else it is +a cast from the lost original of marble. It reveals all the whims of +the copyist: the treatment of the hands, the lissome tissue of the +drapery, and the angular structure of the skull. A less interesting +forgery is the marble Madonna in London.[230] Three reproductions of +the lost Donatellesque original exist, the Berlin copy[231] being in +stucco, that at Bergamo terra-cotta. Signor Bardini has an effaced and +poor copy of the same relief, in which the hand of the Madonna is +obviously meant to be holding something; but the stucco has been much +rubbed away and one cannot tell the original intention of the +sculptor. But the two other genuine versions are in better condition +and supply the answer, showing that the Virgin held a large rose +between her fingers. The man who made the London relief copied from +the incomplete version, and carved an empty meaningless hand with the +fingers grasping something which does not exist. + +[Footnote 221: v. 100.] + +[Footnote 222: Mentioned in his will. He died in 1500. Milanesi, iii. +p. 8.] + +[Footnote 223: Marble, No. 39. Versions in soft materials exist in the +Louvre, in the André and Bardini Collections, and a variant in the +Victoria and Albert Museum, No. 7590, 1861.] + +[Footnote 224: Marble, Berlin Museum.] + +[Footnote 225: Victoria and Albert Museum, No. 7412, 1860; Berlin +Museum; collections of Herr von Beckerath and Herr Richard von +Kaufmann.] + +[Footnote 226: Louvre, Berlin Museum; Verona, in the Viccolo Fogge; +_cf._ also the relief under the archway in the Via de' Termini, +Siena.] + +[Footnote 227: Victoria and Albert Museum, No. 57, 1867.] + +[Footnote 228: Giovanni Bastianini, 1830-68, though the _doyen_ of +forgers, did not profit by his dexterity, and died almost penniless.] + +[Footnote 229: Terra-cotta.] + +[Footnote 230: Victoria and Albert Museum, No. 8376, 1863.] + +[Footnote 231: No. 53 E. Bergamo, Morelli Collection, No. +53.] + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +MADONNA AND CHILD + +LOUVRE (NO. 389), PARIS] + +The little oval Madonna in London[232] is a work of much interest. It +is coloured stucco, and Dr. Bode, who has dated it as early as +1420-30, believes it to be the first example of the _Santa +conversazione_ in Italian plastic art. A variant belonging to Dr. +Weisbach in Berlin is of equal importance, and both are probably +original works and not casts. The Berlin relief is not so thickly +painted as the London medallion, and shows signs of the actual +modelling. There are contradictions in these valuable works. The +music-making angels are like a figure on the Salome relief at Siena: +but they are also related to Luca della Robbia's reliefs on the +Campanile, and to a terra-cotta Madonna in London[233] (which reminds +one of the Pellegrini Chapel); Matteo Civitale uses a similar type on +the tomb of St. Regulus at Lucca; while the crowned saint of the +London version was copied at a later date on a well-known plaquette +forming the lid of a box of which several examples exist.[234] The +figure of the Madonna and Child also suggests another hand; and with +the exception of the stone relief in the Louvre, and another derived +from it at Padua,[235] it is the only case in which the Virgin is not +shown in profile. These latter works are bold and vigorous, and must +be ultimately referred to Donatello, the head of the Madonna being +rendered by fluent and precise strokes of the chisel. A bronze relief +in the Louvre (No. 390), which came from Fontainebleau, has +Donatellesque motives; but the spiral coils of hair, and still more +the fact that the Virgin's breasts are hammered into the likeness +of _putti_'s faces--wholly alien to Donatello's serious +ideas--sufficiently prove it to belong to the later Italian school +which flourished at the French Court. The Courajod Madonna (Louvre, +389) is modestly called a schoolpiece; but it is a work of first-class +importance, for which Donatello is to be credited. This is a very +large relief in painted terra, the Madonna being in profile to the +left, with a wan and saddened expression. The arm is stiff and wooden, +while the undercutting of the profile, like that of the Siena tondo, +is so pronounced that, when standing close to the wall on which the +relief is fixed, one can see the Virgin's second eye--unduly prominent +and much too near to the nose. This is a needless and distracting +mannerism, though, of course, the blemish is only noticeable from one +point of view, being quite invisible as one sees the relief from the +front, or in a photograph. The Berlin Museum has another large Madonna +comparable for its scale and rich colouring to the Courajod relief. +This came from the convent of Santa Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi at +Florence.[236] The Child, draped in swaddling-clothes, stands up +leaning against the Virgin, who looks downwards. Above them are four +cherubs, full of character and vivacity, the whole composition being +typical of Donatello, though naturally enough much of the primitive +colouring has disappeared during the last four centuries. One other +group remains to be noticed, founded upon the large marble relief in +the Capella Medici of Santa Croce.[237] We detect Donatello's ideas, +but no sign of his handiwork: neither was he responsible for the +composition, of which the governing feature is a total absence of his +masterly occupation of space. There are also florescent details in the +halos, drapery, and so forth, which are closer to Agostino di Duccio +than to Donatello. Though not all by the same sculptor, these reliefs +are most interesting and suggestive, showing the growth and activity +of a small school which drew some inspiration from Donatello while +preserving its own individuality. We find an intricate treatment of a +very simple idea. As compositions, Donatello's Madonnas were always +simple. But our knowledge of the subject is still empirical, and until +the problem has been further sifted by the most severe tests of +research and criticism, our opinions as to Donatello's personal share +in the array of Madonnas must remain subject to revision. + +[Footnote 232: Victoria and Albert Museum, No. 93, 1882.] + +[Footnote 233: _Ibid._ No. 7594, 1861.] + +[Footnote 234: One was in the Spitzer Collection, another belongs to +M. Gustave Dreyfus.] + +[Footnote 235: No. 294, Davillier bequest; and in the entrance hall to +the Sacristy of the Eremitani at Padua.] + +[Footnote 236: Terra-cotta No. 39a.] + +[Footnote 237: The others are Victoria and Albert Museum, No. 7624, +1861, marble. Berlin Museum, stucco. Madame André, marble, finer than +the London version. Marquise Arconati-Visconti, Paris, marble, and a +rough uncoloured stucco in the Casa Bardini.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _W.A. Mansell_ + +MADONNA (BERLIN) + +FROM SANTA MARIA MADDALENA DEI PAZZI, FLORENCE] + + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +SIDE PANEL OF PULPIT + +SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE] + + +[Sidenote: The Pulpits of San Lorenzo.] + +Donatello was sixty-seven when he returned from Padua. He seems to +have been unsettled during his later years, undertaking ambitious +schemes which he did not execute, and hesitating whether Florence or +Siena should be the home of his old age. The bronze pulpits of San +Lorenzo[238] are the most important works of this period, and they +were left unfinished at his death. Donatello was an old man, and the +work bears witness to his advancing years. Bandinelli says that the +roughness of the modelling was caused by failing eyesight,[239] and it +is obvious that, notwithstanding the signs of feverish activity, +and an apparent desire to get the work finished, much was left +uncompleted at his death. The pulpits were not even erected until a +later date; some of the panels were subsequently added in wood, and +others do not correctly fit into the structural design. But the genius +of Donatello shines through the finishing-touches of his assistants. +Drama is replaced by tragedy; and in these panels the concluding +incidents of the Passion are pictured with intense earnestness and +pathos. But Donatello would not allow gloom to monopolise his +composition. The paradox of the pulpits consists in the frieze of +_putti_ above the reliefs: _putti_ who dance, play, romp, and run +about. Some of them are busily engaged in moving a heavy statue: +others are pressing grapes into big cauldrons. The boy dragging along +a violoncello as big as himself is delightful. The contrast afforded +by this happy and buoyant throng to the unrelieved tragedy below is +strikingly unconventional; and the spirit of both portions is so well +maintained that there is neither conflict of emotion nor sense of +incongruity. The scenes (including those added at a later date) are +sixteen in number. Except the later reliefs of St. John, St. Luke, the +Flagellation, and the Ecce Homo, all are of bronze, upon which more +care seems to have been expended than on the clay models from which +they were cast. On the southern pulpit the scene on the Mount of +Olives shows the foreshortened Apostles sleeping soundly as in +Mantegna's pictures. Christ before Pilate and Christ before Caiaphas +are treated as different episodes, in two similar compartments of one +great hall, separated by a large pier. The Crucifix and the Deposition +are, perhaps, the most remarkable of all these reliefs: corresponding +in many ways to works already described; but not having been +over-decorated like the Bargello relief, show greater dignity and less +confusion. The background of the Deposition is flat, but broken here +and there by faintly-indicated horsemen; naked boys riding on shadowy +steeds like those vague figures which seem to thread their way through +some panel of Gothic tapestry. There is an element of _stiacciato_ in +the Entombment, giving it the air of a mystery rather than of an +historical fact. The draperies are thin and graceful, suited to the +softer modelling of the limbs: some of the faces are almost dainty. +Passing to the northern pulpit, we come to three scenes divided by +heavy buttresses, but unified by figures leaning against them, and +overstepping the lateral boundaries of the reliefs. The subjects are +the Descent into Limbo, the Resurrection and the Ascension. The link +between the two former is a haggard emaciated Baptist. The Christ is +old and tired. The people who welcome him in Limbo are old and tired, +feebly pressing towards the Saviour. The Roman guards lie sleeping, +self abandoned in their fatigue, while Christ, wearied and suffering, +steps from the tomb with manifest effort. One feels that the physical +infirmities of the artist are reflected in these two works, so vivid +in their presentment of the heavy burden of advanced years. But in the +Resurrection a fresh note is struck. The bystanders are gathered round +the Christ, who gives the Benediction. His robe is held back by little +angels, and the scene is pervaded by an atmosphere of staid and +decorous calm. Donatello has treated this relief in a more archaic +spirit. The absence of paroxysms of acute grief, giving a certain +violence to other parts of the pulpits, makes the contrast of this +relief more effective; but, even so, this scene of the Ascension is +fraught with dramatic emphasis. The Descent of the Holy Ghost is +less interesting. There is a monotony in the upraised hands, while the +feeling of devotional rhapsody is perhaps unduly enforced. The relief +of the Maries at the Tomb, which occupies the western end of this +pulpit, is almost Pisanesque in the relative size of the people to the +architecture. There is a combination of trees and pilasters seeming to +support the long low roof beneath which the incident is portrayed. A +curious feeling of intimacy is conveyed to the spectator. The pulpits +are full of classical details--far more so than in anything we find at +Padua. It is very noticeable in the armour of the soldiers, in their +shields bearing the letters S.P.Q.R. and the scorpion, and in the +antique vases which decorate the frieze. The centaurs holding the +cartel on which Donatello has signed his name are, of course, +classical in idea, while the boys with horses are suggested by the +great Monte Cavallo statues.[240] Then, again, the architecture is +replete with classical forms; in one relief Donatello introduces the +Column of Trajan. But here, as elsewhere, the classicisms are held in +check, and never invade or embarrass the dominant spirit of the +Quattrocento. How far Donatello was helped by assistants must remain +problematical in the absence of documentary evidence. Bellano and +Bertoldo were in all probability responsible for a good deal. In the +relief of St. Laurence it is possible that Donatello's share was +relatively small. Moreover, one part of the frieze of children is so +closely allied to the work of Giovanni da Pisa at Padua, that one is +justified, on stylistic grounds, in suggesting that he may also have +been employed. But it is certain that the share of Bellano must have +been limited to the more technical portion of the work, for there is +happily nothing to suggest the poverty of his inventive powers. These +pulpits are very remarkable works; they have an inexhaustible wealth +of detail in which Donatello can be studied with endless pleasure. The +backgrounds are full of his architectural fancy, and the sustained +effort put forth by Donatello is really astonishing. But he was an +octogenarian, and there are signs of decay. Michael Angelo and +Beethoven decayed. Dante and Shakespeare were too wise to decay; +Shelley and Giorgione died too young. But the sculptor's intellect +must be reinforced by keen eyes and a steady hand: of all artists, +Nature finds him most vulnerable. Donatello's last work shows the +fatigue of hand and eye, though the intellect never lost its ardent +and strenuous activity. There was no petulance or meanness in his old +age, no decadence; he merely grew old, and his personality was great +until the end. + +[Footnote 238: Properly speaking, they are ambones. They stand in the +west end of the nave of the church close to the junction of the +transepts.] + +[Footnote 239: 7, xii. 1547. "_... Donato non fece mai la più brutta +opera_," &c. Letter printed in Bottari, i. 70.] + +[Footnote 240: It is probable that these famous horses were mere +wrecks in the fifteenth century. At any rate, Lafreri's engraving of +1546 shows one of them without breast or forelegs, the remainder of +the horse being nothing but a large pillar of brick. Herr von Kaufmann +has an admirable statuette of Donatello's latter period modelled from +the horses on the San Lorenzo frieze. _Cf._ also Mantegna in the +Madonna di San Zeno, Verona.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Alinari_ + +END PANEL OF PULPIT + +SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE] + + +[Sidenote: Donatello's Influence on Sculpture.] + +The influence of Donatello on his three greatest contemporaries was +small. Jacopo della Quercia always retained his own massive style. +Luca della Robbia and Ghiberti--the Euphuist of Italian +sculpture--were scarcely affected by the sterner principles of +Donatello. All four men were, in fact, exponents of distinct and +independent ideas, and handed on their traditions to separate groups +of successors. Nanni di Banco and Il Rosso were, however, impressed +by Donatello's monumental work, while other sculptors, such as Simone +Fiorentino, Vecchietta, Michelozzo, Andrea del Aquila and Buggiano +(besides much anonymous talent) were largely influenced by him. It is +owing to the fact that Donatello was the most influential man of his +day that so many "schoolpieces" exist.[241] The influence on his +successors is less easily determined, except so far as concerns the +men who worked for him at Padua, together with Riccio, the most +skilful bronze caster of his day, who indirectly owed a good deal to +Donatello. But Urbano da Cortona and his colleagues produced little +original work after their return from Padua: their training seems to +have merged their individuality into the dominant style of Donatello; +and much of their subsequent work is now ascribed to Donatello or his +_bottega_. Verrocchio, whom Gauricus calls Donatello's rival, owes +little or nothing to the elder man, and the versatile sculptors who +outlived Donatello, such as Rossellino, Benedetto da Maiano, Mino da +Fiesole and Desiderio, show relatively small traces of his influence. +But Donatello's sculpture acted as a restraining influence, a tonic: +it was a living protest against flippancy and carelessness, and his +influence was of service even where it was of a purely negative +character. Through Bertoldo Donatello's influence extended to Michael +Angelo, affecting his ideas of form: But Jacopo della Quercia, who was +almost as great a man as Donatello, is the prototype of Michael +Angelo's spirit. Jacopo ought to have founded a powerful, indeed an +overwhelming school of sculpture at Siena. Cozzarelli, Neroccio, and +the Turini just fail to attain distinction; but their force and +virility should have fructified Jacopo's ideas and developed a supreme +school of monumental sculpture. As regards Michael Angelo, there can +be no question of his having been influenced by Donatello's St. John +the Evangelist and the Campanile Abraham. The _Madonna delle +treppe_[242] in a lesser degree is suggested by Donatello. The Trinity +on the niche of St. Louis again reminds one of Michael Angelo's +conception of the Eternal Father. His Bacchus in Berlin[243] was held +to be the work of Donatello himself, and the Pietà in St. Peter's has +also a reminiscence of the older master. But in all these cases the +resemblance is physical. The intellectual genius of Michael Angelo +owed nothing to Donatello. Condivi records one of Michael Angelo's +rare _obiter dicta_ about his predecessors[244] to the effect that +Donatello's work, much as he admired it, was inadequately polished +owing to lack of patience. The criticism was not very sagacious, and +one would least expect it from Michael Angelo, of whose work so much +was left unfinished. But, at any rate, Donatello commanded his +approval, and contributed something to one of the greatest artists of +the world. But the ideals of Michael Angelo were too comprehensive to +be derived from one source or another, too stupendous to spring from +individuals. He sought out the universal form: he took mankind for his +model; and while he typified humanity he effectively denationalised +Italian sculpture. + +[Footnote 241: _E.g._, work wrongly attributed to Donatello: the +figure of Plenty in the courtyard of the Canigiani Palace, Florence; +the Lavabo in San Lorenzo; the two figures on the famous silver altar +at Pistoja; the bronze busts in the Bargello; the font at Pietra +Santa; chimney-pieces, gateways, _stemme_, and numberless Madonnas and +small bronzes.] + +[Footnote 242: Casa Buonarroti, Florence.] + +[Footnote 243: From the Gualandi Collection. It is attributed by some +to a Neapolitan sculptor.] + +[Footnote 244: "Vita," 1553, p. 14.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Early Criticism of Donatello.] + +Donatello's activity is the best testimonial to the appreciation of +his work during his lifetime. Sabba del Castiglione was proud to +possess a specimen of Donatello's sculpture.[245] Commissions were +showered on him in great numbers, and Gauricus says that he produced +more than all his contemporaries.[246] Flavius Blondius of Forli +compares him favourably with the ancients.[247] Bartolomeo Fazio +warmly praised Donatello, his junior.[248] Francesco d'Olanda[249] and +Benvenuto Cellini[250] also admired him. Lasca credited Donatello with +having done for sculpture what Brunellesco did for architecture: + + "_E Donatello messe la scultura + Nel dritto suo sentier ch' era smarrita + Cosi l'architettura + Storpiata, e guasta alle man' de' Tedeschi...._" + +and so forth.[251] Another early poem, the _Rappresentazione_ of King +Nebuchadnezzar, shows the great popularity of Donatello in the humbler +walks of life.[252] Vasari's rhetoric led him to say that Donatello +was sent by Nature, indignant at seeing herself caricatured.[253] +Bocchi claims that, having equalled the ancients and surpassed the +sculptors of his own day, Donatello's name will live in the perpetual +memory of mankind.[254] + +[Footnote 245: "Ricordi," 1554, p. 51.] + +[Footnote 246: "De Sculptura," 1504, gathering f. "Donatellus ... +_aere ligno, marmore laudatissimus, plura hujus unius manu extant +opera, quam semel ab eo ad nos cæterorum omnium_."] + +[Footnote 247: "Italia Illustrata," Bâle, 1531, p. 305. "_Decorat +etiam urbem Florentiam ingenio veterum laudibus respondente, Donatello +Heracleotae Zeusi aequiparandus, ut vivos, juxta Virgilii verba, ducat +de marmore vultus._"] + +[Footnote 248: "De Viris illustribus," Florence ed. 1745, p. 51. +"_Donatellus ... excellet non aere tantum, sed etiam marmore +notissimus, ut vivos vultus ducere, et ad antiquorum gloriam proxime +accedere videatur._"] + +[Footnote 249: "Dialogues," Raczynski ed. Paris, 1846, p. 56.] + +[Footnote 250: "Due Trattati," ed. Milanesi, 1857, passim.] + +[Footnote 251: "Due Vite di Brunellesco," p. 142.] + +[Footnote 252: Semper, 321.] + +[Footnote 253: "Lem.," iii. 243, in first edition.] + +[Footnote 254: 1677 edition.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Character and Personality of Donatello.] + +Donatello must be judged by his work alone. His intellect is only +reflected in his handicraft. We know little about him, but all we know +bears tribute to his high character. The very name by which he was +called--Donatello--is a diminutive, a term of endearment. His +generosity, his modesty, and a pardonable pride, are recorded in +stories which have been generically applied to others, but which were +specific to himself. He shared his purse with his friends:[255] he +preferred plain clothing to the fine raiment offered by Cosimo de' +Medici;[256] and he indignantly broke the statue for which a Genoese +merchant was unwilling to pay a fair price.[257] He was recognised as +a man of honourable judgment, and he was called upon to act as +assessor several times. The friend of the Medici, of Cyriac of Ancona, +of Niccolo Niccoli, the greatest antiquarian of the day, and of Andrea +della Robbia, one of the pall-bearers at his funeral, must have been a +man of winning personality and considerable learning. But he was +always simple and naïve: _benigno e cortese_, according to +Vasari,[258] but as Summonte added with deeper insight, his work was +far from simple.[259] He is one of the rare men of genius against whom +no contemporary attack is recorded. He was content with little;[260] +his life was even-tenored; his work, though not faultless, shows a +steady and unbroken progress towards the noblest achievements of +plastic art. + +[Footnote 255: Gauricus, b. 1.] + +[Footnote 256: Vespasiano de' Bisticci, Vite.] + +[Footnote 257: "Vasari," iii. 253.] + +[Footnote 258: _Ibid._ iii. 244.] + +[Footnote 259: "_Fo in Fiorenza ad tempo de' nostri padri Donatello +huomo raro, semplicissimo in ogni altra cosa excepto che in la +scultura_."] + +[Footnote 260: Matteo degli Orghani, writing in 1434, says: "_Impero +che è huomo ch' ogni picholo pasto è allui assai, e sta contento a +ogni cosa_." Guasti, iv. 475. Donatello died in 1466, probably on +December 15. He was buried in San Lorenzo at the expense of the +Medici. Masaccio painted his portrait in the Carmine, but it is lost. +The Louvre panel No. 1272, ascribed to Paolo Ucello, shows the +painter, Manetti, Brunellesco, and Donatello. Monuments have been +recently erected to the sculptor in his native city. For Donatello's +homes in Florence, see "Misc. Fiorentina," vol. i. No. 4, 1886, p. 60, +and "Miscellanea d'arte," No. 3, 1903, p. 49.] + + + + +APPENDICES + + + + +APPENDIX I + +WORK LOST OR NOT EXECUTED + + +_Padua._--For the Santo altar, a figure of God the Father, stone; a +Deposition and the remaining bas-reliefs mentioned in the "Anonimo +Morelliano;" a St. Sebastian, wood; a Madonna in the church of the +Servi. + +_Ferrara._--Donatello probably worked there; in 1451 he visited the +town as an assessor. Gualandi, iv. 35. + +_Modena._--Donatello also visited this town in 1451, and received a +first instalment towards the equestrian statue of Borso d'Este. +Campori, "Gli artisti Italiani." Modena, 1855, p. 185. + +For _Mantua_ he made a large number of works, including columns, +capitals, images of the Madonna in stone and terra-cotta, a St. Andrew +in tufo, &c.; also the design for a shrine of St. Anselm. See +documents in Archivio Storico Lombardo, 1886, p. 666. At _Rome_ a St. +John Baptist, "Una testa" in the Minerva Church, and the portrait of +Canon Morosini in Santa Maria Maggiore. + +At _Siena_ a Goliath, a silver crucifix, gates for the Cathedral, and +a marble statue of San Bernardino. + +At _Ancona_ and _Orvieto_ statues of St. John the Baptist. + +At _Florence_ the following works are lost: the Dovizia, a figure of +Plenty, which stood in the Mercato Vecchio; two bronze heads for the +Cantoria; the Colossi for the Cathedral; four large stucco Saints in +San Lorenzo; a statue with drapery of gilded lead made with +Brunellesco. San Rossore for Ogni Santi; a reliquary of Santa Verdiana +(Richa, ii. 231); Albizzi tombs. The Cathedral gates were never made. +Bocchi, Cinelli, Vasari, and Borghini mention a large number of +smaller works now unidentified; plaquettes, Madonnas, crucifixes, +heraldic shields, busts and reliefs. + + + + +APPENDIX II + +DOCUMENTS + + +These are printed as specimens of the original authorities upon which +our authentic knowledge of Donatello is based. + + +A. + +Denunzia de' Beni of 1427, stating Donatello's home, his substance, +his partnership with Michelozzo; referring also to the bronze relief +for the Siena Font and the figure of San Rossore. Also a list of the +sculptor's family. (Gaye, i. 120.) + +Donato di nicholo di betto, intagliatore, prestanziato nel quartiere +di Sco. Spirito, gonfalone nichio, in fior. 1. s. 10 den. 2. Sanza +niuna sustanza, eccietto un pocho di maserizie per mio uso edella mia +famiglia. + +E più esercito la detta arte insieme e a conpagnia con Michelozzo di +bartolomeo, sanza niuna chorpo, salvo flor. 30 in più ferramenti et +masserizie per detta arte. + +E di detta conpagnia e bottegha tralgho quella sustanza et in quello +modo, che per la scritta della sustanza di Michelozzo sopradetto +appare nel quartiere di Sco. Giovanni G. dragho, che dice in lionardo +di bartolomeo di gherardo e frategli. Eppiù ò avere dall' operaio di +duomo di Siena fior. 180 per chagione duna storia dottone, gli feci +più tempo fa. + +Eppiù dal convento e frati dogni santi ò avere per chagione duna meza +fighura di bronzo di Sco. rossore della quale non sà fatto merchato +niuno. Chredo restare avere più che fior 30. + +truovomi con questa famiglia in chasa: + +Donato danni 40. +M^a Orsa mia madre 80. +M^a Tita mia sirochia, vedova, sanza dote 45. +Giuliano figliuolo di detta M^a tita atratto 18. + +Sto a pigione in una chasa di ghuglielmo adimari, posta ne chorso +degli adimari e nel popolo Sco. Cristofano,--paghone fior. 15 l'anno. + + +B. + +The contract for the payment of 1900 florins to Donatello in respect +of the Bronze Gates for the Sacristy doors of the Cathedral, a work +which was subsequently entrusted to Luca della Robbia. (Semper, p. +284.) + +21. ii. 1487. Item commiserunt Nicolao Johannotii de Biliottis et +Salito Jacobi de Risalitis duobus ex eorum officio locandi Donato +N.B.B. civi Florentino magistro intagli faciendo duas portas de bronzo +duabus novis sacristiis cathedralis ecclesie florentine pro pretio in +totum flor. 1900 pro eo tempore et cum illis pactis et storiis et +modis pro ut eis videbitur fore utilius et honorabilius pro dicta +opera et quidquid fecerint circa predictum intelligatur et sit ac si +factum foret per totum eorum officium. + + +C. + +Payment for casting the bronze statue of St. Louis for the Paduan +altar; also for two of the Miracle reliefs and two symbols of the +Evangelists. (Gloria.) + +19. vi. 1447. E a dì dicto avà M^o Andrea dal Mayo per far getare duy +de i miracholli de S. Antonio e dui guagnelista e un S. Luixe. i quali +va in lanchona de laltaro grande--lire 45 soldi 12. + + +D. + +Payment to Donatello and some of his assistants (Gloria.) + +11. ii. 1447. E a dì ii dicto avè Donatello da Fiorenza per so nome de +luy e de urbano e de Zuan da Pixa e de Antonio Celino e de Francesco +del Vallente su garzon e de Nicolo depentor so desipollo over garzon +per parte over sora la anchona over palla el dicto e i dicti de +(_i.e._, devono) fare al altaro grande del curo (_i.e._, coro) del +santo,--lire cento e soldi dexe. + + + + +APPENDIX III + +BOOKS OF REFERENCE + + +Albertini, "Memoriale di molte statues," 1863 (1st ed., Florence, +1510). + +Anonimo Morelliano, "Notizie d'opere di disegno," written about 1530, +1884 (1st ed. 1800). + +Bocchi, F., "Eccellenza della statua di San Giorgio," Florence, 1584; +edited by Cinelli, "Bellezze della città di Firenze," 1677 (1st ed. +1592). + +Bode, W., "Donatello à Padoue," Paris, 1883; "Florentiner Bildhauer +der Renaissance," Berlin, 1902. + +Boïto, Camillo, "L'Altare di Donatello," Milan, 1897. + +Borghini, "Riposo," Florence, 1730 (1st ed. 1586). + +Bottari, G., "Lettere pittoriche," 8 vols. 1822 (1st ed.). + +Cellini, B., "Due Trattati," edited by Carlo Milanesi, 1857. + +Cicognara, "Storia della scultura," Venice, 1823, 7 vols. + +Gauricus, P., "De Sculptura," Florence, 1504. + +Gaye, "Carteggio inedito d'artisti," Florence, 1839, 3 vols. + +Ghiberti, L., "Commentaries" in Vasari, vol. i. + +Gloria, Michael Angelo, "Donatello fiorentino e le sue opere, ... in +Padova," Padua, 1895. + +Gnoli, Article on "Donatello in Rome"; "Arch. storico dell' arte," +1888. + +Gonzati, "La Chiesa di S. Antonio di Padova," 1852, 2 vols. + +Gualandi, "Memorie," Bologna, 1840. + +Lindsay, Lord, "Christian Art," 1885, 2 vols. + +"L'Osservatore Fiorentino," 1821, 3 vols. (1st ed. 1797). + +Lusini, V., "Il San Giovanni di Siena," Florence, 1901. + +Milanesi, C., "Documenti dell' arte Senese," Siena, 1854, 3 vols. + +Milanesi, G., "Catalogo delle opere di Donatello," Florence, 1888. + +Molinier, E., "Les Plaquettes," Paris, 1886, 2 vols. + +Müntz E., "Les Précurseurs de la Renaissance," Paris, 1882; +"Donatello," Paris, 1885. + +Perkins, C., "Tuscan Sculptors," 1864, 2 vols. + +Reymond, M., "La Sculpture Florentine," Florence, 1898. + +Richa, "Notizie istoriche," Florence, 1754, 10 vols. + +Schmarsow, A., "Donatello," Breslau, 1886. + +Semper, H., "Donatellos Leben und Werke," Innsbruck, 1887; "Donatello, +seine zeit und Schule," Vienna, 1875. + +Semrau, M., "Donatello's Kanzeln in San Lorenzo," Breslau, 1891. + +Tanfani-Centofanti, "Notizie di Artisti ... Pisani," Pisa, 1898. + +Titi, "Ammaestramento Utile," Rome, 1686. + +Vasari, "Vite dei Pittori," Florence, Lemonnier, ed. 1846, 14 vols. +(1st ed. 1550). + +Von Tschudi, "Donatello e la critica moderna," Turin, 1887. + + + + +INDEX + + +Abraham: statue, 10, 30 + +Alberti, L.B.: on Art, 22 + +Ambras: entombment, 177 + +Ammanati: sculptor, 102 + +Amorino: bronze, Bargello, 113, 114 + +Ancona: Baptist for, 59 + +André (Madame) Collection: + Prophet, 7; + St. John, 57; + profile warrior, 98; + bronze children, 114; + marble boy, 115; + Gonzaga bust, 127; + St. Sebastian, 177 + +Andrew, St.: statue (lost), 199 + +Annunciation: Sta. Croce, 49, 113, 154 + +Anselm, St.: projected shrine, 199 + +Antonio, St.: at Padua, bronze, 153 + +Aquila, Andrea del: sculptor, 191 + +Aragazzi: _see_ Tombs + +Architect: Donatello as, 59, 65 + +Arduino: engineer, 143 + +Aretino: letter from, 76 + +_Assistants_, Donatello's: + Moscatello, 64, 168; + Giovanni da Pisa, 75, 168, 190, 203; + Nani, G., 167; + Cocaro, N., 168; + Meo of Florence, 168; + Pipo of Florence, 168; + Antonio of Lugano, 168; + Bartolommeo of Ferrara, 168; + Jacomo, goldsmith, 168; + Squarcione, 150; + Giovanni da Becato, 168; + Francesco del Mayo, 168; + Andrea delle Caldiere, 168; + Urbano da Cortona, 168, 169; + Francesco Valente, 168, 203; + Antonio of Pisa, 168; + Bellano, 170, 190; + Bertoldo, 189, 191 + +Assumption: Brancacci tomb, 80 + +Assyrian low relief, 81 + +Athos, Mount: conventionalised art, 22 + +Aurelius, M.: equestrian statue, 173 + + +Banco, Nanni di: sculptor, 30, 190 + +Bandinelli, 46, 102, 186 + +Baptist, St. John: _see_ St. John + +Baptistery gates, 2; + competition, 3; + Magdalen, 144; + Coscia tomb, 72 + +Bardini Collection: + Madonna, 54, 185; + fountain, 66; + tomb slab, 85; + Crucifixion, 178 + +Bas-relief: its limitations, 137 + +Bastianini, 182 + +Battoni, P.: painter, 145 + +Becchi: shield, 68 + +Beckerath: Madonna, 182 + +Bellano, 170, 189, 190 + +Benda Collection: bust, 118 + +Benedetto da Maiano, 191 + +Bentivoglio: medal of, 82 + +Bergamo: Madonna, 183 + +Berlin Museum: + bust, terra cotta, 120; + Gonzaga, bronze, 127; + bronze head of old man, 128; + St. John, bronze, 147; + putto, bronze, from Siena, 114; + Flagellation, marble, 178; + David, bronze, 52; + Madonnas, 180 + +Bernardino, St.: projected statue, 146, 199 + +Bertoldo, 189, 191 + +Blondius, F., 193 + +Bocchi: passim + +Bologna: sculpture at, 9, 85, 143 + +Boni: shield, 68 + +Boniface VIII.: statues of, 9 + +Borso d'Este: projected statue, 199 + +Botticelli, 99 + +Bramantino: drawings, 90 + +Brancacci: _see_ Tombs + +Bronzino, 52, 102 + +Brosses, des: criticisms, 138, 144 + +Brunellesco: + model for gates, 3; + co-operation with Donatello, 37, 200 + +Buggiano, 191 + +Busts: + Benda Collection, 118; + Dreyfus Collection, 118; + Duke of Westminster's Collection, 118; + Hainauer Collection, 119; + Faenza St. John, 119; + Martelli St. John, 118; + San Lorenzo, Florence, 126; + St. Cecilia, London, 126; + Gonzaga bronze, 127; + old man's head, bronze, 128; + Gattamelata, 99, 129; + Vanchettoni, 118; + Vecchio Barbuto, Florence, 130; + Roman Emperor, Florence, 130; + old woman, bronze, 130; + San Rossore, 130, 201; + Niccolò da Uzzano, 121 + + +Caldiere, Andrea, Donatello's bronze caster, 168 + +Camondo, Comte de: Crucifixion, 178 + +Canigiani: Palazzo, sculpture, 191 + +Canon of Art, 20 + +Cantoria: + San Lorenzo, 64; + Cathedral, 103, 107, 199; + Luca della Robbia's, 106-8 + +Capodalista: horse, 175 + +Castiglione: Sabba del, 119, 193 + +Cecilia, St. (London), 126; + ditto, Lord Wemyss, 172 + +Cellini, B., 141, 193 + +Charge to Peter (London), 95 + +Chartres Cathedral: statuary, 41 + +Cherichini, supposed portrait of, 20 + +Childhood, Donatello's representation of, 103 + +Chimæra: Etruscan, 69 + +Choristers of bronze, Padua, 163 + +Cinelli: passim + +Ciuffagni: sculptor, 60, 66 + +Civitali, M., sculptor, 13 + +Classical influences, 4, 90, 103, 104; + architecture, 160 + +Cocaro, Donatello's assistant, 168 + +Colle, Simone da: sculptor, 3 + +Colleone: equestrian statue, 150 + +Colossi, 34 + +Coronation window, 60 + +Coscia: _see_ Tombs + +Cozzarelli: sculptor, 192 + +Criticism on Donatello, early, 193; + later, 93 + +Croce, Santa, sculpture in, 49, 113, 38 + +Crowds: Donatello's treatment of, 156 + +Crucifix: Santa Croce, 47, 156 + +Crucifixion: + Bargello bronze, 178; + Camondo, bronze, 178; + Berlin, 178 + +Cyriac of Ancona, 194 + + +Daniel: statue, 10 + St., at Padua, bronze, 154 + +Dante, 45, 90 + +Davanzati: shield, 68 + +David: + marble statue, 16; + Martelli's statue, 52; + bronze, 99; + Berlin, 52 + +Dello: his epitaph, 13 + +Denunzia, 1, 76, 201 + +Desiderio, 133, 191 + +Doni, A.: criticism of Ghiberti, 138 + +Dovizia: statue, 142, 199 + +Drapery: Donatello's treatment of, 31 + +Drawings by Donatello, 60 + +Dreyfus Collection: + marble bust, 118; + Christ and St. John, relief, 133; + St. Jerome, bronze, 170; + Madonna bronze, 177; + Verrocchio, putto, 105 + + +Eagle: the Walpole, 162 + +Entombment: + Vienna, 177 + Padua: marble, 161 + +Eremitani altar, 169 + +Evangelist symbols at Padua, 161 + Siena, 169 + +Eve: bas-relief, 142 + + +Faenza: + bust of St. John, 119; + St. Jerome, 148 + +Faith: statuette at Siena, 71 + +Fazio, B., 193 + +Filarete, 91 + +Flagellation: + London, 62; + Paris, 177; + Berlin, 177 + +Flaxman's criticism, 93 + +Florence: + Cathedral façade, 6, 8, 9; + cupola, 65; + cantoria, 107; + sacristy carving, 115; + window, 60; + colossi, 34; + gates, 200, 202 + +Font: + Siena, 70, 105, 201; + at Pietra Santa, 191 + +Fontainebleau: Madonna, 184 + +Fountains, 66, 70 + +Francis, St.: at Padua, 153 + +Fulgosio: monument, Padua, 168 + + +Gagini: sculptors, 131 + +Gattamelata: + bust, 99, 129; + tombs, 171; + equestrian statue, 173 + +Gauricus, 60, 73, 193 + +Gems: employment of, 97-99, 129 + +George, St.: + statue, 39; + relief, 42, 72 + +Ghiberti: + bronze gates, 3, 137; + relation with Donatello, 190; + classical ideas, 89, 91 + +Ghiberti, Vettorio: drawings, 63, 74 + +Ghini: Simone, 88 + +Giacomone da Faenza: drawings, 155 + +Gianfigliazzi: shield, 68 + +Gilbert, Alfred, R.A., 82 + +Giovanni da Pisa, 75, 168, 190, 203 + +Giuliano: Donatello's nephew, 2, 202 + +Goliath: statue (lost), 199 + +Gonzaga, Louis of: bust, 127 + +Gori: criticisms, 93 + +Gothic Art: + Donatello's relations with, 5, 42; + survivals of, 91 + +Gozzoli, Benozzo, 9 + +Grouping: Donatello's ideas of, 30, 138, 142, 161 + +Guidarelli: monument, 171 + + +Habakkuk: statue, 23 + +Hands: Donatello's treatment of, 31 + +Henry VII.: tomb of, 136 + +Heraldic sculpture, 67 + +Hertford House: reliefs, 110 + +Hope: statuettes, 71, 75 + +Horse of Colleone, 174; + Gattamelata, 173; + Capodalista, 174 + +Horse's head: Naples, 175 + +Horses of St. Mark's, Venice, 173; + of Monte Cavallo, 189 + + +Icarus in Greek Art, 165 + +Ilaria del Caretto: tomb, 82 + +Intarsia, 161 + +Isotta da Rimini, 163 + + +Jeremiah: statue, 20 + +Jerome, St.: Faenza, 148 + +John XXIII.: _see_ Tombs, Coscia + +St. John Bapt.: + Campanile statue, 18; + Martelli statue, 56; + Bargello statue, 57, 58; + Dilke Collection, 57; + Orvieto, 59, 147; + Ancona, 59; + Rome, 56, 57; + Faenza, 119; + Louvre, 120; + Berlin, bronze, 146; + Berlin, terra-cotta, 120; + Siena, 146; + Venice, 146; + Hainauer Collection, 149 + +St. John Ev.: + statue, 14; + reliefs, 134 + +Judith, 140 + +Justina, St.: at Padua, 154 + + +Kaufmann: + Madonna, 182; + statuette, 189 + + +Lafreri: engraver, 189 + +Lasca, 193 + +Lavabo, San Lorenzo, 67 + +Laurana, F.: sculptor, 131 + +Leopardi, 175 + +Ligorio: architect, 90 + +Lille relief, 5, 72, 113 + +Lions in Florence, 67-9 + +London collection: + Flagellation, 62; + charge to Peter, 95; + St. Cecilia, 126; + marble relief of woman, 132; + Magdalen, 149; + lamentation over dead Christ, 165; + shrine of St. Justina, 171; + Martelli patera, 176; + Deposition, bronze, 178; + oval Madonna, 184; + bronze boy, 115 + +Lorenzo, San: + pulpits, 107, 186; + sacristy, 133, 139; + bronze doors, 135; + lavabo, 191; + statues perished, 199 + +Lorenzetti; early paintings, 145 + +Louis, St.: + bronze Santa Croce, 38; + bronze at Padua, 155, 202 + +Louvre collection: + Pot tomb, 79; + bronze by Valadier, 97; + marble Baptist, 120; + drawings, 61; + Madonnas, 181-185; + painting of St. John, 120; + portrait of Donatello, 195; + Flagellation, 177 + +Lucca, Siege of, 65 + +Luke, St.: statue, 124 + +Lytton, Earl of, medallion portrait, 82 + + +Madonnas: + Bardini, 54, 178, 181; + Beckerath, 182; + Berlin, Pazzi, marble, 181; + Orlandini, marble, 181; + S.M.M. dei Pazzi, 185; + Brancacci, 80; + Capella Medici, group, 185; + Courajod, 185; + Dreyfus Desiderio, 81, 177; + delle Treppe, 192; + Eremitani, Paris, 184; + Fontainebleau, 184; + Kaufmann, 182; + London-Weisbach, oval, 184; + Milan, Pierino da Vinci, 81; + Madonna of the Rose, London, 183; + Padua, large bronze, 152; + small relief, 180; + Pietra Piana, 182; + Piot, Louvre, 55, 183; + Quincy Shaw, 81; + Siena Cathedral, 181; + Verona, 182; + Wemyss, Earl of, 81 + +Magdalen: + Florence baptistery, 144; + London, 149; + Berlin, 149 + +Malatesta Annalena: bust, 130 + +Mandorla door: + prophets, 7 + profile heads, 34 + +Manetti: + biographer, 63, 195; + supposed portrait, 11 + +Mantegna: relation to Donatello, 96, 150, 161, 187 + +Mark, St.: statue, 37 + +Martelli, David, 52, 113; + patera, 176; + shield, 68; + St. John, 118 + +Martin V.: tomb of, 88 + +Marzocco, 67 + +Masaccio: paintings by, 161, 164, 195 + +Mataloni: horse's head, 175 + +Medallions in Medici palace, 97 + +Medallists, 59, 82 + +Medici: + fountain, 166; + exile, 88, 97; + medallions, 97; + Lorenzo de', 175 + +Medici, Capella, 185 + +Mengs, R.: criticism by, 27, 93 + +Meo: Donatello's assistant, 168 + +Michael Angelo: + Moses, 15; + technique, 53, 101; + San Petronio, 71; + relation to Donatello's art, 192; + Bacchus, 192 + +Michelozzo, 39, 43, 48; + partnership with Donatello, 72, 201; + Brancacci tomb, 77; + Aragazzi tomb, 76; + Prato pulpit, 109; + work at Milan, 115; + statues of St. John, 149 + +Mino da Fiesole, 53, 191 + +Miracle reliefs at Padua, 156 + +Mocenigo: tomb, 14, 41 + +Montepulciano, Pasquino da, 75 + +Montorsoli, 46 + +Morosini: medallion, 97, 199 + +Moses: statue, 15 + + +Nani: Donatello's assistant, 167 + +Nanni di Banco, 30, 190 + +Naples: + Brancacci tomb, 77; + bronze horse's head, 175 + +Narni: _see_ Gattamelata + +Neroccio: sculptor, 70, 180, 192 + +Niccolò da Uzzano: bust, 121 + +Niccolo Niccoli, 194 + +Nollekens, 62 + +Nude: studies from, 101 + + +Obadiah: statue, 18 + +d'Olanda, Francesco, 193 + +Orcagna, 6 + +Orlandini, Madonna, Berlin, 181 + +Orsa: Donatello's mother, 2, 202 + +Or san Michele: niche, 63, 104 + +Orvieto: Baptist for, 59 + + +Padua in 1443, 149; + work for altar, 149-176, 202 + +Pagno di Lapo, 78, 83 + +Painter: Donatello as, 59 + +Parthenon, 25, 105, 122 + +Pasquino da Montepulciano, 75 + +Patera Martelli, 176 + +Pazzi, Madonna, Berlin, 181 + +Pazzi: + fountain, 66; + shield, 68; + frieze, 135 + +Pellegrini: chapel, 135, 184 + +Perseus, by Cellini, 141 + +Perugino: drawing by, 60 + +Peruzzi: drawings by, 60 + +Peter, St.: statue, 36 + +Petrarch, 90 + +Piero, Niccolo di; sculptor, 124 + +Pietà at Padua, bronze, 164 + +Piot: Madonna, 65 + +Pisa: Donatello at, 59, 78 + +Pisano Niccolo, 91 + +Pistoja: silver altar, 191 + +Plaquettes, 176 + +Pocetti, B.: drawing of façade of Duomo, 10 + +Poggio: + statue, 12; + on Rome, 90 + +Politics, influence of, 143 + +Pollaiuolo: his battle-piece, 179 + +Polychromacy, 121 + +Portrait of Donatello, 195 + +Pot tomb, Louvre, 79 + +Prato pulpit, 109 + +Procdocimus, St.: at Padua, bronze, 155 + +Pulpit Prato, 109 + San Lorenzo, 186 + + +Quaratesi: shield, 68 + +Quercia: Jacopo della, 3, 70, 53; + his school, 191; + Siena font, 70 + + +Realism, 26 + +Reymond, Marcel: criticism, 108 + +Reynolds, Sir J.: + on drapery, 31; + on Gothic art, 45 + +Riccio, 191 + +Robbia: + Andrea della, 104; + Donatello's pall bearer, 194 + +Robbia: + Luca della, 73; + cantoria, 106, 108; + portraits by, 125; + bronze doors, 135, 202; + lunettes, 151 + +Rome: + Donatello's first journey to, 4; + statue of St. John at, 57; + Crivelli tomb, 83; + Donatello's second journey to, 88; + Rome in 1433, 88; + tabernacle in St. Peter's, 94 + +Rossellino, 66, 91, 119, 191 + +Rosso: sculptor, 18, 191 + +Rossore, San: bust, 130, 201 + + +Savonarola, 21 + +Sebastian, St.: + bronze, M. André, 177 + wood (now lost), 199 + +Sense of distance, 23 + light and shade, 29 + proportion, 30 + nature, 27 + +Sermoneta: Duca di, 9 + +Shields: + heraldic, 67; + Martelli, 68 + +Siena: + cathedral font, 70, 201; + figures from font, 114, 105; + Pecci tomb, 84; + marble Madonna, 181; + St. John Baptist, 146; + statues on façade, 175 + +Simone: sculptor, 2, 88, 191 + +Soderini: supposed portrait of, 20 + +Sogliani, T.: work on Magdalen, 144 + +Sportello Venice, 177 + Siena, 71 + +Squarcione, 150 + +Stiacciato, 80 + +Strabo: on marble, 78 + +Strozzi Filippo, 91 + +Strozzi Palla, 150 + +Summonte, 194 + +Sword hilt at Turin, 176 + +Symbols of Evangelists: Padua, 161 + + +Tabernacle in Rome, 94 + +Technique: Donatello's, 53 + +Tita: Donatello's sister, 2, 202 + +Tombs: + Coscia, drawings for, 61; + history of, 72; + Brancacci, 73, 77; + Assumption, 80; + Martin V., 88; + Aragazzi, 73, 76; + Medici Giovanni de', 72; + Caretto, 82; + Sixtus IV., 82; + Albizzi, 83; + Chellini, 83; + Accaiuoli, 83; + Crivelli, 83; + Pecci, 84; + Scaligers, 86; + Rococo style, 87; + Saltarello, 109; + Fulgosio, 168; + Gattamelata, 171; + Roycelli, 170 + +Torrigiano, 80, 136 + +Turin sword hilt, 176 + +Turini, 70, 192 + + +Ucello, Paolo: painter, 69, 195 + +Uffizzi gallery: drawings, 60 + +Urbano da Cortona, 191 + +Uzzano, Niccolò da: bust, 121 + + +Valadier: sculptor, 97 + +Valente: Donatello's assistant, 168, 203 + +Vandalism, 8 + in Rome, 88 + +Vasari: passim + +Vecchietta: sculptor, 191 + +Venice: horses of St. Mark's, 173 + statue of St. John, 146 + Sportello, 177 + +Verdiana, St.: reliquary, 200 + +Verona: + Madonna, 182; + sculpture on cathedral, 124; + sculpture on San Zeno, 124 + +Verrocchio, 73, 99, 101, 105, 174 + +Vienna: entombment, 177 + +Vinci: Leonardo da, 22, 29, 66 + +Visconti, Marquise A.: Collection, 132, 185 + + +Wallace Collection: reliefs, 110 + +Warfare: Donatello and, 65 + +Weisbach: Madonna, 184 + +Wemyss, Earl of, collection: + Madonna, 81; + St. Cecilia, 172; + Walpole eagle, 162 + +Wood: employment in sculpture, 148 + + +Zeno, San: Verona, 124 + +Zuccone: statue, 26, 96 + + +Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. +London & Edinburgh + + + + * * * * * + + + +Uniform with this Volume + +MICHAEL ANGELO BUONARROTI + +BY + +CHARLES HOLROYD + +CURATOR OF THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF BRITISH ART + +With Fifty-two Illustrations + + +"Mr. Holroyd has done excellent service. This story of a marvellous +career is full of human charm.... Valuable book."--_Standard._ + +"A serviceable and competent biography which many will be glad to +see.... Numerous and excellent illustrations."--_Literary World._ + +"A book that both the student and the general reader will find full of +interest. Extremely interesting and vividly recorded."--_Westminster +Gazette._ + +"Mr. Holroyd's comprehensive study will be found useful and +interesting. The illustrations are numerous and good."--_Manchester +Guardian._ + +"A really admirable picture of one who is perhaps the greatest +personality in the history of Art; and a sympathetic, yet critical +account of his works. Mr. Holroyd writes with knowledge and +enthusiasm.... Numerous and well-executed illustrations."--_Yorkshire +Post._ + +"This excellent work ... is as suited to the general reader as to the +artist. We do not find those deserts of literary speculation so common +to the lives of artists."--_Spectator._ + +"The volume gives in a convenient form almost everything that the +student for whom it is intended will need to know about Michael +Angelo, and will prove a safe guide to his works. The illustrations +are well chosen.... We are especially grateful for the engravings of +those frescoes in the Pauline Chapel which every one writes about and +no one publishes."--_New York Evening Post._ + + * * * * * + +THE PUBLISHERS HAVE ARRANGED TO ISSUE A + +LIBRARY OF ART + +IN STYLE SIMILAR TO THIS VOLUME + + +_ALL SCHOOLS AND PERIODS will be represented, but only the Greatest +Masters will emerge as Biographies. The rest will be treated in +relation to their fellows and forerunners as incidents of a +development._ + +_The Series will, it is hoped, reflect the subject in its true +proportions more closely than has been attempted hitherto. At the same +time, the scope of the Series will admit of occasional monographs on +little-known artists, when some specialist has been able to throw +light by new researches on an obscure period. The æsthetic side will +not be neglected, but the aim will be to make the Series a store-house +of that positive knowledge which must form the basis of all opinion._ + + * * * * * + +_The following is a List of the Volumes now arranged for_ + + +THE CRITICISM OF ART + +By A.J. FINBERG + + +SIX GREEK SCULPTORS + +MYRON, PHEIDIAS +POLYKLEITOS, SKOPAS, PRAXITELES, AND LYSIPPOS + +By ERNEST GARDNER + +Professor of Greek Archæology at University College, London + + +ROMAN ART, FROM AUGUSTUS TO CONSTANTINE + +By Mrs. ARTHUR STRONG (EUGÈNIE SELLERS), LL.D. + + +MEDIÆVAL ART, TO GIOTTO + +By W.R. LETHABY + + +DUCCIO, AND THE BEGINNINGS OF ITALIAN PAINTING + +By PROFESSOR LANGTON DOUGLAS + + +GIOTTO + +By B. DE SELINCOURT + + +GHIRLANDAJO AND THE EARLIER FLORENTINES + +By BECKWITH SPENCER + +Assistant Professor at the South Kensington School of Art + + +DONATELLO + +By LORD BALCARRES [_Ready._ + + +PISANELLO + +By G.F. HILL + +Of the Department of Coins and Medals in the British Museum + + +THE THREE BELLINI AND THE EARLIER VENETIANS + +By G. McNEIL RUSHFORTH + +Late Director of the British School at Rome + + +MICHAEL ANGELO BUONARROTI + +By CHARLES HOLROYD [_Ready._ + + +RAPHAEL AND HIS SCHOOL IN ROME + +By C. RICKETTS + + +TITIAN + +By DR. GEORG GRONAU + + +DÜRER + +By T. STURGE MOORE + + +CORREGGIO + +By T. STURGE MOORE + + +FRENCH PAINTING IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY + +By L. DIMIER [_Immediately._ + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DONATELLO*** + + +******* This file should be named 18099-8.txt or 18099-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/0/9/18099 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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