, or Donato, one of the principal revivers of sculpture in Italy, of an obscure
, or Donato, one of the principal revivers of sculpture in Italy, of an obscure family at Florence, was born in 1383. He learned design under Lorenzo de Bicci, and abandoning the old dry manner, he
was the first who gave his works the grace and freedom of
the productions of ancient Greece and Rome; and Cosmo
de Medicis employed him on a tomb for pope John XXIII.
and in other works, both public and private. Cosmo also
availed himself of his taste and judgment in forming those
grand collections, which gave celebrity to Florence as the
parent of modern art. Amongst his performances in that
city are his Judith and Holofernes in bronze, his Annunciation, his St. George and St. Mark, and his Zuccone, in one
of the niches of the Campanile at Florence; all of which
are as perfect as the narrow principles upon which the art
was then conducted would allow. To these we may add
another excellent performance, his equestrian statue of
bronze at Padua, to the honour of their general Gallamalata. Conscious of the value of his performances, he exclaimed to a Genoese merchant, who had bespoke a head,
and estimated it by the number of days which it had employed the artist, “this man better knows how to bargain
for beans than for statues he shall not have my head
”
and then dashed it to pieces yet no man less regarded
money than Donatello. Cosmo at his death having recommended him to his son, the latter gave him an estate;
but in a little while Donatello, who began to be plagued
with his farmers and agents, begged his benefactor to take
it again, as he did not like the trouble of it. The gift was
resumed, and a weekly pension of the same value assigned
to the artist. He had no notion of hoarding; but it is
said that he deposited what he received in a basket, suspended from a ceiling, from which his friends and workpeople might supply themselves at their pleasure. He
died in 1466, at the age of 83, and was buried in the
church of St. Lorenzo, near his friend Cosmo, that, as he
expressed himself, “his soul having been with him when
living, their bodies might be near each other when dead.
”
He left a son, named “Simon,
” who adopted his manner,
and acquired reputation.