Notwithstanding, there were others who were anxious to honour him yet more and who added these two lines:
Philippo Brunellesco Antiquae architecturae instauratori
S.P.Q.F. civi suo benemerenti.
And Giovanbattista Strozzi added this:
As stone upon stone, course upon course, endlessly I raised,
So pace by pace ascending higher, I returned to heaven.1
Also among Filippo’s pupils were Domenico del Lago of Lugano; Geremia da Cremona, who did excellent work in bronze; and a Sclavonian who executed several works at Venice; Simone, who after he had made the Madonna in Orsanmichele for the Apothecaries Guild died while engaged on important work for the count of Tagliacozzo; Antonio and Niccolò of Florence, who made a bronze horse for Duke Borso at Ferrara in 1461; and many others, whom it would take too long to mention by name.
Filippo was in some respects unfortunate: not only was he always having to contend with someone or other, but as well as this several of his works were not completed in his lifetime and have remained unfinished. For example, it was a tragedy that, as I mentioned, the monks of the Angeli could not finish the church which he began. After they had spent over three thousand crowns on what we can see today (the money coming partly from the Merchants Guild and partly from the Monte where the funds were placed) the capital was squandered and the fabric remained and remains imperfect. The lesson to be drawn, as I say in the Life of Niccolò da Uzzano, is that whoever wants to leave a memorial of himself of this kind should complete it while he is living and not trust anyone else to do so. And what I have said about this church could be said of many other buildings designed by Filippo Brunelleschi.
LIFE OF DONATELLO
Florentine sculptor, 1386–1466
DONATO, who was called Donatello by his relations and signed himself as such on several of his works, was born in Florence in 1386. He devoted his life to art, and he proved himself an exceptional sculptor and a marvellous statuary as well as a skilled and competent worker in stucco, in perspective, and in architecture, for which he was highly regarded. His work showed such excellent qualities of grace and design that it was considered nearer what was done by the ancient Greeks and Romans than that of any other artist. He is therefore rightly recognized as the first to make good use of the invention of scenes done in low relief, which he executed with thoughtfulness, facility, and skill, demonstrating his intimate knowledge and mastery of the technique and producing sculptures of unusual beauty. He was superior not only to his contemporaries but even to the artists of our own times.
Donatello was brought up from early childhood in the household of Ruberto Martelli. His fine character and the way he applied his talents won him the affection of Ruberto and all his noble family. While still young he executed a number of works, so many, in fact, that they attracted little attention. He made his name, however, and showed himself for what he was, when he carved an Annunciation in grey-stone, which was put in Santa Croce at Florence, near the altar of the Cavalcanti Chapel. For this he made an ornament in the grotesque style, with a base of varied and intertwined work, surmounted by a quarter-circle, and with six putti; these garlanded putti have their arms round each other as if they are afraid of the height and are trying to steady themselves. Donatello’s ingenuity and skill are especially apparent in the figure of the Virgin herself: frightened by the unexpected appearance of the angel she makes a modest reverence with a charming, timid movement, turning with exquisite grace towards him as he makes his salutation. The Virgin’s movement and expression reveal both her humility and the gratitude appropriate to an unexpected gift, particularly a gift as great as this. Moreover, Donatello created a masterly flow of folds and curves in the draperies of the Madonna and the angel, suggesting the form of the nude figures and showing how he was striving to recover the beauty of the ancients, which had been lost for so many years. He displayed such skill and facility that, to put it briefly, no one could have bettered his design, his judgement, his use of the chisel, or his execution of the work.
Below the screen in the same church, next to the scene by Taddeo Gaddi, he made a wooden crucifix over which he took extraordinary pains. When he had finished it, convinced that he had produced a very rare work, he asked his close friend, Filippo Brunelleschi, for his opinion. But Filippo, in view of what he had already been told by Donatello, was expecting to be shown something far better; and when he saw what it was he merely smiled to himself. At this Donatello begged him for the sake of their friendship to say what he thought of it. So Filippo, being always ready to oblige, answered that it seemed to him that Donatello had put on the cross the body of a peasant, not the body of Jesus Christ which was most delicate and in every part the most perfect human form ever created. Finding that instead of being praised, as he had hoped, he was being criticized, and more sharply than he could ever have imagined, Donatello retorted: ‘If it was as easy to make something as it is to criticize, my Christ would really look to you like Christ. So you get some wood and try to make one yourself.’
Without another word, Filippo returned home and secretly started work on a crucifix, determined to vindicate his own judgement by surpassing Donatello; and after several months he brought it to perfection. Then one morning he asked Donatello to have dinner with him, and Donatello accepted. On their way to Filippo’s house they came to the Old Market where Filippo bought a few things and gave them to Donatello, saying: ‘Take these home and wait for me. I shall be along in a moment.’
So Donatello went on ahead into the house, and going into the hall he saw, placed in a good light, Filippo’s crucifix. He paused to study it and found it so perfect that he was completely overwhelmed and dropped his hands in astonishment; whereupon his apron fell and the eggs, the cheeses, and the rest of the shopping tumbled to the floor and everything was broken into pieces. He was still standing there in amazement, looking as if he had lost his wits, when Filippo came up and said laughingly:
‘What’s your design, Donatello? What are we going to eat now that you’ve broken everything?’
‘Myself,’ Donatello answered, ‘I’ve had my share for this morning. If you want yours, you take it. But no more, please. Your job is making Christs and mine is making peasants.’
In the Baptistry of San Giovanni in the same city Donatello made a tomb for Pope John Coscia, who had been deposed from the pontificate by the Council of Constance. This tomb was commissioned by Cosimo de’ Medici, a very close friend of Coscia; and Donatello made for it with his own hand the effigy of the dead man in gilded bronze, together with the marble statues of Hope and Charity, and his pupil, Michelozzo, made the statue of Faith. In the same church, opposite the tomb, can be seen a wooden statue of Mary Magdalen in Penitence, a finely executed and impressive work. She is portrayed as wasted away by her fastings and abstinence, and Donatello’s expert knowledge of anatomy is demonstrated by the perfect accuracy of every part of the figure. In the Old Market, standing on a column of granite, is a statue of Abundance carved by Donatello in grey-stone and standing by itself; and this is so perfect that it wins the highest praise from all those who practise or understand the art of sculpture. The column was formerly in the Baptistry, where it served with the other granite columns to hold up the gallery; it was taken away and replaced by a fluted column from the middle of the church which once supported the statue of Mars, before the Florentines were converted to the Christian faith and had it removed.
While he was still a young man Donatello also made a marble statue of the prophet Daniel for the façade of Santa Maria del Fiore, and subsequently one of St John the Evangelist, seated, eight feet high and clothed in a simple garment, which is very highly praised. In the same place one can see, at the corner on the side which faces the Via del Cocomero, the statue of an old man standing between two columns. This shows more similarities to the ancient style than any other work left by Donatello; the man’s head expresses the thoughts of one bowed down over the years by time and toil. Donatello als
o made inside Santa Maria del Fiore the ornament for the organ which is over the door of the old sacristy, with the figures so strongly carved, as has been said, that they look as if they are really alive and moving. And this work demonstrates that he worked as much with his mind as with his hands. Many works of art seem beautiful when they are being made, but, after they have been moved from the workshop and put in place, in a different light or higher from the ground, they present another aspect and seem altogether different; but Donatello made his statues so well that in the room where he was working they never appeared half as good as they turned out to be when they were put into position.
For the new sacristy of Santa Maria del Fiore, Donatello made the design for those little boys who hold up the festoons that go round the frieze, as well as the design for the figures wrought in the glass of the round window which is below the cupola, namely the one showing the Coronation of Our Lady. As can be seen quite clearly, his was far better than those done for the other windows.
Donatello also made for the Butchers Guild a wise and splendid figure of St Peter in a marble statue that may be seen at Florence in San Michele in Orto.1 And for the Cloth Guild he carved the statue of St Mark the Evangelist which, by agreement with Filippo Brunelleschi, he finished himself, though the commission had been given to both of them. Donatello displayed such great judgement in this work that those who lacked judgement of any kind quite failed to perceive its excellence, and the consuls of the guild were reluctant to have it set up. Whereupon Donatello urged them to let him set it up on high, saying that he would work on it and show them an altogether different statue. When they agreed, he merely covered it up for a fortnight and then, having done nothing to it, he uncovered it and amazed them all.
For the Armourers Guild he made a very spirited figure of St George in armour, expressing in the head of this saint the beauty of youth, courage and valour in arms, and a terrible ardour. Life itself seems to be stirring vigorously within the stone. And to be sure no modern statues have the vivacity and spirit produced by nature and art, through the hand of Donatello, in this marble. On the base of the shrine he carved a low relief in marble of St George killing the dragon, with a horse that is very highly praised and regarded; and in the frontal he made a half-length figure of God-the-Father, again in low relief. Opposite the oratory of Orsanmichele he made for the Mercatanzia1 a marble tabernacle in which he broke completely with the German style to use the ancient order known as Corinthian; this shrine was meant to house two statues, but he refused to make them because of a disagreement over the price. After Donatello’s death they were made in bronze by Andrea del Verrocchio, as I describe in his biography.
For the main front of the Campanile of Santa Maria del Fiore Donatello made four marble figures, each ten feet high, of which the two in the middle were portrayed from life, one being Francesco Soderini as a young man and the other Giovanni di Barduccio Cherichini, now known as Il Zuccone. The latter was regarded as an outstanding work, finer than anything else he had ever made; and so whenever Donatello wanted to swear convincingly to the truth of anything he used to protest ‘by the faith I have in my Zuccone’.
And while he was working on this statue he would look at it and keep muttering: ‘Speak, damn you, speak!’
Over the door of the Campanile facing the Canon’s house he represented Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac, with another of the prophets; and these figures were placed between two other statues.
For the Signoria of Florence Donatello made a casting in metal, showing Judith cutting off the head of Holofernes, which was placed in the piazza under one of the arches of their loggia. This is an excellent and accomplished work in which, by the appearance of Judith and the simplicity of her garments, Donatello reveals to the onlooker the woman’s hidden courage and the inner strength she derives from God. Similarly, one can see the effect of wine and sleep in the expression of Holofernes and the presence of death in his limbs which, as his soul has departed, are cold and limp. Donatello worked so well that the casting emerged very delicate and beautiful, and then he finished it so carefully that it is a marvel to see. The base, which is a simply designed granite baluster, is also pleasing to the eye and very graceful. Donatello was so satisfied with the results that he decided, for the first time, to put his name on one of his works; and it is seen in these words: Donatello Opus.
In the courtyard on the palace of the Signoria1 stands a bronze statue of David, a nude figure, life-size; having cut off the head of Goliath, David is raising his foot and placing it on him, and he has a sword in his right hand. This figure is so natural in its vivacity and softness that artists find it hardly possible to believe it was not moulded on the living form. It once stood in the courtyard of the house of the Medici, but was moved to its new position after Cosimo’s exile. In our own time Duke Cosimo had the statue moved again to make way for a fountain, and it is being kept for another large courtyard which he intends to build at the rear of the palace, where the lions used to stand. In the hall containing the clock of Lorenzo della Volpaia, on the left, there stands a very fine David in marble, straddling the head of the dead Goliath and holding in his hand the sling with which he killed him.
In the first courtyard of the house of the Medici there are eight marble medallions, in which there are copies of ancient cameos and of the reverse sides of medals, with several beautiful scenes by Donatello; these are built into the frieze between the windows and the architrave above the arches of the loggias. Donatello also restored an ancient statue of Marsyas in white marble, which was placed at the entrance to the garden; and very many antique heads, which were placed over the doors, were restored and embellished by him with wings and diamonds (the emblem of Cosimo) skilfully executed in stucco. He made two very lovely vessels of granite for pouring water, one of which was for the Pazzi garden in Florence. And in the Medici Palace there are also various Madonnas in marble and bronze, in low relief, and other scenes wonderfully carved in flat relief in marble, containing some exquisite figures. Cosimo thought so highly of Donatello’s talent that he kept him continually occupied; and in return Donatello loved Cosimo so well that he could understand all he wanted, from the slightest sign, and he never disappointed him.
It is said that a Genoese merchant ordered from Donatello a life-size head of bronze, a beautiful piece of work which was made very light, since it had to be carried a long distance, and that Donatello obtained the commission through Cosimo’s recommendation. Now when the head was finished and the merchant wanted to pay for it, he objected that Donatello was asking too much. So the dispute was referred to Cosimo, who had the head carried to the upper court of the palace and placed between the battlements overlooking the street, where it could be better seen. Then, when Cosimo tried to settle the matter, he found what the merchant was offering a long way from what Donatello was asking, and so he remarked that in his opinion the offer was too small. And at this the merchant, who thought it was too much, complained that, since he had finished the work in a month or a little over, Donatello would be making over half a florin a day. Donatello considered himself grossly insulted by this remark, turned on the merchant in a rage, and told him that he was the kind of man who could ruin the fruits of a year’s toil in a split second; and with that he suddenly shoved the head down on to the street where it shattered into pieces and added that the merchant had shown he was more used to bargaining for beans than for bronzes. The merchant at once regretted what he had done and promised to pay twice as much if Donatello would do the head again; but neither his promises, nor the entreaties of Cosimo, could persuade Donatello to do so.
In the houses belonging to the Martelli family there are many scenes in marble and bronze, and among them are a number of works, including a David standing six feet high, which Donatello presented to them as tokens of his love and devotion. And notably there is a marble St John in the round, six feet high, a very rare work which can be seen today in the house of the heirs of Ruberto Martelli. This statue was left
in trust with the stipulation that under heavy penalties it should neither be pledged or sold or given away; and this was done as a proof and pledge of the affection in which they held Donatello and which he reciprocated from gratitude for the opportunities and shelter they had given to his talent.
Donatello also made, for one archbishop, a marble tomb which was sent to Naples and is now in Sant’Angelo di Seggio di Nido. In this tomb there are three figures in the round supporting the sarcophagus with their heads, and on the sarcophagus itself is a scene in low relief so beautiful that no praise is too extravagant for it. In the same city, in the house of the count of Matalone is the head of a horse by Donatello which is so fine that many people believe it is an antique.
In the township of Prato he did the marble pulpit where the Girdle is shown, carving in its compartments the figures of dancing children with such beautiful and expressive skill that here, no less than in his other work, he can be said to have executed sculpture that is absolutely perfect. In addition, to support the pulpit he made two bronze capitals, of which one is still there and the other was looted by the Spaniards when they sacked the place.
It happened that at that time, hearing of his fame, the Signoria of Venice sent for him to make the memorial for Gattamelata in the city of Padua. He went there very readily and executed the bronze horse which is on the piazza of Sant’Antonio: the horse is shown snorting and quivering, and Donatello has expressed very vividly the great courage and pride of its rider. Indeed, he proved himself such a master in the proportions and excellence of this huge cast that he challenges comparison with any of the ancient craftsmen in expressing movement, in design, skill, diligence, and proportion. The work astounded everyone who saw it then and it continues to astound anyone who sees it today. It induced the Paduans to do their utmost to make him take up citizenship and they used every kind of affectionate restraint to keep him with them. To this end, they commissioned from him some scenes from the life of St Anthony of Padua for the predella of the high altar of the church of the Friars Minor. These are in low relief and they show such discrimination that the best sculptors stand before them almost dumb with astonishment at their beautiful and varied composition, the great abundance of extraordinary figures, and the diminishing perspectives. Also very beautiful are the Marys that he made, lamenting the dead Christ, on the altar-dossal. And in the house of one of the Capodilista counts he made in wood the skeleton of a horse (which can still be seen today, without its head) in which the parts are jointed with such method that anyone who studies the manner in which this work was made can appreciate Donatello’s intellectual stature and ingenuity.
Lives of the Artists Page 19
