THE revolutionary Florentine artist Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, otherwise known as Donatello, is popularly considered to be the greatest Italian Renaissance sculptor of all time. He invented techniques that set sculptural practice on a new path and influenced his successors, including the peerless Michelangelo. His interest in portraiture saw him create empathetic figures based on careful observation of antique Roman statues. He introduced the use of low-relief 'flattened' carving (rilievo schiacciato), allowing him to achieve greater drama and apparent depth in his work. And he designed beautiful works of art in multiple materials, including marble, bronze, terracotta and wood. To him we owe the creation of the first freestanding nude male statue since antiquity-the extraordinary bronze David, alive with contrapposto.
Donatello's success was hard won. He was a working-class artist whose father, Niccolò, originally a wool carder, was briefly exiled from Florence for his revolutionary politics and for committing murder during a street brawl. Unlike his contemporaries, he was proud of his humble origins and rejected the trappings of success, refusing to pander to his patrons. Although his strong personality contributed to the power and imagination of his sculpture, contemporaries described him as 'rough and very straightforward' and he was known for his coarse language and neglect of his appearance. An unsatisfied patron, Duke Ludovico Gonzaga of Mantua, complained that the sculptor was 'very tricky' and inflexible, adding that once 'he had a mind made up in such a way that if he does not come, one cannot entertain any hope of it, even if one pesters him'.
Denne historien er fra February 08, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra February 08, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds