Art Trivia - Donatello

Of course you know the name Donatello. He was one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, right?

Did you know that really Donatello was a famous Italian sculptor (c. 1386 - 1466) and one of the founders of Renaissance Art? He learned his craft of stonecarving from one of the group of sculptors working for the Florence cathedral in about 1400. His own style of sculpture, although developed around the style of Lorenzo Ghiberti, displayed revolutionary boldness.

Donatello's genius for sculpture is displayed prominently in his two marble statues of "St. Mark" (1411-13)(shown at right) and "St. George" (1415 - 16) which were created for niches on the exterior of Or San Michele, the church of the Florentine guilds. It was in these two sculptures that the human body, in striking contrast to medieval art, was rendered as a self-activing, functional organism and the human personality was displayed with a confidence in it own worth. The figures can stand on their own legs, physically and spiritually.

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