Art Calendar, 20 December 2021 - By Renzo F.

Donatello, The Renaissance

Pioneer of the Renaissance

An historical exhibition in Florence

Palazzo Strozzi and Musei del Bargello

19 March - 31 July 2022

Donatello - Donato di Niccolò di Betto; Firenze, 1386 circa - 1466

 Virgin with Child (Madonna Pazzi) c.a 1422 -  marble - cm 74,5 x 73 x 6,5; cornice cm 91 x 97 x 10

Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst, inv. 51 (esposta al Bode-Museum)

Photo: Antje Voigt

A major retrospective that for the first time places Donatello's most important masterpieces in dialogue with works by artists such as Brunelleschi, Masaccio, Mantegna, Giovanni Bellini, Michelangelo and Raphael.

This is a historical exhibition that reconstructs the career of one of the most important and influential masters of Italian art by juxtaposing his work with the masterpieces of his contemporaries such as Brunelleschi, Masaccio, Mantegna and Giovanni Bellini, as well as those of his successors such as Raphael and Michelangelo.

The exhibition, one of the most important cultural events of 2022, has been conceived as a tribute to Donatello. Donatello is a key artist of the Quattrocento, the golden century of Italian art, and a favourite of the Medici family. He, along with Brunelleschi and Masaccio, set the Florentine Renaissance in motion and developed new techniques and ideas that would forever shape the history of Western art. Donatello's works revolutionised the concept of

The central theme of his work is humanity in a wide variety of emotions from the gentlest tenderness to cruelty and from joy to heartbreaking sorrow.

Curated by Francesco Caglioti, Professor of Medieval Art History at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, the exhibition features around 130 sculptures, paintings and drawings with loans of unique works, some of which have never been on loan before.

The exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi features masterpieces such as the David in marble and the Cupid Atys by Donatello from the Museo del Bargello, the "Spiritelli" from the pulpit in front of Prato Cathedral, the crucifix and reliefs for the altar of the Saint in the Basilica of S. Antonio in Padua, and the Madonna and Child on a folding stool from the Detroit Institute of Arts. In the Bargello, the bronze David and Saint George by Donatello, the Madonna with Clouds from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and Michelangelo's Madonna on the Stairs can be seen. One of the highlights of the exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi is the presentation for the first time of Herod's Banquet from the Baptistery in Siena, one of several rare works restored as part of an extensive restoration campaign commissioned especially for the exhibition.

THE INTERNATIONAL DIMENSION OF THE PROJECT

The exhibition will later be on view in Berlin at the Bode Museum (which will host its own exhibition from 2 September 2022 to 8 January 2023) and at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 2023.

DONATELLO: MASTER OF MASTERS

No artist left a greater mark on Quattrocento art than Donatello, a sculptor and architect who became a model for whole generations of artists with whom he developed and generously shared his skills and knowledge. His art is also remarkable for its unusually large geographical influence, stretching from Tuscany through Veneto and the Marche to Rome and Naples, as was otherwise only the case with Giotto or, later, Michelangelo, Raphael and Bernini.

His thoroughly modern, transgressive temperament led him to constantly question himself and his work and to create an independent style that cared little for the fashions or tastes of the time. He was an artist who broke away from the classical world and the incipient Middle Ages to develop a new way of seeing and understanding the world. Over the years, Donatello's art became increasingly imbued with a deep pathos, exploring the psychology of his subjects and involving his audience in his personal reflections. His compositions combine naturalism with a faithful observation of reality and a profound re-appropriation of the models of the past. His career is one of the most extensive and multi-faceted in the history of art, as it was based on a constant quest for improvement and achievement.

Donatello's art is exceptional because of his ability to use different materials in works that combine lyrical qualities with a deep humanity. Donatello uses marble, stone, bronze, terracotta, wood, stucco, papier-mâché and glass paste, often in works in which he combines different materials to create an expressive effect. A characteristic feature of his style is the use of what is known as "schiacciato", a technique in which a relief is made with minimal differences from the background, creating different thicknesses to create the illusion of depth.

Donatello, The Renaissance

Pioneer of the Renaissance

An historical exhibition in Florence

Palazzo Strozzi and Musei del Bargello

19 March - 31 July 2022

Piazza degli Strozzi, 50123 Firenze FI, Italy

www.palazzostrozzi.org