This week we would like to present you with a fantastic lecture by Jason Arkles on the Italian sculptor of the Renaissance, Donatello (Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, 1386-1466).

In this lecture Jason expertly explains Donatello’s visual process, how he perceived and rendered the world in his work, and how he was able to masterfully balance an emotional and intellectual charge within it. Additionally, we are guided through historical context for the time in which Donatello thrived- a time when Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, and Leon Battista Alberti all coexisted and collaborated on some of the most well known landmarks in Florence.

This lecture includes a deep analysis of a few specific works including Donatello’s sculpture of St. Mark (patron saint of the linen weavers’ guild) in a tabernacle on the outside of Orsanmichele church in Florence, the St. John the Baptist bronze by Ghiberti, the first life-size bronze cast in Italy since antiquity (testament to the wool guild), Donatello’s St. George along with its predella relief work which demonstrated a novel type of relief sculpture known as stiacciato, Donatello’s Assumption of the Virgin stiacciato relief, and Donatello’s David, the first bronze nude in the round since antiquity. We also look at Donatello’s The Sacrifice of Isaac, which was a collaboration with Nanni di Bartolo, and sculptures of the Prophet Habakkuk (“Lo Zuccone”) and Prophet Geremia in order to glean an understanding of Donatello’s use of models in rendering the human form.