Donatello: Florence Show Explores Infuential Renaissance Artist

Expansively — and cheekily — titled, Donatello: The Renaissance is the retrospective of the work of Donato di Niccoló di Betto Bardi (1386–1466), called Donatello. I saw it a couple of weeks ago in Florence, where it unfolds at the Strozzi Palace and the Bargello. The exhibition will happen in different formats and with different catalogues at the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, but Donatello is a Florentine. Many of the 140 or so works in the exhibition were made in Florence for Florentines, so the Florence of the Duomo, the Baptistry, and Orsanmichele is still their ambiance.

I’ll write two stories on this extraordinary exhibition and the book that accompanies it. Today I’ll concentrate on the show’s coverage of Donatello from his days as a young man until David Victorious, done in the late 1430s. I’ll write about the exhibition as a scholarly proposition. For Saturday’s story, I’ll write about Donatello’s late career but mostly amble through the galleries. Call it peregrination, or call it an act of love.

About the Author

Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

Expansively — and cheekily — titled, Donatello: The Renaissance is the retrospective of the work of Donato di Niccoló di Betto Bardi (1386–1466), called Donatello. I saw it a couple of weeks ago in Florence, where it unfolds at the Strozzi Palace and the Bargello. The exhibition will happen in different formats and with different catalogues at the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, but Donatello is a Florentine. Many of the 140 or so works in the exhibition were made in Florence for Florentines, so the Florence of the Duomo, the Baptistry, and Orsanmichele is still their ambiance.

I’ll write two stories on this extraordinary exhibition and the book that accompanies it. Today I’ll concentrate on the show’s coverage of Donatello from his days as a young man until David Victorious, done in the late 1430s. I’ll write about the exhibition as a scholarly proposition. For Saturday’s story, I’ll write about Donatello’s late career but mostly amble through the galleries. Call it peregrination, or call it an act of love.