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1386-1466
Donatello actually worked for Lorenzo Ghiberti for a time, helping him to make the first set of Baptistry door panels between 1404-07. Soon, however, the young genius began to work on his own, outshining even Ghibereti.
In the early 15th century, both the catherdal of Florence and the church of the Florentine guilds, knowen as the Or San Michele, were being decorated. Donatello was one of the sculptors who worked on these. He carved marble statues of saints and prophets for both the cathedral and it's bell tower (campanile). At the Or San Michele, Donatello and others were hired to carve marble statues of the partron saints of most powerful guilds in Florence. His most famous statue is probably that of St. Mark, paron of the linen guild.
Donatello was also a master in bronze. The panels we saw earlier by Ghiberti are knowen as relief work - the carved figures stand out from a flat surface. Donatello's relief bronze, The Feast of Herod (1427), showes how he too was an early master of perspective.
Yet it was in free- standing bronze statues that Donatello was supreme. His statue of David - an early version of the biblical hero - was the first free-standing bronze nude(!) produced since the time of the ancient Romans, and it began a new Renaissance fashion which survived up to Michelango and beyound.
Donatello also built a 3.35 meter high bronze statue of Gattamelata that is still standing in the town square of Padova today!
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