Donatello

Introduction & Top Questions
Early career
Paduan period
Late Florentine period

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images

Marble statue of David by Donatello, displayed on a pedestal in the Museo del Bargello, Florence, showing David standing with one foot on Goliath's severed head.

Marble statue of Saint George by Donatello, standing in a niche holding a shield, at Orsanmichele Church in Florence, Italy.

Bronze equestrian statue of Gattamelata by Donatello, showing a man in armor holding a baton while mounted on a horse, set on a stone pedestal in Padua, Italy.

Figure 156: David, bronze sculpture by Donatello, c. 1430-35. In the Bargello, Florence. Height 1.58 m.

Equestrian statue of Gattamelata, bronze sculpture by Donatello, 1447–53; in the Piazza del Santo, Padua, Italy.

Donatello's bronze equestrian statue of Erasmo da Narni, known as Gattamelata, shows the armored condottiere on horseback atop a stone pedestal in Padua, Italy.

At a Glance

Donatello summary

Quizzes

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Ultimate Art Quiz

Related Questions

Did Donatello marry or have children?
How did Donatello create the relief panel St. George Killing the Dragon?
How did Donatello organize large groups of figures in the reliefs for the San Antonio altar?
How did Donatello portray Gattamelata in the bronze equestrian monument at Padua?
How did Donatello portray the human body differently from medieval sculptors?
How did Donatello use ancient Roman lettering in his sculptures?
How did Donatello use linear perspective in the Feast of Herod relief?
How did Donatello’s St. Mark and St. George show Renaissance ideas about human dignity?
How did Donatello’s bronze David differ from his earlier marble David?
How did Donatello’s marble David become a symbol of Florence?
How did Donatello’s time in Rome affect his art?
How did Donatello’s work in Padua influence artists in northern Italy?
How did Lorenzo Ghiberti influence Donatello’s early career?
How does Donatello’s late statue of St. Mary Magdalene express psychological emotion?
How does contrapposto create a sense of movement in Donatello’s St. George?
How many bronze statues and reliefs were included in Donatello’s high altar for the Church of San Antonio?
What did restoration after the 1966 Florence flood reveal about Donatello’s St. Mary Magdalene?
What makes Donatello’s bronze St. Louis of Toulouse technically important?
What materials did Donatello use for his sculptures?
What sculptures did Donatello create for the Church of San Antonio in Padua?
What was Donatello’s Judith and Holofernes made of?
What work did Donatello complete for the Old Sacristy of San Lorenzo?
When and where did Donatello die?
When and where was Donatello born?
When was Donatello’s equestrian statue of Gattamelata made and installed?
Where is Donatello’s original St. George kept?
Which ancient monuments influenced Donatello’s Gattamelata statue?
Which early Donatello sculpture was made for the facade of Florence Cathedral?
Which illness did Donatello receive treatment for in 1456?
Which part of the tomb of Antipope John XXIII did Donatello create?
Which sculptures did Donatello create for the baptismal font of Siena Cathedral?
Which surviving panel may have been made for Donatello’s unfinished Siena Cathedral doors?
Who helped finish Donatello’s San Lorenzo pulpits after his death?
Who may have commissioned Donatello’s bronze David?
Who were Donatello’s parents?
Why did Donatello receive important commissions outside Florence late in his life?
Why did Donatello’s Gattamelata become a model for later equestrian statues?
Why did Donatello’s friendship with Filippo Brunelleschi become strained?
Why is Donatello considered an important artist of the Italian Renaissance?
Why is Donatello’s Feast of Herod considered a dramatic relief sculpture?
Why is Donatello’s Zuccone statue famous?
Why is the present arrangement of Donatello’s high altar at the Church of San Antonio historically inaccurate?
Why was Donatello’s Gattamelata monument controversial when it was commissioned?
Why was Donatello’s bronze David groundbreaking in Renaissance art?
Why was Donatello’s early marble David moved to the Palazzo Vecchio in 1416?
How was Donatello educated?
What is Masaccio best known for?
What does the name Masaccio mean?
What is Holy Trinity by Masaccio known for?
How did Masaccio influence other artists?
What was Masaccio’s relationship with Masolino?
Why is Filippo Brunelleschi so famous?
What is Filippo Brunelleschi known for?
Why is Sandro Botticelli so famous?
What was Sandro Botticelli’s family like?

Visual Arts Sculpture

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External Websites

Art in Context - Donatello - Pioneering Renaissance Painter and Sculptor
Web Gallery of Art - Donatello
eScholarship - University of California - A Nude Judith from Padua and the reception of Donatello's Bronze David (PDF)
BBC - A Point of View - Donatello and a New Renaissance
World History Encyclopedia - Biography of Donatello
Scholars at HARVARD - The Magic of Donatello
Victoria and Albert Museum - Donatello Â– a master at work
The Guardian - Was Donatello the first artist in history to express a queer identity?
Smarthistory - Donatello, David
The Art Story - Donatello
The Met - Donatello (ca. 1386Â–1466)

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

Donatello - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Donatello

Italian sculptor

Also known as: Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi

Written by

H.W. Janson

Professor of Fine Arts, Washington Square College of Arts and Science, New York University, New York City, 1949–79. Author of The Sculpture of Donatello; History of Art.

H.W. Janson

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Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Oct. 30, 2026 •History

Donatello (born c. 1386, Florence [Italy]—died December 13, 1466, Florence) was a master of sculpture in both marble and bronze, one of the greatest of all Italian Renaissance artists. A good deal is known about Donatello’s life and career, but little is known about his character and personality, and what is known is not wholly reliable. He never married and he seems to have been a man of simple tastes. Patrons often found him hard...

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