Why did Donatello receive important commissions outside Florence late in his life?

Late in his life, Donatello received important commissions outside of Florence primarily due to a shift in local artistic preferences. Upon his return to Florence, a new generation of sculptors had emerged who favored a more sensuous treatment of marble surfaces. Consequently, Donatello’s later works—which often featured expressive, sometimes stark, wooden figures—clashed with the changing tastes of the Florentine public, leading him to seek or receive significant projects elsewhere, such as in Siena.1

During this period, his commissions included the bronze group Judith and Holofernes and a bronze statue of St. John the Baptist for the Siena Cathedral, as well as an ambitious, though ultimately abandoned, project for a pair of bronze doors for the same cathedral. While he did return to work for his long-time patrons, the Medici, on the bronze pulpits for San Lorenzo, the broader shift in the Florentine aesthetic environment was a key factor in directing his major late-career commissions to other cities.1