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Gattamelata
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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. 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.
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Donatello: equestrian statue of Gattamelata
Donatello: equestrian statue of Gattamelata Erasmo da Narni, called Gattamelata, bronze equestrian statue by Donatello, 1447–53; in Piazza del Santo, Padua, Italy.

Gattamelata

sculpture by Donatello
Also known as: “Equestrian monument of Erasmo da Narni”
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History

Gattamelata, bronze statue of the Venetian condottiere Erasmo da Narni (popularly known as Gattamelata, meaning “honeyed cat”) by the 15th-century Italian Renaissance sculptor Donatello. It was completed between 1447 and 1450 but was not installed on its pedestal in the Piazza del Santo in front of the Basilica of Sant’Antonio in Padua, Italy, until 1453. The statue established a prototype for equestrian monuments in the West.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.