Text on the latest research. While his central focus is on the work of Donatello, he also illuminates the beginnings of Renaissance sculpture in Florence, its further development in Tuscany and the rest of Italy, the new artistic goals and their theoretical formulation, and the relationships between patron and artist, convention and artistic freedom. The invaluable documentary section includes all the work of Donatello, as well as that of Ghiberti. Other important.
The Italian sculptor known as Donatello helped to forge a new kind of art—one that came to define the Renaissance. His work was progressive, challenging, and even controversial. Using a variety of novel sculptural techniques and innovative interpretations, Donatello uniquely depicted themes involving human sexuality, violence, spirituality, and beauty. But to really understand Donatello, one needs to understand his changing world, marked by the transition from Medieval to Renaissance style and to an art that was more personal and representative of the modern self. Donatello was not just a man of his times, he helped shape the spirit of the times he lived in and profoundly influenced those that came after. In this beautifully illustrated book—the first thorough biography of Donatello in twenty-five years—A. Victor Coonin describes the full extent of Donatello’s revolutionary contributions, revealing how his work heralded the emergence of modern art.
Fifteenth-century Italy witnessed sweeping innovations in the art of sculpture. Sculptors rediscovered new types of images from classical antiquity and invented new ones, devised novel ways to finish surfaces, and pushed the limits of their materials to new expressive extremes. The Art of Sculpture in Fifteenth-Century Italy surveys the sculptural production created by a range of artists throughout the peninsula. It offers a comprehensive overview of Italian sculpture during a century of intense creativity and development. Here, nineteen historians of Quattrocento Italian sculpture chart the many competing forces that led makers, patrons, and viewers to invest sculpture with such heightened importance in this time and place. Methodologically wide-ranging, the essays, specially commissioned for this volume, explore the vast range of techniques and media (stone, metal, wood, terracotta, and stucco) used to fashion works of sculpture. They also examine how viewers encountered those objects, discuss varying approaches to narrative, and ponder the increasing contemporary interest in the relationship between sculpture and history.
The greatest sculptor of the Italian Renaissance, Donatello produced both marble and bronze masterpieces. His revolutionary statues were lauded for their incredible realism, while he also developed his very own form of shallow bas-relief, known as ‘schiacciato’. Donatello possessed an extensive knowledge of ancient sculpture, which he developed into his own innovative, modern style, having a lasting impression on the history of Western art. Delphi’s Masters of Art Series presents the world’s first digital e-Art books, allowing readers to explore the works of great artists in comprehensive detail. This volume presents Donatello’s complete works in beautiful detail, with concise introductions, hundreds of high quality images and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1) * The complete sculptures and reliefs of Donatello — over 100 images, fully indexed and arranged in chronological and alphabetical order * Includes reproductions of rare works * Features a special ‘Highlights’ section, with concise introductions to the masterpieces, giving valuable contextual information * Enlarged ‘Detail’ images, allowing you to explore Donatello’s celebrated sculptures in detail, as featured in traditional art books * Hundreds of images in colour – highly recommended for viewing on tablets and smart phones or as a valuable reference tool on more conventional eReaders * Special chronological and alphabetical contents tables for the artworks * Easily locate the sculptures and reliefs you wish to view * Features three bonus biographies, including Vasari’s legendary account of the sculptor – immerse yourself in Donatello’s medieval world Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting e-Art books CONTENTS: The Highlights David, 1409 Saint John the Evangelist Saint George Habakkuk Saint Louis of Toulouse The Feast of Herod Reliquary Bust of Saint Rossore The Pazzi Madonna Bust of Niccolò da Uzzano David, 1440 Atys Madonna and Child (Louvre) Equestrian Statue of Gattamelata Crucifix, Padua Penitent Magdalene The Chellini Madonna Judith and Holofernes The Passion Pulpit The Artworks The Complete Sculptures and Reliefs Alphabetical List of Sculptures and Reliefs The Biographies Life of Donato by Giorgio Vasari Donatello by David Lindsay Donatello by Paul George Konody Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles or to buy the whole Art series as a Super Set
The self-portrait of Baccio Bandinelli shows the sculptor pointing to an object that he has placed on a kind of pedestal. Among the most remarkable aspects of this object is that it is not a sculpture but a design in red chalk, a medium that few other Renaissance sculptors used. Bandinelli was particularly proud of his skills as a draughtsman, and he produced hundreds of drawings, many of them as striking and unusual as the one his portrait depicts. His talent and productivity set him apart from other sculptors of his day, most of whom left little evidence of having worked extensively on paper. This publication, which accompanies an important exhibition at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, puts Bandinelli's portrait in context by looking broadly at the practice of drawing by Renaissance sculptors, including such luminaries as Donatello, Verrocchio, Michelangelo, Cellini and Giambologna. The book surveys two centuries of material, considering rough sketches and more finished sheets, isolated studies and sequences of ideas. Comparing designs on paper to related three-dimensional works by the same artists, the book directly confronts the question of the importance drawing held for sculptors in the period. The authors, who include specialists in the history of sculpture and drawing, among other fields, pose new questions about the creative process and the relation between the arts in Renaissance Italy. A focus of the book will be Bandinellis own drawings and the development of his practice across his career and his experimentation with different media. The broader question considered, however, is when, how and why sculptors drew. Every Renaissance sculptor who set out to make a work in metal or stone would first have made a series of preparatory models in wax, clay and/or stucco. Drawing was not an essential practice for sculptors in the way it was for painters, and indeed, most surviving sculptors drawings are not preparatory studies for works they subsequently executed in three dimensions. When sculptors did draw, it often indicated something about the artists training or about his ambitions. Among the most accomplished draftsmen were artists like Pollaiuolo, Verrocchio and Cellini, who had come to sculpture by way of goldsmithery, a profession that required proficiency in ornamental design. Artists who sought to become architects, meanwhile the likes of Michelangelo, Giambologna and Ammanati similarly needed to learn to draw, since architects had to provide plans, elevations and other drawings to assistants and clients and had to imagine the place of individual figures within a larger multi-media ensemble. Certain kinds of projects, moreover fountains and tombs, for example required drawings to a degree that others did not. Sections on the Renaissance goldsmith-sculptor and sculptor-architect will allow comparison of the place drawing had in various artists careers.
Published in conjunction with an exhibition held at the Bode-Museum, Berlin, Aug. 25-Nov. 20, 2011, and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Dec. 21, 2011-Mar. 18, 2012.
A comprehensive survey of the work of this most influential Florentine artist and teacher Andrea del Verrocchio (c. 1435–1488) was one of the most versatile and inventive artists of the Italian Renaissance. He created art across media, from his spectacular sculptures and paintings to his work in goldsmithing, architecture, and engineering. His expressive, confident drawings provide a key point of contact between sculpture and painting. He led a vibrant workshop where he taught young artists who later became some of the greatest painters of the period, including Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli, Lorenzo di Credi, and Domenico Ghirlandaio. This beautifully illustrated book presents a comprehensive survey of Verrocchio's art, spanning his entire career and featuring some fifty sculptures, paintings, and drawings, in addition to works he created with his students. Through incisive scholarly essays, in-depth catalog entries, and breathtaking illustrations, this volume draws on the latest research in art history to show why Verrocchio was one of the most innovative and influential of all Florentine artists. Published in association with the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
