Gothic beginnings (e.g. the marble David; now Bargello,
Florence), via a transitional statue, St. John the Evangelist,
for the cathedral facade (1408; now Museo dell’ Opera del
Duomo, Florence), to full-blown Renaissance figures like
St. Mark (1411–13; Orsanmichele, Florence) and St.
George (1415; Bargello). These were followed by a series
of increasingly expressive statues of Old Testament
prophets for the campanile (1415–36; now Museo dell’
Opera del Duomo). By imaginatively combining his study
of Roman portrait statuary with his observation of con-
temporary Florentines, Donatello single-handedly created
a new sculptural style with a maximum dramatic effect.
He later pursued this vein in woodcarvings of St. John the
Baptist (1438; Frari church, Venice) and St. Mary Magda-
lene (c. 1455–60; Museo dell’ Opera del Duomo).
Donatello also invented SCHIACCIATO, a technique of
very shallow carving for narrative reliefs which approxi-
mated the effect of drawing and shading on paper; this al-
lowed the sculptor much greater freedom to suggest
depths, movement, and emotion. The progressive mile-
stones in this mode are St. George and the Dragon (c. 1415;
Bargello); the Ascension of Christ (Victoria and Albert Mu-
seum, London); the Assumption of the Virgin (Sant’ Angelo
a Nido, Naples); the Feast of Herod (c. 1435; Musées des
Beaux-Arts, Lille). These reliefs are quite unparalleled and
were imitated only by DESIDERIO DA SETTIGNANOand by
MICHELANGELOin his youth. His friezes of putti on the
Cantoria of the Duomo in Florence and on the external
pulpit of Prato cathedral, both carved in the 1430s, show
his highly individual interpretation of antique motifs.
Donatello’s favorite patron was Cosimo de’ MEDICI, for
whom he created many and various sculptures, including
the reliefs in Brunelleschi’s old sacristy and, later, the
bronze pulpit in San Lorenzo, and for the newly built
Medici palace the bronze statues of David (Bargello) and
Judith and Holofernes (Palazzo Vecchio, Florence). Outside
Florence, his greatest sculpture is in Padua, where he
spent a whole decade (1443–53): this comprises the first
surviving EQUESTRIAN MONUMENTsince ancient times, the
statue to GATTAMELATA, and statues and panels for the high
altar of the basilica (il Santo).
Donatello also worked in Rome and Siena. In each of
these artistic centers, his fully developed Renaissance style
made a great impact on the local schools, which were fun-
damentally still late Gothic in character and mood. In
Padua and Siena, where he worked exclusively in bronze,
he founded a strong tradition—BELLANOand RICCIOin
Padua, VECCHIETTAand FRANCESCOdi Giorgio in Siena. In
his native Florence his principal followers were, in marble
carving, Desiderio da Settignano and MICHELOZZO, and, in
bronze casting, VERROCCHIO, POLLAIUOLO, and BERTOLDO.
The latter formed a living link between the elderly Do-
natello and Michelangelo.
Further reading: Michael Greenhalgh, Donatello and
His Sources (London: Duckworth and New York: Holmes
& Meier, 1982); Horst W. Janson, The Sculpture of Do-
natello (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1957);
Joachim Poeschke, Donatello and His World: Sculpture of
the Italian Renaissance, transl. Russell Stockman (New
York: Harry N. Abrams, 1993).Dondi, Giovanni de (1318–1389) Italian astronomer and
horologist
Born at Chioggia, near Venice, the son of a physician and
CLOCK maker, Dondi followed his father Jacopo
(1293–1359) and taught medicine and astronomy at the
universities of Padua and Pavia. Jacopo was reported to
have built an astronomical clock in 1344 in Padua. Shortly
afterwards, probably with his father’s help, Giovanni
began work on his own clock. Completed in 1364, it was
sited in the Visconti castle in Pavia. Though long since de-
stroyed, details of the clock are preserved in Giovanni’s
lavishly illustrated 130,000-word manuscript. More con-
cerned with celestial movements than the hourly record-
ing of time, the brass weight-driven clock had seven sides,
displaying much astronomical and calendrical informa-
tion. It contained the most advanced gearing then con-
structed and remained unsurpassed in design until the
mid-16th century.Doni, Anton Francesco (1513–1574) Italian writer
The son of a Florentine tradesman, Doni joined the Servite
order at an early age but left it in 1540, thereafter sup-
porting himself by his writings. After Pietro ARETINO, he
was the most distinguished of the authors known as the
poligrafi, whose lively vernacular works were aimed at a
popular audience and printed mainly in Venice. Often
critical of or disillusioned with many humanist ideals,
Doni’s works include La zucca (1551; The Gourd), a col-
lection of stories and proverbs; I marmi (1553; The Marble
Steps), imaginary conversation overheard on the steps of
Florence’s Duomo; and I mondi and Gl’ inferni (1553), di-
alogues on seven imaginary worlds and hells.Don Quixote (Spanish El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote
de la Mancha) The comic prose masterpiece by Miguel
de CERVANTES SAAVEDRA, published in two parts (1605,
1615). In the prologue to Part I (52 chapters), Cervantes
declares his intention of ridiculing the romances of
chivalry. The elderly hidalgo Don Quixote has gone mad
from reading too many of them and so, emulating Amadís
de Gaula and other knights errant, he set out from his vil-
lage on his nag Rocinante in search of adventure. Sancho
Panza, whose peasant realism and unheroic character con-
trast with Quixote’s idealistic credulity, becomes his
“squire.” The episodes, in which Quixote’s delusion trans-
forms windmills into giants and peasant girls into
princesses, range from farce to social satire and high com-
edy. A vast number of brilliantly sketched characters are
introduced, but the action is interrupted by digressionsDDoonn QQuuiixxoottee 114455