The Bite Magazine - Spring/Summer 2023 - Issue 33

biteexhibition Ian Gillett visited the V&A Museum’s first major exhibition, Donatello: Sculpting the Renaissance on the great Italian Renaissance artist. O ne of the greatest Italian Renaissance artists, Donatello was celebrated at the Victoria & Al- bert Museum in its first significant exhibition Donatello: Sculpting the Renaissance on the master sculptor’s exceptional talent. The Florence na- tive, born Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi in 1386, studied classical sculpture and developed a Renais- sance style, particularly in marble, bronze and wood. His sculpted figures were some of the first since an- tiquity to represent anatomy correctly with a sense of individuality. The exhibition, curated by Peta Motture and Whit- ney Kerr-Lewis, showcased works never seen in the UK, including the early marble ‘David’ and bronze ‘Attis-Amorino’ sculptures, the reliquary bust of ‘San Rossore’ and bronze works from the High Altar of the Basilica of St Anthony in Padua, Italy. The exquisitely carved ‘The Ascension with Christ Giving the Keys to St Peter’, ‘Madonna of the Clouds’ and fellow Italian sculptor Desiderio da Settignano’s ‘Panciatichi Ma- donna’ were displayed together for the first time. Donatello: Sculpting the Renaissance presented a unique vision of the sculptor’s genius and central role during the Renaissance period in European culture. It focused primarily on his lifetime and immediate fol- lowers, combining ideas from classical and medieval sculpture to create novel works. The impressive seat- ed marble figure of ‘St John the Evangelist’ for the Florence cathedral facade and a wooden crucifix in the church of Santa Croce are two of his unique works. The artist worked with wax, clay and bronze in Loren- zo Ghiberti’s workshop, a bronze sculptor and leading Florentine exponent of International Gothic, a distinc- tive decorative courtly painting style created across Europe in the late 14th and early 15th centuries. Us- ing a flattened-out technique, Donatello invented a new mode relief in his marble panel, ‘St George Killing Sculpting the Renaissance Donatello - Bust of a Man