DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.57409#0508
492
LIVES OF THE ARTISTS.
that all those have been his disciples who, since his death,
have desired to work successfully in relief. The drawings
of Donato are extremely bold, and his designs evince a faci-
lity and freedom which have no equal, as may be seen in my
book of drawings, where I have figures clothed and naked,
drawn by the hand of this master, with some of animals, which
astonish all who see them ; and many other extremely beau-
tiful things.* The portrait of Donato was executed by Paolo
Uccello, as has been related in the life of the latter. The
epitaphs are as follows :—
“ Sculptura H. M. a Florentinis fieri voluit Donatello, utpote homini,
qui ei, quod jamdiu optimis artificibus, multisque steculis, turn
nobilitatis turn nominis acquisitum fuerat, injuriave tempor, perdiderat
ipsa, ipse unas, una vita, infinitisque operibus cumulatiss. restituerit; et
patrite benemerenti hujus restitutae virtutis palmam reportarit.”
“ Excudit nemo spirantia mollius aera
Vera cano: cernes marmora viva loqui
Graecoruin sileat prisca admirabilis setas
Compedibus statuas eontinuisse Rhodon.
Nectere namque magis fuerant htec vincula digna
Istius egregias artificis statuas.
“ Quanto con dotta mano alia scultura
Gia fecer molti, or sol Donato ha fatto:
Renduta ha vita a’ marmi, affetto ed atto:
Che piu, se non parlar, pud dar natura ?”
Donato left the world so well furnished with his works,
that we may with truth affirm, no artist to have worked more
than he did. Finding pleasure in every branch of his art,
he put his hand to every kind of work without considering
whether it were of little importance or high value : but this
multifarious action of Donato in every kind of relief, whether
alto, mezzo, basso, or bassissimo, was without doubt exceed-
ingly serviceable to sculpture, seeing that as in the good times
of the ancient Greeks and Romans, it was by the number ot
masters that the art was brought to perfection, so it was by
of Donato, properly so called, must be numbered a certain Giovanni da
Pisa, whom Donatello, according to the Anonimo of the sixteenth cen-
tury, published by Morelli, had with him in Padua, and by whom there
is an excellent alto-rilievo in terra-cotta, in a chapel of the church of
the Eremitani in that city, of which Cicognara has given an engraving,
—Masselli.
* In the collection of drawings of the Florentine Gallery, there is a
beautiful head of a child by Donatello; it is in water-colours on blue
paper; the high lights are white.—Schorn.
LIVES OF THE ARTISTS.
that all those have been his disciples who, since his death,
have desired to work successfully in relief. The drawings
of Donato are extremely bold, and his designs evince a faci-
lity and freedom which have no equal, as may be seen in my
book of drawings, where I have figures clothed and naked,
drawn by the hand of this master, with some of animals, which
astonish all who see them ; and many other extremely beau-
tiful things.* The portrait of Donato was executed by Paolo
Uccello, as has been related in the life of the latter. The
epitaphs are as follows :—
“ Sculptura H. M. a Florentinis fieri voluit Donatello, utpote homini,
qui ei, quod jamdiu optimis artificibus, multisque steculis, turn
nobilitatis turn nominis acquisitum fuerat, injuriave tempor, perdiderat
ipsa, ipse unas, una vita, infinitisque operibus cumulatiss. restituerit; et
patrite benemerenti hujus restitutae virtutis palmam reportarit.”
“ Excudit nemo spirantia mollius aera
Vera cano: cernes marmora viva loqui
Graecoruin sileat prisca admirabilis setas
Compedibus statuas eontinuisse Rhodon.
Nectere namque magis fuerant htec vincula digna
Istius egregias artificis statuas.
“ Quanto con dotta mano alia scultura
Gia fecer molti, or sol Donato ha fatto:
Renduta ha vita a’ marmi, affetto ed atto:
Che piu, se non parlar, pud dar natura ?”
Donato left the world so well furnished with his works,
that we may with truth affirm, no artist to have worked more
than he did. Finding pleasure in every branch of his art,
he put his hand to every kind of work without considering
whether it were of little importance or high value : but this
multifarious action of Donato in every kind of relief, whether
alto, mezzo, basso, or bassissimo, was without doubt exceed-
ingly serviceable to sculpture, seeing that as in the good times
of the ancient Greeks and Romans, it was by the number ot
masters that the art was brought to perfection, so it was by
of Donato, properly so called, must be numbered a certain Giovanni da
Pisa, whom Donatello, according to the Anonimo of the sixteenth cen-
tury, published by Morelli, had with him in Padua, and by whom there
is an excellent alto-rilievo in terra-cotta, in a chapel of the church of
the Eremitani in that city, of which Cicognara has given an engraving,
—Masselli.
* In the collection of drawings of the Florentine Gallery, there is a
beautiful head of a child by Donatello; it is in water-colours on blue
paper; the high lights are white.—Schorn.