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 facility 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 beautiful things.[1] 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 sseculis, turn nobilitatis turn nominis acquisitum fuerat, injuriave tempor, perdiderat ipsa, ipse unas, una vita, infinitisque operibus cumulatiss. restituerit: et patriae benemerenti hujus restitute virtutis palmam reportarit.”
“Excudit nemo spirantia mollius aera
Vera cano: cernes marmora viva loqui
Graecorum sileat prisca admirabilis setas
Compedibus statuas continuisse Rhodon.
Nectere namque magis fuerant hsec vincula digna
Istius egregias artificis statuas.
“Quanto con dotta mano alla scultura
Gia fecer molti, or sol Donato ha fatto:
Renduta ha vita a’ marmi, affetto ed atto:
Che piu, se non parlar, può 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 exceedingly 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
- ↑ 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.
of Donato, properly so called, must be numbered a certain Giovanni da Pisa, whom Donatello, according to the Anonimo of the sixteenth century, 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.
