Dr. Daniel Zolli

Even in an age filled with versatile artists, Donatello (1386-1466) stands out for his uncommon range. Though best known for the outsize body of marble and bronze sculpture that he produced over a sixty-year career (his bronze David remains a standard introduction to fifteenth-century Italian sculpture), he also worked in wood, clay, wax, cloth, leather, rope, glass, rock crystal, stucco, sandstone, tufa, and alabaster – often using multiple materials in combination. These materials were transformed in myriad ways. They were chiselled, carved, scratched, raked, polished, burnished, cast, painted, varnished, glazed, gilded, silvered, damascened, and tempered with brick dust. To understand why Donatello worked the way he did, this webinar will discuss his workshop, his fiercely collaborative approach to facture, and the uncommon traffic between media and across professional boundaries that came with a life lived in crowded company. Focusing on five (and time permitting, six) sculptures from a twenty-year slice of Donatello’s career, we will consider how the most exciting, strange, and haunting aspects of his art were not the result of heroic individual effort but of group exploration and problem-solving.