Donatello: Creator of Works of Grace and Excellence

Donatello's St. John the Baptist in
the Duomo of Siena.
Photo by Annie Bigelow

Detail of the head and left hand of
St. John the Baptist. Please note the parted
lips and fingers raised in greeting.
Photo by Annie Bigelow

In his Life of Donatello, Florentine Sculptor Giorgio Vasari praises his many works claiming they "possess so much grace and excellence and such a fine sense of design that they were considered to be more like the distinguished works of the ancient Greeks and Romans than those of any other artist that ever existed". In comparing his works to those of other sculptors of his time, specifically the proto-Renaissance sculptors that proceeded him, Vasari's claim has merit. His rendering of the body suggests careful observation of human anatomy and movement; his drapery mimics natural folding against the body and suggests the limbs beneath; and most strikingly in the case of his bronze St. John the Baptist in the Siena Duomo, his rendering of facial features and emotion is almost eerily close to life.

Detail of the right hand of St. John the Baptist. Please note the lighter band of bronze just above
the wrist as well as the awkward clenching of the fingers.
Photo by Annie Bigelow

Donatello's John the Baptist depicts an old, weathered man, pained from the life of sacrifice. His mouth is formed in such a way that he seems tone uttering a tired sigh as he acknowledges the viewer with two raised fingers. Vasari's only mention of this breathtaking (pun intended) is as a "Saint John the Baptist in metal, which lacked its right arm below the elbow; and this, it is said, Donatello left unfinished because he had not been satisfied with the full payment." We know that Vasari was at least partially incorrect as more of Donatello's works were and are in Siena. But moreover, John the Baptist is in possession of both of his arms. It could be that Donatello did come back and finish the work or completed it originally, but perhaps the Cathedral had the work finished by another. Upon closer examination, the right hand seems to be the most awkwardly rendered part of the work and there is a line of welding suggesting that the arm was added later.

Bibliographic Notes: Quotes from Vasari can be found in the Oxford World Classics Edition of Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists.