Death of Donatello

Donatello died on 13 December 1466 in Florence, aged about 80. A Florentine sculptor, Donatello was one of the greatest artists of the Early Renaissance. His bronze David was the first free-standing nude statue since antiquity, and he revived classical ideas of anatomy and perspective in works such as the equestrian monument to Gattamelata in Padua and the wooden Penitent Magdalene. He also developed a shallow relief technique that suggests great depth. Working in Florence, Padua and Siena, with the support of patrons such as Cosimo de' Medici, he influenced later sculptors including Michelangelo.

Open on the timeline