Donatello . to picture— could not have pictured. But even at thislate period of his work he did not always conceive thus the end of is proved by the masterly bronzebust of an old woman in the Bargello(Fig. 121); which formerly passed as awork of Vecchiettas, but is now withgood reason claimed by Bode for Dona-tello. It was originally in the guardarobaof the Medici, where Vasari saw Donatellosimage of Cosimos spouse. The bust isevidently worked from a death-mask, butintense and touching peacefulnes is spreadover the features which are already alittle pointed. JUDITH. The reliable dati
Donatello . to picture— could not have pictured. But even at thislate period of his work he did not always conceive thus the end of is proved by the masterly bronzebust of an old woman in the Bargello(Fig. 121); which formerly passed as awork of Vecchiettas, but is now withgood reason claimed by Bode for Dona-tello. It was originally in the guardarobaof the Medici, where Vasari saw Donatellosimage of Cosimos spouse. The bust isevidently worked from a death-mask, butintense and touching peacefulnes is spreadover the features which are already alittle pointed. JUDITH. The reliable dating of the SieneseBaptist, 1457, together with the style ofthis statue, enable the critic to ascribeto this post-Paduan period another bronzeof far more importance, which has beenpuzzling to all Donatellos biographers:the. Judith group (Figs. 122—126). Bodeplaces it about 1440, Schmarsow earlierstill, whilst Tschudi, Pastor, and recentlyMackowski are in favour of the lateperiod — rightly so, I Fig. 120. Magdalen. Florence. Baptistery.(To page 127.) 128 Like so many other works, the Judith group has changed its positionand purpose. It was originally an ornament for the fountain in the courtof the Casa Medici — and therefore of essentially decorative value, like,say the destroyed sandstone figure of Wealth (Dovizia), which stoodon a column at the Mercato Vecchio since 1431. After the banishmentof Piero de Medici the Judith became a public national monument. In1495 it was placed at the entrance of the government palace on thebaluster-shaped basis which once supported the David and was now in-
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectdonatello13861466
