Donatello . ble, if it is to be intimatelyexamined from close proximity. Herein lies the greatness of his thoroughlypersonal execution of the St. John in the Casa Martelli. Compare it withthe bearded St. John in the Bargello! You will see the full significanceof the partial collaboration of assistants in such works of greater skin-garment which is exquisitely true to nature in the St. John of the 149 Casa Martelli, is coursened by the hand of artisans in the Bargello Baptist(Fig. 139). The same apphes to the hair. The feet, on the other hand (Fig. 140),are splendidly modelled. Ano
Donatello . ble, if it is to be intimatelyexamined from close proximity. Herein lies the greatness of his thoroughlypersonal execution of the St. John in the Casa Martelli. Compare it withthe bearded St. John in the Bargello! You will see the full significanceof the partial collaboration of assistants in such works of greater skin-garment which is exquisitely true to nature in the St. John of the 149 Casa Martelli, is coursened by the hand of artisans in the Bargello Baptist(Fig. 139). The same apphes to the hair. The feet, on the other hand (Fig. 140),are splendidly modelled. Another characteristic instance of the work of as-sistants is afforded by the masks of the tabernacle which enshrined firstDonatellos St. Louis, and subsequently Verrocchios group. Whilst themask on the left reveals the masters hand in the loose rendering of hairand beard, the one on the right shows quite a conventional treatment withparallel grooves (Fig. 51 and 52). Entirely impersonal is the execution of the. Fig. 138. Marble Medallion in the Court of the Medici Palace. IHorence. (To pages 92 and 144.) marble David of the Casa Martelli, the only statue which has remainedunfinished, owing to accidental slips of the chisel in several places. Itsmodel has been preserved in the above mentioned Berlin statuette. Amongthe marble reliefs the Berlin Madonna from the Casa Pazzi is an exampleof the greatest delicacy of technique. But Donatello never is as smoothas Michelozzo. His stone technique for material of minor value is demon-strated in its two extremes by the relief of St. John in the Bargello andby the supporter of the Martelli arms: in the one case, miniature-likedelicacy, in the other, everything expressed with breadth and vigour — asit were al fresco. ISO The bronzes show similar contrasts of equally well stated motives. Thelarger-ones were not cast by Donatello, but by Michelozzo or by specialcraftsmen. Only now and then Donatello himself undertook the casting,in which he h
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectdonatello13861466
