Donatello and His World: Sculpture of the Italian Renaissance

The Renaissance was a golden age for sculpture, one in which the modern conception of the world gained its first artistic outlines. The medieval definition of the themes and functions of art was crucially expanded, and the creative preoccupations with classical antiquity and the renewed study of nature found their fullest expression. As a result, Renaissance sculpture, and particularly the work of Donatello, whose outstanding creative powers were already recognized and praised by his contemporaries, has remained one of the most fruitful and fascinating areas of art-historical research.
This lavish new volume, which covers the period from 1400 to 1490, represents the most comprehensive documentation of early Italian Renaissance sculpture to date. Its sixty-three exceptional colorplates alone distinguish it from other publications on the subject; most of the photographs were made specifically for this book, and even the most recently restored works are shown in their present state to reflect the artists' intentions as truly as possible.
Within these pages an authentic picture of the period unfolds - its intellectual and philosophical foundations are discussed and its artistic triumphs described and illustrated. Author Joachim Poeschke, professor of art history at the University of Dusseldorf and the author of numerous publications on Italian art of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, has based his text on the latest research. While his central focus is on the work of Donatello, he also illuminates the beginnings of Renaissance sculpture in Florence, its further development in Tuscany and the rest of Italy, the new artistic goals and their theoretical formulation, and the relationships between patron and artist, convention and artistic freedom.
The invaluable documentary section includes all the work of Donatello, as well as that of Ghiberti. Other important sculptors, among them Jacopo della Quercia, Nanni de Banco, Luca della Robbia, Francesco Laurana, and Verrocchio, are featured as well. Each sculpture shown in the documentary section is accompanied by a critical appraisal, and brief biographies of the artists are provided. With an extensive bibliography, Donatello and His World is an essential reference for all scholars, students, and lovers of Italian Renaissance art.

Early Italian Renaissance sculptors such as Donatello, Ghiberti, Brunelleschi and Verrocchio broke away from late Gothic traditions and embarked on a humanistic exploration of emotions. That awakening is ably traced in this beautifully illustrated survey spanning the period from 1400-1490. The focus is on Florentine sculptor Donatello (1386-1466), whose early works, like the marble David and a wooden crucifix, take into account the viewer's perspective and create their own space. It is Donatello's later statues of figures wracked by powerful emotions-- the glowering, half-crazed Jeremiah or the woodcut Mary Magdalene--that, Poeschke emphasizes, give the lie to any vision of the Renaissance as a seamless monument to classical beauty. A helpful introductory essay, extensive notes and biographical profiles of 30 sculptors accompany the 388 plates, 63 of which are in color.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This excellent new survey of quattrocento Italian sculpture, the first of a projected set of two, is the best in English since John Pope-Hennessy's Italian Renaissance Sculpture appeared in 1958. Poeschke's very readable history of this most crucial of centuries precedes an extensive section of plates, many in color, illustrating the reliefs and statues of 30 artists. Brief biographies, analyses of the pictured artworks, and a lengthy bibliography complete the book, making it an exceptionally well-documented appraisal of an era and a medium. While Poeschke's approach does give a great deal of weight to Donatello's influence, he does not neglect the many other geniuses of the age, including Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Michellozzo, and Verrocchio. The wholeness of his analysis and the impressive photography support his claim that the seeds of the artistic Renaissance lie not in painting or architecture but in the early carvings of these 15th-century Florentine masters. A superb acquisition for all libraries.
- Douglas F. Smith, Oakland P.L., Cal.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.