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This authorative work captures the expressive force and spiritual depth of works by Donatello in 15th-century Italy. Born in 1386, Donatello came to be a towering figure of Italian renaissance art. His influence pervaded both sculpture and painting throughout the 15th-century and beyond. His statues embody the new image of man concieved by the Italian Humanists, the creators of renaissance scholarship and philosophy. In his sculpture, for the first time since classical antiquity and in striking contrast to medieval art, the human body is rendered as a self-activating, functional organism, and the human personality is endowed with a confidence in its own individual worth. Technically as well as philosophically, Donatello was an innovator, pioneering new techniques in both marble and bronze.

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Library Journal Review

Unsurpassed among early Renaissance sculptors, Donatello's formal and expressive genius continues to engage both popular appreciation and scholarly scrutiny. Pope-Hennessy's superbly illustrated articulation of the artist's oeuvre is graced by lucid stylistic analyses, compelling connoisseurship, the perceptive interpretation of the documents, and a commanding grasp of the relevant scholarship. The result is a masterful formulation of Donatello's work and chronology. While the essay is an exemplar of the disappearing genre of sophisticated yet accessible art historical exposition, the author's reluctance to evoke sufficiently the sculpture's dramatic essences will lessen the volume's appeal to general readers. Some scholars, too, may blanch at the minimal consideration of iconographic content and social context. This work nonetheless recommends itself as a grand, if traditional, synthesis by a master of the discipline.-- Robert Cahn, Fashion Inst. of Technology, New York (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

In this erudite, lavishly illustrated monograph, Italian Renaissance sculptor Donatello emerges as an innovator who was more radical in his artistic solutions and highly individual religious iconography than is generally assumed. Pope-Hennessy, a leading authority on Italian Renaissance art, surveys the full range of Donatello's accomplishments: his marble David in Florence, the strong humanistic expression of his reliefs and statues, works in gilt bronze and pigmented wood and the low marble relief technique ( stiacciato ) Donatello pioneered, achieving unprecedented effects of animation and expressiveness in almost mystical compositions. The restoration and cleaning of many of Donatello's major works in recent years is reflected in this volume's magnificent color photographs, which radiate the majesty and vividness his sculptures possessed in the 15th century. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

CHOICE Review

In the preface the author states, "This is a monograph, but it is also, in embryo, a biography." In fact, this book represents the epitomy of scholarship, monumental research, and perspicaciously analyzed conclusions, that divulges not only an artistic personality but also an individual, Donatello (1386-1466), in context with his era and society. Even more impressive is the vast number of primary sources, some being tangential, that Pope-Hennessy cites, not only to confirm and verify the sculptor's production but also to deal with those artists, associates, apprentices, employees, patrons, etc., with whom Donatello had contact. In part, this accounts for the exhaustive bibliography as well as the copious and erudite endnotes elucidating the text, often soliciting divergent ideas. Substantiating all of Donatello's innovations and techniques, the text elaborates meticuously the many influences (ancient, medieval, contemporary) that are observed in Donatello's work, while noting the present condition or recent restorations of his works. Of the 313 excellent illustrations accompanying the text, the majority are of superlative color, quality, and detail. Pope-Hennessy establishes with this book the definitive work on Donatello, not to be eclipsed for years to come. R. R. Henry; Pine Manor College