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Donatello's Gattamelata and its Humanist Audience *

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Mary Bergstein
Mary Bergstein*
Affiliation:
Rhode Island School of Design
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Abstract

Two small nude horsemen located in the armorial decoration of Donatello's Gattamelata yield new insights about the use of Greek sources in Renaissance art. Here it is speculated that Donatello was informed by a drawing or carved gemstone provided by Ciriaco d'Ancona that represented riders in the Panathenaic frieze on the Parthenon. Donatello may have included the figures as a learned reference to delight a circle of intellectuals in Padua, including Ciriaco and Francesco Barbaro, who wrote dedicatory texts for the monument. It is subsequently argued that Leon Battista Alberti's treatise De equo animante (ca. 1444-47) and Donatello's Gattamelata appear to have been mutually influential.

Type
Studies
Information
Renaissance Quarterly , Volume 55 , Issue 3 , Autumn 2002 , pp. 833 - 868
Copyright
Copyright © Renaissance Society of America 2002

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Footnotes

*

Parts of this essay were given as a lecture entitled “Donatello at the Parthenon” at the 2000 meeting of the RSA. I am grateful to many friends: James Beck, Gina Borromeo, Stefano Casù, Gino Corti, Alexander Gourlay, Margaret Lewis, and Louise Rice. John Monfasani, Michael C.J. Putnam, Nelia Saxby, and David Warner helped with translations. Two anonymous readers for RQ and particularly editor Paul F. Grendler provided valuable suggestions. Above all I thank Father Edward W. Bodnar for his patient reading of a draft and valuable responses to my many questions. Every effort has been made to obtain permission to reproduce copyrighted material. Copyright holders should inform the author of any oversight if proper acknowledgment has not been stated.

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