The New Student's Reference Work/Donatello

Donatello (dōn′ ȧ-tĕl′ lṓ) or Donate, a distinguished Italian sculptor, was born at Florence in 1386.  He learned the goldsmith’s trade, which then included all kinds of work in bronze, such as the making of statues, but later he became a sculptor and also a painter.  One of his first achievements in sculpture was the statue of St. Mark at the Church of St. Michele in Florence, and it also is one of his best.  Others of his great works are The Baptist, David, Judith and St. George.  The chief man in Florence, Cosmo dei Medici, was his friend and patron.  Donatello was a hard worker; 40 examples of his art now exist, there being many more thought to be his, but not certainly known to be so.  He died at Florence in 1466.  The name also is that of the hero of Hawthorne’s Marble Faun.