This research Term Paper will attempt to prove that one may truly call Donatello a Renaissance person. What is a renaissance person? A Renaissance person can best be described by the following terms Greco-Roman and Judea-Christian. Greco-Roman is not only the Greek culture but also the cultures from Mesopotamia, India, China, and Egypt. Romans had a world wide culture. Jude-Christian is two different cultures: Jewish and Christian. Judeo-Christian combines both the sacred Hebrew Scriptures and sacred Christian scriptures along with the old testaments and new testaments. To begin to understand the Renaissance person, one must understand the Greek "view of man". The Greeks viewed man on earth as being the apex of life because only man can produce civilization and culture and that man should be free.
Donatello, real name Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi was born around 1386 and died in 1466. Donatello was an Italian Renaissance sculptor. He was "generally considered one of the greatest sculptors of all time and the founder of modern sculpture."1 Donatello was born in Florence, Italy. He started to paint at a young age. He mostly painted nature and people. It is not known when he started to sculpt, but he sculpted both marble and bronze. His lifetime in the arts was separated into three stages; his early Career, Panduan period, and the Late Florentine Period. He had many influences on his work such as Ghiberti, another Florentine artist, and Brunelleschi. Not only did he get influenced by other artists he influenced others after him. Famous artists that Donatello inspired were Michelangelo. "When he was 17 years old, he assisted the noted sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti in constructing and decorating the famous bronze doors of the baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence. Later, Donatello was also an associate of the noted architect Filippo Brunelleschi."2 He is known to be one of the hardest working artists in the Renaissance.
