Donatello

All accounts describe Donatello as amiable and well-liked, but rather poor at the business side of his career.[4] Like Michelangelo in the next century, he tended to accept more commissions than he could handle,[5] and many works were either completed some years late, handed to other sculptors to finish, or never produced. Again like Michelangelo, he enjoyed steady support and patronage from the Medici family.

All sources agree that he carved stone and modelled clay or wax for bronzes very quickly and confidently, and art historians feel able to distinguish his hand from that of others, even within the same work. Italian Renaissance sculptors nearly always used assistants, with the master often giving parts of a piece over to them, but Donatello, who would perhaps not have been good at managing a large workshop like that of Ghiberti,[6] seems to have had at most times a relatively small number of experienced assistants, many of whom became significant masters in their own right. The technical quality of his work can vary, especially in bronze pieces, where casting faults may occur; even the bronze David has a hole under his chin.

Donatello certainly made drawings, probably especially for reliefs. In the case of his stained glass designs and perhaps other works these were his whole contribution. Vasari claimed to have several in his collection, which he praised highly: "I have both nude and draped figures, various animals which astound anyone who sees them, and other beautiful things..".[7] But very few surviving drawings are now accepted as probably by his own hand, and these are strong and lively sketches with figures, such as the three in its collections that the French government still attributes to Donatello himself.

A story told both by Vasari and the earlier Pomponio Gaurico says that he kept a bucket containing money hanging on a cord from the ceiling of his workshop, from which those around could take if they needed it.[8] A tax return from 1427, near the peak of his career, shows a much lower income than Ghiberti's for the same year,[9] and he seems to have died in modest circumstances, although this may not have been of concern to him;[10] "he was very happy in his old age" according to Vasari.[11]

Donatello was born in Florence, probably in 1386, based on his own later statement in his catasto tax declaration; he claimed to be 41 years old in July 1427.[12] He was the son of Niccolò di Betto Bardi, who was a "wool-stretcher" (tiratore di lana) and member of the Florentine Arte della Lana, the wool workers guild, which probably provided a good income.[13]

Donatello's actual surname was therefore Bardi, but if he was related to the well known Bardi family of bankers, it seems to have been rather distantly.[14] The banker Bardis were still wealthy and powerful, despite the default of Edward III of England in 1345 having caused the failure of their bank. After Contessina de' Bardi married Cosimo de' Medici around 1415, any connection he had might still have been useful to Donatello. However, Donatello's father did have a connection with the powerful Buonaccorso Pitti, whose diary records a fight in Pisa in 1380 in which Niccolò intervened, giving Pitti's opponent a fatal blow.[15]

Vasari's claim that Donatello was raised and educated in the house of the prominent Martelli family is probably baseless, and given for literary, even political reasons. They were certainly later keen patrons of Donatello, and also commissioned work from Vasari himself.[16]

16th-century portrait of Florentine culture heros: Giotto, Paolo Ucello, Donatello, Antonio Manetti, Brunelleschi.[17]

Donatello's first appearance in any documentary records is unpromising; in January 1401, at the age of about 15, he was accused in Pistoia, 25 miles from Florence and then controlled by it, of hitting a German with a stick, drawing blood.[18] He was probably there with his father, who had an official job in Pistoia at the time, while Buonaccorso Pitti was the Captain, or governor.[19] While there Donatello appears to have befriended, and perhaps worked with, Filippo Brunelleschi, who was some ten years older (born in 1377), and although not yet a master goldsmith, working on silver figures for an altar in Pistoia Cathedral. What experience Donatello had to assist him, if that was what he was doing, is unclear.[20]

Ghiberti workshop, north doors for the Florence Baptistery, Resurrection of Lazarus

Both Donatello and Brunelleschi returned to Florence in early 1401, in time for Brunelleschi to take part in the famous competition for the Baptistery doors, often seen as the start of Florentine Renaissance sculpture.[21] Seven sculptors were invited to submit trial panels, for which they were paid; Vasari's Life of Brunelleschi wrongly claims that Donatello was one of them, but they were all more experienced figures. The unexpected result declared by the 34 judges was that the entries by two young Florentines, Lorenzo Ghiberti and Brunelleschi, were the best. An attempt was made to get the two to share the commission, but amid bitter recriminations that lasted for years, this failed and Ghiberti was given the whole commission.[22]

Any part played by Donatello, presumably assisting Brunelleschi with his trial piece, is unknown. After the final result in late 1402, or early 1403, they seem to have left for Rome together, staying until at least the next year, to study the artistic and architectural remains left by Ancient Rome, then very abundant, though often still buried. They were very early in this effectively archaeological pursuit, which included measuring remains, and hiring labourers to excavate. The main source for this period is the biography of Brunelleschi by Antonio Manetti (1423–1497), who knew both men.[23] Vasari just repeats a shorter version of Manetti's account, according to which both men were able to support themselves by jobs for Roman goldsmiths, which probably represented important training for Donatello. Perhaps they were also able to sell excavated sculptures.[24] Brunelleschi subsequently mostly remained in Rome, becoming a highly important architect, while Donatello returned to Florence to pursue his career in sculpture.

Donatello is recorded as working as an apprentice, and for the last few months on a salary, in the studio of Lorenzo Ghiberti in 1404-1407,[25] apparently working on the workshop's main project, the bronze doors of the Florence Baptistery,[26] and from 1406 on stone carving on the large surround to the cathedral's Porta della Mandorla, a large project that was still some years from completion. He was paid in November 1406 for a figure of a prophet on the door, but the identification of this is not certain; it may be one now in the Museo dell' Opera del Duomo, the cathedral museum.[27]

Saint George Freeing the Princess, base of his Saint George for Orsanmichele, Bargello

Donatello became famous for his reliefs, especially his development of a very "low" or shallow relief style, called stiacciato (literally "flattened-out"), where all parts of the relief are low. This contrasted with the developing technique of other sculptors who included very high and low relief in the same composition, with Ghiberti's "Gates of Paradise" doors (1424-1451) for the Florence Baptistery a leading example.[47]

The Feast of Herod (1423–1427), baptismal font, Siena Baptistery

Donatello's "first milestone" in the technique is his marble Saint George Freeing the Princess on the base of his Saint George for Orsanmichele. The figures project slightly forward, but "by skilful overlaps are brought back into a tightly-stretched unified skin-plane which is scarcely broken in surface relief to suggest a deep, though not limitless, space".[48] The relief does not provide a "completely coherent system of perspective" (nor did any Italian work for some five or six years after), but the arcaded hall on the right represents a partial scheme of perspective.[49]

His next major development in this direction was in bronze, still a relatively new medium for him. Ghiberti had been involved from 1417 for a project for the font at the Siena Baptistery; it seems to have been his idea to have six bronze, rather than marble, reliefs, and these were allocated to him, Jacopo della Quercia, and a local father and son team. By 1423 Ghiberti had not even started work, and one relief, The Feast of Herod was given to Donatello instead (the overall subject was the life of John the Baptist).[50]

This is placed low, the bottom at about the level of the viewer's knee, and the relief allows for that. The composition has figures in three receding planes defined by the architecture. At left Herod recoils in horror as he is presented with John the Baptist's head on a platter; to the right of centre Salome is still dancing. In a space behind musicians are playing, and beyond them John's head is presented to two figures, one presumably Herodias. It does not represent a full one-point perspective scheme, as there are two vanishing points, perhaps intended to create subliminal impressions of tension and disharmony in the viewer, reflecting the grisly subject.[51]

Pazzi Madonna (1425−1430), marble stiacciato relief, Berlin

Other stiacciato reliefs include The Assumption of the Virgin in the wall-tomb in Sant'Angelo a Nilo, Naples, (1426-1428, see below), the Madonna of the Clouds and Pazzi Madonna, both c. 1425−1430 and domestic pieces respectively with and without a carved background, The Ascension with Christ Giving the Keys to Saint Peter (1428-30), for an unknown location but in the Medici collection by the end of the century, and a small Virgin and Child (perhaps 1426, probably by his workshop).[52]

At all times Donatello and his workshop made more conventional reliefs, at a variety of depths and sizes, and in different materials.[53]

Around 1425 Donatello entered into a formal partnership with Michelozzo, who is mainly remembered as an architect, but was also a sculptor, especially of smaller-scale works in metal. He had trained with the mint making dies for coins, where he still had a salaried position. Michelozzo was the younger by about ten years, and they had probably known each other for years. Michelozzo wanted to extract himself from an arrangement with Ghiberti, and Donatello had too much work, and was poor at organizing a workshop, at which Michelozzo seems to have excelled. Both had very good relations with the Medici family and so their powerful supporters. The partnership was very successful, and was renewed until it had lasted for nine years, when a dispute that was mostly the fault of Donatello ended it.[54]

Dancing spiritelli on the Siena font, 1429

The partnership's combination of skills in monumental sculpture and architecture made it well qualified to take on elaborate wall tombs. From 1425 to 1428, they collaborated on the Tomb of Antipope John XXIII in the Florence Baptistery; the executors were Giovanni de' Medici and Medici supporters. Donatello made the recumbent bronze figure of the deceased, and Michelozzo, with assistants, the several figures in stone. The tomb, elegantly integrating a variety of elements into a narrow vertical space, in a classicizing style, made a great impact and "became the model for the Quattrocento wall-tomb whenever an elaborate or particular impressive expression was wanted" with variations found well into the next century.[55]

After his death in 1427, the partnership took on the funerary monument of Cardinal Rainaldo Brancacci, a Medici ally, at the church of Sant'Angelo a Nilo in Naples. The work was done at Pisa on the coast, and the pieces shipped south. A donkey was purchased to help with transport, and in 1426 Donatello had bought a boat to ship marble from Carrara to Pisa. Donatello's personal contribution was probably limited to the Assumption relief discussed above.[56] Finishing in 1429, for the font at the Baptistery of San Giovanni, Siena, apart from the relief of The Feast of Herod (discussed above), he made small bronze statues of Faith and Hope, and three small bronze spiritelli, naked winged putti-like figures, classical in inspiration, and highly influential on later art.[57]

Images of the Virgin and Child, mostly for homes, had long been a staple for Italian painters, and becoming affordable ever lower down the income scale. Now sculptors were producing them as reliefs, in a variety of materials, and with the cheaper terracotta or plaster ones often painted. The attribution of the large numbers of such images is often difficult, especially as the style of Donatello and contemporaries such as Ghiberti continued to be used for them for a long time.[58]

Another type of work for sculptors was coats of arms and other heraldic pieces for the outsides of the palazzi of the great families of the city, of which Donatello made a number. Donatello also restored antique sculptures for the Palazzo Medici.[59]

The breakup of the partnership with Michelozzo seems to have been partly precipitated by Donatello's delays in doing his part in the commission for an exterior pulpit for Prato Cathedral; highlights in the year at Prato, close to and controlled by Florence, were when the city's famous relic, the Girdle of Thomas (Sacra Cintola), thought to be the belt the Virgin Mary dropped to Thomas the Apostle as she rose in the air during her Assumption, was displayed to the population from a high pulpit. This took place five times every year, one coinciding with a trade fair that was important for the city's economy. The commission began in 1428, but Donatello did not begin work on his alloted areas for years, despite relentless chasing by the Prato authorities, and finally Cosimo de' Medici.[60]

Donatello's reliefs of dancing children for the pulpit were finally delivered in 1438, and it seems that though designed by Donatello, perhaps using his first idea for the Florence cantoria frieze (see below), they are not believed to have actually carved by him. The Prato authorities were unhappy, and the ten years it had taken to get them finished seems to have strained relations with Michelozzo, and the partnership was not renewed in 1434. The two remained on amicable terms, and were to collaborate later. They are now replaced by replicas, with the rather weathered originals displayed inside the cathedral.[61]

A factor in the delay was probably Donatello's travelling, which increased from about 1430, after a long period of steady work and residence in Florence after his return from Rome in about 1404. In 1430 he worked with Brunelleschi at Lucca on the construction of a defensive dyke and wall, and later in the year visited Pisa, Lucca again and finished the year in Rome, where he spent much of his time until 1433. Some of this travel was to see antiquities, and political difficulties had greatly reduced the flow of commissions in Florence.[62]

Michelozzo was also have been with Donatello in Rome for some of the time, but the few products there of the visits lead art historians to describe the visits as mainly resulting in studying classical works. It is not clear whether anything was actually made there, or executed in Florence and shipped down. There was probably a large papal commission in view, but if so, nothing resulted.[63] The main surviving piece is a tabernacle surround for Saint Peter's in marble relief, 228 cm (89.7 in) high, and now in the museum there. The main figurative sections are a stiacciato panel with the Entombment of Christ, and a total of sixteen child-angels at various points in the classicising architectural framework. This "first clearly defines the Early Renaissance wall-tabernacle type" and was very influential.[64]

There was also the old-fashioned tomb slab for the cleric Giovanni Crivelli in Santa Maria in Aracoeli, which might well not be attributed to Donatello if he had not signed it. It is not clear whether a workshop was opened in Rome, or if these were carved in Florence and shipped down.[65]

It has been speculated that the visits led to meetings between Donatello and Leon Battista Alberti, then in Rome, and perhaps writing his De Statua. There may have been mutual influence, and Donatello seems to have returned from Rome with an interest in a modular system of human proportions. The bronze David and the marble "Martelli David" now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington both use proportions very close those Alberti recommends.[66]

Detail of the Cantoria frieze

In the 1430s and 1440s Donatello made many sculptures of young children dancing, as well as putti (cherubs) and a variant of these traditionally called spiritelli ("sprites"). Putti were not new in Italian sculpture, but were given a rather unusual prominence by Donatello.[67]

Some early examples are three out of a group of six freestanding bronze spiritelli on the cover for the font of the Siena Baptistery (1429), standing over his earlier relief of the Feast of Herod discussed above. One dances and two play musical instruments. They have been said to be "the first true free-standing figurines of the Renaissance" and were enormously influential, expressing "what was at the heart of the Renaissance—the classical reborn into the Christian".[68]

His most famous work in this genre is his relief frieze for the cantoria or singing gallery of Florence Cathedral. There are two of these galleries rather high on the walls of the nave. Luca della Robbia had been given the commission for the first in 1431, and Donatello for the second in 1433, with his contract promising 20% higher payment if his were more beautiful than della Robbia's.[69]

Donatello's return to Florence in 1434 almost coincided with Cosimo's. In May 1434, he signed a contract for the marble pulpit on the facade of Prato cathedral, the last project executed in collaboration with Michelozzo. This work, a passionate, pagan, rhythmically conceived bacchanalian dance of half-nude putti, was the forerunner of the great Cantoria, or singing tribune, at the Duomo in Florence on which Donatello worked intermittently from 1433 to 1440 and was inspired by ancient sarcophagi and Byzantine ivory chests. In 1435, he executed the Annunciation for the Cavalcanti altar in Santa Croce, inspired by 14th-century iconography, and in 1437–1443, he worked in the Old Sacristy of San Lorenzo in Florence, on two doors and lunettes portraying saints, as well as eight stucco tondos.

St. George, Orsanmichele, Florence

Donatello's bronze David, now in the Bargello museum, is his most famous work, and the first known free-standing nude statue produced since antiquity. Conceived fully in the round, independent of any architectural surroundings, and largely representing an allegory of the civic virtues triumphing over brutality and irrationality, it is arguably the first major work of Italian Renaissance sculpture. It was commissioned by Cosimo de' Medici for the courtyard of his Palazzo Medici, but its date remains the subject of debate. It is most often dated to the 1440s, but dates as late as the 1460s have support from some scholars. It is not to be confused with his stone David, with clothes, of about 1408–09.

Three anecdotes eroticize Donatello's relations with apprentices. He hired especially beautiful boys, and "stained" them so that no one else would find them pleasing; when one assistant left after a quarrel, they made up by "laughing" at each other, a slang term for sex.[70]

The historian Paul Strathern makes the claim that Donatello made no secret of his homosexuality, and that his behaviour was tolerated by his friends.[71] The main evidence comes from anecdotes by Angelo Poliziano in his "Detti piacevoli", where he writes about Donatello surrounding himself with "handsome assistants" and chasing in search of one that had fled his workshop.[72] This may not be surprising in the context of attitudes prevailing in the 15th- and 16th-century Florentine Republic. However, little detail is known with certainty about his private life, and no mention of his sexuality has been found in the Florentine archives (in terms of denunciations)[73] albeit which during this period are incomplete.[74]

Wood was still used for crucifixes for its lightness. It was also cheap and convenient for transporting long distances, and was usually painted. When a Florentine confraternity in Venice commissioned a statue of John the Baptist, patron saint of Florence, still in the Frari Church there, wood was chosen. It was signed and dated 1438 (before this was revealed in conservation work it had been dated later), and was probably the only work by Donatello in the city. He usually did not sign his work, except for some commissions destined for outside Florence.[75]

The redating of the Saint John had knock-on consequences for a far more celebrated wooden figure, the Penitent Magdalene long in the Florence Baptistery (now Museo dell'Opera del Duomo), where the carving style is comparable. This is "formidably expressive" in a stark style found in Donatello's last years, and had been dated to around 1456,[76] until the date was found on the other figure; it is now dated generally to the late 1430s, or at any rate before Donatello went to Padua.[77]

In 1443, Donatello was called to Padua by the heirs of the famous condottiere Erasmo da Narni (better known as the Gattamelata, or 'Honey-Cat'), who had died that year. Completed in 1450 and placed on the square to the left of the Basilica of St. Anthony, his Equestrian Monument of Gattamelata was the first example of such a monument since ancient times. (Other equestrian statues, from the 14th century, had not been executed in bronze and had been placed over tombs rather than erected independently, in a public place.) This work became the prototype for other equestrian monuments executed in Italy and Europe in the following centuries.

For the Basilica of St. Anthony, Donatello created the bronze crucifix of 1444–1447 and additional statues for the choir, including a Madonna and Child and six saints, constituting a Holy Conversation. This is no longer visible since the renovation by Camillo Boito in 1895. The Madonna and Child Enthroned, between St. Francis and St. Anthony, in bronze (c. 1448), portrays the Christ Child being displayed to the faithful by the Madonna, who wears a crown. The Madonna is neither standing nor sitting on the throne but is portrayed in the act of rising. She is flanked by two saints, Anthony of Padua and Francis of Assisi. Shown at the base of her throne, to each side of the Madonna, are sphinxes, allegorical figures of knowledge. On the throne's back is a relief of the Fall of Man, depicting Adam and Eve.[78] During this period, 1446–1450, Donatello also executed four reliefs with scenes from the life of St Anthony for the high altar.[79] He remained in Padua until 1453, when he returned to Florence.

Lamentation over the Dead Christ, the possible trial cast for the Siena Cathedral doors. Victoria and Albert Museum

Between 1457 and 1461 Donatello was active in and for Siena, though he was now aging, and perhaps mostly contributed designs and modelli rather than carving much himself, at least in stone.[80] In 1457 he had received three large commissions for the city, of which only one reached Siena. Firstly there were bronze doors for the cathedral, of which only a possible trial cast of one panel survives (in the Victoria and Albert Museum); the Sienese may have been unable to fund what would have been a very expensive project.[81]

His bronze Judith and Holofernes is an important late work, which ended in a Medici courtyard in Florence, while his bronze John the Baptist was delivered minus a forearm and is now in Siena Cathedral.[82] Another commission was a large relief Madonna and Child (Madonna delle Grazie) with blue glass inlays in the surround, completed in 1459, with much of the work done by another, perhaps the local Urbano da Cortona, who had been pushed aside to allow Donatello to have the commission.[83]

Detail of Resurrection, San Lorenzo pulpit

After returning from Siena he remained in Florence until his death in 1466. He was evidently unable to work for a period, of uncertain extent, before his death; Vasari records this, but without any timing.[84] But, with the help of assistants, he embarked on a major project in these years, reliefs that now form two pulpits for San Lorenzo, Florence, the burial place of the Medicis, though it is possible that this was not the function originally intended. They were only assembled in this way in the following century, and the panel sizes vary.[85]

At least the designs of most of these are thought to have by Donatello himself, and the modelling of many parts; the precise attribution of the reliefs remains much discussed. Some appear to have been cast from unfinished modelli, and there is considerable stylistic disparity between panels, and sometimes sections of the same panel. The treatment of the spaces in which the scenes are set is especially varied and experimental, part of "the absolutely uncompromising use of every possible means to express emotion and suffering" that marks these works.[86]

One of the few surviving drawings thought to be by Donatello, Fragment of a Massacre of the Innocents, 1446-50, now Rennes

Giorgio Vasari's life of Donatello in his Lives of the Artists was mostly researched in the 1540s, around a century after the events he recounts, and contains some clear and significant errors of fact. It fully recognises Donatello's stature as an artist, and lists many works. His knowledge of those in Padua and Siena appears shaky, and may rely on the accounts of others.[87] In his life of Raphael he praises the "beautiful fancy" (bel capriccio) of some figures, which Vasari himself later drew on; but he is evidently unaware that Raphael took them from a Donatello church relief in Padua.[88] He also places Donatello's birth in 1403,[89] some seventeen years after better-informed modern scholars, aware of the record of the assault in 1401,[90] and payments for work going back to 1406.[91]

Vasari, a fierce Florentine patriot, saw Donatello as the start of Florentine dominance in Renaissance sculpture, and traced a line of succession between him and his hero Michelangelo, via the somewhat dubious link of Bertoldo di Giovanni (d. 1491), a pupil of Donatello and in theory Michelangelo's mentor when he ran the informal "garden academy" of Lorenzo de' Medici at the end of his life. Vasari stressed the close ties between Donatello and the Medici, which were certainly important in his life, but also mirrored those Michelangelo and Vasari himself enjoyed.[92]

• 
  Tomb of Antipope John XXIII, 1423-25
• 
  Madonna and Child, painted terracotta, c. 1440, Louvre
• 
  Equestrian Monument of Gattamelata (1445–1450), Padua
• 
  Statue of St. John the Baptist in the Duomo di Siena, c. 1455
• 
  Penitent Magdalene, wood, c. 1440−1442, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence
• 
  Arms of the Pazzi family, for their palazzo, attributed
• 
  Il Cristo di Sant'Angelo di Legnaia

In 2020 art historian Gianluca Amato, as part of his research on wooden crucifixes crafted between the late thirteenth and the first half of the sixteenth century for his doctoral thesis at the University of Naples Federico II, discovered that the crucifix of the church of Sant'Angelo in Legnaia, a suburb of Florence, was sculpted by Donatello.

This discovery has been evaluated historically, considering that the work belonged to the Compagnia di Sant'Agostino that was based in the oratory adjacent to the mother church of Sant'Angelo a Legnaia. Silvia Bensì performed restoration work on the crucifix.[94][95][96][97]

Donatello is portrayed by Ben Starr in the 2016 television series Medici: Masters of Florence.[98]

The fictional crimefighter Donatello, one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, is named after him.

Donatello is portrayed by Rhett McLaughlin in the 2014 Epic Rap Battles of History video Artists versus Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, in which he appears working on Gattamelata and is mocked for being less famous than other Renaissance artists. [99]

The Donatello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) built by the Italian Space Agency, was one of three MPLMs operated by NASA to transfer supplies and equipment to and from the International Space Station. The others were named Leonardo and Raffaello.

The minor planet "6056 Donatello" is named after him. At about 13 kilometres across, it is larger than most.[100]

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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Donatello". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 406–408.

• Avery, Charles, Donatello: An Introduction, New York, 1994.
• Avery, Charles, Donatello. Catalogo completo delle opere, Firenze 1991.
• Avery, Charles and McHam, Sarah Blake, "Donatello". Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. (subscription required)
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• Greenhalgh, Michael, Donatello and His Sources, Holmes & Meier Pub., 1982.
• Janson, Horst W., The Sculpture of Donatello, Princeton University Press, 1957.
• Leach, Patricia Ann, Images of Political Triumph: Donatello's Iconography of Heroes, Princeton University Press, 1984.
• Randolph, Adrian W.B., Engaging Symbols: Gender, Politics, and Public Art in Fifteenth-Century Florence. Yale University Press, 2002.
• Wilson, Carolyn C., Renaissance Small Bronze Sculpture and Associated Decorative Arts, 1983, National Gallery of Art (Washington), ISBN 0894680676

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• The Chellini Madonna Sculpture. Victoria and Albert Museum
• Donatello: Sculpting the Renaissance Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, until 11 June 2023, previously at Palazzo Strozzi and Museo del Bargello, Florence, from 19 March - 31 July, 2022, and at Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, from 2 September 2022 - 8 January 2023. Review in TLS, 14 April 2023 Preview in The Art Newspaper, 30 November 2021
• Sculpture in the Age of Donatello: Renaissance Masterpieces From Florence Cathedral Exhibition at Museum of Biblical Art (New York City), February 20 - June 14, 2015. Review in The New Criterion, May 2015