Donatello’s Equestrian Statue of Gattamelata: A Renaissance Masterpiece
Donatello’s Equestrian Statue of Gattamelata
This is a monumental sculpture in the round, made of bronze in 1453 for the square of the Basilica of San Antonio de Padua (Italy), commissioned by the heirs of Condottiero Erasmo of Narni, dictator of Padua. The picture itself is built on a horizontal elliptical block, isodomous perfect, as the bronze unit makes them appear together as if they were born conjointly.
The sculptor Donatello was proposed in this example to leave the typical Venetian funerary statue for like to erect a Rome rose to its emperors. It is known that in his youth, the sculptor with his friend Brunelleschi, visited Rome where he met and studied the main monuments and statues of classical antiquity. There he kept the statue of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, who survived the Middle Ages to be confused with the Emperor Constantine, whose mandate was issued the Edict of Milan which legalized Christianity, which was respected and not cast as many other examples of pagan Rome. Thus the Roman monument inspired the sculptor to make this work, which occurs in addition to the recovery of an iconographic type (equestrian portrait) of a type of sculpture, urban planning, environment linked to the public for use and enjoyment of the community of local citizens. The small Italian republics were also a kind of city-states independent of each other, in which there was a strong awareness of the public, so that governments take into account citizens, and the world antiguo.
In the top of the monument represents the general at the time to review the troops, holding in his hand the reins of a fiery and vigorous horse treated with the same detail and realism to the rider. The frame appears to progress slowly, which is reflected in the movement of his legs, despite which the sculptor compositional line closes the horse’s legs by placing a ball in the foreleg that was in the air. Head slightly tilted or tail mane collected, provide the composition of a deliberate effect, serene and more or less closed, as expected in a Renaissance style and aims to reproduce the aesthetic principles of the classical world.
The general picture represents fewer years than he would at that time, although in his middle age, which reflects some influence of Roman portraiture, particularly in the carriage, gesture, accentuated by clothing, armor, which refers to the number of toracatas imperial statues. His face shows the dignity of Roman portrait, desafiente, dour, enérgico.
The Renaissance is the time corresponding to this work, namely the Quattrocento. This was the stage of investigation and experimentation of new artistic language and his focus was more important in the Florence of the Medicis. The sculpture of the Quattrocento reprensetó not a break with previous artistic tradition as clear as the one that occurred in architecture, but there is a claim of antiquity with essential characteristics: they valued the perfection of form, the primary reason the human figure adjusted to a proper system of proportions as in antiquity, is recovering the nude, portrait or statue, the preferred materials were marble and bronze. All this for the influence of the models clásicos.
Florence was also the birthplace of the Quattrocento in sculpture and its two most significant artists were Ghiberti and Donatello, the first scholarly and artistic approaches moderate, the second, a man of the people, great artistic personality and approaches innovadores. The author is Donatello (1386-1466) was the most important sculptor of the Quattrocento. His interest in antiquity was not lower than that of Ghiberti, but unlike him, his view was more popular than scholarly. The main reason for his work was the human figure, which reprensentó in all ages, from infancy to old age, and in all attitudes, from the serene to the most dramatic. Also demonstrated their expertise in all kinds of creations (statues and reliefs) and worked as the marble like bronze, and even wood-Movement and tension licromada. content dominate the composition, as if the whole show was like mixture of ancient dignity and a sense of control, someone who knew how to handle the reins of various situations and guide their destiny firmly.