A lot is known about his life and career but little is known about his character and personality. Donatello never married and seems to be a man of 'simple tastes'. Patrons often found him hard to deal with and he demanded a lot of artistic freedom.

Donatello, born Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, was the son of Niccolo di Betto Bardi, a Florentine wool carder. It is not known how he started his career but probably learned stone carving from one of the sculptors working for the cathedral of Florence about 1400. Some time between 1404 and 1407 he became a member of the workshop of Lorenzo Ghiberti who was a sculptor in bronze. Donatello's earliest work was a marble statue of David. The "David" was originally made for the cathedral but was moved in 1416 to the Palazzo Vecchio, a city hall where it long stood as a civic-patriotic symbol. From the sixteenth century

During his absence, a new generation of sculptors who excelled in the treatment of marble surfaces had rose in Florence. With the change in Florentine taste, all of Donatello's important requests came from outside Florence. They included the bronze group "Judith and Holofernes" which is now standing before the Palazzo Vecchio and a bronze statue of St. John the Baptist for Siena cathedral, also undertook the work of the pair of bronze doors in the late 1450's. This project, which might have rivaled Ghiberti's doors for the Florentine baptistery, was abandoned about 1460 for unknown reasons.

Donatello continued to explore the possibilities of the new technique he would use in his marble reliefs of the 1420's and early 1430's. The best of these were "The Ascension, with Christ Giving the Keys to St. Peter," the " Feast of Herod" (1433-1435), the large stucco roundels with scenes from the life of St. John the Evangelist (1434-1437), and the dome of the old sacristy of S. Lorenzo shows the same technique but with color added.

The last years of Donatello's life were spent designing twin bronze pulpits for S. Lorenzo, and again in the service of his old patrons the Medici, he died on December 13, 1466. These twin bronze pulpits covered with reliefs showing the passion of Christ are works of tremendous spiritual depth and complexity. Even though some parts were left unfinished, they had to be completed by lesser artists.

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Approximate Word count = 1538
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)