fest the excellence of his art in his accustomed manner. At the same time he executed many other works, in stucco and clay; and, from a piece of old marble which the nuns abovementioned had in their garden, he produced a very beautiful figure of the Virgin. A vast number of works by this master exist in all parts of that city.[1] They caused him to be considered a wonder among the Paduans, and won him the commendations of all good judges. But this determined Donato to return to Florence; he declared that if he remained any longer in Padua, he should forget all that he had acquired, from being so much praised by every one; wherefore he affirmed that he should return gladly to his native city, though he were to be continually censured there, since such censure would give him motives for study, and consequently conduce to his attainment of greater glory. Having therefore departed from Padua, he passed through Venice on his return to Florence, and, as a mark of his consideration for the Florentines residing there, he left them the gift of a San Giovanni Batista, for their chapel in the church of the Friars Minors,[2] carved by himself, in wood, with infinite study and care. In the city of Faenza, also, Donatello executed a San Giovanni and a San Girolamo, which are no less esteemed than are the other works of this master.[3]
On his return into Tuscany, Donatello constructed a marble tomb in the chapter-house of Montepulciano, adorned with an historical representation of great beauty.[4] In the sacristy of San Lorenzo, in Florence, he executed a marble lavatory,
- ↑ There is a Deposition from the Cross by Donatello, over a door of the Chapel of the Relics in the Santo of Padua, which is highly praised by Cicognara, who gives a plate of it.
- ↑ In the church of Santa Maria de’ Frari. It is still in its place on an altar (which is also the work of good Florentine artists) near to the monument erected to Canova. Cicognara considers the small bronze door of a eiborium, of which he gives a drawing, and which is now in the Academy of the Fine Arts, to be also a work of Donatello, executed for the church of the Servi.—Masselli.
- ↑ The figure of San Girolamo (St. Jerome) is still preserved in the convent of the “Frati Riformati” in Faenza. Being somewhat injured by the worm, it was restored and coloured in the year 1845. There is likewise a bust of San Giovannino in the house of the parish priest of the Borgo, which is believed to be by Donatello. — Ed. Flor. 1849.
- ↑ The monument of the learned Bartolommeo Aragazzi, secretary, and afterwards gentleman of the chamber, to Pope Martin V.
