Donatello

Born Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi around 1386 in Florence, he studied classical sculpture and forged an Early Renaissance style that broke from the International Gothic he'd learned under Lorenzo Ghiberti. He worked in stone, bronze, wood, clay, stucco, wax, and glass, developing a new shallow bas-relief technique and producing not just freestanding statues but architectural reliefs for pulpits, altars, and tombs. Commissions took him to Rome, Padua, and Siena, spreading his methods across Italy; the Medici became steady patrons. His style moved from classical monumentality and expressiveness toward energy and charm in smaller works, then at times into stark, even brutal pieces - though the sensuous eroticism of the bronze David stands nearly alone in his output. He died in Florence on 13 December 1466, after a long and prolific career that reset the grammar of sculpture.