GataMerata
Hello everyone! Today I would like to introduce you to the bronze statue "Gatamerata" created by the Italian renaissance sculptor Donatello between 1443 and 1450, located in the city of Padua in northern Italy.
As his personality matured, Donatello began to boldly challenge large-scale sculptures of antiquity, and Gatamerata took him 7 years, in a sense the first image of a completely secular nature of the Italian Renaissance, and became a model for the equestrian statues of the monuments of later generations.
GataMerata, a famous mercenary captain in Venice, was willing to donate his estate to the city of Venice, but on the condition that a monument to his horseback statue be built for him.
During the Roman Empire, tall bronze equestrian monuments stood in the empire, which was definitely a privilege exclusive to the rulers and was very popular, but except for the "Marque orio Equestrian Statue" in the 2nd century AD, the rest have long been destroyed.
The Venetian city-state acceded to Gatamerata's request and decided to make a monument to him in its own state of Padua, donatello was the most famous Italian sculptor of the time, and it was probably the only one who could complete this extremely difficult equestrian statue, because all the ancient large bronze casting techniques had been completely lost, and everything had to be experimented with in the process of exploration.
Donatello succeeded, and although the Equestrian portrait of Marque Aurelius gave him the best example and inspiration, he broke through the limitations of the ancient artist and, with the help of a contemporary, praised the Renaissance humanists for their praise of human dignity, human greatness, human wisdom and self-confidence.
Captain GataMerata in the statue is dressed in ancient armor, slightly sideways, and calmly rides on horseback, holding a long stick in his right hand and a rein in his left hand, full of heroic qualities, showing the power of wisdom and Roman nobility. The work vividly expresses the restlessness of the horse and the bravery and heroism of the rider, with a well-proportioned and beautiful style, proving that Donatello is no less than the ancient artists in terms of expressing movement, design, skill, proportion and detail.
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