Donatello: Inventor of the Renaissance

A special exhibition of the National Museums in Berlin in cooperation with the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and the Musei del Bargello, Florence, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The Florentine sculptor Donatello (c. 1386-1466) is one of the great pioneers of the Italian Renaissance. Contemporaries already recognized his outstanding importance, and clients from all over Italy sought his works. Donatello was a versatile innovator who - always open to technical and artistic developments - experimented tirelessly with materials and aesthetic means of expression. These include the consistent use of central perspective, the rediscovery of terracotta, his pioneering achievements in the field of bas-relief such as the bronze equestrian monument, or the exploration of a wide variety of human emotions in representation. After almost 40 years and for the first time in Germany, this exceptional artist will now have his own exhibition. The focus is not only on the complexity of his work, but above all on his influence on the development of Renaissance art as a whole, not least on painting. Unique international exhibition project. Alongside the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the National Museums in Berlin possess one of the world's largest and most diverse collections of works by Donatello. Together with the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, these museums have joined forces to organize three monographic exhibitions of Donatello's work. Sculptures and reliefs in marble, terracotta and bronze that have never been shown together before make these shows true "once-in-a-lifetime" experiences.