Art Review: Donatello’s Zuccone
David Donatello sculpted his Zuccone some time between 1423 and 1425. The identity of the Zuccone, meaning “squash head” or “bald-head” in Italian, remains a mystery among art scholars. Speculation has been placed that the Zuccone could be the prophet Habakkuk. However, little to no consensus has been reached on its identity. The Catholic Church commissioned the work; they intended it to be a decoration for the Florence Cathedral bell tower, which stood seventy feet high. Its location in Florence, Italy, its Catholic commissioning origins, and the time period, in which it was constructed, indicates that the Zuccone is a product of the early Italian Renaissance. The art of the early Italian Renaissance consisted of three primary characteristics: classicism, perfectionism (in terms of anatomy), and humanism. …show more content…
Humanism embodied the principle that human beings, not just the divine, have tremendous importance, since they are God’s creation. In other words, humanism placed more importance on what it means to be human and less on divinity. Humanism’s ideals can be reflected in several ways in the art of the early Italian Renaissance.
The Zuccone is not portrayed as holy and indifferent from other humans like the Romanesque or Gothic styles often portrayed. Detail and precision on the face, which makes visible the emotion of the Zuccone, is a characteristic of humanism, since emotion is a part of what it means to be human. Human expression was not as dominant in the arts during the Middle Ages, which is why this would make expressions in the early Italian Renaissance different.
Rather than holding a narrow-shaped body like the Gothic and Romanesque works did, the Zuccone’s body appears to hold real-life proportions of the ideal human body (aging excluded). Although the Zuccone may be aged, this does not exempt the sculpture from being considered a form of
David Donatello sculpted his Zuccone some time between 1423 and 1425. The identity of the Zuccone, meaning “squash head” or “bald-head” in Italian, remains a mystery among art scholars. Speculation has been placed that the Zuccone could be the prophet Habakkuk. However, little to no consensus has been reached on its identity. The Catholic Church commissioned the work; they intended it to be a decoration for the Florence Cathedral bell tower, which stood seventy feet high. Its location in Florence, Italy, its Catholic commissioning origins, and the time period, in which it was constructed, indicates that the Zuccone is a product of the early Italian Renaissance. The art of the early Italian Renaissance consisted of three primary characteristics: classicism, perfectionism (in terms of anatomy), and humanism. …show more content…
Humanism embodied the principle that human beings, not just the divine, have tremendous importance, since they are God’s creation. In other words, humanism placed more importance on what it means to be human and less on divinity. Humanism’s ideals can be reflected in several ways in the art of the early Italian Renaissance.
The Zuccone is not portrayed as holy and indifferent from other humans like the Romanesque or Gothic styles often portrayed. Detail and precision on the face, which makes visible the emotion of the Zuccone, is a characteristic of humanism, since emotion is a part of what it means to be human. Human expression was not as dominant in the arts during the Middle Ages, which is why this would make expressions in the early Italian Renaissance different.
Rather than holding a narrow-shaped body like the Gothic and Romanesque works did, the Zuccone’s body appears to hold real-life proportions of the ideal human body (aging excluded). Although the Zuccone may be aged, this does not exempt the sculpture from being considered a form of