Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/376

358 Before discussing his other works it is necessary to mention an unfortunate controversy which this book provoked. A charge of plagiarism was brought against the author by the late Professor Key, and a war of pamphlets followed as violent as those which were common in the days of Bentley and Person. Without attempting to decide on the merits of this dispute, it is enough to state that though the obligations of Donaldson to Key ought in the first instance to have been more explicitly acknowledged, yet the strictures of the latter were needlessly sweeping and aggressive. We pass on to Donaldson's work as a biblical critic. In he published his Jashar, or Fragments of original Hebrew songs inserted in the Masoretic text of the Old Testament. The book was written in Latin, as an appeal ad clerum, to the learned world in general, and especially to German theologians. It is an attempt to reconstitute the lost book of Jashar from the remains of old songs and historical records, which, according to the author, are incor porated in the existing text of the Old Testament. Here, too, we notice the same merits and defects as in the Cratylus, the same ingenuity and learning, the same rash and over confident speculation. The bold views of the author on the nature of inspiration, and the free handling of the sacred text, provoked a storm of theological odium, but the only one of his numerous assailants who deserves mention is Dr Perowne. A full analysis of the book will be found in Smith's Biblical Dictionary, s. v. &quot; Jashar.&quot; Of his numerous other works the most important are The Theatre of the Greeks, The History of the Literature of Ancient Greece (a completion of K. O. Miiller s work), an edition of Pindar, and a Hebrew, a Greek, and a Latin Grammar. Among his occasional writings the article &quot;Philology&quot; in the 8th edition of this Encyclopaedia is the most important. Though much of what he wrote has already become obsolete, Donaldson will long be re membered as one of the pioneers of philology in Eng land.  DONATELLO (–), the diminutive of Donate, was the son of Niccolo Bardi, and was born in Florence in . In the struggle between the rival parties of the Albizzi and the Medici, the father took part with the former, and was involved in their ruin. He must have been a man of considerable property, judging from the decree by which his houses are confiscated. His son Donatello found protection and shelter and the means of early training from the Martelli family, and to this connection must be ascribed Donatello s introduction to the great Cosmo de Medici, pater patrice, who during the life-long relation between himself and the artist, did everything to efface, by kindness towards the son, the recollection of the sufferings which the house of Medici had inflicted on the father. He learned the goldsmith s trade under the father of the renowned Lorenzo Ghiberti, and the goldsmith s trade then included all kinds of bronze creations. At the age of seventeen he set out for Rome with his friend Brunellesco. At Rome the two young men maintained themselves by working as goldsmiths during the first half of the week, devoting the second half to the study of the ancient monuments, and to making excavations in search of lost works of art. The Romans, we are told, believed them to be treasure-seekers. The Romans of Donatello s time still reflected the feelings with which their forefathers, nearly three centuries before, had wondered when the agents of Henry of Blois, bishop of Winchester, dug up and carried away from their city similar artistic treasures. On their return to Florence, rich in artistic knowledge and treasures, the careers commenced in which Brunellesco was destined to hang above the Florence cathedral the dome of the Pantheon, and Donatello to impart to the multitudinous creations of his chisel the truthfulness and grace and power for which he was so largely indebted to his ancient models. There exist 40 works of Donatello of unquestioned authen ticity, and 31 respecting which controversies have arisen ; and 25, recorded by his contemporaries but no longer found, must be added to the number. When it is borne in mind that many of these works are life-size or colossal statues, or large bas-reliefs crowded with figures, an idea may be formed of the extent of his labours, prosecuted untiringly during a life which extended to eighty years. He was fortunate in the precise period of his labours. During the whole of the previous century Florentine art had concen trated its efforts on the creation of its grand architectural monuments. In the sculpture was cultivated, but chiefly to adorn the palaces and gratify the vanity of the rich. Donatello, placed between the two periods, could devote his genius to the execution of the great plastic works required for the completion and adornment of the public buildings of the state. Hence the statues of the church of St Michele, those on Giotto s belfry, the pulpit of St Lorenzo, those in the baptistry, as well as all the other works which still remain exactly where first placed unhappily no longer the case with the St George possess an exceptional beauty ; for no sculptor ever studied more carefully than Donatello the exact relation of a work to its local destination. The varied and characteristic elements of Donatello s art, what he borrowed from the antique, what peculiar tricks of drapery he took from his immediate predecessors, how, fron? his first habit of painting his figures he passed into a phase of purely sculptured effects, how he was influenced by his friend Brunellesco in his treatment of proportion and perspective, how he imparted a more pictorial character by the greater flatness of the figures to his bas-reliefs, all this forms one of the most interesting chapters in the history of Renaissance sculpture. Besides Florence he worked also at Rome, Padua, Venice, Siena, Modena, Mantua, and Ferrara ; and he visited Rome a second time. In Padua he produced, in, the equestrian statue of Gattainelata with some minor works, and as almost his latest work we may consider the statue of St Louis of France, executed for St Croce. To English students of art it may be satisfactory to learn that, in the opinion of Semper, the South Kensington museum possesses seven undoubted specimens of Donatello, besides one, the Magdalen seated on clouds, probably by a scholar, and a virgin and child of doubtful origin. Donatello, though best known as a sculptor, was likewise a painter, at least was admitted as such into the academy of St Lucca in. We find him paid for architectural drawings and opinions respecting the dome of the Florence cathedral in, and he was sent as military engineer to the siege of Lucca in. His first trade of goldsmith was never abandoned. Thus varied and versatile, we cannot but form the highest opinion of one respecting whom Vasari has said that he threw the same love of art into every work great or small, and that he always did more than he promised. His life-long attachment to his patron Cosmo was only equalled by his lavish kindness to his friends ; for we read that the large sums received by him were kept in an open box in his workshop, and that his friends when wanting money were invited and expected to help themselves, no questions being asked or receipts given. In his last years he was provided for by Piero, the son of Cosmo. He died at Florence in. Donatello s greatest works, his Baptist, David, Judith, St George, and Murk, are declared by some recent critics not to rise into the highest sphere of true Christian art. The sculptor, we are told, wanted the deep faith of Michelangelo. Perhaps the best corrective of this criticism is the language of Michelangelo himself, who, when gazing with generous admiration 