Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Donatello's Old Lady Magdalene

This wooden sculpture was originally housed in the Florence Baptistery. It is a creation of Donatello's old age. She was originally brightly painted with gilded hair. Though smaller than life, this statue fills the room.





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8 comments:

  1. Wormwood's DoxyJanuary 27, 2009 at 9:29 AM

    Girlfriend has some AMAZING biceps. You wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of her in a fight...

    ReplyDelete
  2. CounterlightJanuary 27, 2009 at 10:58 AM

    Old yes.

    Frail, certainly not!

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  3. AnonymousJanuary 27, 2009 at 6:28 PM

    She's creepy!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Göran Koch-SwahneJanuary 28, 2009 at 4:40 AM

    She has had Great Beauty!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Göran Koch-SwahneJanuary 28, 2009 at 4:40 AM

    She has had Great Beauty!

    ReplyDelete
  6. CounterlightJanuary 28, 2009 at 8:18 AM

    "She's creepy!"

    "She has had Great Beauty!"

    You're both right.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Mike in TexasJanuary 28, 2009 at 5:34 PM

    Counterlight ... When we were in Florence about a year ago, the Donatello David was lying on its back and under restoration (with a fascinating video presentation about what was happening). We were able to watch as a woman cleaned off part of his sword millimeter by millimeter.

    Is he still lying down? Or have they stood him back up again?

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  8. CounterlightJanuary 29, 2009 at 7:38 AM

    Mike,
    David is standing again. The restoration was completed 2 weeks before I arrived in Florence. They found a lot of traces of gilding in places on the statue. Behind the original in the Bargello is a full size copy now gilded in all the parts indicated by the restoration research.
    If that's what it originally looked like, then it's shocking.
    I'm glad they gilded the copy and not the original.

    ReplyDelete

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