grace, design, and excellence,
that they were held to approach more nearly to the marvellous works of
the ancient Greeks and Romans than those of any other craftsman
whatsoever. Wherefore it is with good reason that he is ranked as the
first who made a good use of the invention of scenes in low-relief,
which he wrought so well that it is recognized from the thought, the
facility, and the mastery that he showed therein, that he had a true
understanding of them, making them with a beauty far beyond the
ordinary; for not only did no craftsman in this period ever surpass him,
but no one even in our own age has equalled him.

Donatello was brought up from his early childhood in the house of
Ruberto Martelli, where, by his good qualities and by his zealous
talent, he won the affection not only of Martelli himself but of all
that noble family. As a youth he wrought many things, which were not
held in great account, by reason of their number; but what made him
known for what he was and gave him a name was an Annunciation in
grey-stone, which was placed close to the altar of the Chapel of the
Cavalcanti, in the Church of S. Croce in Florence. For this he made an
ornament composed in the grotesque manner, with a base of varied
intertwined work and a decoration of quadrantal shape, adding six boys
bearing certain festoons, who appear to be holding one another securely
with their arms in their fear of the height. But the greatest genius
and art that he showed was in the figure of the Virgin, who, alarmed by
the unexpected apparition of the Angel, is making a most becoming
reverence with a sweet and timid movement of her person, turning with
most beautiful grace towards him who is saluting her, in a manner that
there are seen in her countenance that humility and gratitude which are
due to one who presents an unexpected gift, and the more when the gift
is a great one. Besides this, Donato showed a masterly flow of curves
and folds in the draperies of that Madonna and of the Angel,
demonstrating with the suggestion of the nude forms below how he was
seeking to recover the beauty of the ancients, which had lain hidden for
so many years; and he displayed so great facility and art in this work,
that nothing more could be desired, in fact, with regard to design,
judgment, and mastery in handling the chisel.

In the same church, below the tramezzo,[20] and beside the scene painted
by Taddeo Gaddi, he made a Crucifix of wood with extraord