probably did not return to Florence before 1405, since the
earliest works in that city that can be traced to his chisel are two
small statues of "prophets" for the north door of the cathedral, for
which he received payment in November 1406 and in the beginning of 1408.
In the latter year he was entrusted with the important commissions for
the marble "David," now at the Bargello, and for the colossal seated
figure of "St John the Evangelist," which until 1588 occupied a niche of
the old cathedral facade, and is now placed in a dark chapel of the
Duomo. We find him next employed at Or San Michele, where between 1340
and 1406 only four of the fourteen niches had been filled. As the result
of a reminder sent by the Signory to the gilds who had undertaken to
furnish the statues, the services of Ciuffagni, Nanni di Banco, Ghiberti
and Donatello were enlisted, and Donatello completed between 1412 and
1415 the "St Peter," the "St George" (the original, now in the Bargello,
has been replaced by a copy) and the "St Mark." He probably also
assisted Nanni di Banco in his group of four saints. To this early
period--in spite of Dr Bode's contention, who places it about twenty
years later--belongs the wooden crucifix in S. Croce, the most striking
instance of Donatello's realism in rendering the human form and his
first attempt at carving the nude. It is said that this crucifix was
executed in rivalry with Brunelleschi's noble work at S. Maria Novella,
and that Donatello, at the sight of his friend's work, exclaimed, "It
has been left to you to shape a real Christ, whilst I have made a
peasant." In this early group of statues, from the prophets for the
cathedral door to the "St George," can be followed the gradual advance
from Gothic stiffness of attitude and draping to a forceful rendering of
the human form and of movement, which is a distinct approach to the
classic ideal; from the massiveness of the heavily draped figure to easy
poise and muscular litheness. All these figures were carved in marble
and are admirably conceived in relation to their architectural setting.
In fact, so strong is this tendency that the "St Mark," when inspected
at the master's workshop, was disapproved of by the heads of the Gild of
Linen-weavers, but aroused public enthusiasm when placed _in situ_, and
at a later date received Michelangelo's unstinted admiration.

Between the completion of the niches for Or San Michele and his second
journey to Rome in 14