ct, no exaggerated muscular action, but the whole thing is
dominated by the strong, energetic head, which is modelled with the
searching realism of the Zuccone and the Poggio heads. The high altar,
for which Donatello executed twenty-two reliefs, seven statues and the
crucifix, was completed in 1450, but had subsequently to undergo many
changes, in the course of which the original disposition of the
sculptures was entirely lost sight of, the present arrangement being due
to Camillo Boito (1895). The chief features of the altar are the
wonderfully animated and dramatic bronze reliefs, four in number, of the
"Miracles of St Anthony."

With the exception of another visit to Siena in 1457, of which the
bronze "St John" in the cathedral is a reminder, Donatello spent the
remaining years of his life in Florence. Closely akin to the rugged "St
John" at Siena, and therefore probably contemporaneous, is the
repulsively ugly, emaciated "Magdalen" at the baptistery in Florence.
The dramatic intensity of the "Judith" group in the Loggia de' Lanzi,
which was originally placed in the court of the Medici Palace, marks it
as belonging to the post-Paduan period of the master's life. His last
work of importance was the bronze reliefs for the pulpit of S. Lorenzo,
commissioned about 1460, and finished after Donatello's death by his
pupil Bertoldo. The reliefs of the "Flagellation" and "Crucifixion" at
the Victoria and Albert Museum are typical examples of the master's
style at this closing period of his life. He died on the 13th of
December 1466.

As happened subsequently to Velazquez and Frans Hals, Donatello, whose
supreme mastery had been acknowledged by Michelangelo, Raphael and the
other giants of the late Renaissance, almost sank into oblivion during
the 18th and early 19th centuries, and only in comparatively recent
times has he been restored to the eminent position which is his due in
the history of art. The full power of his genius was only revealed to
the world when, at the quincentenary celebration of his birth, the
greater part of his life-work was brought together in Florence. The
large hall at the Bargello has ever since been devoted to the display of
his works, the numerous original bronzes and marbles and terra-cottas
being supplemented by casts of works at other places, such as the
colossal Gattamelata monument.

AUTHORITIES.--Before the date of the Florence exhibition in 1886 the
only books on the subject of Donat