Donatello at the Victora and Albert Museum

For the first large exhibition in the United Kingdom dedicated to Donatello, the Victora and Albert Museum pays homage to one of the greatest sculptors of all time, offering the public a new vision of the artist. Visitors will see the innovations, the collaborations and the inspirations of the master, along with the vibrant context of Italy in the 1400s and the influence on successive generations of artists. Handling the entire range of sculptural materials and techniques, from marble to bronze, from wood to terracotta and stucco, Donatello was awarded important government and religious commissions, also thanks to his friendship with the Medici family and their circle in Florence. Among the masterpieces, never seen in the United Kingdom, you can admire the bronze Amore-Attis from the Museo Nazionale del Bargello of Florence, but also the spectacular reliquary bust of San Rossore from the Museo Nazionale di San Matteo in Pisa, the bronzes of the main altar of the Basilica di Sant'Antonio in Padua, while, for the first time, the sculpted bas relief of the V&A depicting the Ascension with Christ handing keys to Saint Peter will be displayed next to the Madonna of the Clouds of the Museum of Fine Arts of Boston, as well as the Madonna Panciatichi by Desiderio da Settignano from the Museo Nazionale del Bargello - a unique occasion to admire these masterpieces all together. Through the intertwining of sculpture, painting and drawing, the exhibition places an emphasis on the innovative technique of Donatello and his capacity to combine classical and medieval sculpture together to bring life to new works without neglecting tradition. Among the approximately 130 objects on display, there will be room for some of the works from the collection of the V&A itself, which includes the largest gathering of Italian Renaissance sculpture anywhere outside Italy.