There were so many amazing and breathtaking artists during the Renaissance era. These artists have had an impact on us and the artwork we create today. The Renaissance is a time of renewal in art and literature. It definitely showed. One of the artists of the Renaissance was Donatello. His artwork influences artists of his time and still today. He created a sense of realism and humanity in his work. Donatello was born in 1386 in Florence, Italy. He died at age 80 also in Florence, Italy. Donatello lived a long life and created many masterpieces known to many people. It was an Italian sculpture and the largest Florentine sculpture of the Renaissance before Michelangelo. Donatello was also the most influential artist of 15th century Italy. Donatello was a descendant of a branch of the prominent Bardi family. They founded the powerful banking company, the Compagnia dei Bardi. So they had money when Donatello was growing up. He was raised in a more plebeian tradition than his contemporary elder Lorenzo Ghiberti. Donatello was endowed with a humanistic insight and quality of will that were highly valued in the early Renaissance. The gifts he got weren't very common. Most of the works and statues created by Donatello were made of bronze, stone and wood. The statues he created were life-size and sometimes even larger. His later art was saturated with the spirit of Roman antiquity. Donatello's art was often disturbing because of the level of detail he used, unknown in Italian sculpture. In Donatello's early years, he was first apprenticed to Ghiberti. In 1403, at just 17 years old, Donatello worked for the master on the bronze reliefs of the first doors of the baptistery. He then left Ghiberti in the middle of paper...... with expressions like suffering, joy and sorrow in the faces and body positions of his characters. In 1415, Donatello completed the marble statue of a seated saint. . John the Evangelist for the Cathedral of Florence. His two works showed a more classical technique. Donatello and his students executed eight life-size marble prophets for the niches of the cathedral's campanile between 1415 and 1435. He then entered into partnership with Michelozzo, a sculptor and architect, in 1436. Donatello worked for many years with Michelozzo. They created the tomb of Pope John XXIII in the Baptistery of Florence and the tomb of Cardinal Brancacci in S. Angelo A Nilo and in Naples. He died of unknown causes on December 13, 1466 in Florence and was buried in the Basilica of San Lorenzo, next to Cosimo de Medici. An unfinished work was faithfully completed by his student Bertoldo di Giovanni.