The David of the Casa Martelli
c. 1461/1479
Bernardo Rossellino or Antonio Rossellino
Sculptor, Florentine, 1409 - 1464
Sculptor, Florentine, 1427 - 1479
West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G19
Artwork overview
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Medium
marble
-
Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 164.6 x 50.4 x 42.4 cm (64 13/16 x 19 13/16 x 16 11/16 in.)
gross weight (figure and pedestal): 975.234 kg (2150 lb.)
gross weight (figure only): 272.158 kg (600 lb.)
gross weight (pedestal only): 703.075 kg (1550 lb.)
pedestal weight (top section): 408.237 kg (900 lb.)
pedestal weight (bottom section): 294.838 kg (650 lb.) -
Accession Number
1942.9.115
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Luigi d'Ugolino Martelli [1452-1503], Florence; his son Luigi Martelli [1494-1580], Florence;[1] Martelli family, Florence; sold 28 June 1916 through (Giuseppe Salvadori, Florence) and (French & Company, New York) to Joseph E. Widener;[2] inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, after purchase by funds of Joseph E. Widener; gift 1942 to NGA.
[1] The earliest reference to the sculpture is in the private records of Luigi d'Ugolino Martelli, in a list of personal possessions begun in 1488. See memo dated 20 September 1984 from Kent Lydecker, in NGA curatorial files.
[2] Correspondence dated 1914 and 1916 from Salvadori and French & Company to Joseph Widener, in NGA curatorial files.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1985
Italian Renaissance Sculpture in the Time of Donatello, Detroit Institute of Arts; Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas; Forte Belvedere, Florence, Italy, 1985-1986, no. 55 (English catalogue), no. 92 (Italian catalogues), repros.
2004
Verrocchio's David Restored: A Renaissance Bronze from the National Museum of the Bargello, Florence, National Museum of the Bargello, Florence; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2004, fig. 15 (shown only in Washington).
2022
Donatello: Il Rinascimento, Palazzo Strozzi e Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence, 2022, no. 12.7, repro; as by Desiderio da Settignano and followers (Bertoldo di Giovanni?).
Donatello: Inventor of the Renaissance, Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 2022-2023, no. 81, repro., as by Desiderio da Settignano and followers (Brtoldo di Giovanni?).
2023
Donatello: Sculpting the Renaissance, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2023, no. 6.1, as by Followers of Donatello.
Bibliography
199
Olszewski, Edward. "Prophecy and Prolepsis in Donatello's Marble David." Artibus et Historiae 18, 36 (1998): 78 n. 35.
1892
Bode, Wilhelm von. Denkmäler der Renaissance-Sculptur in Italien. 17 vols. Munich, 1892-1904: 2:pl. 25.
1904
Meyer, Alfred Gotthold. Donatello. Translated by P.G. Konody. London, 1904: 93-96, 146, 149, fig. 86.
Schottmüller, Frida. Donatello, ein Beitrag zum Verständnis seiner künstlerischen Tat. Munich, 1904: 124.
1907
Schubring, Paul. Donatello: Des Meisters Werke in 277 Abbildungen. Stuttgart and Leipzig, 1907: repro. 38 (2nd ed., New York, 1921).
1909
Pointner, Andy. Die Werke des Florentiniscen Bildhauers Agostino d'Antonio di Duccio. Strassburg, 1909: 108.
1911
Crawford, 27th earl of (David Alexander Edward Lindsay, also known as Lord Balcarres). Donatello. 2nd ed. London, 1911: 52-55 (1st ed. 1903).
1916
Sirén, Osvald. "Two Florentine Sculptures Sold to America." The Burlington Magazine 29, no. 161 (August 1916): 197-199, pl. A.
Marquand, Allan. "The Martelli David and the Youthful St. John Baptist." Art in America 4, no. 6 (October 1916): 358-366, fig. 1.
1935
Inventory of the Objects d'Art at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, The Estate of the Late P.A.B. Widener. Philadelphia, 1935: 1.
1942
Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 8, as by Donatello.
1943
Swarzenski, Georg. "Some Aspects of Italian Quattrocento Sculpture in the National Gallery." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 6th series, 24 (November 1943): 285 fig. 1, 287.
Swarzenski, Georg. "Some Aspects of Italian Renaissance Sculpture in the National Gallery." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 6th series, 24 (September 1943): 156.
1948
Paintings and Sculpture from the Widener Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1948 (reprinted 1959): 113, repro., as by Donatello.
1949
Seymour, Charles. Masterpieces of Sculpture from the National Gallery of Art. Washington and New York, 1949: 66-71, 175, no. 17, as by Donatello.
L. J. Roggeveen. "De National Gallery of Art te Washington." Phoenix 4, no. 12 (December 1949): 334, 336, repro. (as by Donatello).
Planiscig, Leo. "Di alcune opere falsamente attribuite a Donatello." Phoebus 2, no. 2 (1949): 55-59.
1951
Pope-Hennessy, John. 'Review: Masterpieces of Sculpture from the National Gallery of Art by Charles Seymour." The Burlington Magazine 93, no. 576 (March 1951): 98.
1957
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): pl. 18.
Janson, H.W. The Sculpture of Donatello. 2 vols. Princeton, 1957: 1:pls. 21-25; 2:21-23 (2nd ed. Princeton, 1963: 6, 21-23, pls. 8-9).
1958
Clark, Kenneth. "Donatello." Apollo (December 1958): 225-227.
1959
Pope-Hennessy, Sir John. "The Martelli David." The Burlington Magazine 101, no. 673 (April 1959): 132, 134-139, figs. 18, 19, 21.
1961
Hartt, Frederick. "New Light on the Rossellino Family." The Burlington Magazine 103, no. 702 (1961): 385-392.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 153, as by Donatello.
1966
Seymour, Charles. Sculpture in Italy, 1400 to 1500. Harmondsworth, 1966: 90, 230-235.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 136, repro., as by Donatello.
Pope-Hennessy, John. Essays on Italian Sculpture. London and New York, 1968: 24, 65-71, figs. 63, 64, 67 (detail).
Schlegel, Ursula. "Problemi intorno al David Martelli." In Donatello e il suo Tempo. Atti dell’VIII Convegno internazionale di studi sul Rinascimento. Firenze-Padova, 25 settembre-1 ottobre 1966. Florence, 1968: 245-258.
1973
Finley, David Edward. A Standard of Excellence: Andrew W. Mellon Founds the National Gallery of Art at Washington. Washington, 1973: [94] repro, 102.
1980
Parronchi, Alessandro. Donatello e il Potere. Florence and Bologna, 1980: 101-115, 129-134, figs. 45, 46b.
1982
Herzner, Volker. "David Florentinus." The Burlington Magazine 24 (1982): 63-142.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 629, no. 973, repro., as by Donatello.
1985
Cropper, Elizabeth. "Prolegomena to a New Interpretation of Bronzino's Florentine Portraits." In Renaissance Studies in Honor of Craig Hugh Smyth. Andrew Morrogh, ed. Florence, 1985: 152-155, fig. 2.
1987
Lydecker, John Kent. "The Domestic Setting of the Arts in Renaissance Florence." Ph.D. dissertation, The John Hopkins University, Baltimore, 1987: 132-133.
1988
Krahn, Volker. Bartolomeo Bellano: Studien zur Paduaner Plastik des Quattrocento. Munich, 1988: 7.
1989
Civai, Alessandra. "Donatello e Roberto Martelli: nuove acquisizioni documentarie." In Cammerer, Monika, ed. Donatello Studien. Munich, 1989: 253-262.
Wildmoser, Rudolf. "Das Bildnis des Ugolino Martelli von Agnolo Bronzino." Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen 31 (1989): 181-214.
1990
Civai, Alessandra. Dipinti e sculture in casa Martelli: Storia di una collezione patrizia fiorentina dal Quattrocento all'Ottocento. Florence, 1990: 126 fig. 4.
1991
Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 201.
Donato, Maria Monica. "Hercules and David in the Early Decoration of the Palazzo Vecchio: Manuscript Evidence." Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 54 (1991): 83-98.
1993
Pope-Hennessy, Sir John. Donatello Sculptor. New York, 1993: 156.
Rosenauer, Artur. Donatello. Milan, 1993: 314-315, no. 86.
1994
Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 212, repro.
1995
Coonin, Arnold Victor. The Sculpture of Desiderio da Settignano. Ann Arbor, 1995: 64-85.
Rubin, Patricia Lee. Giorgio Vasari: Art and History. New Haven and London, 1995: 350 n. 152.
Butterfield, Andrew. "New Evidence for the Iconography of David in Quattrocento Florence." I Tatti Studes in the Italian Renaissance 6 (1995): 116 n. 8.
1999
Norman Herz, Katherine A. Holbrow and Shelley G. Sturman. "Marble Sculture in the National Gallery of Art: a Provenance Study." In Max Schvoerer, ed. Archéomatériaux: marbres et autres roches: ASMOSIA IV, Bordeaux, France 9-13 october 1995: actes de la IVème Conférence international de l’Association pour l’étude des marbres et autres roches utilizes dans le passé. Talence, 1999: 101-110.
2000
Caglioti, Francesco. Donatello e i Medici: storia del David e della Giuditta. 2 vols. Florence, 2000: 1:167 n. 61, 211 n. 244, 251-253, 322; 2:figs. 254-255.
2001
Warren, Jeremy. "Bottega di Severo da Ravenna, Davide." In Augusti, Adriana, et al, eds. Donatello e il suo tempo: il bronzetto a Padova nel Quattrocento e nel Cinquecento. Exh. cat. Musei Civici, Padua, 2001: 162.
2003
Bremer-David, Charissa. "French & Company and American Collections of Tapestries , 1907-1959." Studies in the Decorative Arts XI, no. 1 (Fall-Winter 2003-2004):44.
2007
Desiderio da Settignano: Sculptor of Renaissance Florence. Exh. cat. Musée du Louvre, Paris; Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Milan, 2007: 63-64, fig. 35.
2009
Krahn, Volker. "Pastiche or Fake? A 'Donatello' by Medardo Rosso." Apollo (June 2009): 40-47.
2010
Collareta, Marco. "Painting and its sisters: Bronzino and the art system." In Bronzino: Artist and Poet at the Court of the Medici. Carlo Falciano and Antonio Natali, eds. Florence, 2010: 199.
Falciani, Carlo, and Antonio Natali, eds. Bronzino: Artist and Poet at the Court of the Medici Florence, 2010: 199.
2011
Coonin, Arnold Victor. "Donatello, Desiderio da Settignano and the Martelli." In Connors, Joseph, Alessandro Nova, Beatrice Paolozzi Strozzi and Gerhard Wolf, eds. Papers from a colloquium held at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence, Max-Planck-Institut, and at Villa I Tatti, The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, Florence, May 9-12, 2007 on occasion of the exhibition in Florence dedicated to Desiderio da Settignano. Venice, 2011: 43-60, repro. 49, 54, 55, 349, pl VI, as by Donatello.
2013
"Vasari and the National Gallery of Art." National Gallery of Art Bulletin 48 (Spring 2013): 12, repro.
2017
Dickerson III, C.D. "The Sculpture Collection: Shaping a Vision, Expanding a Legacy." _ National Gallery of Art Bulletin_ 56 (Spring 2017): 6-7, repro.
2023
Mancuso, Piergabriele, Alice S. Legé and Sefy Hendle. The Jews, The Medici, and the Ghetto of Florence. Exh. cat. Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence, 2023: 56, 202
2024
Caglioti, Francesco. "Le mostre donatelliane del 2022 e i mal di pancia della critica accademica austro-tedesca.” Studi di scultura. Età moderna e contemporanea 6 (2024): 11-101, figs. 29, 32-33, 36, 41, as by Desiderio da Settignano and possibly Bertoldo di Giovanni.
2025
Luchs, Alison, and Daphne Barbour. "Donatello and the Mellon Madonna: interpreting the execution of Donatello's designs." Sculpture Journal 34, no.1 (2025): 26, fig. 15.
Francesco Caglioti. “Donatello e Desiderio da Settignano: il David di casa Martelli oggi a Washington e quello di casa Della Porta oggi a Berlino.” In Emanuela Daffra and Cristiana Massari, eds. Con passione e leggerezza. In memoria di Marco Ciatti, scritti di amici. Florence, 2025: 103, 105, 101-112, fig. 1, fig. 4.
Wikidata ID
Q63809319