Product Review

So pervasive is the hand of the gifted sculptor in this docu-biography, he could have earned an end credit. For Donatello: The First Modern Sculptor is a portrait much like he might have sculpted, rich in detail with a story steeped in historical context. The stately art lesson is also part travelogue. The camera moves from Florence to Siena, Venice, Padua, and London, lingering on awe-inspiring works by the "most versatile artist of his or perhaps any century." A narrator reads from church and tax records to fill in little- known details about Donatello, while three contemporary artists comment on the Renaissance master's techniques. (Most notably, Peter Rockwell explains how the artist "drew" on marble.) The star attractions, though, are the dozens of close- ups of pieces by an artist who could bring stone to life. --Valerie J. Nelson