Of fish, frogs and fire: Donatello and his collaborators in Padua

Donatello travelled to Padua in his artistic prime, and he stayed there from about 1444 to 1454. At no other juncture in his career did the demands of multiple assignments require him to keep such crowded and diverse artistic company in his shop. At the same time, moving his base of operations inevitably brought the sculptor into contact with new collaborators, including (but not limited to) a veritable diaspora of metalworkers from across northern Italy, among them Andrea Conti, likely the owner of Padua’s pre-eminent foundry. This article is concerned with the world that Donatello and his collaborators created when their paths converged, in a temporary configuration, around the problematic of producing works in bronze. It endeavours, first, to sketch the range of personnel with whom Donatello worked at his Paduan worksites, and to demonstrate, second, how taking their contributions seriously allows us to connect the interpretative dots differently in works such as the Gattamelata monument. As with much else relating to Donatello, that work’s ingenuity is fed by multiple artisanal channels, partaking in the operations of the arms-maker, founder and goldsmith, but is irreducible to any one of these crafts.