Editing Donatello (section)

==Wooden statues==
[[File:Installazione florens 2012 crocifisso donatello 03.JPG|thumb|left|The [[Santa Croce Crucifix (Donatello)|Santa Croce Crucifix]], 1407–1408, with retractable arms]]
[[File:Donatello, maria maddalena 03.JPG|thumb|Top of the ''[[Penitent Magdalene (Donatello)|Penitent Magdalene]]'', wood, c. 1440−1442, [[Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Florence)|Museo dell'Opera del Duomo]]]]

Wood was still used for crucifixes for its lightness. It was also cheap and convenient for carrying it on liturgical processions. Donatello's early crucifix for Santa Croce has lowerable arms for this purpose. Wooden sculptures were almost always painted and partly gilded (as terracotta and even marble and bronze often were). 

When a Florentine [[confraternity]] in [[Venice]] commissioned a [[Saint John the Baptist (Donatello)|statue of John the Baptist]], patron saint of Florence, still in the [[Frari Church]] there, wood was chosen. The statue is probably the only work by Donatello in the city. He usually did not sign his work, except for some commissions destined for outside Florence.<ref>Coonin, 151-152.</ref> The baptist was signed and dated 1438. Before this was revealed in conservation work it had been dated later, after his stay in Padua, according to the idea that Donatello's works became more and more expressive. 

The redating of the ''Saint John'' had knock-on consequences for a far more celebrated wooden figure, the ''[[Penitent Magdalene (Donatello)|Penitent Magdalene]]'' long in the Florence Baptistery (now Museo dell'Opera del Duomo), where the carving style is comparable.  This is "formidably expressive" in a stark style found in Donatello's last years, and had been dated to around 1456,<ref>Seymour, 144 (quoted); Avery, 91-92, both using the old dating.</ref> until the date was found on the other figure; it is now dated generally to the late 1430s, or at any rate before Donatello went to Padua.<ref>As proposed in Strom, Deborah Phyl, "A new chronology for Donatello's wooden sculpture", ''Pantheon München'', 1980, Vol 38, Num 3, pp 239-248; Coonin, 154-155 (and his note 60).</ref>

According to [[Kenneth Clark]], it shows "a female [[fakir]] whose small sunken eyes, gazing across the desert, have beheld the vision of God. Her body is no longer of the least importance to her".<ref>Clark, 330.</ref>  

In 2020 the painted wooden crucifix of the church of Sant'Angelo in [[Legnaia]], a suburb of Florence, was attributed by the diocese to Donatello, and dated to the 1460s. This is in a simpler style.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Mugnaini|first=Olga|date=6 March 2020|title='Quel crocifisso ligneo è di Donatello', la sensazionale scoperta a Firenze|url=https://www.lanazione.it/firenze/cultura/donatello-crocifisso-ritrovato-restauro-giuditta-oloferne-palazzo-vecchio-1.5058823|access-date=26 March 2020|website=La Nazione|language=it}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.adnkronos.com/cultura/2020/03/06/studioso-scopre-crocifisso-inedito-donatello_D6ikj4DDnZLdbSnwmW8GTI.html|title=Studioso scopre Crocifisso inedito di Donatello|website=Adnkronos|access-date=26 March 2020}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.qaeditoria.it/(X(1)S(n1sjsot2ie2dsjaeaksesp5s))/details.aspx?idarticle=118822&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1|title=E|last=Salzano|first=Marco Pipolo & Guido|website=QAeditoria.it – QA turismo cultura & arte|language=en|access-date=26 March 2020}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.isolottolegnaia.it/crocifisso-donatello-nella-chiesa-legnaia-la-storia/|title=Crocifisso di Donatello nella chiesa di Legnaia, la storia|date=6 March 2020|website=Isolotto Legnaia Firenze|language=it-IT|access-date=26 March 2020}}.</ref>