Communicating Identity of Patrons Through Works of Art: Donatello’s David and the Medici. Reflections and Interpretations
Communicating Identity of Patrons Through Works of Art: Donatello’s David and the Medici. Reflections and Interpretations

Summary/Abstract: This study offers a discussion about the way artworks act as communicators of identity of their patrons. It reflects upon the potential interpretations of Donatello’s bronze statue of the David and the ways it mirrors the religious and civic aspects of the identity of its patrons, the Medici family, in light of the Quattrocento Florentine society. On the example of this statue’s replacement from its supposedly original location – the Palazzo Medici to the Palazzo Vecchio in 1494 – the author argues that spatial/architectural contextualisation of pieces of art and the artworks that surround them play an essential role in the correct interpretation of the ideas they are meant to represent and in the process of communication of their patrons’ identity.

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