of Prato he wrought the marble pulpit where the Girdle is shown, in
which, in several compartments, he carved a dance of children so
beautiful and so admirable, that he may be said to have demonstrated the
perfection of his art no less in this work than in his others. To
support this pulpit, moreover, he made two capitals of bronze, one of
which is still there, while the other was carried away by the Spaniards
who sacked that district.

[Illustration: GENERAL GATTAMELATA

(_After the bronze by_ Donatello. _Padua: Piazzo di S. Antonio_)

_Anderson_]

It came to pass about this time that the Signoria of Venice, hearing of
his fame, sent for him to the end that he might make the monument of
Gattamelata in the city of Padua; wherefore he went there right
willingly and made the bronze horse that is on the Piazza di S.
Antonio, wherein are perceived the panting and neighing of the horse,
with great spirit and pride, most vividly expressed by his art, in the
figure of the rider. And Donato proved himself such a master in the
proportions and excellence of so great a casting, that he can truly bear
comparison with any ancient craftsman in movement, design, art,
proportion, and diligence; wherefore it not only astonished all who saw
it then, but continues to astonish every person who sees it at the
present day. The Paduans, moved by this, did their utmost to make him
their fellow-citizen, and sought to detain him with every sort of
endearment. In order to keep him in their midst, they commissioned him
to make the stories of S. Anthony of Padua on the predella of the
high-altar in the Church of the Friars Minor, which are in low-relief,
wrought with so great judgment, that the most excellent masters of that
art stand marvelling and amazed before them, as they consider their
beautiful and varied compositions, with the great abundance of
extraordinary figures and diminishing perspectives. Very beautiful,
likewise, are the Maries that he made on the altar-dossal, lamenting the
Dead Christ. In the house of one of the Counts Capodilista he wrought
the skeleton of a horse in wood, which is still to be seen to-day
without the neck; wherein the various parts are joined together with so
much method, that, if one considers the manner of this work, one can
judge of the ingenuity of his brain and the greatness of his mind. In a
convent of nuns he made a S. Sebastian in wood at the request of a
chaplain, a Florentine, who was their frien