Goldsmithing Networks and Donatello's Sculpture in Metal: Florence, Siena, Padua

ABSTRACT This essay explores, through an analysis of representative declarations from the Florence tax census of 1427 (known as the Catasto) as well as extant account books, the organisation of the art of goldsmithing in fifteenth‐century Italy. These written sources indicate that goldsmiths, in Florence and elsewhere in Italy, frequently hired each other to carry out specialised tasks and, moreover, purchased from each other tools and supplies as well as materials such as precious metals. Additionally, they relied on others to perform essential related jobs such as the purification of metals and the cutting and polishing of stones. In this period, goldsmiths, along with these additional artisans, thus comprised vast and interconnected networks that, collectively, facilitated the production of luxury items made of richly ornamented metals such as silver, gold and copper alloys. The essay calls attention to the profound importance of these networks for an artist like Donatello, who trained in goldsmithing and throughout his career—from Florence to Siena to Padua—consistently drew from goldsmithing networks as he hired goldsmiths, and those in related fields, to assist with the completion of his sculptures in copper alloys.