Donato (Donatello is a diminutive form, just as Kenny is for Kenneth) di Niccolò di Betto Bardi was born in Florence about 1386. He probably learned stone carving from one of the sculptors working on the Florence cathedral in about 1400. Between 1404 and 1407 he worked in the workshop of the Gothic sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti, who had won the competition to create some bronze doors for the cathedral baptistery. Donatello created two marble statues in a new style for the church of Or San Michele in about 1415. In these statues, 'St. Mark' an ....