DONATELLO
(b. ca. 1386, Firenze, d. 1466, Firenze)

Prophet Habakkuk

1423-26
Marble, height 196 cm
Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence

In the 1420s Donatello's search for a naturalistic rendering was intensified, and unrealistic elements have been discarded. This process reached its highest point in the Prophet Jeremiah and the Prophet Habakkuk - the so-called Zuccone (pumpkin-head) - and ended in the 1440s with Donatello's participation in the decoration of the Campanile.

The figure of Zuccone is skin and bone under the rough cloth robe that suggests a toga. The hand clutches convulsively at the strap and the rolled top of a scroll. The bald head is curved with brutal strokes, left intentionally rough, and the few marks that represent stubble on the chin, the flare of the lips, and the eyebrows have been exaggerated by the effects of weathering.

The statue is seen here on the Campanile, but now it is in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence.