Homo Platonis

Abstract

Critics, without suspecting any such connotation have often been astonished by the extreme classicism of the style of the bust, and were inclined to explain the use of the cameo as a result of a formal interest in the antique. Actually, the antique form is dictated by an antique content. The Grecian appearance and dress of the boy correspond to the Platonic ideal which he is meant to embody and which the emblem of the cameo indicates. A mediseval craftsman who introduced ancient jewels and stones into his own work meant to heighten the decorum of the work, but the addition did not alter the artistic structure (see P1. 3oa, b). Donatello, by inserting a cameo which expressed a Grecian idea, felt compelled to shape the work as a whole in accordance with this initial con-