For the pulpits of S.Lorenzo, Donatello made designs of intricate bronze bas-reliefs, which were afterwards completed by his pupil Bertoldo.

These, though better known to travellers, are less excellent than the reliefs in bronze wrought by Donatello's own hand for the church of S.Anthony at Padua.[91] To that city he was called in 1451, in order that he might model the equestrian statue of Gattamelata.

It still stands on the Piazza, a masterpiece of scientific bronze-founding, the first great portrait of a general on horseback since the days of Rome.[92] At Padua, in the hall of the Palazzo della Ragione, is also preserved the wooden horse, which is said to have been constructed by the sculptor for the noble house of Capodilista.

These two examples of equestrian modelling marked an epoch in Italian statuary.
When Donato di Nicolo di Betto Bardi, called Donatello because men loved his sweet and cheerful temper, died in 1466 at the age of eighty, the brightest light of Italian sculpture in its most promising period was extinguished.

Donatello's influence, felt far and wide through Italy, was of inestimable value in correcting the false direction toward pictorial sculpture which Ghiberti, had he flourished alone at Florence, might have given to the art.