This two-volume study investigates the professional collaboration between sculptor Donatello and architect Michelozzo during the formative years of the Italian Renaissance. Ronald Lightbown, a respected scholar of Renaissance art, utilizes archival records and stylistic analysis to reconstruct the nature of this partnership. He examines how their combined expertise in bronze casting and architectural design influenced the aesthetic landscape of 15th-century Florence and beyond. The work argues that their joint commissions were essential to the development of early Renaissance sculptural and architectural standards.

Scholars and art historians frequently cite this work as a definitive reference for understanding the professional dynamics of the early Renaissance workshop system. Readers often note the academic density of the prose, which provides a rigorous examination of both the artistic output and the socio-economic context of the period.