SCULPTURE 



267 



was liorn in 1205, was a devout student of classical 

 models. In much of his work the two styles were 

 ingeniously blent in the pulpit at Pisa, for in- 

 stance and he was profoundly influenced by 

 Roman sarcophagi. Niccolo's son, Giovaryii, fol- 

 lowed in his father's steps, and, though still a 

 primitive, conferred fresh glory upon the Pisan 

 school, which the ingenious Orcagiia (born 1329) 

 brought to an end? Giacoino della Querci.a 

 (born 1374), the author of the celebrated Fonte 

 Gaja at Sienna, marks the transition from the 

 old to the new, from the middle ages to the 

 Renaissance. A student of nature, he only 

 half understood the possibilities of the great re- 

 vival, liut hi* design for the gate of the baptistery 

 at Florence ( 1401 ) wan placed next in order after 

 the designs of Ghiherti ami Brunelleschi, and there- 

 fore he may lie said to have heralded the re-birth 

 of art. In Italy, where the Goth had never domin- 

 ated, the Renaissance was a development rather 

 than a revolution. The spirit had always been 

 the same, and Ghiberti (born 1381), the first 

 master of the new school, may hardly be called 

 an innovator. His famous ijates at Florence 

 occupied the larger part of his life. The first 

 was begun in 1403 ; the second was not finished 

 until 1452. The work is marked by a suavity of 

 line and a certain elegance in individual figures, 

 lint it is entirely pictorial ; the design is rarely 

 thought out with reference to the necessities and 

 limitations of the art of sculpture, and there is 

 scarce a panel in either gat* that is not over- 

 crowded with figures. 



In 1386 was liorn Donatello, by far the greatest 

 sculptor of the 15th century. Endowed richly with 

 the artistic temperament, learned in all the new 

 learning, Donatello was also an indefatigable 

 oliserver of nature and a master of design. 

 Mis work is Greek in the l>est sense; lar^'c', 

 simple, and restrained. He did not, like Glii- j 

 berti, overstep the limit.') of his art; he did 

 not, like Michelangelo, a man of far rarer genius, j 

 use sculpture to express the passions of a vio- j 

 lent brain. Content to aim at perfection in his 

 art. he produced a series of masterpieces, which for 

 feeling of rhythm, sense of proportion, and archi- 

 tectural adaptation may scarce l>e matched save in 

 the golden age of Athenian sculpture. Simplicity 

 of plane, breadth of style, harmony of line, dignity 

 of pose these are the qualities which confer ever- 

 lasting distinction on his St George, his equestrian 

 statue of Gattamelata, and his incomparable reliefs. 

 Michelangelo (1475-1564) has l>een discussc.l at 

 length under his own name, and no more need In? 

 said of him here than that his gigantic personality 

 has dominated the modern world ; that his know- 

 ledge of the antique was HO profound, his technical 

 mastery so complete, that nothing save restraint 

 was impossible to him ; that he produced a series 

 of extraordinary masterpieces in paint and marble ; 

 and that he founded a school which, lieggared of 

 hU genius, did but exaggerate his more obvious 

 faults. Lnca della liobbia, the author of the ' Sing- 

 ing Ifoys' (1399-1482), is better known as the 

 inventor of the famous Robbia ware than as a 

 sculptor; while lienvenuto Cellini (1500-71 ), though 

 he modelled the Perseus, is chiefly eminent as gold- 

 smith and swashbuckler. The school of Michel- 

 angelo culminated ill that most accomplished crafts- 

 man and mediocre artist Lorenzo Bernini (1598- 

 HiMO), whose love of exaggerated forms and fan- 

 tastic devices rendered his indubitable talent of no 

 avail, though the unbounded influence which he 

 exerted upon his contemporaries easily compassed 

 the triumph of lawlessness and vulgar taste. Mean- 

 while the influence of the Renaissance was felt 

 throughout Europe. In the 16th century, while 

 Gonjon imitated Cellini in France, Torrigiano in- 



spired the English with an admirable taste in 

 decoration, and Adrian de Vries reproduced in 

 Germany the unchastened vigour of Giovanni da 

 Bologna. In the 17th century there followed a 

 universal decadence. Bernini's theatricality bore 

 abundant fruit. Coyzevox, Clodion, Adam, the 

 Coustous, Pigalle, and the rest, in spite of their 

 eminent talent, always suffered from lack of repose 

 and the lust of effect. Yet are they by far the 

 most distinguished sculptors of the J7th century. 

 In England nothing memorable was produced save 

 the still-life of Grinling Gibbons (q.v. ; 1648- 

 1721); while Andreas Schliiter (1662-1714) 

 best represents the art as it was pursued in 

 Germany. The flamboyant style lived through the 

 first half of the 18th century. A group of foreigners 

 Rouhiliac, Scheemiikers, and Rysbrack practised 

 their trade in England with a certain success. But 

 the one great artist of the age was a Frenchman, 

 Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828). This distin- 

 guished artist, despite his education, avoided on 

 the one hand the dry frigidity of ett'ete classicism, 

 on the other the cheap ingenuity of the imitators 

 of Bernini. A naturalist, Tie never surrendered the 

 dignity of his art to catch a fleeting resemblance. 

 Aliove all he was from first to last a sculptor. His 

 modelling is always large and simple ; and though 

 in his bust of Gliick he attempted to reproduce the 

 texture of n mottled skin, he was justified by the 

 event. He was the greatest portrait-sculptor of his 

 own or indeed of any age ; he invented the type of 

 Moliere, and the great men of the great age live to- 

 day as he emtaa them. And then came Canova 

 (1757-1822), who drove sculpture back into an 

 antii|iie channel. Neglecting the achievement of 

 the Renaissance, he revived the Graeco- Roman style 

 with an insipid triviality, which has been a law' to 

 several generations of industrious workmen. In 

 England Gibson, Macdowell, Chantrey, Wyatt, 

 and a hundred others proceeded from Flaxman 

 and the new classic school. In France Chainlet, 

 Pradier, and Rude (by far the most accomplished 

 of them all ) neglected Houdon for Canova. Thor- 

 waldsen, relying upon this false example, built up 

 an amazing reputation, which is already shattered 

 A tasteless imitation, an incapacity to observe, a 

 flabby modelling mark out the achievement of the 

 whole school as a warning to sculptors, and serve 

 to prove that salvation never came by an unthinking 

 adherence to a dead tradition. The 19th century, 

 however, has revolted against Canova and all his 

 works. In Alfred Stevens, the author of the superb 

 monument to the Duke of Wellington, who to a pro- 

 found study of Michelangelo added an unfailing 

 sense of decoration, England found her greatest 

 sculiitor and the present generation has witnessed a 

 sudden efflorescence. The France of to-day is also 

 singularly rich in sculptors. Barye, the greatest 

 tiiniHiilirr of modern times, belongs to a past 

 generation, but, amid a mass of sculpture which 

 is wholly nnsculptnresque, the works of Dalou, 

 Guillaume, and Rodin are evidence of a revival. 

 M. Auguste Rodin exercises the most powerful 

 influence. An artist of markedly individual talent 

 and a master of technique, he would claim Donatello 

 as his exemplar, but he hao carried the art of sculp- 

 ture further than the Florentine. 



der (jritchiwhen KilnMer, Murray's History 

 nf (Ireek Sculpture, and the works oy Collignon (vol. i. 

 Paris, 18<J2) and Furtwangler ( 1894 ; trans. 1895). W. B. 

 Scott's British School of Sritl/ittuc will be found useful, 

 as also Eineric David's Hirtoire de la Xculpliirc Fran- 

 fnif. For Italian sculpture the reader mny refer to 

 Mr C. C. Perkins's handbooks. See also the monographs 

 cited in the articles on the great sculptors in this work. 



