SCULPTURE. 



SCULPTURE. 



391 



fessions of painting, sculpture, and architecture, and their works are 

 interesting monuments of their ingenuity ; but sculpture only assumed 

 a distinct and appropriate character when the two Pisani, Niccolo and 

 his son Giovanni, devoted themselves to it, and by their talents diffused 

 a love of art throughout Italy. The cathedrals of Pisa, Pistoja, Siena, 

 and Orvieto are rich in the productions of the Pisani They consist of 

 magnificent marble pulpits enriched with bassi-rilievi and statues, and 

 are evidence of great power both in composition and in deep feeling. 

 An account of these artists and their principal works will be found under 

 NICCOLA DI PISA, in the Bioo Dry. 



One of the most masterly compositions of any school of sculpture is 

 a semicircular basso-rilievo, in marble, of Niccolo Pisano, representing 

 the ' Taking down from the Cross,' which is placed over one of the side 

 doors in front of the Duomo of Lucca. Another remarkable work of 

 Niccolo Pisano is a basso-rilievo representing the Last Judgment and 

 Punishment of the Wicked, in the cathedral at Siena. His power 

 seems to have been in treating gentle, delicate, or touching representa- 

 tions ; but the performance alluded to has great merit for the boldness 

 of the conception, the eager crowding or fearful shrinking of the figures, 

 and for the masterly composition. Niccolo Pisano commenced his pro- 

 fession early in 1200. He lived to an advanced age, and was succeeded 

 by his son Giovanni di Pisa, Arnolfo of Florence, and other scholars. 

 Giovanni executed some esteemed works, but in natural genius he was 

 inferior to his father, and he was satisfied rather to imitate what had 

 been done than desirous or able to advance the art. Sculpture did not 

 make that progress after the death of Niccolo that might have been 

 expected from the merit of his works and the fine opening he had made 

 for ita improvement. Arnolfo was much employed both as an archi- 

 tect and sculptor. Two of his works in the latter art, the monument 

 of Boniface and the Tabernacle in the church of St. Paul (fuore le 

 mura), are preserved in Rome. The date of their execution is about 

 1300, or rather later. Among the more successful imitators of Niccolo 

 Pisano may be noticed Hargaritone d'Arezzo, Guido da Como, and 

 " Maestro " Buono. 



In the year 1330, Andrea Pisano, the son of Ugolino, who was settled 

 in Florence, executed one of the bronze gates of the Baptistery in that 

 city. The sculpture illustrates the life of St. John. This work is 

 admirable for its beautiful sentiment and simplicity, though it must 

 be allowed to be deficient in the mechanical excellences of sculpture. 

 Andrea Orcagna, contemporary with Andrea Pisano, was an architect, 

 painter, sculptor, and poet. [ORCAGNA, in Bioo. Div.] His works in 

 sculpture, notwithstanding a certain dry quality of execution that per- 

 vades them, have great merit. His most esteemed performances are 

 the sculptures on the altar in the chapel or oratory of Or San Michele, 

 in Florence. Orcagna showed great talent in the management of his 

 draperies, preserving considerable breadth in the forms and disposition 

 of the folds, and to composing them as not to conceal the action of the 

 limbs. There are some curious monuments of this early period at 

 Naples, where sculpture was practised by the followers and imitators 

 of Niccolo and Giovanni Pisani. The Neapolitans pretend, indeed, to 

 cite names of sculptors even earlier than the Pisani ; and mention is 

 made of " Maestro " Fiorenza and Agnolo Cosentino of as early a date 

 as the 9th and 1 Oth centuries. Approaching, however, nearer to the 

 time under consideration, we find the name of Pietro da Stefani men- 

 tioned as a respectable sculptor at Naples. His works are particularly 

 commended for expression, a quality of difficult attainment in what 

 may truly be considered the infancy of art. The two Masucci are also 

 recorded among the sculptors who were at that time decorating Naples 

 with their works. The chief occupation for the artist* was in 

 " Depoeiti," or tombs, monumental sculptures, and occasionally enrich- 

 ments, in reliefs and small figures, on altars. The monuments were 

 often of a very elaborate kind, uniting sculpture with architecture. 

 Stories of figures in niches, or mixed up with Arabesque or Gothic 

 ornaments, rose one above the other, till, at a certain elevation, the 

 work took a pyramidal form, the apex of which was surmounted by a 

 statue either of the Madonna and Child, or of a patron saint, or some- 

 times by an equestrian figure of the deceased. There are some very 

 curious specimens of these compositions in many parts of Italy; one of 

 the most remarkable is at Naples, in the church of 8. Giovanni dei 

 Carbonari. 



The works of Luca delta Robbia abound in Italy. They possess 

 merit not only as works of art, but as specimens of a manufacture, or 

 rather, a process, of which this sculptor is said to be the inventor and 

 exclusive possessor. This was the art of covering terra-cotta models 

 with a beautiful and peculiar coloured varnish, which renders them as 

 hard as stone. He is supposed never to have disclosed this secret ; 

 but there is a tradition that he committed it to writing, and inclosed 

 the paper, or whatever it was inscribed on, in some one of his models, 

 before he sent it to be baked ; so that it could only be known at the 

 price of destroying, or at least injuring, a number of his works, till the 

 document should appear. Among his productions are some of great 

 beauty. They consist chiefly of groups, in alto-rilievo, of the Madonna 

 and infant Saviour, or Christ and St. John as children, and similar 

 subjects. Luca della Robbia died in 1442. 



In the Gallery of Sculpture at Florence are preserved some extremely 

 interesting specimens of art of this period, by Benedetto da Rovezzano 

 and others. These works merit a careful examination, as they offer not 

 merely valuable illustration of the progress that was being made in the 



art at the time they were executed, but they possess qualities which 

 claim for them high praise as examples of rich composition and appro- 

 priate expression. Many of them are likewise worthy of attention for 

 an approach to great beauty of form, and for the skilful treatment of 

 the draperies. 



The next distinguished names which occur in the annals of restored 

 sculpture are those of Lorenzo Ghiberti and Donato di Betto Bardi, 

 better known as Donatello. Ghiberti has secured a lasting reputation 

 by his celebrated bronze gates of the Baptistery of Florence, the edifice 

 on which so many preceding sculptors had been employed. The first 

 gates mentioned by historians were executed by Buonano in 1180: 

 they were destroyed by fire. Andrea Pisano was the next artist 

 employed upon them, and his and the later works at that edifice are 

 fortunately still preserved. The contribution of Lorenzo is in a series 

 of rilievi, ranged in compartments, illustrating subjects from the Old 

 Testament. Michel Angelo is said to have admired them so highly 

 that he declared they were fit to be " the gates of Paradise." Lorenzo 

 brought to this work a great knowledge of composition, a superior 

 acquaintance with the more beautiful forms and movements of the 

 human figure, a refined feeling for expression, and considerable powers 

 of execution. They very far surpass the works of his predecessors in 

 the revival of sculpture, and, in many respects, have not often been 

 excelled. It is not pretended that these reliefs are free from faults. 

 Their chief imperfection arises out of the undefined notions which 

 then existed of the true principles that respectively govern, or should 

 govern, composition in painting and sculpture. It is obviously out of 

 the province of the latter art (which is confined to representing objects 

 by defined forms alone) to attempt perspective appearances and effects 

 which can only be truly and correctly given by aid of colour, or by the 

 skilful distribution of light and shadow. In the work under considera- 

 tion this principle is invaded. Objects are represented in various 

 planes, and those which should be subordinate are, in consequence of 

 the necessary relief given to them in order to define their forms, forced 

 upon the attention, or east shadows to the injury of more important 

 features in the design. The number of small parts, and a too great 

 minuteness of detail, are also defects in this remarkable work, and 

 deprive it of that breadth of effect which is so admirable a quality in 

 art. [GHIBERTI, LORENZO, in Bioo. Drv.] 



Donatello was a scholar of Lorenzo de' Bicci, and was born in 

 Florence in the year 1383. The works of Donatello are numerous, 

 and remarkable for their superior qualities. His conceptions were 

 bold, and his execution vigorous, and it is easy to see in his per- 

 formances the reason for the compliment paid to his statue of St. 

 Mark by one who could so well appreciate these qualities as Michel 

 Angelo : "Marco, perche non mi parli?" This, and a statue of St. 

 George, also in marble, decorate the exterior of the church of Or San 

 Michele at Florence. The St. George is a fine example of grand and 

 simple expression. The figure, dressed in plate armour, stands firmly 

 on both legs, and he resta his hands on his shield, which is held before 

 him, its pointed base on the ground. There is a calm determination 

 and a quiet dignity in this work. It is probable that the somewhat 

 exaggerated treatment which is observable in this and other produc- 

 tions of Donatello, as well as of Ghiberti, arose from their desire to 

 avoid the dryness and poverty of form in the works of some of their 

 immediate predecessors. [DONATELLO, in BIOG. Drv.] Donatello en- 

 joyed a great reputation, and there is scarcely a city of any consequence 

 in the north and middle of Italy that cannot boast some specimen of 

 his talent. He introduced a mode of working reliefs that has not often 

 been practised since his time. The sculptured portion is scarcely 

 raised above the plane of the background. It has the appearance of 

 the design having been drawn on the marble, and then engraved, as it 

 were, under a strong side-light. This kind of work hardly conies 

 legitimately under the name of sculpture, and can only bo fitted for 

 certain situations, in which, at a little distance, it has more the effect 

 of a picture than of sculpture. 



Brunelleschi, or, as he is called by the Italian historians, Filippo di 

 ser Brunellesco, was contemporary with Donatello. He was an archi- 

 tect as well as a sculptor, and was the originator of the bold idea, 

 which he so successfully carried out, of building the cupola of the 

 Duomo of Florence. [BRUNELLESCHI, in Bioo. Div.] Donatello died 

 full of years and honour. He left a brother, Simon, who was invited 

 to Rome by the pope, in 1431. While there he executed one of the 

 bronze gates of St. Peter's. Giovanni di Pisa was another of the 

 numerous scholars of Donatello. There is a large basso-rilievo in terra- 

 cotta by this sculptor over the altar in a chapel of the great church of 

 the Eremitani at Padua, which deserves notice for the simplicity and 

 breadth of the composition, and for the peculiar manner in which it is 

 executed. It represents the Madonna and Child, with three saints on 

 each side, and is remarkable for the flat style of the relief a mode 

 of working that Donatello frequently adopted, and which, when 

 judiciously managed, has a very broad and fine effect. 



Italy was at this time filled with artists, many of them of distin- 

 guished merit, who found ample employment in what may be called 

 church sculpture, and occasionally in executing statues of illustrious 

 persons. Florence perhaps boasted the highest names in the several 

 arts, but Bologna, Padua, Milan, Naples, Siena, Venice, Modena, and 

 even the smaller cities of Italy, all had their schools of artists. The 

 Majani and the two Pollajoli, Andrea Verrochio, Andrea Ferrucci, and 



