46 EVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLES 



of European nations. The reason is obvious : Italy never 

 submitted to Teutonic ascendency; and consequently, her 

 Gothic monuments can hardly be regarded as more than 

 exotic, albeit they present distinctive attributes. 



vn 



I cannot forbear from adducing yet another instance, which 

 seems to substantiate the position that a clearly marked type 

 of national art, when left to pursue its course of develop- 

 ment unchecked, passes through stages corresponding to the 

 embryonic, the adolescent, the matured, the decadent, and the 

 exhausted, in growths which we are accustomed to regard 

 as physiological. This instance is that of Italian painting. 

 It started from the ruins of Byzantine and Romanesque art, 

 displaying a strongly marked religious, bias at the outset, and 

 at the same time deriving much from a renascent interest in 

 classical antiquity. Giotto and his school, who represent the 

 first stage, were earnestly intent upon depicting sacred history 

 and legends of the saints in comprehensive works of fresco 

 on the walls of churches. They also undertook to set forth 

 the political and philosophical ideas of their epoch; a fine 

 example of this industry being the paintings in the Palazzo 

 Pubblico at Siena. After this double task had been accom 

 plished, and an inexhaustible repertory of pictorial motives 

 had been provided for treatment by successive generations 

 of masters, it was felt that the art of painting requirec 

 development upon the technical side. Accordingly, a new 

 race, following close upon the heels of their predecessors, 

 gave attention to anatomy and perspective, to the various 

 methods of tempera and oil, and to every detail which might 

 heighten the illusion wrought by painting. These efforts 

 culminated in the works of Fra Lippo Lappi, Perugino, 

 Mantegna, Fra Bartoloninieo, Botticelli, Signorelli, and the 

 Bellini, in whom many critics discern the finest flower oJ 

 the Italian plastic genius. During this second stage, the 

 enthusiasm for antiquity, which had formed a motive force 

 second only to religion from the outset, continued to expand 



