RESTORATION" OF THE ART OF SCULPTURE. 567 



filled up ? This is beyond the reach of any moderate 

 artifl ; nor is any ordinary genius capable of being fo 

 thoroughly imbued with the grand and fublime ideas 

 of a poet, as to exprefs them with fentiment and. 

 energy in marble or bronze. 



That Nicholas of Pifa was endowed by nature with 

 a peculiar creative power is evinced by various other 

 of his expreffive works, which are to be feen in the 

 cathedral at Orvieto, particularly the historical piece 

 of the vilitation of the virgin Mary. What grace in 

 the attitudes of Mary and Elizabeth greeting each 

 other! "How meekly they incline their perfons, and 

 extend their arms to mutual embraces! How tender 

 joy fits fmiling on the countenances of both ! What 

 beautiful proportions in the ftructure of their limbs, 

 how grand and limple the drapery, how foft and natu- 

 ral the bendings and folds ! We here plainly fee that 

 this great man knew how to foar far above the tafte of. 

 his times, by his having fo juffc an idea of the beauty 

 jo£ drapery. The pictures of thofe times that are Hill 

 in being bear witnefs, that the dreiTes then in ufe were 

 very narrow, the folds pointed, full of corners, and in 

 direct: opposition to true tafte. He muit therefore have 

 compofed his drapery, not from nature, but after the 

 antique. From this fource he not only drew the forms 

 of his drapery, but the attitudes and movements of 

 his figures. In his hell, a limilarity with the baccha- 

 nals of the antient Greeks is evidently betrayed. In 

 another bas-relief in the fame cathedral, which repre- 

 fents Cain murdering his brother, we clearly difcern 

 in the figure of the murderer, a fighting Hercules with 

 the lion's fkin, perfectly in the tafte of the antiques.. 



004 He 



