The fourteenth century closes the infancy of sculp ture; of this period the principal works are relicvos; statues are few in number, and generally inferior in workmanship. The former are to be regarded among those performances and discoveries of one age, which immediately conduct to the improvement and supe riority of the succeeding. Thus the relievos on the altars and tombs in the different cities of Tuscany, and of the Tarlati and Scaligers at Verona; the pul pits of Pisa and Siena; the bas reliefs on the cathe dral of Orvietto; the decorations of St. Mark's at Ve nice and the Ducal palace; the sculpture of the Belfry at Florence, above all the bronze folding doors of the Baptistry,—constitute the intermediate gradations while genius was emerging from the barbarism of the dark ages, presenting the steps by which it ascended to the eminence of the two following centuries.
As respects the style of art during these early ages, we find that from the time of Nicholas of Pisa, whose views are frequently drawn from antiquity, a general character of simplicity, of fidelity, and of just expres sion, begins to appear in sculpture. The mind is ne ver astonished by boldness of execution, or grandeur of composition; but the art being chiefly dedicated to the service of religion, or to the memory of the dead, there is often in its best labours an air of devotional a touching representation of the gentler affections, which soften the heart and awaken the sensibility. The effect is never daringly ventured; it is sought by force of labour—by persevering discove ry, rather than produced by any acknowledged princi ples of taste or rules of design. But if the creative faculties have seldom been conspicuously exerted, we are sometimes agreeably surprised by unexpected beauties of the sweetest power arising from a diligent imitation of nature, which give back the image of the original in all its simple and unpretending re ality.
The fifteenth century forms a splendid era in the progress of intelligence. Advances in moral, intellec tual, and political knowledge were then accomplished, which form the groundwork of no small portion of modern science. In the arts of elegance, especially in sculpture, the labours of this age will always hold dis tinguished rank. During this interval, love of liberty and of information animated the Italian republics. As if there had also been a commonwealth of talent, no single master so far excelled his contemporaries as to impress upon the art the stamp and bearing of an in dividual style. The very opening of the century pre
sents the friendly contest of six great masters, compe titors for the same public work, who had been selected from a still greater number of candidates. Bruuelles chi and Ghiberti, Florentines, Jacomo delta Quercia of Siena, Nicolo Lamberti of Arezzo, Francisco di Valdambrino a Tuscan, Simone dei Colli, were the artists thus chosen to compete for the honour of ex ecuting the bronze folding doors of the baptistry. Af ter a year's trial, in which each produced a pannel of the proposed work, representing the sacrifice of Abra ham, the specimen of Ghiberti was preferred. The undertaking thus honourably assigned to his superior merit, occupied forty years of his life, still remaining one of the noblest monuments of modern art, and de clared by Michael Angelo worthy to be the gate of Paradise. The subjects of the one are taken from the Old, and of the other from the New Testament.
Of the other candidates, Brunclleschi afterwards ap plied chiefly to architecture; the remaining four, by their works and the merits of their schools, widely ex tended and improved the art. Among the crowd of illustrious contemporaries, Donatello, born in 1403, stands forth pre-eminently conspicuous by the magni tude and excellence of his labours. These are in al most every material capable of receiving the impress of his chisel, and dispersed throughout the principal cities of Italy. The best are in Florence; among these the statues of St. George, Magdalen penitent, and St. John, arc fine examples of grandeur, simplicity, and truth, in composition and expression; while the eques trian statue of Erasmus duke of Narni, in that city, claims notice as the first attempt in the revival of art. But the great superiority of this sculptor is chiefly re markable in relievos, a department of the art which in the course of this century acquired a degree of perfection that yet remains unsurpassed: nor does it appear easily possible to excel the beauty of those in the church of San Lorenzo, in which this master has represented the most memorable events in the life of the Saviour. The subject seems to have imparted to the genius of the sculptor a portion of its own sacred dignity—of calm and holy feeling. Indeed, to the in fluence of religious impressions we attribute in no small degree that improvement so conspicuous in this age, the principal exertions of which were directed to the representation of Scripture history.