These wonderful reliefs remind one of Andrea Pisano, but are superior to any work of his. The two angels are repeated in each scene with never-ending variety of attitude and expression, always full of grace and religious feeling; in the upper row especially they seem really to float in mid-air, so light and natural is their movement. The artist has attained here a complete mastery over his material; he turns his figures every way, is not afraid of the nude, and, withal, avoids the pitfall of naturalism. The next scene (fiAr. 1) is from one of the central pilasters, and forms quite a contrast to the preceding; the relief is much higher, the figures are less slender, the drapery falls in thicker folds, and there is less grace about the whole. The scenes are more conventional and show less creative genius; they represent, beginning below, on the left, (1) the'Annimeiation, (2) the Meeting of Mary and Elisabeth, (3) the Birth of Christ, and (4) the Adora tion of the Magi. There are sonic figures, like that of Elisabeth, that remind its of Giovanni Pisani).
Giotto's Campanile, the tower erected toward 1330 by Giotto 336) close by the Cathedral of Florence, has several rows of bas-reliefs represent ing the different arts, sciences, and occupations; they are bold, striking groups meant to be effective at sonic distance. In our illustration (pi 20, fig. 5) we have a noble figure chosen by the artist to represent Universal Harmony, who strikes an anvil alternately with two hammers and bends a listening ear to the sounds. Though not highly finished, this figure is most effective, and by its breadth and power recalls the great Michelangelo. Of other groups, that representing Logic, in which two sehoolmcn are dis puting and arguing with great earnestness, is perhaps the most interest ing. Some of the statues on the Campanile, apparently by another artist, remind us of early French work, while others are as late as Donatcllo.
Andrea Pisani): Gates of the Florentine Baptistery.—Some years before the building of Giotto's Campanile the sculptor Andrea Pisano (1270-1350), of the same school as Giovanni, had been commissioned to cast bronze gates for the southern portal of the Baptistery at Florence. He completed the modelling in 133o, and the gates themselves in 1339. The twenty large panels contain reliefs representing various scenes from the life of John the Baptist, the patron of the edifice, while the eight smaller ones are adorned with single allegorical figures. Andrea Pisani) was closely connected with Giotto, and both worked together, inspired by the same spirit, Andrea carving the reliefs which Giotto designed for his tower. In the bronze doors, of which one panel is reproduced on Plate 23 (fig. 3), Andrea realizes, like the sculptor of the facade of Orvieto Cathedral, the highest ideal of Christian sculpture. It is very seldom that technical and artistic perfec
tion are united to moral and religious feeling. The composition is simple, as it should be in sculpture, but artistic. The figures are few in number; their action is clear and simple, their bearing natural, and they show nobility and depth of feeling. The example given here represents the meeting of Mary and Elisabeth. The figures are graceful and slender, while elsewhere, as in the scene of the burial of John the Baptist, borne along in rhythmic motion by his disciples, we see how well Andrea gives breadth and grandeur to his compositions.
Andrea Orcagna: Tabernacle of Or San Michele.—After a lapse of sterile years another great sculptor appears—Andrea Orcagna, architect, goldsmith, sculptor, painter, and poet, a representative man of an encyclo predic age before specialties were invented, and when there was thorough sympathy and relationship between all the arts. His great work in sculp ture is the tabernacle of white marble in the Gothic style which he raised in 1359 in the Church of Or San Michele, in Florence. It was destined to contain the wonder-working picture of the Virgin in honor of which the confraternity of the Church had been founded. This tabernacle is one of the most precious gems of Gothic art, and the unity into which are brought the reliefs, statues, mosaics, enamels, and sculptured decoration could have been attained only by one whose master-mind embraced the whole sphere of art. The octagonal reliefs placed on three sides of the base illustrate the life of the Virgin. The incident chosen in our illustration (pl. 19, J. 3) is the Birth of the Virgin. The scene is laid in a chamber with two Gothic windows. The mother is reclining in bed and stretches out her hand to caress the babe, which, having been washed, is now swathed as a bambino. Extremely graceful are the figures of two friends standing at the foot of the bed. Although the modelling has lost some of the flexibility and lightness of the Orvieto sculptures, it is difficult to find fault with so perfect a production.
The sculptors of Tuscany have until now engrossed all our attention, vet the rest of Italy was not without good artists during the Gothic period. Masaccio and his followers in Naples, the Cosmati in Rome, Balduccio and the Campionesi in Lombardy, the Massegne in Venice, were all talented sculptors, though they could not compete with those whose works have been described. During the few years before and after goo there were signs in Italy of the approaching Renaissance, and of these it will be best to speak under that head. At the same time, in France and Germany, Gothic sculpture was degenerating either into affectation and puerility or into coarseness and realism.