The panel in our illustration (fig. 4) is the first of the series. In the foreground, on the left, by the banks of the river of Paradise, is the Creation of man, whom the Creator is blessing and raising up to life. It is no longer a youthful and graceful Christ, but a more mature God—the Father—who is the Creator, and who ill the next scene is seen making woman from the side of the sleeping man,—a lovely figure around whom hovers au angelic host. Then, in the background, on the left, in the shady woods, we see the Temptation. Adam has just received the fatal apple, and the consequences are seen on the right, where Adam and Eve, expelled from Paradise, gaze upward at the figure of God appearing in the clouds surrounded by a host of angels In these reliefs we do not see much leaning toward the antique, but rather an early example of that study of nature which with classicism to rule the Renaissance. A careful study of the nude, of perspective, and of nature appears both here and in the lovely borders, in which plants and flowers, birds and annuals, are intertwined and mingled with unrivalled grace.
Donatello.—A famous sculptor, Benvenuto says, "The great Donatello and the wonderful Michelangelo—the two greatest men that have lived from antiquity to our times." Donatello was born in Florence about 1386, and died in 1466; his artistic activity extended over more than half a century. In his early works lie shows an extremely realistic spirit: Ins Christ is a crucified peasant; his King David, a bald-headed jail bird; his Jeremiah, a misshapen old cynic. But this was merely a passing stage, his transcendent ability even here shining forth. His journey to Rome with Bninelieschi in 1418, when he revelled in the classic ruins and statues of the Eternal City, formed his classic taste and at the same time reformed his too coarse realism, and from that time forward the produc tions of his wonderful activity show the versatility and grasp of his mind, by which he knew how to adapt his style to his subject. Looking to a closer definition of the advance which sculpture owes to him, we find that in technique Ile invented the low relief—so favorite a form of cimpecoao sculpture—and attempted statues of larger size than his predecessors. He created portraiture in marble, and especially the type of the child, and was the prime mover in the study and imitation of the antique, of the revival, as well as in the study of man.
The Annuncialion in Sauna Croce a! work of exceptional beauty and delicacy (N. 23, Jig. 5)—is almost unique among Donateilo's works as a concession to the religions school, for his forte was not in religious subjects The Virgin has risen from her seat and arrests her retreating steps, turning back and making a gesture of submission to the announcing angel.
The Head of the half figure of St. Cecilia is perhaps the most famous of his low reliefs, but a good example of similar treatment, probably by the master's hand, is given on Plate 24 (fig. ),
which reproduces a head of the Virgin now in the Municipal Palace at Empoli. The classic beauty of the profile and the grace of every detail seem all the more remarkable because achieved with such slender means. The veil is brought over the Virgin's head in a way that reminds us of the early Byzantine Madonnas.
Busts of most thoroughly charming of Donatello's creations arc his busts of children, so full of natural feeling, their faces either wearing a quiet expression or breaking out into a contagious laugh. Slightly older than most of these is the exquisite bust of the Youthful John the Baptist in the Pinacoteca at Faenza (p1. 24, fig. 2). Though Donatello's children are always refilled, lie has in this case given an ideal of youthful beauty in a head full of life and poetry.
Donatello's Classicism is nowhere more clearly shown than in the charming roundels in relief with which he decorated the Palazzo Riccardi at Florence. In these figures he has caught not only the classic spirit to perfection, but even the subject and pose are copied from ancient works. Often, as in this case, engraved gems and other small works were enlarged in stone by Renaissance artists. In one of the reliefs of the Riccardi Pal ace (51. 24, fig. 3) is a nude youthful figure (Diomedes), seated and bear ing in his left hand the Palladium, and in his right a short sword.
DonaIelld s Influence was immense, and extended even to the sister-art of painting, in which Masaccio, Paolo Uccello, and especially Mantegna, owe much to him. He gathered around him a swarm of pupils, though none of them were able to approach him in excellence, or even to be moved by a part of the spirit which governed him or to follow the style which he inaugurated.
successors in the course of the century Desiderio da Settignano, Mino da Fiesole, Andrea Verrocchio, and Bene detto da Majano—though all artists of talent, seem but pigmies by the side of the genius of Donatello. The branch of art in which they were most successful was that of portrait-busts, for which the sculpture of the fifteenth century in Tuscany will always be famous. Individuality and aristocratic grace are the chief characteristics of this art. A good exam ple of the art of Verrocchio (1432-1453), best known by his great eques trian statue of Colleone, is the Rrou.:e Statue of David (151. 24,Jig. 4) in the Museum at Florence. David—evidently the faithful portrait of some Florentine youth—stands quietly, after his contest with Goliath, resting his left hand on his hip, while in his right he still holds the short sword with which he has cut off the giant's head, which lies at his feet. The slight, youthful figure is lightly clothed and armed, and shows that the tendency of Verrocchio's art was decidedly realistic.