quired and maintained for some time a reputation which made it the rival of the Pisan and Florentine schools. But as the glory of a school of art depends rather upon the splendor of its great luminaries than upon the number of its smaller stars, Siena must be content with the third place in Tuscan Sculpture.

upon the acquisition of antique treasures which he used as means of education, but also bestowed that best sort of patronage upon

contemporaneous art which consists in treating the artist like a friend and an equal.”— (Vol. i. p. 122.)

Lorenzo Ghiberti, was born in 1381, and studied as a goldsmith under his stepfather Bartolo di Michiele, but, as we are told, occupied much of his time in mod

Turning now again to Florence, where we saw the Pisan school expire with Andrea Orcagna, we must bestow some at-eling and painting. In the latter art he tention upon Ghiberti and Donatello, who were at once the founders and chief glory of their native school:

made such progress that at the age of eighteen he was invited by a brother artist to assist him in painting some frescoes at Rimini, in which work he showed so much talent that Carlo Malatesta made him handsome offers to induce him to remain there; but it was at this time that the Signory of Florence and the Merchants' Guild issued an invitation to all the best Italian artists to compete for the commission of making a bronze door for the Baptistery, and by the advice of his step-father, Ghiberti entered his name on the list of candidates. He was one of the six elected to compete, and, as all the world knows, proved the victor.

"Placed midway between the age of strong religious feeling and that in which Paganism invaded every form of art and literature, the period was singularly favorable for artistic education. as the waning influence of religion was still strong enough to check the adoption of Pagan sentiment, while a general enthusiasm for the antique led to the study of the beauty of form and technical perfection revealed in those newly acquired masterpieces of classic art, which were eagerly sought for and daily added to the collections of the time. In its first phase, as represented by Brunelleschi in architecture, and by Ghiberti and Donatello in sculpture, the Renaissance was The gates of Ghiberti may be pointed noble and profitable; but it became destructive to all life and progress when artists no to as a proof of the advantages of a syslonger seeking to assimilate its abstract prin- tem of competition for important artistic ciples to new ideas, aimed at positive imita- commissions: and as this system obtains tion of antique forms; when striking at the very generally at the present day, it may foundations of religious belief already griev- not be out of place here to examine the ously shaken by the iniquities of Rome, clasprinciples upon which it was conducted sic art and literature usurped the first place in men's affections so completely that few were at Florence, and to compare them with scandalized when they saw a never-dying those now commonly adopted. The lamp burning before the bust of Plato, as be- Florentine authorities began by inviting fore that of a saint; when Sigismund Pandol- all the artists of Italy who were willing fo dedicated a temple to his concubine, Isotta to compete to send in their names as canda Rimini, and covered its walls with their didates for that honor; from among these interlaced cyphers; when painters representnames they selected six. The proof of ed the Madonna under the features of a wellskill which they were required to furnish known courtesan; when the secretary of a pope called Jesus Christ a hero, and the Vir- was one panel of a given shape and subgin a goddess; and a sculptor modeled the ject-not a design merely, but finished loves of Leda and the Swan among the orna- in bronze, as if it were to form a part of ments of the great doorway of the Basilica one of the gates-and a year was allowdedicated to the chief of the apostles. These ed for its production. In the meantime abuses, which would have filled the men of the fourteenth, and early part of the fifteenth, a jury, consisting of thirty-four painters, century with horror, and which gradually in sculptors, and goldsmiths, native and forcreased until they roused the zealous and fiery eign, was impaneled, each of whom, we Savonarola to pour out his threatenings of are told, was very skillful in his own wrath to come, were unknown in Ghiberti's branch of art. The conditions of the youth, during which Florence enjoyed com- competition were simple; they could not parative peace and repose, and extended her be evaded by the artists, and gave to the boundaries and her wealth by commercial enterprise; while Art grew under the kindly in- jury in the most satisfactory and intellifluence of Cosmo de' Medici, that great mer-gible form all the evidence requisite for chant-prince who not only spent vast sums arriving at a decision. Lastly, the decis

ion was a bona fide one, in which the winner was to execute the work.

:

satisfactory result a competition must be, from first to last, a perfectly honest transaction, having a definite practical object that the jury should be small, and selected with a view to inspire confidence both among the artists and the public; that the number of competitors should also be small, and that these should be chosen for their known merits; that the subject proposed should be simple enough to enable the jury to compare the rival

The verdict of this imposing collection of professional opinions at Florence was certainly not as satisfactory as might have been hoped. The jurors had no difficulty in determining that the panels by Ghiberti and Brunelleschi were better than those of the other four; but they could not decide between these two, and were only saved from the even chance of a fatal mistake by the extraordinarily mag-performances; that the conditions of the nanimous conduct of Brunelleschi, who confessed himself fairly beaten, and begged to withdraw from the contest.

competition should be strictly enforced; and lastly, that the victorious competitor should execute the proposed work.

Let us now return to Ghiberti, whom we left upon the point of beginning the work he had so fairly won. His first gate contained twenty-eight panels, twenty of which contain illustrations of the Gospel history from the Annunciation to the Descent of the Holy Ghost. maining eight are the four Evangelists and the four Doctors of the Church.

The first important question in all artistic competitions is of composition of the jury. Should it be large or small? Professional or amateur? or mixed? It is necessary that it should satisfy the public and the competing artists beforehand by the probability of its fairness, and its capability for deciding upon the comparative merits of the designs. That a small jury is to be preferred we have no doubt, for the reason given above and for others "in looking at the exquisite works, which "One can never tire," says Mr. Perkins, which easily suggest themselves; but combine the purity of style of an earlier peribetween the advantages and disadvan- od with a hitherto unattained technical knowltages of professional, amateur, and mixed edge and skill in handling. The most lovely juries, it is very difficult to decide. A among them is the "Annunciation," in which jury of artists, though it would, we be- the Virgin shrinks back beneath an exquisite lieve, be most acceptable to the competi- two of the most striking are the "Raising of little portico before a graceful angel; and tors, is apt to be suspected of professional Lazarus" (a perfect Byzantine type) and the jealousies or friendships which would un- "Temptation of our Lord." The single figures fit it for its duty, and it is an acknowl- of the Evangelists are dignified and admiraedged fact that artists are generally the bly draped, and the exquisite little angel who worst critics of their own branch of Art. whispers inspiration to Matthew, is of a type An amateur jury is despised by the artists, peculiar to Ghiberti, and singularly refined." who somewhat unreasonably ignore the (Vol, i. p. 127.) fact that it is the amateurs for whom they work and by whose judgment their reputations are made. It has also but little authority with the general public, because the names of its members are but seldom well known in connection with Art, and has, perhaps, even less weight among the public of amateurs, who always show (confidentially to a third party) the greatest contempt for each other's opinions. The success of a mixed jury must depend chiefly upon the temper and fairness of its members; but if well composed, it is on the whole more likely to give general satisfaction than either of the other kinds. The conclusions which these remarks on competitions appear to as to suggest are, that to produce any

We can not help regretting that Mr. Perkins has given us no drawing of the "Annunciation" to which he alludes, since it is one of the most beautiful representations we know of that lovely but often ill-treated subject.

The gate took twenty-one years to finish, although twenty artists were engaged upon it,—a fact which we recommend to the attention of those who show so much impatience for the completion of all national artistic works. Conceive what letters in the newspapers and questions in Parliament would torment a sculptor who took twenty-one years to make a gate for St. Paul's. The Florentines, however, seem to have been patient and grateful, for no sooner was the

"In statues," says Mr. Perkins, "Ghiberti was by no means so successful as in bas-reliefs, because his love of detail, richness of invention, and knowledge of perspective were there of little or no use to him." Admitting the fact of the inferiority of his statues, we should have attributed it rather to the impossibility of their exhibiting his talent for composition and power of telling a story than to the loss of that "love of detail and knowledge of perspective," which led him to become a "painter in bronze," instead of a sculptor. The St. Stephen on the outside of Or San Michele, executed for the Wool Merchants' guild, is, however, a beautiful figure, and was so much admired at the time that Ghiberti was commissioned by the bankers to make them a St. Matthew for the next niche.

first gate finished than they gave Ghiberti | valuable example to the artists of the a commission to make them a second. present day. This second gate exhibits, as might well be expected, considerable superiority in technical skill, and there we are inclined to think its superiority over the first gate ends. "In modeling these reliefs," says Ghiberti himself, "I strove to imitate nature to the utmost, and by investigating her methods of work to see how nearly I could approach her. I sought to understand how forms strike upon the eye, and how the theoretic part of sculptural and pictorial art should be managed. Working with the utmost diligence and care, I introduced into some of my compositions as many as one hundred figures, which I modeled upon different planes, so that those nearest the eye might appear larger, and those more remote smaller in proportion." But if Michael Angelo's axiom be true, that "the more nearly painting attains to relievo, the No Specimens of Ghiberti's works as a better it is, and the more nearly relievo goldsmith remain to us, though we have attains to painting, the worse it is," Ghi- descriptions of two very costly and elaboberti has committed a great error, and rate mitres, and a "morse," or cope-clasp, we must own that, when he executed of his make: but proofs of his skill as a perspectives, landscapes, and distant fig-painter or designer of colored windows, ures in bas-relief, he only succeeded in accomplishing what ought never to have been attempted. Michael Angelo's other and better known remark, that these gates were worthy to be the gates of Paradise, the beauty of the composition, and the perfect handling of the details, make us forget that the sculptor has overstepped the true limits of his art, and become, as Mr. Perkins happily observes, "a painter in bronze." But we believe that there is no true lover of sculpture, who, after a careful study of the first and second gates, would not give the preference to the bas-reliefs of the former.

That Ghiberti should have had a great enthusiasm for the antique will surprise no one who observes the attention which he paid to beauty of form; but it is remarkable that the extravagant love of everything Greek, which led him to date his visit to Rome in the "four hundred and fortieth Olympiad," should not have induced him to heathenize his Christian sculpture. And the moderation and good taste which he showed in thus learning the right lesson only from his study of ancient sculpture makes him a peculiarly

which Mr. Perkins has omitted to notice, are fortunately still to be seen: the gorgeous rose in Sta. Croce, and some of the lights in the cathedral at Florence, we owe to Ghiberti, and they are among the finest specimens of the art in existence. Ghiberti's private character does not appear to have been remarkably amiable; and, judging from the ungenerous manner in which he behaved to Brunelleschi about the cupola of the cathedral, in return for his magnanimous conduct in the competition for the gates, his biographer is "forced to conclude that his heart was bad, and his disposition mercenary."

We now come to Donatello, the son of Nicolo di Betto Bardi, who was born at Florence in 1386, and therefore six years younger than Ghiberti. His study of art commenced early under Bicci di Lorenzo, a painter and sculptor of no great merit, whom he must soon have eclipsed if it be true that at sixteen years of age his opinion was asked by the judges in the competition for the Baptistery gates. He had the advantage of living in the house of a wealthy banker, Ruberto Martelli, who furnished him with means for study, and remained his true friend through life.

The criticisms and advice of his friend Brunelleschi must also have been very useful to him, and, judging from the wellknown story of the rival crucifixes, they must have been singularly free, not to say severe. These two friends went together to Rome, where they had spent some time in the study of ancient sculpture and architecture. In or about 1411, soon after Donatello's return from Rome, he executed the statues of SS. Peter and Mark for the exterior niches of Or San Michele. The St. Mark is a grand and solemn figure, which we are surprised to find somewhat slighted by our author, who, while he quotes the "negative praise" given to it by Michael Angelo when he said, "that no one could refuse to believe the gospel preached by such an honest-looking man," omits the high artistic compliment which he paid the statue by addressing it with, "Marco, perchè non mi parli ?" But if we differ from Mr. Perkins in his estimate of Donatello's St. Mark, we can most thoroughly sympathize in his admiration for the St. George, which stands in an adjoining niche, and will give his own remarks upon it:

which he was particularly celebrated; one of the finest examples of it is to be found upon the tomb of Cardinal Brancacci at Naples. This extremely low relief is to be found in some early Egyptian sculpture, and also, with more attempt at modeling, in the Assyrian works at the British Museum; it was also in use among the ancient Etruscans, but as Donatello more probably re-invented than revived it, and while bringing it to perfection gave it character peculiarly his own, he should certainly be allowed all the honors of the discovery. He has certainly had to pay the posthumous penalty of a widespread reputation; for as this kind of work is popularly known as the Donatello style, the authorship of many examples of which he would have been heartily ashamed has been attributed to him.

In two of his works Donatello was associated with Michelozzo: these were, the Aragazzi monument at Montepulciano -a splendid work now in ruins, which was ordered by the poet whom it was to commemorate twelve years before his own death-and a bronze bas-relief for the Font at Siena, which had been origia statue which deserved-nally ordered of Quercia, who in the multiplicity and confusion of his engagements had never found time even to begin it.

"It is," he says, 66 ly ranks as the finest personification of a Christian hero ever wrought in marble. Resting one hand on the top of an oblong shield, while the other hangs by his side, he stands with erect head and piercing glance as if about to turn upon a deadly enemy. Every line is indicative of the cool resolve which ensures triumph; every portion of his body, even to the slightly-compressed fingers of the right hand, full of a dominant thought. In the base of the beautiful Gothic niche in which it stands, a spirited and admirably composed bas-relief, sadly injured by time, represents the combat between the Saint and the Dragon."

(Vol. i. p. 240.)

A fine plaster cast of this group, probably not less than 300 years old, is now in the Kensington Museum, and having been made when Donatello's work was in good preservation, gives perhaps a better idea of its merits than can be got from an inspection of the defaced original at the present day. A bas-relief by Donatello, also in the Kensington Museum, representing the Delivery of the Keys to St. Peter, will also, from the similarity of its style, give a good idea of the "Sticciato" or flattened relief for

Mr. Perkins divides Donatello's works into two classes, the Realistic and the Classical. To the former belong a Magdalen and St. John Baptist at Florence. They are not unpoetical works, for they address themselves to the imagination, but they are unpleasing to the eye, because their author would not sacrifice to beauty what he considered to be the true way of representing an ascetic and a penitent. That this was his feeling upon the subject we may fairly suppose, because he had also a very real appreciation of beauty; but artists should remember that it is not the province of art to tell upleasant truths too plainly.

Donatello's works in the Classical style were many of them imitations or adaptations of the antique; such for instance as eight statues ordered by Cosmo de' Medici for the cortile of his palace, which were to be copied from some of his finest gems, and a bronze patera or mirror, supposed to have been similarly inspired,