CHAP. I.] ITALIAN ART IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.

23

whom commenced the revival of the art. It is known that among the multitude of ancient marbles brought home by the Pisan fleet at the time of building the cathedral of Pisa, was a bas-relief representing two subjects taken from the story of Phædra and Hippolytus. The Pisans, struck with the beauty of this masterpiece, used it in the decoration of the front of their cathedral. The youthful Nicholas joined in the general admiration, but he alone conceived the idea of again producing works of so elevated a style; he earnestly applied himself to the study of this bas-relief, and of other valuable relics of ancient sculpture, and soon surpassing the models of his masters, he effected a complete revolution in the art.

Under his direction, his son, John, became an eminent sculptor, and even ended by excelling his master. In the XIVth century, Andrew of Pisa continued the work of these great artists. He was a less servile copyist of the ancients, and showed more original talent; he rendered also important services by bringing to perfection all the technical department of his art. The brothers, Agostino and Agnolo of Siena, Orgagna, architect and sculptor, (†1389), and several others, succeeded until the end of this century in keeping the art to the more elevated path upon which it had now entered. At the beginning of the XVth century, the revival was complete, and sculpture, under Donatello, (†1406), and Ghiberti (†1455), had attained the highest point of perfection.

These great geniuses were powerfully assisted in their work of regeneration by a host of skilful contemporaneous sculptors, their pupils or their imitators. After them should principally be mentioned Simone, brother of Donatello, Antonio Rosellino, and Bernardo, his brother, Giuliano and Benedetto da Maiano, Luca della Robbia, Pietro and Antonio Pollaiuolo, Andrea Verocchio, and Desiderio da Settignano, who was snatched away at the age of twenty-eight, from an art of which, to judge from the works he has left, he would have been one of the brightest ornaments.*

Vasari says, in his Life of this artist, "Desiderio imitated the manner of Donatello, but he possessed a grace and an elegance peculiar to himself; the heads of his women and children exhibit the most charming delicacy and softness, qualities which he

The works of these great masters were all monumental, and mostly designed for the decoration of churches, palaces, and mausoleums. The only monuments of private life that are comprised in the higher branches of sculpture are portraits, and of these the masters we have enumerated have left specimens which are now preserved in the palaces and museums of Italy.

sculpture in

wood and stone

The influence of the great Italian artists was felt throughout all the countries of Europe from the end of the XVth Small German century, and especially in the first year of the XVIth. Yet, towards the middle of this century, in the first half the greater part of the German artists, having borrowed nothing from the Italian style, perserved in their works the stamp of peculiar originality. Of this we may judge by the small sculpture of the Germans in the beginning of the XVIth century.

of the XVIth

century.

At this period, Nuremberg, the residence of Adam Kraft (†1507), Michael Wöhlgemuth (†1519), Peter Vischer (†1529) and his sons, Veit Stoss (†1542) and the great Albert Durer, became the artistic centre of Germany, the resort of all who desired to cultivate the arts. Under the auspices of these great masters was formed, as it were, a nursery of artists, who devoted their talents to the service of various manufacturers. Domestic utensils of every description were conceived in such pure forms, and enriched with such exquisite ornaments and such graceful little figures, as to make them eagerly sought after at the present day as true specimens of art.

Among these second-class artists, the most skilful produced at that time a large number of small carvings, remarkable for their imaginative conception, their correctness of design, and finished execution. The materials employed were wood, alabaster, a soft marble (feinen Marmor), and various sorts

derived as much from nature as from his own skill as a workman." Cicognara (Storia della scultura, t. ii, p. 70) describes still better the characteristic merits of Desiderio in terms which a translation would only weaken. "Condusse il marmo con una mollezza singolare ed una pastosità che alle morbide carni lo rendeva rassomigliante." D'Agincourt (Hist de l'art sculpt., t. ii., p. 82) justly remarks that Desiderio excelled in the composition and the execution of his ornaments. To this sculptor is attributed the exquisite bust in the Louvre, of Beatrice d'Este, at the age of twelve. This princess married Ludovico Sforza "il Moro," and died 1497.

CHAP. L]

CARVING IN SPECKSTEIN.

25

25

of stones, but especially hone-stone* a compact, fine-grained magnesian limestone, now used for lithography. This stone, which, in the north of Germany, is called Speckstein,† is designated under that of Kehlheimer-Stein in the Cabinet of Medals and Antiques at Vienna. ‡

British Museum.

The most celebrated artists in this style are Ludwig Krug (†1535), of whom there is a fine relief representing the Fall

*Soapstone. Talc Steatite, Haüy. Speckstein, Werner.

+ Kugler, Handbuch der Kunstgeschichte, S. 781.

Joseph Arneth, Das K. K. Münz und Antiken-Kabinet, Wien, 1845.

of Man, in the Chamber of Arts* at Berlin, Peter Flötner (†1546) who carved both wood and stone in perfection, and Johann Teschler (†1546).

Nor did the first artists of the period disdain to devote themselves to this diminutive kind of sculpture. Dr. Kugler † mentions, as being certainly from the hand of Albert Durer, an alto-relief in speckstein, the Birth of St. John, dated 1510, preserved in the British Museum (Fig. 9); a Preaching of St. John the Baptist, also in alto-relief, in the collection at Brunswick; and two little statuettes, Adam and Eve, in the Cabinet of Curiosities at Gotha. We have seen at the house of M. Melchior Boisserée at Munich, two bas-reliefs upon wood, from 4 to 4 inches high, with the monogram of Albert Durer; they both represent the Virgin standing with the infant Jesus in her arms; one is dated 1515, the other 1516. It is impossible to find anything of its kind more exquisite. In the museum called the United Collections, at Munich, are also two little bas-reliefs in soft marble, bearing the monogram of the great German artist; the one represents an undraped female figure seen from behind, the other the same figure in front. In this collection are several circular bas-reliefs in speckstein, attributed to Lucas Kranach, and many bas-reliefs in wood supposed to be by the same artist. The Chamber of Arts at Berlin, contains a little domestic altar, finely executed, on which is engraved the monogram of Hans Brüggemann, to whom is due the fine altar-piece in the cathedral of Schleswig, and a little figure of the Apostle St. James, carved in wood in bas-relief, full of expression and of delicate workmanship, with the monogram of Hans Schäuffin (+1550), a distinguished painter, the pupil of Albert Durer. In the Cabinet of Medals of the Imperial Library at Paris, may be also seen a small bas-relief in wood, marked with a monogram, considered to be that of Lucas of Leyden.

It was in portraits especially that the small German sculp

Die Kunstkammer (Chamber of Arts). A museum formed by Frederic William III. to contain the works of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

+ Kugler, Handbuch der Kunstgeschichte, S. 781.

+ Die vereinigten Sammlungen (the United Collections). A museum formed by Louis, King of Bavaria, for containing the collections of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The jewellery is preserved in the "Chambre du trésor," and the "Riche Chapelle" of the Royal Palace.

CHAP. I.]

PORTRAITS IN WOOD AND STONE.

27

of the German

ture attained perfection. These works, which bear the stamp of the school of the "Naturalisti," are so pure in Portraits upon style and of such remarkable finish, as to rank wood and stone among the noblest productions of German art, and bear a comparison with the finest medallion portraits executed by the Italian artists.

school of the

XVIth century.

In this species of sculpture the city of Augsburg rivalled Nuremberg. The portraits of Nuremberg are more generally worked in stone, those of Augsburg upon wood.† The characteristic of the first is a decided and firm style and great ease of execution; in the other, we find a truthful observation of nature, united with much grace and finish.

Some early productions of the XVIth century are by Albert Durer himself, more still by his pupils; and among the artists of Augsburg, Hans Schwartz is spoken of as the most skilful.

This application of sculpture to small portraits, and particularly to medallion portraits, was much in fashion in the XVIth century; the finest specimens belong to the period between 1500 and 1530. These productions of the art, held deservedly in high estimation, are carefully preserved, not only in private collections, but also in public museums. There are many of these medallion portraits in the Chamber of Arts at Berlin; some bearing the monogram of Albert Durer. The United Collections at Munich contain, among other medallion portraits upon wood, those of Kreler and his wife, attributed to Durer, and dated 1520; and a fine portrait of a female with the name of Jacoba, carved in speckstein, attributed to Lucas Kranach: in fact, this portrait appears to be that of the woman who has so often served as a

* An expression used by the Italians to designate one of the two rival schools of painting at the end of the XVIth and in the XVIIth century, the Eclectics and Naturalisti. The Eclectics endeavoured to select and unite the best qualities of each of the great masters, the study, and almost servile imitation of whose works were the fundamental principles of the school of which the Caracci were the founders, and among whom were Domenichino, Guido, Albano, Carlo Dolce, &c. The Naturalisti were so called from their imitation of nature; they endeavoured to form an independent style, distinct from those of the great masters, but their predilection was not for nature in a refined state, but for common nature devoid of physical elevation and divine impulse. They excelled more in scenes of murder, sorcery and witchcraft. Caravaggio, Spagnoletto, and Salvator Rosa are the principal masters of this school. -Kugler's Painting in Italy.

+ Kugler, Handbuch der Kunstgeschichte, S. 782.