so attractive an artist as Botticelli,
his contemporary, Ghirlandajo, was a stronger one. His strength came
more from assimilation than from invention. He combined in his work
all the art learning of his time. He drew well, handled drapery simply
and beautifully, was a good composer, and, for Florence, a good
colorist. In addition, his temperament was robust, his style
dignified, even grand, and his execution wonderfully free. He was the
most important of the fifteenth-century technicians, without having
any peculiar distinction or originality, and in spite of being rather
prosaic at times.

[Illustration: FIG. 29.--FRANCESCA. DUKE OF URBINO. UFFIZI.]

Verrocchio (1435-1488) was more of a sculptor than a painter, but in
his studio were three celebrated pupils--Perugino, Leonardo da Vinci,
and Lorenzo di Credi--who were half-way between the Early and the High
Renaissance. Only one of them, Leonardo, can be classed among the
High Renaissance men. Perugino belongs to the Umbrian school, and
Lorenzo di Credi (1450-1537), though Florentine, never outgrew the
fifteenth century. He was a pure painter, with much feeling, but weak
at times. His drawing was good, but his painting lacked force, and he
was too pallid in flesh color. There is much detail, study, and
considerable grace about his work, but little of strength. Piero di
Cosimo (1462-1521) was fond of mythological and classical studies, was
somewhat fantastic in composition, pleasant in color, and rather
distinguished in landscape backgrounds. His work strikes one as
eccentric, and eccentricity was the strong characteristic of the man.

UMBRIAN AND PERUGIAN SCHOOLS: At the beginning of the fifteenth
century the old Siennese school founded by Duccio and the Lorenzetti
was in a state of decline. It had been remarkable for intense
sentiment, and just what effect this sentiment of the old Siennese
school had upon the painters of the neighboring Umbrian school of the
early fifteenth century is a matter of speculation with historians. It
must have had some, though the early painters, like Ottaviano Nelli,
do not show it. That which afterward became known as the Umbrian
sentiment probably first appeared in the work of Niccolo da Foligno
(1430?-1502), who was probably a pupil of Benozzo Gozzoli, who was, in
turn, a pupil of Fra Angelico. That would indicate Florentine
influence, but there were many influences at work in this upper-valley
country. Sentiment had been prevalent