ignorelli. At an
early age he declared himself, and hewed a path of his own through
art, sweeping along with him many of the slighter painters of his age.
Long-lived he saw his contemporaries die about him and Humanism end in
bloodshed with the coming of the Jesuits; but alone, gloomy, resolute,
steadfast to his belief, he held his way, the last great
representative of Florentine art, the first great representative of
individualism in art. With him and after him came many followers who
strove to imitate his "terrible style," but they did not succeed any
too well.

The most of these followers find classification under the Mannerists
of the Decadence. Of those who were immediate pupils of Michael
Angelo, or carried out his designs, Daniele da Volterra (1509-1566)
was one of the most satisfactory. His chief work, the Descent from the
Cross, was considered by Poussin as one of the three great pictures of
the world. It is sometimes said to have been designed by Michael
Angelo, but that is only a conjecture. It has much action and life in
it, but is somewhat affected in pose and gesture, and Volterra's work
generally was deficient in real energy of conception and execution.
Marcello Venusti (1515-1585?) painted directly from Michael Angelo's
designs in a delicate and precise way, probably imbibed from his
master, Perino del Vaga, and from association with Venetians like
Sebastiano del Piombo (1485-1547). This last-named painter was born in
Venice and trained under Bellini and Giorgione, inheriting the color
and light-and-shade qualities of the Venetians; but later on he went
to Rome and came under the influence of Michael Angelo and Raphael. He
tried, under Michael Angelo's inspiration it is said, to unite the
Florentine grandeur of line with the Venetian coloring, and thus outdo
Raphael. It was not wholly successful, though resulting in an
excellent quality of art. As a portrait-painter he was above reproach.
His early works were rather free in impasto, the late ones smooth and
shiny, in imitation of Raphael.

Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520) was more Greek in method than any of the
great Renaissance painters. In subject he was not more classic than
others of his time; he painted all subjects. In thought he was not
particularly classic; he was chiefly intellectual, with a leaning
toward the sensuous that was half-pagan. It was in method and
expression more than elsewhere that he showed the Greek spirit. He
aimed at the ideal an