ortions of the country contributed to put aside the
stiff, formal manner of the past, and to bring in the more sympathetic
and natural one of the fifteenth century. In truth, the last decades of
the fourteenth century were a transition period, when art was bursting
its bonds, and was preparing for the glorious works of the golden days
of sculpture in Italy.

CHAPTER V.

ITALIAN SCULPTURE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.

There was no one great influence or circumstance which led up to the
revival of art and letters which took place in the fifteenth century,
and which is known under the general name of the Renaissance. Its causes
were many, and may be traced in every department of the life of the
Middle Ages--in religion, politics, learning, and the habits of the
people. This is far too great a topic for us to enter on here, and we
must keep to the one matter which we have in hand.

In Italy, heretofore, as we have shown, sculpture had been almost
entirely separated from other arts, and stood by itself. Its works had
been the smaller objects of which we have spoken; and though these were
oftentimes splendid in their design and execution, they did not afford
the sculptor the same broad field for his work as he has when his
productions are combined with architecture. Now all this was changed.
The French and German artists had brought out a style of architecture of
their own, the Italians pursued another course, and went back to classic
art for their teaching, and now every opportunity was given for
sculpture to assume its utmost importance; and the art of ancient Greece
was studied with all the enthusiasm of the Italian nature.

The masters of Florence, or, rather, of Tuscany, were of great
importance in the beginning of the new movement, and I shall speak
first of them. FRANCESCO SQUARCIONE, who lived from 1396 to 1474, was a
painter, and travelled into Greece to collect antique objects, and made
many drawings from the monuments which he saw. He established a school
in Padua, and his museum was of advantage to sculptors as well as to
painters. Other Tuscan artists who were in love with classic art
wandered among its remains in Rome and other parts of Italy, and brought
back to their homes a greater knowledge of sculpture, as well as the
drawings which they had made; and in this part of Italy the Renaissance
early made itself a living, active power.

Among the very first of these sculptors was JACOPO DELLA QUERCIA