rds the
objects belonging to the latter category, that these imitations, if
bought as such, are not undesirable purchases. In many instances,
particularly in those of iron- and bronze-work, intarsia, and carving in
wood, the modern Italian artists, who began as imitators, have attained
a degree of excellence which entitles them to take rank as the founders
of a new artistic _renaissance_, while their familiarity with
cinque-cento art and the loving study of it have led them to produce
work in each of the above-named branches which is calculated to improve
the taste of both workers and purchasers in countries beyond the Alps.
As regards metal-work, whether in iron or bronze, avowedly modern, but
of the true cinque-cento type and style, the amateur would do well to
visit the foundries and workshops of Venice; for intarsia he may go to
Milan; for wood-carving to Florence, Siena and Perugia; to the last also
for intarsia. He will find in Perugia work both in carving and intarsia
on which he might spend his money very much more advantageously than in
buying second-rate bits of really old wood-work, or indeed any such bits
as he is at all likely to meet with. And it is not surprising that the
little Umbrian hill-city should have become a special home for this
particular branch of art; for it contains some of the most remarkable
works of the kind extant, the product of some of the most renowned
masters of the craft in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It is a
mistake to suppose, as many persons do, that the fine works of this kind
which we still admire were the product of men who were considered in
their day as mere artisans, and whose names were not known beyond the
boundaries of their native provinces. They were recognized as true
artists, whose names were known from one end of the Peninsula to the
other, and who were sent for from distant cities to execute works of
importance. In many cases their names have perished: in more they are
unknown to the present generation of art-lovers--_caruerunt quia vate
sacro_. And in some cases--as a very notable instance, to be mentioned
presently, will show in a remarkable manner--the higher portion of the
merit which was wholly their own--the conception of their designs, with
all the grace of fancy and cultured knowledge of the principles of the
beautiful which it implies--has been assigned to others to whom the
modern world has exclusively given the title of artists. But the
increas