aissance masters. The capital
letters shown in 27 are unusually beautiful, and their purity of form is
well [31] displayed in the outline treatment. Perhaps the best known
standard example of a Renaissance pen-drawn letter is that by Tagliente,
reproduced in 35 and 36. In spite of their familiarity it has seemed
impossible to omit the set of capitals, with variants, by Albrecht Duerer,
37 and 38; for Duerer's letters were taken as a basis by nearly all such
Renaissance designers of lettering as Geoffrey Tory, Leonardo da Vinci,
etc. It should be observed in the Duerer [32] alphabet that among the
variant forms of individual letters shown, one is usually intended for
monumental use, while another exhibits pen treatment in the characteristic
swelling of the round letters, etc.

[Illustration: 30. ITALIAN RENAISSANCE PANEL FROM RAPHAEL'S TOMB. PANTHEON
ROME.]

[Illustration: 31. ITALIAN RENAISSANCE INSCRIPTION. MARSUPPINI TOMB,
FLORENCE.]

[Illustration: 32. ITALIAN RENAISSANCE INSCRIPTION FLOOR SLAB IN SANTA
CROCE, FLORENCE.]

Serlio's alphabet, 39 and 40, should be compared with Mr. Ross's
modification of it, reproduced in 1 and 2. The alphabet shown in 41 is a
somewhat expanded form of classic capital, contrasting markedly in various
respects with more typical forms.

[Illustration: 33. ITALIAN RENAISSANCE CAPITALS. MARSUPPINI TOMB. F. C. B.]

[Illustration: 34. ITALIAN RENAISSANCE CAPITALS FROM RUBBINGS. F. C. B.]

[Illustration: 35. ITALIAN RENAISSANCE CAPITALS. G. A. TAGLIENTE, 1524]

[Illustration: 36. ITALIAN RENAISSANCE CAPITALS. G. A. TAGLIENTE, 1524]

[Illustration: 37. GERMAN RENAISSANCE CAPITALS. ALBRECHT DUeRER, 1525]

[Illustration: 38. GERMAN RENAISSANCE CAPITALS. ALBRECHT DUeRER, 1525]

[Illustration: 39. ITALIAN RENAISSANCE CAPITALS. SERLIO, 16TH CENTURY.]

[Illustration: 40. ITALIAN RENAISSANCE CAPITALS. SERLIO, 16TH CENTURY.]

[Illustration: 41. GERMAN RENAISSANCE CAPITALS. URBAIN WYSS, 16th CENTURY.]

[45]

A practically unlimited number of other examples might have been included
to show various capital forms of Renaissance letters; but the specimens
chosen will adequately illustrate all the more distinctive and refined
types of the individual letters.

[Illustration: 42. ITALIAN RENAISSANCE PANEL, FLORENCE. C. F. BRAGDON]

Before, during and after the Renaissance movement many local and extraneous
influences temporarily modified the forms of the Roman letters. There are,
for instanc