to take delight in the forms of a gross realism.

This refinement of art, this intimate analysis of form and thought, this
love of sensual beauty, had appeared at the court of the Medici by the
same causes that prompt us to seek them; they are the fruit of a society
that has attained the highest degree of well-being, wealth and
knowledge.

This kind of art lasted only for a moment in Florence. It is correct to
say that Florentine art did not seem destined to speak the charms of
feminine beauty. From its beginning, this school had been stamped by
Giotto with the philosophic impress, and for two centuries its artists
had been before everything else, thinkers, occupied more with moral
ideas than with the beauty of form.

The first in Florence to be enthralled by the charm of beautiful eyes
was the poor Filippo Lippi. It was he who created that new form of art
which was to continue with Botticelli, his pupil, and which attained its
perfection under the hands of Leonardo. If, to the Lucrezia Buti of
Filippo Lippi, we join Botticelli's Simonetta and Leonardo's Monna Lisa,
we should have the poem of love sung by Florentine genius under its most
exquisite form.

[Illustration: SPRING.
_Botticelli._]

What Botticelli was, _Spring_ will tell us; and this work is so
significant, its essence expresses the thought of the master so clearly
that it has preserved all its charm for us, although its particular
meaning is not known to us. We call it _Spring_, but if one of the
figures in the picture really represents Spring, it is only an accessory
figure; and, moreover, this name given to the picture is entirety
modern. Vasari says that it represents _Venus surrounded by the Graces_,
but if we find the three Graces in the picture, it is not likely that
the principal figure represents Venus. In my opinion, it is that
principal figure that is the key to the picture; it is for this figure
that everything has been done, and this it is, above all, that we must
interrogate if we wish to know Botticelli's meaning. Evidently it is
neither Venus, nor Spring; and the precision of the features, and the
fidelity of the smallest details of the costume make us believe that we
are in the presence of a veritable portrait.... Around her, Nature
adorns herself with flowers; Spring and the Graces surround her like a
train of Fays. Here is one of the familiar poetical forms of the
Fifteenth Century; and, doubtless, by attentively reading the