Niccola Pisano--Obscurity of the Sources for a History of Early Italian Sculpture--Vasari's Legend of Pisano--Deposition from the Cross at Lucca--Study of Nature and the Antique--Sarcophagus at Pisa--Pisan Pulpit--Niccola's School--Giovanni Pisano--Pulpit in S. Andrea at Pistoja--Fragments of his work at Pisa--Tomb of Benedict XI. at Perugia--Bas-reliefs at Orvieto--Andrea Pisano--Relation of Sculpture to Painting--Giotto--Subordination of Sculpture to Architecture in Italy--Pisano's Influence in Venice--Balduccio of Pisa--Orcagna--The Tabernacle of Orsammichele--The Gates of the Florentine Baptistery --Competition of Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, and Della Quercia--Comparison of Ghiberti's and Brunelleschi's Trial-pieces--Comparison of Ghiberti and Della Quercia--The Bas-reliefs of S. Petronio--Ghiberti's Education--His Pictorial Style in Bas-relief--His Feeling for the Antique--Donatello--Early Visit to Rome--Christian Subjects--Realistic Treatment--S. George and David--Judith--Equestrian Statue of Gattamelata--Influence of Donatello's Naturalism--Andrea Verocchio--His David--Statue of Colleoni--Alessandro Leopardi--Lionardo's Statue of Francesco Sforza--The Pollajuoli--Tombs of Sixtus IV. and Innocent VIII.--Luca della Robbia--His Treatment of Glazed Earthenware--Agostino di Duccio--The Oratory of S. Bernardino at Perugia--Antonio Rossellino--Matteo Civitali--Mino da Fiesole--Benedetto da Majano--Characteristics and Masterpieces of this Group--Sepulchral Monuments--Andrea Contucci's Tombs in S. Maria del Popolo--Desiderio da Settignano--Sculpture in S. Francesco at Rimini--Venetian Sculpture--Verona--Guido Mazzoni of Modena--Certosa of Pavia--Colleoni Chapel at Bergamo--Sansovino at Venice--Pagan Sculpture--Michael Angelo's Scholars--Baccio Bandinelli--Bartolommeo Ammanati--Cellini--Gian Bologna--Survey of the History of Renaissance Sculpture.
In the procession of the fine arts, sculpture always follows close upon the steps of architecture, and at first appears in some sense as her handmaid. Mediaeval Italy found her Pheidias in a great man of Pisan origin, born during the first decade of the thirteenth century. It was Niccola Pisano, architect and sculptor, who first breathed with the breath of genius life into the dead forms of plastic art. From him we date the dawn of the aesthetical Renaissance with the same certainty as from Petrarch that of humanism; for he determined the direction not only of sculpture but also of painting in Italy. To quote the language of Lord Lindsay's panegyric:"Neither Dante nor Shakspere can boast such extent and durability of influence; for whatever of highest excellence has been achieved in sculpture and painting, not in Italy only but throughout Europe, has been in obedience to the impulse he primarily gave, and in following up the principle which he first struck out."[56] In truth, Niccola Pisano put the artist on the right track of combining the study of antiquity with the study of nature; and to him belongs the credit not merely of his own achievement, considerable as that may be, but also of the work of his immediate scholars and of all who learned from him to portray life. From Niccola Pisano onward to Michael Angelo and Cellini we trace one genealogy of sculptors, who, though they carried art beyond the sphere of his invention, looked back to him as their progenitor. The man who first emancipated sculpture from servile bondage, and opened a way for the att
