Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/273

 VIII. — Sculpture in the Renaissance Period. 1. Sculpture in Italy in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries. The fifteenth century — the transition time from Gothic to Renaissance architecture, when an attempt was made to combine existing styles with those of ancient Greece and Rome — also witnessed corresponding advances in Italy in the art of sculpture. The movement begun by Andrea Orcagna, in the fourteenth century, was carried on by Ghiberti, Delia Robbia, and Donatello, who were the fore- runners of Michelangelo and his school. The fifteenth century was the golden age of sculpture, as the sixteenth was of painting. The chief characteristics which distin- guished the statues of this age from those which preceded it were a truer knowledge of the human frame — alike of its anatomy, its motions, and its expressions, — a more thorough grasp of the laws of composition and perspec- tive, and a greater power of accurately imitating antique models. In the early part of the fifteenth century, a preference was manifested for nature, in the latter part for antique models. In this new movement Tuscany took the lead ; and the first artist to combine something of the easy grace of the best age of Roman sculpture with close imitation of nature, was Jacopo della Quercia of Siena (1371 — 1438). His earliest works are marked by a struggle to combine the mediaeval style with a more life-like representation of nature. The tomb of Ilaria del Carretto,* in the cathedral K 2
 * Casts may be seen in the Crystal Palace.