Page:The painters of Florence from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century (1915).djvu/11

 PREFACE

Florentine School of Painting is in many respects the finest and most interesting in the world. If its masters cannot be said to equal the Venetians in depth and splendour of colour, they surpass those of all other cities in beauty of line and elevation of thought, in grandeur of conception and intellectual force. During the great revival of art and learning which took place in Italy, from the beginning of the fourteenth to the close of the sixteenth century, Florence took the lead among Italian cities and became the home of the literary, artistic and scientific movement. Both the political conditions of the state and national character of the people combined to produce an intellectual and artistic supremacy only equalled by that of Athens in days of old. The Florentine artist grew up in a free and prosperous city, surrounded by an atmosphere of culture in which the passion for beauty was allied with a keenly critical faculty. He found wealthy patrons to encourage and reward him, and a public quick to understand and appreciate his skill and to judge of his merits. His own creative powers, thus stimulated, found expression in works of art which became famous far beyond the borders vii