The arts of Rome and Byzantium lingered in Italy until the 12th century, losing their vitality and vigour, except at Venice, where the Byzantine style reached a culminating point in the glorious buildings at Murano and of St. Mark’s.

Lombardy, in the north, had witnessed a singular blending of the old classic art with the vigorous traditions and myths of the Longobards and the symbolisms of the old Byzantine, thus producing the architecture known as Lombardic, with its multiplicity of small columns and arches, quaint imagery of sculpture, and the frequent use of a lion or dragon as a support for the columns. These are features of the early art at Lucca, and at Bergamo, Padua, Verona, and other towns in Lombardy; a beautiful illustration from Lucca is given in the appendix to Ruskin’s “Stones of Venice,” Vol. 1. Contemporary with this period came the Gothic influence with its clustered columns, pointed arches, its cusps and crockets, and its strong vitality, impressing the arts and architecture with this Gothic personality; hence, during the 12th and 13th centuries in Italy, this intermingling of styles, traditions, religious beliefs and myths, produced an art barbaric and vigorous in character, the imagery full of suggestiveness, and the detail rich and varied in conception. Yet it was but the herald of a style which culminated in the glorious epoch of the Renascence, a style where symmetry was to play an important part, as in classic art, where refinement of line and detail, of culture and craftsmanship, are found; and which, though beautiful in proportion, unity of parts, and perfect adaptability, yet lacked that symbolism, suggestiveness, inventiveness, and rugged personality of the early Byzantine, Lombardic and Gothic styles.

Italian Renascence is broadly divided into three periods. Tre-cento, A.D. 1300 to 1400; Quattro-cento, A.D. 1400 to 1500; and Cinque-cento, A.D. 1500 to 1600. In the Tre-cento style this intermingling of the classic details with the Lombardic and Gothic constructions produced such remarkable buildings as S. Maria della Spina, and the Campo Santo at Pisa, by Giovanni Pisano 1240-1320; the Palazzo Vecchio, the Church of Santa Croce, and the Cathedral of Florence, by Arnolfo di Cambio (1232-1310), with its alternate courses of black and white marble, and its Gothic arches and tracery; the beautiful Campanile by Giotto (1276-1336) is a noble accessory to Arnolfo’s Cathedral. A charming illustration of this Tre-cento period, from Giotto’s Campanile, is the frontispiece to Ruskin’s “Seven Lamps of Architecture.”

The sculpture and decorative arts of this period are marked by dignity of conception, and a mingling of Gothic and classical traditions. Perhaps the earliest examples known are the hexagonal pulpit in the Baptistery at Pisa, a similar one in the Cathedral at Siena, and the fountain at Perugia, all by Nicolo Pisano (1206-76). He was assisted in much of his work by his son Giovanni, who also executed the pulpit in the Cathedral at Pisa. Andrea Pisano (1273-1344), a pupil of Giovanni executed a beautiful bronze gate or door, cast in 1332, for the Baptistery at Florence.

A fine monumental work of this period is the tomb of St. Peter the Martyr, in the Church of St. Eustorgio at Milan, by Balducco di Pisa, 1308-47.

The Quattro-cento period, of which Lorenzo Ghiberti (1381-1465), was the great master, is remarkable for its vitality and naturalism. Ghiberti’s chief works are the two bronze gates for the Florentine Baptistery; the first gate is dated 1403-24, and the second 1425-50. Both have panels modelled in low relief, the first with incidents from the New, and the second from the Old Testament. The frame-work of these gates has a series of single figures in niches, with circular medallions between them. The bronze architrave round each of the Ghiberti gates, in addition to the one he placed round the earlier gate, by Andrea Pisano, are rich examples of Quattro-cento design. The details are natural fruits, flowers, and foliage, banded-together with ribbons, with the introduction of birds, squirrels, &c. The egg-plant and pomegranate portion (fig. 1) is a familiar example.

Other masters of this period were Jacopo della Quercia (1371-1438) who executed the beautiful monument here shown, to Ilaria di Carretto, in the cathedral at Lucca. The recumbent figure of Ilaria is sculptured in white marble with perfect simplicity and beauty; another famous work of Jacopo was the fountain at Siena.

Luca della Robbia (1400-82) executed a beautiful organ gallery in marble for the Cathedral at Florence, with admirable singing and dancing figures in relief. But beautiful as this work is, Luca’s reputation rests upon his Enamelled Terra Cotta, which he perfected to a remarkable degree. Modelled first in clay and coated with tin enamel (see Maiolica), he produced a marvellous series of these reliefs, which were invariably surrounded with the typical quattro-cento border of modelled fruit and flowers, enamelled in bright colours. His nephew, Andrea della Robbia (1445-1525) continued the traditions, methods, and skill, with marked success; and also Andrea’s son Giovanni (1524) who executed a beautiful frieze upon the faÇade of the hospital at Pistoja. Andrea’s other sons, Girolamo and Luca carried the art into France under Francis I. (1531.) Donatello (1386-1466) was remarkable for the singular grace and sincerity of his portraiture, especially of children; the dancing figures in relief on the panels of the singing gallery of the Cathedral of Florence, are perfect examples of his art. Donatello also carried the art of low flat relief called “Stiacciato” to the greatest perfection. An illustration of Donatello’s work, from the high altar of St. Antonio at Padua, is here given.

The art of the medallist, which had declined since the Roman period, now took its position among the arts of the quattro-cento period, under Vittore Pisano, called Pisanello (1380-1451). The vigour of his modelling, and the individuality of his medals of the contemporary Princes of Italy, are exceedingly fine. Among other remarkable medallists were Sperandio of Verona (1423-90); Caradosso, of Milan (1480-1545); Vincentine, of Vicenza (1468-1546); Benvenuto Cellini, of Florence (1500-71); Lione Leoni (1498-1560); Pompeoni Leoni (1530-1610); and Pastorino, of Siena (1510-91). The great dome of Arnolfo’s Cathedral at Florence was designed by Brunelleschi (1377-1446), who was a competitor with Ghiberti for the bronze gates of the Baptistery at Florence. Other names of this period were Desiderio da Settignano (1428-64,) Image unavailable. his masterpiece being the tomb of Carlo Marzuppini, in the Church of Santa Croce, Florence; Mino da Fiesole (1430-84); Andrea Verrocchio (1435-88); the author of the fine equestrian statue of Bartolommeo Colleone at Venice (see Bronzes); Matteo Civitali (1435-1501); and the Rossellini, a remarkable family of five brothers, of which the most famous was Antonio Rossellini (1427-79), who executed a charming tomb to Cardinal Jacopo di Portogallo in the Church of the Nunziata, Florence.

The Cinque-Cento period was the culmination of the Renascence, when architecture, sculpture, painting, and the decorative arts, were under Image unavailable. the magnificent patronage of the Popes and Princes of Italy. Palaces, churches, and public buildings were completed and embellished with beautiful sculptures and decorations; hung with the most sumptuous fabrics of the Venetian, Florentine, and Genoese looms; decorated with altar paintings and mural decorations, by the most renowned of painters; and enriched with the magnificent productions of the gold and silversmiths’ art, and the loveliest of intarsia or inlaid woodwork.

Michel Angelo Buonarroti (1474-1653), by his great intellect and power, stands above his many contemporaries. The colossal figure of David, and the Madonna and Child at Bruges, are familiar examples of this great artist’s work. The magnificent tombs of Lorenzo and Giuliano de Medici at Florence, show his noble power and conceptions of art. The splendid decorative work on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican is another example where unity of conception and marvellous execution are shown in a remarkable degree. Two illustrations of this ceiling are given—one of the panels, with the expulsion from Eden, and one of the Sibyls or Prophets, both showing beautiful harmony of incident and composition.

Contemporary with Michel Angelo was Raphael (1483-1520), who displayed the highest capacity for grace and refinement in painting. His principal mural paintings are in the stanze of the Vatican, where four rooms are painted in fresco, almost entirely by Raphael. The Loggia of the Vatican, by Bramante, was also decorated by Raphael and his pupils. The then-recent discoveries of the Baths of Titus and House of Livia, with their Roman mural painting, influenced in a remarkable degree the decorative painting of the Cinque-Cento period. These arabesques (or, as they were termed, Grotteschi, being found in the supposed caves or grottos of Roman gardens), were utilised by Raphael in the decoration of the pilasters, piers, and walls of this Loggia. The designs were painted with a fine range of colour upon white ground, and enclosed within borders of modelled stucco ornaments. In the panels upon the ceiling, Raphael painted a series of 52 incidents of the Bible. These are spoken of as “Raphael’s Bible.”

Raphael was assisted in this work of the Loggia by many contemporary artists: Giovanni da Udine (1494-1564), Giulio Romano (1492-1546), Francesco Penni (1488-1528), Perino del Vaga (1500-47), and Primaticcio (1490-1580), who completed much of the work after Raphael’s death. These artists carried his traditions and methods to other parts of Italy. Giulio Romano executed some fine mural decorations at the Villa Madama in Rome; and for Federigo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, he enriched with beautiful decorative paintings and arabesques, the Palazzo Ducale and the Palazzo del Te. These arabesques were upon richly coloured or parti-coloured grounds (see plates 86-9 “Grammar of Ornament,” by Owen Jones).

These arabesques of Raphael’s, which were excelled by later ones of Giulio Romano, show a great inventiveness and skilful combination of parts, but they are not to be compared with the refined and beautiful modelling and harmonious composition of the contemporary carved work of Andrea Sansovino (1460-1528), Jacopo Sansovino (1486-1570), Agostino Busti, Pietro Lombardo (1500), and his sons Tullio and Antonio. These delicate reliefs have the traditional Roman acanthus, but treated with a fine feeling for relief modelling, and beauty of line; vases, masks, shields, and similar accessories are found in profusion in some examples (fig. 3, plate 19). The composition of the Cinque-cento ornament is symmetrical, the details being varied and most interesting in the best work, and whilst lacking the vigour and symbolism of the Lombardic and Byzantine styles, it excelled them in its absolute adaptation to architectural conditions, with perfection of design and craftsmanship.

Andrea Mantegna (1431-1517) executed nine paintings or cartoons in tempera upon linen, representing the triumphs of Julius CÆsar, which are a portion of the cartoons for a frieze 9 feet high and 80 feet long, painted for Lodovico Gonzaga’s Palace of St. Sebastian at Mantua, they were purchased by Charles I., and are now at Hampton Court. An illustration of this frieze, from an engraving upon copper in the British Museum, is given on page 55; they were also engraved on wood by Andrea Andreani in 1599.

Many beautiful examples of the Cinque-Cento ornament may be found in contemporary printed and illuminated books. The advent of printing in Italy (1465) by the Germans, Conrad Sweynheym and Arnold Pannitz at the Benedictine Monastery of Subiaco, near Rome, gave a great impetus to Literature, and printing rapidly progressed in Italy, more especially at Venice, where in 1499 Aldus Manutius produced the Hypnerotomachia, or dream of Poliphilus

with illustrations ascribed to Mantegna. Good reproductions of many of these early illustrated books are given in the “Italian Book Illustrations,” by A. W. Pollard, No. 12 of the Portfolio, December, 1894; and in “The Decorative Illustration of Books,” by Walter Crane.

The study of classical architecture was stimulated by the publication at Rome in 1486, of the treatise by Vitruvius, an architect of the time of Augustus; an edition was also published at Florence in 1496, and at Venice in 1511. In 1570, Fra Giocondo, at Venice, published “The Five Books of Architecture,” by Andrea Palladio (1518-80). Another treatise upon architecture, by Serlio (1500-52), was also published at Venice in 1537 and 1540.

Beautiful types of the Renascence decorative art were the Venetian well-heads, situated as they were in most of the public squares of Venice, and in many of the court-yards of her princely palaces. Designed with details of the most varied and beautiful character by such artists as Andrea Sansovino, Pietro Lombardo, and his sons Tullio and Antonio, the Venetian well-head became a type of beauty, diversified in its treatment, but never losing its characteristics or its usefulness. Venetian well-heads display a great variety of form and decoration. The earlier examples are square or circular, with enrichments of Byzantine character, consisting largely of interlacing, circular, and angular lines, enclosing quaint bird and animal forms. In the later examples the Renascence treatment is used with singular richness and appropriateness, the grace, delicacy and diversity of detail being a tribute to the vivacity and artistic feeling of the Venetian Republic. These well-heads, worked mostly in white marble and evincing good judgment in the quality of relief, now show comparatively little injury after centuries of usefulness. Occasionally they were of bronze, of which two fine examples are still in position in the court-yard of the Doge’s Palace. Many of these well-heads are carefully treasured in our European Museums, teaching us that beauty of form, and perfection and delicacy of ornament are quite compatible with usefulness, when used by an artistic people.

The Renascence in Italy was remarkable for the many magnificent secular buildings erected during the 15th and 16th centuries in the chief cities in Italy.

In Florence the palaces have a severe dignity of treatment, with bold rusticated courses of stone-work, circular-headed windows, and finely-proportioned cornices. The first Renascence palace was the Riccardi (1430) by Michelozzi (1370-1440); and it was followed by the Pitti (1435), by Brunelleschi (1377-1444), the Rucellai (1460), by Leon Battista Alberti (1389-1472), the Strozzi (1489), by Cronaca (1454-1509), the Gondi (1490), by Giuliano Sangallo (1443-1507), the Guadagni and the Nicolini, by Bramante (1444-1514), the Pandolfini (1520), by Raphael (1483-1520), and the Bartolini (1520), by Baccio d’Agnolo (1460-1543).

In Rome the palaces were characterised by largeness of scale and the frequent use of Ionic and Corinthian pilasters or columns, and square-headed windows with triangular or curved pediments. The chief palaces in Rome are the Cancelleria (1495) and the Giraud (1506) by Bramante (1444-1514), the Farnesina (1506), the Massimi (1510), and the Villa Ossoli (1525), by Baldassare Peruzzi (1481-1536), the Palma and the Farnese, by Antonio Sangallo (1476-1546), the Borghese (1590), by Martino Lunghi, the Laterano, by Fontana (1543-1610), and the Barberini, by Carlo Maderno (1556-1629), Borromini (1599-1667), and Bernini (1598-1680).

In Venice the palaces were rich and varied; with the frequent use of pilasters, semi-columns and circular-headed mullioned windows suggested by the earlier Gothic palaces. The Renascence period commenced here with the re-building of the court-yard of the Doge’s Palace (1486) by Antonio Bregno, and completed in 1550 by Scarpagnino. Then came a beautiful series of buildings, the chief being:—the Vendramini, the Trevisani, and the Gradenigo Palaces, by Sante Lombardo (1504-1560); the Cornaro Palace and the Library of St. Mark’s, by Sansovino (1479-1570), and the Grimani Palace by San Michele (1484-1559).