In the anatomy of the human figure, which now began to engage the more minute attention of the painter, Antonio Pollajuolo took the lead of all his competitors. By accurate observation, as well on the dead as on the living, he acquired a competent knowledge of the form and action of the muscles (a), which he exemplified in a striking manner in his picture of Hercules and Antæus, painted for Lorenzo de' Medici, in which he is said not only to have expressed the strength of the conqueror, but the languor and inanimation of the conquered (b); but his most celebrated work is the death of S. Sebastian, yet preserved in the chapel of the Pucci family at Florence, and of which Vasari has given a particular account (c). In this picture, the figure of the dying saint was painted from nature after Gino Capponi. In the figures of the two assassins, who are bending their cross-bows, he has shewn great knowledge of muscular action. Baldovinetti excelled in portraits, which he frequently introduced in his historical subjects. In a picture of the queen of Sheba on a visit to Solomon, he painted the likeness of Lorenzo de' Medici, and of A A the

VOL. II.

Antonio Pol a

juolo,

Baldovinetti.

"excelluisse hunc Philippum nobillissima pingendi arte suo confirment testimo"nio." Ibid. p. 637.

(a) Egli s' intese degli ignudi più modernamente, che fatto non avevano gli altri maestri innanzi a lui; e scorticò molti uomini, per vedere la notomia lor sotto; e fu primo a mostrare il modo di cercare i muscoli, che avessero forma, ed ordine nelle figure. Vasari, vita di Pollajuolo.

(b) Vasari, ut supra.

(c) Vasari, ut supra. This picture is engraved and published in the Etruria Pittrice, No. xxiv.

Andrea da Castagna.

the celebrated mechanic, Lorenzo da Volpaia(a); and in another picture, intended as its companion, those of Giu liano de' Medici, Luca Pitti, and other Florentine citizens. The resemblance of Lorenzo was also introduced by Domenico Ghirlandajo, in a picture of S. Francesco taking the habit, painted by him in the chapel of the Trinity at FloUntil this time the pictures of the Tuscan artists had been executed in distemper, or with colours rendered cohesive by glutinous substances. The practice of painting in oil, so essentially necessary to the duration of a picture, was now first introduced amongst his countrymen, by Andrea da Castagna (b). The younger Filippo Lippi, attempted

rence.

(a) Ritrasse costui assai di naturale, e dove nella detta cappella fece la storia della Reina Saba, che va a udire la sapienza di Salomone, ritrasse il magnifico Lorenzo de' Medici, che fu padre di papa Leone decimo, Lorenzo dalla Volpaja eccellentissimo maestro d' oriuoli, ed ottimo astrologo, il quale fu quello, che fece per il detto Lor. de' Medici il bellissimo oriuolo che ha oggi il Sig. Duca Cosimo in Palazzo; nel quale oriuolo tutte le ruote de' pianeti camminano di continuo; il che è cosa rara, e la prima che fusse mai fatta di questa maniera. Vas. vita di Baldov. v. ante p. 112

(b) Era nel suo tempo in Firenze un tal Domenico da Venezia, pittore di buon nome, col quale egli (Andrea) aveva fintamente legata grande amicizia, affine di cavargli del mano la maestria di colorire a olio, che allora in Toscana non era da alcun altro praticata, nè meno saputa, fuori che da Domenico, come gli ruiscì da fare. Baldin. Dec. iii. Sec. v. The invention of painting in oil, though introduced so late into Italy, is probably more ancient than has generally been supposed. It is commonly attributed to the Flemish artists, Hubert and John Van Eyck, who flourished about the year 1400, but professor Lessing in a small treatise "sur l'ancienneté de la peinture à l'huile," printed at Brunswick in 1774, has endeavoured to shew that this art is of much greater antiquity. His suggestions have since been confirmed by the researches of M. de Mechel of Basle, who in arranging the immense collection of pictures of the imperial gallery of Vienna, has discovered several pieces painted in oil, so early as the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Of these the earliest is a picture by

tempted, and not without effect, to give a greater share of
energy and animation to his productions. His attitudes are
frequently bold and diversified, and his figures have expres-
sion, vivacity, and motion (a). It is deserving of remark,
motion(a).
that he prepared the way to the study of the antique, by
introducing into his pictures, the vases, utensils, arms, and
dresses of the ancients (b). But of all the masters of this
period, perhaps Luca Signorelli united the most important
excellencies; his composition was good; in drawing the
naked figure he particularly excelled (c); in his picture of
the institution of the eucharist, yet existing in the choir
of

Filippo Lippi.

Luca Signorelli.

Thomas de Mutina, a Bohemian gentleman; the others are by Theodoric, of Prague, and Nic. Wurmser, of Strasbourg; both artists at the court of the emperor Charles IV. v. Mechel, Catal. des Tabl, de Vienne, &c. in pref.

(a) His celebrated picture of S. Filippo and the serpent, painted in the chapel of the Strozzi at Florence, and engraved in the Etruria Pittrice, No. xxvii. is a sufficient proof of the truth of this remark. Filippo Lippi was the son of the former painter of the same name, usually called Fra Filippo. Lorenzo employed him to ornament his palace at Poggio Cajano, where he painted a sacrifice in Fresco, but the work was left unfinished.

(b) Non lavorò mai opera alcuna, nelle quale delle cose antiche di Roma con gran studio non si servisse, in vasi, calzari, trofei, bandiere, cimieri, ornamenti di tempj, abbigliamenti di portature da capo, strane fogge da dosso, armature, scimitarre, spade, toghe, manti, ed altri cose diverse e belle, che grandissimo e sempiterno obbligo se gli debbe. Vasar. vita di Filip.

(c) Col fondamento del disegno, e degli ignudi particolarmente, & con la grazia della invenzione, e dispozitione delle historie, aperse alla maggior parte degli artefici la via alla ultima perfezzione dell' arte, alla quale poi poterono dar cima quelli che seguirono. Vasar. vita di Luca Signorelli: It must however be observed, that Luca lived till 1521, before which time an important reformation had taken place in the arts.

Progress of
Sculpture.

Nicolo Pisano.

of the cathedral at Cortona(a), the figure of Christ might be mistaken for the production of one of the Caracci. In the variety and expression of countenance, in the disposition of the drapery, even in the just distribution of light, this picture has great merit, and if some remnants of the manner of the times prevent us from giving it unlimited approbation, it may certainly be considered as the harbinger of a better taste.

The art of sculpture, dependant on the same principles, and susceptible of improvement from the same causes as that of painting, made a proportionable progress. The inventive genius of the Italian artists had very early applied it to almost every variety of material, and figures in wood, in clay, in metals, and in marble, were fashioned by Giovanni and Niccolo Pisani, by Agostino and Agnolo Sanese, which though rude and incorrect, excited the admiration of the times in Andrea Pisano. which they were produced. Their successor Andrea Pisano, the contemporary of Giotto, supported the credit of the art, which was then endangered by the sudden progress of its powerful rival; and in the early part of the fifteenth century, the talents of Ghiberti and Donatello, carried it to a degree of eminence, which challenged the utmost exertions, and perhaps even excited the jealousy, of the first painters of the age. It must indeed be acknowledged, that the advantages which sculpture possesses, are neither few, nor unimportant. The severe and simple mode of its execution, the veracity of which it is susceptible, and the durability of its productions, place it in a favourable point

Ghiberti and

Donatello

(a) Engraved in the Etruria Pittrice, No. xxxii.

point of view, when opposed to an art whose success is founded on illusion, which not only admits, but courts meretricious ornament, and whose monuments are fugitive and perishable(a). These arts, so distinct in their operations, approach each other in works in rilievo, which unite the substantial form that characterizes sculpture, with the ideal depth of picturesque composition. In this province Donatello particularly excelled, and in Cosmo de' Medici he found a patron who had judgment to perceive, and liberality to reward his merits. But the genius of Donatello was not confined to one department. His group of Judith and Holofernes, executed in bronze for the community of Florence, his statue of S. George, his Annunciation, and his Zuccone, in one of the niches of the Campanile at Florence, all of which yet remain, have met with the uniform approbation of succeeding times, and are perhaps as perfect as the narrow principles upon which the art was then conducted would allow.

Notwithstanding the exertions of these masters, which were regarded with astonishment by their contemporaries, and are yet entitled to attention and respect, it does not appear that they had raised their views to the true end of the

Imperfection of

the art

(a) I am aware that much is to be said on the opposite side of the question, but I mean not to discuss a subject upon which almost every writer on the history of the arts, has either directly or incidentally exercised his ingenuity. Among others, I may refer the reader to the Proemi of Vasari, the Lezzione of Benedetto Varchi, della maggioranza dell' arti, the works of Baldinucci, Richardson, and Mengs, and to the posthumous works of Dr. Adam Smith, lately published, in which the reader will find many acute observations on this subject.