Mediaeval Motives exhausted—­New Impulse toward Technical Perfection—­Naturalists in Painting—­Intermediate Achievement needed for the Great Age of Art—­Positive Spirit of the Fifteenth Century—­Masaccio—­The Modern Manner—­Paolo Uccello—­Perspective—­Realistic Painters—­The Model—­Piero della Francesca—­His Study of Form—­Resurrection at Borgo San Sepolcro—­Melozzo da Forli—­Squarcione at Padua—­Gentile da Fabriano—­Fra Angelico—­Benozzo Gozzoli—­His Decorative Style—­Lippo Lippi—­Frescoes at Prato and Spoleto—­Filippino Lippi—­Sandro Botticelli—­His Value for the Student of Renaissance Fancy—­His Feeling for Mythology—­Piero di Cosimo—­Domenico Ghirlandajo—­In what sense he sums up the Age—­Prosaic Spirit—­Florence hitherto supreme in Painting—­Extension of Art Activity throughout Italy—­Medicean Patronage.

CHAPTER VI

PAINTING

Two Periods in the True Renaissance—­Andrea Mantegna—­His Statuesque Design—­His Naturalism—­Roman Inspiration—­Triumph of Julius Caesar—­Bas-reliefs—­Luca Signorelli—­The Precursor of Michael Angelo—­Anatomical Studies—­Sense of Beauty—­The Chapel of S. Brizio at Orvieto—­Its Arabesques and Medallions—­Degrees in his Ideal—­Enthusiasm for Organic Life—­Mode of treating Classical Subjects—­Perugino—­His Pietistic Style—­His Formalism—­The Psychological Problem of his Life—­Perugino’s Pupils—­Pinturicchio—­At Spello and Siena—­Francia—­Fra Bartolommeo—­Transition to the Golden Age—­Lionardo da Vinci—­The Magician of the Renaissance—­Raphael—­The Melodist—­Correggio—­The Faun—­Michael Angelo—­The Prophet.

CHAPTER VII

VENETIAN PAINTING

Painting bloomed late in Venice—­Conditions offered by Venice to Art—­Shelley and Pietro Aretino—­Political Circumstances of Venice—­Comparison with Florence—­The Ducal Palace—­Art regarded as an adjunct to State Pageantry—­Myth of Venezia—­Heroic Deeds of Venice—­Tintoretto’s Paradise and Guardi’s Picture of a Ball—­Early Venetian Masters of Murano—­Gian Bellini—­Carpaccio’s Little Angels—­The Madonna of S. Zaccaria—­Giorgione—­Allegory, Idyll, Expression of Emotion—­The Monk at the Clavichord—­Titian, Tintoret, and Veronese—­Tintoretto’s Attempt to dramatise Venetian Art—­Veronese’s Mundane Splendour—­Titian’s Sophoclean Harmony—­Their Schools—­Further Characteristics of Veronese—­of Tintoretto—­His Imaginative Energy—­Predominant Poetry—­Titian’s Perfection of Balance—­Assumption of Madonna—­Spirit common to the great Venetians.

CHAPTER VIII

LIFE OF MICHAEL ANGELO