would be seen would amply justify their heroic dimensions.  But the idea of Colossi, which originated in Egypt and the East, is to astonish, and to make the impression through the agency of bulk.  The David by Michael Angelo is great in spite of its unwieldiness.  Michael Angelo himself was under no illusions about these Colossi.  His letter criticising the proposal to erect a colossal statue of the Pope on the Piazza of San Lorenzo is in itself a delightful piece of humour, and ridiculed the conceit with such pungency that the project was abandoned.  Finally, Donatello made two busts of prophets for the Mandorla door.  The commission is previous to May 1422, when it is noted that Donatello was to receive six golden florins for his work.  They are profile heads carved in relief upon triangular pieces of marble, which fill two congested architectural corners.  They look like the result of a whim, and at first sight one would think they were ordered late in the history of the door to supplement or replace something unsatisfactory.  But this is not the case.  Half corbel and half decoration, they are curious things:  one shows a young man, the other an older bearded man.  Both have long hair drawn back by a fillet, and in each case one hand is placed across the breast.  They have quite a classical look, and are the least interesting as well as the least noticeable of the numerous sculptures made for the Cathedral by Donatello.  The Domopera evidently appreciated his talent.  To this day, besides these busts and the two small prophets, there survive at least nine marble figures made for the Duomo, some of them well over life size.  There were also the Colossi, and it will be seen later on that the Domopera gave him further commissions for bronze doors, Cantoria, altar and stained glass; he also was employed as an architectural expert.  Years of Donatello’s life were spent on the embellishment of Santa Maria del Fiore, a gigantic task which he shared with his greatest predecessors and his most able contemporaries.  The task, indeed, was never fully accomplished.  The Campanile is not crowned by the spire destined for it by Giotto:  the facade has perished and the interior is marred by the errors of subsequent generations.  But the Cathedral of Florence must nevertheless take high rank among the most stately churches of Christendom.

[Footnote 28:  They were standing as late as 1768.  Baldinucci, p. 79.]

[Footnote 29:  Memoriale, 1510.]

* * * * *

[Illustration:  Alinari

ST. MARK

OR SAN MICHELE]

[Sidenote:  Or San Michele, St. Peter and St. Mark.]