MINO DA FIESOLE. -(1431-1484.)

Mino da Fiesole must have derived his second name from the fact of having bought a residence at Fiesole, for he was a native of Poppi, in the Casentino and his name appears upon the lists of the Corporation of Stone-hewers.

He acquired a reputation for originality of style as a sculptor, but his manner was always the same, and he was chiefly notable for tenderness and refinement of treatment. His work cannot be fully appreciated when seen from a distance; one must examine it, and note the delicate reproduction of the lines and wrinkles, the living look of the eyes and of the expression. One of the best specimens of his manner is the bas-relief opposite the tomb of Bishop Salutati in the cathedral at Fiesole. This retablo is divided into three compartments : in the centre the Madonna upon her knees with the Child and St. John, and on either side San Lorenzo and San Remigius. Upon the entablature is a bust of our Lord, but this is too realistic in character, and the best figure in the group is that of the Infant Savior stretching out his hand to St. John, Mino da Fiesole being unrivalled in depicting children at play.

The retablo of San Ambrogia is of the same date, and the church of the Badia contains two fine tombs by the same master those of Count Ugo and of Bernardo Giugni, both of which are evidently inspired by the tombs in Santa Croce.

Two other works known to be by him are the very poor bas-reliefs on the pulpit of the Prato Cathedral, executed in 1473, just before his third visit to Rome. One of his greatest works, a monument erected to Pope Paul II. by his nephew Cardinal Barbo, in the church of St. Peter, disappeared when that ancient basilica was demolished, but a few fragments of it may still be seen in the crypt.

At Santa Maria in Trastevere is the "Opus Mini," a very elaborate shrine, a replica of which was done by him for the sacristy of Santa Croce at Florence. There are many other works which have been attributed to him at Rome, but which, though not unlike his productions, were probably executed by pupils.

Such, for instance, are the Borgia altar at Santa Maria del Popolo, the Riario tomb in the church of the Holy Apostles, the Sarelli tomb at Ara Coeli, and that of Francesco Tornabuoni in Santa Maria sopra Minerva. There is a bust of Piero it Gottoso by him, and several of his busts are in Paris collections, while the retablo in the Baglioni Chapel in the church of S. Pietro in Cassinense at Perugia is very similar in character to that of Santa Maria in Trastevere.

Mino died in 1484 from the effects, it is said, of having attempted to move a heavy block of marble in his studio.

ANTONIO POLLAIUOLO. -(1429-1498.)

There was, as with several of the artists already referred to, a whole family of architects, sculptors, and goldsmiths bearing the same name. The most celebrated of them, Antonio, is credited with most of the famous works executed by any Pollaiuolo. Next to Antonio in point of celebrity came his brother Piero, his cousin Simone (surnamed I1 Cronaca), and the latter's brother Alatteo, who was a pupil of Antonio Rossellino, and who died in the prime of life. According to contemporary writers, the word Pollaiuolo was indicative of the trade of poultry-rearing followed by the father, whose proper name was Jacopo di Giovanni Benci.

Antonio, who was a pupil of Ghiberti's step-father, assisted Vittorio, Ghiberti's son, in decorating the lintels of Andrea Pisano's bronze gate of the Baptistery. It was he who carved the quail fluttering among the foliage which is invariably pointed out to visitors by the guides.

He also did the bas-relief of the "Banquet and The Dance of Herodias" for the silver altar front in the Duomo treasure, working at the outset of his career as a goldsmith and niellist. Antonio Pollaiuolo also distinguished himself as an engraver, his " Combat of Ten Naked Men" being well known. He was an able sculptor as well, having erected at Rome the tomb of Sixtus IV., and that of Innocent VIII. in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli, which contains the "Moses" of Michael Angelo. He did not leave many paintings, but a great many bronze plaquettes, which are to be found in modern collections, reproduce compositions of which he was the author. The National Gallery possesses four of his pictures : the " Martyrdom of St. Sebastian," painted for the Pulci Chapel in San Sebastiano dei Servi at Florence ; a " Virgin in the act of Adoration," formerly the property of the Contugi family at Volterra ; the " Angel Raphael accompanying Tobias," from the collection of Count Galli Tassi at Florence ; and an "Apollo and Daphne," from the collection of Mr. W. Coningham. The Uffizi Gallery itself has not so many of his pictures, though there is one remarkable portrait of a warrior arrayed in armor, very similar in character to the piece of sculpture in the Bargello.

The same museum contains the bronze relief of the Crucifixion, which is attributed to him, but which is more probably by Agostino di Duccio.

In 1484 Antonio went to Rome, at the request of Pope Innocent VIII., to execute the works already referred to. He died there in 1498, and was buried in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli.

Highly as his works are now appreciated, there is a good deal of exaggeration about his style, which is far removed from the grace and simplicity of Desiderio, Maiano, and the Rossellini. Hitherto artists had paid more attention to the idea than to the mere execution of it; when the conception was thoroughly mastered it was comparatively easy to put it into tangible shape. But form and execution gradually came to be thought more of than the idea, and art was beginning to decay when the genius of Michael Angelo dawned upon the world.

Before speaking of that great master a brief notice maybe given of the last artists belonging to the close the fifteenth century. Among them were Andrea di Piero Ferucci (1465-1526), who began the tomb of Antonio Strozzi in Sta. Maria Novella, and erected that of Marcilio Ficino in the Duomo ; Francesco Ferucci, surnamed Mecca del Tadda, who was a very skilful worker of porphyry, and the carver of a statue of Justice upon a column in the Piazza della Santa Trinita ; and Baccio Sinibaldi da Montelupo (1469-1535), the author of a bronze statue of St. John the Evangelist at Or San Michele, and possibly of a statue of Mars on the tomb of Benedetto Pesaro, in the Frari Church at Venice.