Luca di Simone di Marco della Robbia. Born in Florence, 1399 or 1400; died 1482.
Andrea della Robbia, nephew of Luca. Born 1435; died 1525.
Antonio Rossellino. One of the five sons of Matteo di Domenico Gambarelli, all being artists. Born in Settignano in 1427; died about 1499.
Mino di Giovanni di Mino, usually called Mino da Fiesole. Born in 1431 in Poppi, in the Casentino, a district between the sources of the Arno and Tiber, north of Arezzo. Died in 1484. He was a friend of Desiderio da Settignano, but probably not one of his pupils.
I
MUSICAL ANGELS
BY DONATELLO
In the western part of Italy, lying a little north of the centre, is the district known as Tuscany. Here, in the valley of the Arno, is the city of Florence, glorious with her storied palaces and churches. Around her are clustered Pistoja and Lucca, Pisa and Leghorn, Siena and Arezzo, all notable towns in Italian history. Here, too, is Carrara, with its stores of beautiful marble.
It was from this little district of Tuscany that the sculptors came forth who have helped to make Italy famous as the birthplace of modern art. The development of Tuscan sculpture covered a period of some three centuries, beginning with the Pisan Niccolò, who worked between the years 1220 and 1270, and culminating with the great Florentine Michelangelo, who died in 1564. We shall study in this little collection a few works of the fifteenth century.
It was the time called by historians the Renaissance, which means literally "the new birth." The world was awakening from the long sleep of the Middle Ages, and Italy was the first to be aroused. Certain adventurous spirits began to ponder the possibility of a new continent beyond the sea. There was a great revival of learning, accompanied by a passionate love of the beautiful. Schools of art were established throughout the length of Italy.