resents the first crusade as Homer presented the Trojan
War. The small amount of really worthy literature of this age has been
attributed to the lack of moral worth.

_Art and Architecture_.--Perhaps the renaissance art exceeded that
which it replaced in beauty, variety, and naturalness, as well as in
exuberance. There was an attempt to make {369} all things beautiful,
and no attempt to follow the spirit of asceticism in degrading the
human body, but rather to try to delineate every feature as noble in
itself. The movement, life, and grace of the human form, the beauty of
landscape, all were enjoyed and presented by the artists of the
renaissance. The beauty of this life is magnified, and the artists
represented in joyous mood the best qualities that are important in the
world. They turned the attention from asceticism to the importance of
the present life.

Perhaps the Italians reached the highest point of development in
painting, for the Madonnas of Italy have given her celebrity in art
through all succeeding generations. Cimabue was the first to paint the
Madonna as a beautiful woman. Giotto followed next, and a multitude of
succeeding Madonnas have given Italy renown. Raphael excelled all
others in the representation of the Madonna, and was not only the
greatest painter of all Italy, but a master artist of all ages.

Architecture, however, appears to be the first branch of art that
defied the arbitrary power of tradition. It could break away more
readily than any other form of art, because of the great variety which
existed in different parts of the Roman Empire--the Byzantine in the
south of Italy, the Gothic in the north, and Romanesque in Rome and the
provinces. There was no conventional law for architectural style,
hence innovations could be made with very little opposition. In the
search for classical remains, a large number of buildings had already
become known, and many more were uncovered as the searching continued.
These gave types of architecture which had great influence in building
the renaissance art. The changes, beginning with Brunelleschi, were
continued until nearly all buildings were completely Romanized. Then
came Michael Angelo, who excelled in both architecture and sculpture at
Rome, and Palladio, who worked at Venice and Verona. In the larger
buildings the Basilica of Rome became the model, or at least the
principles of its construction became the prevailing element in
architec