X SLUTER, who was the
favorite of Philip the Bold, and executed the splendid monument to that
duke which is now in the Museum at Dijon. He was also the sculptor of
the Moses Fountain, the decorations of the Carthusian chapel, and other
works which still remain to show how fine a sculptor he was. Sluter had
a great influence upon art, and, in fact, may be said to have
established a school the effects of which endured long after his time.

In England sculpture made no progress during the fourteenth century.
Large architectural sculptures were neither numerous nor fine.
Tomb-sculptures and monuments with portrait reliefs and statues were the
principal plastic works of the time. The habit of erecting monuments to
the dead now extended to all classes, whereas it had formerly been
confined to noble and distinguished people. The result was that the
monuments of the higher classes were more and more splendid in order to
mark the differences of rank, and much grand effect was thus produced;
but the merits of the sculpture was less than formerly, and the
monuments of this age are wanting in spirit, stiff and unattractive. The
costume of the time, too, was so ugly that it served to give a grotesque
air to many figures, and thus added to the general appearance of decline
which marked the English tomb-sculpture of the fourteenth century. It
compares unfavorably with the German monuments of the same period, and
the realistic portrait element which ruled it makes it seem like a
monotonous and feeble system of mechanics rather than a style of art.

As we have said, the sculpture of Italy was quite different from that of
the more northern countries of Europe. One great reason for this was
that individualism in art was a strong power in Italy much earlier than
in more northern countries. In Germany the early sculptors of the Middle
Ages did not put their names upon their works; they practised their art
as a religious service, and their pious devotion made them forget
themselves. Not so in Italy: there each artist wished to be known in his
works, and regarded them as works of art, done for the sake of art, and
not as acts of piety. One result of this difference was that the
northern sculptures had more of deep feeling and profound thought in
them, while the Italian works had more perfection of form.

In Italy sculpture held the second place in the decoration of churches.
Painting was preferred before it, and in spite of the influence of