the
Gothic style, which extended south of the Alps, the Italians would not
give up their large wall-spaces and the splendid Christian paintings
which were their glory. They built their edifices with this end in view,
and as the same person was frequently an architect, painter and
sculptor, he knew how to arrange his plans so as to suit his ideas of
the merits of each art.

So it happened that the principal works which the sculptors did for the
church were separate objects, such as altar-pieces, fonts, pulpits, and
tombs. It rarely occurred that whole fronts of churches were covered
with sculptures, as in Germany or France, and there were few richly
sculptured portals of churches in Italy. The material mostly used for
Italian sculpture was fine white marble, which was very rarely colored;
sometimes a little gilding was used; but as a rule painting and
sculpture were not united, as they had been north of the Alps.

However, the sculptors of Italy had a wider range in art than in other
lands; for being less devoted to the service of the church, they were
employed for more secular works. It is true that the separate statues of
the Madonna were very numerous, and that tomb-sculpture was important;
but added to these there were civil monuments to show forth the glory of
the cities and their great men, and there were public fountains and
other sculptures which told of the splendor and fame of each one of the
many petty powers into which the whole country was divided. The
council-halls of the free cities were very fine, and gave great
opportunity to Italian artists to give variety to their works, and the
sculptors very early excelled in reliefs, which told historical stones
with great clearness.

As early as the beginning of the thirteenth century we can trace the
progress of Italian sculpture by telling the story of the lives of
separate artists. The first man of importance who thus claims our
attention is NICOLA PISANO, who was born at Pisa between 1205 and 1207,
and who, according to the custom of his time, was both architect and
sculptor. When he was but fifteen years old he received an appointment
as architect to Frederic II., with whom he went to Naples; he served
this sovereign ten years, and then went to Padua, where he was employed
as the architect of the Basilica of St. Anthony.

In 1237 Nicola made his first essay in sculpture, and executed a relief
representing the Deposition from the Cross, which still remains