goldsmith, sculptor, painter, mosaist, and
poet. Painting is the art by which he is best known and of which he
executed the greatest number of interesting works. In this place we
shall speak of his most important work as a sculptor, which was the
tabernacle in the church of Or San Michele, in Florence, made to hold
the picture of the Madonna painted by Ugolino da Siena. This tabernacle
is of white marble in the Gothic style. It rises from the centre high up
toward the roof of the church, and has sculptures in bas-relief,
statuettes and busts, all illustrating the life of the Virgin from her
birth to her death. It is also enriched with mosaics, intaglios,
enamels, gilded glass, _pietra dura_, and all of these arranged in a
whole which is quite unique in art. It may be regarded as a piece of
architecture or as a sculptural work, and it is full of symbolism; and
whatever view is taken of it, it commands admiration for the artist who
conceived and executed so difficult a task.

During the later years of the fourteenth century there were many
sculptors in Italy of whom we know very little more than their names.
They did a vast amount of work in all parts of the country, much of
which is still to be seen. One of these, of whom few personal facts are
known, exerted a large influence in Florence, where the fruits of his
industry were almost marvellous. He was called PIETRO DI GIOVANNI and
PIETRO TEDESCO, or "the German". The time and place of his birth are not
known, but the records show that he worked on the Cathedral of Florence
from 1386 to 1399. He worked in true German style; wherever scroll-work
and simple ornamental designs were required he mingled a variety of
leaves and flowers where the acanthus alone had before been used. He
also made fantastic little human beings, dwarfs and grotesque beings of
different sorts, and exhausted the animal world in his designs. Lions,
bears, apes, dogs, lizards, crabs, birds and fish, bees, butterflies,
and all manner of insects may be seen nestling among vines and branches,
while angels play on pipes and violas. The whole effect of these works
is cheerful and natural, and would be as suitable to decorate a music
hall or a theatre as they are for a church.

The works of this master are too extreme in the realistic element to be
taken as a fair example of the Italian sculpture of this time, but
NICCOLO OF ARREZZO, the MASSEGNE, and the BON or BUONI family, and many
others in different p