be credited with the excellence of the Colleoni statue. The truth, as
near as it can be told, seems to be that Verocchio designed and modelled
it, that Leopardo completed and cast it, and made the lofty pedestal
upon which it stands, and which, taken by itself, is a splendid work. It
is of fine proportions, and has six Corinthian columns, in the capitals
of which there are dolphins, while the frieze is composed of trophies
and marine animals, all of which are symbols of the City on the Sea
which erected the monument.

After the Colleoni statue was unveiled the Senate gave Leopardo an order
for three standard bases of bronze to be placed in the Piazza of St.
Mark's. He also made three splendid candelabra for the Venetian Academy.
Leopardo was also an architect. The time of his death is very
uncertain, but a writer speaks of him in 1541 as "the new glory of our
age, who shines like a star in the Venetian waters."

Although an immense amount of sculpture of this period remains in
various parts of Italy, it is very difficult to trace the story of
separate artists and to give a satisfactory account of those whose works
are worthy of high praise. There is scarcely an Italian city of any size
which has not some splendid remains of this morning of the Renaissance.
In Ancona there are the portal of San Francesco and the front of
Mercanzia, with which the name of Giorgio da Sebenico is associated. At
Rimini the Church of San Francesco, with its wealth of plastic ornament,
cannot be ascribed to any one artist or to any number with surety; it is
in the style of Luca della Robbia and Donatello, but in the execution
does not reach their standard. In Cesena, Padua, and Verona there are
fifteenth-century sculptures, and in the Milanese territory the plastic
art of this period is very interesting.

[Illustration: FIGS. 89, 90.--TERRA-COTTAS FROM THE OSPEDALE GRANDE.
_Milan._]

In Milan, in the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, in the Ospedale
Grande, and in the cathedral there is a wealth of sculpture to reward
the student of this art who visits them; and in the Museum of the Breda
there are many interesting works. The terra-cotta decoration of the
Ospedale excels all other works of this sort in upper Italy, and the
immense facade of this edifice is a marvel in its way (Figs. 89, 90).
The differences between this hospital and the wonderful Milan Cathedral
afford a remarkable contrast in works of the same period.

GIOVANNI ANTONI