to model an equestrian statue of the king in colossal size, when the
sovereign died. Rustici survived but three years, and we are told that
he only executed small works, and those "for the most part for the sake
of kindness."

ANDREA CONTUCCI DAL MONTE SAN SAVINO, called SANSOVINO (1460-1529), was
a very important sculptor, because large works were committed to him,
and his name must remain associated with them. Like Giotto, Sansovino
was a shepherd-boy, and drew pictures upon the stones of the fields.
Like Giotto, too, he was sent to Florence to study, and in the school of
Pallajuolo made good progress. When thirty years old he was appointed
architect and sculptor to the King of Portugal. After an absence of ten
years he returned to Florence, and later to Rome, where Pope Julius II.
commissioned him to erect monuments to the Cardinals Rovere and Sforza,
in the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo.

These monuments were his best works, but they cannot be praised. The
statues are in positions which seem to be uncomfortable, and there is
such a mass of ornament and so many statuettes that the whole has an
effect of confusion.

In 1513 Leo X. sent Sansovino to Loreto to adorn the temple which
incloses the "Casa Santa" with bas-reliefs. This Casa Santa is believed
to be the house in which the Virgin Mary was born at Nazareth; and when
the Saracens invaded the land four angels are said to have borne the
house to the coast of Dalmatia, and later to a spot near Loreto; but
here some brigands entered it, and again it was removed to its present
position in the Church of Loreto; this is said to have been done in
1295. Naturally this "Casa Santa" is a sacred object to all Roman
Catholics, and it is visited by thousands and thousands of pilgrims each
year.

The decoration of this shrine was very important, and an honorable work
for any artist. Sansovino did not execute all the reliefs, and the
highest praise that can be given to those he did is to say that they are
superior to the others that are beside them. He was a most skilful
workman, and it seems as if marble became like wax under his hand; but
this very skill led him to multiply his ornaments, and to repeat
acanthus leaves and honeysuckle vines until the whole was a weariness
and confusion, and conveyed no meaning or sentiment whatever.

Sansovino's most important pupil was JACOPO TATTI, who, on account of
his master, is called JACOPO SANSOVINO (1477-1570). He was born at