pils.

I

MUSICAL ANGELS

BY DONATELLO

In the western part of Italy, lying a little north of the centre, is
the district known as Tuscany. Here, in the valley of the Arno, is the
city of Florence, glorious with her storied palaces and churches.
Around her are clustered Pistoja and Lucca, Pisa and Leghorn, Siena
and Arezzo, all notable towns in Italian history. Here, too, is
Carrara, with its stores of beautiful marble.

It was from this little district of Tuscany that the sculptors came
forth who have helped to make Italy famous as the birthplace of modern
art. The development of Tuscan sculpture covered a period of some
three centuries, beginning with the Pisan Niccolo, who worked between
the years 1220 and 1270, and culminating with the great Florentine
Michelangelo, who died in 1564. We shall study in this little
collection a few works of the fifteenth century.

It was the time called by historians the Renaissance, which means
literally "the new birth." The world was awakening from the long sleep
of the Middle Ages, and Italy was the first to be aroused. Certain
adventurous spirits began to ponder the possibility of a new continent
beyond the sea. There was a great revival of learning, accompanied by
a passionate love of the beautiful. Schools of art were established
throughout the length of Italy.

In other volumes of this series we have learned how the churches,
palaces, and public buildings were filled with paintings.[3] We shall
now see that sculpture also contributed much to the adornment of the
cities. Statues, busts, and bas-reliefs, in marble, bronze, and
terra-cotta, ornamented many buildings both without and within.

Our illustration shows two panels from the series of twelve bronze
reliefs on the front of a church altar. Two little boy angels are
making music with their pipes. The companion panels are also filled
with musical angels, some singing and others playing on various
instruments.

The New Testament begins and ends with the music of angels. The birth
of Jesus is heralded by a multitude of the heavenly host singing
"Glory to God in the highest." The golden city of St. John's vision is
filled with "the voice of harpers, harping with their harps," in the
new song before the throne of God. Thence has arisen the beautiful
custom of artists to represent angels as musicians.

The child angels of our picture have tiny pointed wings as a sign of
their heavenly origin. Certainly we can