ned from the works of Niccola the grand principle of Christian art,"
the sculptures of the Campanile of Florence would not now have stood
forth in contrasted awfulness of simplicity, beside those of the south
door of the Baptistery.

* * *

52. "Andrea's merit was indeed very great; his works, compared with
those of Giovanni and Niccola Pisano, exhibit a progress in design,
grace, composition and mechanical execution, at first sight
unaccountable--a chasm yawns between them, deep and broad, over which
the younger artist seems to have leapt at a bound,--the stream that sank
into the earth at Pisa emerges a river at Florence. The solution of the
mystery lies in the peculiar plasticity of Andrea's genius, and the
ascendency acquired over it by Giotto, although a younger man, from the
first moment they came into contact. Giotto had learnt from the works of
Niccola the grand principle of Christian art, imperfectly apprehended by
Giovanni and his other pupils, and by following up which he had in the
natural course of things improved upon his prototype. He now repaid to
Sculpture, in the person of Andrea, the sum of improvement in which he
stood her debtor in that of Niccola:--so far, that is to say, as the
treasury of Andrea's mind was capable of taking it in, for it would be
an error to suppose that Andrea profited by Giotto in the same
independent manner or degree that Giotto profited by Niccola. Andrea's
was not a mind of strong individuality; he became completely Giottesque
in thought and style, and as Giotto and he continued intimate friends
through life, the impression never wore off:--most fortunate, indeed,
that it was so, for the welfare of Sculpture in general, and for that
of the buildings in decorating which the friends worked in concert.

"Happily, Andrea's most important work, the bronze door of the
Baptistery, still exists, and with every prospect of preservation. It is
adorned with bas-reliefs from the history of S. John, with allegorical
figures of virtues and heads of prophets, all most beautiful,--the
historical compositions distinguished by simplicity and purity of
feeling and design, the allegorical virtues perhaps still more
expressive, and full of poetry in their symbols and attitudes; the whole
series is executed with a delicacy of workmanship till then unknown in
bronze, a precision yet softness of touch resembling that of a skillful
performer on the pianoforte. Andrea was occupie