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Chap. XII. ANDREA DI PONTEDERA. 347 by the hand of the Eternal to inhale the vivifying breath, with an elegance of motion and of shape quite remarkable. — In one, absolute rest, in the other, partial motion. Nothing indeed can be more poetic than the rendering of this subject; nothing more choice in form, in Ghiberti, Donatello, Michael Angelo, or even Raphael. It is a return to Greek art. It is living flesh, modelled in true and ad mirable proportions, draped in the simplest vestments. Take any other of these reliefs, see how man trains the horse, the elegance of the outlines, the truth of the action. Mark how the will is expressed in the rowers who sym bolize navigation. The hand is that of Andrea Pisano. It is stamped with the genius of Giotto, and carries out his commands. One sees in these compositions, as in those of the bronze gates, his versatility, his fancy and vigour. Giotto had already painted the virtues at Assisi and at Padua, he conceived them again for Andrea in a different form. Inexhaustible, he never repeats himself. The finest nude of the fourteenth century is that of the Saviour in the Baptism of the bronze gates; the most pleasing composition in the same series is the Salutation. The former is a figure which, for perfection of modelling, breadth of drapery, and beauty of shape, rivals the Re deemer of the Baptistery of Ravenna. The art of Giotto preeminent in painting and in architecture, thus appears equally so in sculpture, which, though carried out by the hands of another, is vivified by his spirit. It is the grea test monument of the rise of the fourteenth century, and gives final polish to the art of Pisa. Andrea, according to Vasari, executed numerous com missions at Florence for the Duke of Athens, 1 about 1343. In 1345 he was invited by the canons of 1 Vasari. Vol. II. p. 44. A provision of Oct. 6, 1342, refers to the works of the new palace erected hy the Dnke of Athens: Gaye, Carteggio. Vol. I. p. 493. According to Vasari, Andrea gave the plans for the Porta a S. Fri- ano which was rebuilt in 1332. We know from Gaye (Carteggio. Vol. I. p. 491) that the gates of S.S. Giorgio, Miniato, Niccolo, Camaldoli, andPonte alia Carraia, were renewed in 1340.