[Footnote 86:  Cf. those high up on the Loggia de’ Lanzi, or in other Tuscan towns where the climate was not more severe, but where there was less cash or inclination to replace the shields which were worn away.]

[Footnote 87:  The marble original is now in the Bargello, and has been replaced by a bronze replica, which occupies the old site on the Ringhiera of the Palazzo Pubblico.  Lions were popular in Florence.  Albertini mentions an antique porphyry lion in the Casa Capponi, much admired by Lorenzo de’ Medici.  Paolo Ucello painted a lion fight for Cosimo.  The curious rhymed chronicle of 1459 describes the lion fights in the great Piazza ("Rer.  It.  Script.,” ii. 722).  Other cases could be quoted.  Donatello also made a stone lion for the courtyard of the house used by Martin V. during his visit to Florence in 1419-20.]

* * * * *

[Illustration:  Alinari

SALOME RELIEF, SIENA.

STATUETTE OF FAITH (TO LEFT)]

[Sidenote:  The Siena Font.]

Siena had planned her Cathedral on so ambitious a scale, that had not the plague reduced her to penury the Duomo of Florence would have been completely outrivalled.  The Sienese, however, ordered various works of importance for their Cathedral, and among these the Font takes a high place.  It was entrusted to Jacopo della Quercia, who had the active assistance of Donatello and Ghiberti, as well as that of the Turini and Neroccio, townsmen of his own.  Donatello was thus brought under new influences.  He made a relief, a sportello or little door, two statuettes, and some children, all in bronze, being helped in the casting by Michelozzo.  Jacopo, who was about ten years older than Donatello, had been a competitor for the Baptistery gates.  He was a man of immense power, in some ways greater than Donatello; never failing to treat his work on broad and massive lines, and one of the few sculptors whose work can survive mutilation.  The fragments of the Fonte Gaya need no reconstruction or repair to tell their meaning; their statuesque virtues, though sadly mangled, proclaim the unmistakable touch of genius.  But Donatello’s personality was not affected by the Sienese artists.  Jacopo, it is true, was constantly absent, being busily engaged at Bologna, to the acute annoyance of the Sienese, who ordered him to return forthwith.  Jacopo said he would die rather than disobey, “potius eligeret mori quam non obedire patriae suae”; but the political troubles at the northern town prevented his prompt return.  However, after being fined he got home, was reconciled to the Chapter, and ultimately received high honours from the city.  His font is an interesting example of transition; the base is much more Gothic than the upper part.  The base or font proper is a large hexagonal bason decorated with six bronze reliefs and a bronze statuette between each—­Faith, Hope, Charity, Justice, Prudence,