TOMB OF COSCIA, POPE JOHN XXIII.

BAPTISTERY, FLORENCE]

[Illustration:  Alinari

EFFIGY OF POPE JOHN XXIII.

BAPTISTERY, FLORENCE]

[Sidenote:  Michelozzo and the Coscia Tomb.]

For ten years Donatello was associated with Michelozzo,[90] who began as assistant and finally entered into a partnership which lasted until 1433.  The whole subject is obscure, and until we have a critical biography of Michelozzo his relation with various men and monuments of the fifteenth century must remain problematical.  Michelozzo has not hitherto received his due meed of appreciation.  As a sculptor and architect he frequently held a subordinate position, and it has been assumed that he therefore lacked independence and originality.  But the man who was Court architect of the Medici, and director of the Cathedral building staff, was no mere hack; while his sculpture at Milan, Naples, and Montepulciano show that his plastic abilities were far from mean.  He was a great man with interludes of smallness.  When Donatello required technical help in casting, Michelozzo was called in.  Though Donatello had worked for Ghiberti on the bronze gates, he was never quite at home in the science of casting.  Gauricus says he always employed professional help—­“nunquam fudit ipse, campanariorum usus opera semper."[91] Caldieri cast for him at Padua.  Michelozzo also helped Luca della Robbia in casting the Sacristy gates which Donatello should have made; the commissions which Donatello threw over were those for work in bronze.  The partnership extended over some of the best years of Donatello’s life, and three tombs, the St. Louis, and the Prato pulpit are among their joint products.  The tombs of Pope John XXIII. in the Baptistery, that of Aragazzi the Papal Secretary at Montepulciano, and that of Cardinal Brancacci at Naples, are noteworthy landmarks in the evolution of sepulchral monuments, which attained their highest perfection in Italy.  In discussing them it will be seen how fully Michelozzo shared the responsibilities of Donatello.  Baldassare Coscia, on his election to the Papacy, took the title of John XXIII.  He was deposed by a council and retired to Florence, where he died in 1418.  He was befriended by the Medici, who erected the monument, the last papal tomb outside Rome, to his memory. “Johannes Quondam Papa XXIII.” is inscribed on it, and it is said that Coscia’s successful rival objected to this appellation of his predecessor, but the protest went unheeded.  The tomb is remarkable in many ways.  Its construction is most skilful, as it was governed by the two upright pillars between which the monument had to be fitted.  We have a series of horizontal lines; a frieze at the base, then three Virtues; above this the effigy, and finally a Madonna beneath a baldachino.  Each tier is separated by lines which intersect the columns at right angles.  The task of making a monument which would not be dwarfed