in a ridiculous posture.  “Princes’ images on their tombs,” says Bosola in Webster’s play, “do not lie as they were wont, seeming to pray up to heaven; but with their hands under their cheeks, as if they had died of toothache."[112] Venice excelled in this rotund and sweltering sculpture.  Yet it cannot be wholly condemned.  Though artificial, theatrical and mundane, its technical supremacy cannot be denied.  The amazing ease with which these huge monuments are contrived, and the absolute sense of mastery shown by the sculptor over the material are qualities too rare to be lightly overlooked.  Whatever we may think of the artist, our admiration is commanded by the craftsman.

[Footnote 105:  Wreaths and putti form its decoration, and though Donatellesque, they are not by Donatello.  This was pointed out as early as 1819.  See “Monumenti Sepolcrali della Toscana,” p. 28.]

[Footnote 106:  Bocchi, 354.]

[Footnote 107:  Bull., “Cum primum,” sec. 6, “et ut in ecclesiis nihil indecens relinquatur, iidem provideant, ut capsae omnes, et deposita, seu alia cadaverum, conditoria super terram existentia omnino amoveantur, pro ut alias statutum fuit, et defunctorum corpora in tumbis profundis, infra terram collocentur.”  Bullarium, 1566, vol. iv., part ii., p. 285.  For the whole question of the evolution of these tombs, see Dr. von Lichtenberg’s valuable book, “Das Portraet an Grabdenkmalen,” Strassburg, 1902.]

[Footnote 108:  See “Archivio Storico dell’ Arte,” 1888, p. 24, &c.]

[Footnote 109:  In Santo Stefano, Cortile di Pilato.]

[Footnote 110:  “Misc.  Storica Senese,” 1893, p. 30.]

[Footnote 111:  See p. 171.]

[Footnote 112:  From the Duchess of Malfi, quoted in Symonds’ “Fine Arts,” p. 114.]

* * * * *

[Sidenote:  The Second Visit to Rome.]

During the year 1433, when Florence enjoyed the luxury of driving Cosimo de’ Medici into exile, Donatello went to Rome in order to advise Simone Ghini about the tomb of Pope Martin V.—­temporum suorum filicitas, as the epitaph says.[113] This visit to Rome, which is not contested, like the visit thirty years earlier, did not last long, and certainly did not divert Donatello from the line he had struck out.  At this moment the native art of Rome was colourless.  A generation later it became classical, and then lapsed into decadence.  The number of influences at work was far smaller than would at first be imagined.  It is generally assumed that Rome was the home of classical sculpture.  But early in the fifteenth century Rome must have presented a scene of desolation.  The city had long been a quarry.  Under Vespasian the Senate had to pass a decree against the demolition of buildings for the purpose of getting the stone.[114] Rome was plundered by her emperors.  She was looted by Alaric, Genseric, Wittig and Totila in days when much of her art remained in situ.  She was