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282 British Sculpture. in Worcester Cathedral, are among the earliest existing relics of monumental art. English sculpture, properly so-called, may be divided into two distinct periods : the mediaeval, dating from the early part of the thirteenth century to the Reformation; and the modern, dating from the close of the eighteenth century. It was at the end of the Crusades, when acquaintance had been made with the masterpieces of Continental art, that English architects were first fired with the ambition of adorning their buildings with sculptured foliage and figures. In the thirteenth century, when Gothic archi- tecture was at the zenith of its beauty in England, many of our finest cathedrals were built or improved, and our best mediaeval architectural and monumental sculpture was produced. From this period dates Wells Cathedral, the noble sculptures of the west front of which have already been described. In judging of the execution we must consider that they were produced at a time when no school of sculpture existed, and before the laws of optics, perspective, or anatomy had been discovered, — so that the artist had nothing to trust to but his own powers of observation. Wells Cathedral was finished at the time when Niccolo Pisano was reviving the art of sculpture in Italy, before the completion of the cathedrals of Chartres, Amiens, Beauvais, and has, therefore, the merit of being the very earliest specimen of religious sculpture with a consecutive design. The earliest specimens of English bronze statues are the recumbent effigies of Henry III. and of Eleanor, wife of Edward I., on their respective tombs in Westminster Abbey. The figure of Eleanor, which is very beautiful,