Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/390

This page needs to be proofread.

360 Painting Chapel. His work there is second only to that of Ghirlan- dajo. Other paintings by him are the Life of 8. Benedict, in the convent of Monte Oliveto, near Siena ; and frescoes in the church of Loreto and the duomo of Cortona. Antonio del Pollaiuolo (1429?— 1498), one of Ghiberti's assistants in the ornamentation of the second bronze gate, produced several fine paintings in the latter part of his life — four of which, a Martyrdom of S. Sebastian, and the Angel Raphael with Tobias, and two others, are in the National Gallery ; he with his brother Piero del Pollaiuolo (1441 — 1489) is said to have been the first to study dead subjects for artistic purposes. They were also celebrated as sculptors. The tomb of Sixtus IV. in the Cappella del Sacramento and that of Innocent VIII. in the Cappella della Concezione, Rome, were their most celebrated works. We must also mention — Andrea del Verrocchio (1435 — 1488), sculptor, wood- carver and painter, celebrated as the master of Leonardo da Vinci and of Perugino. He is said to have been the first artist who took plaster-casts from life as an aid in the study of form. Cosimo •Eosselli (1439 — 1507), a follower of Masaccio, who in later years spoiled his art by over-gilding, and his pupil who was named after him, and who assisted him in the Sistine Chapel, Piero di Cosimo (1462 — 1521), who is to be noticed for the landscapes in the background of his pictures. A S. Jerome by Rosselli, and a Death of Procris by Piero di Cosimo, are in the National Gallery. When in 1474 Sixtus IV. had completed the erection of the chapel called after him, he sent to Florence for artists