558 Outlines of Europe aii History than those which exist for the previous history of the world ; we are much better informed in regard to events and con- ditions since 1500 than we ever can be respecting those of the earlier periods. Section 97. The Art of the Renaissance Development of art in Italy Florence the art center of Italy Rome becomes the center of artistic activity We have already described briefly the work of the medieval architects and referred to the beautiful carvings that adorned the Gothic cathedrals and to the pictures of saints and angels in stained glass which filled the great church windows. But in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries art developed in a most astonishing manner in Italy and set new standards for all of western Europe. Florence was the great center of artistic activity during the fifteenth century. The greatest sculptors and almost all of the most famous painters and architects of the time either were natives of Florence or. did their best work there. During the first half of the century sculpture again took the lead. The bronze doors of the baptistery at Florence by Ghiberti, which were completed in 1452, are among the finest products of Renaissance sculpture (Fig. 203).^ Florence reached the height of its preeminence as an art center during the reign of Lorenzo the Magnificent, who was a devoted patron of all the arts. With his death (1492), this preeminence passed to Rome, which was fast becoming one of the great capitals of Europe. The art-loving popes, Julius II and Leo X, took pains to secure the services of the most dis- tinguished artists and architects of the time in the building and adornment of St. Peter's and the Vatican, that is, the papal church and palace (see above, p. 525). 1 Opposite the cathedral at Florence (Fig. 196) stands the ancient baptistery. Its northern bronze doors, with ten scenes from the Bible, surrounded by a very lovely border of foliage, birds, and animals, were completed by Lorenzo Ghiberti in 1452, after many years of labor. Michael Angelo declared them worthy to be the gates of heaven.
