XV
ANTONIO POLLAIUOLO
1431-1498
PIERO POLLAIUOLO
1443-1496
The first decisive progress in fifteenth century painting had come from the sculptors Ghiberti and Donatello, and the next step in advance was due to another group of goldsmiths and workers in bronze, who were themselves painters as well as sculptors, and who, by their resolute and persistent endeavours, succeeded in giving their pictures the same plastic relief and modelling that we see in carved metal and stonework. Chief among these was Antonio Pollaiuolo, whom Benvenuto Cellini describes as the best draughtsman of his day in Florence. "He was so great a draughtsman that not only all the goldsmiths worked from his designs, but that many of the best sculptors and painters were glad to make use of them, and by this means attained the highest honour. This man did little else, but he drew marvellously, and always practised the same grand style of drawing." The few paintings and drawings by Antonio's hand which are still in existence prove the truth of Cellini's words, and show not only the wonderful energy and precision of his drawing, but
