Renaissance Sculpture at www.japanese-home-gardens.com

During the High Renaissance sculpture of the early 16th century the relationship of sculpture to architecture was similar to that of Greek classical times : the two arts were working together in a fine balance, neither striving to dominate the other. The best illustrations of this, though a bit late for the period, would be the Loggetta and the library of St. Mark's Church in Venice by Jacopo San-sovino and assistants. In the continuance of Renaissance sculpture architecture into the 17th and 18th centuries there was little change in this relationship; but on the whole sculpture tended to become more subservient in the later periods when it was often used to enliven, sometimes almost animate, certain features of the architecture, especially where the building meets the line of the sky.

The Renaissance sculpture style was Erobably used at the French court by the 1520's, ut it was some time before it spread down the social scale. It was soon prevalent in most European countries, and artists like Benvenuto Cellini of Italy moved easily from one country to the other. In the Renaissance sculpture, emphasis on sculptural design was strong, and many goldsmiths practiced arts that are now classed as sculpture —medals, coins, seals, wax portraits, and small bronzes.

The great sculptors of the Early Renaissance sculpture, like Donatello in his statues for niches on the campanile of Santa Maria del Fiore and Or San Michele, gave their statues so much character and vitality that one hardly thinks of the architectural functions. The latter do exist, however, even if they seem to lie chiefly in the realm where the architecture is ancillary to the extent of providing a frame and setting for the sculpture. The independence of the sculpture is often more marked by being different in color and material from the architecture.