The great wave of the Renaissance flowed into Spain, but it was carried thither not by Italian artists but across the Pyrenees by the French and Flemish painters, carvers and weavers. The political relations between Spain and the Low Countries account for the great horde of Flemish workers that flocked to the country where there was vast wealth. Juan de Arphe reproached his contemporaries for copying the designs of the Flemings; but with little effect. The Gothic school of carving lasted until 1530, in which year Berruguete returned to Spain from Italy, where he had studied in the studio of Michael Angelo. Nicholas Bachelier of Toulouse, Geronimo Hernandez and Gregorio Pardo also contributed to the development of the new style in Spain.

Senor J. F. Riano says: "The brilliant epoch of sculpture (in wood) belongs to the Sixteenth Century, and was due to the great impulse it received from the works of Berru-guete and Felipe de Borgonu. He was the chief promoter of the Italian style, and the choir of the Cathedral of Toledo, where he worked so much, is the finest specimen of the kind in Spain. Toledo, Seville, and Valladolid were at the time great productive and artistic centres."

Regarding the decorative features of this school, M. Bonnaffe says:

"If the tormented attitudes, excessive anatomy, and muscular effects recall the Florentine manner, yet the types remain frankly Spanish; the eye is dug with a deep and sure stroke that makes the arch of the brow stand strongly out, the arms and legs end in leaves, or in volutes of a particular turn. The painted and gilded woods are treated with great skill and decorative refinements that denote a finished art. Spanish walnut has a close grain, and a singularly polished and lustrous surface. Cedar, cypress, and pine were principally used for the figures. Oak was imported from France and England, as it was scarce in Spain."

"In Germany the Renaissance appeared under the powerful influence and fruitful example of Albrecht Durer who developed it to a high degree. Wood and copper engraving were a strong means of propagation for him and his pupils and they all used them freely to supply the workshops of all industries with the varied models of their ingenious inspiration."

Thus writes M. de Laborde; and, after studying the extant specimens of the furniture of that period and the designs of the masters of ornament, from Durer to Dietterlin, M. Bonnaffe decides that "the German was an impenitent Gothic who was never touched with the grace of the Renaissance. He accepted it unwillingly, coarsened it, dislocated it, made its profiles heavy, and its propositions unnatural and excessive. The features of German workmanship are apparent at first sight; rigid figures, intentional ugliness, a wealth of complicated ornaments executed with marvellous skill, shrivelled foliage, and deeply cut drapery extravagantly broken. The hands are long, thin and thick-jointed, the caryatides are hip-shot, the faces protrude violently out of the frame. The thing as a whole is tormented, labored, tangled and tumultuous. There is no taste, but an inexhaustible animation; no grace and abandon, but the male, robust, passionate gait; an extreme striving for effect, character and expression; and undeniable power.

Plate VIII - Gothic Credence (French) - Metropolitan Museum

"This exuberant realism, controlled by the genius of Al-brecht Durer, and tempered by Italian infiltration, produced works full of quality, and, for more than half a century, the school, carried along by the first impulsion of the master, continued its way, thanks to the vitality it had acquired. But when the day arrived on which it had no longer a leader, enthusiasm or counterpoise, and had nothing but itself to depend upon, the art followed in the wake of the Flemings and Italians of the Decadence. Germany had played its part: it still kept its accent, but no longer had a school or artists.

"The Italian Decadence was rapid. Towards the end of the Sixteenth Century, the forms became bizarre, mannered and affected. The artist carries the imitation of temples and triumphal arches to extremes; he neglects carpentry, abuses soft woods that allow of summary methods and cheap carving, and is so lavish with decoration as to leave no rest for the eyes. The old marquetry of wood gives place to inlays of ivory, mother-of-pearl and shell, precious stones, and colored marbles, charged with applications of chased silver or gilt bronze. Wood was painted, gilded and disguised in a thousand ways; it was covered with marquetry, veneer, ivory and stone; as a last resort, it was carved on every side rather than let it be visible. Everybody strove to denaturalize it and make it say more than it knew; Florence covered it with mosaics, or gave it heroic poses; Venice twined it into crossettes, cuirs and volutes, enriched with gold; Milan enveloped it with ebony and ivory; Sienna carved it to perfection, but with a dry, poor, cold, sharp tool, the tool of a carver who wants to show what he knows. The Italians excelled in the art of wood-work, as in everything else; but they comprehended it in their own way. With them the art consisted in disguising the wood: our aim was to give it its full value."