Hitherto modern sculptors had either made reliefs or statues for niches.

It was also the first nude statue of modern times; and once again one has the satisfaction of recognizing that the first was the best.

At any rate, no later sculptor has made anything more charming than this figure, or more masterly within its limits.
After the S.George and the bronze David, the two most memorable things are the adorable bronze Amorino in its quaint little trousers--or perhaps not Amorino at all, since it is trampling on a snake, which such little sprites did not do--and the coloured terra-cotta bust called Niccolo da Uzzano, so like life as to be after a while disconcerting.

The sensitiveness of the mouth can never have been excelled.

The other originals include the gaunt John the Baptist with its curious little moustache, so far removed from the Amorino and so admirable a proof of the sculptor's vigilant thoughtfulness in all he did; the relief of the infant John, one of the most animated of the heads (the Baptist at all periods of his life being a favourite with this sculptor); three bronze heads, of which those of the Young Gentleman and the Roman Emperor remain most clearly in my mind.