Fra Angelico and Donatello (in the midst of it) were never more inspired than here, where they worked and died.

Michelangelo (at the end of it) may be more surprising in the Vatican; but here are his wonderful Medici tombs.

How it came about that between the years 1300 and 1500 Italian soil--and chiefly Tuscan soil--threw up such masters, not only with the will and spirit to do what they did but with the power too, no one will ever be able to explain.

But there it is.

In the history of the world two centuries were suddenly given mysteriously to the activities of Italian men of humane genius and as suddenly the Divine gift was withdrawn.