Antonio Rossellino, for example, might be distinguished by his leaning toward the manner of Ghiberti, whose landscape backgrounds he has adopted in the circular medallions of his monumental sculpture.

A fine perception of the poetic capabilities of Christian art is displayed in Rossellino's idyllic treatment of the Nativity--the adoration of the shepherds, the hush of reverential stillness in the worship Mary pays her infant son.[101] To the qualities of sweetness and tranquillity rare dignity is added in the monument of the young Cardinal di Portogallo.[102] The sublimity of the slumber that is death has never been more nobly and feelingly portrayed than in the supine figure and sleeping features of this most beautiful young man, who lies watched by angels beneath a heavy-curtained canopy.

The genii of eternal repose modelled by Greek sculptors are twin-brothers of Love, on whom perpetual slumber has descended amid poppy-fields by Lethe's stream.

The turmoil of the world is over for them; they will never wake again; they do not even dream.

Sleep is the only power that still has life in them.