It might be
too much to parallel him in actual genius with Dante and Shakspeare;
they stand alone and unapproachable, each on his distinct pinnacle of
the temple of Christian song; and yet neither of them can boast such
extent and durability of influence, for whatever of highest excellence
has been achieved in sculpture and painting, not in Italy only, but
throughout Europe, has been in obedience to the impulse he primarily
gave, and in following up the principle which he first struck out.
"His latter days were spent in repose at Pisa, but the precise year of
his death is uncertain; Vasari fixes it in 1275; it could not have been
much later. He was buried in the Campo Santo. Of his personal character
we, alas! know nothing; even Shakspeare is less a stranger to us. But
that it was noble, simple, and consistent, and free from the petty
foibles that too frequently beset genius, may be fairly presumed from
the works he has left behind him, and from the eloquent silence of
tradition."
265. Of the circumstances of Niccola Pisano's death, or the ceremonials
practised at it, we are thus left in ignorance.
The more exemplary death of Charles of Aujou took place on the 7th of
January, then, 1285; leaving the throne of Naples to a boy of twelve;
and that of Sicily, to a Prince of Spain.
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