The genius of Michael Angelo and his spirit were powerful forces. They pervaded the whole art of Italy to such an extent that it may be said that all sculptors were his imitators, both while he lived and after his death. He loved to treat strong subjects, such as demanded violent movement and unusual positions. It was only a man of his genius who could raise such subjects above grotesqueness and the one effect of strange and unnatural exaggeration. As we look over all his works it seems as if the idea of beauty and such things as are pleasing to the ordinary mind rarely, if ever, came to his mind. Noble feeling, depth of thought, strength, and grandeur are the associations which we have with him, and in the hands of weaker men, as his imitators were, these subjects became barren, hollow displays of distorted limbs and soulless heads and faces. The result is, that there is little to be said of the immediate followers of this great man. GUGLIELMO DELLA PORTA was one of his most able scholars, and his chief work was a monument to Pope Paul III. in the Church of St. Peter's. The figure of the pope is in bronze, is seated, and holding the right hand in benediction. It is dignified and well designed. The figures of Justice and Prudence are not as good, and two others, Peace and Abundance, which were a part of this work, but are now in the Farnese Palace, lack power, and show an attempt at a representation of mere physical beauty. BACCIO BANDINELLI (1487-1559) is more noticeable for his hatred of Michael Angelo than for any other characteristic. He was a native of Florence and a friend of Leonardo da Vinci. He was powerful in his design and bold in his treatment of his subjects, but he was full of affectation and mannerisms in his execution of his works. He was false and envious, and his one good quality was that of industry. His best works are on the screen of the high-altar in the Cathedral of Florence, a relief on a pedestal in the Piazza of San Lorenzo, in Florence, and a group in the Church of the Annunziata, which he intended for his own monument; the subject is Nicodemus supporting Christ, and the Nicodemus is a portrait of Bandinelli himself. CHAPTER VIII. EUROPEAN SCULPTURE FROM MICHAEL ANGELO TO CANOVA. Not only Italian artists attempted to follow the great sculptor of Italy, but those of other nations flocked to Rome, and whatever ideas they may have had before reaching that city they seemed to lose them all and to aim simply at one thing--to be Michaelangeloesque.