This new life and spirit gave more freedom to artists, and they attempted new effects, so that a far greater variety was made in their works. The statue of the Madonna, for example, was so often repeated that it afforded an opportunity for all sorts of experiments, by which the sculptors tried to add to the deep feeling and the devotion that had already been expressed in the representations of the sweet Mother of Christ. But just here they failed; the new era brought more realism, more likeness to nature, more freedom to the artist to put something of himself into his work; but much of the deep thought and the devout feeling of the thirteenth century was lost, and it cannot be said that art was elevated in its tone. There were influences, too, in the new state of society which permitted details to be introduced into religious subjects which were far from suitable or devotional; sometimes they were even comic in their effects. For example, such scenes as allowed the representation of evil spirits or devils were made to serve for all sorts of coarse, grotesque, and burlesque side-play, and the little figures which represented these powers were made to do all kinds of ridiculous capers side by side with such serious subjects as the Last Judgment or the death scenes of eminent men. This makes us feel, when we study the fourteenth century, that the sculpture of the Middle Ages reached its highest point in the thirteenth century, and soon after began to decline. In Germany the most important sculptures of this period were executed at Nuremberg. The Church of St. Laurence, that of St. Sebald, the Frauenkirche, or the Church of Our Lady, are all great monuments to the art of this city and the calm dignity and grace which marked the works of the Nuremberg sculptors. At the close of the century, between 1385 and 1396, Master Heinrich den Balier erected the "Beautiful Fountain," which is still the pride of the city and a splendid monument of the time. In Nuremberg many of the dwelling-houses were decorated with sculptures, and it is now one of the most interesting places in all Germany to the student of ancient art. We have not the space to speak in detail of the sculpture of the time; Augsburg, Prague, Stuttgart, Bamberg, Wuerzburg, Cologne, and many other German towns and cities have rich treasures of its work, but its character is everywhere much the same, and great activity, with a tendency toward decline, are its prominent features. In Germany in this century ivory-carving was much practised and used for a great variety of purposes. In these smaller works the life and freshness, the grace and spirit of the manner of the time were very attractive (Fig. 78). [Illustration: FIG. 78.--IVORY RELIEF. HUNTING SCENE.]