ALESSANDRO LEOPARDO, who flourished about 1490, was the most eminent bronze-caster of his time, and was distinguished for the happy manner in which he adapted classic ideas to his needs in his works. Very little is known of the life of this sculptor, and that little is not to his credit. He lived in Venice, and had a studio in the Piazza del Cavallo, and in 1487 committed a forgery, for which he was banished from the city. But when Verocchio died, leaving the Colleoni statue unfinished, the Senate desired to have it completed by Leopardo, so they sent him a safe-conduct for six months, and he returned to Venice. As there is no account of his again leaving the city, it is supposed that he was allowed to remain as long as he chose. There has been much difference of opinion as to which artist--Verocchio or Leopardo--should be credited with the excellence of the Colleoni statue. The truth, as near as it can be told, seems to be that Verocchio designed and modelled it, that Leopardo completed and cast it, and made the lofty pedestal upon which it stands, and which, taken by itself, is a splendid work. It is of fine proportions, and has six Corinthian columns, in the capitals of which there are dolphins, while the frieze is composed of trophies and marine animals, all of which are symbols of the City on the Sea which erected the monument. After the Colleoni statue was unveiled the Senate gave Leopardo an order for three standard bases of bronze to be placed in the Piazza of St. Mark's. He also made three splendid candelabra for the Venetian Academy. Leopardo was also an architect. The time of his death is very uncertain, but a writer speaks of him in 1541 as "the new glory of our age, who shines like a star in the Venetian waters." Although an immense amount of sculpture of this period remains in various parts of Italy, it is very difficult to trace the story of separate artists and to give a satisfactory account of those whose works are worthy of high praise. There is scarcely an Italian city of any size which has not some splendid remains of this morning of the Renaissance. In Ancona there are the portal of San Francesco and the front of Mercanzia, with which the name of Giorgio da Sebenico is associated. At Rimini the Church of San Francesco, with its wealth of plastic ornament, cannot be ascribed to any one artist or to any number with surety; it is in the style of Luca della Robbia and Donatello, but in the execution does not reach their standard. In Cesena, Padua, and Verona there are fifteenth-century sculptures, and in the Milanese territory the plastic art of this period is very interesting. [Illustration: FIGS. 89, 90.--TERRA-COTTAS FROM THE OSPEDALE GRANDE. _Milan._]