The attempt to produce startling effects in German art made such subjects as the Passion of Christ, the Temptation of St. Anthony, and the Martyrdoms of the Saints to be constantly repeated, and many reliefs are overloaded with such details as may very properly be used in painting, and which belong to _picturesque_ art, but which take away the dignity and calm grandeur which should make the spirit of sculpture. But there is one feature of German sculpture at this time which appeals to our sympathy--that is, the deep, earnest feeling which pervades it, and which constantly tried new methods of expression. In Germany there were guilds or trade-associations, and the members of these guilds were allowed to work in the special branch only of sculpture which belonged to their company, so that this art was divided by more fixed lines than in Italy, where, in truth, at the period of which we speak, the Florentine school was a supreme power, and its sculptors, as we have seen, worked in as many sorts of sculpture as pleased them. The schools of Germany were far more independent of each other, and the entire organization of art in Germany was very different from that of Italy. One of the most prominent effects of the architecture of Germany was to drive the sculptors to seek for such work as had no relation to architecture, and an important result from this was the great attention which they paid to wood-carving; indeed, this was the favorite pursuit of the German sculptors for many years. About the middle of the fifteenth century the importance of this art in Germany was far greater than those of bronze-casting or stone sculpture. The principal works in wood-carving were the altars, which finally came to be colossal in size, and with their multitude of reliefs, statuettes, and ornaments were marvellous monuments to the industry and skill of the wood-carvers. The reliefs in these works are usually arranged on landscape backgrounds, and so much resemble pictures in many ways that the colors and gilding which were freely used on them do not seem out of place, and it appears to be quite natural that wood-carvers should often have been painters also.