In the fifteenth century the manuscript art of central and northern Italy, especially Siena, Florence, Venice and Milan, rose to a pitch of beauty and perfection which left it quite without rival in any country in the world. As was the case in writing of the glories of such manuscripts as the French _Apocalypses_ of the fourteenth century, words are inadequate to describe the refined beauty of the best Italian manuscripts of this period. As has been already pointed out Italy was late in beginning her artistic Renaissance; and now, just when the rest of Europe was sinking into a more or less rapid and complete state of decadence, Italy blossomed out into one of the most magnificent artistic periods that the world has ever seen[184]. The manuscripts of this period are not unworthy of the general artistic glories of the time, and in some cases their technical qualities bear witness to an almost superhuman amount of dexterity and patience. During the first half of the century, by far the greater proportion of the manuscripts written in Italy were for ecclesiastical purposes. Among the most magnificent, but at the same time also the rarest, are folio manuscript _Pontificals_[185], executed for wealthy ecclesiastics of Episcopal rank. _The Fitzwilliam Pontifical._ An Italian folio _Pontifical_, dating from early in the fifteenth century, in the library of the Fitzwilliam Museum, is of its kind, one of the most beautiful manuscripts in the world. The delicacy of execution of the figures and especially the faces is little short of miraculous, and the numerous historiated initials, each representing some episcopal act of Consecration or Benediction, scattered thickly all through the volume, are a remarkable proof of the patient, unwearied skill which through years of labour must have been devoted to this one superb volume. _Italian poems._ _The owner's arms._ Among the illuminated manuscripts with secular texts the most important are copies of Dante's _Divine Comedy_, the works of Boccaccio and the Poems of Petrarch. The first page of such works as these is usually richly decorated with a wide border of scroll foliage, studded with the usual gold bosses. Frequently small miniatures in medallion frames are set at intervals among the conventional leafage; and at the bottom is a shield to receive the owner's coat of arms, surrounded with a delicately painted leafy wreath, which is supported on each side by a graceful figure of a flying angel or Cupid[186]. In many cases the shield is still left blank; the book not having been written for any special purchaser and the owner having neglected to insert his arms[187].