Wherefore, if I have spoken on this subject at greater length, perchance, than it appeared to be necessary, let no man blame me, seeing that the fact that Luca discovered this new form of sculpture--which, to my knowledge, the ancient Romans did not have--made it necessary to discourse thereon, as I have done, at some length. And if, after the Life of the elder Luca, I have given some brief account of his descendants, who have lived even to our own day, I have done this in order not to have to return to this subject another time. [Illustration: THE ANNUNCIATION (_After_ Andrea della Robbia. _La Verna_) _Alinari_] Luca, then, while passing from one method of work to another, from marble to bronze, and from bronze to clay, did this not by reason of laziness or because he was, as many are, capricious, unstable, and discontented with his art, but because he felt himself drawn by nature to new things and by necessity to an exercise according to his taste, both less fatiguing and more profitable. Wherefore the world and the arts of design became the richer by a new, useful, and most beautiful art, and he gained immortal and everlasting glory and praise. Luca was an excellent and graceful draughtsman, as it may be seen from some drawings in our book with the lights picked out with white lead, in one of which is his portrait, made by him with much diligence by looking at himself in a mirror. [Illustration: THE VISITATION (_After_ Giovanni della Robbia. _Pistoia: S. Giovanni Fuorcivitas_) _Alinari_] PAOLO UCCELLO LIFE OF PAOLO UCCELLO PAINTER OF FLORENCE