The Andalusian school of sculpture was an offshoot from the school of Castile and Aragon, though in some respects its history was different. The reason of its late development is not difficult to find. In Southern Spain the Moorish influence was stronger and more enduring than in the North; and for all their secular buildings the Spaniards adopted Moorish designs and Moorish methods of decoration. The Alcázar of Seville, in its original state before alterations, and the Casa de Pilatos, are very pure _mudéjar_ monuments. There was no abrupt transition between the Persian architecture and the classic style of the Renaissance. It was in the churches alone that opportunity arose for the development of Christian architecture. We find Roman or Gothic structures according to the epochs of their building. But even the churches retained the minaret in the form of clock-towers, and other Moorish features, as, for instance, the Puerta del Perdon of the Cathedral of Seville. It was the erection of these Christian edifices that brought the opportunity for the opening of studios of sculpture. Native carvers arose, who at first drew their inspiration from the more advanced art of the North. Then the fifteenth century opened with the building of the great Cathedral of Seville, an event which drew foreign artists to the Southern capital from Flanders and also from Italy. These foreigners trained worthy native pupils, and from this time we may date the rise and importance of the Sevillian school. One of the first foreigners to arrive was Lorenzo de Mercadante, a Breton, whose power speaks in the monument of Cardinal Cervantes, in the cathedral, the earliest perfect portrait-statue in Southern Spain. In the cathedral, which is a veritable museum of polychrome art, we find graceful and charming statues, which show the influence of Mercadante. We may mention the beautiful Virgen de Madroñe (Virgin of the arbutus flower) and the Virgen del Reposo; both statues are polychromed, but the latter work has been to a large extent ruined by injudicious restoration. These Virgins are fine examples of the ideal treatment, expressing genuine beauty with dignity and sweetness, which the native artists achieved in representing the Mother of God. Spain is the land of the Blessed Virgin. To the teaching of Lorenzo Mercadante we owe the native artists Nufro Sánchez and Maestro Dancart, the earliest of the Sevillian carvers, who were appointed master sculptors to the cathedral at an annual salary of 10,000 _maravedis_. Their first work was the choir-stalls, which were begun in 1475 by Sánchez, and finished by Dancart in 1479. Of this work Professor Carl Justi says “its vein of invention and humour recalls the South German masters.”