Michelangelo Buonarroti — Charles Clement

In sculpture, at least, Michelangelo stands so pre-
eminent that the art which had begun its emancipation
from medieval crudity with thirteenth century Niccolo
Pisano and climbed through the work of such men as
Orcagno and Jacopo of Siena to that of Ghiberti, Donatello
and Verocchio, paused for centuries at the point to which
the creator of the David, the Moses and the tomb of
Lorenzo carried it.