,,masterpieces ,,in ,,colour ,,edited ,,by ,t4 ,,leman ,,hare ,,fra ,,angelico #achg-adee ,,masterpieces ,,in ,,colour ,,series ,,artist4 ,,author4 ,,velazquez4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,reynolds4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,turner4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,romney4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,greuze4 ,,alys ,,eyre ,,macklin4 ,,botticelli4 ,,henry ,b4 ,,binns4 ,,rossetti4 ,,lucien ,,pissarro4 ,,bellini4 ,,george ,,hay4 ,,fra ,,angelico4 ,,james ,,mason4 ,,rembrandt4 ,,josef ,,israels4 ,,leighton4 ,a4 ,,lys ,,baldry4 ,,raphael4 ,,paul ,g4 ,,konody4 ,,holman ,,hunt4 ,,mary ,e4 ,,coleridge4 ,,titian4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,millais4 ,a4 ,,lys ,,baldry4 ,,carlo ,,dolci4 ,,george ,,hay4 ,,gainsborough4 ,,max ,,rothschild4 ,,tintoretto4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,luini4 ,,james ,,mason4 ,,franz ,,hals4 ,,edgcumbe ,,staley4 ,,van ,,dyck4 ,,percy ,m4 ,,turner4 ,,leonardo ,,da ,,vinci4 ,m4 ,w4 ,,brockwell4 ,,rubens4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,whistler4 ,t4 ,,martin ,,wood4 ,,holbein4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,burne-,,jones4 ,a4 ,,lys ,,baldry4 ,,vig,e ,,le ,,brun4 ,c4 ,,haldane ,,macfall4 ,,chardin4 ,,paul ,g4 ,,konody4 ,,fragonard4 ,c4 ,,haldane ,,macfall4 ,,memlinc4 ,w4 ,h4 ,j4 ,j4 ,c4 ,,weale4 ,,constable4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,raeburn4 ,,james ,l4 ,,caw4 ,,john ,s4 ,,sargent4 ,t4 ,,martin ,,wood4 ,,lawrence4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,d,,rer4 ,h4 ,e4 ,a4 ,,furst4 ,,millet4 ,,percy ,m4 ,,turner4 ,,watteau4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,hogarth4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,murillo4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,watts4 ,w4 ,,loftus ,,hare4 ,,ingres4 ,a4 ,j4 ,,finberg4 ,,corot4 ,,sidney ,,allnutt4 ,,delacroix4 ,,paul ,g4 ,,konody4 ,others in ,preparation4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,i4--,a ,,group ,,of ,,angels4 7,frontispiece7 ,this panel from the ,uffizi ,gallery in ,florence is an example of ,fra ,angelico's most popular work4 ,it is painted in his earliest manner and the figures are stiff and conventional1 but the simplicity and beauty that can be found in the group connect it with the paintings of the primitives who were in a sense ,angelico's forebears4 ,fra ,,angelico ,,by ,,james ,,mason ,,illustrated ,,with ,,eight ,,reproductions ,,in ,,colour ,illustration3 ,,in ,,sempiternum4 ,,london3 ,t4 ,c4 ,e4 ,c4 ,,jack ,,new ,,york3 ,,frederick ,a4 ,,stokes ,,co4 ,,contents ,page ,i4 ,introduction #aa ,,ii4 ,the ,painter's ,early ,days #ba ,,iii4 ,in ,san ,marco #de ,,iv4 ,later ,years #eh ,v4 ,a ,retrospect #ga ,,vi4 ,conclusion #gh ,,list ,,of ,,illustrations ,plate ,i4 ,a ,group ,of ,angels ,frontispiece ,in the ,uffizi ,gallery1 ,florence ,page ,,ii4 ,a ,figure of ,christ #ad ,in the ,san ,marco ,convent1 ,florence ,,iii4 ,two ,angels with ,trumpets #bd ,in the ,uffizi ,gallery1 ,florence ,,iv4 ,christ as a ,pilgrim met by ,two ,dominicans #cd ,in the ,san ,marco ,convent1 ,florence ,v4 ,the ,coronation of the ,virgin #dj ,in the ,san ,marco ,convent1 ,florence ,,vi4 ,detail from the ,coronation of the ,virgin #ej ,in the ,uffizi ,gallery1 ,florence ,,vii4 ,the ,infant ,christ #fj ,in the ,san ,marco ,convent1 ,florence ,,viii4 ,st4 ,peter the ,martyr #gj ,in the ,san ,marco ,convent1 ,florence ,illustration ,i ,,introduction ,round the peaceful life and delicately imaginative work of ,guido da ,vicchio1 the ,florentine artist who is known to the world at large as ,fra ,angelico1 critics and laymen continue to wage a fierce controversy4 ,while few are heard to deny the merit of the artist's exquisite achievement1 it is hard to find1 even among those who are interested in early ,florentine religion and art1 men who can agree about ,fra ,angelico's positions between the monastery and the studio4 ,he was a man with a beautiful mind1 says one2 a light of the ,church1 a saint by temperament1 and he chanced to be a painter4 ,you are entirely wrong1 says the supporter of the opposing theory2 he was a ,heaven-sent artist who chanced to take the vows4 ,so the schools of art and theology rage furiously together1 after the fashion of the two men who approached a statue from opposite sides and quarrelled because one said that the shield carried by the bronze figure was made of gold1 and the other said it was made of silver4 ,incensed by each other's obstinacy they drew swords and fought until they both fell helpless to the ground1 only to be assured by a third traveller1 who chanced to pass by1 that the shield had gold on one side and silver on the other4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,ii4--,a ,,figure ,,of ,,christ ,detail from ,san ,marco's ,convent in ,florence4 ,this striking example of the master's mature art reveals in most favourable light his exquisite conception of ,christ4 ,although this is no more than part of a picture1 it has been reproduced here in order that the details of the handling may be appreciated4 ,standing well apart from the enthusiasts of both sides1 the average man sees that ,fra ,angelico was an artist of remarkable attainments and at the same time a devout1 ,god-fearing friar1 who seems to have deserved a great part at least of the praise he received from the honeyed pen of ,giorgio ,vasari4 ,naturally enough the modern artist finds in ,fra ,angelico1 or ,beato ,angelico as he is sometimes called1 one of the most interesting painters of the fifteenth century1 and he does not bother about the fact that his hero chanced to be a ,dominican brother4 ,very devout ,catholics1 on the other hand1 will approach ,fra ,angelico's work on the literary side1 and will be profoundly conscious of the fact that he was the first great artist of ,italy who1 realising the maternity of the ,madonna1 represented her as a mother full of human affection1 and the ,holy ,child as a beautiful baby boy4 ,it is the painter's abiding claim to our regard that he brought life to his walls and panels1 that they present the living1 palpitating sentiment of men and women and children1 that he painted for us the flowers that blossomed round him and the countryside through which he wandered in his hours of ease4 ,the technical achievement1 the gradual but steady improvement in dealing with composition and masses of colour1 the extraordinary change from the stiff early figures to the supple ones of the later years1 the splendid growth of the artistic sense1 from all these things the devotee turns aside4 ,he is not unconscious of the change1 for the results achieved by the painter account for the spectator's riper and fuller appreciation1 but he cannot analyse it4 ,of far more moment to him is the thought that all ,fra ,angelico's life and art were given to the service of the ,church1 that he laboured without ceasing to present the ,gospel stories in the most attractive form1 despising the material rewards that awaited such achievements as his4 ,ease1 luxury and the praise of the world at large the ,dominican dismissed with fine indifference1 believing that his reward would come when his task was ended1 and the work of his hands should praise him in the gates4 ,here1 his orthodox latter-day admirers say1 is the man of noble convictions and pure life1 who stood for all that was best in religion4 ,as he chanced to have the gifts of a painter1 he used those gifts to develop his mission4 ,painting with him was no more than a means to an end1 and that end was the glorification of ,god4 ,the dispute must needs be endless2 for we cannot see through the four centuries that separate us from the artist1 and every man takes from a picture some echo of what he brought to it4 ,in sober truth the matter is of far less importance than the makers of controversy imagine4 ,it should suffice both parties to agree that ,fra ,angelico was a great painter and a great man1 that his association with the ,church afforded him the opportunity of leaving behind him work that has a spiritual as well as artistic quality4 ,his altar-pieces and frescoes seem to breathe the serene atmosphere of an age of faith2 they tell of a quiet retired life amid surroundings that remain unrivalled to-day1 even though our horizon is widened and we know the ,new ,world as well as the ,old4 ,there are examples of the painter's art in the ,national ,gallery and in the ,louvre1 in ,rome and in ,perugia2 but ,florence holds by far the greatest number4 ,in ,florence we find the series painted to decorate the ,silver ,press of the ,annunziata1 and more than a dozen other works of importance4 ,the ,uffizi guards the famous ,madonna dei ,linajuoli and the ,coronation of the ,virgin from ,santa ,maria ,nuova4 ,the ,convent of ,san ,marco1 to which the ,brotherhood of ,san ,dominico went in #acdf from ,fiesole1 holds the famous frescoes in cloister1 chapter-house1 and cells1 and offers an illuminating guide to the painter's ideals and intentions1 in work that is the ripe product of middle age4 ,so it is to ,florence that one must go to study the painter1 though there are one or two works from his hands in ,fiesole across the valley1 while the collection in ,perugia is not to be overlooked1 and ,rome holds some of the best work of the artist's hand1 painted in the closing years4 ,for all the surging waves of tourists that break upon ,florence1 month in1 month out1 filling streets and galleries with discordant noises1 and giving them an air of unrest strangely out of keeping with their traditional aspect1 the city preserves sufficient of its old-time character to enable the student to study ,fra ,angelico's pictures in an atmosphere that would not have been altogether repugnant to the artist himself4 ,save in seasons when the city is full to overflowing the ,convent of ,san ,marco receives few visitors1 while in the ,academy and at the ,uffizi there are so many expressions of a more flamboyant art that there is seldom any lack of space round the panels ,angelico painted4 ,there are some days when ,san ,marco is altogether free from visitors1 and then the frescoed cells1 through which the great white glare of the day steals softly and subdued1 seem to be waiting for the devotees who will return no more1 and one looks anxiously to cloisters1 and garden and chapter-house for some signs of the life that rose so far above the varied emptiness of our own4 ,,ii ,,the ,,painter',s ,,early ,,days ,when ,guido da ,vicchio was born in the little fortified town from which he takes his name1 the town that looks out upon the ,apennines on the ,north and ,west1 and towards ,monte ,giovo on the ,south1 the ,medici family was just beginning to raise its head in ,florence4 ,salvestro di ,medici had originated the ,tumult of the ,ciompi2 the era of democratic government in the city was drawing to a close4 ,beyond the boundaries of ,florence the various states into which ,italy was divided were quarrelling violently among themselves4 ,the throne of ,st4 ,peter was rent by schism1 ,pope and anti-,pope were striving one against the other in fashion that was amazing and calculated to bring the ,papal power into permanent disrepute4 ,it was a period of uncertainty and unrest1 prolific in saints and sinners1 voluptuaries and ascetics4 ,no student of history will need to be reminded that it is to periods such as this that the world has learned to look for its remarkable men4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,iii4--,,two ,,angels ,,with ,,trumpets ,these panels from the ,uffizi ,gallery in ,florence are very popular examples of the master's early work1 and although they do not compare favourably with his later efforts1 they have achieved an extraordinary measure of popularity in ,italy1 and are to be seen on picture postcards in every ,italian city from ,genoa to ,naples4 7,see p4 #cb47 ,doubtless some echo of the surrounding strife penetrated beyond the walls of ,vicchio when ,guido was a little boy1 for he lived in a fortified town built for purposes of war4 ,it is not unreasonable to suppose that he may have seen enough of the stress and strife peculiar to the age to have turned his thoughts to other things4 ,if a lad1 born with a peaceable and affectionate disposition1 be brought into contact with violence at an early age1 his peaceful tendencies will be strengthened1 he will avoid all sources and scenes of strife4 ,we know nothing of the painter's boyhood1 but1 looking round at the conditions prevailing in ,florence1 it seems more than likely that the years were not quite restful4 ,in the absence of authentic information one may do no more than suggest that1 when the lad was newly in his teens1 he served in the studio of some local painter and discovered his own talent4 ,attempts have been made to give the teacher a name and a history1 but these efforts1 for all that they are interesting1 lack authenticity4 ,far away in ,florence the first faint light of the ,revival of ,learning was shining upon the more intelligent partisans of all the jarring factions4 ,the claims of the religious life were being put forward with extraordinary fervour and ability by a great teacher and preacher1 ,john the ,dominican1 who appears to have reformed the somewhat lax rules of his order4 ,we are told that he travelled on foot from town to town after the fashion of his time1 calling upon sinners to repent1 and summoning to join the brotherhood all those who regarded life as a dangerous and uncertain road to a greater and nobler future4 ,clerics looked askance at the signs of the times1 for although art and literature were coming into favour1 although ,florence was becoming the centre of a great humanist movement1 the change was associated with a recrudescence of pagan luxury and vices that boded ill for the maintenance of moral law4 ,perhaps ,john the ,dominican preached in ,vicchio1 perhaps ,guido and his younger brother ,benedetto heard him elsewhere1 but wherever the message was delivered it went home1 for it is recorded that in the year #adjg1 when ,fra ,angelico would have been just twenty years old1 he and ,benedetto travelled to the ,dominican ,convent on the hillside at ,fiesole and applied for admission to the order4 ,the brothers were welcomed and sent to serve their novitiate at ,cortona1 where some of ,fra ,angelico's earliest known work was painted4 ,they returned to ,fiesole in the following year1 but the ,dominican establishment there was soon broken up because the ,florentines had acknowledged ,alexander ,v4 as ,pope1 and the ,dominican ,brotherhood supported his opponent1 ,gregory ,,xi4 ,foligno and ,cortona were visited in turn4 ,in the former city the ,church of the ,dominicans remains to-day2 and so the brethren sought peace beyond ,fiesole1 until in #adah the ,council of ,constance healed the wounds of ,mother ,church4 ,then ,pope ,martin ,v4 came to live in ,florence1 where ,john ,,xxiii4 paid him obeisance1 and the ,dominican friars returned to their hillside home beyond the city1 that was then1 according to the historian ,bisticci1 in a most blissful state1 abounding in excellent men in every faculty1 and full of admirable citizens4 ,and now ,fra ,angelico1 as he must be called in future1 settled down to his first important work4 ,he had learned as much as his associates could teach him1 and had gathered sufficient strength of purpose1 intelligence and judgment1 to enable him to deal with the problems of his art as he thought best4 ,it may be said that ,fra ,angelico built the bridge by which medival art travelled into the country of the ,renaissance4 ,indeed1 he did more than this1 for having built the bridge1 he boldly passed over it in the last years of his life4 ,we can see in his work the unmistakable marks of the years of his labour4 ,he started out equipped with the heavy burden of all the conventions of medivalism4 ,against that drawback he could set independence of thought1 and a goodly measure of that ,florentine restlessness that led men to express themselves in every art-form known to the world4 ,no ,florentine artist of the ,quattrocento held that painting was enough if he could add sculpture to it1 or that sculpture would serve if architecture could be added to that4 ,had there been any other form of art-expression to their hands1 the ,florentines would have used it1 because they were as men who seek to speak in many languages4 ,this restlessness1 this prodigality of effort1 was to find its final expression in ,leonardo da ,vinci1 who entered the world as the ,dominican friar was leaving it4 ,in the early days ,fra ,angelico must have been a miniaturist4 ,vasari speaks of him as being pre-eminent as painter1 miniaturist1 and religious man1 and the painting of miniatures cramped the painter's style in fashion that detracts from the merits of the earlier pictures1 but of course ,fra ,angelico is by no means the only artist to whom miniature painting has been a pitfall4 ,professor ,langton ,douglas has pointed out1 in his admirable and exhaustive work on ,fra ,angelico1 that the artist was profoundly influenced by the great painters and architects of his time1 and has even used this undisputed fact as an aid to ascertain the approximate date of certain pictures4 ,we can hardly wonder that the influence should be felt by a sensitive artist1 who responded readily to outside forces1 when we consider the quality of the work that sculpture and architecture were giving to the world in those early days of the ,quattrocento4 ,men of genius dominated every path in life and ,florence held far more than a fair share of them4 ,among the works belonging to the years before ,fra ,angelico went to ,san ,marco1 and painted the frescoes that stand for his middle period at its best1 are the ,altar-piece at ,cortona1 ,the ,annunciation and ,the ,last ,judgment1 in the ,academy of ,florence1 and the famous ,madonna da ,linajuoli1 with its twelve angels playing divers musical instruments on the frame round the central panel4 ,these angels have made the ,madonna of the ,flax-workers the best known of all the painter's works4 ,so long the delight of the public eye they are very harshly criticised to-day1 and not without reason1 for doubtless they are flat and stiff productions enough4 ,but they have a certain nave beauty of their own1 and because they have done more than work of far greater merit to spread the fame of ,fra ,angelico1 because they have been the source of great delight to countless people despised and rejected of art critics1 it has seemed reasonable to present some of them in this little volume1 side by side with those more important works of the master to which so many artists of the ,renaissance are indebted4 ,we may rest assured that to the painter the angels were very real angels indeed1 the best that his art and devotion could express4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,iv4--,,christ ,,as ,a ,,pilgrim ,,met ,,by ,,two ,,dominicans ,this is a fresco in the cloister of ,san ,marco at ,florence4 ,it will be seen that ,christ holds a pilgrim's staff which cuts the picture in half1 and the right hand of the foremost ,dominican and the left hand of ,christ1 extended across the staff1 form a cross4 ,other important works of this first period1 which may be taken to range from #adjg to #adce1 are the altar-pieces known as the ,madonna of ,cortona1 the ,madonna of ,perugia1 and the ,madonna of the ,annelena1 the last-named being in the ,academy at ,florence4 ,critics and artists can divide the painter's life into four or more divisions expressed to them by changes in his style2 but a simpler division suffices here4 ,looking at ,fra ,angelico with eyes that the nineteenth century has trained1 we speak of this early work as of less importance than what followed1 but in so doing it is quite easy to speak or write as several of his critics have done in very unreasonable fashion4 ,certainly the artist1 who in the last years of his life painted the picture of ,st4 ,lorenzo distributing alms1 and the scenes in the life of ,st4 ,stephen1 has travelled very far from the painter of the ,last ,judgment that may be seen in ,florence2 but1 even in the early days of ,cortona1 ,fra ,angelico was a modern of the moderns4 ,he was a man who worked and thought far in advance of his times1 who had the wide outlook that we have learned to associate with all the ,florentine artists of the ,quattrocento1 and he left the boundaries of the painter's art far wider than he found them4 ,doubtless many of his contemporaries found his work daring and even immoral in so far as it departed from the traditions that had satisfied his predecessors4 ,he had an individuality that expressed itself in fashion unmistakable before he was thirty years of age1 and developed steadily down to the last year of his life4 ,divorced by his calling from the cares and joys of other men1 he responded with delight to the larger and more general aspects of life4 ,fra ,angelico had a keen and eager eye for natural beauty2 he seems to have gone to the countryside for all the inspiration that remained to seek when the sacred writings were laid aside4 ,the maternal aspect with which he endowed the ,madonna1 who had hitherto been as stiff and formless as though carved out of wood1 testifies to the artist's recognition of maternity as he saw it among the simple peasants his order served4 ,he restored humanity to ,mother and ,child4 ,the child-like ,christ1 no longer a doll but a real bambino1 tells us how deeply the painter entered into the spirit of a life that the rules of his order forbade him to share4 ,just as some women who do not marry seem to keep for the world at large the measure of loving sympathy that would have been concentrated upon their children2 so this painter monk1 who had paid his vows to poverty1 chastity1 and obedience1 could express upon his canvas the affection and the sentiment that would have been bestowed under other circumstances upon a chosen helpmate4 ,lacking the joys of healthy domesticity he turned to ,nature with a loving eye and an intelligence that cannot be over-estimated and1 if he knew hours wherein1 manlike1 he mourned for the life forbidden1 the consolation was at hand4 ,the ,earth ,mother consoled him4 ,in his earliest canvases he expresses his love of flowers1 the love of a child for the sights that make the earliest appeal to our sense of beauty4 ,his angels are set in flowering fields1 they carry blossoms that bloom in the fields beyond ,cortona1 and upon the hillside of ,fiesole4 ,clearly the painter saw ,paradise around him4 ,roses and pinks seem to be his favourite flowers1 he paints them with a loving care1 knowing them in bud and in full leaf and1 just as he went to ,nature for the decorative side of his art1 so in a way he may be said to have gone to ,nature in her brightest and most joyous moods for his colours4 ,his palette seems to have borrowed its glory from the rainbow--the gold1 the green1 the blue1 and the red are surely as bright and clear in his pictures as they are in the great and gleaming arch that ,easterns call in their own picturesque fashion ,the ,bride of the ,rain4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,v4--,,the ,,coronation ,,of ,,the ,,virgin ,this is a detail of a famous picture in ,san ,marco4 ,it is a fresco in a cell of the ,south ,corridor4 ,christ is seen crowning the ,virgin1 the clouds surrounding them are rainbow tinted1 and below the rainbow six saints are ranged in a semi-circle4 ,in all his work ,fra ,angelico showed himself an innovator1 a man who1 in thinking for himself1 would not allow his own clear vision to be obscured by the conventions that bound men of smaller mentality and less significant achievement4 ,at the same time he was very observant of the progress of his peers1 particularly in architecture1 and students of this branch of art cannot fail to notice his response to the developments brought about by ,michelozzo and ,brunelleschi4 ,even in the first period of his art he would have seemed a daring innovator to his contemporaries for1 all unconsciously he was taking his share in shaping the great ,renaissance movement that left so many timid souls outside the radius of its illumination4 ,in the early days he approached the human body with some diffidence1 and though a greater courage in this regard is the keynote of ,renaissance painting1 the earlier timidity is hardly to be wondered at when we consider the attitude of the religious houses towards humanity in its physical aspect1 and how necessary it was to avoid anything approaching sensuous imagery throughout that anxious period of transition4 ,as he grew older and more confident of his powers1 ,fra ,angelico seems to have freed himself from some of the restrictions that beset an artist who is also a religious4 ,he1 too1 learned to glorify the human form4 ,his love for ,nature remained constant throughout all the years of his life2 he was sufficiently daring to introduce real landscape into his pictures1 and by so doing1 to become one of the fathers of landscape painting4 ,his angels have a setting in the ,italy he knew best1 the flowers that strew their paths are those he may have gathered in the convent garden2 for even his vivid and exalted imagination could not create aught more beautiful than those that grew so freely and wild by the wayside1 or were tended by his brethren in ,san ,marco4 ,we find throughout the pictures a suggestion that the life of the artist was a serene and tranquil one that1 while he was actively concerned with things of art throughout the district he knew best1 he was sheltered by the house of the brotherhood from the tumult and turmoil that beset ,fiesole1 ,cortona1 and ,foligno in the days of his youth4 ,when he went to ,san ,marco in ,florence1 where his most enduring memorial remains to this day1 ,fra ,angelico was a man of experience and an independence so far in advance of his time1 that some of the work he had accomplished comes to us to-day with a suggestion of absolute modernity in thought if not in treatment4 ,no beauty that our more sophisticated age can reveal to us had passed him by1 he paints ,nature as ,milton painted it when he wrote the ,masque of ,comus and l',allegro4 ,and this manner of painting1 so different from that of men who mix themselves with the world and surrender to its fascinations1 is the painting that endures4 ,,iii ,,in ,,san ,,marco ,it was in #adce1 and ,fra ,angelico was approaching his fiftieth year1 when the brotherhood of ,san ,dominico quitted their convent in ,fiesole and went to find a new home in ,florence4 ,with the turn of the year they left a temporary resting-place in ,san ,giorgio ,oltr' ,arno and went into the ruined monastery of ,san ,marco4 ,this house appears to have belonged to the brotherhood of ,san ,silvestro whose behaviour had been quite fitted to the fifteenth century in ,florence1 but was not altogether creditable to a religious house4 ,pope ,eugenius ,,iv41 anxious to purify all the religious houses1 gave ,san ,marco to the ,dominicans with the consent of ,cosimo di ,medici1 and a very poor gift it was at the time1 for the dormitory had been destroyed by fire1 and hastily-made wooden cabins could not keep out the rain and cold wind4 ,there was a great mortality among the brethren4 ,once again the ,pope ,eugenius interceded with the powerful ruler of ,florence1 and ,cosimo sent for his well-beloved architect ,michelozzo and commissioned him to rebuild the monastery4 ,naturally enough ,fra ,angelico1 whose feeling for architecture was finely developed1 came under the influence of the architect1 and when the building was complete he was commissioned to adorn the walls with frescoes that should keep before the brethren the actualities of the religious life1 and enable them to feel that the ,spiritual ,presence was in their midst4 ,cosimo's munificence had not stopped with the presentation of the building to the brotherhood4 ,he equipped the monastery with a famous library1 provided all the service books that were necessary1 and gave the brethren for librarian a man who was destined to ascend the ,fisherman's ,throne and keep the keys of ,heaven4 ,the books were illuminated by ,fra ,angelico's brother ,benedetto1 who had taken the vows with him1 indeed some critics are of opinion that ,fra ,angelico himself assisted in the work1 but for this belief there appears to be but a very small foundation4 ,the ,pope ,eugenius1 compelled by the quarrels of the great houses in ,rome to leave the ,eternal ,city1 came to ,florence and saw ,fra ,angelico's work there1 and this visit paved the way for the painter's sojourn in ,rome in the last years of his life4 ,like so many of his contemporaries1 ,eugenius could find time amid the distractions of a stormy and difficult existence to keep a well-trained eye upon the artistic developments going on around him1 and he did but wait for peace and opportunity to show himself as keen a patron of art as that terrible pontiff1 ,julius della ,rovere1 for whom ,michelangelo was to work in the ,sistine ,chapel4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,vi4--,,detail ,,from ,,the ,,coronation ,,of ,,the ,,virgin ,this is a detail from one of the pictures that have excited a great deal of criticism4 ,professor ,douglas calls the work the last and greatest of ,fra ,angelico's glorified miniatures4 ,in the work as it stands in the ,uffizi to-day1 ,christ is seen placing a jewel in the ,virgin's crown4 ,right and left stretches the ,angelic choir1 below there is a great gathering of saints4 ,to realise the life that the painter saw around him in the days when the ,dominican brotherhood first went to ,san ,marco1 it is necessary to turn to some historian of ,florence in an endeavour to recall the splendour and stateliness of the city's life4 ,the limits of space forbid any attempt1 however modest1 to picture ,florence in detail as it was in those days1 though the subject could scarcely be more tempting to the pen4 ,the pomp and circumstance of life were not passed over by the painter1 whose extraordinary receptivity found so much more in ,florence than in ,fiesole for its exercise4 ,some echo1 however1 subdued to convent walls1 lingers in the city to-day where ,san ,marco preserves its great painter's reputation1 and tells us that he was not indifferent to the sights and sounds beyond its gates4 ,a few of the frescoes have lost a little of their pristine beauty and yet1 for all the ravages of time1 the most faded among them can suggest much of the charm they possessed when they were painted4 ,it is in the open cloisters1 of course1 that the greatest damage has been done1 and the great ,crucifixion in the chapter-house has not escaped lightly2 but in the cells where the work is more protected1 time has dealt lightly with the frescoes and the two or three little panels that help to make the friar's lasting monument4 ,good judges have pointed out that the great ,crucifixion in the chapter-house1 the largest work of the painter1 was never completed1 and that the red background was intended to serve as a bed for the blue that was never put on4 ,nobody can say why this fine work was abandoned1 and reproduction in colour is impossible4 ,even a detail would be unsatisfactory1 but one of the lunettes from the cloister is given here4 ,it represents ,christ as a pilgrim meeting two ,dominican brothers1 and gives an excellent suggestion of ,fra ,angelico at his best1 revealing the deep feeling of the religious man1 and the skill of the artist blended together in happiest and most inspired union4 ,to have seen the picture in his mind1 the artist must have been a deeply religious man2 to have expressed the vision as he has expressed it in terms of line and colour1 the devotee must have been a great artist4 ,from one of the cells in ,san ,marco the chief part of another picture has been reproduced in these pages4 ,it represents the ,coronation of the ,virgin4 ,christ seated upon a white cloud is placing a crown upon the ,virgin's head2 there is a rainbow border with six saints4 ,in order that the beauty of the central figures may be seen1 no more than a part of the picture is given here4 ,it is the more important part1 for the saints are conventional figures1 each with the hands uplifted in adoration1 each with a halo round his head4 ,the beauty of the stories that ,fra ,angelico sets before us was as true to him as the beauty of the flowers he painted1 and the landscape that met his eyes whenever he walked abroad4 ,the modern world1 whether it doubt or believe1 cannot but recognise that the artist of ,san ,marco has succeeded as much by his faith as by his art4 ,the other frescoes of the ,dominican ,house must be left for the fortunate minority who can visit them1 but these two will be found to represent well and truthfully both the religious idea and the artistic achievement4 ,to realise their merits to the full one must not fail to bear in mind the development of painting at the time when they were painted4 ,for the men who came after ,angelico the task was easier2 he had paved the way for them4 ,in the days when ,san ,marco was decorated1 the painter had very little to add to his technical knowledge1 and nothing at all to his feeling for the beauty of the ,gospel stories1 and few artists of the fifteenth century have been so fortunate as to collect their best work in one place where it could remain undisturbed throughout the ages4 ,naturally enough it must pass--cloisters and chapter-house show signs of the times all too clearly4 ,the ,crucifixion is faded not so badly as ,leonardo's ,last ,supper in the ,santa ,maria della ,grazie of ,milan1 but still seriously1 nor can all the lire of faithful but hurried tourists restore its charm4 ,it is in the cells that the work of ,fra ,angelico will linger longest1 and it is pleasant to speculate upon the debt that devout monks must have owed to their artist brother1 who could give them such exquisite embodiments of the truth as he saw it to brighten their hard lives and assure them1 even in hours of doubt and mental trouble1 of the joys that would be associated with the latter end4 ,san ,marco1 then1 may be regarded as an exquisite and enduring memorial of the middle period of ,fra ,angelico's life4 ,the saint that was in him dreamed dreams and saw visions1 the artist that was in him expressed them in fashion that calls for admiration even in these days when the work done is nearly four hundred years old1 and the thought that gave it birth is no longer held in such universal esteem4 ,the devotion that inspired the themes1 the simplicity of his handling1 the beauty of his colour1 the love of ,nature that was expressed as often as the picture would permit1 the reverential feeling in treatment that was bound to communicate itself to the spectator1 all these qualities make the work remarkable1 and help us to see how strong was the faith that inspired and kept the artist happy in the cloisters when1 had he wished to turn his talent to other purposes1 he might have had riches and honour4 ,leading rulers of men were building palaces in every great city1 conquerors and statesmen were seeking to excel one another in tasteful and costly display4 ,of those who could have commanded wealth1 honour1 and comfort1 the ,dominican friar was among the first4 ,but it sufficed ,fra ,angelico to serve neither kings nor princes1 but to choose for his worship the ,king of kings ,who made the heavens and the earth and all that is therein4 ,,iv ,,later ,,years ,there is a great temptation to linger awhile in ,san ,marco with the friar1 for even to-day the place has not lost its appeal1 and there are sufficient landmarks in the surrounding city to enable us to trace the influence of men who were at once the contemporaries and inspirers of his genius4 ,only the limits of space intervene to forbid too long a stay in ,florence1 and as the painter's later years were spent in ,rome we must follow him there4 ,for those who wish to linger in the monastery there are books in plenty1 some dealing with the ,quattrocento1 others dealing with the ,popes1 others with ,fra ,angelico himself4 ,this outline of a painter's life seeks to do no more than introduce him to those who may be interested2 it is not intended for those who wish to follow him beyond the limits of a modest appreciation4 ,vasari1 ,crowe1 and ,cavalcaselle1 ,professor ,langton ,douglas1 ,bernhard ,berenson and others will supply the more complete and detailed accounts of the painter's life and works1 and the careful reader will find sufficient references to other writers to direct him to every side issue4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,vii4--,,the ,,infant ,,christ ,from the ,convent of ,san ,marco4 ,this picture gives a fair idea of the exquisite sweetness and delicacy with which the painter handled the subject of the child ,christ4 ,he does not treat this subject very often1 but when he does the result is in every way delightful4 ,pope ,eugenius ,,iv41 who visited ,florence when he was exiled from ,rome1 had settled for a while in ,bologna until the anti-,pope ,felix ,v4 fell from power1 and had then hastened back to ,rome1 and settled down to beautify the ,vatican4 ,like all the great men of his generation he felt the spirit of the ,renaissance in the air1 and desired no more than leisure in order to respond to it4 ,he remembered the clever artist1 whose work had charmed him in the days of his ,florentine exile1 and sent an invitation to ,fra ,angelico to come to ,rome and decorate one of the chapels in the ,vatican4 ,in those days one travelled in ,italy1 even more slowly than one does to-day by the ,italian express trains--strange as the statement may seem to moderns who know the country well--and by the time that the friar had received the summons and had responded to it1 ,eugenius ,,iv4 would appear to have relinquished the keys to his successor4 ,happily the new ,pope ,nicholas ,v4 was a scholar1 a gentleman1 and a statesman1 as responsive to the new ideas as his predecessor in office4 ,he gathered the best men of his time to the ,vatican1 which he proposed to rebuild1 and he entered upon a programme that could scarcely have been carried out had he enjoyed a much longer lease of life than ,providence granted4 ,unfortunately he had no more than eight years to rule at ,st4 ,peter's1 and that did not serve for much more than a beginning of his great scheme4 ,he was succeeded by ,tomaso ,parentucelli1 that ardent scholar whom ,cosimo di ,medici had appointed custodian of the collection of ,,mss4 that he gave to ,san ,marco in ,florence when the ,dominicans took possession4 ,as it happened ,parentucelli himself was in the last year of his life when he ascended the throne of ,st4 ,peter1 and his schemes1 whether for the aid and development of scholarship or art1 saw no fruition4 ,but for all that ,nicholas ,v4 ruled for no more than eight years in ,rome1 he did much for ,fra ,angelico1 who painted the frescoes in the ,pope's private studio1 and decorated a chapel in ,st4 ,peter's that was afterwards destroyed4 ,this loss is of course a very serious one1 and suggests that those who ruled in the ,vatican were not always as careful as they might have been of works that would have outlived them so long had they been fairly treated4 ,it is very unfortunate that art should suffer from the caprices of the unintelligent4 ,when ,savonarola1 also a ,dominican monk1 roused the ,florentines to a sense of their lapses from grace a few years after ,fra ,angelico's death1 they made a bonfire in the streets of ,florence of art work that was considered immoral4 ,to sacrifice great work in the name of morality is bad enough1 to destroy it for the sake of building operations is quite unpardonable4 ,in ,rome the summer heat is well-nigh unbearable4 ,even to-day the voluntary prisoner of the ,vatican retires to a villa in the far end of his gardens towards the end of ,june1 and none who can leave the city cares to remain in it when ,may has gone1 and the ,tiber becomes a thread1 and fever haunts its banks4 ,fra ,angelico felt the burden of the summer and wished to suspend his work for a while4 ,it so happened that he received an invitation from ,orvieto to decorate the ,duomo there during the months of ,june1 ,july1 and ,august4 ,the first arrangement was that he should go there every summer to escape the dog-days in ,rome1 but for reasons not known to us the visit did not extend beyond one year1 and the frescoes that he had painted were seriously injured by rain1 and were not completed until ,luca ,signorelli took them in hand half a century later4 ,the little work that is attributed to the painter's brush to-day in ,orvieto need not detain us here4 ,the frescoes in ,rome represent the summit of ,fra ,angelico's achievement1 but they have not escaped the somewhat destructive hand of nineteenth-century ,german criticism2 one eminent authority having declared that they are not by ,fra ,angelico at all1 but have been painted by pupils1 ,benozzo ,gozzoli receiving special mention in this connection4 ,it is not necessary to take this criticism too seriously4 ,the hands may be the hands of ,esau1 but the voice is ,jacob's voice4 ,the artist may have received some assistance from pupils1 the backgrounds may owe something to another hand2 there was no feeling1 ethical or artistic1 to keep assistants from coming to the aid of their master1 but the whole composition and the whole feeling of the frescoes proclaim the friar4 ,the subjects are incidents in the life of ,st4 ,stephen and ,st4 ,lorenzo1 ending1 of course1 after the inevitable fashion of the time1 with a representation of the martyrdom4 ,for once these martyrdoms have a suggestion of reality4 ,in the early days of ,fra ,angelico's work his representations of martyrdoms and suffering were so nave that they could hardly do more than provoke a smile4 ,his idea of hell was very simple1 and when he wished to be very bitter indeed--to express his anger at its fullest--he peopled the nether world with brothers of the great rival order of ,st4 ,francis4 ,for the founder of that order1 ,angelico had the greatest love and admiration2 who indeed could refuse to pay such tribute even to-day8 ,but all the brethren did not live up to the rule of their founder1 and the ,dominican painter's rebuke seems very quaint in our eyes1 though doubtless it made a great sensation when it was administered4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,viii4--,,st4 ,,peter ,,the ,,martyr ,this is a fresco from the ,cloisters of ,san ,marco and represents ,st4 ,peter1 a saint whose appeal to the artist was very great ,the fact that the saint has his finger to his lips may be taken as the artist's method of emphasising the rule of silence of his ,order4 ,in fact the ,st4 ,peter ,martyr is generally called the ,silenzio1 and like so many of the artist's pictures must be taken to have a special spiritual significance4 ,in ,rome the painter's feeling for natural beauty reaches the height of its expression1 indeed one feels that every department of his work is at its best and highest there4 ,after his departure from the ,eternal ,city1 the frescoes finished1 and himself on the shady side of his sixtieth year1 the intervening centuries descend like a cloud1 blotting out the greater part of the record4 ,the cloud lifts for a moment to show us ,beato ,angelico1 ,prior of the ,dominican ,monastery at ,fiesole1 to which more than forty years ago he had claimed admission as a novice1 and then he is back again in ,rome in the chief convent of his order1 ,santa ,maria ,sopra ,minerva4 ,there the light that had burned so brilliantly for nearly half a century1 illuminating the most alluring aspects of the ,christian faith1 paled and went out4 ,the body was laid to rest in the convent ,church1 near the tomb of ,st4 ,catherine1 and it is said that the epitaph was composed by the ,pope4 ,thereafter the order of ,st4 ,dominic produced no great personality until it gave to the world a man of very different stamp in ,fra ,girolamo ,savonarola4 ,v ,a ,,retrospect ,in art as in music and literature the path of the innovator is beset by difficulties1 and if1 among all the movements that claim our attention to-day1 that of the ,renaissance in fifteenth-century ,italy is the most fascinating1 it is because the difficulties were conquered so brilliantly4 ,the century seemed to breed a race of men that enjoyed the inestimable advantage of knowing what they wanted1 and were determined to succeed4 ,it did not matter that the paths they trod were new4 ,each man had mapped out a line of development for himself and went strenuously along his chosen road1 quite certain that he would find the goal of his ambition at the journey's end4 ,curiously enough when the paths were those of conquest there was always a road leading from them to patronage of the arts4 ,this may be because art in those days was largely devoted to the service of the ,church1 and when a man had acquired all that theft or conquest could give him1 and realised that he could not hope to wage successful war upon time1 he began to think of his latter days4 ,few men of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries could approach death with confidence1 and they sought to put something to their credit against the ,day of ,judgment4 ,to beautify religious houses1 to build houses for ,holy ,brotherhoods1 these were the simplest and most obvious ways of placating the ,recording ,angel1 and to the uneasiness of rich and unscrupulous men the ,church owes not a few of her most remarkable monuments4 ,moreover1 even the tyrants wished to have some enduring memorial4 ,cosimo di ,medici1 who gave ,san ,lorenzo and ,san ,marco to ,florence1 remarked to his historian ,bisticci1 ,fifty years will not pass before we are driven out of ,florence1 but these buildings will remain4 ,after all we can forget and forgive the superstition and self-glorification that gave so much enduring wealth to the great cities of ,italy4 ,doubtless there were many failures among the ,renaissance artists2 it is hardly an exaggeration to say that in painting alone there are scores of men belonging to the ,quattrocento who have left us nothing but their names4 ,victory was to the fittest2 they alone survived and left the impress of their genius upon their own and succeeding generations4 ,if we look for a moment to ,fra ,angelico's contemporaries we see at once that it was an age of great men4 ,filippo ,brunelleschi was born ten years before ,angelico1 and lived until the year #addf4 ,he designed the dome of the ,cathedral of ,florence1 the ,cloisters of ,san ,lorenzo1 the ,sagrestia ,vecchia1 the ,church of ,st4 ,lawrence1 and other works too numerous to mention4 ,donatello1 whose work to this hour is all a wonder and a great desire2 ,ghiberti1 to whom ,florence owes the gates of the ,baptistery2 ,michelozzo1 who built the ,medici ,palace and the ,convent of ,san ,marco1 and was associated with ,luca della ,robbia in making the bronze gates of the ,sacristy of the ,duomo1 belong to the same period1 and were intimately associated with ,brunelleschi in much of the work that makes ,florence one of the show-places of the world to-day4 ,luca della ,robbia was born when ,fra ,angelico was no more than twelve years old4 ,masolino1 ,masaccio1 and ,fra ,filippo ,lippi were among the painters of ,fra ,angelico's own time1 while1 when he was approaching middle age1 ,gian ,bellini and ,andrea ,mantegna were growing up1 and when ,fra ,angelico died1 ,florence was full of great artists who were destined to carry on his work4 ,of course1 the literary activity was as great as the activity of the artists2 one recalls with a thrill of emotion that ,petrarch and ,boccaccio were only just numbered among the dead--their work held all its earliest freshness4 ,if at first sight these matters seem to be outside the scope of a brief consideration of ,fra ,angelico's life and work1 second thought will justify the inclusion even in these narrow limits4 ,every artist is in a sense an echo of his environment and1 although ,fra ,angelico must have passed the greater part of his life within monastery walls1 yet the evidence of his pictures must convince all who look with discerning eyes1 that he was profoundly influenced by the life that went on around him4 ,the artistic and literary movements of the time affected him deeply and1 in his own modest way he was constantly striving to enlarge the boundaries of his art1 to develop its achievements in a manner that must have made even his early pictures appear as dangerous as the works of artists like ,manet and ,degas seemed to their contemporaries4 ,had he lived in other times1 had his lines been cast in some quiet city to which no echo of the new movement in art and letters could penetrate1 ,fra ,angelico might still have painted interesting pictures2 but he would not have got beyond his earliest manner1 indeed he might not have attained to what is best in that4 ,it would have been so very easy for a narrow-minded superior to say that the innovations were wrong1 that the human figure in all its beauty must not be expressed by a painter when presenting ,virgin and ,child1 that the old formal way was the right one4 ,there could have been no appeal against such a judgment4 ,doubtless many a budding genius has been nipped in this fashion by short-sighted authority4 ,how happy then was the friar with time and place united in his service4 ,,vi ,,conclusion ,fra ,angelico has placed artists and laymen in his debt1 and as far as the latter are concerned the cause is obvious enough4 ,a certain conviction of the truth of every story he had to tell shines like a bright light through all his pictures2 they are a force for the development and strengthening of belief4 ,even to-day one finds among the crowd of tourists that does ,san ,marco in half-an-hour or more1 a few visitors whose interest is of another kind1 while there is no lack of admirers for the work to be seen in the ,uffizi1 though much of it belongs to the earliest part of the artist's life4 ,so it happens that the pictures have a well-defined literary and spiritual value1 and it is not surprising to think that the ,church has granted posthumous honours to the man whose work has brought so much honour in its train4 ,artists acknowledge a great debt to the friar1 but a debt of another kind4 ,as ,professor ,langton ,douglas has pointed out in his admirable and exhaustive work upon ,fra ,angelico1 the friar1 with his contemporaries1 ,hubert and ,jan ,van ,eyck1 are the fathers of modern landscape4 ,the new movement was continued and developed by ,verrocchio and ,da ,vinci on the one side1 and by ,perugino and ,raphael on the other4 ,then again ,fra ,angelico made a definite movement towards portrait painting1 by giving the likeness of some of his friends and patrons to saints and martyrs4 ,this was yet another of the daring innovations that marked the opening of the ,quattrocento and1 to realise how much it stood for we must consider for a moment the comparative barrenness of modern art1 which in the hands of its most popular artists has little or nothing that is new to say to us4 ,indeed it may be remarked with regret that great praise often attaches to the man who goes back to the fifteenth and sixteenth century1 although a little reflection would enable every thoughtful person to see that an art1 forced to fall back upon traditions of the past1 is far from being in a flourishing condition4 ,the plates are printed by ,,bemrose ,,sons1 ,,ltd41 ,derby and ,london ,the text at the ,,ballantyne ,,press1 ,edinburgh