,,books ,,by ,,the ,,same ,,author-- ,,history ,,of ,,italian ,,painting ,,in ,,the ,,renaissance ,,the ,,collectors ,,homer ,,martin1 ,,poet ,,in ,,landscape ,,estimates ,,in ,,art ,,the ,,portraits ,,of ,,dante ,illustration3 ,,giotto3 ,,dormition ,,of ,,the ,,virgin ,berlin ,a ,,history ,,of ,,italian ,,painting ,by ,,frank ,,jewett ,,mather1 ,,jr4 ,,ph4,d41 ,l4,h4,d4 ,professor of ,art and ,archaeology in ,princeton ,university ,,london ,,stanley ,,paul ,,co41 ,,ltd4 #ca1 ,,essex ,,street1 ,,strand1 ,w4 ,c4 #b #aibc ,printed in the ,united ,states of ,america ,to ,b4 ,b4 ,,in ,,friendship ,,preface ,this book has grown out of lectures which were delivered at the ,cleveland ,art ,museum in #aiai-bj4 ,there ,i had ideal hearers1 beginners who wanted to learn and were willing to follow a serious discussion4 ,since ,i aim at the same sort of a reader now1 ,i have only slightly retouched and amplified the original manuscript4 ,this is frankly a beginner's book4 ,i have had to omit whatever might confuse the novice1 including many painters inherently delightful4 ,controversial problems for the same reason have been when possible avoided4 ,when1 however1 ,i have had to cope with such1 ,i have depended more on my own eyes and judgment than on the written words of others4 ,but the latest literature has also been used1 so that even the adept should here and there find something to his purpose4 ,for opinions on contested points1 ,i have given my authority or personal reason in notes1 which1 in order not to clutter up the text1 are printed at the end4 ,by the same token1 hints on reading and private study are tucked away in the last pages where they will not bother readers who do not need or want them4 ,while ,i hope the book will be welcome in the classroom1 ,i have had as much in mind the intelligent traveller in ,europe and the private student4 ,throughout ,i have had before me the kind of introduction to ,italian painting that would have been helpful to me thirty years ago in those days of bewildered enthusiasm when ,i was making my ,grand ,tour4 ,,the ,,author ,,contents ,,chapter ,,page ,i4 ,,giotto ,,and ,,the ,,new ,,florentine ,,humanism #a ,,ii4 ,,siena ,,and ,,the ,,continuing ,,of ,,the ,,mediaeval ,,style #ei ,,iii4 ,,masaccio ,,and ,,the ,,new ,,realism #aji ,,iv4 ,,fra ,,filippo ,,lippi ,,and ,,the ,,new ,,narrative ,,style #aeg ,v4 ,,dawn ,,of ,,the ,,golden ,,age3 ,,botticelli ,,and ,,leonardo ,,da ,,vinci #bja ,,vi4 ,,the ,,golden ,,age3 ,,raphael ,,and ,,michelangelo #bfc ,,vii4 ,,venetian ,,painting ,,before ,,titian #cbc ,,viii4 ,,titian ,,and ,,venetian ,,painting ,,in ,,the ,,renaissance #chi ,,ix4 ,,the ,,realists ,,and ,,eclectics #dea ,,notes #dgc ,,hints ,,for ,,reading #dhi ,,index #dia ,,chapter ,i ,,giotto ,,and ,,the ,,new ,,florentine ,,humanism ,the ,florentine ideal of ,mass and ,emotion--,its ,humanism--,the ,city of ,florence about #acjj--,the ,position and ,methods of the ,painter--,the ,general demand for ,religious ,painting--,accelerated by the religious reforms of #abjj1 and changed in character--,insufficiency of the current ,italo-,byzantine ,style--,experiments towards a new manner3 ,duccio and the ,sienese1 ,cimabue1 ,cavallini and the 8,isaac ,master0--,giotto--,immediate followers of ,giotto1 ,andrea ,orcagna and the return to sculptural methods--,later ,panoramists1 ,andrea ,bonaiuti and the ,spanish ,chapel4 ,leonardo da ,vinci1 from the summit of ,florentine art1 has written 8,what should first be judged in seeing if a picture be good is whether the movements are appropriate to the mind of the figure that moves40 ,and again he has expressed somewhat differently the highest merits of painting as 8the creation of relief 7projection7 where there is none40 ,for ,florence1 at least1 these notions are authoritative1 and they may well serve as text for most that ,i shall say about ,florentine painting4 ,to give significant emotion convincing mass--this was the problem of the ,florentine painter from the moment when ,giotto about the year #acjj began to find himself1 to that day more than two centuries and a half later when ,michelangelo died4 ,no ,florentine master of a strenuous sort ever failed to perceive this mission1 and no unstrenuous artist was ever fully ,florentine4 ,this twofold aim--humanistic1 in choice and mastery of emotion2 scientific1 in search for those indications which most vividly express mass where no mass is--this twofold endeavor ,florence shared with the only greater city of art1 ,athens4 ,thus ,florence is to the art of today what ,athens was to that of classical antiquity4 ,in these two little communal republics were discovered and worked out to perfection all our ideals of humanistic beauty4 ,florence saw ,god1 ,his ,divine ,son1 the ,blessed ,virgin1 and the saints quite as ,athens had seen the gods of ,olympus1 the demi-gods1 and the heroes simply as men and women of the noblest physical and moral type4 ,both agreed in magnifying and idealizing the people one ordinarily sees4 ,for greater beauty1 ,athens represented them nude or lightly draped2 for greater dignity1 ,florence chose the solemn garb of the ,roman forum4 ,whether pagan or ,christian1 the guardians of a people's morality were to be above haste1 excitement1 or any transient emotion4 ,they were to express intensities of feeling1 but a feeling more composed1 permanent1 and disciplined1 than that of every day4 ,judgment and criticism count for as much in both arts as emotional inspiration4 ,the great ,florentine artist is a thinker2 he is often poet and scientist1 sculptor and architect1 besides being a painter4 ,behind his painting lies always a problem of mind1 and as sheer personalities the greatest painters of ,siena1 ,venice1 and ,lombardy often seem mere nobodies when compared even with the minor ,florentines4 ,we should know something about a city that produced personality so generously1 and before considering ,giotto1 the first great painter ,florence bred1 we shall do well to look at ,florence as he saw it about the year #acjj1 being a man in the thirties4 ,florence was then as now a little city1 its population about #ajj1jjj souls1 but it was growing4 ,the old second wall of about two miles' circuit was already condemned in favor of a turreted circuit of over six4 ,up the ,arno the forest-clad ridge of ,vallombrosa was much as it is today2 down the valley the jagged peaks of the ,carrara mountains barred the way to the sea4 ,the surrounding vineyards and olive orchards by reason of encroaching forest were less extensive than they are now1 but through every gate and from every tower one could see smiling fields guarded by battlemented villas4 ,in the city1 the fortress towers of the old nobility1 partizans mostly of the foreign ,emperor1 rose thickly1 but already dismantled at their fighting tops1 for the people1 meaning strictly the ruling merchant and manufacturing classes1 had lately taken the rule from the old nobles4 ,many of these had fled2 some had been banished1 as was soon to be that reckless advocate of the emperor1 ,dante ,alighieri1 an excellent poet of love foolishly dabbling in politics4 ,other patricians sulked in their fortress palaces4 ,some shrewdly got themselves demoted and joined the ruling trade guilds4 ,of these guilds a big four1 five1 or six1 governed the city1 while a minor dozen had political privilege4 ,only guild members voted for the city officers4 ,the guilds combined the function of a trade union and an employer's association1 including all members of the craft from the youngest apprentice to the richest boss-contractor4 ,such a guild as the notaries1 must have been much like a bar association1 while the wholesale merchants' guild must have resembled a chamber of commerce4 ,the guild folk had early allied themselves with the ,pope1 the only permanent representative of the principle of order in ,italy4 ,the ,pope was also the bulwark of the new free communes against the claims of the ,teutonic ,emperors4 ,so in ,florence piety1 liberty1 and prosperity were convertible terms4 ,within the narrow walls was a bustling1 neighborly1 squabbling and making-up life4 ,everybody knew everybody else4 ,the craftsman worked in the little open archways you may still see in the ,via ,san ,gallo1 in sight and hearing of the passing world4 ,of weavers' shops alone there were #cjj4 ,no western city was ever prouder than ,florence in those days4 ,her credit was good from the ,urals to the ,pentland ,hills4 ,her gold florin was everywhere standard exchange4 ,she had secret ways of finishing the fine cloths that came in ships and caravans from ,ghent1 ,ypres1 and ,arras2 she handled the silks of ,china and converted the raw pelts of the north into objects of fashion4 ,her civic pride was actively expressing itself in building4 ,between #abid and #abii she had projected a new cathedral1 the great ,franciscan church of ,santa ,croce1 a new town hall1 and the massive walls we still see4 ,for stately buildings she had earlier had only the ,baptistry1 in which every baby was promptly christened1 and the new church of the ,friars ,preachers 7,dominicans71 ,santa ,maria ,novella4 ,in considering this ,florence you must think of a hard-headed1 full-blooded1 ambitious community1 frankly devoted to money-making1 but desiring wealth chiefly as a step towards fame4 ,since the painter could provide fame in this world and advance one's position in the next1 his estate was a favored one4 ,the painter himself was just a fine craftsman4 ,he kept a shop and called it such--a bottega4 ,he worked only to order4 ,there were no exhibitions1 no museums1 no academies1 no art schools1 no prizes1 no dealers4 ,the painters modestly joined the guild of the druggists 7speziali71 who were their color makers1 quite as the up-to-date newspaper reporter affiliates himself with the typographical union4 ,when a rich man wanted a picture1 he simply went to a painter's shop and ordered it1 laying down as a matter of course the subject and everything about the treatment that interested him4 ,if the work was of importance1 a contract and specifications were drawn up4 ,the kind of colors1 pay by the job or by the day1 the amount to be painted by the contracting artist himself1 the time of completion1 with or without penalty--all this was precisely nominated in the bond4 ,naturally the painter used his shop-assistants and apprentices as much as possible4 ,often he did little himself except heads and principal figures4 ,but he made the designs and carefully supervised their execution on panel or wall4 ,a ,florentine painter's bottega then had none of the preciousness of a modern painter's studio4 ,it was rather like a decorator's shop of today1 the master being merely the business head and guiding artistic taste4 ,when we speak of a fresco by ,giotto1 we do not mean that ,giotto painted much of it1 any more than a ,la ,farge window implies that our great ,american master of stained-glass design himself cut and set the glass4 ,the painter of ,florence had to be a jack-of-all-trades1 a color grinder1 a cabinet maker1 and a wood carver2 a gilder2 to be capable of copying any design and of inventing fine decorative features himself4 ,he must be equally competent in the delicate methods of tempera painting as in the resolute procedures of fresco4 ,these two methods set distinct limits to the work and its effects4 ,the colors were ground up day by day in the shop4 ,each had its little pot4 ,there was no palette4 ,hence only a few colors were used1 and with little mixing4 ,for tempera painting a good wooden panel--preferably of poplar--was grounded with successive coats of finest plaster of ,paris in glue and rubbed down to ivory smoothness4 ,the composition was then copied in minutely from a working drawing4 ,the gold background inherited from the workers in mosaic was laid on in pure leaf4 ,the composition was first lightly shaded and modelled either in green or brown earth1 and then finished up a bit at a time1 in colors tempered with egg or vegetable albumen4 ,the paints were thick and could not be swiftly manipulated2 the whole surface set and so hardened that retouching was difficult4 ,how so niggling a method produced so broad and harmonious effects will seem a mystery to the modern artist4 ,it was due to system and sacrifice4 ,though the work was done piecemeal1 everything was thought out in advance4 ,dark shadows and accidents of lighting which would mar the general blond effect were ignored4 ,the beauty desired was not that of nature1 but that of enamels and semi-precious stones4 ,these panels are glorious in azures1 cinnabars1 crimsons1 emerald-greens1 and whites partaking of all of these hues4 ,their delicacy is enhanced by carved frames1 at this moment1 #acjj1 simply gabled and moulded2 later built up and arched and fretted with the most fantastic gothic features4 ,if the painter in tempera required chiefly patience and delicacy1 the painter in fresco must have resolution and audacity4 ,he must calculate each day's work exactly1 and a whole day's work could be spoiled by a single slip of the hand in the tired evening hour4 ,for fresco1 the working sketch was roughly copied in outline on a plaster wall4 ,then any part selected for a day's work was covered with a new coat of fine plaster4 ,the effaced part of the design must be rapidly redrawn on the wet ground4 ,then the colors were laid on from their little pots1 and only the sound mineral colors which resist lime could be employed4 ,the vehicle was simply water4 ,the colors were sucked deep into the wet plaster1 and united with it to form a surface as durable as the wall itself4 ,generally the colors were merely divided into three values1--light1 pure colors1 and dark4 ,everything was kept clear1 rather flat1 and blond1 highly simple and beautifully decorative4 ,one of the later painters1 ,cennino ,cennini 7active about #adjj71 tells us that a single head was a day's work for a good frescante4 ,the touch had to be sure1 for a mis-stroke meant scraping the wet plaster off1 relaying it1 and starting all over again4 ,the fresco painter accordingly needed discipline and method4 ,nothing could be farther from modern inspirational methods4 ,where everything was systematized and calculated in advance1 you will see it was quite safe for a master to entrust his designs to pupils who knew his wishes4 ,every fresco when dry was more or less retouched in tempera1 but the best artists did this sparingly1 knowing that the retouches would soon blacken badly or flake off4 ,so much for the shop methods4 ,now for him who makes shops possible--the patron4 ,a wealthy ,florentine as naturally wanted to invest in a frescoed chapel as a wealthy ,american does in a fleet of motor cars4 ,considering the changed value of money1 one indulgence was about as costly as the other4 ,but the ,florentine never quite regarded paintings as luxuries4 ,they were necessary to him4 ,he loved them4 ,they enhanced his prestige in this world and improved his chances in the next4 ,then to beautify a church was really to magnify the liberty and prosperity of ,florence1 which largely derived from the ,holy ,see4 ,recall that every ,florentine was born a ,catholic1 baptized in the fair ,church of ,st4 ,john with the name of a saint4 ,this saint1 he believed1 could aid him morally and materially1 was in every sense his celestial patron4 ,it paid to do the saint honor1 and that could best be done through the painter's art4 ,the poorest man might have a small portrait of his patron1 a rich man might endow a chapel and cause all his patron's miracles to be pictured on the wall4 ,think also that every altar--a dozen or more in every large church--was a shrine#a1 containing the bread and wine that by the never-ceasing miracle of the ,mass became the ,saviour's body and blood2 and was also a reliquary or tomb1 containing in whole or part the body of some saint4 ,every altar then1 and every chapel inclosing one1 cried out for a twofold interpretation of its meaning4 ,everything about the ,eucharist had to be explained 7involving pretty nearly all of ,biblical history71 and the particular relic required similar illumination4 ,since many of the faithful could not read1 and the ,catholic ,church has ever been merciful as regards sermonizing1 these explanations of the altar as miracle shrine of ,our ,lord and as tomb of a particular saint were best made pictorially1 and generally were so made4 ,such motives for picture-making ,florence of course shared with the entire ,christian world4 ,it remains to explain why she wanted more painting and better than any other medival city4 ,she wanted more painting chiefly because of her exceptional civic pride and prosperity1 she wanted better painting because she had moved ahead of the world towards finer1 more passionate1 and conscious experiences of life which the older painting was powerless to express4 ,about the year #abjj1 a century before the time we are considering1 there flourished two great religious leaders who gave to ,christianity a new dignity and appeal4 ,st4 ,dominic1 with his disciple1 ,st4 ,thomas ,aquinas1 endeavored to make ,christianity more reasonable1 ,st4 ,francis of ,assisi endeavored to make it more heartfelt and compassionate4 ,they founded two monastic orders with divergent yet harmonious aims4 ,the ,dominicans called men to a life of study and self-examination1 enlisting the human reason to explain and justify the universe under the ,christian scheme2 the ,franciscans called men to poverty1 humility1 and chastity1 and service to the unfortunate4 ,between the two--one supplying the light of the reason and the other the light of the heart--they overcame heresies which had menaced both ,christianity and civilization and roused the ,church out of its dogmatic slumber4 ,it was no longer enough for the ,church to threaten4 ,men yielded to her now only on condition that their heads be convinced or their hearts touched4 ,in ,florence1 where a rationalizing shrewdness and a real warm-heartedness singularly blended1 the double appeal was irresistible4 ,by and large the whole city either schematized with the ,dominicans or slummed with the ,franciscans4 ,here was urgent new matter requiring an art that could move and persuade4 ,together with this religious revival and the political and commercial progress we have noted1 came a literary revival4 ,before the end of the #acth century such poets as ,guido ,guinizelli1 ,guido ,cavalcanti1 and ,dante ,alighieri had so reshaped the rude vulgar tongue that it became worthy of its ,latin succession4 ,the refinements of chivalric love came to ,florence in melodious verse1 and what the poets called the 8sweet new style10 il dolce stil nuovo1 in diction presaged a similar sweet new style of painting4 ,alongside of the poets1 ,brunetto ,latini in the ,tesoro shows glimmerings of scientific interest1 and ,giovanni ,villani lends substance and dignity to the work of the chronicler4 ,already the sculptors ,nicola and ,giovanni of neighboring ,pisa had grasped the beauties respectively of classic sculpture and the noble intensity of that of the ,gothic ,north4 ,all this immensely increased that sum of fine thinking1 feeling1 and seeing which underlies all great art4 ,to express these new emotions the old painting was inadequate4 ,italy through the so-called ,dark ,ages produced art abundantly4 ,wherever power and order asserted themselves amid the welter of war and oppression1 stately buildings rose and these were decorated4 ,thus at ,rome1 where the popes gradually added temporal to spiritual power1 splendid basilicas grew over the tombs of the martyrs4 ,at ,ravenna1 through the #fth and #gth centuries the seat of the ,byzantine and ,gothic sovereignties1 magnificent churches and baptistries were covered with pictorial mosaics4 ,in ,sicily1 at ,messina1 ,cefal and ,palermo1 the sway of the ,norman kings in the eleventh and twelfth centuries expressed itself in churches and civic buildings of the utmost splendor1 which were adorned with mosaics by ,greek masters4 ,when the fugitives from the valleys of the ,po1 ,adige1 and ,piave1 and ,brenta fled from ,attila to the ,venetian fens1 there again was a beginning of great building4 ,wherever there was a powerful primate as at ,milan1 ,como1 ,parma1 ,pisa1 or a wide ruling abbot as at ,subiaco1 ,monte ,cassino1 ,capua1 you will find art4 ,but hardly1 except perhaps in architecture1 ,italian art4 ,we have sporadic provincial expressions dominated from afar by the prestige of the ,eastern ,roman ,empire4 ,at ,constantinople there was a permanent court1 a ceremonious civilization1 an artistic blending of the traditions of old ,greece and of the mysterious ,levant4 ,the merchants of the world sought from ,byzantium1 jewelry1 enamels1 embroideries1 brocades1 carved ivories1 and pictured manuscripts4 ,she was to the early ,middle ,ages what ,paris is to ours--the sthetic fashion maker of the world1--and her skilled artists went far afield as so many missionaries of the ,byzantine style4 ,we find them making the mosaics of ,ravenna in the #fth and #gth centuries1 of ,st4 ,mark's at ,venice from the #ith century1 of many ,roman churches from an even earlier date1 of ,palermo in the #abth1 and of the ,baptistry at ,florence in the #acth4 ,this ,byzantine manner1 as practiced by the travelling ,greek artists and by their innumerable ,italian imitators1 is the real starting point and jump-off place for ,italian painting4 ,hence in first studying the ,byzantine style we do but imitate the ,italian painters who immediately preceded ,giotto4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #a4 ,byzantine ,narrative ,style about #acjj4 ,detail from ,mosaic ,book ,covers in the ,opera del ,duomo4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #b4 ,mosaic in the ,cathedral1 ,pisa4 ,st4 ,john1 left1 is by ,cimabue1 #acjb2 the ,christ is in good ,byzantine tradition2 the ,virgin1 right1 is some twenty years later4 ,byzantine pictures have come down to us on the largest and on the smallest scale--in the great mosaics and wall paintings1 and as well on small panels and in the illustrated books used in the ritual of the church4 ,both are important4 ,the mural decorations are what the early ,italian painter had constantly before his eye2 the miniatured psalters1 ,gospels1 lectionaries1 chorals and prayer books1 afforded the patterns from which he drew with little alteration the standard compositions of the ,annunciation to ,mary1 the ,nativity of ,christ1 ,his ,adoration by the ,shepherds and ,kings1 ,his ,baptism1 the ,raising of ,lazarus1 the ,last ,supper1 ,crucifixion1 ,descent into ,hell1 ,resurrection1 and ,ascension4 ,but ,byzantine design is most imposing in its monumental phase4 ,the most careless traveller still feels awe before those solemn figures of ,christ supreme ruler 7,pantokrator7 and his ,mother queen of heaven which are seen throned against a background of azure or gold and attended by solemn figures of apostles and martyrs1 ,figure #b4 ,the forms are flat1--silhouettes enriched by interior tracery1 the arrangement in the space formal1 symmetrical1 highly decorative4 ,the smaller narrative compositions1#b ,figure #a1 are clearly conceived but have small emotional appeal4 ,for this reason the ,italians of the ,golden ,age spoke of the ,byzantine style as rude4 ,this is an error4 ,rude in the hands of half-trained local imitators1 the style as formulated in the #ith century at ,constantinople was highly sophisticated and decoratively of great refinement4 ,it was based on an admirable system of color spotting and a fine understanding of silhouette4 ,the contours were cast in easy conventional curves4 ,these were enriched within by hatchings and splintery angles of gold which contrasted effectively with the fluent outlines4 ,everything was done by precept and copybook4 ,in four centuries before the year #acjj1 the style showed little change1 indeed is still alive in the mountains of ,macedonia and1 until the ,revolution1 in ,russia4 ,the ,byzantine artist seldom looked at a fellow mortal with artistic intent4 ,he looked at some earlier picture or considered his own color preferences4 ,conventional and anmic as the narrative style was1 it did all that was required of it4 ,nothing better serves the purpose of an authoritative ,church than the awe-inspiring ,christs of the ,lombard and ,sicilian and ,roman apses1 and so long as the ,church felt no duty beyond that of plain statement of her claims1 the unfelt narratives from the ,scriptures served every religious need4 ,it was different when under the leading of ,st4 ,dominic and ,st4 ,francis1#c the ,church eagerly wished to persuade men4 ,men may well have been frightened or even instructed by a ,byzantine picture2 nobody was ever persuaded by one4 ,it took a century to work away from the ,byzantine style1 so deeply was it rooted4 ,in fact1 from the year #abbf1 that of ,st4 ,francis's death1 to about the end of the century1 such artists as ,guido of ,siena1 ,coppo di ,marcovaldo1 ,giunta of ,pisa1 ,jacopo ,torriti1 ,giovanni ,cosma1 ,duccio1 and ,cimabue chiefly restudied the old ,byzantine manner4 ,they wished to learn how to build creditably before they began to tear down4 ,such reverent experiment extending over two generations only proved that the breach with ,byzantine formalism was inevitable4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #c4 ,tuscan ,master about #abhe4--,otto ,kahn1 ,n4,y4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #d4 ,cimabue4 ,madonna in ,majesty4--,uffizi4 ,with the deepening and broadening of personal1 civic1 and religious emotions1 the painter found new exactions laid upon him which the bloodless art of ,byzantium could not satisfy4 ,new life called for new forms to express it4 ,we find in sculpture from about the year #abfj1 that of ,giovanni ,pisano's first pulpit--wholly classical in its dignity--a kindred endeavor in advance of the art of painting4 ,the renewal took three forms3 the more conservative spirits accepted the ,byzantine formulas but endeavored to refine on them in a realistic sense1 to add grace to austerity4 ,such moderate development of the old style fixed the character of the school of ,siena and was magnificently initiated by its greatest artist1 ,duccio1 active about #acjj4 ,a very beautiful ,madonna of this general tendency is in the collection of ,mr4 ,otto ,kahn at ,new ,york1 ,figure #c4 ,it has been quite variously attributed4#d ,it seems to me1 however1 a pure ,tuscan work by ,coppo or a painter akin to him4 ,for the greater spirits such a reform was inadequate4 ,refine the ,byzantine formulas to the utmost--there was no gain1 rather loss in strength4 ,accordingly a vehement spirit like ,cimabue1#a-e acknowledgedly father of the ,florentine school1 accepts the ,byzantine tradition loyally1 but seeks to make its rigid mannerisms express the new religious passions4 ,at times he is successful at this unlikely task of putting new wine into old bottles4 ,his great enthroned ,madonna at ,florence1 ,figure #d1 with solemn angels in attendance and grim patriarchs below her throne1 may have been painted as early as #abhe4 ,it is faithful to the old monumental tradition--akin to the ,christs and ,marys of the mosaics--in its impressive richness is one of the most majestic things the century produced4 ,it reveals the docility of its creator but only partially his power4 ,we have hardly his hand but surely an echo of his influence in the tragic crucifix in the museum of ,santa ,croce4 ,it is the moment of agony1 and the powerful body writhes against the nails1 while the head sinks in death4 ,it may represent hundreds of similar crosses that stood high in air on the rood beam before the chancel1 in sight both of the preacher and his public4 ,somewhere about #abid1 ,cimabue was called to ,assisi to decorate the church in which ,st4 ,francis was buried4 ,his part was the choir and transepts of the upper church4 ,in the cross vault he painted the four evangelists1 on the walls he spread the stories of ,st4 ,peter and ,st4 ,paul1 the legends of the ,virgin scenes from the ,apocalypse1 the gigantic forms of the archangels and a ,calvary1 ,figure #e1 that is one of the most moving expressions of ,christian art4 ,chipped and blackened1 their lights become dark through chemical change1 these wall paintings retain an immense power and veracity4 ,the ,byzantine forms gain a paradoxical solidity1 like that of bronze4 ,the convulsion of the figure of ,christ is given back in the wild gestures of the mourning women and the terrified ,jews4 ,it is the moment of the earthquake and the opening of tombs2 a cosmic terror and despair pervade the place4 ,the work is hampered and rude but completely expressive4 ,the sensitive ,japanese critic and man of the world1 ,okakura ,kakuzo1 used to regard these sooty frescoes in the transepts of the ,franciscan basilica as the high point of all ,european art1 which should at least induce the tourist and the student to give a second look at these battered and fading masterpieces4 ,recently an inscribed date1 #abif1 has been discovered on the choir wall which settles a long vexed question of chronology4 ,the upper part of the work in the transepts and choir must have been going on for some years earlier1 and the entire decoration of the ,upper ,church should roughly be comprised between #abid and #acjj4 ,cimabue died about #acjb while working on the apsidal mosaic at ,pisa1 where the ,st4 ,john is by his hand1 ,figure #b4 ,he had brought life and passion into ,italian painting1 as his younger contemporary ,giovanni ,pisano had into ,italian sculpture4 ,cimabue's defect--that of a noble spirit--was the faith that the old pictorial form could contain the new surging emotions4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #e4 ,cimabue4 ,calvary4 ,fresco4--,upper ,church1 ,assisi4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #f4 ,pietro ,cavallini4 ,dormition of the ,virgin4 ,mosaic4--,s4 ,m4 in ,trastevere1 ,rome4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #g4 ,pietro ,cavallini4 ,apostles1 fresco1 from ,last ,judgment4--,santa ,cecelia in ,trastevere4 ,colder spirits1 as is often the case1 more readily found the right way4 ,and the discovery was made at ,rome where the sculptured columns1 arches1 and sarcophagi1 the pagan wall paintings and the earliest ,christian mosaics combined to continue the lesson of classic humanism4 ,a remarkable family of decorators1 the ,cosmati2 with such contemporaries as ,jacopo ,torriti and ,filippo ,rusuti begin very cautiously to free themselves from ,byzantine trammels4 ,but it was a painter1 ,pietro ,cavallini1#e who more fully grasped that glory that had been ,rome4 ,in #abia he designed for the church of ,santa ,maria in ,trastevere a ,madonna and four stories of the ,christ ,child in mosaic4 ,here we glimpse a new pictorial form1 ,figure #f4 ,those ,byzantine hooks and hatchings which were quite false to form give way to a reasonable structure in light and dark1 the hair no longer wild and ropy1 is disposed in sculpturesque locks1 the draperies are no longer a cobweb pattern1 but cast in broad and classic folds4 ,all these improvements may be noted in more complete form in the frescoed ,last ,judgment which has recently been uncovered in the church of ,santa ,cecilia1 ,figure #g4 ,here the heads of ,christ and the ,apostles are well built in carefully graduated light and shade1 while the draperies suggest ,hellenistic statuary4 ,but the renovation is on the whole cold and academic4 ,cavallini has not much more to say than the ,byzantines1 but that little he says with far greater gravity and truthfulness4 ,he was a lucid and industrious but not a fine or strong spirit4 ,his work later at ,naples--in the ,church of the ,donna ,regina1 about #acaj--shows that when he will express strong emotions he becomes merely hectic4 ,yet he recovered for ,italian painting more than a hint of the choice naturalism of old ,rome1 and that is his sufficient glory4 ,there is greater power and knowledge than his in the work of such contemporaries as the unknown painters of the frescoed heads of prophets in ,santa ,maria ,maggiore at ,rome and of the stories of ,isaac in the ,upper ,church at ,assisi4#f ,these show a resolute and intelligent effort to draw in masses of light and shade1 and as well an ambition to recover the gravity of the early ,christian mosaics4 ,it is no wonder that some critics ascribe such dramatic and superbly constructed frescoes as ,the ,betrayal of ,esau to young ,giotto1 ,figure #h1 but the art is too mature for any young artist4 ,we have rather to do with a great personality of ,roman training who broke the way for ,giotto4 ,cavalcaselle suggests1 ,i think rightly1 that the ,florentine1 ,gaddo ,gaddi1 may have done some of this work4 ,but we are safe only in calling this great painter 8,the ,isaac ,master40 ,to recapitulate1 there were three ways1 all imperfect1 open to a young and progressive painter who like ,giotto di ,bondone was forming a style about the year #acjj4 ,he might with the ,sienese evade the issue of passion and naturalism1 choosing for gracefulness1 he might try over again the great adventure of his master ,cimabue1 endeavoring to bring emotion into the old unfit forms1 or he might1 like ,pietro ,cavallini1 let emotion take care of itself and work academically towards better structure1 drapery1 light1 and shade4 ,his choice was absolutely momentous for modern painting1 and ,i want you to feel that the issue was quite consciously and vividly before him1 for he had spent much of his youth as a humble assistant in the basilica at ,assisi1 where frescoes in the vehement ,tuscan manner of ,cimabue and in the dignified ,roman style of the ,isaac ,master were being painted side by side4 ,his decision was to combine the merits of the two manners--to seek1 like his master1 sincerity and depth of emotion1 but to embody it in the new and nobler forms of the ,roman school4 ,this decision virtually fixed the character of ,christian art in ,italy--it was to be warm and humanistic1 but it was to revive much of that abstract nobility which old ,rome had inherited from ,greece4 ,thus ,italian painting at the outset took a classic stamp which when true to itself it has never lost4 ,in fundamental ideas of beauty1 there is no real difference between ,giotto1 ,masaccio1 ,leonardo da ,vinci1 ,raphael1 ,titian1 ,michelangelo4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #h4 8,the ,isaac ,master40 ,esau before ,isaac4 ,fresco4--,upper ,church1 ,assisi4 ,giotto di ,bondone1#g according to the best information we have on a disputed point1 was born in #abff1 at the village of ,colle1 in the lovely valley of the ,mugello4 ,his people were prosperous and his way smooth4 ,i see no reason for doubting the charming legend told by ,ghiberti that ,cimabue found the lad ,giotto by the roadside diligently scratching the outlines of a sheep on a slate1 and that that was the beginning of their association4 ,in any case1 we may surmise that he was early with ,cimabue as apprentice and eventually went with the ,master to ,assisi to grind colors1 clean brushes1 and paint under direction4 ,to be at that moment in the ,franciscan ,basilica was to be at the greatest creative center of the world4 ,it seems to me likely that ,giotto may have had a considerable part in the actual painting of the ,old and ,new ,testament stories in the nave1 and ,i believe we may find his earliest designs in certain frescoes of the upper rows4 ,the ,lamenting over ,christ's ,body1 for example1 singularly combines the energy of ,cimabue with the dignity of ,cavallini1 and there are significant echoes of the composition in ,giotto's later version of the same theme at ,padua4 ,tradition also ascribes to ,giotto1 maybe correctly1 the ,resurrection and ,pentecost on the entrance wall4#h ,after #abif1 according to ,vasari's entirely credible account1 young ,giotto took over the direction of the work for the newly elected ,franciscan ,general1 ,giovanni dal ,muro4 ,what share he had in the vivacious and justly loved stories of ,st4 ,francis1#i in the lower range of the nave1 is greatly disputed4 ,of the twenty-eight frescoes involved1 it seems clear to me that the first and the last three are by an artist more nearly in the ,sienese tradition1 that ,nos4 ,,ii to ,,xviii inclusive are designed by ,giotto in the style of the ,old ,testament stories above and painted by him with a certain amount of assistance1 and that the rest are largely inspired by ,giotto but executed in his absence and without his final control4 ,what is more important is the variety and vivacity of these narratives4 ,young ,giotto is free to improvise1 as he was not in the standard ,bible subjects1 and the mood shifts readily4 ,we have charity1 with ,st4 ,francis giving his cloak to a beggar1 in an idyllic landscape2 family strife in ,st4 ,francis renouncing his father1 ,figure #i2 sorcery in the exorcism of the devils from ,arezzo2 an odd mixture of ogreishness and witchcraft1 in ,st4 ,francis's ,fire ,ordeal before the ,soldan1 ,figure #aa2 a great pious intentness1 in the choristers at the ,cradle ,rite2 intense physical appetite1 in the ,miracle of the ,spring2 an entrancing blend of reverence and humor1 in the ,sermon to the ,birds1 ,figure #aj2 stark tragedy in the ,death of the ,knight of ,celano4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aj4 ,the ,sermon to the ,birds4--,upper ,church1 ,assisi4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #i4--,st4 ,francis renounces ,his ,father4--,upper ,church1 ,assisi4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aa4 ,st4 ,francis before the ,soldan4--,upper ,church1 ,assisi4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ab4 ,early ,sketch ,copy after ,giotto's ,mosaic of the ,navicella4 ,compare ,fig4 #ca4--,metropolitan ,museum1 ,new ,york4 ,giotto is still chiefly a sprightly illustrator4 ,he is as yet insensitive to composition4 ,he often perfunctorily splits his groups1 giving each a landscape--or architectural back-screen quite in the ,byzantine manner4 ,his story-telling is brusque and without rhythm4 ,his sense of form is already strong and growing1 but there is little of the ease and style of the ,isaac frescoes just above4 ,in vitality the stories of ,st4 ,francis mark a great advance1 but they lack the gravity and exquisiteness of balance proper to the best mural decoration4 ,it was at ,rome that young ,giotto was to broaden and refine his art4 ,he was called thither before the year #acjj to design the great mosaic of ,christ walking on the ,sea of ,galilee beside the tempest-tossed boat of the ,apostles4 ,it stood over the inside cloister-portal of old ,st4 ,peter's1 and has been many times moved in the rebuilding of the church1 and with each move restored1 so that what we now see in the porch is entirely remade4 ,from certain fragments of the old mosaic1 and old sketch copies1 ,figure #ab1 we may judge that the ,navicella1 as the ,italians loved to call it1 was an elaborate composition of great dramatic power1 the logical consummation of the experiments at ,assisi4 ,our best version of the ,navicella is ,andrea ,bonaiuti's adaptation1 ,figure #ca1 for the vault of the ,spanish ,chapel1 #acfe4 ,but ,giotto was soon to renounce the facile method of diffuse and genial narrative in favor of a concise and massive style1 akin to sculptured relief1 and deeply influenced by the antique4 ,the arches and the columns of ,imperial ,rome are teaching their silent lesson1 the simple and noble forms of ,cavallini and his nameless rivals show how painting may vie with sculpture in sense of mass and reality4 ,with the problem of the representation of mass on a flat surface1 ,giotto wrestled eagerly and triumphantly4 ,with a genius that few painters have equalled1 he grasped the truth that the figure painter's problem of representing space is chiefly that of emphatically suggesting mass4 ,if you convince the eye of the tangibility of your objects1 the mind will supply elbow room and air to breathe4 ,it isn't necessary to simulate a box1 as the ,sienese painters often did4 ,the painter who can give a convincing sense of mass may handle accessories and perspective with the utmost freedom1 according to the inner law of his design4 ,the painter who thinks first of his space is in every way more bound to the smaller probabilities4 ,much thinking of this sort must have been done by ,giotto before he worked out his new style at ,padua4 ,after his return from ,rome1 ,giotto sojourned for a time in ,florence1 and in #acjd or thereabouts painted the gigantic ,madonna formerly in the ,trinit1 ,figure #ac4 ,it is impressive in mass1 admirable in the intent expression of the attendant angels1 rich in color1 but the great figure is unhappily crowded by the canopy4 ,giotto is still a bit uncertain as to the rendering of space1 and makes a good if unpleasing effort to suggest depth despite the limitations of a gold background4 ,with all its nobility and tenderness1 this is by no means so good a decoration as the great ,madonna by ,cimabue1 ,figure #d1 which hangs nearby in the ,uffizi4 ,with the problems of space and mass1 ,giotto was soon to cope triumphantly4 ,a wealthy citizen of ,padua1 ,enrico ,scrovegni1 was planning a new chapel to the ,virgin ,annunciate4 ,doubtless he wished the repose of his father's soul1 for his father had been a notorious usurer4 ,dante incontinently puts him in hell with other profiteers4 ,enrico ,scrovegni built his chapel near the ruins of a ,roman arena and dedicated it ,march #be1 #acje4 ,the ,arena ,chapel was a brick box1 barrel vaulted within--a magnificent space for a fresco painter4 ,giotto spread upon it the noblest cycle of pictures known to ,christian art4 ,over the chancel arch he painted the ,eternal1 surrounded by swaying angels1 and listening to the counter-pleas of ,justice and ,mercy concerning doomed mankind1 with the ,archangel ,gabriel serenely awaiting the message that should bring ,christ to ,mary's womb and salvation to earth4 ,this is the ,prologue4 ,opposite on the entrance wall is the ,epilogue--a last judgment1 with ,christ enthroned as ,supreme ,judge amid the ,apostles1 and the just being parted from the wicked4 ,amid the just you may see ,enrico ,scrovegni presenting the chapel to three angels4 ,the side walls are ruled off into three rows of pictures1 with ornate border bands and a basement of sculpturesque figures symbolizing the seven virtues and vices4 ,the story reads down from above4 ,below the azure vault and still a little in the curve are the stories of the ,childhood of the ,virgin--nothing in the chapel more simple and stately than these4#aj ,the middle course is devoted to the early deeds of ,christ1 from his birth to the expulsion of the money lenders from the temple4 ,the lower row depicts ,his ,passion ending with the ,miracle of ,pentecost4 ,much later a disciple of ,giotto completed the story with the last days of the ,virgin1 in the ,choir4 ,thus the narrative in its broadest sense is a life of the ,virgin ,mary1 including that of her ,divine ,son1 and both lives are brought into an eternal scheme of things by the prologue1 which shows a relenting ,god1 and the ,epilogue which shows a now relentless ,christ awarding bliss and woe to the race for all eternity4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ac4 ,giotto4 ,madonna ,enthroned4--,uffizi4 ,the first impression of a visitor to the chapel will be a feeling of awe qualified by joy in the loveliest of colors4 ,the whites of the classical draperies dominate4 ,they are shot with rose1 or pale blue1 or grey green4 ,certain old enamels have the same quality of making the most splendid crimsons1 blues1 and greens seem merely foils to foreground masses of white which seem to include by implication all the positive colors4 ,it is this bright and original color scheme balancing crimsons and azures with violets and greens which makes a thing of beauty out of what would otherwise be a stilted checkerboard arrangement4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ac;a4 ,st4 ,joachim and ,st4 ,anna at the ,beautiful ,giotto ,gate4--,arena1 ,padua4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ad4 ,giotto4 ,the ,flight into ,egypt4--,arena1 ,padua4 ,next the eye will realize splendid people gravely occupied with solemn acts4 ,there is the strangest blend of passion and decorum4 ,see the eager old man who clutches his wife before a massive city gate while she caresses him tenderly1 ,figure #ac;a1 note the firm gentleness of the bearded priest who handles a screaming baby before the altar1 mark the sense of strain and hurry where a mother and child mounted on an ass1 ,figure #ad1 are pushed and dragged along by an old man and attendants4 ,or again1 what sinister power in the scene where three ,jewish magistrates press money upon a haggard1 bearded1 nervous man4 ,you do not need the bat-like demon prompting him to know that it is the arch-traitor ,judas1 ,figure #ae4 ,then there is a strange1 serene1 processional composition1 with the ,virgin moving homeward among her friends to a solemn music1 ,figure #af4 ,it has a rhythm like the frieze of the ,parthenon4 ,perhaps your eye will fix longest on the scene where about the pale body of the dead ,christ women wail with outstretched hands1 or tend the broken body1 while bearded men1 accustomed to the hardness of life1 stand in mute sympathy with folded hands1 ,figure #ag4 ,it is what the ,gospel ought to look like4 ,how ,giotto shows every feeling1 pushing its expression just to the verge1 and there stopping1 so that idyl and tragedy1 devotion and wrath1 treachery and fealty1 fear and courage1 each keeps its proper and distinguishing aspect1 while all are invested in a common dignity and nobility4 ,you will perhaps never have seen an art at once so varied and moving1 and nevertheless so monumental1 and you may well be curious as to the method4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ae4 ,giotto4 ,judas betraying ,christ4--,arena1 ,padua4 ,you will see readily that these compositions are conceived sculpturally4 ,every one with the slightest change could be cut in marble4 ,indeed the seven ,virtues1 ,figure #ah1 and seven ,vices impersonated in monochrome on the dado of the chapel are direct imitations of sculpture4 ,the figures throughout the life of ,christ and the ,virgin are of even size1 and usually all on one plane4 ,the landscapes and architectural features are arranged simply as frames or backgrounds for the figure groups4 ,the figures are1 whenever the subject permits1 clad in drapery of a classic cast4 ,expression is conveyed not much by the faces1 which have a uniform ,gothic intentness1 but by the action of the entire figure and especially of the hands4 ,the forms are rather squat and massive1 yet have a homely gracefulness4 ,there is nothing like perspective1 and small regard for distance1 yet the figures have convincing bulk and move gravely in adequate space4 ,all this is due to the most consummate draughtsmanship4 ,giotto simplifies his seeing2 what he cares for is the thrust of the shoulder1 or the poise of hip1 the swing of the back from the pelvis1 the projection of the chest1 the balance of the head on the neck and its attachment to the shoulders4 ,all these essential facts of mass he represents by the simplest lines of direction1 by broad masses of light and shade1 often merely by the tugging lines in drapery that tell of the form beneath4 ,the cave men would have understood ,giotto1 and so would the post-impressionists of today4 ,conciseness1 economy1 force1 mass--these are the technical qualities of the work1 as human insight and tenderness are its grace4 ,as the great analytical critic ,bernard ,berenson has well remarked1 this painting makes the strongest possible appeal to our tactile sense1 stirring powerfully all our memories of touch1 and presenting the painted indications as so many swiftly grasped clues to reality4 ,we have to do with a magnificently conceived shorthand4 ,no artist before or since has made a greater expenditure of mind or achieved a more notable inventiveness than ,giotto in the ,arena ,chapel4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #af4 ,giotto4 ,the ,virgin returning from her wedding4--,arena1 ,padua4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ag4 ,giotto4 ,lamentation over ,christ4--,arena1 ,padua4 ,it was dedicated ,march #be1 #acje1 ,giotto being nearly forty years old1 and it was probably not completely painted on the day of dedication1 since many draperies were borrowed from ,st4 ,mark's1 ,venice1 to cover1 presumably1 the still unpictured parts of the walls4 ,giotto lived some four years in ,padua1 brought his family there1 received the exiled poet ,dante and with him joked not too decorously about his own ugliness and that of his children4 ,it seems likely enough1 though not certain1 that he followed the banished ,pope to ,avignon about #acji1 and spent some years in ,southern ,france4 ,what is certain is that he was again in ,florence by #acab1 and that1 having found his own solution of the problem of mass in the ,arena ,chapel1 he thereafter rested comfortably on his discovery1 never was quite as strenuous again1 and spent his later years at a new problem--that of decorative symmetry4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ah4 ,giotto4 ,hope4--,arena1 ,padua4 ,the first experiment towards a sweeter and more complex style was made in the cross vaults of the ,lower ,church of ,assisi1 immediately above the tomb of ,st4 ,francis4 ,the subjects were the three virtues of the ,franciscan vow--,poverty1 ,chastity1 and ,obedience--with a ,st4 ,francis in a glory of angels4 ,in these great triangular compositions1 allegory and symbolism run riot1 and we do well to recall ,hazlitt's shrewd remark on ,spenser's 8,faery ,queene0--8the allegory will not bite40 ,indeed one might forget it for the radiance of the azures1 moss-greens1 rose pinks1 and deeper violets1 for the delightful contrast of the freely composed groups with the intricate geometrical formality of the rich borders4 ,yet to ignore the allegory completely would be to forget the master's intention4 ,we may savor it best in the great composition3 ,st4 ,francis ,marries his ,lady ,poverty1 ,figure #ah;a4 ,the bridal group stands on a central crag1 ,christ serving as priest1 ,st4 ,francis slipping a ring on the gaunt hand of a haggard1 yet strangely fascinating bride clothed in a single ragged garment4 ,her bare feet show through a crisply drawn and blossomless rose tree4 ,two urchins at the foot of the little cliff stand ready to stone so unseemly a bride4 ,from the central group to right and left1 earnest groups of angels spread in a descending curve4 ,in the lower angle1 left1 a young man gives his rich cloak to an old beggar1 while an angel points to the bridal3 ,poverty is accepted4 ,at the lower right corner1 another angel attempts to detain a young man who passes with a gesture of contempt in the company of two portly priests3 ,poverty is rejected by such4 ,from the apex of the great triangle1 the hands of ,god descend to welcome two angels1 one of which offers the cloak given to the beggar1 and the other a model of the church which is the splendid covering for the body of the ,saint4 ,the fantastic beauty of this and its companion pieces can only be appreciated on the spot4 ,no frescoes of ,italy surpass these for loveliness of color and perfection of condition4 ,it is the most beautiful pictured ,gothic ceiling in the world1 perhaps the most fantastically beautiful of all figured ceilings whatever4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ah;a4 ,giotto4 ,st4 ,francis' ,mystic ,marriage with ,poverty4--,lower ,church1 ,assisi4 ,because the figures are a little slight and the expression a bit sentimentalized1 and the proportions rather arbitrarily handled to meet the exigencies of the curved spaces1 many good critics1 including ,venturi and ,berenson1 deny these compositions to ,giotto4 ,one of them1 the ,st4 ,francis in ,glory1 is clearly of inferior design and quality4 ,for the others1 it seems to me that the designs can only be by ,giotto1 while the execution is mostly by a charming assistant whose work in this ceiling and elsewhere in this church makes us wish we knew his name4 ,no middle-aged painter of established repute was likely to undertake personally the dirty and fatiguing work of painting a ceiling in fresco4 ,if we are right in supposing that ,giotto may have designed this ceiling1 shortly after his return from ,avignon1 say1 after #acab1 he would have been towards fifty years old1 and provided with a shop-staff of well-trained assistants4 ,from this time on1 indeed1 we may assume that he rather directed the work of others than painted himself4 ,such a view will permit us to accept as school works many fine pictures the design of which a too strict criticism has denied to ,giotto4 ,for example1 the admirable ,coronation of the ,virgin1 in ,santa ,croce1 ,florence1 seems to me completely designed by ,giotto1 and the logical next step after the ,franciscan allegories1 though there can be little actual painting by the master on the panel1 and his personal contribution may have been limited to a small working drawing4 ,indeed the only one of the later panels which seems to show throughout his actual handiwork is the lovely ,dormition of the ,virgin at ,berlin1 ,frontispiece1 which was painted for the ,church of ,ognissanti4 ,at about this period ,i think we may set the several crucifixes in ,florentine churches1 without inquiring too narrowly whether they are by the master or by scholars4 ,giotto has developed a singularly noble type4 ,the ,christ is no longer contorted in agony as in the crucifixes by ,cimabue4 ,he is dead1 with his head quietly sunk on the powerful breast1 and the body relaxed4 ,the conception is humanistic4 ,one feels chiefly the pity of stretching that glorious thing that is a man's body on a cross4 ,probably the earliest of these crucifixes is that at ,santa ,maria ,novella1 while the finest is at ,san ,felice4 ,about #acbj we may set the dismembered ancona1 painted for ,cardinal ,gaetano ,stefaneschi1 which originally stood on the high altar of ,st4 ,peter's1 ,rome4 ,the tarnished fragments which you may still see in the sacristy1 are more splendid in color than any other tempera painting whatsoever4 ,probably only the central panels1 ,christ and ,st4 ,peter enthroned1 are from ,giotto's hand1 the side panels representing the martyrdom of ,peter and ,paul may well be both designed and executed by the accomplished assistant who carried out the allegories at ,assisi4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ai4 ,giotto4 ,naming of ,st4 ,john the ,baptist4--,peruzzi ,chapel1 ,santa ,croce4 ,so far we have seen ,giotto a wanderer4 ,assisi1 ,rome1 ,padua1 ,rimini1 delighted to do him honor1 but apparently ,florence had claimed few works from his hand4 ,we have record of frescoes in the ,badia which may have been early works4 ,it was the decoration of ,arnolfo's great ,franciscan church of ,santa ,croce that finally recalled ,giotto and evoked his most accomplished work4 ,he completed in the transepts of ,santa ,croce four chapels and as many altar-pieces4 ,the frescoes were white-washed in the #afth century1 and the panels broken up and lost4 ,but in the last century the white-wash was scraped off from two of the chapels1 and there we may see1 so far as defacement and repainting permit1 the masterpieces of the early ,florentine school4 ,we may reasonably guess the date of this work to be somewhere about #acbj1 ,giotto being nearly sixty4 ,in the chapel maintained by that noble family1 the ,peruzzi1 ,giotto spread on the side walls three stories from the life of ,st4 ,john the ,baptist1 and as many more from that of ,st4 ,john the ,evangelist4 ,the figures are superb1 magisterial in pose2 the draperies grand and ample after the classical fashion4 ,upon bulk and relief there is less insistence than at ,padua4 ,giotto has passed the experimental stage as regards form1 is less strenuous and more at his ease4 ,nothing is more stately in the chapel than the presentation of the infant ,baptist to his father1 who is temporarily stricken with dumbness1 ,figure #ai4 ,simeon gravely writes the name ,john2 ,elizabeth with her adoring group of attendants carefully offers the vivacious child to his father's gaze4 ,the gestures are slow1 definite1 determined4 ,the group beautifully fills the square space without crowding it4 ,the composition1 unlike the widely spaced ,paduan designs1 is drawn together into a mass4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bj4 ,giotto4 ,resuscitation of ,drusiana by ,st4 ,john4--,peruzzi ,chapel1 ,santa ,croce4 ,upon the ,feast of ,herod with ,salome modestly dancing ,john ,ruskin#aa has expended just eulogies in the petulant yet important little book 8,mornings in ,florence40 ,what is notable in the scene is its general decorum and the pathetic indecision of the weak ,king4 ,but the most accomplished design as such is the miracle of the ,resuscitation of ,drusiana by ,st4 ,john the ,evangelist1 ,figure #bj4 ,even the inscenation before a fine ,romanesque city is adequately1 if very simply1 realized4 ,the gesture of the apostle is of majestic power1 the contrast of the massive1 upright1 columnar forms of the elders1 with the sharply bent forms of ,drusiana1 her mourners and bier bearers1 is admirably invented1 and the drastic portraiture of a cripple at the left adds a tang of reality while in no wise detracting from the dignity of the scene4 ,we have a work in the grand style1 massively conceived1 warmly felt1 wrought into an elaborate and satisfying symmetry4 ,the ,ascension of ,st4 ,john has an even graver and more ample rhythm4 ,the ,golden ,age of ,raphael and ,titian will have little to add to this except the minor graces4 ,in the adjoining chapel of the ,bardi family1 ,giotto1 a little later1 ,i believe1 painted six stories of ,st4 ,francis1 and four figures of the great ,franciscan saints1 ,st4 ,louis of ,france1 ,st4 ,louis of ,toulouse1 ,st4 ,clare1 and ,st4 ,elizabeth of ,hungary4 ,over the entrance arch he set an animated picture of ,st4 ,francis receiving the stigmata1 the wounds of the ,saviour4 ,nearly thirty years earlier he had done this subject for the ,church at ,assisi1 and in an altar-piece which has passed from ,pisa to the ,louvre4 ,by comparing the rigid1 angular figures of the earlier composition and their ill-adjusted accessories1 with this easy and beautifully balanced arrangement1 you may see how far ,giotto had gone in the direction of grace1 and you will not fail also to note how much more tragic the earlier and less calculated work is4 ,for the first time1 in the ,bardi chapel1 ,giotto conceives the decoration of the side walls as a whole4 ,from the pointed lunettes above1 through the three compositions on each wall1 there is an architectural axis1 sometimes arbitrarily imposed1 about which the figures are symmetrically distributed4 ,often the scene is a screen with projecting wings as in the ,st4 ,francis before the ,sultan of ,morocco1 or a similar fore-court1 as in the ,mourning for ,st4 ,francis4 ,it will be well to compare the story of ,st4 ,francis renouncing his father1 ,figure #ba1 with the same subject at ,assisi4 ,you will recall that ,st4 ,francis1 when rebuked by his father for a rash and impulsive act of charity1 stripped off his clothes1 then threw them at his father's feet1 and took refuge under the robe of the ,bishop of ,assisi4 ,in the earlier version the architectural background splits the composition in two1 adding to its intensity perhaps1 but displeasing to the eye4 ,here in the late version a fine building seen in perspective both unifies the two groups and serves as apex for the decorative axis of the entire side wall4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ba4 ,giotto4 ,st4 ,francis renounces his ,father4 ,compare ,,fig4 #i4--;,bardi ,chapel1 ,santa ,croce4 ,more remarkable still is the contrast between ,st4 ,francis ,braving the ,fire ,ordeal before the ,soldan1 ,figure #bb1 as depicted at ,assisi and ,florence4 ,we have to do not merely with an immense advance in decorative composition1 the accessories at ,assisi being trivial and fantastic2 not merely with progress towards a gracious symmetry and more massive and impressive form1 but also with a complete change of moral point of view4 ,at ,assisi the ,soldan is an ogre exacting a cruel test4 ,the ,moslem priests are a cowardly pack of magicians ignobly slinking away1 ,st4 ,francis a grim fanatic4 ,at ,florence the ,soldan is a noble and humane gentleman1 amazed at an unreasonable ordeal forced upon his wise men4 ,the ,moslem doctors are splendid scholars grudgingly shrinking from an unfair test1 ,st4 ,francis an alert little enthusiast half gloating over the confusion he has thrown into the enemy camp4 ,with a by no means orthodox feeling1 old ,giotto1 humanistic ,giotto1 almost seems to take1 or at least to see1 the pagans' side of it4 ,he who had written a manly poem against the excesses and hypocrisies of the ,franciscan ideal of poverty1 is now capable of criticizing the more extravagant propagandism of the saint himself4 ,it is a criticism that admits all tenderness and sympathy1 as may be seen in the famous fresco representing the ,mourning over the body of ,st4 ,francis while his soul is translated to heaven1 ,figure #bc4 ,again ,john ,ruskin is your best interpreter to this picture1 which after all only needs to be seen4 ,it combines all the qualities for which ,giotto had striven--warmth1 vivacity1 ingenuity1 unexpectedness in the narrative details2 massiveness and dignity of the individual forms2 and a decorative symmetry at once monumental1 formal1 and delightfully varied4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bb4 ,giotto4 ,st4 ,francis before the ,soldan4 ,compare ,fig4 #aa4--;,bardi ,chapel1 ,santa ,croce4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bc4 ,giotto4 ,death of ,st4 ,francis4--,bardi ,chapel1 ,santa ,croce4 ,with this noble and deeply felt composition we virtually take leave of ,giotto4 ,for though he lived for many years yet1 the works of his old age have largely perished4 ,in the chapel at ,assisi dedicated to ,st4 ,mary ,magdalen are fine frescoes in which he surely had a leading part4 ,from #accj to #accc he worked at ,naples for ,king ,robert of ,anjou4 ,nothing remains from this visit except certain shrewd jests which the painter exchanged with the ,king4 ,in #accd ,florence recalled him1 and made him capomaestro of the ,cathedral4 ,giotto designed the flower-like tower which rises lightly beside the temple of ,our ,lady of the ,flower1 invented and perhaps cut in marble certain reliefs on the base representing the crafts of men1 but did not live to see the loveliest of bell towers finished4 ,the task was completed by his pupil and artistic executor1 ,taddeo ,gaddi4 ,in the last years ,giotto conceived vast compositions of a religious and political sort for the public buildings of the ,commune4 ,there were allegories of a strong and weak state1 in the ,bargello1 the prison-fortress of the ,captain of the ,people4 ,these great symbolical designs are a kind of missing link between ,giotto and the panoramic painters who followed him4 ,we may find an echo of this lost work in the ,civic ,allegories in the ,palazzo ,pubblico of ,siena4 ,these were doing at the moment of ,giotto's death by a ,sienese painter1 ,ambrogio ,lorenzetti1 who had studied the great ,florentine master devoutly4 ,nothing of ,giotto's latest phase is left save a few figures in the battered frescoes in the ,bargello which contain the idealized portrait of youthful ,dante1 ,figure #bd1 and the gracious ,dormition of the ,virgin at ,berlin1 ,frontispiece4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bd4 ,giotto4 ,dante1 tracing from the ruined fresco in the ,bargello4 ,just before ,giotto died1 the tyrant of ,milan borrowed him from ,florence4 ,giotto soon returned1 to die early in the year #accg1 being seventy years old4 ,almost single-handed he had made ,italian painting4 ,he had lent life and warmth to the cold and academic reform of the ,roman painters4 ,he had expressed a maximum of feeling1 without sacrifice of dignity4 ,he had worked out beautiful and impressive forms of composition wherein symmetry and contrast met harmoniously4 ,he had mastered the expression of mass on a plane surface with a certainty and energy no artist before had even imagined1 and that few since have equalled4 ,he had forecast and led the way in every manner of realistic figure painting4 ,florence1 when true to herself1 could only repeat ,giotto in one phase or another of his activity4 ,in her casual and sprightly mood1 she carries on the method of ,giotto's stories of ,st4 ,francis at ,assisi1 in mystical reflection and symbolism she must build on the allegories over ,st4 ,francis' tomb and on the lost political frescoes2 in her mood of strenuous search for reality she can but repeat the ,paduan chapter of ,giotto's strivings1 in rare moments of vision and fulfilment she will merely begin where the ,santa ,croce frescoes of ,giotto ended4 ,however ,giotto be ranked1 and personally ,i see no greater artist on the rolls of history1 his is indisputably the greatest single achievement2 for no other artist who accomplished so much began with so little4 ,it was no exaggeration that made ,lorenzo ,ghiberti regard the advent of ,giotto as the coming to life of an art that had been buried for centuries4 ,it is indeed the measured classicism of ,giotto's art that constitutes its greatness--its sweet and lucid reasonableness1 its rugged yet disciplined strength4 ,seneca or ,marcus ,aurelius would have understood it perfectly1 as ,giotto himself1 for his mellow wisdom and wit1 would have been a welcome visitor at ,horace's ,sabine farm4 ,in his broad and flexible insight1 his love of mankind1 his clear perceptions of aims and ready acceptance of limitations1 in his pathos without exaggeration1 in his constructive skill without ostentation1 in his simplicity without bareness1 he is the authentic and indispensable link between the beauty of ,greece and ,rome and that of the ,italian ,golden ,age4 ,to know him is to know almost everything that is needful about older ,european painting1 not to know him is to lack the very rudiments of an artistic education4 ,giotto left many followers1#ab not one of whom at all understood his greatness4 ,like his friend ,dante1 he was distantly admired1 but really loved only in bits4 ,as perceptive a person as the artist biographer ,vasari lavishes praise upon ,giotto for his more trivial inventions--the ,christ ,child struggling out of the arms of the ,high ,priest1 for example4 ,so ,giotto's followers picked unintelligently from his great accomplishment1 choosing what the master himself would least have valued--his simple contours without his significant mass1 his variety and vivacity without his warmth and restraint4 ,on their own account they added complication4 ,the sparse economy of ,giotto's best work could never have appealed to ,florence at large4 ,something richer and gayer was wanted1 more like ,florentine life itself as it became after the general loosening up of manners and morals following the plague of #acdh4 ,its chronicler1 the author of the 8,decameron10 fairly represents the new spirit4 ,the best of the younger painters have indeed something of ,boccaccio's mentality--his light touch1 his charm1 his panoramic richness1 his fluid and undisciplined grace4 ,thus arises what ,i may call the panoramic style of fresco painting--superficial1 full of episodes and accessories1 still religious in theme1 but mundane in spirit1 often cleverly conceived1 and very superficially felt4 ,these artists had grasped neither the meaning of ,giotto's drawing nor the beauty of his decorative formulas1 they saw only his variety and energy4 ,meanwhile a great ,sienese painter1 ,ambrogio ,lorenzetti1 a profound admirer of ,giotto1 had worked out a nobly spectacular form of painting in which the stage setting was elaborate and realistic4 ,he painted much in ,florence about #accd and his novelties allured the new men4 ,so we find fresco painting tending in a scenic direction1 and panel painting following the same course more conservatively--not merely in ,florence and ,siena1 but throughout ,northern ,italy as well4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #be4 ,giotto's ,assistant at ,assisi4 ,flight into ,egypt4 ,compare ,figure #ad4--,lower ,church1 ,assisi4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bf4 ,taddeo ,gaddi4 ,st4 ,joachim ,meets ,st4 ,anna4 ,compare ,,fig4 #ac;a4--,baroncelli ,chapel1 ,santa ,croce4 ,many of ,giotto's immediate pupils are mere names to us4 ,maso1 whom the sculptor commentator ,ghiberti praised for his sweetness1 ,stefano whom he dubbed the 8ape of nature10 ,puccio ,capanna--their work must be at ,assisi1 but criticism has not succeeded in clearly disengaging it4 ,the nameless master who executed the ,franciscan allegories at ,assisi and designed the stories of ,christ's youthful days1 in the adjoining right transept1 is the most accomplished and individual follower of ,giotto4 ,he works for grace1 pathos1 sumptuousness1 and decorative breadth4 ,he is a ,giotto with the angles rubbed down4 ,by comparing ,giotto's ,flight of the ,holy ,family to ,egypt1 with the later version at ,assisi1 ,figure #be1 we may grasp the difference between master and scholar4 ,giotto is brusque1 harsh1 noble2 the flight through a rocky defile gives a sense of urgency and peril2 the composition carries forward like the ram of a battleship4 ,in the version at ,assisi the flight has become an attractive family excursion through a romantic valley2 the mood is gentle1 charming1 unspecific4 ,a moment in an epic has been attenuated into an idyl4 ,this master never fails to express a dreamy sort of poetry1 and in such compositions as the ,massacre of the ,innocents1 and the ,calvary1 he commands a genuine pathos4 ,he is exactly what ,giotto might have been1 had he skipped the strenuous ,paduan phase1 and become a decorator without the preliminary discipline of the draughtsman4 ,there are reasons for thinking that this work was done by a shop assistant of ,giotto's1 who for many years directed the decoration of the ,lower ,church at ,assisi in ,giotto's stead4 ,some of the work in the ,childhood of ,christ1 ,i believe1 may be as late as #accj to #acce4 ,taddeo ,gaddi is a more definite and less pleasing personality4 ,he was ,giotto's godson and his assistant for twenty-four years1 presumably from #acac to #accg1 as well as his artistic executor4 ,whether in panel or fresco1 he was an admirable craftsman2 in tempera1 a fine colorist4 ,his panels are widely scattered1 some ten being in the ,united ,states2 his frescoes1 all that we need to note1 are in ,santa ,croce4 ,in the ,baroncelli ,chapel1 just after ,giotto's death1 ,taddeo finished these frescoes of the early life of the ,virgin1 repeating themes which ,giotto had used both in ,padua and elsewhere in ,santa ,croce itself4 ,his way of competing with ,giotto is to stir and add and mix things up4 ,compare the meeting of ,anna and ,joachim at the ,beautiful ,gate in the two masters2 ,giotto at ,padua is grave1 noble1 heartfelt2 how he discriminates between the masculine clutch of the old husband and the tender embrace of the wife--how drastic the conception is1 but also how clear and stately4 ,poor ,taddeo on the other hand brings the sacred pair together with the bounce of a modern dance1 ,figure #bf4 ,he brings no brains to bear1 and almost no feelings1 just a sprightly and wholly casual inventiveness4 ,certain delightful little panels with stories of ,christ and ,st4 ,francis which he did in ,giotto's shop for the doors of the sacristy wardrobes of ,santa ,croce remind us of the pity that he ever ceased to be an interpreter of a greater man's designs4 ,in the fresco of ,job's trials1 in the ,campo ,santo1 ,pisa1 he seems nearly a great artist4 ,conceivably he worked on designs of his late master4 ,at least he had a certain critical sense1 for at an artist's reunion at ,san ,miniato1 about #acfj1 he told ,andrea ,orcagna and the rest of the company that painting had constantly declined since ,giotto and was declining every day4 ,he transmitted1 his sound craftsmanship to a son1 ,agnolo1 who decorated the ,choir of ,santa ,croce with the legends of the ,cross4 ,he carried down the panoramic style to the end of the #adth century1 practicing it with more taste than his father1 achieving a grace without much inwardness or force4 ,a later contemporary of ,giotto's1 ,buonamico ,buffalmacco1#ac seems to have inherited something of ,giotto's power1 but the identification of his work is very uncertain1 and he lives for us chiefly as an egregious wag in the pages of the ,italian story writers4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bg4 ,giottino4 ,deposition--,uffizi4 ,from another contemporary and possibly a scholar of ,giotto1 ,bernardo ,daddi1 we have many panel pictures and a few frescoes at ,santa ,croce4 ,he is an admirable craftsman1 and a sincere illustrator1 within his limitations1 applying very competently to panel painting something of the panoramic realism of ,ambrogio ,lorenzetti4 ,a prolific artist1 his exquisitely finished little panels are quite common4 ,in ,america are good examples in the ,new ,york ,historical ,society1 in the ,platt ,collection1 ,englewood1 and a more monumental piece in the ,johnson ,collection1 ,philadelphia4 ,he lived well beyond the middle of the century4 ,giottino1 who possibly is to be identified with ,giotto's pupil ,maso1 is a more delicate spirit with unusual resources of pathos4 ,his best work is an altar-piece of the ,deposition1 ,figure #bg1 painted about #acfj for the ,church of ,san ,remigio at ,florence and now in the ,uffizi4 ,a preference for isolated figures and for vertical lines is noteworthy1 as is the wistfulness of the attendant donors4 ,similar qualities of delicate precision as of dispersion are in the frescoes in ,santa ,croce which represent the ,miracles of ,pope ,sylvester4 ,the note is feminine and rather ,sienese than genuinely ,florentine4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bh4 ,andrea ,orcagna4 ,christ conferring authority upon ,st4 ,peter and ,st4 ,thomas ,aquinas4--,strozzi ,chapel1 ,santa ,maria ,novella4 ,outside of ,giotto's bottega arose the rare continuers of his tradition4 ,such an artist flourished about the middle of the century in the person of ,andrea di ,cione1 better known by his nickname of ,orcagna4 ,he was more of a sculptor and architect than a painter1 a man of dignity and force1 a poet and thinker4 ,although not a pupil of ,giotto1 he studied that master's work admiringly1 and sought to reproduce its massiveness4 ,its brusqueness he largely rejected4 ,instead of sketching the draperies summarily1 he drew the folds carefully after the model2 he liked to treat the panel and wall as a whole1 where ,giotto had accepted the tradition of subdivision2 he gave to his faces a greater sweetness and he occasionally attempted foreshortenings and impetuosities of gesture that ,giotto would have avoided4 ,unluckily ,orcagna's most important frescoes have perished4 ,we may grasp his nobility in the altar-piece which he finished and dated in #aceg1 ,figure #bh1 for the chapel of the ,strozzi family at ,santa ,maria ,novella4 ,the formality of the composition is noteworthy1 as is the stately sweetness of the ,madonna4 ,the subject is ,christ delegating his ,power and ,wisdom respectively to ,st4 ,peter and to ,st4 ,thomas ,aquinas4 ,in the same chapel the figure of ,christ leaning forward over a cloud and making the sublime gesture that decrees the end of the world and the ,judgment ,day1 ,figure #bi1 is probably designed by ,orcagna1 as are the larger figures below4 ,we have here one of the freest and grandest conceptions of the period4 ,the lovely garden-like heaven and the quaint and ingenious hell on the side walls are by ,orcagna's brother1 ,nardo di ,cione4 ,the mood is less grave than ,orcagna's1 variety counts for more4 ,the heads of the saints are of a most delicate beauty4 ,nardo has many of the qualities of the panoramic painters without their heedlessness4 ,he represents a compromise between the severity of ,giotto and the diffuseness of his own day4 ,he worked indefatigably until #acff1 and his younger brother1 ,jacopo1 and his imitator1 ,mariotto1 continued the manner almost into the new century4 ,orcagna was perhaps more versatile than critics have supposed4 ,recently discovered fragments of frescoes in ,santa ,croce1 ,figure #cj1 show a drastic power that no other ,florentine possessed4 ,the theme is miserable folk in time of pestilence crying out to ,death to end their sorrows4 ,the entire fresco would have shown ,death passing them by and poising the scythe for prosperous and happy folk beyond4 ,the whole scene exists in the famous frescoes of the ,pisan ,campo ,santo which1 while traditionally ascribed to ,orcagna1 are unquestionably of ,sienese inspiration4 ,they will occupy us later4 ,orcagna's solitary position in ,florence reminds us that artistic succession is rarely from master to pupil1 but from great soul to great soul across intervening mediocrity4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cj4 ,andrea ,orcagna4 ,they call ,death in ,vain4 ,fragment from ruined fresco of the ,triumph of ,death4--,santa ,croce4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bi4 ,andrea ,orcagna4 ,upper part of ,fresco of ,last ,judgment4--,strozzi ,chapel1 ,santa ,maria ,novella4 ,giorgio ,vasari regarded ,gherardo ,starnina 7active before #adjj7 as an important link between ,giotto and the ,renaissance1 and if ,professor ,suida is right in ascribing the frescoes of the legend of ,st4 ,nicholas in the ,castellani ,chapel1 ,santa ,croce1 to ,starnina1 ,vasari was quite right4 ,about this mysterious pupil of ,antonio ,veneziano who worked in ,spain1 we really know almost nothing4 ,but the ,st4 ,nicholas frescoes have a grimness and gravity which points back to ,giotto and withal a careful fusion of light and shade which anticipates ,masolino and ,masaccio4 ,meanwhile ,giotto's own great compositions in still undiminished splendor and impressiveness stood ready to give lessons to the eye and mind that could read them aright4 ,before such later panoramists as ,niccol di ,pietro ,gerini1 ,mariotto di ,nardo1 and ,spinello ,aretino were gone1 that eye was already busy1 in the person of a rugged little boy of ,san ,giovanni in ,valdarno4 ,he may have already been called ,masaccio for his untidiness4 ,he was to rebuild on ,giotto and create the grand style of the ,renaissance4 ,a mere catalogue of those painters who pursued the panoramic method with ability can hardly be expected4 ,one and all they followed the ,sienese narrative style4 ,prominent would be certain incomers from other cities1 ,giovanni da ,milano1 ,antonio ,veneziano1 and ,spinello ,aretino4 ,these are typical decorators of the last quarter of the #adth century4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ca4 ,andrea ,bonaiuti1 ,the ,navicella1 fresco1 closely imitated from ,giotto's ,mosaic at ,st4 ,peter's1 ,rome4--,spanish ,chapel4 ,we do better to fix our attention upon the most remarkable example of the ,florentine panoramic style1 the decoration of the ,spanish ,chapel1 the chapter house attached to the ,dominican ,church of ,santa ,maria ,novella4#ad ,the work was begun by ,andrea ,bonaiuti in the year #acfe1 as we know from a recently discovered document4 ,as decoration it is delightful1 if rather superficially so4 ,the artist treats his spaces as wholes1 declining to cut them up into oblongs after the earlier fashion4 ,he covers his great surfaces with ease and taste1 has a knack at illustration1 and a fine sense of color4 ,the great ,calvary over the triumphal arch imposes from its very vastness2 the triangles of the cross vault1 including a spirited transcript of ,giotto's ,navicella1 ,figure #ca1 are composed with clarity and skill2 the famous composition of the ,dominican theologian1 ,st4 ,thomas ,aquinas1 enthroned above the ,liberal ,arts and ,sciences1 and their representatives in history1 combines an almost ,byzantine formality and grandeur with prettiness and ingenuity in details4 ,but the method is better shown in the decoration opposite1 which represents the dual earthly powers1 the ,pope and the ,emperor1 enthroned equally1 and supported by the representatives of the spiritual orders and secular estates1 ,figure #cb4 ,the group which symbolizes the right government of society1 according to medival ideas1 is set before a church which quite faithfully shows what the ,cathedral of ,florence was then intended to be4 ,high up in the arch is the goal of all earthly endeavor--,heaven with ,christ enthroned amid the angels2 an altar with a lamb before ,him1 symbolizing ,his sacrifice2 ,his ,mother kneeling as intercessor for mankind4 ,the ,gate of ,heaven with ,st4 ,peter in attendance1 is navely set above the church on a sort of aerial raft4 ,below is a novel realistic touch1 the villa-studded sky line of hills which encloses ,florence4 ,the real guide to ,st4 ,peter's presence is always a ,dominican monk1 usually ,st4 ,dominic himself is intended--the founder and militant evangelist of the order1 as ,st4 ,thomas ,aquinas was its systematic theologian4 ,in the lower range of the picture1 ,st4 ,dominic confutes the heretics1 who tear their wicked books in despair4 ,above he vainly beseeches careless gentlefolk at dalliance in an orange grove2 still higher1 he leads the truly penitent to ,heaven's gate4 ,at the foot the ,domini ,canes 7a bad pun for ,dominicans7 are vigilant4 ,the moral of the fresco is1 happy the world which trusts its worldly and religious business to the ,emperor and the ,pope1 and its personal religious problems to the ,dominicans4 ,it is a kind of glorified poster for the order4 ,in its sprightliness1 variety1 complication and facile charm1 it is a fine example of the panoramic style4 ,it lacks every quality of seriousness whether as a composition or in the drawing of the figures4 ,but its fairy tale profuseness and ease have made it ever since it was painted1 one of the most popular decorations in ,italy4 ,its success shows the kind of taste with which the few disciplined artists of the fourteenth century had to contend4 ,such obstacles have ever been the fate of the artist who cares enough for his art to practice it austerely4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cb4 ,andrea ,bonaiuti4 ,dominican ,allegory of ,church and ,state4 ,fresco4--,spanish ,chapel4 ,work of the facile and superficial character of the ,spanish ,chapel ,florence produced in abundance for two generations after ,giotto's death4 ,his faithful but dull disciple1 ,taddeo ,gaddi1 as we have seen1 gloomily foresaw the downfall of the art of painting4 ,but as in a great personality the recreations and even dissipations seldom permanently eclipse the greater purpose1 so ,florence was big enough to indulge for a time her weaker side4 ,had ,taddeo ,gaddi been more intelligent1 or even more hopeful1 he would have seen that new masters must arise1 and that there would soon be pictures in ,florence at which ,giotto come back to earth would gaze with that humility with which he had once viewed the marble gods of ,rome1 with that understanding sympathy which he had borne to all his fellow mortals4 ,,illustrations ,,for ,,chapter ,i ,,on ,,the ,,dignity ,,and ,,wealth ,,of ,,old ,,florence ,giovanni ,villani1 ,historie1 ,,xii1 #d1 regrets the passing of decorum with the advent of the ,french and the ,duke of ,athens in #acdb1 but wealth increased4 8,formerly the clothing and costumes of the ,florentines was the most beautiful1 noble and distinguished of any nation1 in the manner of the togaed ,romans40 ,evidently the look of things favored the art of a ,giotto4 ,in book ,,xi1 ch4 #ia-ic1 ,villani gives remarkable and quite modern statistics which ,i paraphrase and quote1 in part from the ,giunta edition1 ,venice1 #aeei4 ,the time is about #acdj4 8,we found by diligence that in these times there were in ,florence #be1jjj men fit to bear arms1 from #ae to #gj years old1 among whom there were #aejf nobles4444 ,there were then in ,florence #fe fully equipped knights1 though before the middle class which now rules was organized1 there were more than #bej knights4444 ,there was estimated to be #ij1jjj 444 men1 women and children in the city4 ,there is supposed to be generally in the city #a1ejj foreigners1 travellers1 and soldiers not counting in the population the clergy1 monks1 and nuns4444 ,in the outlying districts are supposed to be #hj1jjj people4 ,we have found from the rector who baptizes the children 7since for every male who was baptized in ,san ,giovanni--in order to have the count--was dropped a black bean1 and for every female a white7 that for every year in these times there were from #e1hjj to #f1jjj1 the males generally exceeding by #cjj to #ejj a year4 8,we find that the boys and girls at primary school were from #h1jjj to #aj1jjj4 ,the boys who study the abacus 7calculation7 and arabic numbers1 in six schools1 from #a1jjj to #a1bjj4 ,and those who are learning ,latin grammar and logic1 in four great schools1 from #eej to #fjj4 8,the churches1 which were then in ,florence and in the suburbs1 counting the abbeys1 and monastic churches1 we find to be #aaj1 of which #eg1 parish churches 444 #e abbeys and two priories with #hj monks1 #bd convents of nuns1 with more than #ejj women1 #aj friaries with more than #gjj friars1 #cj hospitals with more than #ajjj beds to lodge the poor and infirm1 and from #bej to #cjj chaplain priests4 8,the shops of the cloth makers 7arte della lana7 were #bjj and more1 and they made from #gj1jjj to #hj1jjj bolts1 at a value of more than #a1bjj1jjj gold florins1 although fully a third part staid in the city for the workers1 without gain for the cloth handlers1 and the workers are more than #cj1jjj persons4444 8,the warehouses of the art of the ,calimala1 for the ,french and transalpine cloth1 were #bj1 which brought in per year more than #aj1jjj bolts of a value of #cjj1jjj gold florins1 all of which was sold in ,florence4444 ,banks of money changers #hj4444 ,shops of bootmakers 444 #cjj4 ,the college of judges1 from #hj to #ajj4 ,and notaries from #fjj up1 doctors of physic and surgery #fj1 and druggists' shops #ajj4444 8,the greater part of the well-to-do1 rich1 and noble citizens with their families1 staid in the country for four months1 and some1 more1 a year40444 8,other dignities and magnificences of our city of ,florence ,i should not fail to bring to memory1 for information of such as shall come after us4 ,it was1 within1 well built with many beautiful palaces and houses1 and in these times they were continually demolishing1 thus bettering the building by making it more comfortable and rich1 bringing in from outside the examples for every sort of betterment and beauty4 ,churches1 cathedrals1 friaries of every rule1 monasteries1 magnificent and rich4 ,furthermore1 there was no citizen who did not have a country place1 great or small1 which was not richly built1 indeed far greater buildings than in the city2 and every citizen sinned by inordinate spending1 whence they were thought crazy4 ,but it was so magnificent a thing to see1 that a foreigner1 not used to coming in1 believed1 because of the rich structures for three miles about1 that it was all one city after the manner of ,rome1 not to mention the rich palaces1 towers1 court yards1 terraced gardens1 still further from the city1 which in any other country would have been called the rural districts4 ,in short one would have thought that within six miles of the city were more rich and noble inhabitants1 than1 taking them together1 two ,florences could have produced4 ,and let this suffice for telling of the facts of ,florence40 ,,giotto',s ,,view ,,of ,,franciscan ,,poverty ,giotto's humanistic detachment from the ,franciscan doctrine of voluntary poverty is well illustrated in his poem which is quoted in part from ,dante ,gabriel ,rosetti's translation4 ,the original is in ,g4 ,milanesis' edition of ,vasari1 ,le ,vite1 ,vol4 ,i1 ,florence #ahgh1 pp4 #dbf-h4 8,many there are1 praisers of ,poverty2 ,the which as man's best state is register'd ,when by free choice preferr'd1 ,with strict observance1 having nothing here4 ,for this they find certain authority ,wrought of an over-nice interpreting4 ,now as concerns such thing1 ,a hard extreme to me it doth appear1 ,which to commend ,i fear1 ,for seldom are extremes without some vice1 ,let every edifice1 ,of work or word1 secure foundation find2 ,against the potent wind1 ,and all things perilous1 so well prepared-- ,that it needs no correction afterward40 ,a ,,contract ,,with ,,orcagna ,,for ,,the ,,altar-,,piece ,,of #aceg ,tommaso di ,rossello ,strozzi left a rough note of the terms of the contract for the altar-piece of his chapel4 ,doubtless the actual contract was much fuller4 ,the minute is published by ,filippo ,baldinucci1 ,opere1 ,milano #ahaa1 ,vol ,,iv4 p4 #cig4 8,herewith is to be written on my part and ,andrea called ,orcagna that ,i ,tommaso di ,rossello aforesaid have given to paint for the altar-piece which is made for the altar of the chapel in ,santa ,maria ,novella1 of a breadth of five braccia1 #a sol4 over #aj feet there or thereabouts4 ,the aforesaid ,andrea is to paint in fine and splendid colors2 and gold1 silver and everything else are truly to be used in the entire panel and pinnacles1 that is gold leaf4 ,only in the side columns may silver be used4444 ,and with as many figures as directed by me ,tommaso it shall be completed4 ,and the said panel to be entirely painted by his own hand4 8#a #ced in twenty months4444 8,should it come about that the aforesaid ,andrea should not give it to us completed and painted40 8,he should pay me for every additional week that he works at the painting as it shall seem right to the judgment of the here named arbitrators40444 8,should it come to more than the aforesaid price1 we will take the judgment of ,carlo1 ,paolo and ,fra ,jacopo40 ,such is approximately the sense of this very difficult and quite grammarless annotation of ,tommaso ,strozzi4 ,the arbitrators must have had occasion to act1 for the panel is dated #aceg1 two years after the promised time4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cc4 ,ambrogio ,lorenzetti4 ,madonna of ,san ,francesco4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,siena ,,and ,,the ,,continuing ,,of ,,the ,,medi,,val ,,style ,on the ,romantic instability of ,siena--,fidelity to ,byzantine ,ideals--,guido1 ,coppo1 the ,master of the ,altar-front of ,st4 ,peter--,duccio and his great ,majesty of the ,madonna--,his twofold tendency3 to elaborated staged narrative2 to sparse and exquisite decoration--,simone ,martini and the ,idealistic chivalric style--,the ,brothers ,lorenzetti and the popular panoramic style--,second half of the ,fourteenth ,century--,the ,fifteenth ,century3 ,sassetta and ,giovanni de ,paolo--,matteo1 ,benvenuto and ,neroccio--,the ,renaissance and the downfall of the ,school1 ,francesco di ,giorgio1 ,sodoma4 ,as you enter ,siena by the wide ,camollia gate you will read in ,latin 8,siena opens her ,heart still wider to thee03--,cor magis tibi ,sena pandit4 ,thus ,siena avows herself the city of the heart4 ,where ,florence studied and calculated1 she mused and dreamed2 where ,florence was solid1 she was volatile4 ,for unrewarding idealisms she had a kind of genius4 ,long after the other ,italian communes had seen it was worst possible business to support the emperor1 ,siena was faithful to that lost cause4 ,every few years she changed her form of government1 and seldom for the better4 ,merrymaking and pageantry were universal in old ,italy1 but ,siena alone had a ,spendthrift ,club 7,brigata ,spendereccia7 devoted to continual pleasure1 and a poet1 ,folgore da ,san ,gemignano1 to celebrate its gaieties4 ,siena was ardent in inconstant fashion4 ,early in the #adth century was found a nude marble ,venus so beautiful that it was set up in the great square and thronged with admirers4 ,then the war with ,florence went badly1 and at a few words from a pious fanatic1 the citizenry smashed up the image and secretly buried the bits on ,florentine soil to bring bad luck to the foe4 ,naturally no bad luck ensued to ,florence1 but ,siena had enjoyed two delightful emotional crises4 ,you will see why ,siena never could produce a realistic art1 any more than ,ireland has produced one4 ,her eye was not on the object but on her own state of mind4 ,thus ,florence will produce historians1 scientists1 and politicians1 while ,siena will produce saints and miracles4 ,amid this romantic inconstancy1 the continuing thread was the cult of the ,blessed ,virgin4 ,no other city thought so delicately of her1 and no other art has represented her so ideally4 ,had she not saved the city8 ,in #abei the ,florentine ,guelfs and their allies marched with overwhelming force to the very gates of ,siena4 ,ruin was imminent and despair abroad1 when by a common impulse the populace marched penitently to the ,cathedral and before the rude picture of the ,queen of ,heaven solemnly committed the city into her hands4 ,in ecstacy of renewed faith the inferior army of ,siena fell upon the invaders at ,montaperti and utterly routed them4 ,in gratitude ,siena remained the city of the ,virgin4 ,when in #acaj the painter ,duccio replaced the rude effigy of the ,madonna of ,victory with one of the finest ,madonnas known to art1 ,fig4 #cg1 the whole city suspended business and escorted the picture from the studio to the ,cathedral with hymns and litanies in honor of their divine patroness4 ,nowhere else has painting paid such homage to the ,virgin ,mary4 ,in other cities it was enough to represent her enthroned with a handful of angels or saints in attendance4 ,the ,sienese painters multiplied the celestial escort until it became a heavenly court over which the ,mother of ,god presides in sweet majesty4 ,siena also grasped at the then not quite orthodox subject of the ,assumption of the ,virgin into ,heaven4 ,you see her slender form rising amid a glory of angels more than a hundred years before the theme was common elsewhere4 ,these brief hints will tell of the temper of ,siena4 ,you will not expect such a city to be like ,florence1 interested in facts and charmed by the human spectacle4 ,she will be rather engrossed with the beauty of old legends and in rare forward-looking moments concerned with her own devout imaginings4 ,she will not wish the saints to be like the people one knows1 but like denizens of some divine1 far-off fairyland4 ,her painting will not be humanistic but of an unworldly idealism4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cd4 ,guido of ,siena4 ,madonna4--,uffizi4 ,such being the temper of ,siena1 her artists1 unlike those of ,florence1 had no quarrel with the ,byzantine style4 ,its splendid irreality only needed to be made flexible and gracious4 ,siena has really no new ideas to express1 merely feelings more tender and exquisite4 ,her pictorial reforms are reverent and gradual1 backward-looking1 medival4 ,her art from #acjj to #aejj1 as lovely within its narrow limits as the closed garden of the ,virgin1 has the great interest of teaching us what capacities for growth lay in the medival tradition itself--what painting in ,italy would have been had ,siena exercised her temporary might after ,montaperti and razed ,florence five years before ,giotto was born4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ce4 ,sienese about #abge4 ,altar-front of ,st4 ,peter4--,siena4 ,a little earlier than the year #abbe1 when ,florence called in strangers to adorn the ,baptistery with mosaics in the ,greek style1 ,guido of ,siena signed and dated #abba the most famous of his madonnas4 ,unhappily the enthroned ,virgin of the ,palazzo ,pubblico was repainted some fifty years later1 a fact which has led many critics unnecessarily to doubt the date4#ae ,but from half a dozen other pictures by ,guido we may learn that he was a diligent and rather heavy-handed imitator of the current ,greek formulas1 ,figure #cd4 ,at the battle of ,montaperti the ,sienese captured an excellent ,florentine painter1 ,coppo di ,marcovaldo1 and in #abfa he painted the admirable madonna which is still in the church of the ,servi4 ,it shows a sensitive use of the ,byzantine conventions4 ,there is pensiveness and almost shyness in the face and posture of the ,virgin1 and loving intentness in that of the ,child4 ,their relation is to each other and not as in earlier madonnas to the devout public4 ,these intimate qualities have been ascribed1 ,i think wrongly1 to restoration4 ,but they appear even more emphatically in the entirely unrestored ,madonna1 ,figure #c1 in the collection of ,mr4 ,otto ,kahn1 which ,i think may be a ,coppo#af1 and is in any case of similar date and feeling4 ,the same process of sweetening the old style while accepting it1 is shown in the famous altar-piece of ,st4 ,peter in the ,academy at ,siena1 ,figure #ce4 ,the gaunt figure of the ,saint is completely traditional1 the little stories of the ,annunciation and ,nativity at the side show a new vivacity and a new grace4 ,siena met the innovating painter more than half way1 for the indignant citizens soon marred with their knives the crucifiers of the head of the ,christian ,church4 ,the date of the panel will not be far from #abge1 and already the painter of genius who was to create the sweet1 new style was learning his trade4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cf4 ,duccio ,purcellai ,madonna4--,santa ,maria ,novella1 ,florence4 ,of ,duccio di ,buoninsegna1 the father of the ,sienese school1 and everything considered its greatest master1 we have numerous records1#ag and by no means all to his credit4 ,he must have had the artistic temperament in a degree then unusual4 ,the court records show half a dozen fines against him1 and he was not scrupulous about paying his debts4 ,one forgets these foibles before those ,madonnas which are a consummate expression of taste and those narratives which are a triumph of tact and ingenuity4 ,duccio's mind does not grasp the harsher and more heroic emotions1 but within the realm of the tender and pathetic he is supreme4 ,his elegance appears in his first important work1 the famous ,rucellai ,madonna1 ,figure #cf1 in ,santa ,maria ,novella at ,florence1 which tradition erroneously ascribes to ,cimabue4 ,it is presumably the great panel which ,duccio contracted to paint in #abhe4ah ,he was probably young and unconsidered1 for he took all the risks1 agreeing that the picture might be rejected at the will of the patrons4 ,the ,society of ,saint ,mary the ,virgin would have been foolish indeed to reject the most gracious ,madonna the world had then seen4 ,characteristic of ,duccio are the swaying curves of the contours and especially of the draperies1 the thin1 delicately folded robes of the ,child and the attendant angels and the sensitively drawn bare feet4 ,working in ,florence and doubtless impressed by ,cimabue1 ,duccio has retained in this early work a certain austerity which gives way in his later work to a more feminine sweetness4 ,for that very reason the ,rucellai ,madonna is perhaps the greatest ,madonna of the century1 since without loss of the stately ,byzantine qualities1 she gains the new attributes of grace4 ,it was no wonder that when the name of ,duccio had faded out of the ,florentine memory1 ,florence ascribed this noble ,madonna to the venerated founder of her native school1 ,cimabue4 ,recent criticism has righted the unconscious wrong thus done to ,siena4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cg4 ,duccio4 ,madonna in ,majesty4--,opera del ,duomo1 ,siena4 ,to mature his style ,duccio needed only to intensify the qualities of sweetness and grace which are evident already in the ,rucellai ,madonna4 ,the stages of his growth are represented in minor works at ,siena and in ,british and ,roman collections4 ,but his fame1 for the layman1 is associated with the magnificent altar-piece which he executed for the ,cathedral of ,siena1 and only the special student need look beyond it4 ,on the #ith of ,october1 #acji1 ,duccio contracted with the trustees of the ,cathedral to do a great altar-piece wholly with his own hands1 at the rate of sixteen soldi a day and expenses4 ,he promised to take no other work during the painting4 ,it was finished in ,june of #acaa and carried in solemn procession from the bottega outside the ,porta a ,stalloreggi to the ,cathedral4 ,a chronicler describes the cortege 8parading about the ,campo1 as is usual1 all the bells pealing a glory in devotion for so noble a picture as this is4444 ,and all that day they kept praying with many alms which were given to poor folk1 praying to ,god and ,his ,mother1 who is our advocate1 that she defend us in her infinite mercy from every adversity and every ill1 and save us from the hands of traitors and foes of ,siena40 ,most characteristic of the febrile patriotism of ,siena is this constant dread of the traitor4 ,about a year before this ceremony the trustees enlarged the scheme for the picture1 making an additional contract for thirty-eight stories to be paid at the rate of two florins and a half each4 ,these were put on the back of the altar-piece1 covering very fully the life of ,christ and that of the ,virgin4 ,thus the front of the altar-piece represents the decorative and monumental ideals of ,sienese painting while the back exemplifies its feeling for narrative4 ,everything that ,sienese painting was to be is already in germ in this marvellous work4 ,in depicting the ,virgin 8in ,majesty10 ,figure #cg1 ,duccio has magnified the theme4 ,earlier pictures show only a handful of angels in attendance4 ,here we have a cloud of celestial witnesses1 the four patrons of ,siena kneeling in the foreground1 at the sides charming alternation of grim1 bearded evangelists1 orientally soft girl martyrs1 and youthful archangels4 ,seven years earlier ,cimabue had conceived a similar great ,majesty for the ,church of ,santa ,chiara at ,pisa4#ai ,doubtless ,duccio had seen it1 and1 though it is lost to us1 we may assume1 that the ,sienese artist outdid his prototype both in sweetness and splendor4 ,in many ways ,duccio's ,majesty is highly traditional4 ,it shows the ,byzantine horror of voids1 is a little crowded4 ,but this defect would be less apparent if it were raised on its historiated base 7predella7 with its original pinnacles above4 ,everything derives from ,byzantine exemplars1 reverently improved in a realistic direction4 ,duccio has dared to paint the ,christ as a laddie2 and not as a little old man2 he has shown the soft forms of ,his body through light draperies2 he has kept the austerity of the ,byzantine apostles but has attenuated their harshness2 he has worked the insipid female masks of the older art into forms of a positive and dreamy grace4 ,one feels the tender mood of the work in the ,latin jingle at the foot of the throne1 typical of dozens of similar dedications in ,siena3 ,mater ,sancta ,dei ,sis caussa ,senis requei ,sis ,duccio vita ,te quia pinxit ita which ,i may rudely paraphrase3 ,holy ,mother of ,god3 grant ,siena rest1 ,grant life to ,duccio1--he did his best4 ,all the sensibility of the ,city of the ,virgin is in these prattling rhymes with which they loved to hallow and offer great pictures4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ch4 ,duccio4 ,entry into ,jerusalem2 ,christ ,washing the ,apostles' ,feet2 ,last ,supper4 ,from the back of the great ,madonna4--,opera del ,duomo1 ,siena4 ,if the front of this panel shows only moderate innovations1 the case is not so for the back4 ,the two score stories from the ,bible or early ,christian legend1 in the distribution of the figures follow faithfully the standard ,italo-,byzantine compositions4 ,where ,duccio steps in is in bettering the forms1 giving grace to the draperies1 and animation to the gestures--above all in providing contemporary architectural accessories1 and coping with the problem of space4 ,he also carries to their ultimate refinement certain decorative formulas which the ,byzantine painters had glimpsed but not fully realized4 ,thus two quite opposed tendencies pass into ,sienese painting from ,duccio2--a rather small preoccupation with accessories and the problem of space1 and a pure stheticism concerned with finesses of decorative arrangement--in short1 the prose and the poetry of ,sienese painting4 ,sienese narrative painting tends to be scrupulous about details and inscenation1 quite as a good story-teller naturally provides incidents that make for plausibility4 ,we may see how ,duccio's mind works in the familiar theme of ,christ entering ,jerusalem1 ,figure #ch4 ,duccio sets the spectator in a garden with an open gate1 thus throwing the scene back a little4 ,above the procession and the rejoicing throng rises a city wall1 and still higher against the sky bristle ,gothic towers and spires4 ,thus the theme gains picturesqueness and variety4 ,one forgets that there is hardly space for the welcoming throng before the gate1 and that the donkey's four feet are on a level although he is going up hill4 ,these little maladjustments show that while ,duccio took infinite pains in inventing the setting1 he borrowed the figure groups bodily from earlier ,byzantine compositions in which the setting was simpler4 ,in this piecing-together process he turns some pretty sharp corners1 but he never sacrifices clarity and expressiveness4 ,in the scene where the maid servant catches the ,galilean burr in ,peter's voice1 ,figure #ci1 and asks if he be not a follower of ,jesus1 we find ,duccio's method quite at its best4 ,nothing could be better than the sudden turn of the girl with one foot on the steps4 ,fine1 too1 is the concentration of the crowd on the exciting problem of gossip4 ,well-observed1 their actions as they warm their feet and hands at the fire4 ,vivid1 too1 the impulsive gesture of ,peter as he denies the charge4 ,the place1 a court yard with a staircase leading right into the picture above1 which represents the court room where ,jesus is being questioned1 is most elaborately planned4 ,one looks back through a portal into farther spaces4 ,all this was so new and interesting that ,i presume the ,sienese have never noticed to this day that the seated group would never fit in the space assigned to it and that the positions of the figures are ambiguous4 ,the picture does admirably its work of telling a story spiritedly1 and that is enough4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ci4 ,duccio4 ,peter denies ,christ4--,opera del ,duomo1 ,siena4 ,duccio's ,calvary1 ,figure #da1 is remarkable for breadth1 spectacular effectiveness1 and a measured pathos4 ,as usual he multiplies actors and incidents while keeping the orderliness of the arrangement4 ,the slightness of all the forms1 their little weight and uncertain balance are apparent4 ,and there is1 on the same principle of taste1 a similar attenuation of emotion4 ,where ,giotto at ,padua gave stark tragedy1 ,duccio offers a gentle flutter of restrained grief4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #dj4 ,duccio4 ,the ,marys at the ,tomb4--,opera del ,duomo4 ,such is the average of these narratives1 clear1 picturesque1 circumstantial1 infused with a generalized and never very intense emotion4 ,there are some1 mostly composed with few figures1 which reveal a great fastidiousness of arrangement4 ,in such a composition as the ,marys at the ,tomb1 ,figure #dj1 ,duccio reveals himself as pure sthete1 as consummate master of linear composition4 ,the motive is essentially insignificant1 merely that the ,marys shrunk at the sight of the angel at the tomb1 but out of that motive of withdrawal is wrought through the little panel a lovely rhythm to which everything contributes--the rise of the cliffs and their crinkly edges1 the contrasting angles of the tomb and its impossibly tilted lid1 the reciprocal curve of the angel4 ,we grasp in the picture a general truth which reaches far beyond ,duccio and ,siena1 that a too conscious struggle for style precludes any complete expression of emotional significance4 ,for this picture is as trivial as a narrative as it is exquisite as a decoration4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #da4 ,duccio4 ,calvary4--,opera del ,duomo4 ,duccio1 who disappears from our sight about the year #acah1 fixed once for all the character of the ,sienese school4 ,in narrative it was to adopt the placid and tender tone of legend1 most unlike the urgent and dramatic mood of ,giotto4 ,the ,sienese artist was too reverent to raise the question how did this happen1 and how did the persons feel2 he asked rather 8,how do we feel about it as believers80 ,the beauty of the work1 then1 is not that of outer reality but of revery and meditation4 ,it never has the tang and variety of good ,florentine narrative painting1 but within its lovingly modulated monotony1 ,sienese narrative painting is supremely charming4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #db4 ,simone ,martini4 ,madonna in ,majesty4 ,fresco4--,palazzo ,pubblico1 ,siena4 ,duccio also started in ,siena a somewhat worried and petty concern with accessories1 architecture1 complications of perspective4 ,he inaugurated a tradition of material splendor in gilding1 tooling1 delicate graduation of color which remained the glory of ,sienese painting for nearly two centuries4 ,so far as we know he painted only in tempera on panel1 and the ,sienese generally were to triumph in this feminine form of work rather than in the masculine methods of fresco4 ,finally ,duccio took over from ,byzantine art and perfected certain finesses of highly simplified and abstract composition1 a pure stheticism distinctly ,sienese and wholly alien to the warm humanism of ,florence4 ,you will find this austerely lovely style at its best in ,simone ,martini1 and surviving as late as ,sassetta and the middle of the fifteenth century4 ,after ,duccio1 ,sienese painting divides itself into two tendencies1 one aristocratic1 chivalric and sthetic1 deriving from his decorative manner2 the other popular1 narrative and realistic1 deriving from his minutely staged scenes on the back of the great altar-piece4 ,of the aristocratic style ,simone ,martini is the greatest exemplar1 of the popular style1 the brothers ,lorenzetti4 ,simone ,martini was born in #abhc or thereabouts4 ,we first meet him as an artist in the great frescoed ,majesty of the ,virgin1 ,figure #db1 completed in #acae for the ,palazzo ,pubblico1 ,siena4 ,the arrangement is like that of ,duccio's ,majesty1 finished only five years earlier1 and the facial types are generally those of ,duccio4 ,but the great fresco gains clarity and impressiveness from the added space1 from the picturesque motive of a canopy1 from the isolation and elevation of the ,madonna above her escort1 and from the rich ,gothic forms of the throne1 which are a novelty in painting4 ,while most of the faces show the orientalism of ,duccio1 the ,madonna has the level-browed1 intent character of ,gothic art1 and the ,child is realistic4 ,gothic again is the graceful border with its fine medallions1 and the bright colors of the whole4 ,it is the most splendid enthroned ,virgin in the world1 and she is conceived chivalrically as a sort of tournament queen with her paladins upholding a canopy1 and angel pages on their knees offering roses and lilies4 ,to the ,sienese this was a political picture1 as a rhymed inscription in ,italian shows4 ,the saintly patrons of ,siena address the ,virgin3 8,angelic flowers1 roses and lilies ,with which the heavenly meadow is adorned1 ,delight me less than do good counsels4 ,but sometimes ,i see such as verily ,despise me and my city betray1 ,and gain praise the more for evil words1 ,with such as merit condemnation40 ,the ,virgin answers the saints patrons somewhat evasively3 8,fix my delights in your minds1 ,so that ,i shall1 as ye wish1 ,fulfil your honorable requests4 ,but if the powerful molest the weak1 ,oppressing whether with shame or harm-- ,let not your prayers be made for these ,nor for whomsoever betrays my city40 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #dc4 ,simone ,martini4 ,st4 ,martin ,knighted4--,lower ,church1 ,assisi4 ,in ,simone's work this great ,majesty is an exception4 ,he preferred generally to work on a more restricted scale1 to burn the lamp of sthetic sacrifice4 ,i can merely allude to the great idealized portrait of ,st4 ,louis of ,toulouse1 in ,s4 ,lorenzo1 ,naples4 ,it was painted for ,king ,robert of ,anjou1 whose kneeling figure appears in the picture1 sometime after #acag4 ,the thing is resplendent in gold and azure1 adorned by curiously twisted ,gothic borders2 in sentiment it is impassive as a ,buddhist painting4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #dd4 ,simone ,martini and ,lippo ,memmi4 ,the ,annunciation4--,uffizi4 ,about the year #acbe1bj we may surmise1 ,simone was called to ,assisi to fresco the ,chapel of ,st4 ,martin in the ,lower ,church4 ,he set upon the walls so many fairy tales1 tender and sprightly in sentiment1 provided with the few essential accessories that a rapid story-teller would need4 ,what more charming than the boy ,martin praying while they bind on him the equipment of a knight1 ,figure #dc1 and musicians sound a fanfare6 ,what more gallant than the lad setting out on crusade against the ,teutons who lurk in a cleft of the background6 ,this gracious childlike quality1 quite akin to the tender phase of ,duccio1 is exceptional in ,simone1 who habitually is the strenuous decorator4 ,his sparse and austere methods appear clearly in the commemorative fresco of ,guidoriccio1 hired general of ,siena1 and conqueror of ,sassoforte4 ,it is in the ,palazzo ,pubblico and duly dated #acbh4 ,nothing is realistic but the horse and rider4 ,they are isolated1 hold alone a field made up of pure symbols for camps1 and fortresses and craggy hill-tops1 yet the martial effect is unmistakable and the composition most quaintly impressive4 ,the quintessence of ,simone's later art is in the famous ,annunciation of the ,uffizi1 ,figure #dd4 ,in order to justify the most nervously exquisite of linear arrangements he has chosen the least significant moment of the event4 ,his ,virgin is merely a sullen princess resenting an intrusion2 the ,gabriel1 an etherialized courtier pleading a cause with apologies4 ,but the contrast of the advancing and shrinking motives gave ,simone precisely what he wanted4 ,he builds up areas richly colored or brocaded1 bounded by sharp curves1 relieved by flutters and spirals of flying drapery1 and accentuated by such details as the olive twigs and the lily which have the crisp incisiveness of finest metal work4 ,as a triumph of pure decoration ,gothic painting has nothing better to show than this lovely panel which was finished in #accc for the chapel of ,sant' ,ansano at ,siena4 ,it has little quality of heart in it1 and no reverence save that of consummate workmanship4 ,great honors awaited ,simone4 ,he was called to the exiled papal court at ,avignon in #acci1 met ,petrarch1 painted ,petrarch's ,laura and is lauded in one of the poet's sonnets4 ,of ,simone's work at ,avignon we have only a few small panels scattered between ,antwerp1 ,paris1 ,liverpool1 and ,berlin4 ,the compositions1 most of which belonged to a composite altar-piece depicting ,christ's passion1 waver between his old simple style and a crowded and animated mood reminiscent of ,duccio1 and influenced by the ,lorenzetti4 ,simone is unable to resist the universal tendency towards diffuse narrative1 and in so far as he yields to it1 he is less than himself4 ,christ ,bearing ,his ,cross1 in the ,louvre1 exemplifies the extravagance and morbidness of this latest manner1 ,figure #de4 ,his strength lies in sacrifice and abstraction1 his real affinities are the contemporary ,buddhist painters of ,china and ,japan1 though of course he knew nothing of them4 ,he died in #acdd1 leaving behind him a tradition of fastidious artistry which was potent in ,siena for over a century4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #de4 ,simone ,martini4 ,christ bearing ,his ,cross4--,louvre4 ,as late as #adej1 ,lorenzo ,ghiberti informs us in his 8,commentaries10#ba the ,sienese regarded ,simone ,martini as their greatest painter4 ,he differed from them1 preferring1 himself1 ,ambrogio ,lorenzetti4 ,this was an eminently ,florentine choice1 ,ambrogio's warmth1 concreteness1 and elaboration were on the whole ,florentine4 ,he worked for several years at ,florence1 must have known ,giotto1 certainly studied him with discerning admiration4 ,with his elder brother1 ,pietro1 ,ambrogio ,lorenzetti gave to ,duccio's tradition of detailed narrative painting its perfected form4 ,they were great fresco painters1 and most characteristic as such4 ,in panel painting they are less original1 but they bring into this highly conventional art a great ardor and curiosity4 ,they represent the popular average of ,siena as ,simone ,martini represented its aristocratic minority4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #df4 ,pietro ,lorenzetti4 ,madonna with ,saints1 #acbj4--,pieve1 ,arezzo4 ,we first meet ,pietro ,lorenzetti as an artist in the altar-back at the ,pieve1 ,arezzo1#bb ,figure #df1 which was finished in #acbj4 ,it is an ancona1 or compartmented piece and the most splendid that has come down in ,romanesque form4 ,the figures are of two sorts4 ,the ,madonna is of intent ,gothic type1 and the fine motive of holding off the ,christchild at elbow length in order to see him better is borrowed from ,giovanni ,pisano1 who in turn took it from ,french ,gothic sculpture4 ,so are the forms above in the ,annunciation new and graceful1 while the little boxed room with its plastic column is also novel4 ,the ,assumption of the ,madonna in the highest pinnacle is probably the earliest occurrence of this famous ,sienese theme in painting4 ,but all the figures of saints in the three orders of the side panels are taken almost without change from ,duccio's great altar-piece4 ,it would be interesting to trace ,pietro's emancipation through a dozen panels4 ,no one better combined dignity with grace1 and feeling1 and splendor4 ,his work in fresco is fragmentary and confused with that of his younger brother4 ,we are certain of nothing except a fragment of a deeply felt ,calvary in the ,church of ,st4 ,francesco1 at ,siena4 ,many critics ascribe to him the agitated and wildly picturesque frescoes of the ,passion in the left transept of the ,lower ,church at ,assisi4#bc ,but this1 ,i think1 is a mistake4 ,pietro is never in his certain works so lively and indecorous and casual4 ,we have to do with an artist influenced by ,duccio working about #accj1 ,pietro himself may appear as the ,stigmatization1 ,figure #dg1 and one or two of the other simpler compositions4 ,the other frescoes are chiefly interesting as showing the dangers of the panoramic method of ,siena4 ,take the ,last ,supper1 ,figure #dh4 ,the theme is simply lost in the fantastic richness of the accessories4 ,it is hard to find ,christ or ,judas1 for the eye seeks the radiating rafters or the scullery where cats lurk and eager scullions wipe the dishes4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #dg4 ,pietro ,lorenzetti1 or ,follower4 ,st4 ,francis receiving the ,stigmata4 ,fresco4--,lower ,church1 ,assisi4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #dh4 ,school of ,pietro ,lorenzetti4 ,the ,last ,supper4 ,fresco4--,lower ,church1 ,assisi4 ,in the ,birth of the ,virgin1 dated #acdb1 ,figure #di1 ,pietro spoils a carefully studied and well-felt picture by elaboration of the setting4 ,the frame is conceived as the plastic front of a ,gothic room within and behind which1 spaces are multiplied confusingly4 ,here the pedantic preoccupation with the problem of space offends the eye and destroys the unity of what in a simpler setting would be a monumental composition4 ,it illustrates the dangers of that smaller realism which from ,duccio down afflicted the more progressive painters of ,siena4 ,such a picture enables us to appreciate the tact and thoughtfulness with which ,ambrogio ,lorenzetti approached his narrative themes4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #di4 ,pietro ,lorenzetti4 ,birth of the ,virgin4--,opera del ,duomo1 ,siena4 ,ambrogio ,lorenzetti was born about the beginning of the century4 ,in #acca and later he painted remarkable frescoes for the ,church of ,st4 ,francis4 ,these if complete would afford the most interesting comparisons with ,giotto at ,florence1 but the two that remain are among the best narrative paintings of the time4 ,what will first strike the observer in the story of ,st4 ,louis of ,toulouse renouncing his throne as he takes the ,franciscan vow1 ,figure #ej1 is the variety and orderliness of the emotions4 ,the devotion of the saint is well offset by the intense1 melancholy curiosity of his brother ,robert1 who becomes king through the sacrifice4 ,the audience is divided into admiring ,franciscans and idly marveling courtiers1 the whole well dominated by the kindly and reverend figure of the ,pope4 ,remarkable is the methodical division of the spaces4 ,a slender column establishes the picture plane and sets the figures back4 ,a sort of desk in a hollow square defines and isolates the monastic group1 while the courtiers have their appropriate location in a third plane of alcoves4 ,florence has next to nothing of this sort at this period1 and it may be noted that this careful division of spaces is not matter of display and curiosity as in ,duccio1 but is logical and effective as regards the persons of the narrative4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ej4 ,ambrogio ,lorenzetti4 ,prince ,louis of ,toulouse receives the ,franciscan ,vow4--,san ,francesco1 ,siena4 ,of similar significance1 but more dramatic and picturesque1 is the martyrdom of the ,franciscan missionaries before the ,sultan of ,morocco4 ,the elaborated spaces make for clarity1 the entirely professional and impersonal cruelty of the ,moorish tyrant and his bodyguard is splendidly caught and effectively contrasted with the courageous submission of the martyrs4 ,lorenzo ,ghiberti praises the energy and character of this work1 and the observer of today feels as deeply its romantic appeal4 ,all the figures are set on receding platforms1 the problem of space is solved along lines of intelligent literalism4#bd ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ea4 ,ambrogio ,lorenzetti4 ,madonna in ,majesty4--,massa ,marittima4 ,it would be a pleasure to dwell on the ,madonnas of ,ambrogio4 ,the tragic ,madonna of ,s4 ,francesco1 ,figure #cc1 the ,madonna with ,st4 ,dorothy and ,st4 ,lucy1 in the ,siena ,academy1 the ,virgin in ,mr4 ,dan ,fellowes ,platt's collection are among the best4 ,no other early ,italian so combined nobility with motherly warmth4 ,his splendor and sweet dignity may best be felt in the ,majesty of the ,virgin1 ,figure #ea1 in the little town of ,massa ,marittima4 ,the central motive1 ,mary and the ,child embracing1 is almost ,ambrogio's invention4 ,he rings the changes on it in lovely modulations1 while always retaining monumentality4 ,this picture is as stately as ,duccio's ,majesty1 and as resplendent as ,simone ,martini's1 while having qualities of ardor and fancifulness all its own4 ,the fairy-like ,virtues on the steps of the ,madonna's throne especially show the rich vein of pure fantasy which accompanied ,ambrogio's robustness4 ,the picture may be dated about #accf or later4 ,previous to its painting ,ambrogio had passed some years at ,florence1 where he must have studied and known ,giotto1 and where he himself influenced powerfully the beginnings of the new panoramic style4 ,whatever frescoes he himself did there have perished1 and the only memorials of his visit are certain delightful little panels telling with vivacity and utmost circumstantiality the legends of ,st4 ,nicholas4 ,at ,florence he must have analyzed ,giotto's great political frescoes1 now lost1 which depicted in symbols good and bad government4 ,these were surely the inspiration for the political symbols and illustrations which ,ambrogio1 in the year #accg and later1 painted in the great hall of the ,palazzo ,pubblico at ,siena4 ,the most famous is the ,allegory of the ,state4 ,the ,commune sits enthroned1 above in the air are the theological virtues--,faith1 ,hope and ,charity2 seated at the side are the four secular virtues--,prudence1 ,temperance1 ,justice1 and ,fortitude--and with them two additional personifications useful to a state--,magnanimity and ,peace4 ,the graceful relaxed figure of ,peace1 ,figure #eb1 with her filmy drapery is famous4 ,below the platform on which the ,commune sits with attendant virtues1 are the grim1 disciplined forms of men-at-arms and a throng of magistrates and citizenry4 ,at the left are symbolized ,concord and ,justice as the supporters of a well-ruled state4 ,here the symbolism is childishly obvious4 ,concord holds her smoothing plane4 ,from her hand go strings which bind in fellowship a group of citizens below and lead above to the figure of ,justice4 ,still higher is ,wisdom4 ,justice deals punishment with one hand and grants aid with the other2 the ,middle ,ages never admitted that ,justice was merely punitive4 ,the figures of ,justice and ,concord are superb1--,ambrogio's ,madonna type on a heroic scale4 ,as a pictorial representation of the finest medival ideas of statecraft1 this fresco is of incomparable interest4 ,as a decoration it is hardly successful4 ,the theme has hampered the artist1 the handling of the figures in several scales with the largest above1 produces confusion and topheaviness4 ,beautiful in the parts1 it is disappointing in the whole4 ,far better merely as decoration is the companion fresco which represents the ,effects of ,good ,government1 ,figure #ec4 ,we have a peaceful city1 the entrancing spectacle of ,siena as she was about the year #acci4 ,girls are dancing a carol in the foreground with the quaintest dignity1 mounted merchants are passing1 and if the picture were better preserved1 we should see the mechanics--or 8artists0 as they still call themselves in ,italy--working cheerily in their shops4 ,in its richness without confusion1 this is the very triumph of the panoramic realism which ,ambrogio made popular throughout ,italy4 ,there are many more frescoes in this series1 mostly by imitators of ,ambrogio4 ,the ,sienese region is full of works by him or by his faithful followers4 ,his panel pictures are in many galleries of ,europe and ,america4 ,they all confirm the record of ,ghiberti that ,ambrogio had the habits of a nobleman--a great sympathy1 a fine scrupulousness1 a real magnanimity4 ,certain contemporaries seem greater1 ,giotto surely1 ,simone ,martini perhaps1 but no ,italian painter until ,raphael himself reveals so complete and harmonious a development4 ,we find no trace of the brothers ,lorenzetti after #acdh4 ,presumably they perished in the great plague of that year4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #eb4 ,ambrogio ,lorenzetti4 ,peace1 from the ,fresco of ,good ,government4--,palazzo ,pubblico1 ,siena4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ed4 ,luca ,tomm4 ,the ,assumption of the ,virgin4--,jarves ,coll41 ,new ,haven1 ,conn4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ec4 ,ambrogio ,lorenzetti4 ,results of ,good ,government--,the ,peaceful ,city4 ,fresco4--,palazzo ,pubblico1 ,siena4 ,for a century after the plague year1 #acdh1 the painters of ,siena imitated either the narrative realism of ,ambrogio or the decorative sparseness of ,simone ,martini4 ,it is customary to align them as of one camp or the other4 ,we may indeed say that such painters as ,lippo ,memmi1 ,andrea ,vanni1 and ,naddo ,ceccarelli faithfully echo ,simone1 while such a master as the influential ,bartolo di ,fredi1 who is traceable as late as #achh1 seems completely ,lorenzettian4 ,but most of the painters follow freely both tendencies1 employing ,simone's formulas in altar-pieces with few figures1 and ,ambrogio's in narrative4 ,such eclecticism produced abundantly works of charm1 for delicate sentiment and ornate workmanship1 but rather few works of originality4 ,perhaps because of willingly accepted limitations1 the average is higher than that of ,florence4 ,throughout ,italy it was a more popular style than the ,florentine4 ,it dominated the coast region from ,naples to ,valencia1 penetrated into ,umbria and the ,adriatic marshes1 and even got a temporary foothold in ,florence itself4 ,it fitted in better with medival ideals than the art of ,giotto and ,orcagna1 which implied classical antiquity and anticipated the humanism of the ,renaissance4 ,on the whole ,sienese art runs down after the ,lorenzetti died1 losing the robustness which ,ambrogio had learned of ,giotto1 but its decline is gentle and interrupted by beneficent reactions towards its established glories4 ,we may pass rapidly1 and chiefly considering types1 the fifty-odd years between the ,lorenzetti and the new century4 ,luca ,tomm is credited with an exquisite little ,assumption1 ,figure #ed1 in the ,jarves ,collection at ,yale ,university4 ,the picture1 though it may be as late as #acgj1 repeats loyally the formulas which ,pietro ,lorenzetti invented nearly fifty years earlier4 ,perhaps ,bartolo di ,fredi1 a rather superficial and over-fecund artist1 best represents the average condition as the fourteenth century closed4 ,in such a panel as the ,adoration of the ,magi1 in the ,siena ,academy1 ,figure #ee1 we see the familiar theme for the first time expanded in a ,lorenzettian sense4 ,it becomes a pageant1 probably under the influence of contemporary mystery plays4 ,it is best conceived in the little scenes in the background2 the facial types and the simplified setting on the whole recall ,simone ,martini4 ,in other narrative pictures ,bartolo vies with ,ambrogio ,lorenzetti in complication of planes and architecture4 ,on the whole he is a rather faint echo1 but his note while thin is also true4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ee4 ,bartolo di ,fredi4 ,adoration of the ,magi4--,siena4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ef4 ,barna4 ,the ,transfiguration4--,collegiata1 ,s4 ,gemignano4 ,the declining century produced only one robust painter in ,siena1 the mysterious ,barna whose damaged frescoes of the ,passion we see in the ,collegiate ,church of ,san ,gemignano4 ,the forms are those of ,simone ,martini1 the compositions even more sparse than his1 denuded of all accessories1 and powerfully impressive for this reason4 ,the mood is brusque and tragic1 with nothing of ,sienese sweetness4 ,barna seems a kind of provincial ,giotto misplaced and unrealized in the ,sienese country4 ,in the fresco of the ,transfiguration1 ,figure #ef1 he rises to sublimity4 ,fra ,angelico will merely repeat him in ,san ,marco sixty years later4 ,vasari tells us that ,barna died from a fall from his painting scaffold in #acha1 and that he was then young4 ,if so1 his originality was tremendous1 for he cleared away ruthlessly all the delightful but trivial stage furniture so diligently collected by ,duccio and the ,lorenzetti4 ,modern criticism ascribes to him several panels1 and ,i venture to add to the list the simple and stately ,marriage of ,st4 ,catherine in the ,boston ,museum of ,art4 ,certainly it is one of the most serious creations of the period4 ,the type of the ,christ and the concise and characterful arrangement seem to mark it as a fine ,barna4 ,the base is interesting1 representing the composing of a blood feud1 and ,miracles of ,st4 ,michael and ,st4 ,margaret4 ,while the simple pattern continues the tradition of ,simone1 ,barna avoids ,simone's linear grace-notes4 ,the finical element of the predecessor yields to a kind of realism4 ,barna is really the critic of the ,sienese school4 ,he silently insists that one may be decorative without too much artifice1 and dramatic without overtaxing the stage carpenter1 a very solitary and elevated spirit1 to whom full justice has not yet been done4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #eg4 ,the ,three ,living and ,three ,dead1 detail from the ,lorenzettian fresco1 ,the ,triumph of ,death4--,campo ,santo1 ,pisa4 ,most remarkable among the works inspired by the ,lorenzetti is the coarsely effective ,triumph of ,death1 ,figure #eg4 in the famous cemetery cloister1 ,campo ,santo1 at ,pisa4 ,it represents the hazards of the mortal life in view of certain death and judgment4 ,at the left a royal hunting party is stopped short by the sight and stench of three festering bodies in coffins4 ,the ,hermit1 ,saint ,macarius1 points the obvious lesson that kings and lords and fair ladies will turn to dust4 ,in the centre1 miserable folk beckon and cry to ,death to descend and put them out of their distress4 ,the harridan death ignores the prayer and flies over a pile of corpses towards a gay garden party4 ,death loves to cut down the young and gay and happy1 leaving the old and crippled to prolonged sorrow4 ,in the upper left hand corner you have monks going about their quiet pursuits4 ,the whole adjoining fresco is given up to the lives of such desert saints4 ,at the upper right are angels and fiends struggling for little nude forms that represent human souls4 ,this motive is a sort of overflow from a picture of the ,last ,judgment4 ,the grim moral of the three pictures is that the worldly life is one of mortal peril1 which may best be avoided by renouncing the world and joining a monastic order4 ,the work was completed about #acge1 is in the rougher following of the ,lorenzetti1 and has been famous ever since it was painted on the cloister wall4 ,entirely ,sienese in its conception1 in its ruggedness it transcends the usual softness of the school4 ,it is the last significant work of the #adth century4 ,siena passed into the fifteenth century without greatly changing her art4 ,in the work of such traditional figures as ,taddeo ,bartoli one may observe a certain coarsening of the tradition4 ,mere splendor tends to replace the old delicacy1 narrative painting becomes ever more complicated and confused4 ,the latter tendency is manifested in frescoes which ,domenico di ,bartolo painted1 between #addj and #addc for the ,hospital of the ,scala1 ,figure #eh4 ,their crowded picturesqueness grows legitimately out of the ,lorenzettian tradition1 as does the elaboration of architectural accessories4 ,but the work also implies a certain knowledge of the current ,florentine discoveries in linear perspective and in architecture4 ,a small ingenuity runs pretty wild in these decorations1 valuable as they are in picturing the times4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #eh4 ,domenico di ,bartolo4 ,clothing the ,naked1 from fresco series1 the ,seven ,acts of ,mercy4--,scala ,hospital1 ,siena4 ,about the time these frescoes were designed1 a renovation of ,sienese painting was being made along divergent lines by ,stefano di ,giovanni1 nicknamed ,sassetta1#be and by the eager eccentric1 ,giovanni di ,paolo4 ,in both cases we have a reactionary reform4 ,sassetta restudies devoutly ,simone ,martini and the ,lorenzetti1 infusing his own tender mysticism both into decoration and narrative4 ,in a manner he combines the two great currents of ,siena's past4 ,we may best approach him through the triptych of the ,birth of the ,virgin in the ,collegiate church at ,asciano1 ,figure #ei4 ,it is his earliest work painted not much later than #adbh when1 being thirty-five years old1 he joined the ,painters' ,guild4 ,the picture is conceived in the strictest ,lorenzettian fashion1 the frame being treated as the front or extension of the painted architecture4 ,aside from this carefully constructed setting1 with its successive spaces1 the casual and familiar distribution of the figures suggests strongly ,pietro ,lorenzetti4 ,but the rich accessories in ,sassetta's hands are delicately selected1 the humble gestures have an artless grace1 the secondary figures such as the brocaded handmaid entering from the rear are fascinating in their own right4 ,an air of alert gentleness runs through the picture4 ,it is shared by persons of all ages4 ,such episodes as the chatting of two old men before a respectfully listening urchin add nothing to the story but strongly reinforce the faery charm of the whole4 ,winsomeness has supplanted the monumental quality of the older school4 ,above in the side gables are the scenes of the passing of the ,virgin's soul and her funeral procession1 both conceived in the manner of the ,lorenzetti4 ,but the familiar forms are singularly animated by a new spirit of tenderness4 ,by a paradox these little stories are really more like ,duccio than any intervening work4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ei4 ,sassetta4 ,the ,birth of the ,virgin4--,asciano4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #fj4 ,sassetta4 ,marriage of ,st4 ,francis to ,poverty4--,chantilly1 ,france4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #fa4 ,sassetta4 ,temptation of ,st4 ,anthony4--,jarves ,coll41 ,new ,haven1 ,conn4 ,sassetta painted seven years on his masterpiece1 the now scattered ancona for the ,franciscan ,church at ,borgo ,san ,sepolcro4 ,the central panel was a ,st4 ,francis in ecstacy1 now in ,bernard ,berenson's collection4 ,on the back were eight of the legends of the 8,fioretti40 ,the panel was finished in #addd4 ,especially delightful is the panel at ,chantilly which represents ,st4 ,francis's mystical betrothal with ,poverty1 ,figure #fj4 ,this scene is before ,monte ,amiata1 spaced off from the group by checkerboard fields4 ,the maidens1 ,chastity and ,obedience1 sway lily-like beside their more resolute sister1 ,poverty1 upon whose timidly offered hand the little saint firmly fixes a ring4 ,above1 the celestial trio rises over the mountain line1 ,poverty turning a regretful face to her humble bridegroom4 ,the simple pattern with its swaying lines derives from ,simone ,martini1 but there is none of his petulant superiority in it1 none of his nervousness4 ,the realm is not the airless heights of a pure stheticism but a very human dreamland4 ,again ,duccio at his best is the closest analogy4 ,bernard ,berenson in his admirable little book ,a ,painter of the ,franciscan ,legend well describes the technical perfection of such work as this4 ,it is conceived in 8outlines which have in themselves an energy and vitality1 that1 whether they are representative or calligraphic1 give off values of movement1 and values of movement have the power to suggest the unembodied1 life unclogged by matter1 something in brief that comes close to the utmost limits of what visual art can do to evoke spirit40 ,apart from these sublimated reveries of ,sassetta which express themselves in utmost delicacy of line1 hue1 and touch1 he had a refreshing1 drastic1 almost a humorous side1 which may be exemplified in a ,temptation of ,st4 ,antony1 ,figure #fa1 in the ,jarves ,collection at ,new ,haven4 ,beside his coral-red hut in a desert bounded by a wood that seems the world's end1 the ,saint starts away from a demure and very plain little girl4 ,he is perplexed1 divining rather than seeing the tiny bats' wings which mark her as a demon4 ,the horizon is so curved that one almost feels the old earth swinging unconcernedly beneath this dilemma4 ,a picture full of grotesque and authentic imagination1 most true to the hobgoblin tradition of the expiring ,middle ,ages4 ,sassetta died in #adej1 and his two long-lived pupils1 ,sano di ,pietro 7#adjf-adha7 and ,giovanni di ,paolo1 7#adjc-adhb7 kept something of his influence alive for still thirty years4 ,sano needs few words4 ,he took nothing from his master but certain formal patterns1 fine gilding and blithe colors4 ,he repeats himself tediously1 there are over fifty of his panels in the ,siena ,academy alone1 yet is so genuine and unpretending that one forgets his lack of delicacy and insight4 ,a little ,coronation of the ,virgin1 at ,new ,haven1 may sufficiently represent his decorative phase4 ,it is a nosegay of fair colors on burnished gold4 ,in narrative painting he is ,lorenzettian without the finesse of his master4 ,at least he helped prolong a lovely tradition beyond its natural term1 and that is his chief merit4 8,a famous painter and a man wholly dedicated to ,god0--7,pictor famosus et homo lotus deditus ,deo7--we read in his death notice4 ,siena knew how to appreciate a traditionalist4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #fb4 ,giovanni di ,paolo4 ,young ,st4 ,john ,baptist goes to the ,desert4--,formerly ,charles ,butler ,coll41 ,london4 ,giovanni di ,paolo1 on the contrary1 suffered not from deficient originality but from its excess4 ,he selects restlessly from the older pictures4 ,you will find pure ,duccian figures in his paintings of the fifties4 ,he studies the sparse decorative perfections of ,simone ,martini and exaggerates their nervousness4 ,he drives expression into caricature1 seeks strength in distortion1 was the post-impressionist of his day4 ,his extravagance is unpleasing in his larger pieces1 but is piquant enough in his numerous small panels4 ,one of a pair in ,english private possession shows the ,youthful ,st4 ,john jauntily setting off for the desert1 with a quite cubistic treatment1 ,figure #fb1 of the lines of the fields4 ,the motive is still more ingeniously employed in one of a remarkable set of pictures belonging to ,mr4 ,martin ,ryerson of ,chicago4 ,giovanni's predilection for distortion and grimace is shown in ,the ,baptism of ,christ1 a pendant to the story of the youthful ,john1 both being parts of one predella4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #fc4 ,matteo di ,giovanni4 ,saint ,barbara with ,saints4--,s4 ,domenico4 ,giovanni died in #adhb at the advanced age of seventy-nine1 having faithfully preserved the old ,gothic tradition while making it a vehicle of his own resolute eccentricity4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #fd4 ,matteo di ,giovanni4 ,massacre of the ,innocents4 ,the slight concession which ,siena made to the ,renaissance was inaugurated by ,lorenzo ,vecchietta1 active from about #addj to #adhj4 ,he was primarily a sculptor and his silver altar-back was deemed worthy1 in #aejf1 to displace the great ,majesty of ,duccio from the high altar of the ,cathedral4 ,vecchietta chiefly shows the effect of his studies as architect and sculptor in a severe regard for anatomy1 and in the ,renaissance character of his architectural settings4 ,he painted for the ,cathedral of ,pienza a majestic ,assumption1 his masterpiece4 ,there are numerous frescoes by him at ,siena2 he is perhaps most agreeable in little stories elaborately set amid rich architecture1 but he lacks the sprightliness of the true narrative tradition4 8,he was a melancholy and solitary person10 writes ,vasari1 8and always sunk in thought40 ,he did something to give to the ,sienese painting of the end of the century a new and complicating thoughtfulness4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #fe4 ,benvenuto of ,siena4 ,assumption of the ,virgin4--,metropolitan ,museum1 ,new ,york4 ,far the most versatile painter at ,siena in the second half of the fifteenth century was ,matteo di ,giovanni4#bf ,he was not a native1 but born about #adcj at ,borgo ,san ,sepolcro in upper ,umbria4 ,there he worked for a time with that stern realist ,piero della ,francesca4 ,thus ,matteo brought to ,siena better training than his fellows had1 but he soon fell contentedly into the ways of the place4 ,his madonnas and female saints have a new touch4 ,they are more girlish and fragile than their predecessors1 more exquisite1 more fashionable4 ,the type is represented in dozens of panels of which ,enthroned ,saint ,barbara1 at ,saint ,domencio1 dated #adgg1 ,figure #fc1 is a fine example4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ff4 ,girolamo di ,benvenuto4 ,love bound by ,maidens4 ,birth ,salver4--,jarves ,coll41 ,new ,haven1 ,conn4 ,in such work ,matteo continues the tradition of ,sassetta along somewhat superficial lines of prettiness4 ,he is far more original in the several versions of the ,massacre of the ,innocents1 in which seeking a maximum of intensity he achieves only a very interesting sort of caricature4 ,the picture at ,s4 ,agostino1 ,figure #fd1 dated #adhb1 is perhaps the best of the group4 ,we are in the realm of the grisly fairy tale1 at an ogre's sports4 ,the crowding1 tumult1 ornate architecture are simply ,matteo's attempts to refurbish the old ,lorenzettian tradition4 ,his real quality best appears in the outlines prepared for the figure decoration of the pavement of the ,cathedral4 ,in general his is an engaging but entirely undisciplined talent1 oscillating after the fashion of the moment1 alike in ,florence and ,siena1 between mere prettiness and sheer restlessness4 ,he died in #adie1 ,michelangelo's star being already in the ascendent over neighboring ,florence4 ,a kind of petrification of the traditional charm of ,siena is in the work of ,benvenuto di ,giovanni1 scholar of ,sassetta4 ,he cultivates a resplendent impassivity1 is severe without much background of knowledge4 ,his stiffness is gracious enough1 like that of an aristocrat who maintains amid difficulties the dignity of an older school4 ,his sense of formal pattern and skill in modeling in a very blond key may be enjoyed in his versions of the favorite theme of the ,assumption4 ,one of the best of these1 dated at the end of the century in the year #adih1 is in the ,metropolitan ,museum1 ,figure #fe4 ,benvenuto was born in #adcf and died about #aeah4 ,he might1 had he chosen1 have studied the whole realistic development from ,fra ,angelico to ,leonardo da ,vinci1 but his painting keeps a chill virginal quality quite apart from life1 its problems and allurements4 ,his son ,girolamo continued the manner with less monumentality until his death in #aebd4 ,to his early activity belongs the delightful salver1 ,love ,bound by ,maidens1 ,figure #ff1 in the ,jarves ,collection at ,new ,haven4 ,it is merely the tray on which the gifts were presented to a young mother during the visits of congratulation4 ,it was painted for some member of the famous ,piccolomini family1 presumably about the year #aejj4 ,the stern maidens who are plucking and binding the stripling ,love1 doubtless are personifications of ,chastity1 ,temperance and the like4 ,in the middle distance a knight rides off free to adventure since ,love is safely bound4 ,it is an odd theme for a gift to a young bride and mother1 but the ,italians never required consistency in their compliments4 ,the daintiness of the treatment is typical for ,renaissance painting at ,siena1 which never assumes a robust or realistic or humanistic accent4 ,there is a refinement which is the harbinger of death4 ,it appears in ,siena in the person of ,neroccio di ,landi4 ,he sublimates the style of his great predecessors1 ,simone and ,sassetta1 adding freely the more delicate ornamentation of the ,renaissance4 ,there is a peculiar pallor in his coloring and tension in his modelling4 ,it is an art of nerves and ecstasies1 wholly etherial4 ,an admirable ,annunciation in the ,jarves ,collection at ,new ,haven shows the rich setting1 the odd blend of precision with a languor that marks ,neroccio as true grandson of ,simone ,martini4 ,there are many little panels of ,madonnas with saints of amber translucency4 ,they have the startling vividness and irreality of an hallucination4 ,and there is a portrait of a girl in the ,widener ,collection1 ,figure #fg1 which is of a superlatively delicate prettiness4 ,neroccio was born in #addg and died in #aejj4 ,with him passed the special fragrance of ,sienese art4 ,until #adge1 ,neroccio was in partnership with one whose ambition went far to destroy what ,neroccio and ,siena stood for4 ,francesco di ,giorgio was born in #adci4 ,with an ambition and resolution wholly un-,sienese1 he mastered the arts of painting1 sculpture1 architecture and engineering4 ,he met ,leonardo da ,vinci at ,pavia1 worked for the tyrants of ,milan1 competed for the faade of the ,cathedral of ,st4 ,mary of the ,flower at ,florence4 ,as architect and engineer it appears that he became a cosmopolitan1 in painting it was hardly so4 ,he is most delightful in his early phase which is represented by a bride-chest in the ,wheelwright collection1 ,boston4 ,it represents ,prince ,paris insolently appraising the charms of the rival goddesses1 and at the right riding ,troywards in disregard of the despair of forsaken none4 ,the classical theme is tinged with medivalism1 naturalized as ,sienese4 ,later pictures1 such as ,the ,nativity1 ,figure #fh1 in the ,sienese gallery1 show ,francesco uneasy1 twisting his figures for grace and display of knowledge1 working over the old landscape formulas in a semi-realistic sense1 adding classical architecture1 generally trying to break the bounds of the old idealism4 ,the result is restlessness or at best an ambiguous charm4 ,siena is beginning to regret her isolation1 to make vain efforts to overtake the tide of humanistic realism1 to envy ,florence1 and even ,perugia and ,cortona4 ,from the point of view of the ,renaissance she was two generations behind1 and no longer indifferent to the fact4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #fg4 ,neroccio di ,landi4 ,portrait of a ,girl4--,widener ,coll41 ,elkins ,park1 ,pa4 ,not merely ,francesco di ,giorgio tries to do in a decade the work of a century1 but such younger contemporaries as ,fungai and ,pacchiarotti look to ,florence or ,umbria4 ,siena was given no time to reconstruct1 and her old beautiful art could not readily assume new forms4 ,siena never assimilated the ,renaissance4 ,it invaded her1 killed her native art and substituted one without local flavor4 ,before ,francesco di ,giorgio died1 in #aejb1 he had seen ,luca ,signorelli called to ,siena and the clever decorator ,pintorricchio4 ,siena no longer trusted her own artists4 ,francesco probably took little note of the advent in #aeja1 of a young ,piedmontese painter1 ,antonio ,bazzi1#bg nicknamed ,sodoma1 yet with ,sodoma remained what little future there was in ,sienese painting4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #fi4 ,sodoma4 ,vision of ,st4 ,catherine of ,siena4 ,fresco4--,s4 ,domenico1 ,siena4 ,sodoma brought to ,siena the knowledge of ,leonardo da ,vinci1 the new draughtsmanship in light and shade4 ,he assimilated the sensibility of ,siena but coarsened it4 ,no painter of the time was more overtly sentimental4 ,his famous ,st4 ,sebastian at ,florence tells all that need be known about him1--his considerable skill1 his exaggerated pathos1 his clever use of poise and balance1 his sober modern tonalities4 ,his sentimental power is at its height in the fresco at ,s4 ,domenico1 ,siena1 which represents ,s4 ,catherine swooning at the vision of her lover1 the ,christ1 ,figure #fi4 ,sodoma worked indefatigably in and about ,siena till #aedi4 ,the few local painters of a progressive sort1 ,domenico ,beccafumi1 ,girolamo del ,pacchia1 either directly imitate ,sodoma or draw from similar alien sources4 ,the only man of genius ,siena produced in these years1 ,baldassare ,peruzzi 7#adha-aecf71 soon went to ,rome where in architecture he held his own with all comers1 whereas in painting he became a modest imitator of ,raphael4 ,in the ten years after #aejj the old art perished4 ,siena from being the last radiant exemplar of the glory of the medival spirit sunk to the estate of a fourth class station of the ,renaissance4 ,her idealism could not bear the test of reality4 ,her domain had been that of legend and fairy tale and dream1 she had ruled it exquisitely for two centuries until sheer taste had absorbed her little strength4 ,she had left unforgettable records of her most precious feelings1 but little record of her outer activities4 ,think how portraits abound in ,florentine and ,venetian art after #adej6 ,there are practically none at ,siena4 ,so it would be futile to go to ,siena for a greater understanding of the active life4 ,but if you would requicken the sense of legend1 live over again the tenderness mankind has ever felt for the beautiful past1 hear some faint blowing of the horns of elfland--if you want this experience1 then go to ,the gracious ,city of the ,virgin and you shall find fulfilled the generous motto over her main portal--,siena will open her heart wide to thee4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #fh4 ,francesco di ,giorgio4 ,nativity4--,belle ,arti4 ,,illustrations ,,for ,,chapter ,,ii ,a ,,sonnet ,,to ,,the ,,spendthrift ,,club by ,,folgore ,,da ,,san ,,gemignano translated by ,,dante ,,gabriel ,,rossetti 8,i give you horses for your games in ,may1 ,and all of them well trained unto the course-- ,each docile1 swift1 erect1 a goodly horse3 ,with armor on their chests and bells at play ,between their brows1 and pennons fair and gay2 ,fine nets and housings meet for warriors1 ,emblazoned with the shields ye claim for yours1 ,gules1 argent1 or1 all dizzy at noon day2 ,and spears shall split and fruit go flying up ,in merry counterchange for wreaths that drop ,from balconies and casements far above2 ,and tender damsels with young men and youths ,shall kiss together on the cheeks and mouths ,and every day be glad with joyful love40 ,,how ,,venus ,,fared ,,in ,,siena ,ghiberti1 in his commentaries 7ed4 ,frey1 ,berlin #ahhf1 p4 #eg ff47 tells how a marble ,venus1 bearing the name of ,lysippus was dug up at ,siena4 8,i saw it only as drawn by a very great painter of the city of ,siena1 who was called ,ambrogio ,lorenzetti4 ,this drawing was kept with greatest care by a very old ,carthusian4 ,this brother was a goldsmith1 and his father1 and was a designer and delighted greatly in the art of sculpture2 and he began to tell me how that statue was discovered as they were making an excavation where now are the houses of the ,malavolti2 how all those instructed and versed in the art of sculpture1 with the goldsmiths and painters ran to see this so marvellous and artistic statue4 ,every one praised it greatly1 and also the great painters who then were in ,siena--to every one it seemed absolutely perfect4 ,and with all honors they set it upon their fountain1 as a most splendid thing4 ,all gathered to place it with greatest rejoicing and honor and they fixed it magnificently upon that fountain1 which statue reigned there but passingly40 8,for as the city had many adversities in the war with the ,florentines1 and the flower of the citizenry were assembled in council1 a citizen rose and spoke about the statue in this tenor3 #8,gentlemen and citizens1 having considered that since we have found this statue it has always gone wrong with us1 and considering that idolatry is forbidden by our faith1 we must believe of all the adversities which we have that ,god sends them for our errors4 ,and behold in truth that since we have honored this statue we have always gone from bad to worse4 ,i am certain that so long as we keep it in our territory it will always go wrong with us4 ,as a councillor ,i would advise that it be taken down and shattered and split up and be sent to be buried on the soil of the ,florentines4' 8,unanimously they confirmed the words of their citizen and put them in execution1 and the statue was buried upon our soil40 ,a ,,procession ,,on ,,the ,,completion ,,of ,,duccio',s ,,majesty 8,on the day that it was carried to the ,duomo the shops were shut2 and the ,bishop bade a goodly and devout company of priests and friars should go in solemn procession1 accompanied by the ,nine ,magistrates and all the officers of the ,commune and all the people2 all the most worthy followed close upon the picture1 according to their degree1 with lights burning in their hands2 and then behind them came the women and children with great devotion4 ,and they accompanied the said picture as far as the ,duomo1 making procession round the ,campo as is the use1 all the bells sounding joyously for devotion of so noble a picture as is this4 ,and all that day they offered up prayers1 with great alms to the poor1 praying ,god and ,his ,mother who is our advocate1 that he may defend us in ,his infinite mercy from all adversity and all evil1 and that ,he may keep us from the hands of traitors and enemies of ,siena40 ,translated in ,edmund ,g4 ,gardiner's ,the ,story of ,siena1 p4 #agh1 from the ,anonymous contemporary chronicler published by ,a4 ,lisini in ,notizie di ,duccio4 ,a ,,contract ,,for ,,an ,,altar-,,piece ,,by ,,pietro ,,lorenzetti 8,master ,pietro1 son of the late ,lorenzetto1 who was of ,siena1 solemnly and willingly promises and agrees with the venerable ,father ,guido1 by ,god's grace ,bishop of ,arezzo1 who stipulates in the name and stead of the people of ,st4 ,mary of ,arezzo--to paint a panel of the ,blessed ,virgin ,mary1 444 in the centre of which panel shall be a likeness of the ,virgin ,mary with her ,son and with four side figures according to the wish of the aforesaid ,lord ,bishop1 working in the backgrounds of these figures with finest gold leaf1 #ajj leaves to a florin1 444 and the other ornaments of silver and of best and choicest colors2 and using in these five figures best ultramarine blue2 and in the other adjoining and surrounding spaces 7panels7 of this picture to be painted likenesses of prophets and saints1 according to the wish of this ,lord ,bishop1 with good and choice colors40 8,it must be six braccia long and five braccia high in the middle1 apart from two columns each a half braccia wide1 and in each should be six figures worked with the aforesaid gold1 and the work shall be approved by this ,lord ,bishop44440 8,and he ,pietro ,lorenzetti must begin this work according to the wish of this ,lord ,bishop1 immediately after the wooden panel shall have been made1 and must continue in this work until the completion of this picture1 not undertaking any other work c4 ,and therefore the said ,lord ,bishop ,guido promises to have given and assigned to him the panel made of wood2 and to pay him for his wages for the picture and for colors1 gold and silver one hundred and sixty ,pisan lire2 that is the third part at the beginning of the work1 the third part at the middle of the work1 and the remaining third part when the work is finished and complete c40 8,done in the church of the ,holy ,angels in ,arcalto outside of and next to the cemetery40 ,translated and slightly abridged from ,borghesi and ,banchi1 ,nuovi ,documenti per la ,storia dell' ,arte ,senese1 7,doc4 #f1 p4 #aj7 ,siena1 #ahih4 ,this contract well illustrates the elaborateness and strictness of such agreements4 ,it may be compared with the picture itself 7,fig4 #df74 ,apparently the artist persuaded the ,bishop to give up the plan of twelve prophets and saints on two side pilasters1 and made instead a greater number 7#ae7 of figures in the upper arcade and pinnacles4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #gj4 ,andrea del ,castagno4 ,david1 ,slayer of ,goliath4 ,parade ,shield4--,widener ,coll41 ,elkins ,park1 ,pa4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,masaccio ,,and ,,the ,,new ,,realism ,ghiberti1 ,brunellesco1 and ,donatello about #adjj begin to study ,nature and the ,antique--,the new secular spirit--,discontent with the old pictorial style expressed in reaction by ,lorenzo ,monaco--in cautious reform by ,fra ,angelico--and ,masolino--in revolutionary reform by ,masaccio--,the ,cassoni painters as illustrators of contemporary manners--,masaccio and the new structure in light and shade--,the ,problem of the ,brancacci ,frescoes--,masaccio's enduring influence--,the early ,florentine ,realists--,paolo ,uccello and ,perspective--,andrea del ,castagno and ,anatomy--,domenico ,veneziano and ,oil ,painting--,alesso ,baldovinetti4 ,in the two earlier chapters we have considered what ,giorgio ,vasari calls the vigorous childhood of ,italian painting4 ,we are now to observe its splendid youth4 ,the story appropriately begins with three young men and the year #adja and with a baby1 later nicknamed ,masaccio1 who was born that same year4 ,the three young ,florentines represent the new time-spirit4 ,the lucky one1 ,lorenzo ,ghiberti1 has just won a competition for the new bronze doors of the ,baptistery1 and has in that one commission more than twenty years of happy work ahead4 ,ghiberti is sensitive and thoughtful beyond the wont of the older craftsmen artists4 ,he writes of an antique statue3 8,it has sweetness of modelling which cannot be caught either in a strong or a dim light1 only the hand and touch can find it40 ,ghiberti is a critic and analyst as well as a creator4 ,in his 8,commentaries10 a product of his old age1 he writes3 8,thus ,i have always sought for first principles1 as to how nature works in herself1 and how ,i may approach her1 how the eye knows the varieties of things1 how our visual power works1 how visual images come about1 and in what manner the theory of sculpture and painting should be framed40 ,this is the mood of the ,renaissance in its most serious aspect4 ,this student mood was fully shared by two young friends of ,ghiberti4 ,donatello1 the sculptor1 and ,brunellesco1 later the designer of the dome of the ,cathedral at ,florence1 had lost in the competition for the ,baptistery doors4 ,they accepted defeat magnanimously1 joined forces and went to ,rome1 where their persistent way of poking among the ruins got them the name of the treasure seekers4 ,such indeed they were1 but the treasure they sought was not gold1 but the secrets of the ancient sculptors and architects4 ,so ,donatello refined and perfected the rugged realism he had from nature4 ,as early as #adaf he was to carve the alert and noble ,st4 ,george for ,or ,san ,michele4 ,brunellesco's life dream was that lightest and loveliest of domes which is still the architectural crown of ,florence1 and almost incidentally he threw off designs that filled ,florence with elegant colonnades and churches which renewed the dignity and joyousness of the best ,roman building4 ,a resolute spirit1 ,brunellesco once tramped the sixty miles from ,florence to ,cortona to see a newly excavated statue4 ,not incidentally1 then1 but by hardest study1 ,brunellesco worked out a correct practice of linear perspective4 ,this needed resource for the painter was now available when any one had the sense to ask for it1 and all the time young ,masaccio was growing up in ,san ,giovanni up the ,arno4 ,such is the immediate background for the forward move in painting which begins in #adbb1 or thereabouts1 and runs through fifty years of eager experimentation4 ,as in the first revival the sculptors and architects had shown the way to the painters1 so it was again4 ,but there is also a remoter social and commercial background for the ,early ,renaissance which we must consider briefly4 ,the great plague of #acdh cuts ,florentine history sharply in two4 ,it marked an acceleration of gayety and worldliness1 of sports and pageantry4 ,the chronicler ,matteo ,villani#bh noted with amazement that the plague had caused not repentance but dissipation4 ,he was shocked to see the old toga-like costume of the ,florentines give place to the bobtailed jerkins and parti-colored hose borrowed from wicked ,france4 ,heritages were many and heirs few4 ,you saw the gowns of gentle and noble ladies on backs of hussies or worse--the new wives4 ,people ran to 8the sin of gluttony1 to feasts and taverns1 delicate viands and games40 ,as for the poor folk1 they no longer wished to work at their trades1 they expected the costliest food1 they married 8ad libitum40 ,so began that loosening up of the old bourgeois morals which culminated in the carnivals of the end of the fifteenth century and in the libertine muse of ,lorenzo the ,magnificent4 ,all this meant an inspiring spectacle for the artist to record1 and plenty of lavish patronage1 but also it meant a disintegrating tendency for art4 ,painting is great in ,florence in the measure that it escapes the mere expansiveness of the times and seeks discipline4 ,as if to assert the permanency of the spirit of discipline1 the very year that set ,matteo ,villani in despair1 #acdh1 gave him also a chapter on the founding of the ,studio1 a school of higher learning which eventually became the ,university of ,florence4 ,and the course of art for most of the fifteenth century was to be a constant interplay and rivalry between the ,florence of the tavern and race-course and the ,florence of the ,studio1 with a final victory for the latter4 ,oddly enough1 the new luxury and gayety and the new scholarship conspired to make the old painting inadequate4 ,the panoramic style of the fourteenth century was too simple and unornate for the ,frenchified ,florentines2 for the new generation of strenuous artists1 it was too slight and unskilful4 ,all the finer spirits at the beginning of the fifteenth century are malcontents4 ,their unrest expressed itself1 according to temperament1 in progress or reaction4 ,the dominating artist of the moment was a reactionary1 ,don ,lorenzo ,monaco1#bi ,camaldolese monk4 ,turning from the superficiality of the current ,florentine style1 he sought his corrective at ,siena1 his birthplace1 in the decorative exquisiteness of ,simone ,martini and the narrative warmth and breadth of the ,lorenzetti2 and he imports these qualities into ,florence in an art as aristocratic and retrospective as that of our own ,pre-,raphaelites4 ,in his hands ,gothic painting takes a new and unwarranted lease of life4 ,he is a brilliant colorist1 a fastidious designer1 an austere spirit4 ,even his great ,sienese exemplars have hardly surpassed his masterpiece1 the ,coronation of the ,virgin1 in the ,uffizi4 ,it is dated #adac4 ,in the richness of the ,gothic frame1 the profusion of small incidental figures1 the festooning curves of the swaying saints and angels1 and formal symmetry of arrangement1 it well represents the most florid type of ,gothic painting as developed at ,siena4 ,it is hard to realize that this lovely medival work was painted at the moment when ,brunellesco and his friends were already turning sharply to nature and to the vision of ,hellas4 ,but ,lorenzo was a cloistered man1 and appropriately a votary of past perfections4 ,his devout mood is best expressed in the gracious ,annunciation1 ,figure #ga1 which has happily never left its original altar in the ,church of the ,trinit4 ,here ,lorenzo follows the ,lorenzettian canons of space4 ,a girlish delicacy in the obedient ,virgin is a new note1 to be echoed more sweetly by ,lorenzo's best follower1 ,fra ,angelico4 ,lorenzo died in #adbe4 ,masaccio had already created the new style of painting1 but for a couple of decades faithful disciples of ,don ,lorenzo carried on his style4 ,a lover of ,plutarchian parallels and contrasts would swiftly pass from ,don ,lorenzo ,monaco to ,masaccio4 ,but one may better understand the new movement by taking first men who gradually and normally accepted the new knowledge4 ,such are ,fra ,angelico and ,masolino1 who began as ,gothic painters and ended as ,renaissance masters4 ,they show us better the average drift of the times than does so revolutionary a figure as ,masaccio4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ga4 ,lorenzo ,monaco1 ,annunciation4--,trinit4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #gb4 ,fra ,angelico4 ,annunciation and ,adoration of the ,magi4--,museum of ,s4 ,marco4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #gc4 ,fra ,angelico4 ,coronation of the ,virgin4--,louvre4 ,fra ,angelico#cj was born in #achg and at twenty entered the religious state as a ,dominican at ,fiesole4 ,how soon ,fra ,giovanni1 not yet nicknamed ,angelico1 became a painter we hardly know4 ,but four little pictures designed to inclose in their frames relics of the saints may represent his beginnings4 ,three are at ,san ,marco1 ,florence1 one in ,mrs4 ,john ,l4 ,gardner's collection at ,boston4 ,the ,little ,annunciation with an ,adoration of the ,magi1 ,figure #gb1 may represent the work4 ,it is refined1 tender1 of jewel-like freshness of color1 graceful in linear arrangement1 at first sight wholly ,sienese in inspiration1 and directly dependent on ,lorenzo ,monaco4 ,a kind of veracity under the richness of the expression marks the work as after all straightforward and ,florentine4 ,the date may be about #adbe1 ,fra ,angelico1 being in his middle thirties1 and in his art about a century behind the times4 ,in his early ,gothic manner he conceived some of his masterpieces1 such as the ,coronation of the ,virgin1 with its glimpse of a celestial cloud land2 and the whimsically beautiful ,last ,judgment4 ,both are at the ,museum of ,san ,marco4 ,one can believe the report of ,vasari that each day ,fra ,angelico prayed before touching brush to such masterpieces4 ,such pictures have the hush and charm of a celestial dreamland1 a meditative beauty quite un-,florentine4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #gd4 ,fra ,angelico4 ,madonna dei ,linaiuoli4 ,originally an outdoor tabernacle4--,museum of ,s4 ,marco4 ,all the time ,fra ,angelico was placidly and intelligently studying the new realistic movement launched by ,donatello and ,masaccio4 ,he adopts what suits him1 rejecting heavy shadows which would dull his ,gothic coloring1 but adding freely realistic details in anatomy1 drapery1 and architecture4 ,the ,coronation of the ,virgin in the ,louvre1 ,figure #gc1 though it may be only a few months later than that of the ,uffizi1 no longer takes place in a cloudland before lucent gold1 but in a quite practicable architecture imitating the niche which ,michelozzo designed in #adbc for ,donatello's ,st4 ,louis of ,toulouse4 ,the forms too are more substantial1 more mundane4 ,soon the architectural accessories become of ,renaissance type1 and as ,mr4 ,langton ,douglas has shown1 every new invention of ,michelozzo for a space of ten years is promptly reflected in the painting of ,fra ,angelico4 ,his greatest ,madonna1 that of the ,linen ,guild1 ,figure #gd1 painted in #adcc1 is almost plastic1 recalling the severe sweetness of ,orcagna4 ,the picture is really cumbered by the rich hangings1 which with the slender swaying angels in the bevel of the frame are already an anachronism4 ,in the ,descent from the ,cross1 ,figure #ge1 we find ,fra ,angelico skilfully adopting the new discoveries in anatomy and landscape4 ,the treatment is broad and panoramic in the tradition of the ,lorenzetti but all the details are carefully studied from nature and not furnished by formula4 ,a deeply felt scene thus gains verisimilitude1 comes out of the realm of legend and becomes an actuality4 ,the panel was finished in #addj1 and1 now that ,masaccio was gone1 there was no living painter who could have put into it with equal knowledge so much feeling4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ge4 ,fra ,angelico4 ,deposition4--,uffizi4 ,the building of the great ,dominican ,convent of ,san ,marco between #adcg and #addd opened to ,fra ,angelico his great opportunity4 ,it was the gift of ,cosimo de' ,medici1 now unofficial ruler of ,florence1 who had his good reasons for wishing to assure the occasional repose of his busy soul in this world and its permanent repose in the next4 ,he often sought seclusion in the convent and doubtless saw in progress the fifty or more frescoes that ,fra ,angelico made to adorn it4 ,fra ,angelico was painting for deeply religious men1 for scholars who had the ,scriptures at their finger tips1 and for this reason perhaps he rejects all smaller realisms1 reducing his compositions to the mere figures4 ,thus the ,san ,marco frescoes are more concise even than those of ,giotto1 and they reach at their best a simple sublimity as yet unattained in ,italian art4 ,highly formal and decorative1 they are free from consciously sthetic taint4 ,sometimes ,i think ,perugino learned much at ,san ,marco and that we may thus regard ,fra ,angelico as indirectly a leading influence on ,raphael4 ,the sparse1 effective method may be illustrated in the fresco set over the door of the guest quarters1 the ,forestiera4 ,it represents a pilgrim ,christ being received by ,dominican brothers4 ,figure #gf4 ,in the stranger we entertain ,the ,lord ,himself is the simple lesson4 ,the figures are set against a conventional blue background but are constructed with the authority of the new learning4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #gf4 ,fra ,angelico4 ,dominicans receive ,christ as ,pilgrim4 ,guest house door4--,s4 ,marco4 ,in the ,chapter ,house nearby ,fra ,angelico painted1 about #addj1 a great ,crucifixion1 ,figure #gg4 ,the three laden crosses stand out sharply against a murky sky4 ,the setting is a mere platform1 on which the familiar forms of ,mary and the beloved ,apostles are almost lost in a throng of witnesses of every age4 ,we have the ,latin ,fathers1 and their successors--,st4 ,dominic and ,st4 ,francis1 among others4 ,the arrangement is highly formal1 the mood that of meditation2 the sharper tragedy of the theme is not insisted on4 ,the characterization of the saints is precise and fine1 the drawing of their forms admirable4 ,had the composition been set against a ,gothic1 blue background1 the mood would have seemed merely sentimental4 ,what gives it1 with all its abstractness1 an almost sensational tang of reality is the arching sky1 slaty above and an ominous orange behind the figures4 ,the expedient brings an element of definite place and time of day for this rendezvous of saints at a mystically renewed ,calvary4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #gg4 ,fra ,angelico4 ,mystical ,crucification4 ,chapter ,house4--,s4 ,marco4 ,in the cells of the convent1 ,fra ,angelico and his helpers painted no less than forty-three frescoes4 ,these were intended for the private devotions of the brother occupying the cell1 and the subjects were probably chosen not by ,fra ,angelico himself1 but by his cloister mates4 ,the best are conceived like the frescoes of the lower story4 ,the background is just a veiled sky1 there are no accessories1 the figures loom in an indefinite space4 ,majestic is the ,transfiguration1 ,figure #gh1 very lovely the ,coronation of the ,virgin4 ,the angelic painter draws the maximum effect from the simplest patterns and briefest means4 ,there is the measured and simple dignity of the early ,christian mosaics with a warmer and more personal feeling4 ,fra ,angelico1 when he wishes1 can be elaborately realistic4 ,he is so in the garden scene where the ,risen ,christ gently rebuffs the ,magdalen1 in the crowded ,adoration of the ,magi1 which tradition assigns to ,cosimo de' ,medici's cell1 and in the ,annunciation1 ,figure #gi1 in the corridor with its graceful ,renaissance loggia4 ,in this more circumstantial vein1 ,fra ,angelico is delightful1 but ,i think below his best4 ,in all the frescoes at ,s4 ,marco1 however1 ,fra ,angelico appears as a wholly ,florentine figure with an art based at once on the study of nature and on an understanding admiration for the masterpieces of ,giotto and ,orcagna4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #gh4 ,fra ,angelico4 ,transfiguration1 fresco in a cell at ,s4 ,marco4 ,something of his medivalism1 of his ,sienese manner1 persists in the numerous little predella panels1 such as those telling delightfully the story of the doctor saints1 ,cosmo and ,damian1 and the series with the life of ,christ which adorned the doors of the plate lockers of the ,church of ,s4 ,marco4 ,with their fully developed pictorialism1 their careful regard for the minor realisms of setting1 these little pictures are the prelude to his last phase at ,rome4 ,they are also the last ,florentine pictures that observe those traditional iconographical forms which had persisted for four centuries4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #gi4 ,fra ,angelico4 ,annunciation4 ,fresco4--,san ,marco4 ,fra ,angelico ever refused to make money or accept promotion1 but became despite himself a celebrity4 ,in #adde he was ordered to ,rome by ,pope ,eugenius ,,iv4 ,the frescoes which ,fra ,angelico then made in the ,vatican are lost4 ,there was an escape to ,orvieto1 where ,fra ,angelico painted half the vault of the ,chapel of ,s4 ,brixio1 which ,signorelli was later to complete4 ,fra ,angelico was peremptorily recalled to ,rome in #addg by the new ,pope1 ,nicholas ,v1 who was planning a new chapel in the ,vatican4 ,we see it today still radiant with the legends of ,st4 ,stephen and ,st4 ,lawrence that ,fra ,angelico thoughtfully composed more than four hundred years ago4 ,modern critics have generally agreed in finding ,fra ,angelico's masterpieces in this chapel4 ,if they mean his fullest display of knowledge1 the opinion is incontestible4 ,nowhere else has ,fra ,angelico invented such complications of architecture1 interiors1 street perspectives2 nowhere has he drawn better figures in greater variety4 ,such frescoes as the lunette with ,st4 ,stephen defending himself before the ,jewish doctors and preaching to the people1 ,figure #hj1 or that depicting ,st4 ,lawrence giving alms to cripples and poor folk before a basilica1 are learned and rich4 ,but does not their very richness obscure both the decorative and emotional appeal8 ,personally ,i tend to lose the figures in the complexity of the setting4 ,any of ,fra ,angelico's little predellas tells its story more feelingly and clearly1 and no less ably4 ,under the pressure of competition at ,rome1 ,fra ,angelico for the first time is ostentatious4 ,to please the ,pope he revives in more specious form the trivialities of the old panoramic style4 ,had he grasped ,masaccio's invention of aerial perspective and construction in light and dark1 ,fra ,angelico might have carried off his elaborate settings successfully4 ,as it is1 they confuse the eye by too many linear elements1 and only mildly delight the mind4 ,even the sensitive mood of legend1 which is noteworthy in these frescoes1 is better represented in the smaller panels4 ,in fairness of ,gothic fresco coloring1 however1 they are unsurpassed4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #hj4 ,fra ,angelico4 ,st4 ,stephen ,preaching1 the ,saint before the ,council4 ,fresco4--,chapel of ,nicholas ,v41 ,vatican4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ha4 ,masolino4 ,annunciation4--,henry ,goldman1 ,esq4 ,new ,york4 ,from the point of view of tendency1 these frescoes are profoundly instructive4 ,they show the irresistible drift towards the formation of a new panoramic style1 a drift that even ,fra ,angelico1 cloistered saint and exquisite self-critic1 was unable to escape4 ,in spite of his record and better knowledge1 he becomes an inaugurator of that picturesque1 undisciplined1 and decentralized manner of narrative which was to be represented by ,ghirlandaio1 ,botticelli1 and their contemporaries4 ,in his later years ,fra ,angelico declined the archbishopric of ,florence and died at ,rome in #adee4 ,the tombstone which shows the emaciation of his perishable form is in the ,roman ,church of the ,minerva2 his imperishable monument is his frescoed convent home of ,s4 ,marco at ,florence4 ,of the traditional artists ,fra ,angelico is by far the most important1 but his contemporary ,masolino of ,panicale must be considered1 partly because tradition makes him the master of ,masaccio1 partly because of the problems which cluster about his work4 ,the picture which is here drawn of him represents my own investigations1 and differs at several points from the views of ,berenson and ,toesca4 ,if we judge ,masolino only by the work that is unquestionably his1 he is not an impressive figure4 ,he inherits the grace of the late ,gothic style1 and he adds rather partially and inconsequentially the new discoveries in anatomy and linear perspective4 ,chance took him away from the centre of things1 ,florence4 ,he worked mostly in ,lombardy1 distant ,hungary1 provincial ,tuscany1 and ,rome4 ,he has industry and charm1 but nowhere shows much intelligence4 ,on the whole he is a poorer story-teller than his ,gothic predecessors1 and only their fair equal in panel painting4 ,had ,vasari not ascribed to him1 ,i believe erroneously1 the early miracles of ,st4 ,peter in the ,church of ,the ,carmine1 at ,florence1 the general historian of art would need to pay little attention to ,masolino4 ,but he has been entangled in one of the most important of artistic problems1 that of ,masaccio1 so we cannot ignore him4 ,masolino#ca was born in #achd1 and1 according to ,vasari1 was trained by the mysterious ,starnina4 ,we have no very early works to show his progress1 and it is merely a good guess that the radiant ,annunciation1 ,figure #ha1 in the possession of ,mr4 ,henry ,goldman1 ,new ,york1 may be considerably earlier than #adbj4 ,it shows the gentleness and animation which are constant in ,masolino4 ,it combines the ,sienese calligraphic manner with those smaller realisms of inscenation which ultimately derive from ,duccio4 ,it has coloristic audacities of its own in the spotting of brightest vermillion4 ,it gives small hint of the ,renaissance4 ,at a later date than #adbj1 by which time ordinary perspective began to be understood1 ,i doubt if ,masolino would have indulged in that preposterous and unnecessary central pillar which starts above in middle distance and ends below in the picture plane4 ,a ,madonna at ,bremen1 dated #adbc1 shows him still as ,gothic as ,lorenzo ,monaco1 who indeed seems to have influenced him dominatingly4 ,in this same year1 it is likely that he painted the frescoes in the ,collegiate ,church at ,castiglione d',olona1 a lovely village at the foot of the ,alps4 ,masolino had to deal with refractory spaces1 the narrow triangular sectors of the apse4 ,this has caused elongation of the figures and piling up of fantastic architecture merely to fill the spaces4 ,the mood is gentle and graceful1 the treatment quite ,gothic4 ,these six stories of the ,virgin must have satisfied ,masolino's humanist patron1 ,cardinal ,branda ,castiglione2 for several years later he re-employed the painter to decorate the adjoining ,baptistery4 ,masolino at forty1 in the ,collegiate ,church1 was still completely ,gothic4 ,if we may believe ,vasari1 at that age he suddenly mastered the new style4 ,only on such a theory can he have painted the ,adam and ,eve and the ,st4 ,peter reviving ,tabitha1 in the ,brancacci ,chapel1 which are in the new chiaroscuro technic4 ,since ,masolino1 years after the time when he was working in that chapel1 is still incompletely modern as regards light and shade1 it is easier to suppose that what he actually painted in the ,brancacci ,chapel1 about #adbd1 was merely the vault and the three lunettes1 which have since been destroyed4 ,thus all the frescoes now visible in this famous chapel would be by ,masaccio or his continuer1 ,filippino ,lippi4 ,such was the view of the excellent critic ,cavalcaselle more than fifty years ago4 ,however that be1 ,masolino by #adbg was at ,buda 7now ,budapest71 where he worked for that extraordinary ,florentine exile and soldier of fortune1 ,pippo ,spano4 ,after that trip1 we hear no more of ,masolino at ,florence--rather oddly1 since the ,brancacci ,chapel1 which he had begun1 still had three unpictured spaces after ,masaccio's death in #adbh4 ,apparently the ,brancacci family did not consider ,masolino competent to complete the work he had begun4 ,if so1 they were wise4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #hb4 ,masolino4 ,baptism of ,christ1 detail of fresco4--,baptistery1 ,castiglione d',olona4 ,we next find ,masolino1 after an interval of more than ten years1 decorating the ,baptistery at ,castiglione d',olona for his old patron1 ,cardinal ,branda4 ,the date is #adce4 ,by this time ,masolino had learned a good deal1 but had hardly assimilated his new attainments4 ,whether as decoration or as story-telling1 the stories of ,st4 ,john the ,baptist are at once confused and pretentious1 with little to recommend them save the loveliness of their ,gothic color1 the prettiness of the heads1 and certain vivacious and well-observed gestures4 ,in the great fresco of the ,baptism of ,christ1 ,figure #hb1 the incidental nudes are so carefully anatomized that they distract from the general effect1 while the deep river valley unhappily draws the eye away from the figures in the foreground4 ,a similarly pictorially inept use of foreshortened ,renaissance colonnades appears in the opposite fresco depicting the ,feast of ,herod and the delivery of the head of ,st4 ,john to ,herodias4 ,if it were not for the physical discomfort of travelling to the end of those interminable colonnades and returning to note what is happening nearby in them1 these stories themselves would seem vivacious and well-conceived1 the female heads attractive1 the color gay and pleasing4 ,the method of composition is still ,lorenzettian and the modern architectural features inorganic4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #hc4 ,masolino4 ,st4 ,catherine disputing with the ,pagan ,doctors4 ,fresco4--,s4 ,clemente1 ,rome4 ,a few years later ,masolino was swept to ,rome by the great wave of rebuilding and redecorating which accompanied ,pope ,martin ,v's return from ,avignon4 ,there in the ,chapel of the ,sacrament1 in the venerable ,basilica of ,s4 ,clemente1 which had formerly been ,cardinal ,branda's titular ,church1 ,masolino achieved his maturest work4 ,completely repainted1 we may still see the legends of ,st4 ,catherine1 and a finely theatrical ,calvary by ,masolino1 and as well legends of ,st4 ,ambrose by a follower of ,masaccio4 ,here ,masolino's gift as a story-teller is at its best4 ,he has learned to subordinate his accessories1 and the childlike character of his themes enlists his talent in its most engaging aspect4 ,such a fresco as ,st4 ,catherine urging the mysteries of the faith before the ,roman doctors1 ,figure #hc1 is well-felt and skilfully composed1 and withal most flimsily drawn4 ,it is incredible that a man who could do the ,tabitha in the ,brancacci ,chapel at forty should have relapsed to this level at fifty-five4 ,the evidence of the armor#cb worn by the horsemen in the ,calvary proves that that fresco1 and presumably the entire decoration of the chapel1 cannot be earlier than #addj1 while of course it cannot be later than ,masolino's own death in #addg4 ,to this later period belongs1 ,i believe1 the diptych at ,naples which represents two themes rare in early ,florentine painting1 the ,assumption of the ,virgin1 and the ,miracle of the ,snow1 ,figure #hd4 ,the latter scene shows ,pope ,liberius tracing the foundations of the ,basilica of ,santa ,maria ,maggiore which were indicated by a miraculous snow-fall in midsummer4 ,it is delightful as story-telling1 and some of the minor figures are entrancing1 as is the landscape4 ,since ,michelangelo and ,giorgio ,vasari once admired this picture together at ,rome1 we should not grudge it our admiration4 ,nor should we fail to note the curious defects in construction4 ,the heads of the attendant figures are set on the shoulders like a ball on a post4 ,you could blow any of these heads off without overtaxing your lungs4 ,the picture shows the utmost of which ,masolino was capable4 ,it reveals him as lightly touched by the new learning and faithful to the old panoramic ideals of narrative which had come down from ,taddeo ,gaddi and the ,lorenzetti4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #hd4 ,masolino4 ,pope ,liberius tracing the snow-marked plan of ,santa ,maria ,maggiore4--,naples4 ,logically we should next consider ,masaccio1 but first we may well give an eye to a minor sort of narrative painting which worked in the direction of contemporary realism4 ,this was domestic painting as distinguished from ecclesiastical or civic4#cc ,in a prosperous ,florentine home the chest was the most important article of furniture4 ,in the fifteenth century its front was pictured with races1 pageants1 feasts1 battles1 or the new themes from classical mythology4 ,every patrician bride normally received two such painted cassoni to contain her trousseau4 ,for example1#cd ,giovanna di ,filippo ,aldobrandini when she married ,tommaso di ,berto ,fini1 in #adah1 received two bride chests depicting the races on ,st4 ,john's day4 ,a complete chest in the ,bargello1 ,florence1 shows the riders carrying to the ,baptistery the palii1 or lengths of brocade which were the prizes4 ,the front panel of the companion chest is in the ,holden ,collection1 at ,cleveland1 and commemorates with extraordinary vivacity and fidelity the race itself1 ,figure #he4 ,the winner is just preparing to touch the palio which hangs from the ceremonial car at the finish4 ,jesters1 policemen1 eager women1 and impatient urchins who pelt the losers make up a remarkable picture of contemporary customs4 ,besides the pictured chests1 a well appointed room had at the height of a sitter's shoulder similar but larger panels which were called ,spalliere4 ,and still higher there was1 on a still larger scale1 what were called cornice panels4 ,these too were contemporary or mythological in subject matter4 ,where many a room thus had three courses of pictures from the floor to the ceiling there was abundant opportunity for the narrative painter and remarkable stimulus to invention4 ,the richness and complexity of this household decoration doubtless influenced all narrative painting1 making for the sprightliness which dominates the end of the century4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #he4 ,school of ,uccello4 ,a ,horse ,race4 ,detail from a ,cassone ,front4--,cleveland1 ,o4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #hf4 ,masaccio4 ,birth of ,st4 ,john ,baptist4--,desco da ,parto4 ,berlin4 ,besides these chest and wall panels1 pictured salvers were prepared to celebrate the birth of a patrician child4 ,such wooden salvers were used to convey the congratulatory gifts which were offered with appalling promptness to every young mother4 ,these ,deschi da parto1 or birth plates1 as the ,italians called them1 bore pictures alluding either to love and beauty or to childbirth4 ,one of the earlier mythological salvers is in the ,bargello and represents the ,judgment of ,paris4 ,as yet the artist is not sufficiently audacious to display the goddesses in classical nudity4 ,the most famous of all birth-plates may serve as our introduction to the greatest artist of the first half of the century1 ,masaccio4 ,it is in the ,berlin ,museum1 the subject is the ,birth of ,st4 ,john the ,baptist1 ,figure #hf1 and the date should be about #adbb4 ,in the excellent proportions of the ,renaissance portico1 in the gravity and mass of the figures1 it shows the beginnings of a new and more truthful style1 based not on previous artistic formulas but on direct and masterful observation of nature4 ,mr4 ,berenson justly calls it 8a little giant of a picture40 ,masaccio#ce was born ,december #ba1 #adja1 at ,san ,giovanni up the ,arno4 ,his real name was ,tommaso di ,ser ,giovanni di ,tommaso ,guidi4 ,and the slightly slurring character of his nickname was apparently given for absent-mindedness1 untidiness1 and a certain clumsiness of person4 ,tradition as late as ,vasari declared that ,masaccio lived in a world of intense speculation concerning his art4 ,contemporary tax-returns show that he died deeply in debt and that he never really knew how much he owed4 ,tradition again insists that he never troubled to collect payments due him unless his need of money were extreme4 ,all the same he was one of the most original minds of all ages1 and on the formal side1 one of the most revolutionary4 ,he came to ,florence early1 probably learned his elements under ,masolino1 but really drew more from the sculptor naturalists of ,donatello's sort4 ,in particular he frequented the surly architect ,brunellesco and from him learned the new art of perspective4 ,january #g1 #adbb1 being twenty-one years old1 ,masaccio was matriculated in the ,druggists' ,guild as a licensed painter4 ,by this time he surely had made his great discovery and taken his great decision4 ,reviewing the painting of his contemporaries and predecessors1 he judged that it was all based on unnatural conventions4 ,we can imagine him in the ,spanish ,chapel viewing the carefully charted and contoured and colored groups1 and saying impatiently 8things don't look like that40 ,and in truth the older painting at its best was a select inventory or formal description of what the artist saw1 and not a representation4 ,one can imagine ,masaccio exclaiming1 as ,francisco ,goya was to do more than three centuries later1 8,lines1 always lines1 ,i don't see them in nature40 ,and1 as a matter of fact1 there are no lines in nature1 just the meeting of areas variously colored and lighted1 contrasts of tone which the eye instantaneously interprets as form4 ,young ,masaccio1 then1 makes the radical innovation that the brush should work according to nature's laws1 distributing color and light and dark so as to give the swiftest and truest representation of mass and distance4 ,besides functional light and shade1 ,masaccio introduced into painting the idea of aerial perspective4 ,he saw that distant objects diminished not merely in size but also in definition4 ,he felt the air as a palpable veil between the object and the eye1 and he painted not simply the object but1 as well1 its veil4 ,by a swift impulse of sheer genius this moody lad fixed ideals of naturalistic painting which were to remain until yesterday and the ,impressionists4 ,in fundamental principles ,velasquez marks no great advance on ,masaccio4 ,it is only in fresco painting that ,masaccio fully reveals his powers4 ,so passing with mere mention such panels as ,the ,healing of a ,demoniac1 in the ,john ,g4 ,johnson ,collection1 ,philadelphia1 the widely scattered parts of the altar-piece for the ,carmelites at ,pisa1 dated #adbf1 and the grim ,madonna with ,st4 ,ann in the ,uffizi1 the student will best turn directly to the ,carmelite ,church at ,florence and enter that sanctuary of art1 the ,chapel of the ,brancacci4 ,the ,church itself was dedicated ,april #ai1 #adbb4 ,shortly after that date1 young ,masaccio did in fresco the dedicatory procession with many portraits4 ,its realism produced a profound impression4 ,nevertheless it was heedlessly destroyed after a century or so4 ,by #adbd1 according to all probability1 ,masaccio was associated with ,masolino in the decoration of the ,brancacci ,chapel4 ,it was dedicated to ,st4 ,peter1 and the prescribed subjects were drawn from the 8,acts of the ,apostles0 and 8,the ,golden ,legend40 ,the vaults which contained the four evangelists and the three lunettes1 which depicted ,the ,calling of ,peter and ,andrew1 the ,tempest-tossed ,ship of the ,apostles on ,galilee1 and ,peter denying his ,lord1 were by ,masolino4 ,unhappily these upper frescoes have been destroyed4 ,the ,chapel now has only two rows of frescoes in twelve pictures4 ,of these three and a part of a fourth1 all in the lower row1 are certainly by ,filippino ,lippi1 who about #adhd completed the chapel1 probably with the aid of ,masaccio's designs4 ,three in the upper row1 are ascribed by many critics to ,masolino4 ,according to this view1 which is largely based on the opinion of ,vasari1 ,masaccio would be responsible for only five pictures and most of a sixth4 ,other critics1 whose views ,i share1 believe that ,masaccio painted eight of the pictures and most of a ninth4 ,the difference of opinion1 then1 concerns three pictures which many think unworthy of ,masaccio's genius4 ,the problem cannot be fully debated here4 ,the grounds of my opinion1 which was that of the great ,italian critic ,cavalcaselle1 will appear as we review the frescoes themselves4 ,in general color effect these frescoes are strangely unlike their ,gothic predecessors4 ,they have nothing of the flower-bed gayety of the ,spanish ,chapel1 of ,lorenzo ,monaco1 or of ,masolino elsewhere4 ,the effect is of a very rich smokiness1 a kind of monochrome from which only subdued colors emerge4 ,yellow-browns and silvery grays predominate4 ,there are no hard contours4 ,the relief is salient1 but one form blends insensibly into another4 ,the edges of the figures are established not by lines but by contrast of values1 the contour is often completely lost4 ,the strong assertion of light and dark in a few structural planes builds out the forms from an investing shadow4 ,indeed the whole chapel recalls not the ,gothic fresco painters1 but such far later artists as ,velasquez1 ,rembrandt1 or even ,whistler4 ,the method of the painter1 whoever he was1 is completely modern1 and uniform throughout the chapel4 ,he sacrifices minute definition to generalizations for mass2 and color1 to emphatic construction in light and shade4 ,to obtain relief in the figures and distance in the backgrounds is the main concern4 ,it is in intention a luminist art and a modelling art4 ,the procedure is nearly uniform throughout the ,brancacci ,chapel1 though it grows abler from fresco to fresco4 ,it is a method that ,masolino never commanded1 not at ,castiglione d',olona ten years later1 nor still ten years later at ,san ,clemente1 ,rome4 ,hence ,i can only believe that the admitted inequalities in the ,brancacci ,chapel merely represent the swift development of ,masaccio's genius1 and certain interruptions in the work itself4 ,the first fresco1 in the nave alongside1 the entrance of the chapel1 depicts our first parents at the moment of the ,temptation in the ,garden of ,eden1 ,figure #hg4 ,it is stilted and awkward1 yet withal dignified4 ,the theme1 which indeed has seldom been a happy one for any artist1 has not greatly interested the painter4 ,he has made it an occasion for studying the nude4 ,we have what the modern student calls an academy4 ,as such1 it is able4 ,the construction is highly simplified and is wholly in masses of light and dark1 the contour is freely effaced4 ,the mystery of background foliage is well suggested1 the placing of the head of the serpent between the tree and the figures is a perfect example of the new art of aerial perspective4 ,no painter but ,masaccio had even the notion of such an effect at this moment4 ,technically the handling of this detail is just the same as that of the vastly more beautiful angel in the ,expulsion from ,eden1 ,figure #ia4 ,finally1 the impassive mask of the ,eve is identical with that of the ,virgin1 in ,masaccio's panel in the ,uffizi4 ,we presumably have to do with an experimental phase of ,masaccio about the year #adbc-e4 ,about that time ,masolino probably was called to ,buda to work for the extraordinary ,florentine soldier of fortune1 ,filippo ,scolari1 better known by his nickname of ,pippo ,spano4 ,if ,vasari is right1 ,masaccio had been required to prove his ability to continue the work by painting a ,st4 ,paul near the bell-cord of the ,church1 in competition with a ,st4 ,jerome by ,masolino4 ,both are lost4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #hg4 ,masaccio4 ,the ,temptation4--,brancacci ,chapel4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ia4 ,masaccio4 ,the ,expulsion4--,brancacci ,chapel4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #hh4 ,masaccio4 ,st4 ,peter raising ,tabitha and healing the ,cripple4--,brancacci ,chapel4 ,however that be1 ,masaccio probably succeeded to the work in #adbe1 his twenty-fourth year1 and the next fresco after the ,adam and ,eve may well have been the adjoining subjects of ,peter raising ,tabitha from the ,dead and healing a ,cripple1 ,figure #hh4 ,as a whole the composition is somewhat marred by inadvertences and afterthoughts4 ,it shows the influence of ,masolino in the trite and conventional gestures of the mourners about the bier1 and in certain strained facial expressions1 notably that of the turbaned bystander4 ,such survivals are precisely what one would expect in a young painter just emancipated from his master4 ,the entirely ,masolino-like pair of strollers in the centre seem to be due to an afterthought4 ,the first intention is registered in the unnaturally straight back of ,st4 ,peter's companion1 in the centre4 ,the fresco was apparently to have been cut into two compartments by a pilaster at that point4#cf ,when the plan was abandoned in favor of putting two episodes in one space1 the two unrelated figures had to be added to fill space and provide a transition4 ,one is a little ashamed of pointing out small defects in what in all essentials is a noble and impassioned work4 ,technically there is nothing better in the ,chapel than the establishing of the city background4 ,it has scale1 admirable atmospheric placing1 dignity and pictorial significance4 ,how anybody who knows ,masolino's niggling and haphazard treatment of such architectural features at ,castiglione d',olona can imagine that he had earlier created this grandiose setting remains a mystery to me4 ,even more remarkable are the gravity and grandeur of the ,peter and the ,tabitha4 ,here we are reminded of ,giotto4 ,masaccio must often have pored over the ,stories of ,st4 ,john in ,santa ,croce1 and while he by no means adopted ,giotto's shorthand indications for mass1 he did adopt ,giotto's sense for classic dignity1 beautifully calculated order1 and moderation4 ,as we continue through these remarkable frescoes we shall see continually that the quite ruthless innovator that was ,masaccio was also a reverent traditionalist4 ,the particular form of his art was settled between nature and himself1 as ,leonardo da ,vinci later justly observed2 the spirit of his art derived mostly from ,giotto4 ,it was highly important for the whole ongoing of art in ,italy that so revolutionary a spirit was tempered by the finest respect for the great classic tradition4 ,and in this great fresco of ,st4 ,peter's miracles one may see how a quite homely and drastic realism can be invested with abstract power and dignity4 ,how different it all is from the small and often charming vivacity which ,masolino displays at ,castiglione d',olona and at ,rome4 ,like the ,temptation1 the ,tabitha is more linear and colorful than the other frescoes of the ,chapel4 ,the painter has not quite mastered the radically new method of construction in light and shade4 ,thus there is a technical break between the ,tabitha and the frescoes on the back wall1 which are in a more developed manner4 ,we may assume an interruption in the work4 ,indeed we need not assume it1 for records prove that for most of the year #adbf ,masaccio was occupied with the great altar-piece for the ,carmelites at ,pisa4 ,on ,october #ae1 #adbf1 ,masaccio solemnly engaged not to do any other work until the altar-piece should be finished4 ,we may believe then that the work in the ,brancacci ,chapel was taken up anew towards #adbg4 ,the four frescoes on the back wall1 which are divided into two groups by the window1 are the first of the new work4 ,of these the most remarkable is ,st4 ,peter ,baptizing1 ,figure #hi4 ,the drawing is magnificent4 ,light and dark1 without aid of the line1 create so many bosses and pits which not merely establish form but suggest the gravest emotions4 ,a few well chosen and well placed figures give the sense of a multitude4 ,mountains tower in gigantic scale1 one feels the run of the little river from its distant source amid high ravines4 ,the simplest modulations of light and dark1 so many sweeps of a broad brush1 establish the constructional planes of the figures and the mountains4 ,all the early ,italian writers mark with wondering admiration the expressiveness of the shivering man waiting his turn at the left4 ,it is the smallest merit of the picture4 ,masaccio in this great composition commands a homely and impressive majesty1 and therein shows himself true successor of ,giotto1 but he also reveals a power of synthesis entirely modern and hardly excelled since his day4 ,one has only to turn to ,masolino's ,baptism at ,castiglione d',olona1 ,figure #hb1 with its niggling insistence on details1 to appreciate the gulf between the master and the pupil4 ,across the window from ,masaccio's ,baptism is ,st4 ,peter ,preaching4 ,the same towering1 mountain background is used4 ,the somewhat linear treatment of the faces has led ,mr4 ,berenson1 with other critics1 to ascribe this fresco to ,masolino4 ,it seems to me merely less strenuously seen1 because the subject offers little inspiration4 ,masaccio has lent the theme real dignity1 and1 in the eager face of the nun at the front of the audience achieves an unusual sweetness4 ,technically there are good but not compelling reasons for supposing this fresco may have been done among the first1 about #adbe4 ,the lower scenes at the back of the ,chapel are1 at your right1 ,st4 ,peter healing the ,sick1 by the mere fall of his shadow and1 at the left1 ,st4 ,peter giving ,alms4 ,in both cases we have ,florentine street scenes with a classic air lent by the solemn figures of the apostles4 ,we feel the figures as far or near1 and the air that veils them4 ,there is great intentness in the poor folk1 and a rugged impersonality in ,st4 ,peter and ,st4 ,james4 ,they are not indulging personal compassion so much as fulfilling a divine mission4 ,again the combination of a drastic realism with a stylistic majesty is what makes these frescoes unique4 ,they contain vivid portraits1 among these the traditional portrait of ,masolino1 a gentle1 heavy1 middle-aged face1 bearded1 and crowned with a sort of tuque--just the man to have conceived the charming but loosely organized compositions at ,castiglione d',olona4 ,what ,masaccio looked like we may see in the upper fresco on the right wall4 ,he is the alert and determined figure impersonating ,st4 ,thomas1 at the left of the group4 ,the story of the ,tribute ,money1 ,figure #ij1 is one of the grandest creations of ,european art4 ,if1 as ,leonardo da ,vinci asserts1 the highest task of painting is to show by the pose and gestures of the body the emotions of the soul1 this is one of the greatest paintings4 ,it is remarkable for the dignity lent to an apparently unpromising theme4 ,the story is simply that ,christ is required to pay the denarius when there is no money in the company4 ,by a miracle ,peter finds the coin in the mouth of a fish and pays it to the tax-gatherer4 ,how the creative imagination has magnified this slender theme6 ,masaccio has formed a group of potent and formidable individuals1 these simple men are fit to shake a world4 ,he has shown them in a moment in which discouragement and determination blend4 ,a technicality threatens to check the salvation of the world4 ,he has discriminated between the assured authority of the ,christ and the wrathful energy of ,st4 ,peter4 ,he has invested the majestic forms with massive draperies grandly disposed in simple folds4 ,he has given even the tax-gatherer the grace of a ,roman athlete4 ,finally he has set the austere company before a noble river plain upon which press the slopes of lofty mountains1 while the undulating crest of a remoter range almost bars off the sky4 ,all objects1 human and inanimate1 bear firmly on the ground and are wrapped in an enveloping atmosphere4 ,in the quality and arrangement of the figures1 it all derives from ,giotto2 in the vastness of the scale1 the introduction of mystery and distance1 it is wholly ,masaccio's own4 ,vasari rightly praised the harmony and discretion with which these powerful assertions of form are made1 and sees here the beginnings of the modern style of painting4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ij4 ,masaccio4 ,the ,tribute ,money4--,brancacci ,chapel4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #hi4 ,masaccio4 ,st4 ,peter ,baptizing4--,brancacci ,chapel4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ib4 ,masaccio4 ,the ,trinity1 ,fresco4--,santa ,maria ,novella4 ,the organizing power of ,masaccio is at its height in the ,tribute ,money4 ,his emotional intensity is fully involved only in the ,expulsion from ,eden1 ,figure #ia1 the adjoining fresco in the nave of the church4 ,before the sword of a serenely inexorable angel1 ,adam and ,eve stalk forth into the unknown4 ,their bodies cringe as they move1 with shame and grief4 ,an ominous light reduces their bodies to so many pits of shadow and bosses of light4 ,drawing of such accurate economy will only rarely reappear in the world1 in ,leonardo da ,vinci1 in ,rembrandt1 in ,honor ,daumier4 ,the desperate emotion is well contained within the oblong1 in a monumental balance4 ,remorse in the two first sinners has its shades4 ,the man's head is pressed into his hands in an attempt at restraint1 while ,eve's is thrown back in anguished ululation4 ,the high emotional pressure is new1 and symptomatic1 and significantly it is contained within monumental bounds4 ,the ,italian ,renaissance in its striving for expressiveness will rarely fail to keep expression noble4 ,the ingrained classicism of the ,florentine point of view is never more favorably represented than in a subject like this which seeks a maximum emotion on terms of order and lucidity4 ,what remains of ,masaccio is in a sense anti-climax4 ,very stately is the fresco in this chapel1 of the ,resurrection of the ,prince of ,tyre and ,st4 ,peter enthroned4 ,the beauty is that of fine arrangement and characterization4 ,the graceful nude boy and about ten distinguished figures behind him were added to the composition1 presumably from ,masaccio's designs1 full fifty years later4 ,they are the work of ,filippino ,lippi1 who also added some portraits at the left of this fresco4 ,he also filled the three unpainted panels1 in an excellent imitation of ,masaccio's style4 ,evidently ,masaccio was called rather abruptly to his last sojourn at ,rome4 ,for the fresco of the ,raising of the ,boy could have been finished in a fortnight4 ,i have omitted a fine fresco of a ,piet in the ,collegiate ,church at ,empoli1 though ,i believe it to be a splendid example of ,masaccio's early style1 and ,i can only mention for its magnificent architectural setting in ,brunellesco's new style the fresco of the ,trinity in ,santa ,maria ,novella1 ,figure #ib4 ,it is of his latest manner and of extraordinary gravity and mass4 ,in #adbh1 being only twenty-six years old1 ,masaccio drops out of sight at ,rome4 ,some report that he was poisoned1 others that he was slain in a street brawl4 ,we really know nothing about it4 ,what we do know is that in the recorded history of art no painter had achieved so greatly in so short a time4 ,within six short years ,masaccio created that method of painting which stood uncontested till the advent of luminism only forty years ago4 ,and he not merely illustrated the method of construction in light and dark1 painting in atmospheric values rather than in lines and charted areas1 but he also expressed in the new technic both the noblest traditional emotions as also poignant new emotions quite his own4 ,in one superb aggressive he had moved three generations into the future4 ,for a hundred years the most intelligent and ambitious artists in ,florence as a matter of course studied and copied in the ,brancacci ,chapel to form their style4 ,botticelli1 ,ghirlandaio1 ,leonardo da ,vinci1 ,michelangelo1 ,raphael1 ,andrea del ,sarto thus paid homage to the untidy youth from ,castel ,san ,giovanni1 and even the iconoclasts of today1 for whom ,leonardo da ,vinci and his peers are scarcely artists at all1 envy the gravity and force of ,masaccio4 ,he is the real father of modern painting1 which is most true to itself when it tempers an ardent curiosity as regards natural appearances with a respect for the great traditions of moderation and taste4 ,masaccio's successors1 very wisely1 did not closely imitate him4 ,they saw he was an unsafe and unapproachable model4 ,by a swift impulse of genius1 and apparently without analytical study of anatomy and topography1 he had mastered the broad effects that register form4 ,details he neglected4 ,he gives the action of hands and feet1 not their articulations1 the scale of landscape and not its component parts4 ,for men of lesser genius1 these short-cuts were dangerous4 ,while using ,masaccio as inspiration1 they had to verify his discoveries through analytical studies before those innovations could become generally available4 ,the process of verification and minute research occupied about fifty years and may be said to be complete with the maturity of ,leonardo da ,vinci1 say about the date of ,the ,last ,supper1 #adih4 ,the successors of ,masaccio may be divided into two groups as they quietly adopted and popularized the immediately available part of his discoveries1 or strenuously carried his work forward4 ,to the moderate progressive group belong ,fra ,filippo ,lippi and ,benozzo ,gozzoli1 and still later ,ghirlandaio2 the experimentalists are birds of quite a different feather4 ,these ,florentine realists may be divided into two generations4 ,the first asserts itself before the middle of the fifteenth century1 and is trained chiefly under the influence of such sculptors as ,donatello1 ,brunellesco and ,ghiberti4 ,these painters work at the problem of light and shade1 anatomy1 and perspective1 accepting in their art the guidance of sculpture4 ,the second generation of realists come to their own after the middle of the century1 are mostly trained as silversmiths1 and work at the new technic of oil painting1 at landscape and at the figure in action4 ,both groups relatively neglected the important matter of composition4 ,most of the realists sacrificed pictorial effect the better to master detail1 but they also accumulated that vast body of knowledge upon which rests the glory of the ,high ,renaissance1 and nobody can understand the progress of ,florentine painting without following sympathetically their great effort4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ic4 ,paolo ,uccello4 ,battle of ,cavalry4--,louvre4 ,of the first generation1 the quaintest figure is ,paolo ,uccello4 ,born in #acig1 he soon gave himself fanatically to the study of the new science of perspective1 especially to feats of foreshortening4 ,his pictures are so many experiments and have a petrified inertness4 ,yet at his best he commands dignity and a considerable decorative power4 ,about the year #adce he painted for the ,medici palace several battle scenes1 three of which are respectively in the ,louvre1 ,figure #ic1 ,national ,gallery and ,uffizi4 ,the last1 representing the ,florentine victory of ,san ,romano1 shows the style4 ,the forms are squared1 in a fashion anticipating modern ,cubism1 in order to simplify the problem of placing and foreshortening4 ,corpses and lances are deliberately pointed at the spectator to offer so many problems in perspective4 ,the landscape is minute and topographical4 ,the decorative coloring is bold and original with interesting dissonances of oranges1 russets1 and greens4 ,it is quite splendid after the unreal fashion of a tapestry4 ,paolo's masterpiece is the equestrian portrait of ,sir ,john ,hawkwood1 ,figure #id1 the ,english soldier of fortune and occasional captain of the ,florentine army1 which is in the ,cathedral4 ,it is painted in gray-green touched with color1 and simulates a tomb4 ,the date is #adcg4 ,since ,roman times no equestrian monument of equal dignity had been created1 and one is inclined to suspect that ,uccello profited by preliminary studies of ,donatello1 his close friend1 which later developed into the superb ,gattamelata statue at ,padua4 ,uccello has a lighter vein illustrated by furniture panels at ,oxford1 7a ,hunt71 at ,paris1 and ,vienna1 7,st4 ,george and the ,dragon71 but his most ambitious work is the decoration of the lunettes in the great cloister of ,santa ,maria ,novella4 ,the stories are drawn from the ,old ,testament1 were started by ,paolo1 about the year #addf1 and continued by several assistants4 ,the medium was gray-green1 terra verde1 and the place accordingly is called the ,green ,cloister4 ,uccello's manner may be best sensed in the fresco of the ,deluge1 in which the endeavor to set problems in perspective clashes unhappily with the desire to present a scene of terror4 ,the figures are felt one at a time1 there is little relation between them1 and the picture has small merit apart from its probity in the rendering of details and a sort of abstract earnestness4 ,uccello lived on till #adge1 an indulged eccentric1 ignored by the public and ridiculed by his greater friends4 ,his zeal for perspective was unabated with age1 and many a night his much-tried wife lost sleep as he murmured in the small hours--8,o6 thou dear perspective60 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #id4 ,paolo ,uccello4 ,tomb ,portrait of ,sir ,john ,hawkwood4--,cathedral4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #if4 ,andrea del ,castagno4 ,portrait of a young man4--,j4 ,p4 ,morgan ,coll41 ,n4 ,y4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ie4 ,andrea del ,castagno4 ,pippo ,spano4--,sant' ,apollonia4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ig4 ,andrea del ,castagno4 ,tomb portrait of ,niccol da ,tolentino4--,cathedral4 ,far the most powerful of these early realists is ,andrea del ,castagno4#cg ,his aggressive and truculent forms savor of ,donatello without ,donatello's fineness4 ,he searches the secrets of anatomy1 locates and describes the muscles and sinews1 depicts a world ruled by force of arm4 ,although he builds in heavy shadows1 after ,masaccio's fashion1 he retains an outline that vibrates with nervous strength4 ,his truthful sternness still wins approbation4 ,he was born about #acij4 ,we meet him first in full maturity1 perhaps about the year #adce1 as decorator of the ,villa of the ,pandolfini4 ,to strengthen the ambition of that proud race1 he painted in their great hall nine figures of heroes and heroines noted in war or in the arts4 ,recently transferred to the ,convent of ,sant' ,apollonia1 which already had a ,last ,supper and a ,calvary by ,andrea1 you may see the austere forms of ,dante1 ,petrarch1 and ,boccaccio1 of ,esther1 ,queen ,thomyris and the ,cumean ,sibyl1 of the warrior ,farinata degli ,uberti1 ,niccol ,accaiuoli1 and ,filippo ,scolari4 ,this potent and melancholy figure of ,pippo ,spano1 ,figure #ie1 whom we already know as the patron of ,masolino1 at ,buda1 is the most striking representation that painting has given us of those masterful ,italian soldiers of fortune who managed war and government for the less advanced nations4 ,pippo ,spano had gone to ,buda as a clerk and had quickly become a generalissimo1 ,obergespann of ,temesvr4 ,for ,king ,sigismund of ,hungary he stemmed the ,turkish onslaught1 did much to save ,central ,europe for ,christianity4 ,as he stands thoughtfully confident1 holding the scimitar1 the weapon of his foes1 he is the beau ideal of that ,italy soon to be immortalized by ,machiavelli1 in which virtue meant successful force1 and both were on sale4 ,a man's portrait1 ,figure #if1 in the collection of ,mr4 ,j4 ,p4 ,morgan1 ,new ,york1 has an even more sinister intensity4 ,equally remarkable for its heroic aggressiveness in the young ,david adorning a tournament shield in the ,widener ,collection1 ,figure #gj4 ,in the fresco of the ,crucifixion1 now in the ,uffizi1 ,andrea reveals great knowledge linked to tragic expressiveness4 ,no tenderness veils the appalling theme4 ,an athlete suffers stoically while his mother and cousin shudder with grief4 ,of its ruthless kind it is a great masterpiece and quite unforgettable4 ,in #adef ,andrea painted for the ,cathedral the equestrian portrait of the partisan leader1 ,niccol da ,tolentino1 ,figure #ig4 ,it is a companion piece to ,uccello's ,hawkwood1 and like it simulates statuary1 in monochrome4 ,it is more martial and restless1 in the toss of the horse's head and the snap of the rider's cloak4 ,it suggests not ceremonious dignity1 but noise and impending action4 ,it may very powerfully have influenced ,verrocchio twenty years later when he modelled for ,venice the ,colleoni statue4 ,the truculence of ,andrea's manner led to a false and scandalous tradition1 promulgated by ,vasari1 that he slew his rival ,domenico ,veneziano out of jealousy4 ,as a matter of prosaic record1 ,domenico ,veneziano survived his alleged assassin's death1 in #adeg1 by all of four years4 ,domenico came down from ,venice somewhere about #adch and brought with him a new technical method4 ,he finished the pictures1 which he began in tempera1 with veilings or glazes in an oil or varnish medium4 ,he avoided the old frank ,gothic coloring in favor of pale tonalities which oddly forecast our modern open-air school4 ,the new method permitted of bolder brushwork and successive over paintings4 ,for the moment it wrought havoc with the old conventional beauty1 but it offered the painter new resources and refinements1 and eventually made possible the triumphs of ,leonardo and ,titian4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ih4 ,domenico ,veneziano4 ,madonna with ,st4 ,lucy4--,uffizi4 ,on the whole1 ,domenico is merely the shadow of a great name1 for we have only a handful of works by him1 and those perhaps unrepresentative4 ,the altar-piece of ,st4 ,lucy1 in the ,uffizi1 ,figure #ih1 is novel only in its acid and original dissonance of deep rose and pale green4 ,the rugged ,st4 ,john the ,baptist shows an attempt to obtain force of modelling without exaggerating the shadows4 ,this tendency persists in such disciples of ,domenico as ,baldovinetti and ,piero della ,francesca1 and rules in ,florence until ,leonardo's definitive application of ,masaccio's methods4 ,in the profile portraiture of the period ,domenico was a master1 as shown in an admirable female portrait in ,mrs4 ,john ,l4 ,gardner's collection1 ,figure #ii4 ,many similar heads1 which we can hardly ascribe to particular masters1 seem to derive from ,domenico4 ,one of the most beautiful is in the ,poldi ,pezzoli ,museum at ,milan4 ,all of ,domenico's pupils and imitators excel in a minute and topographical style of landscape of which he was probably the inventor4 ,it may be studied in ,piero della ,francesca1 in the ,pollaiuoli1 in ,baldovinetti1 and there is even a trace of it in the spacious ,alpine background of the ,mona ,lisa4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ii4 ,domenico ,veneziano4 ,portrait of a ,girl4--,coll4 ,mrs4 ,john ,l4 ,gardner1 ,boston4 ,domenico died in #adfa4 ,by that time ,florentine realism was emerging from its first phase1 and was beginning to investigate with its new resources the facts of motion4 ,it was the moment1 too1 when certain realists sought to regain the grace which had largely been sacrificed in the struggle for sheer knowledge4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ajj4 ,a4 ,baldovinetti4 ,madonna4--,louvre4 ,alesso ,baldovinetti#ch well represents this moment in a lovely ,madonna in the ,louvre1 ,figure #ajj1 which shows in perfection the new topographical landscape and that juvenile graciousness which was to be the staple of the coming generation of artists4 ,baldovinetti was born in #adbe1 and this loveliest of all his pictures may represent him about the year #adfj4 ,he had been an assistant of ,fra ,angelico1 but in a long career1 he died in #adii1 he fell behind the times4 ,he taught ,domenico ,ghirlandaio his elements1 and profoundly influenced ,andrea ,verrocchio and ,antonio ,pollaiuolo4 ,thus he keeps a sure if modest place in the progress of ,florentine art4 ,in this chapter we have been dealing in a rough way with the ,florence of ,cosimo de' ,medici4 ,under his astute and delicate rule from behind the political scenes1 ,florence developed in wealth1 splendor1 and worldliness4 ,the old piety was waning or assuming merely sthetic forms4 ,greek studies were beginning to pave the way for an enlightened and sceptical humanism and1 withal1 a revival of the pagan sense of beauty4 ,and when the new beauty came1 it was gratefully mindful of those who had made it possible4 ,leonardo de ,vinci lauds ,masaccio4 ,he expresses the immense debt that art owes to the first conscious realists4 ,they did good and harm1 but to ,florence at least they opened the only way of progress4 ,for whatever art may be elsewhere1 in ,florence it was fruitful only as it was intellectualized4 ,good theory1 good practice--such was the creed imposed by the early realists and later formulated by their great scion1 ,leonardo4 ,i do not offer it as a universal formula1 but in these days when pure spontaneity--that is no theory--and false theory divide the field1 the old ,florentine credo is at least worthy of consideration by all who produce art and by all who love it4 ,baldovinetti was untouched by these new stirrings which are associated with the rule of ,lorenzo de' ,medici1 but he dimly forecasts the grace that was soon to come4 ,this new spirit and its exponents must be the theme of our next chapter4 ,,illustrations ,,for ,,chapter ,,iii ,,vasari ,,on ,,masaccio ,vasari's general estimate of ,masaccio's importance is still sound4 8,with regard to the good manner of painting1 we are indebted above all to ,masaccio1 seeing that he1 as one desirous of acquiring fame1 perceived that painting is nothing but the counterfeiting of all the things of nature1 vividly and simply1 with drawing and with colours1 even as she produced them for us4444 ,this truth1 ,i say1 being recognized by ,masaccio1 brought it about that by means of continuous study he learned so much that he can be numbered among the first who cleared away1 in a great measure1 the hardness1 the imperfections1 and the difficulties of the art1 and that he gave a beginning to beautiful attitudes1 movements1 liveliness1 and vivacity1 and to a certain relief truly characteristic and natural2 which no painter up to his time had done4444 ,and he painted his works with good unity and softness1 harmonizing the flesh-colours of the heads and of the nudes with the colours of the draperies1 which he delighted to make with few folds and simple1 as they are in life and nature4444 8,for this reason that chapel has been frequented continually up to our own day #aeed by innumerable draughtsmen and masters2 and there still are therein some heads so life-like and so beautiful1 that it may truly be said that no master of that age approached so nearly as this man did to the moderns4 ,his labours1 therefore1 deserve infinite praise1 and above all because he gave form in his art to the beautiful manner of the times40 ,vasari then names twenty-five artists who studied ,masaccio's frescoes4 ,from ,de ,vere's translation of the ,lives1 ,vol4 ,,ii1 p4 #ahi1 #ij4 ,,leonardo ,,da ,,vinci ,,on ,,masaccio ,leonardo da ,vinci uses ,masaccio as the example of a painter who goes to nature rather than to other men's painting4 ,that ,painting declines and deteriorates from age to age1 when painters have no standard but painting already done4 8,hence the painter will produce pictures of small merit if he takes for his standard the pictures of others4 ,but if he will study from natural objects he will bear good fruit2 as was seen in the painters after the ,romans who always imitated each other1 and so their art declined from age to age4 ,after these came ,giotto the ,florentine who--not content with imitating the works of ,cimabue2 his master--being born in the mountains and in a solitude inhabited only by goats and such beasts1 and being guided by nature to his art1 began by drawing on the rocks the movements of the goats of which he was keeper4 ,and thus he began to draw all the animals which were to be found in the country1 and in such wise that after much study he excelled not only all the masters of his time but all those of many bygone ages40 8,afterwards this art declined again1 because everyone imitated the pictures that were already done2 thus it went on from century to century until ,tomaso1 of ,florence1 nicknamed ,masaccio1 showed by his perfect works how those who take for their standard any one but nature--the mistress of all masters--weary themselves in vain40 ,j4 ,p4 ,richter 8,literary ,works of ,l4 da ,v410 ,vol4 ,i4 p4 #ffj4 ,but ,leonardo approves also imitation of antiquity 7,richter1 ,vol4 ,,ii1 #adde74 8,the imitation of antique things is better than that of modern things40 ,he would probably have sanctioned ,masaccio's devout study of ,giotto4 ,the warning is against slavish imitation of immediate predecessors4 ,,vasari ,,on ,,paolo ,,uccello ,the admirable and self sacrificing ardor of these first realists is best exemplified in the case of ,paolo ,uccello4 8,for the sake of these investigations in perspective he kept himself in seclusion and almost a hermit1 having little intercourse with anyone1 and staying weeks and months in his house without shaving himself4 ,and although those were difficult and beautiful problems1 if he had spent that time in the study of figures1 he would have brought them to absolute perfection2 for even so he made them with passing good draughtsmanship4 ,but1 consuming his time in these researches1 he remained throughout his whole life more poor than famous2 wherefore the sculptor ,donatello1 who was very much his friend1 said to him very often--when ,paolo showed him ,mazzocchi 7facetted head-fillets7 with pointed ornaments1 and squares drawn in perspective from diverse aspects2 spheres with seventy-two diamond-shaped facets1 with wood-shavings wound round sticks on each facet2 and other fantastic devices on which he spent and wasted his time--#8,ah1 ,paolo1 this perspective of thine makes thee abandon the substance for the shadow2 those are things that are only useful to men who work at the inlaying of wood1 seeing that they fill their borders with chips and shavings1 with spirals both round and square1 and with other similar things4'0 ,vasari1 in ,schele de ,vere's translation2 ,vol4 ,,ii4 p4 #acb1 #c4 ,,an ,,appraisal ,,of ,,baldovinetti',s ,,frescoes ,here ,i may illustrate a common practice of the times in an appraisal of ,baldovinetti's frescoes in the choir of the ,trinit by fellow artists including ,benozzo ,gozzoli1 ,cosimo ,rosselli and ,pietro ,perugino4 8,in the name of ,god--on the #ai of ,january #adif 7n4 s4 '#ig7 ,we ,benozzo di ,lese1 painter2 and ,piero di ,cristofano da ,castel della ,pieve1 painter2 and ,cosimo di ,lorenzo ,rosselli1 painter1 chosen by ,alesso di ,baldovinetti1 painter1 to see and judge and set a price on--empowered by a contract which said ,alesso has with ,m4 ,bongianni de',gianfigliazzi and his heirs--a chapel pictured in ,santa ,trinit of ,florence--that is the choir of the said church1 having seen1 all together and agreeing1 having examined all the costs of lime1 azure1 gold and all other colours1 scaffolds and everything else1 including his work1 we judge from all this that the aforesaid ,alesso should have one thousand broad gold florins4 8,and for clearness and truth of the said judgment ,i ,cosimo di ,lorenzo aforesaid have made this writing with my own hand this aforesaid day1 and so ,i judge2 and here at the foot they will sign with their own hands that they are agreed with what is above written1 and so judge4 ,benozzo di ,lese c4 ,i ,piero ,perugino c4 ,translated from ,herbert ,horne's edition of ,alesso's ,ricordi in ,burlington ,magazine1 ,vol4 ,,ii4 7#aijc7 p4 #chc4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aja4 ,ghirlandaio4 ,giovanna degli ,albizzi4--,j4 ,p4 ,morgan ,coll41 ,new ,york4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,fra ,,filippo ,,lippi ,,and ,,the ,,new ,,narrative ,,style ,after ,masaccio two tendencies1--towards prettiness and vivacious narrative2 towards strenuous research--,fra ,filippo ,lippi celebrant of ,gay ,florence--,benozzo ,gozzoli and ,pageantry--,antonio ,pollaiuolo and human dynamics--,piero della ,francesca and impersonal observation of appearances--,dissolving tendencies in the new panoramic style--illustrated by the early frescoes in the ,sistine ,chapel--,perugino's return to simple symmetries--,the ,cassone painters once more--,domenico ,ghirlandaio and spectacular narrative--,his portraits--,the charm of the slighter narrative style4 ,in the last chapter we have dealt chiefly with innovators and reformers4 ,whether in art or life1 these are not always the most agreeable companions4 ,the charming person is generally a traditionalist1 or a tactful profiteer by other men's discoveries4 ,so the popular favor has ever gone not to the strenuous artists of ,masaccio's type or ,castagno's1 but to devotees of the charm of common folk and things1 like ,fra ,filippo ,lippi2 to masters of pageantry and incident1 like ,benozzo ,gozzoli2 or to chroniclers of the festal richness of ,florence in her short prime1 like ,domenico ,ghirlandaio4 ,these artists1 while by no means giants1 are highly representative of their times4 ,they one and all aimed to please1 and amply succeeded4 ,their importance in the history of art is rather slight2 in the history of taste1 on the contrary1 they are very important4 ,and it is from that point of view that we shall do well to consider them4 ,these three masters cover the last two-thirds of the fifteenth century4 ,they exemplify the taste of the new-rich merchants who flourished under the benevolent tyranny of the ,medici4 ,alongside of these gracious and adaptable spirits1 struggled the continuers of the realistic reform--,antonio ,pollaiuolo1 who first systematically studied the anatomy and dynamics of the human form2 ,andrea ,verrocchio1 who imbued accuracy and power with grace2 ,sandro ,botticelli1 who explored solitary roads of sentiment and wrought out of the ruggedness of the realists strange forms of recondite beauty4 ,at all times we find the endeavor for artistic adaptation running alongside the passion for sheer discovery1 and producing its own triumphs4 ,it is this complicated1 dual process which makes the richness and continuity of the ,early ,renaissance4 ,if we compare the seventy-two years between the beginnings of ,masaccio1 say #adbb1 and the death of ,ghirlandaio1 in #adid1 with the century and a half preceding1 we shall note an extraordinary acceleration both of production and progress4 ,there are no gaps and rests2 each generation makes its discoveries and cashes them in4 ,architecture1 sculpture1 classical scholarship develop with a whirling rapidity which by no means precludes taste and reflection4 ,in an almost reckless expansion of emotion1 experience1 and creative activity1 ,florence keeps her head though she risks losing her soul4 ,and the true harbinger of this intoxicating new life is one who often lost his head and whose soul remains enigmatic1 the wayward and fascinating painter-monk1 ,fra ,filippo ,lippi4#ci ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ajb4 ,filippo ,lippi4 ,madonna in ,adoration4--,berlin4 ,he was the first ,italian painter to care greatly for the look of everyday people4 ,born about the year #adjj1 he was early orphaned and thrust willy-nilly into the ,carmelite ,order4 ,as a young man he must have seen ,masaccio painting those titanic designs in the ,brancacci ,chapel4 ,from ,masaccio ,fra ,filippo learned his trade1 rather by observation than by direct instruction4 ,but he cared for far different things4 ,he really follows the tender narrative vein of ,lorenzo ,monaco4 ,to the grandeur of miracle-working apostles1 he preferred the gentle quaintness of the old man who kept the shops and practiced the trades of ,florence2 to the matronly dignity of ,masaccio's women1 he preferred the shy and alluring sweetness of the ,florentine girls about him2 to the majestic sweeps of mountain and valley in ,masaccio1 the intimate appeal of the cypress groves1 the little ledges and trickling springs4 ,in technique1 too1 he avoided the bold short-cuts of his master4 ,he hung on to the line1 loved details1 described everything with solicitude4 ,it is an art of amiability and curiosity1 generally disregardful of that grand style towards which in her greater moments ,florence ever aspired4 ,the advent of ,fra ,filippo in the ,florence of ,giotto and ,orcagna and ,masaccio1 was like that of an irresistibly attractive youth in a solemn company4 ,he loosened everything up4 ,unconsciously he demoralized the assembly2 for two generations the art of ,florence was to be boyish and girlish4 ,that is its charm and its limitation1 and the difference between the ,early ,renaissance and the ,golden ,age will be largely that the latter will prefer to depict with the gravity of maturity a world that has grown up4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ajc4 ,fra ,fillipo ,lippi4 ,madonna and ,child4--,uffizi4 ,one of the earliest and most exquisite panels by ,fra ,filippo was painted shortly after #adce for the private chapel of ,cosimo de' ,medici's new palace1 and is now at ,berlin4 ,the theme1 young ,mary kneeling before her ,divine ,infant1 ,figure #ajb1 is a favorite with the ,florentine artists of this century4 ,perhaps no one has conceived it more delightfully than ,fra ,filippo4 ,the picture gets its peculiar sweetness from the gentle1 girlish figure of the ,maiden ,mother1 its quality of romance from the ledgy background watered by springs and spangled with modest flowers1 its tang of reality from the chubby and stolid ,christchild and the boyish ,st4 ,john the ,baptist4 ,you could almost see such a thing today along the shaded upper ,mensola when a young ,florentine mother has taken the children for a ,sunday picnic4 ,for the old ,gothic conventions and the bare majesty of ,masaccio's painting1 ,fra ,filippo has substituted the everyday joys of a feeling eye1 and the charm of closely-observed little things4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ajd4 ,fra ,filippo ,lippi4 ,coronation of the ,virgin4--,uffizi4 ,in most of his pictures this familiar quality is marked4 ,his saints are not types1 but people of the ,florentine middle class4 ,an early ,madonna in the ,uffizi1 ,figure #ajc1 shows the ,virgin as a slight girl with her ash-blond locks elaborately dressed and braided for a holiday4 ,she is almost overborne by her sturdy ,son1 an exacting brute1 one may imagine1 while the attendant angel is a grinning street ,arab caught in the intervals of mischief4 ,such pictures with their winsomeness and actuality worked powerfully to break down both the old ,gothic decorum and the new sublimity of ,masaccio4 ,to grasp the novelty of ,fra ,filippo's most famous panel picture1 ,the ,coronation of the ,virgin1 painted for the nuns of ,st4 ,ambrogio in #adda1 ,figure #ajd1 and now in the ,uffizi1 one has only to recall the devoutly formal and simple version of the subject which ,fra ,angelico painted about the same time for the convent of ,san ,marco4 ,the composition of ,fra ,filippo1 on the contrary1 is radiantly informal4 ,we breathe the air of the commencement at a very nice girls' school1 with adoring friends and proud relatives moving at the edges of the ceremony4 ,indeed ,god the ,father has merely the air of a benevolent trustee or visiting minor celebrity awarding a prize to the best girl4 ,it is all like the crowning of a ,rosire in a ,french village4 ,robert ,browning in one of the most admirable poems in 8,men and ,women0 makes ,fra ,filippo promise 8,i shall paint ,god in the midst1 ,madonna and her ,babe4 ,ringed by a bowery1 flowery angel-brood1 ,lilies and vestments and white faces1 sweet ,as puff on puff of grated orris-root ,when ladies crowd to church at ,midsummer40 ,our picture is evidence enough that the time has come to ,florentine art when youth shall be served4 ,monastic vows1 and in fact duties of any sort1 bore lightly on ,fra ,filippo4 ,he tasted the forbidden sweets of life recklessly1 and worked only when the rare mood urged4 ,he was in and out of the good graces of the ,medici4 ,called to ,prato to fresco the choir of the ,collegiata1 in #adee1 he was nine years achieving what a steady workman would have done in two4 ,but in the meantime ,fra ,filippo had run away with the nun1 ,lucrezia ,buti1 shuffled off his monastic vows 7through the indulgence of the humanist ,pope1 ,pius ,,ii71 married and settled down as the father of a family4 ,his random joyous course was nearly run1 and his last frescoes at ,prato show a kind of discipline that is foreign to his earlier work4 ,in #adfd he completed the ,feast of ,herod and the ,funeral of ,st4 ,stephen1 frescoes which forecast the sort of narrative painting that was to mark the close of the century4 ,about the brutality of the ,feast of ,herod1 ,figure #aje1 ,fra ,filippo has cast a dreamy glamour1 as indeed ,giotto had before him4 ,the youthful guests are absorbed in ,salome's dancing4 ,following the sculptors of the day1 ,fra ,filippo has made her slight and graceful1 as she trips a careless measure4 ,the air is simply that of a gentle society4 ,the grim motive of the delivery of the head of ,john the ,baptist to ,herodias is gently emphasized by the charming act of two little handmaids who clutch each other for fright4 ,the sprightliness of the invention1 the generalized idyllic charm of the feeling1 the rich variety of accessories1 the youthful timbre of the whole--make this not merely one of the best but also one of the most characteristic narrative mural paintings of the ,early ,renaissance4 ,it strikes the note which will be echoed by ,fra ,filippo's apprentice1 ,sandro ,botticelli2 which will be exaggerated by ,fra ,filippo's son1 ,filippino1 and distantly imitated by many another ,florentine successor4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aje4 ,fra ,filippo ,lippi4 ,feast of ,herod4 ,salome's ,dance4 ,fresco4--,collegiata4 ,prato4 ,if the ,feast of ,herod best exemplifies the element of homely poetry and inventive grace in ,fra ,filippo1 the ,burial of ,st4 ,stephen1 ,figure #ajf1 just opposite in the choir proves that he was not oblivious to the high and decorous prose of his master ,masaccio4 ,in formality and power of construction few painters then living could have equalled it1 and those few could not have rivalled its spacious architectural setting and its suggestion of atmosphere4 ,at first sight it seems nearly equal to the ,tribute ,money or at least to the ,tabitha4 ,on more careful survey it is less noble1 more insistently pathetic1 and in every way more loosely knit4 ,in particular the portraits at the sides have little but a mechanical relation to the theme4 ,masaccio himself had admitted a similar gallery of mere bystanders in ,the ,miracle of the ,prince1 but had he lived to complete the fresco1 he would doubtless have brought the portrait figures into some relation of interest in the miracle4 ,fra ,filippo virtually waives that problem and merely flanks his real subject with bordering groups of persons of contemporary importance4 ,as a matter of fact1 the ,florentine donor was no longer humble-minded and content to appear among the saints in miniature and unobtrusive guise4 ,he now insisted in being painted to the life with his family1 friends1 and dependents1--a complacent1 incongruous apparition amid the humility or heroism of the saints4 ,fra ,filippo made the sensible adjustment that the donors should serve as a sort of human frame for the religious picture in the centre4 ,this solution became tiresomely standard and lasted for fifty years or so1 until the ,high ,renaissance had authority enough to impose considerations of taste and self-effacement even upon wealthy donors4 ,in #adfe ,fra ,filippo was called to ,spoleto1 and there having started a lovely apse decoration1 ,a ,coronation1 for the cathedral1 he died and was buried4 ,quite unconsciously he had temporarily shattered that intellectual formalism which is the very essence of ,florentine art1 and had inaugurated that moral and artistic holiday which is made visible in the painting of ,botticelli and ,ghirlandaio and audible in the songs of ,lorenzo de' ,medici4 ,this holiday mood is strong in ,benozzo ,gozzoli1 and he spread it through ,umbria and the ,sienese country4 ,born in #adbj1 for a time an assistant of ,fra ,angelico1 ,benozzo's task was to depict with more vivacity than insight the splendors and humors of life4 ,this he does1 whether his theme be the legend of ,st4 ,francis1 as at ,montefalco in #adfb1 the ,cavalcade of the ,magi1 ,florence1 #adfi1 the ,life of ,st4 ,augustine1 ,san ,gimignano1 #adfe1 or the doings of the ,old ,testament ,patriarchs and ,matriarchs1 at ,pisa1 #adfh-adhd4 ,he is always sunny1 profuse1 witty in an obvious way2 and not without his tinge of the poetry of youth4 ,he loves gardens1 courtyards1 forests1 and equally well palaces1 colonnades1 crowds and incidents4 ,he is indefatigably panoramic1 and his frescoes1 if hardly good pictures1 are at least good pickings1 for their abundant and often refreshing detail4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ajf4 ,fra ,filippo ,lippi4 ,funeral of ,st4 ,stephen4 ,fresco4--,collegiata4 ,prato4 ,very splendid is that pageant of the ,wise ,men from the ,east1 ,figure #ajg1 which he painted about #adfidj for the private chapel of ,cosimo de' ,medici's palace4 ,the gorgeous procession winds about the walls1 moving over the mountain roads and through the forests which you may still see up the ,arno valley towards ,vallombrosa4 ,their goal was the little panel over the altar where ,filippo ,lippi painted the ,madonna reverently kneeling before her ,son1 ,figure #ajb4 ,this little picture was flanked by choirs1 in fresco1 of singing angels4 ,for the oldest of the ,three ,kings ,benozzo chose1 according to tradition1 the unfortunate ,emperor ,john ,palaeologus1 who thirty years earlier had come to ,florence on the vain mission of uniting the ,eastern and ,western branches of the ,christian ,church4 ,the youthful kings are said to portray ,giuliano and ,lorenzo de' ,medici4 ,what we really have is a pictorial version of those religious pageants or representations which were common at the times4 ,many times ,florence had seen her patricians in such a cavalcade4 ,benozzo's fresco in its undiminished loveliness of color and gold--the ,medici apparently either ordered few masses or burned few candles in their family chapel--is a most precious relic of bygone splendors4 ,indeed they passed before ,benozzo himself1 for he lived on till #adih1 four years after ,lorenzo the ,magnificent's death1 and the year of ,savonarola's martyrdom2 the year1 too1 when ,leonardo da ,vinci's ,last ,supper was being finished4 ,few artists have had such emphatic intimations that their world and they themselves were obsolete4 ,it is in every way to be hoped in ,benozzo's case that he was at once too cheerful and too unintelligent to grasp the situation4 ,this may be fairly supposed of a man who was content for fifty years of a swiftly moving world with what could be learned from ,fra ,angelico4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ajg4 ,benozzo ,gozzoli4 ,detail from ,procession of ,magi4--,riccardi ,palace4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ajh4 ,antonio ,pollaiuolo4 ,martyrdom of ,st4 ,sebastian4--,london4 ,of course some painters declined to keep holiday and feverishly pursued the lines of realistic investigation laid down by ,castagno and his contemporaries4 ,the most notable of these is ,antonio ,pollaiuolo4#da ,he was trained in sculpture under ,ghiberti1 and worked most variously1 at sculpture1 painting1 engraving1 glass designing1 and even embroiderers' patterns4 ,everywhere he pursued with an almost ferocious intensity the secrets of anatomy and especially of the human body in violent action4 ,he conceived the body as a powerful machine and rejoiced to display its mechanisms--knotted muscles1 straining sinews4 ,he chose his subjects with this sort of display in mind3 ,hercules and his feats1 the archers setting their bows and crossbows for the slaying of ,st4 ,sebastian1 nude men in deadly combat with dirks and axes1 nude men wildly dancing4 ,nearly all these works suffer from their avowed experimentalism1 but all are alive with a tingling not to say brutal energy4 ,antonio ,pollaiuolo is the ancestor of all the strong painters who for over four centuries have delighted to appal the mild and sheeplike throng with wolfish antics4 ,he is the first artist who is a specialist1 pursuing his own ends in disregard of the surrounding public4 ,as a matter of fact1 ,antonio's muscular paganism fitted in fairly well with the notions of a ,florence that worshipped power4 ,the ,medici ordered the twelve feats of ,hercules for their palace1 about the year #adfj4 ,the great pictures are lost1 but little copies by ,antonio himself give an idea of their truculent force4 ,in the ,uffizi are ,hercules crushing the breath out of the earthborn demigod ,antus1 and ,hercules slaying the ,hydra4 ,the tension1 ardor1 and ferocity of these tiny pictures are extraordinary4 ,they seem to enhance our own physical life4 ,at ,new ,haven is the panel of ,hercules shooting the ,centaur ,nessus1 who races across a ford with ,deinaira on his back4 ,the background is an exact picture of the ,arno valley looking from the west towards ,florence4 ,the representation of the run of the river is extraordinary4 ,pollaiuolo had adopted ,domenico ,veneziano's miniature conception of landscape1 but has introduced swing and motion4 ,equally remarkable is the ,arno landscape in the ,martyrdom of ,st4 ,sebastian1 ,figure #ajh1 which was painted in #adge4 ,it has the defects of an experimental and academic performance1 is a show piece4 ,the executioners are even repeated1 to show both front and rear aspects4 ,all the same1 its power is impressive and beyond the range of any artist then living1 with the possible exception of ,piero della ,francesca4 ,in painting ,pollaiuolo's accomplishment is so even1 and in draped figures so ugly1 that we may well pass the series of ,virtues which with his brother ,piero he did in #adfi for the ,mercantile ,court1 and consider his great engraving known as the ,ten ,nudes1 ,figure #aji1 the odd decorative disposition of which is imitated by ,botticelli in the ,allegory of ,spring2 and the fresco of ,dancing ,men1 in which ,pollaiuolo successfully vies with the convivial and ,bacchic themes of the ,greek vase painters4 ,the group is odd and effective as pattern1 and inspired by a joyous energy4 ,painting only claimed a fraction of ,antonio's effort2 often he merely made the sketch and left the execution to his rather tame brother1 ,piero4 ,at the end of his life he was called down to ,rome to make the bronze tomb for ,sixtus ,,iv4 ,there he died in the year #adih1 being sixty-three years old4 ,while his own achievement was somewhat cramped and limited1 he had made the most valuable contributions to the art1 or rather to the science of painting4 ,he had inspired a titan like ,signorelli and a poet like ,botticelli1 and in certain aspects ,leonardo da ,vinci and ,michelangelo only continued and perfected his work4 ,as late as ,benvenuto ,cellini's day his sketches were passed about the studios for the instruction of young painters in anatomy4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aji4 ,antonio ,pollaiuolo4 ,fighting ,men--8,the ,ten ,nudes40 ,engraving4 ,a kindred strenuous spirit1 ,piero della ,francesca1#db affords an interesting contrast to ,pollaiuolo4 ,though an ,umbrian1 he belongs spiritually to ,florence4 ,for ,piero the world was a frozen thing4 ,he investigated with utmost zeal the mathematical basis of perspective1 producing on that topic a laborious and quite unreadable book4 ,he studied anatomy and construction in light and dark1 and all the atmospheric problems therewith associated4 ,to attain atmospheric envelopment1 he sacrificed color4 ,his pictures exist in silvery grays1 suggesting the blondness and tonal unity of modern open-air painting4 ,the drama of life never engrossed him4 ,his world is passionless and almost motionless1 coldly impressive4 ,although he practiced all refinements of modelling1 he never made those relaxations of contour which suggest movement4 ,his figures are finely constructed and beautifully placed but emotionally unrelated4 ,they merely exist rather splendidly1 as do some of ,manet's figures4 ,indeed the warning of ,george ,moore as regards ,manet applies equally to ,piero4 ,it is futile to seek from him anything but fine painting4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aaj4 ,piero della ,francesca4 ,the ,resurrection4--,borgo ,s4 ,sepolcro4 ,of his origins we know next to nothing4 ,he was born about #adaj in the ,umbrian town of ,borgo ,san ,sepolcro4 ,for several years after #adci we find him at ,florence as a paid assistant of ,domenico ,veneziano1 whose pale tonalities and topographically minute landscape reappear throughout ,piero's work4 ,his austere power is best represented in the bleak ,resurrection1 ,figure #aaj1 which he painted in #adfj for his native city4 ,the stalwart ,conqueror of ,death has an apparitional impressiveness4 ,he comes with power from beyond the grave4 ,he dominates the world as represented by the sleeping athletes of the guard4 ,a most potent effect is obtained without sacrifice to sentiment4 ,there is a similar detachment in the ,baptism of ,christ1 in the ,national ,gallery1 ,london4 ,its pearly loveliness of color is in odd contrast to its evasions of anything like warmth or tenderness4 ,it is less an event than a magnificently posed scene4 ,the landscape is a liberating and informal feature1 a skilful adaptation of the method of ,domenico ,veneziano and ,pollaiuolo4 ,it is as crisp and calculated as a ,japanese print1 yet it gives its effect of space and breadth4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aaa4 ,piero della ,francesca4 ,battle of ,constantine1 detail from fresco4--,s4 ,francesco1 ,arezzo4 ,piero's great opportunity came about #adfe when he painted in the choir of ,san ,francesco at ,arezzo ten stories from the ,legend of the ,holy ,cross4 ,for stark impressiveness it is hard to match them in ,italy in this century4 ,only ,masaccio and ,leonardo da ,vinci will at all bear the comparison4 ,on analysis1 the power rests mostly on the seriousness with which ,piero takes his technical problem4 ,there is little real grief or pathos in the ,last ,days of ,adam1 it is merely impersonally solemn4 ,even of the admirable fresco which represents ,constantine in the uneasy dream in which he saw the vision of the cross1 there is no warmth1 no unexpected or emotional quality4 ,so it is throughout the series2 in the ,queen of ,sheba visiting ,solomon1 even in the splendid battle-piece1 the ,victory over ,maxentius1 ,figure #aaa1 the obvious sentiment of the theme is ignored1 the figures have a kind of splendid unrelated existence that requires no apology or explanation4 ,it is an effect that recalls the best archaic ,greek sculpture4 ,taken all in all1 ,piero is a formidable and enigmatic figure1 an exception in an eager and emotional age4 ,his truth to his vision is what counts4 ,one feels it in the portrait of the humanist sovereign and captain of ,urbino1 ,federigo da ,montefeltro4 ,it was painted about #adgb and is in the ,uffizi1 ,figure #aab4 ,how sternly honest it is1 and what a presentation of a powerful and beneficent personality4 ,even the little decorative picture on the back of the panel1 a ,triumph of ,fame1 has an effect beyond its scale and obvious intention4 ,it suggests wide dominions and heavy responsibilities manfully met4 ,piero della ,francesca lived out his life mostly in ,umbria and far from the artistic centre of things4 ,there is a self-sufficing quality in this voluntary isolation4 ,he lived on to great old age1 dying in #adib1 and unless his declining years were perturbed by the faintly rising star of ,leonardo da ,vinci1 he might boast himself1 in the words of his and ,leonardo's friend1 ,fra ,luca ,pacioli1 8the monarch of his times in the science of painting40 ,we must leave for the ,umbrian chapter such sturdy continuers of ,piero della ,francesca's experimentalism as ,melozzo da ,forl and ,luca ,signorelli4 ,what is more important to note in leaving him is that such triumphs as his in fresco painting were highly exceptional in the second half of the fifteenth century4 ,the successes of the period are in the minor art of panel painting4 ,the fantasies of ,botticelli1 the best portraits of ,ghirlandaio1 the early panels of ,perugino and ,signorelli and ,leonardo da ,vinci--these are the outstanding things4 ,in mural painting ,florence actually retrograded1 not merely as compared with the days of ,masaccio1 ,fra ,filippo and ,fra ,angelico1 but even as compared with the earlier days of ,andrea ,bonaiuti1 ,agnolo ,gaddi and ,spinello ,aretino4 ,the fact has been obscured by the superficial gain in small realism1 in sprightliness1 and mere prettiness1 but in all the serious qualities of monumental design the decadence is unmistakable4 ,the favorite decorators simply executed on a large scale the sort of compositions that would have been charming on the front of a bride-chest4 ,in the general enthusiasm for the parts of pictures the sense of pictures as a whole seemed in danger of being lost4 ,the undiscriminating enthusiasm for the primitive painting of the ,early ,renaissance which has ruled for two generations has so clouded critical opinion on this point1 that ,i must be at some pains to make my case good4 ,perhaps ,i can do no better than to review some of the frescoes which ,pope ,sixtus ,,iv ordered about #adha for the new chapel of the ,vatican ,palace4#dc ,he summoned to the ,sistine ,chapel the best available artists from both ,tuscany and ,umbria4 ,by the measure of their success we may estimate the mural painting of the time4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aab4 ,piero della ,francesca4 ,guidobaldo da ,montefeltro1 despot of ,urbino4--,uffizi4 ,originally the decorative scheme1 later amplified by ,michelangelo1 required sixteen scriptural stories1 in which the deeds of ,moses were parallelled by those of ,christ4 ,the two first and two last subjects1 on the end walls1 have been destroyed1 but we still see the twelve on the side walls4 ,in general they all show the old ,gothic coloring1 are mostly vivacious in a confused and over-rich way1 and lack unity of pattern and dramatic coherence4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aac4 ,assistant of ,perugino4 ,baptism4 ,fresco4--,sistine ,chapel4 ,one of the most admired is the ,baptism of ,christ1 ,figure #aac1 by ,pintorricchio1 7or1 as ,venturi suggests1 ,andrea of ,assisi7 who here works as ,perugino's assistant4 ,the story is told in the centre and reinforced by a spacious landscape which is confusingly full of attractive features4 ,the theme is mechanically stretched to fill the space by adding at both flanks groups which have slight or no connection with the subject4 ,these groups are interestingly diversified with fine portraits of the ,pope's relatives1 the ,roveres1 and by the alert forms of children4 ,the effect is fairly restful and idyllic1 but the pattern is mechanical1 and the emotional effect of the real theme is frittered away in the accessories4 ,the method of enlarging a stock composition by adding portrait groups is standard for the ,sistine ,chapel and for the period4 ,masaccio had tried it more effectively in the ,miracle of the ,boy1 and ,filippo ,lippi had made it seem almost organic in ,the ,funeral of ,st4 ,stephen4 ,pintorricchio1 if it be he1 is more superficially alluring for his richness and variety1 but really stands on a far lower plane of design than his predecessors4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aad4 ,botticelli4 ,moses in the ,land of ,midian4 ,fresco4--,sistine ,chapel1 ,rome4 ,if this mechanical symmetry is the standard method1 there are significant exceptions in the ,sistine ,chapel4 ,the more sensitive spirits1 ,botticelli and ,luca ,signorelli1 reject so trite a solution4 ,botticelli's ,moses in ,midian1 ,figure #aad1 offers a delicate evasion1 by promoting a minor motive to be the central theme4 ,all the incidents that are dramatically important--the slaying of the ,egyptian taskmaster1 and the adoration of the ,burning ,bush from which ,jehovah spoke--are done with the most energetic feeling1 but are relegated to the background and edges of the composition4 ,the picture is really the fine grove in which ,moses gallantly helps the nymph-like daughters of ,jethro to draw water4 ,a fantastic idyl is foisted off on us as a substitute for one of the decisive moments in the ,providential order4 ,botticelli is so winning in his evasion1 that it seems almost unfeeling to note that no ,gothic painter would have done anything so shifty4 ,his success is not merely at the expense of the expression of his real theme1 but also at the expense of the order and dignity proper to mural design4 ,having ordered a canto of an epic1 the ,pope received a delicious madrigal4 ,his contentment is characteristic of the sthetic casualness of the times4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aae4 ,signorelli1 ,design only4 ,last ,days of ,moses4 ,fresco4--,sistine ,chapel1 ,rome4 ,signorelli1 in the ,last ,days of ,moses1 ,figure #aae1 makes a similar but less egregious evasion4 ,his centre of interest is the nude youth in the foreground1 but he does give a certain prominence to the scenes where ,moses invests ,joshua with authority1 and where both view the ,promised ,land from ,mount ,horeb4 ,though without much emotional accent1 the crowds are agreeably disposed and diversified by graceful forms of women and children4 ,only the design is by ,signorelli1 the execution being by an assistant1 ,don ,bartolommeo della ,gatta4 ,the picture is more delightful for such passages as the ,apollo-like nude youth and the mother with her children in the right foreground than it is as a whole1 though it is full of idyllic charm1 and inadequate only when one considers the gravity of its theme4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aaf4 ,ghirlandaio4 ,christ calling ,peter and ,andrew4 ,fresco4--,sistine ,chapel1 ,rome4 ,in his ,calling of ,peter and ,andrew1 ,figure #aaf1 to be fishers of men1 ,domenico ,ghirlandaio makes a skilful and impressive use of that approved mechanical symmetry which has already been noticed in ,pintorricchio's ,baptism4 ,everything is well centralized1 the river view is a welcome outlet1 the stereotyped bystanders on the flanks at least are telling portraits and1 while not bound into the central motive1 have withal a gravity that sufficiently accords with it4 ,the arrangement is lucid1 and the surplus accessories fairly well subordinated4 ,a rather perfunctory quality in the central scene of homage and dedication reveals ,ghirlandaio's scanty imagination4 ,his impressiveness has a certain dullness about it4 ,few words need be spent on the picturesque and irresponsible confusion which reigns in ,cosimo ,rosselli's ,destruction of ,pharaoh's ,army in the ,red ,sea1 ,figure #aag4 ,cosimo was one of the older painters in the chapel1 forty-two years old4 ,yet a juvenile sensationalism and uncalculated restlessness prevail1 and his attempts at vivacity and grace are as unhappy as his striving for effects of terror4 ,it may well be that his eccentric young pupil1 ,piero di ,cosimo1 gave this fresco its febrile energy and its theatrical landscape4 ,certain it is that the three other frescoes by ,cosimo are unmitigatedly dull4 ,oddly it was he alone who won the praise of ,pope ,sixtus1 mostly for his profuse introduction of gold ornament4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aag4 ,cosimo ,rosselli4 ,destruction of ,pharaoh's ,army4 ,fresco4--,sistine ,chapel4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aah4 ,perugino4 ,christ giving the ,keys to ,peter4 ,fresco4--,sistine ,chapel1 ,rome4 ,we have seen in the ,sistine ,chapel a mechanical and rather perfunctory symmetry1 various clever evasions of an idyllic sort1 and a picturesque disorder side by side4 ,the most ambitious decorative scheme of the time seems to result in a kind of artistic bankruptcy4 ,but fortunately the ,sistine ,chapel contains its own self-criticism and remedy1 in the extraordinary fresco by ,pietro ,perugino1 ,christ delivering the ,keys to ,peter1 ,figure #aah4 ,perugino is an ,umbrian from ,citt della ,pieve1 thirty-five years old1 and with a certain amount of ,florentine training4 ,he has1 like ,masaccio sixty years before1 looked at the art of his times and found it wanting4 ,he has had the lucidity to see that the malady is surplusage and disorder4 ,hence1 he argues1 the remedy is simplicity and order4 ,to this he adds a sense of vastness4 ,in this picture the temple platform1 a vastness made by man1 is set within the vastness of a river valley made by nature4 ,the foreground group is arranged in a formal half military order which is cunningly made easy and flexible by differences of posture and gesture4 ,every tilted head and pointed foot has its reason4 ,without undue insistence1 all the apostles are interested in the rite which ordains their chief4 ,here is no casual pleasure ground in which you may delightfully look about1 here is a definite vision of a momentous act which you must see swiftly1 completely1 and precisely as the artist intends you shall see4 ,it is the only well-considered design among these frescoes4 ,it points the simplest and surest way by which the exuberance of the ,early ,renaissance might be disciplined into a noble order1 and within twenty years the lesson was to be reread for all ,italy by young ,raphael of ,urbino4 ,meanwhile the somewhat irresponsible exuberance of the new narrative painting has after all its winning aspect1 is a sign of an energy and enthusiasm that need not so much to be tamed as to be intellectualized4 ,in discussing the last twenty years of the fifteenth century in ,florence ,i am embarrassed by the richness of the field4 ,beside such typical figures as ,botticelli and ,ghirlandaio1 we have to do with such sensitive and morbid spirits as ,filippino ,lippo and ,piero di ,cosimo2 with ,andrea ,verrocchio and a group of imitators of his fastidious manner1 notable among them young ,leonardo da ,vinci2 with a host of secondary painters1 particularly of furniture panels1 and small altar-pieces1 while if we consider rather artistic training than accident of birth1 we must reckon with the ,florentine achievement the rugged triumphs of ,luca ,signorelli4 ,but since the more distinctive and progressive of these artists are really precursors of the ,golden ,age1 or symptomatic of the unrest that was its prelude1 they may best be treated later4 ,that will leave us only the painters who are fully representative of the festal moment of ,lorenzo the ,magnificent's greatness--the furniture painters and ,ghirlandaio4 ,those excesses of vivacity1 those extravagances of invention1 those juvenile graces which were a weakness in mural painting1 were admirably in place in the decoration of chests and wainscots4 ,the greater artists gladly accepted this little work1 and some painters painted exclusively trousseau chests 7cassoni7 for young brides--an enviable occupation1 for surely these fair young creatures had to be personally consulted4 ,the subjects glorify love1 magnify valor1 celebrate the festal life of the day1 its pageants1 feasts1 and dances4 ,of professional cassoni painters ,francesco ,pesellino#dd 7#adbb-adeg7 is the most famous4 ,he is bewitching in variety and sensitiveness of invention1 in refinement of story telling1 and in glamour of color4 ,two admirable cassone fronts by him are owned by ,mrs4 ,john ,l4 ,gardner1 ,figure #aai4 ,they represent the six triumphs described by ,petrarch in so many ,canzoni4 ,love1 ,chastity1 ,death1 ,time1 ,fame1 and ,eternity are figured forth much as these themes were embodied in contemporary pageants1 about the year #adej4 ,the subjects were favorites for cassoni less because of their grave moral import than because ,petrarch was ,love's accredited ,poet ,laureate4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aai4 ,francesco ,pesellino4 ,cassone ,front4 ,triumphs of ,love1 ,chastity1 and ,death4--,mrs4 ,john ,l4 ,gardner1 ,boston4 ,we have in the ,new ,york ,historical ,society the superb salver1 ,figure #aai;a1 which was prepared against the birth of ,lorenzo de' ,medici4 ,appropriately it shows knights acclaiming fame4 ,the date is #addh1 the painter of the school of ,domenico ,veneziano4 ,we often see the ,queen of ,sheba reverently approaching ,solomon4 ,it is the admonition that a young bride should seek wisdom4 ,battles and ,roman triumphs are tediously common4 ,they set a mark of valor for the bridegroom4 ,wedding ,feasts are almost tautological on a bride-chest1 but they afford charming pictures of the ,florence that amused itself4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aai;a4 ,follower of ,domenico ,veneziano1 perhaps ,baldovinetti4 ,triumph of ,fame4 ,birth ,salver for ,lorenzo de' ,medici4--,n4 ,y4 ,historical ,society4 ,mythology often dignifies these painted stories1 the reference being generally to that beauty which is institutional in brides4 ,thus we have in a spalliera panel in the ,fogg ,museum the ,judgment of ,paris1 with the competing goddesses more modestly clothed than ,ovid's record justifies4 ,the work is possibly an exceptionally amiable product of ,cosimo ,rosselli1 and the date may be about #adge4 ,the ,rape of ,helen1 which was of course due to her fatal beauty1 is a common if unedifying subject for bride-chests4 ,so is ,acton torn by the hounds of the ,divine ,huntress for his temerity in surprising ,diana at her bath4 ,a delightful panel in the possession of ,mr4 ,martin ,ryerson at ,chicago recounts in many episodes the adventures of ,ulysses from his escape from ,polyphemus to his home-coming at ,ithaca4 ,the dalliances of the much-experienced wanderer are by no means concealed1 but at least the scene opens with prominent display of the episode most creditable to him as a married man1 the baffling of the ,sirens1 and closes with the exemplary figure of constant ,penelope weaving her interminable web4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #abj4 ,bartolommeo di ,giovanni under ,botticelli's direction4 ,nastagio degli ,onesti's ,feast4 ,spalliera panel4--,spiridon ,coll41 ,paris4 ,in furniture painting we are generally in the realm of comedy4 ,but we touch pathos in ,boccaccio's story of patient ,griselda1 at ,bergamo1 ,modena1 and elsewhere2 while we approach tragedy in the many versions of chaste ,susanna assailed and traduced by the elders1 and attain to notable melodrama in ,boccaccio's grim vision of the spirit lover eternally harrying the miserable ghost of his merciless lady through the pine wood of ,ravenna4 ,the best of these panels is in the ,spiridon ,collection1 ,paris4 ,the ghostly scene of the chase takes place before the picnic party1 ,figure #abj1 artfully arranged by ,nastagio degli ,onesti to prove to his unfeeling lady that there is a penalty in the next world for being too cruel to a lover in this4 ,the lesson ,boccaccio tells us was effective1 and they lived happily together ever afterwards4 ,the panel was designed by ,botticelli and painted by his assistant1 ,bartolommeo di ,giovanni1 for the wedding of a ,bini groom and a ,pucci bride in the year #adhg4 ,with it we take leave of ,florentine furniture painting1 an art too unpretentious to be considered at length in a general survey1 yet too charming in itself and too representative of the heyday of ,florentine wealth and gayety to be wholly neglected4 ,sandro ,botticelli and ,domenico ,ghirlandaio mark in very different fashions the culmination and the close of the ,early ,renaissance in ,florence4 ,botticelli is the poet of its nostalgia4 ,he expresses not its joyous average1 but the erotic and mystical subtilities of ,lorenzo de' ,medici's ,platonic ,academy1 and later the ,apocalyptic hopes and despairs that gathered around ,savonarola4 ,he utters a discontent and ideality which in part are completely contained in his work and in part were only fulfilled in the rapidly approaching ,golden ,age4 ,he is aristocratic and individual1 hence we shall consider him in connection with his fellow intellectuel1 ,leonardo da ,vinci4 ,domenico ,ghirlandaio1#de on the contrary1 is the most completely contented creature1 imaginable4 ,he never even dreamt of anything desirable beyond his ,florence4 ,he loved the local spectacle too dearly to represent it literally4 ,he generally prettified it1 more rarely he glorified it4 ,its mundane ideals were his4 ,towards its people1 its young men and maidens and grave merchants and magistrates he brought1 without ,fra ,filippo ,lippi's sensitiveness1 an equal curiosity and admiration4 ,and ,florence fairly deserved the adoration of such a man as was he4 ,wisely and generously ruled by ,lorenzo de' ,medici1 who exemplified not merely the practical virtues of the city but also her more engaging vices1 author of wise policy and of wittily dissolute songs2 combining the self-respecting appearances of liberty with the advantages of benevolent despotism1 abounding in new wealth1 lavish in pleasure and spectacle1 unrestrained by a religion which was becoming merely a social decency and a form of fire-insurance against a not impossible hell--,florence had reached a pitch of complacency and worldly well-being the like of which the world has perhaps never seen before or since4 ,the menacing sword of the spirit was already swaying over it in the eloquence of a young ,dominican monk at ,ferrara4 ,but ,florence trod the primrose path unconscious of the doom at hand for her4 ,and ,ghirlandaio was present to immortalize everything that was pleasant in her short prime4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aba4 ,domenico ,ghirlandaio4 ,st4 ,jerome4 ,fresco4--,ognissanti4 ,he was born in #addi1 his father appropriately being a garland-maker for gay ,florence4 ,he was trained under ,alesso ,baldovinetti1 but prudently declined to compromise his own bright coloring with the new technic of oil painting4 ,he studied with profit the ornate narratives of ,benozzo ,gozzoli4 ,one of his earliest frescoes1 painted about #adgj in ,ognissanti1 already reveals the grounds of his later popularity4 ,the vivid portraits of the ,vespucci family so crowd about a ,madonna of ,pity as to make her seem quite secondary4 ,somewhat later he painted the legend of ,santa ,fina at ,san ,gimignano4 ,here ,gozzoli's simpler vein is imitated1 and the effect has a rusticity befitting the theme4 ,soon the bottega at ,florence flourished mightily4 ,there were two younger brothers to help1 and all commissions were executed with businesslike dispatch4 ,about #adhj we find him once more painting for the ,church of ,ognissanti4 ,his ,st4 ,jerome there1 ,figure #aba1 is a beautifully groomed old prelate in a wonderfully kept study4 ,the ,saint is caught in an interval of work1 searching perhaps for the right ,latin word to render the ,hebrew text before him4 ,he is grave and not too stern4 ,the colors are vivid without much regard for harmony4 ,very little of the fire of the missionary who declined to subject the mysteries of ,god to the rules of the grammarian ,donatus is suggested4 ,one has only to look at ,botticelli's ,st4 ,augustine1 opposite in the church1 agonized by the burden of thought1 to realize that ,ghirlandaio has cared nothing for the psychology of his theme1 but has given us any comfortable old ,florentine scholar placidly occupied in his scriptorium4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #abb4 ,ghirlandaio4 ,the ,last ,supper4 ,fresco4--,refectory1 ,ognissanti4 ,a similar lack of emotional content mars the otherwise delightful ,last ,supper1 ,figure #abb1 which was painted that same year for the refectory of ,ognissanti4 ,pathos1 not to say tragedy1 is carefully kept out of the most solemn of scenes4 ,the eye is likely to go first to the tree-tops and flying birds seen above the screen1 then it becomes vaguely aware of a gentle company quietly feasting4 ,except for a faint trace of classicism in the costumes1 it could be any governing board of any religious confraternity of the day1 decorously enjoying its annual dinner4 ,the qualities and defects of ,ghirlandaio are fully apparent in this fresco--his lucidity and sweetness1 his emotional nullity4 ,the next year1 #adha1 ,ghirlandaio painted in the ,sistine ,chapel at ,rome ,christ ,calling ,peter and ,andrew4 ,we have already considered this his nearest approach to monumental design4 ,shortly before the ,roman trip he married1 and when his wife ,costanza died1 after a decent interval1 he repeated the adventure4 ,the two wedlocks were blessed by nine children of whom one1 ,ridolfo1 was to become in turn a notable painter4 ,such fecundity was worthy of the man who once sighed for a commission to fresco the seven-mile circuit of the walls of ,florence4 ,on his return from ,rome ,ghirlandaio decorated the great hall of the ,palace of the ,priors1 and from now on merely a list of his commissions and patrons would be a blue book of the old aristocracy and new wealth of ,florence4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #abc4 ,domenico ,ghirlandaio4 ,miracle of the ,spini ,boy4 ,fresco4--,trinit4 ,thus in #adhe he contracted with ,francesco ,sassetti to do a chapel in the ,trinit with ,stories of ,st4 ,francis4 ,sassetti was confidential treasurer for ,lorenzo the ,magnificent1 about the most important financial position in the world at the moment2 a selfmade and ambitious man4 ,he had tried in vain to get a finer chapel in a bigger church1 but the patrician vested interests prevented4 ,still the chapel to the right of the ,choir of the ,trinit was no mean place1 this ,vallombrosan foundation being one of the oldest in ,florence4 ,ghirlandaio took special pains with the frescoes1 studying with intelligence ,giotto's famous versions of the stories at ,santa ,croce4 ,he is most nearly monumental where he follows ,giotto1 as in the ,death of ,st4 ,francis1 but he also shows surprising felicities of his own4 ,the scene where ,pope ,honorius ,,iii constitutes ,st4 ,francis and his fellows a monastic order1 is remarkable for not only fine incidental portraiture1 but for a nobility of space composition faintly anticipating ,raphael4 ,one scarcely realizes the subject as such4 ,all the dramatic features with which ,giotto emphasized the eagerness of the saint1 the humility of his companions1 the professional dignity of the ,pope and the half-veiled hostility of the papal court are absent4 ,one's eyes go over the group to the familiar grandiose prospect of the ,piazza della ,signoria at ,florence1 and one feels that never till now has he rightly apprehended its amplitude and splendor4 ,then there are sharp pleasant surprises4 ,at the left is the ugly and fascinating figure of ,lorenzo de' ,medici and behind him the gross apparition of ,francesco ,sassetti himself4 ,and in front there are people coming up from a lower level1 only their heads and shoulders emerging4 ,the swarthy man who leads is ,angelo ,poliziano1 greatest of humanistic poets1 tutor of ,lorenzo's sons4 ,and the boys are these gifted children destined to be popes1 and granddukes4 ,the combination of great spaciousness and centrality with casual unexpected graces is so piquant and original1 that ,i suppose ,ghirlandaio may have hit upon it almost accidentally1 owing to the inevitable relations of his ,gothic lunette to the architectural forms in the fresco4 ,in any case ,ghirlandaio never again did anything as impressive4 ,it is his greatest hymn of praise to the ,florence that he so dearly loved4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #abd4 ,domenico ,ghirlandaio4 ,adoration of the ,magi4--,innocenti4 ,in the same chapel is a remarkable picture representing the ,piazza of the ,trinit with ,st4 ,francis resuscitating a boy of the ,spini family1 ,figure #abc4 ,it has extraordinary bits of invention1 but lacks the organization of the fresco just discussed4 ,the altar-piece for the chapel1 an ,adoration of the ,shepherds1 now in the ,uffizi1 represents the graciousness of ,ghirlandaio in familiar narrative his willing acceptance of the panoramic richness of the age1 and his exceptional power of portraiture in these rustics painted from himself and from members of the ,sassetti family4 ,the ruggedness of the characterization suggests ,flemish painting4 ,ghirlandaio may well have been influenced by the great ,nativity with ,portraits which ,hugo van der ,goes sent down from ,ghent1 in #adgf1 to the ,hospital ,church of ,santa ,maria ,nuova4 ,ghirlandaio's altar-pieces are many4 ,they are brilliant without real harmony of color2 pretty1 without much insight1 in the types of the ,virgin and youthful saints4 ,the most elaborate of these panels1 ,an ,adoration of the ,magi1 ,figure #abd1 was finished in #adhh for the ,foundling ,hospital dedicated to the ,massacred ,innocents of ,bethlehem4 ,it still stands on its original altar in the chapel of the ,innocenti1 and is a radiant thing4 ,the crowded group of adorers in the foreground is well knit together4 ,ghirlandaio had taken a shrewd look at ,botticelli's ,epiphany 7now at ,petrograd71 or at ,leonardo da ,vinci's unfinished masterpiece4 ,by a touching and appropriate invention1 ,ghirlandaio has set two of the martyred ,innocents kneeling in white robes and crowned with a saint's nimbus among the ,wise ,men4 ,there are1 as usual1 many portraits1 including ,ghirlandaio's own1 by the pillar at the right4 ,the deep river valley1 suggested by northern paintings or engravings1 relieves the somewhat congested character of the figure arrangement4 ,the girlish ,madonna would do no discredit to the front cover of a nation-wide periodical today4 ,so gracious and ingenious is this picture that one regrets to note that it is rather cleverly staged than deeply felt1 its manifold prettiness and picturesqueness1 of a quite obvious character4 ,as ,ghirlandaio had moved from success to success1 so he was destined to end in his day of highest glory4 ,in #adhe he signed a contract with ,giovanni ,tornabuoni1 of the old nobility1 to decorate the choir of the most aristocratic church in ,florence1 ,santa ,maria ,novella4 ,the subjects1 the ,life of the ,virgin and ,st4 ,john the ,baptist1 were already on the wall in the guise of water-soaked and ruined frescoes by ,andrea ,orcagna4 ,ghirlandaio provided pastoral scenes with wide landscapes1 city prospects with charming girls plentiful in foreground1 rich patrician interiors with graceful women and their attendants making visits of ceremony1 rare religious events with heavy magistrates and dignitaries standing inattentively by--everything in short that a prosperous and well-bred ,florentine of the moment was accustomed to think desirable in beauty1 gentleness1 or worldly estate4 ,characteristic are the ,salutation of ,mary and ,elizabeth1 a picture in which the solemnity of the scene1 so magnificently asserted by ,giotto at ,padua1 slips away into mere spectacle and civility2 the ,birth of ,saint ,john1 ,figure #abe1 with a young girl of the ,tornabuoni family making her visit with her maids1 and all manner of graceful and rich accessories2 or again1 the ,presentation in ,the ,temple1 with a whole tribe of ,tornabuonis and ,ghirlandaios in negligent attendance on the sacred rite4 ,these may stand for the whole4 ,for their casual and mundane richness ,john ,ruskin has poured upon these frescoes his double-distilled vials of wrath4 ,what he says as to their superficiality and emptiness of religious feeling is true enough1 yet his denunciatory rhetoric serves but as a trip-hammer to demolish an eggshell which has after all its iridescent frail beauty4 ,gentler methods are better with so gently mundane a creature as ,ghirlandaio4 ,the ,lord's people1 as he saw them about him1 were good enough for him and for his art4 ,criticism should rather insist that1 being worldly1 he was not worldly enough to be strong and lucid1 but too readily had recourse to promiscuous richness and perfunctory ideals of prettiness4 ,still1 it does not befit the age or race whose characteristic art product is the smiling or pensive girl on the cover of the popular magazine to throw the first stone at ,domenico ,ghirlandaio4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #abe4 ,domenico ,ghirlandaio4 ,birth of ,st4 ,john4--,santa ,maria ,novella4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #abf4 ,domenico ,ghirlandaio4 ,old ,man and ,boy4--,paris4 ,whatever the verdict as to his nominally religious painting1 in portraiture ,ghirlandaio is one of the greatest figures of his time4 ,portraits of the finest qualities abound in his frescoes1 and he has left a few incomparable things on panel4 ,few ,renaissance portraits have the authority of the amazing old man1 ,figure #abf1 in the ,louvre1 who fondles an adoring boy4 ,in this picture1 deformity becomes a grace1 and the spiritual and material interpretation are of equal incisiveness and beauty4 ,as fine in another vein is the profile of ,giovanna degli ,albizzi in the ,j4 ,p4 ,morgan ,collection1 ,figure #aja4 ,it is dated in #adhh4 ,it is the supreme portrait of a ,florentine beauty of a passing and lovely moment4 ,an instant of time1 when the old simplicity had enriched itself with new learning2 when with the new humanism the tournament and court of love persisted2 when courtly manners had become an ideal without freezing into an official code--all this is for a sensitive and informed observer in this placid well-poised head of an ill-starred ,florentine bride4 ,she died in #adhh1 a little before the overthrow of the ,florence she typifies4 ,her accomplished young husband1 ,lorenzo ,tornabuoni1 equally adequate in the tilt yard1 the study1 or the council hall1 lived on for nine years and shared the death agony of the society of which he was a chief ornament4 ,when his head fell under ,savonarola's orders1 a splendid chapter of early ,florentine humanism closed4 ,thus these young people died with their ,florence1 leaving no descendants1 but a memory eternally fragrant4 ,the year of ,giovanna's death1 #adhh1 ,ghirlandaio1 being thirty-nine years old1 took a new wife1 and continued diligently at the frescoes of ,santa ,maria ,novella4 ,not being overburdened with imagination1 he probably never guessed he was occupied with a memorial of a society already doomed4 ,doubtless he followed the fashionable throng to ,san ,marco where for a year ,fra ,girolamo ,savonarola had been preaching against the current vanities4 ,ghirlandaio presumably approved the oratory1 with a comfortable sense that while unworldliness might very properly be preached1 no sensible city could ever be induced to practice it4 ,perhaps he never woke up to the appalling fact that ,savonarola literally meant business both evangelically and politically4 ,so ,ghirlandaio's ,florence moved swiftly to its doom1 and the while he saved much of its look and grace on the walls of his choir4 ,for a year a touchy and ugly little boy who carried the disproportionately great name of ,michelangelo ,buonarotti scrambled discontentedly about the scaffolding of the choir1 lending a hand here and there1 and learning the old art of fresco painting4 ,ghirlandaio of course never knew that in the restless apprentice he was training a titan4 ,he probably thought him a nuisance4 ,by the end of #adic the frescoes of the ,virgin and ,st4 ,john the patron of ,florence were nearly finished1 and the altar-piece1 an ,assumption1 was already planned4 ,at forty-four ,ghirlandaio had at once reached his climax and painted himself down an anachronism4 ,of course he didn't know it2 such self-knowledge is mercifully spared us4 ,the luck of ,ghirlandaio was extraordinarily constant4 ,nowhere is it more signally shown than in the date of his death4 ,some inkling that things were going ill under ,piero de' ,medici's fitful rule must have come to him1 but he died in ,january #adid1 a good ten months before the ,medici were expelled1 their palaces sacked1 and ,savonarola in charge of a ,florence terrified into sobriety4 ,to those painters from ,fra ,filippo to ,ghirlandaio who caught the look and unpretentious poetry of ,medicean ,florence we owe an especial gratitude4 ,they are not in the direct line of progress and they none of them reached the heights of art4 ,but for centuries they have never failed to give delightful information1 while infallibly touching average human sympathies4 ,we do ill to idolize them1 for they were after all rather small men1 but we do well also to honor them according to their accomplishment4 ,they did their particular task of enlivening decoration with illustrative episodes1 with tact1 refinement and knowledge2 with all the sympathy of the modestly observant eye4 ,most of their work had to be undone before the ,grand ,style was possible1 but it all evinces the vitality and variety without which as preliminary training the ,grand ,style itself could hardly have attained its elaborate and strictly ordered composure4 ,we do well to take ,vasari's general view of these artists of the human spectacle--not considering them so much as weak links in a mighty chain1 but as complete in themselves1 as a youth may be complete even though the young man dies in the glory of his unfolding4 ,why expect prematurely the sedate splendors of middle age8 ,take then this art for what it offers--an unsystematic fairy land which is yet half real1 and keep your higher standards in reserve for artists who better deserve them4 ,for austere standards are held by a truly civilized person for purposes of discriminate praise and not as a ready means of promiscuous blame4 ,,illustrations ,,for ,,chapter ,i ,,pageantry ,,in ,,old ,,florence ,the art of ,gozzoli and the cassone painters1 and1 in part1 that of ,filippo ,lippi and ,ghirlandaio implies the background of public pageantry at ,florence4 ,there is a precious piece of old doggerel which describes the festivities1 in ,may #adei1 for the reception of ,pope ,pius ,,ii and ,gian ,galeazzo ,sforza1 ,duke of ,milan4 ,the palaces and churches were completely hung with rich stuffs1 the sumptuary laws were suspended in favor of the fair sex2 besides many processions and feasts1 there was bear baiting in the ,piazza della ,signoria1 an all night open-air ball in the ,mercato ,nuovo1 and a tournament in the ,piazza di ,santa ,croce4 ,i paraphrase the verses which describe the pageant of a ,triumph of ,love which was conducted by ten year old ,lorenzo de' ,medici4 ,the subject is common in cassoni and deschi da parto4 ,the boy ,lorenzo mounted on a marvellously caparisoned horse headed the pageant1 and while all the people whispered their admiration-- 8,as prudent and wise lad he conducted the ,triumph of the ,god of ,love4444 ,in all triumph he made ,cupid come1 who so gently smites the gentle heart4 ,upon a car ,i saw him1 and so ,i tell1 most marvellously adorned and wrought1 how it was made ,i dare not say4 ,on four wheels it was finely adorned with a raised stand and fixed on every corner thereof as a column the form and fashion of an angel4 ,and ,i who saw it thought of a castle4 ,upon the four columns was a great ball and above it another ornamented piece4 ,this was gilded everywhere 444 so that it sparkled like the sun4 ,i cannot tell of such beauties1 but ,i can tell about the top part which was most delightful4 ,above all 444 ,i saw stand a youth1 with two great wings of many colors on his shoulders and all the rest nude1 holding that bow with which he wounds all hearts1 and playfully puts venom therein1 so that while burning within1 nothing shows without4 ,this ,triumph so marvellous and so invested with colors1 its adornment very glorious--with so many pearls1 carbuncles and sapphires--,i couldn't reckon how many florins that ,triumph was worth ,i say40 ,the whole poem is a real treasure of such lore and should be translated4 ,it is found in the new edition of ,muratori1 ,rerum ,italicarum ,scriptores1 ,tom4 ,,xxvii4 ,the quotation is from page #ca1 lines #accj-acfc4 ,,the ,,procession ,,of ,,the ,,magi ,on ,st4 ,john's ,day1 #aced1 ,matteo ,palmieri tells us in his ,annals1 there were many religious representations of which the most interesting to us1 as a probable inspirer of ,gozzoli's frescoes1 is that of the ,three ,kings from the ,east4 ,there was-- 8,a magnificent and triumphant temple for the habitation stage setting of the ,magi1 in which was inclosed an octagonal temple adorned with the seven ,virtues1 and on the east side the ,virgin with the ,new ,born ,christ4 ,probably figures in a tableau vivant 8,the three ,magi with a cavalcade of more than #bjj horse adorned with many splendors came to make offerings to the ,new ,born ,christ40 ,new ed4 of ,muratori1 ,tom4 ,,xxii1 p4 #agc4 ,probably all the artists mentioned in this chapter saw these two splendid pageants and many more4 ,such sights count for much in the alert and profusely ornamented painting of the fifteenth century4 ,,pageants ,,in #adff ,piero de' ,medici 8in order to give men something to think about which should take their thoughts from the state1 and a year having passed since ,cosimo had died1 seized the occasion to enliven the city and ordered two elaborate celebrations1 following the others that are customary in that city4 ,one which represented1 when the three ,kings1 the ,magi1 came from the ,east behind the star which showed the birth of ,christ2 the which was of such pomp and so magnificent1 that in arranging and holding it the entire city was occupied for several months40 ,machiavelli1 ,istorie fiorentine1 ,lib4 ,,vii1 cap4 xii4 8,the other festival1 ,machiavelli continues was a tournament 7for so they used to call a spectacle1 which represented a cavalry skirmish7 where the first youths of the city exercised themselves against the most famous knights of ,italy2 and among the young men of ,florence the most in repute was ,lorenzo1 first-born son of ,piero1 who not by favor1 but by his own valor carried off the first honours40 ,lorenzo was then a likely lad of seventeen4 ,a ,,side-,,light ,,on ,,ghirlandaio',s ,,patrons ,a ,trick for getting a ,family ,chapel in #adhh ,the choir of ,santa ,maria ,novella was under the patronage of the ,ricci family1 but they were poor and had been unable to repair the waterstained frescoes of ,orcagna1 which had been painted a century and a quarter earlier4 ,so ,giovanni ,tornabuoni got permission to redecorate the chapel on condition of setting the ,ricci arms 8in the most conspicuous and honourable place in that chapel40 ,and so the contract was drawn4 ,domenico ,ghirlandaio actually set the ,tornabuoni arms in huge scale on the side pilasters1 whereas he painted the ,ricci arms half a foot high on the door of the ciborium in the centre of the base of his altar-piece4 ,the rest in ,vasari's words 7de ,vere's translation1 ,vol4 ,,iii1 p4 #bbd73 8,and a fine jest it was at the opening of the chapel1 for these ,ricci looked for their arms with much ado1 and finally1 not being able to find them1 went off to the ,tribunal of ,eight1 contract in hand4 ,whereupon the ,tornabuoni showed that these arms had been placed in the most conspicuous and honourable part of the work2 and although the others exclaimed that they were invisible1 they were told that they were in the wrong1 and that they must be content1 since the ,tornabuoni had caused them to be placed in so honourable a position as the neighborhood of the most ,holy ,sacrament4 ,and so it was decided by that tribunal that they should be left untouched1 as they may be seen today4 ,now1 if this should appear to anyone to be outside the scope of the ,life that ,i have to write1 let him not be vexed1 for it all flowed naturally from the tip of my pen4 ,and it should serve1 if for nothing else1 at least to show how easily poverty falls a prey to riches1 and how riches1 if accompanied by discretion1 achieve without censure anything that a man desires40 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #abg4 ,leonardo da ,vinci4 ,cartoon of ,madonna and ,st4 ,ann4--,burlington ,house1 ,london4 ,,chapter ,v ,,dawn ,,of ,,the ,,golden ,,age3 ,,botticelli ,,and ,,leonardo ,,da ,,vinci ,leonardo da ,vinci as assimilator of the ,realistic reforms--,botticelli as reactionary--,his beginnings under ,fra ,filippo and ,pollaiuolo--,height of his realistic achievement in ,adoration of the ,magi--,assertion of his fantastic vein in the ,primavera--,the ,dante drawings and the distraught style of the later works1 its sthetic value--,minor ,eccentrics3 ,filippino ,lippi--,piero di ,cosimo--,leonardo da ,vinci1 his gradual advance towards ,chiaroscuro method1 his ideals--,his work with ,verrocchio--,the ,adoration of the ,kings1 its disciplined richness--,cartoon of ,st4 ,ann--,first ,madonna of the ,rocks--,leonardo at ,milan4 ,the ,last ,supper--,at ,florence again4 ,the ,battle ,cartoon4 ,mona ,lisa--,second ,sojourn at ,milan4 ,the ,st4 ,ann1 his influence--,at ,rome1 in ,france and the end--,leonardo's successors at ,florence2 ,fra ,bartolommeo-- ,andrea del ,sarto--,agnolo ,bronzino--,pontormo--,decline of ,florentine independence and of the ,school4 ,the task before an ambitious young ,florentine artist about #adge was one of assimilation4 ,pretty much all the knowledge essential for the new painting existed1 but in scattered shape4 ,masaccio had modernized ,giotto's monumental patterns1 and had found for himself the new structural values of light and shade4 ,domenico ,veneziano had introduced the handier method of oil painting1 and1 with ,piero della ,francesca1 had attempted novel refinements in paler tonalities4 ,he and ,paolo ,uccello had worked out the mysteries of linear perspective4 ,andrea del ,castagno had achieved a systematic and learned anatomy4 ,antonio ,pollaiuolo had added to this an extraordinary knowledge of the human body in violent action4 ,andrea ,verrocchio had demonstrated that these realistic strivings were compatible with grace4 ,it had occurred to no one to combine all these discoveries until ,leonardo da ,vinci reached his early maturity4 ,the synthesis worked out by him between #adhj and #adih1 the dates of his unfinished ,adoration of the ,kings and ,last ,supper respectively1 is the foundation on which ,raphael built4 ,leonardo da ,vinci is the pioneer of the ,golden ,age4 ,it will help us to realize the greatness of his accomplishment to study first the career of a contemporary and friend1 the exquisite artist1 ,sandro ,botticelli4 ,botticelli1 like ,leonardo1 came under the spell of ,verrocchio's fastidiousness1 and went some distance in the direction of the new monumental beauty4 ,then abruptly he turned aside along solitary lines quite unprecedented1 but akin to the mystic past of ,siena4 ,his great refusal of progress1 his broken and eccentric career1 give point to the humanistic centrality and social authority of ,leonardo's painting4 ,the two men represent opposite escapes from the superficial brilliance of the art dominated by ,ghirlandaio4 ,leonardo moved out towards the future1 and has lived on as a fine inspiration of academic painting ever since4 ,botticelli withdrew into himself1 and has survived flickeringly in the occasional admiration of kindred spirits4 ,both express1 if in very different fashion1 the profound discontent that preluded a new era of art4 ,it will help us to perceive how great ,botticelli is in his solitary poetry1 to consider two younger contemporaries1 ,filippino ,lippi1 his pupil1 and ,piero di ,cosimo1 an intelligent imitator of ,leonardo1 both of whom1 sharing ,botticelli's discontent1 also sought escape in self-assertiveness of an eccentric sort4 ,as the modern age begins to dawn1 the modern temperamental artist appears4 ,the bottega begins to be a studio4 ,thus ,sandro ,botticelli#df has a double importance for us--as an exquisite artist1 and even more as the first individualist who strained sorely at the bounds imposed by the collective taste1 required a select public1 and painted to please himself4 ,there is nothing of this romantic isolation in his origins4 ,he was born a tanner's son1 in #addd1 and brought up in the smiling country towards ,careggi4 ,at thirteen he was still at school1 hence was better educated than the average painter4 ,soon he was put with a goldsmith1 very likely his brother ,antonio1 whose nickname--,il ,botticello1 the cask1 paradoxically attached itself to the creator of the ,primavera4 ,before his fifteenth year1 #adei1 young ,botticelli was apprenticed to ,fra ,filippo ,lippi1 the most sensitive eye of the time4 ,young ,botticelli presumably painted on the later frescoes at ,prato1 and ,i believe may have been permitted to design certain of the figures in ,the ,feast of ,herod4 ,two early pictures of the ,adoration of the ,kings1 both in the ,national ,gallery1 ,london1 show us how whole-heartedly ,botticelli adopted his master's discursive style1 how sedulously he sought variety and richness of gesture and facial expression4 ,but these crowded compositions lack ,fra ,filippo's direct geniality4 ,they are already imagined before they are observed4 ,fra ,filippo went to ,spoleto some time before #adfh and soon died there4 ,so ,botticelli was perhaps on his own resources from his twenty-fourth year1 though he was not inscribed in the ,company of ,st4 ,luke till #adgb4 ,what is certain is that he was fortifying himself by imitation of far more strenuous artists than his master4 ,the delicate incisiveness of ,verrocchio appears as an occasional inspiration1 the rugged power of ,antonio ,pollaiuolo dominates his pictorial expression for many years4 ,a group of early pictures shows strikingly the interplay of realistic influences with the assertion of his own originality4 ,the delicately expressive ,madonna1 ,figure #abh1 in ,mrs4 ,john ,l4 ,gardner's collection1 is based on ,filippo ,lippi's ,madonna in the ,uffizi1 ,figure #ajc4 ,the general arrangement is the same4 ,but what a change in feeling6 ,all the overt picturesque relations which ,fra ,filippo loved--the girlish ,virgin praying to her child1 the chubby baby clutching at its mother1 the impish angel grinning out of the picture--all that is eliminated4 ,the ,virgin wistfully reaches for the ear of wheat signifying her ,son's body that must be broken4 ,a well-grown1 reverent angel1 enigmatically smiling1 offers the grapes and wheat1 symbols of the sacrament4 ,the relation is between the ,madonna and this mysterious acolyte4 ,their consciousness of a prophetic rite gains emphasis and pathos from the only unconscious thing in the picture1 the graceful babyish action of the ,divine ,child4 ,the forms of mother and ,child are those of ,filippo ,lippi1 but with elimination of superfluous ornament and commonplace action4 ,the reserved1 half-concealed smile of the angel and his strange beauty derive from ,andrea ,verrocchio4 ,you may trace it from his youthful ,david to his disciple's ,mona ,lisa4 ,the date of the picture is merely a good guess1 but since it is free from the influence of ,pollaiuolo1 it may be before #adfi4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #abh4 ,botticelli4 ,chigi ,madonna4--,mrs4 ,john ,l4 ,gardner1 ,boston4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #acj4 ,botticelli4 ,judith4--,uffizi4 ,in that year the brothers ,pollaiuolo undertook the painting of seven figures of the ,virtues to decorate the wainscot behind the magistrates' bench in the ,mercanzia1 the mercantile court4 ,evidently they were pressed for time1 for they assigned one panel representing ,fortitude1 ,figure #abi1 to ,botticelli4 ,john ,ruskin has celebrated in eloquent phrase this frail embodiment of the courage of the mind4 8,worn1 somewhat1 and not a little weary2 instead of standing ready for all comers1 she is sitting--apparently in revery2 her fingers playing restlessly and idly--nay1 ,i think1 even nervously about the hilt of her sword4 ,for her battle is not to begin today1 nor did it begin yesterday4 ,many a morn and even have passed since it began1 and now--is this to be the ending of it8 ,and if this--by what manner of end80 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #abi4 ,botticelli4 ,fortitude4--,uffizi4 ,the passage beautifully illustrates the odd blend of purest insight and casual chatter in ,ruskin's criticism4 ,forget that the sword is a mace--,ruskin is never right in such trifles4 ,fortitude sits merely because her sister ,virtues do so in the imposed decorative scheme4 ,the nervous action of the hands is chiefly an elegance4 ,yet the whole characterization expresses with singular felicity the alert and thoughtful charm of this ,fortitude amid the stolid effigies of ,antonio and ,piero ,pollaiuolo4 ,ruskin1 as often1 is most wrong where it least matters4 ,we have more prosaic business with the ,fortitude--to note the pouting snub-nosed type1 and the elaborate ornaments1 which are ,fra ,filippo's1 the solidly drawn but ill-shapen foot1 which is ,pollaiuolo's1 and the sensitiveness1 which is ,botticelli's own4 ,a still more complete assimilation of ,pollaiuolo's energetic mode is revealed in the admirable little ,judith1 ,figure #acj1 which must have been painted towards #adge4 ,the faces are still ,fra ,filippo's1 and he could have invented the eager doglike obsequiousness of the maid4 ,but the springy action and the fine1 lean ankles and feet1 the bony1 expressive wrists and hands1 the minutely featured landscape1 are completely in ,pollaiuolo's vein4 ,botticelli's specific invention is the sublimation of the theme--,judith's sense of walking in a dream after the unspeakable ordeal of the night4 ,and the flutter of the robes in the clean morning wind has a stylistic grace that amounts to ,sandro's signature4 ,as he came into his thirty-fifth year1 #adgh1 ,botticelli painted two pictures so different that without conclusive evidence we should hardly believe them the work of a single mind and hand4 ,the ,adoration of the ,kings1 ,figure #aca1 with the sturdy ,medici portraits1 sums up all ,botticelli's realistic achievement1 shows him the greatest and most typical ,florentine master of the moment1 and proves that his way was easy to such triumphs of popularity as ,ghirlandaio was soon to enjoy uncontested4 ,the other picture1 ,the ,allegory of ,spring1 evinces a strange and to many repellant originality1 indulges dreams not of this earth1 appeals to experiences inaccessible save to the sthetically elect4 ,it was an earnest of neglect and unpopularity1 the opening of a solitary road that no artist would travel save under inner imperious impulsion4 ,the ,adoration of the ,kings is composed after the fashion of ,fra ,filippo and rendered with all the improvements of ,pollaiuolo4 ,the group of the ,mother1 ,child and ,joseph is set high and well back1 the minutely drawn ruin1 with its grace of wall-flowers1 and the peacock on the ruined edge of the masonry are again pure ,fra ,filippo1 as are the juvenile charm of ,our ,lady and the alertness of the ,bambino4 ,in ,fra ,filippo's best style1 too1 are the flanking groups of portraits which swing back towards the central motive1 leaving the centre free4 ,here are great personnages set forth with dignity and force4 ,masaccio also has counted for much in these portraits1 and ,antonio ,pollaiuolo for more4 ,the ,mage kneeling by the ,child is ,piero de' ,medici1 the one in front with his back turned is ,cosimo4 ,the beautiful young king addressing him is probably ,giuliano1 lately slain by the ,pazzi conspirators4 ,lorenzo is unmistakable at the left with his proud military pose1 his hands resting on a great sword4 ,at the right1 robed in yellow1 is the fine manly figure of ,botticelli himself4 ,there are many other portraits of the most authoritative accent1 but we have no means of identifying them4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aca4 ,botticelli4 ,adoration of the ,magi4--,uffizi4 ,artistically this magnificent little picture suffers from two centres of interest4 ,it is an ambiguity1 however1 that would have troubled no contemporary ,florentine4 ,he was willing to take the sacred group for granted and to gaze delightedly at the figures of his rulers and benefactors4 ,in technical expression the picture is established through light1 shade1 and color1 its linear quality counting for rather little in the effect4 ,it is a logical and attractive combination of all the realistic experiments of fifty years past1 no single feature being over-emphasized4 ,it is prose of a most convincing and eloquent cadence4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #acb4 ,botticelli4 ,primavera--,allegory of ,spring4--,uffizi4 ,before turning to a picture which is all poetry1 the ,primavera1 we may profitably consider ,botticelli's portrait1 the robust body1 the moody sensual face4 ,he was a celibate4 ,one need not espouse the vagaries of a ,freud to know that such men1 when gifted with imagination1 dream strange dreams4 ,the ,primavera1 ,figure #acb1 was painted for the ,medici ,villa of ,castello1 where later ,botticelli placed his ,birth of ,venus and ,signorelli his ,pan as ,god of ,music4 ,all these pictures represent that sudden homesickness for the idyllic scenes of classical antiquity which fell upon the ,italian world about this time4 ,the cassone painters1 working for work-a-day people1 had represented the mythologies as so many jolly stories4 ,for the deeply cultured circle of the ,medici1 these retrospections were fraught with sadness4 ,the life where the gods moved among alluring nymphs and amusing fauns seemed infinitely far off and infinitely desirable4 ,through ,horace and ,virgil and ,theocritus one could glimpse it tantalizingly4 ,modern poets1 like ,angelo ,poliziano1 could recover it faintly in ,greek and ,latin1 or more rarely in ,italian verse4 ,but the ,italian loves to see1 and here was the difficulty4 ,the brown soil had not yet yielded up the great store of old marbles4 ,the actual look of the bygone ,golden ,age1 which within half a century was to become matter of archological certainty1 was now matter of hesitant intuition4 ,one could brood over the old poets1 arrange masques in which lightly robed ,tuscan girls played the nymph or goddess--whatever expedient was used to live oneself back1 the visual ingredients of the dream were inevitably local and ,tuscan4 ,such pictures as the ,primavera represent this transient and appealing mood4 ,they tremble with unfulfilled aspirations1 breathe exquisite nostalgias1 perpetuate as no other records do the very soul of the humanists that surrounded ,lorenzo the ,magnificent4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #acc4 ,botticelli4 ,primavera4 ,detail4 ,venus1 ,flora1 ,spring1 ,zephyr4--,uffizi4 ,for the fundamental decorative arrangement of the picture1 white forms swaying before a vertical paling1 ,botticelli skilfully borrowed the motive of ,pollaiuolo's engraving1 the ,ten ,nudes4 ,figure #aji4 ,from ,pollaiuolo1 too1 come the nervous contours1 the wiry ankles1 and slender feet1 and the curiously sprung knees4 ,the old poets ,lucretius and ,horace give just the hint for the persons of the idyl4 ,lucretius tells of the coming of ,spring blown in by the ,west wind1 of ,flora strewing flowers before1 ,figure #acc1 with ,venus and her son as witnesses4 ,and ,horace tells how the three graces with ungirt robes dance before ,mercury4 ,but ,botticelli has contributed what gives the work its penetrating1 sad charm4 ,his is the gloomy screen of orange trees and olives1 the carpet of spring flowers1 the billowing lines that sweep across the panel4 ,it is conceived in two great rhythms of motion4 ,the wave that is suave in playful ,spring becomes crisp and sharp in the robe of ,flora1 and is nearly arrested in the heavy drapery of ,venus1 it passes with her raised hand to the shimmering veil of the dancing ,graces1 and dies in the firmly set form of ,mercury1 whose uplifted arm carries the movement into the steady background1 which stabilizes it all4 ,even to mention the particular finesses and beauties of this fantastically lovely scene would require an essay4 ,i have made a fuller if very imperfect analysis in my book1 8,estimates in ,art40 ,now it is best to note merely that the only joyous forms are ,zephyrus1 ,spring and ,cupid1 the rest are sad or enigmatically grave1 as is ,flora4 ,though they celebrate the renewal of life through love in springtime1 those whose immortality has witnessed many springs carry in their faces and bearing the old knowledge that life and love are constantly reborn under death sentence1 and that what is renewed spring after spring has but 8,the frail duration of a flower40 ,again and again the poets have told this to unregarding man4 ,nobody has made it visible save ,botticelli4 ,i suppose only a score of people at the time knew how fine the ,primavera was1 and a few hundred in the world today may know it4 ,the thing was hidden from the public1 and ,botticelli was painting himself into the most obscure sort of glory4 ,in his remaining thirty-two years1 there are a few reversions to his realistic vein1 but his most characteristic works merely carry on the recondite charm1 the acute and personal rhythms of the ,primavera4 ,in #adhj was painted the ,faust-like figure of ,st4 ,augustine4 ,figure #acd4 ,one feels in the gnarled features and hand clutching the breast the burden of lifelong meditation on the terrible mysteries of free will and ,god's eternal decrees4 ,it is the effigy of one who has agonized in thought1 and is still seeking by that ,calvary of the mind a tense and hazardous peace4 ,the next year ,botticelli went to ,rome to take charge of the decoration of the ,sistine ,chapel4 ,we have already considered his best fresco there1 ,moses in ,midian4 ,figure #aad4 ,of the two others--the ,temptation of ,christ1 and the ,destruction of ,korah--we need only add that they are immensely rich in details1 effective as narratives1 and as decorative arrangements surpassed on the ,sistine walls only by ,signorelli and ,perugino4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #acd4 ,botticelli4 ,st4 ,augustine4 ,fresco4--,ognissanti4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ace4 ,botticelli4 ,madonna with six ,angels4--,uffizi4 ,there are rare moments of something like serenity in ,botticelli's troubled career4 ,one was when he painted the ,pallas and the ,centaur1 and another when he designed the loveliest of his round panels1 the ,madonna with ,six ,angels1 in the ,uffizi1 ,figure #ace4 ,unlike the more famous and popular ,magnificat1 it is in immaculate preservation4 ,the composition is subtler and less obvious1 the worn and burdened look of the ,madonna oppressed by her tragic fate1 more specific and appealing4 ,the late ,herbert ,p4 ,horne1 ,botticelli's best biographer1 sets the picture about #adhg4 ,about the same time were done those nuptial frescoes for ,lorenzo ,tornabuoni and his bride1 ,giovanna degli ,albizzi4 ,torn from the villa walls at ,careggi1 they are now among the treasures of the ,louvre4 ,lorenzo is represented as received by the seven liberal arts1 ,giovanna as presented to ,venus by the ,graces4 ,we have seen in the last chapter how these young people shared and illustrated the doom impending over ,medicean ,florence4 ,botticelli captures1 if not their look1 at least a fine symbol for their as yet unchallenged beauty and discretion4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #acf4 ,botticelli4 ,birth of ,venus4--,uffizi4 ,a little earlier perhaps he added to the ,primavera at ,castello the ,birth of ,venus1 ,figure #acf4 ,it is conceived in the same bold rhythms1 which this time converge on the slight1 smooth form of ,venus and are steadied by the horizon and the trees4 ,compared with the ,primavera1 the whole thing is less rich1 varied and naturalistic4 ,everything is more schematic and conventional2 gold is freely used without realistic pretext4 ,the wistful mood is still that of the ,primavera4 ,venus comes to earth with no joyous expectation4 ,she glimpses unfulfilled desires1 the eternally deferred goal of earthly love4 ,she obeys a destiny with resignation and a pensive humility--almost asks pardon for the confusion she is fated to produce among mortals4 ,these involutions and refinements have nothing to do with the whole-souled sensuousness of classical antiquity1 they have everything to do with that scrupulous balancing of divine and earthly love which was the standing problem of the ,neo-,platonists surrounding ,lorenzo the ,magnificent4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #acg4 ,botticelli4 ,dante and ,beatrice in ,paradise4--,print ,room1 ,berlin4 ,during the '#hjs ,botticelli was much occupied with the illustration of a great manuscript of the 8,divine ,comedy40 ,figure #acg4 ,these outlines in silverpoint retouched with the pen find their equals only in the best ,far ,eastern art4 ,the line whips and dances and swirls across the parchment1 halting and turning to define a detail1 then speeding anew on its task of suggesting motion4 ,figures that float1 groups that march or dance as one1 trailing smoke of incense--these volatile features are rendered with the most energetic delicacy4 ,and the most incredible episodes of ,dante's poem gain credence with the eye through the deftest use of the pure line4 ,it hardens to suggest bone and sinew1 tightens to express joints that bear weight and preserve balance1 loosens and gallops to give the flutter of drapery over twinkling limbs4 ,and all this is done with a thin pen line that hardly changes thickness or blackness--done with a touch as light as a feather and yet as firm as the swing of a draughtsman's compass4 ,the study of such drawings is a liberal education in the sthetics of pure line4 ,these drawings freely distort the actual forms for the sake of greater expressiveness4 ,such distortion is the characteristic mark of ,botticelli's latest style4 ,one may note it in the furniture panels which tell the story of ,st4 ,zenobius and the tragic lot of the ,roman heroines1 ,lucretia and ,virginia2 in the ,annunciation of the ,uffizi and the ,last ,communion of ,st4 ,jerome1 in the ,metropolitan ,museum4 ,the new manner is characterized by habitually vehement expression4 ,intensity becomes morbid1 effective withal4 ,we have to do with tortured but very fine nerves4 ,what personal history is involved we can merely surmise4 ,we know1 however1 that ,botticelli followed eagerly the theocratic revolution of ,savonarola and suffered deep chagrin when the attempt to make ,florence a city of ,god collapsed amid sordid political jealousies4 ,his art becomes that of a ,piagnone1 a ,savonarolist1 a contemner of the careless world4 ,his method changes4 ,the figures are unmodelled and flat1 they hurtle wildly and glisten metallically before airless landscapes4 ,most of the hard-won ,florentine realisms drop out1 and the linear rhythms recall the ,gothic poignancy of ,simone ,martini4 ,perhaps the finest picture of this sort is the ,calumny of ,apelles1 ,figure #ach1 painted about #adij1 and now in the ,uffizi4 ,it recreates after an anecdote of ,lucian1 made current by ,leonbattista ,alberti1 a lost masterpiece by ,apelles1 which was painted to convince ,alexander the ,great of the evil of calumny4 ,an innocent prisoner is haled before an ignorant judge4 ,calumny bearing a torch drags him by the hair4 ,treachery and ,deceit act as her tiring maids4 ,the sordid figure of ,envy is her guide to a judge into whose asses' ears ,ignorance and ,suspicion whisper their counsels4 ,naked ,truth pleads in vain for the victim as ,remorse turns to her with sullen helplessness4 ,by a pictorial irony1 the sinister whirling group is set in a stately court adorned with statues of magnanimous heroes of old1 and one glimpses through the rich arches a cloudless sky and an untroubled sea4 ,very rich in imaginative content1 ornate in its use of color and gold1 sharp and definite in its rhythms1 discreet in its expressive distortions1 this is perhaps the masterpiece of ,botticelli's late style4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ach4 ,botticelli4 ,the ,calumny of ,apelles4--,uffizi4 ,but one regards with surely almost pleasure and with more lively sympathy the little ,nativity in the ,national ,gallery1 ,figure #aci1 a celestial idyl in sentiment1 and of greatest beauty of muted coloring4 ,above the shed where the ,virgin ,mother worships her ,divine ,child1 a dancing ring of angels hovers4 ,they hold olive branches from which depend martyrs' crowns4 ,wreathed shepherds1 figures from some ,theocritan idyl1 kneel outside the shed4 ,below1 angels eagerly embrace three youthful crowned figures1 while impish baffled fiends lurk in crevices of the rocks4 ,the three figures may well typify ,savonarola and his two fellow-martyrs4 ,a ,greek inscription gives the date of #aejj and hints at the fall of ,savonarola and the shame of the ,french invasion4 ,there is a tenderness about the picture that recalls the ,primavera1 but it is more elusive and unearthly1 more implicit in every bit of the workmanship itself than dependent on explicit symbolism4 ,what ,botticelli could achieve in stark tragedy at this time is shown in the ,piet of the ,munich gallery1 a masterpiece which many critics have quite unaccountably ascribed to an inferior imitator4 ,it is of tremendous effect4 ,the compressing rocks seem to confine a grief too great to be liberated in space4 ,a shudder concentrates itself upon the fair1 youthful body of the dead ,christ4 ,one assists at a cosmic mourning1 the intolerable tension of which is mercifully relieved in the swooning form of the ,mother of ,sorrows4 ,the colors are sombre1 the whole effect fairly sculptural1 though mass is attained more by linear accents than by systematic light and shade4 ,balance and pose obey not a law of physics but one of feeling4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aci4 ,botticelli4 ,mystical ,nativity4--,london4 ,the picture may be one of ,botticelli's latest4 ,he lived on till #aeaj1 a lonely and indulged eccentric4 ,he witnessed the youthful triumphs of ,raphael and ,michelangelo at ,florence1 and saw the superb maturity of his friend ,leonardo da ,vinci4 ,he saw the artistic world move away from himself towards ideals of gravity and decorum and disciplined monumentality4 ,he could have followed that high road himself4 ,instead he had sought a romantic self-expression leading to an impasse4 ,at least he had made the impasse singularly thrilling4 ,being a wag as well as a poet1 he had his compensations for neglect and doubtless he never regretted his impolitic choice4 ,among artists of febrile and romantic fibre he is one of the greatest4 ,to know him thoroughly is an incomparable exercise in exquisite feeling4 ,taken in its social aspect1 ,botticelli's later style is a protest against the current1 superficial1 narrative and decorative modes4 ,against prevailing successful commonplace1 he opposes a highly refined idiosyncracy4 ,while the more stolid artists of the end of the century were content to rework ,ghirlandaio's glittering vein1 the more sensitive spirits sought distinction in eccentricity4 ,eccentricity appears whenever an old style has gone stale and a new one is imminent4 ,it is the natural expression of souls too independent to conform and too weak to reconstruct4 ,the grotesque was in the air4 ,luigi ,pulci in the 8,morgante ,maggiore0 burlesques the ideal romances of chivalry1 and mixes the old clear categories of good and evil4 ,lorenzo de' ,medici at once mimics and caricatures the simplicity of the peasant pastorals4 ,cynicism runs riot in the short-story writers and in the new comedy4 ,there is a confusion of standards1 a new complexity of appreciation1 that at once bewilders and allures delicate spirits4 ,thus they really express such a moment of hesitation better than stronger or more ordinary artists4 ,so a ,post-,impressionist of today may have a high symptomatic importance even though his art be null1 and a ,filippino ,lippi and ,piero di ,cosimo really tell us more about the time-spirit than a ,leonardo da ,vinci4 ,filippino#dg was born in #adeg1 at ,prato1 and presumably received his first instruction from his father1 ,fra ,filippo4 ,at fifteen we find him an orphan and studying with ,botticelli1 whom he probably assisted at ,rome in #adhb4 ,at twenty-seven1 in #adhd1 he had the extraordinary honor of completing ,masaccio's frescoes in the ,brancacci ,chapel4 ,doubtless he had his great predecessor's sketches to aid him4 ,with a somewhat lighter accent1 he imitated as he might ,masaccio's simple and massive construction in light and shade4 ,filippino's ,peter before the ,proconsul1 ,figure #adj1 and ,crucifixion of ,st4 ,peter are of a gravity and weight to have passed for ,masaccio's with good critics4 ,but the fine portraits are distinctive for the later date1 as are the portraits and the graceful kneeling boy painted opposite in the fresco left unfinished by ,masaccio4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #adj4 ,filippino ,lippi4 ,st4 ,peter before ,nero4 ,detail of ,fresco4--,brancacci ,chapel4 ,as a work of pious assimilation1 ,filippino's frescoes are amazing2 all his more original work is so much falling-off from his beginnings4 ,his characteristic sensitive prettiness may be best observed in the altar-piece in the ,badia representing ,st4 ,bernard's ,vision of the ,virgin4 ,figure #ada4 ,as he writes her praises1 she approaches his desk escorted by eager angels4 ,the scenic picturesqueness of the landscape1 the accentuated prettiness of the faces are characteristic4 ,superficially like ,botticelli1 ,filippino is less selective and always more sentimental4 ,he is rudely shaken out of a mode in which he is attractive by the advent of the new giants of painting1 ,leonardo and ,signorelli4 ,in his last work1 painted about #aejb for the ,strozzi ,chapel of ,santa ,maria ,novella1 he spends himself in superfluous and ineffective inventions1--trophies1 archological ornaments4 ,to lend impressiveness and tragedy to the martyrdom of ,st4 ,philip and ,st4 ,james1 or to the miracle of ,drusiana1 ,figure #adb1 he has recourse to hideous contortions of mouth and brows1 to creaking joints and bursting muscles1 to clamor and sensationalism of all sorts4 ,it is the bankruptcy of the gentle spirit who only twenty years earlier had shown himself almost a great artist in the ,carmine1 and only ten years earlier had proved himself an accomplished decorator1 at the ,minerva1 ,rome4 ,and the pity of this plunge into competitive and hopeless exhibitionism is that ,filippino was a man of taste and character1 a collector of classical antiques1 an obliging and generous spirit4 ,he died in #aejd at the moment when ,leonardo da ,vinci was planning a real and successful sensation for ,florence1 in ,the ,fight for the ,standard4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ada4 ,filippino ,lippi4 ,st4 ,bernard's ,vision4--,badia4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #adc4 ,piero di ,cosimo4 ,primitive ,man4 ,spalliera panel4--,metropolitan ,museum1 ,n4 ,y4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #adb4 ,filippino ,lippi4 ,raising of ,drusiana by ,st4 ,john4--,s4 ,m4 ,novella1 ,florence4 ,if ,filippino became an eccentric through pressure of circumstances1 ,piero di ,cosimo#dh was one by nature4 ,born in #adfb1 he soon came under the dullest of masters1 ,cosimo ,rosselli4 ,to ,cosimo's four hopeless frescoes in the ,sistine ,chapel he added certain vivacious features1 and there he learned to know some of the ablest artists of his day4 ,always a bachelor and recluse1 he pursued serious studies in imitation of such stern realists as ,antonio ,pollaiuolo and ,luca ,signorelli4 ,he lived sordidly in his bottega1 literally from hand to mouth1 on the eggs which he boiled in his glue pot1 in weekly batches4 ,alone he planned strange mythologies1 bestially pungent1 and there he thought out odd terrible pageants which shocked and enthralled his ,florence4 ,and as he made these bizarre inventions1 he mocked them and himself4 ,his admirations were shifting--now ,signorelli1 again the ,flemish realists and ,leonardo3 incompatible attractions4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #add4 ,piero di ,cosimo4 ,cleopatra4--,chantilly4 ,you may sense his quality in two wall panels1 now in the ,metropolitan ,museum1#di made for some palace4 ,piero had read over the legend of primitive man as told by ,ovid1 and quickly his mind bred phantoms4 ,first he conceived a state where dominion trembled between man and the brute creation4 ,savage men with the unfair advantage of fire are exterminating the beasts1 among whom fight those half-men1 the centaurs1 ,figure #adc4 ,in the companion panel the mood changes abruptly from strife and tumult to the quaintly pastoral strains of a stone-age minuet4 ,we assist at a troglodyte water-party4 ,lovely woman dominates the new scene4 ,the now domesticated centaur proudly bears her4 ,in courtly fashion skin-clad warriors hand her into a rude pleasure raft which may perhaps waft the picnickers to the joys of a cannibal feast4 ,these inventions have immense fantastic power1 and their real originality by no means precludes the suspicion that the artist is smiling at his own ingenuity and at our complaisance4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ade4 ,piero di ,cosimo4 ,death of ,procris4--,london4 ,take again his ,cleopatra1 ,figure #add1 at ,chantilly4 ,the snub-nosed ,florentine beauty airs her abundant charms in a romantic landscape1 while the asp does his by no means disagreeable duty4 ,what a travesty of the dignity of ,plutarch1 and how fetching it is as distinguished burlesque6 ,cautiously and perhaps grudgingly1 in the early years of the new century1 ,piero follows the improvements of ,leonardo4 ,this influence is palpable in the ,rescue of ,andromeda1 in the ,uffizi4 ,the chained princess carelessly displays her appetizing attractions1 while the leering and hungry dragon lurches on the beach and surveys his prey4 ,high up in the sky is hope1 in the brisk1 knightly figure of ,perseus4 ,a musical party lolls deliciously on the strand1 equally prepared to enjoy a heroic rescue or a monster at feeding time4 ,we are in the superbly irresponsible world of the fairy tale1 and the thrilling raconteur has his clever tongue in his cheek4 ,exceptionally1 as in that wistful poesy1 ,the ,death of ,procris1 ,figure #ade1 at ,london1 ,piero is serious enough4 ,the girlish body lies very quiet amid meadow flowers4 ,a puzzled faun and a more comprehending hound are very touching mourners amid the unregarding beasts and birds of a tranquil lake-side afternoon4 ,such refinements of sentiment are often the compensation for an unstable spirit4 ,the vein is rare in ,piero1 who1 aside from his mythological ironies and quite conventional religious pieces1 is also a vivacious portraitist as the galleries of ,new ,haven1 ,conn41 the ,hague1 and ,london attest4 ,piero lived on till #aeba1 surviving both ,leonardo and ,raphael4 ,the greatest artistic effort of modern times had spent itself before his eyes1 and he had mostly been content to be witty4 ,he represents at least a fine scorn of his flimsy training1 and remains a consummate type of the artist who lives1 like a bear in winter1 on his own fat4 ,after a long detour1 we are once more on the high road4 ,perugino1 with his simple and gracious symmetries1 had shown the painting of the end of the century what ailed it4 ,but his cure was too obvious to be acceptable until a youngster of ,raphael's entirely modest intelligence should come along4 ,the reform1 as often in other than artistic affairs1 had to be made from within1 and was conducted by one who had much sympathy with the random richness of the ,early ,renaissance style1 ,leonardo da ,vinci4#ej ,leonardo's discoveries1 pursued with the most patient and gradual care1 shocked no one and were quickly taken up4 ,he was nearly thirty before he reached consciousness of his mission1 and having attained his artistic end1 he dropped painting1 with a kind of scorn1 for mathematical and scientific investigation4 ,in his admirable 8,tractate on ,painting0 he has left the fullest and most eloquent records of his ideals4 ,the first is that the painter must know clearly what he is about4 8,without good theory no good practice is possible40 ,next the artist should be in a filial relation to nature1 admiring and imitating her directly1 and not through the eyes of other artists4 ,as to the main object of painting1 ,leonardo wavers between two definitions4 ,repeatedly he insists that that painting is greatest which through the postures of the body shows the emotions of the soul4 ,as often1 he uses a more technical definition--the chief business of painting is to create a sense of relief or projection where there is none4 ,this relief is effected by delicate and accurate distribution of light and shade4 ,light and dark are conceived in a double fashion1 as factors in relief and as offering intrinsic beauties in their gradations4 ,we have a refinement on the method of ,masaccio1 which is merely structural and dramatic and without much intrinsic charm4 ,but the new beauty of chiaroscuro soon turns out to be incompatible with the old beauty of frank color4 ,pictures become dusky and mysterious1 tending to black and white values4 ,ever since ,leonardo1 academic painting has had the sore limitation of regarding shadow as negation of color4 ,it is the defect of his teaching and practice4 ,on broader matters1 however1 ,leonardo is profoundly right4 ,seeing is a mental process and should be selective4 ,represent all the muscles emphatically1 and your nude will look like a sack full of nuts4 ,accuracy is necessary1 but is of no value without accompanying dignity and grace4 ,choose the most gracious aspects of reality1 the pervasive moderate light of evening rather than the sharp glare of the overhead sun4 ,observe deaf-mutes so that you may learn the possibilities of expression through gestures4 ,seek equilibrium and an active and vital balance whether in the pose of the single figure or in the relations of the figures to each other4 ,get the action right1 and afterwards add the details4 ,these are some of the precepts which ,leonardo scribbled off about the year #aejj when he was nearing fifty and his work as a painter was almost over4 ,he is really describing the principles under which1 while accepting the richness and variety of the early ,renaissance style1 he had once for all put it in order4 ,of course this was a very gradual process4 ,to the end ,leonardo retained something of a primitive quality1 and he was by no means precocious4 ,he was born in #adeb1 the lovechild of a peasant girl of ,vinci and a young ,florentine notary1 ,piero da ,vinci4 ,his earliest recollections must have been of the hills and distant mountain prospects of his native hamlet of ,vinci1 between ,florence and ,pisa4 ,but he was soon taken into his father's home at ,florence1 and given an education which hardly exceeded the proverbial 8,three ,r's04 ,just when he was put with the painter and sculptor1 ,andrea ,verrocchio1 is uncertain1 but it can hardly have been later than ,leonardo's thirteenth year1 #adfe4 ,as a painter1 ,verrocchio exists for us chiefly in the work of his pupils4 ,as a sculptor1 however1 he is a definite enough figure4 ,his aim was plainly to infuse the new realism with an aristocratic elegance4 ,what a young patrician is his ,david composing himself for the ordeal with a restrained well-bred smile6 ,there is a splendid dandyism in his valor4 ,or consider the ,madonna in terra-cotta1 with her ornate head-dress1 rich brooch1 and carefully arranged robe1 her almost too sweet self-possession4 ,she is a clue to the fastidiousness of ,verrocchio4 ,again consider the proud hard face and the marvelously firm and delicate hands of the unknown lady ,verrocchio cut in marble4 ,these things are dominant for the early development of ,leonardo1 as the alert1 powerful and aggressive ,colleoni monument is for his later heroic creations4 ,something of ,verrocchio's scrupulous and eminently dilatory character also passed over to his brilliant pupil4 ,verrocchio remained a bachelor and wholly devoted to his art1 yet he took eighteen years to give to his famous bronze group of ,christ and ,st4 ,thomas its dignity and sensitive feeling4 ,leonardo remained some ten years or more with ,verrocchio1 painting many works that are lost to us1 and a few1 ,i believe1 that we may identify4 ,in this most contested matter ,i follow in the main the views of ,dr4 ,sirn4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #adf4 ,leonardo da ,vinci1 ,head at ,left2 ,verrocchio1 ,head at ,right4 ,details from ,verrocchio's ,baptism4--,uffizi4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #adf;a4 ,verrocchio and ,leonardo4 ,baptism of ,christ4--,uffizi4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #adg4 ,leonardo da ,vinci under ,verrocchio's ,direction4 ,annunciation4--,uffizi4 ,for many years ,leonardo ventured little on his own account1 following with docility the directions of his master4 ,the single painting which we may with certainty ascribe to ,verrocchio1 the ,baptism of ,christ1 ,figure #adf;a1 in the ,uffizi1 already bears traces of ,leonardo's hand4 ,the general composition is borrowed from an insignificant panel of ,baldovinetti's4 ,the stalwart ugly forms derive from ,pollaiuolo4 ,delightful features added in oils by ,leonardo are the exquisite angel at the left1 ,figure #adf1 and the vaporous distance and mountain skyline4 ,we may surmise that these improvements were added about #adgj to a picture started several years earlier4 ,one other picture was designed by ,verrocchio and finished after his death in #adhh by his assistant1 ,lorenzo di ,credi4 ,this ,madonna1 in the cathedral of ,pistoia1 affords an excellent contrast between the puffy forms of ,lorenzo and the firm and living contours of ,leonardo4 ,the famous ,annunciation in the ,uffizi1 ,figure #adg1 seems a kind of joint product1 the actual painting being by ,leonardo1 the badly balanced composition and intrusive heavy lectern1 as well as the rather cheap attitude of surprise of the ,virgin1 representing a perfunctory mood of ,verrocchio4 ,the vista of remote mountains hanging pale in the blue sky is such as only ,leonardo could have created4 ,the delightful ,gabriel also seems wholly his invention4 ,the composition again rests on one of ,baldovinetti's1 at ,s4 ,miniato1 and the date of the picture may be about #adge4 ,of about the same date is a ,madonna with an ,angel in the ,national ,gallery1 which may well be a composition of ,verrocchio interpreted by ,leonardo4 ,the note of sweetness is a little forced1 as in most work of this kind4 ,we meet ,leonardo in his own right a little earlier1 in a pen sketch of a broad landscape dated in midsummer summer of #adgc1 ,figure #adh4 ,its spaciousness and schematic handling of horizontals ally it to the landscape backgrounds we have been considering4 ,the last work of this ,verrocchian character is the ,portrait of a ,girl1 in the ,liechtenstein ,gallery1 ,vienna4 ,here we are in a field where ,leonardo and his master are almost indistinguishable1 but the picturesquely broken background1 the bit of landscape1 and the ease of the contours1 speak for the younger man4 ,as late as #adgf1 his twenty-fifth year1 ,leonardo was still with ,verrocchio4 ,he probably set up his own bottega a year or so afterwards4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #adh4 ,leonardo da ,vinci4 ,landscape4 ,pen ,drawing4--,uffizi4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #adi4 ,leonardo da ,vinci4 ,annunciation4--,louvre4 ,there followed four or five years of eager experiment1 much being planned and rather little carried to completion4 ,relieved from the pressure of a master1 actual painting seems to have become irksome4 ,he loves to sketch1 to turn his designs over until they reach perfection1 leaving them in the condition of the swiftest and most accurate notations4 ,lack of system and paralysis of will are already apparent4 ,for about two years of this joyous and irresponsible creation he remained a primitive4 ,such he is in the idyllic little ,annunciation of the ,louvre1#ea ,figure #adi1 which should be for its fluent technic no earlier than #adgf4 ,he takes the motive which he had previously done under restrictions1 reduces it to a symmetrical order1 rejects distracting details1 floods it with warm light breaking through ragged apertures of the trees1 and invests it with a penetrating humility and grace4 ,the little picture1 which many critics set too early1 is really ,leonardo's declaration of independence4 ,it shows features which anticipate his mature style--a combination of a severe geometrical symmetry in figure composition with a romantically strange setting and lighting4 ,of less import is the unpretentious little ,madonna of the ,flower1 recently discovered1 and in the ,hermitage1 at ,petrograd4 ,it is authenticated by numerous composition sketches4 ,its vivacity and youthful lightness of effect are entirely in ,verrocchio's manner1 nothing is new but heavier shadows and more emphatic modelling4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aej4 ,leonardo da ,vinci4 ,pen ,sketches for the ,madonna of the ,cat4--,british ,museum4 ,on a sheet of drawings in the ,uffizi1 which characteristically combines with sketches of men's heads studies of machinery1 we read 8,this day ,i began the two ,virgin ,marys40 ,the day is effaced1 but it is a month in #adgh1 ending in -bre--,september1 ,october or ,november4 ,one of these ,madonnas is1 no doubt1 the ,madonna of the ,flower4#eb ,as to the other we have no certainty1 but the sketches of this time show at least five madonnas in process of invention4 ,a ,madonna holding a mischievous ,child who hugs a writhing cat1 a ,madonna with a ,dish of ,fruit1 a ,madonna kneeling before the ,child1 a theme later developed into the ,madonna of the ,rocks2 a ,madonna seated on the ,ground1 and a ,madonna seated in the open with the ,christchild and ,st4 ,john4 ,dr4 ,jens ,thys thinks the last composition may be the one actually begun as a picture1 since such early ,raphaels as the ,belle ,jardinire seem to imply such a picture as their model4 ,we do well to turn from such speculations to the marvelous sketches for these ,madonnas1 ,figure #aej4 ,nothing firmer1 lighter or more charming can be imagined4 ,of the line1 thinned to a hair or widened to a blot1 there is the completest control4 ,these little figures1 a couple of inches high at the most and often of thumb-nail minuteness1 may be enlarged to life size without losing in structure or character4 ,nothing shows better the sheer fecund genius of ,leonardo than these sheets1 crowded with figures1 scribbled with his right-to-left handwriting1 and slantingly shaded from upper left downwards1 after the fashion of a lefthanded draughtsman4 ,they show how ,leonardo worked in spurts of inspiration1 creating a dozen lovely compositions and contented with none4 ,they represent so many tensely joyous half-hours1 with doubtless long intervals of other activities and withal of sheer brooding and unrecorded observation4 ,they help one grasp the spasmodic and discontinuous quality of ,leonardo's genius--why the actual execution of pictures was ever a matter of pain and drudgery to him4 ,up to his twenty-ninth year he apparently made no prolonged effort of any sort1 but spent himself furiously in separate investigations4 ,then he pulled himself together for a great picture1 and though it too never got beyond the underpainting1 it broke the new path to the ,golden ,age4 ,for several years ,leonardo had turned over the theme of an ,adoration of the ,child in his sketch books4 ,these desultory inventions were brought abruptly to a focus in ,march #adha1 when he agreed to do an altar-piece for the monks of ,s4 ,donato at ,scopeto4 ,we have the best circumstantial evidence for identifying this piece with the unfinished ,adoration of the ,kings1 now in the ,uffizi4 ,when we live ourselves into this dusky and mysterious sketch we step out of the early ,renaissance into a new1 ardent1 rich and ordered region of invention such as the world had not witnessed since the glory of ,greece faded4 ,the composition went through at least three main stages4 ,at first1 as we see from a pen study in the ,bonnat ,museum1 at ,bayonne1 an ,adoration of the ,shepherds was considered1 the ,madonna kneeling over the ,christ between flanking groups of worshippers4 ,the scheme was rejected as too thin and obvious4 ,a picture of ,lorenzi di ,credi's shows us its limited possibilities4 ,then the picture became an ,adoration of the ,kings1 with the thatched shed1 much action in the foreground group and a ruined amphitheatre in the background4 ,this sketch in the ,louvre1 ,figure #aea1 contains all the elements of the picture1 but an extraordinary work of clarification and refinement remained to be done4 ,the figures were studied and restudied till they reached both highest expressiveness and individuality1#ec and an exact relation to the dense and intricate articulation of the foreground group4 ,often there are half a dozen separate studies for each motive4 ,the central group was more closely massed till it became a rose of eager faces and flickering hands and kneeling forms pressing inward towards the ,child4 ,to increase this concentration1 a mound is erected behind the group shutting it off from the wide background4 ,to steady the group1 the ,madonna is no longer swung athwart the motion1 but her nearly straight position becomes a sort of axis carried up by the trees above4 ,in the richness1 variety and animation of the compact group of adorers1 ,leonardo has met the ,early ,renaissance on its own ground and outdone it4 ,in the wider setting he still observes the old precepts1 but in a profounder and more significant sense4 ,he has swept the traditional shed aside and opened up a world1 a world furtive and active and combatant in its own wilfulness--playing1 hiding1 and fighting amid the crumbling ruins of old civilizations1 and before distant towering crags which were there before civilization or man himself was2 a world oblivious of the sublime mystery accomplishing itself in the kings who pay homage to a ,babe4 ,what an ironic substitute for the joyous pastoralism with which contemporary artists invested their pictures of the ,epiphany6 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aea4 ,leonardo4 ,sketch for ,adoration4--,louvre4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aeb4 ,leonardo da ,vinci4 ,adoration of the ,magi4 ,underpainting4--,uffizi4 ,the ,adoration of the ,kings1 ,figure #aeb1 is the richest1 most complicated1 most beautifully ordered picture of its century2 even ,leonardo was not to surpass it simply as a composition4 ,like all rich things it will bear many analyses4 ,you may consider it as a triangle1 with the reciprocal forms enriched1 or1 with ,dr4 ,thys1 as the combination of two radiating motives1 one centred on the ,madonna's face1 the other on the soft alert body of the ,child4 ,such analyses are only important as temporary aids to understanding of the main fact that in the making of such a masterpiece a clear and subtile geometry is involved4 ,later ,leonardo was to declare that there is no science which cannot undergo mathematical demonstration1 and he probably would have added--no art4 ,of his own art at least the saying is true4 ,it may have been not so much his native indolence that arrested a work which had claimed months of passionate preparation at the moment when creation was at its height1 as the conviction that it would lose something if fully realized4 ,one can see how he loved the summary touches of dark and light1 the swift1 sufficient evocation of body and soul which he had learned from ,masaccio4 ,he may have hated to cover up such work1 and a critic today may well be in doubt whether the gain in finishing it would have atoned for the loss4 ,or ,leonardo da ,vinci may already have been called to ,milan and a new artistic life4 ,however that be1 the monks of ,secopto1 after a long wait1 turned to ,filippino ,lippi1 who had already undertaken one lapsed commission for ,leonardo1 and he promptly achieved an ,adoration of the ,kings which only shows how inimitable ,leonardo was1 and how little mere richness counts in any picture4 ,for two years between #adha and #adhc1 there is silence4 ,it seems to me that in this time we may set the crowning of his early work in the ,madonna of the ,rocks at the ,louvre and the ,cartoon of ,st4 ,ann at ,london4 ,the ,madonna of the ,rocks1 ,figure #aec1 is the logical outcome of a half dozen ,adorations which we may trace through the drawings of #adgh4 ,a sheet of sketches in the ,metropolitan ,museum shows him turning the theme over1 rejecting the established profile arrangement of ,fra ,filippo1 and hitting on the formal pyramidal pattern which appears in the picture itself4 ,there the pyramid is felt not merely in plane1 but also in depth4 ,the forms and faces are superbly tense without either rigidity or the fluency of ,leonardo's later work4 ,the setting is primitive1 with minutely studied textures of rock and crisp shapes of wall-flowers4 ,everything derives from ,fra ,filippo and ,botticelli1 but with new meaning4 ,the romantic strangeness of the setting1 the glimpses of sky and opening in the rock1 the sifting in of light from the heart of the picture itself1 the broad contrast of the formality of the figure arrangement with the picturesque wildness of the setting--all this is purest ,leonardo and represents the culmination of many experiments4 ,one can trace this idea of irregularly broken light and an informal screen as foil for a geometrical pattern1 from the little ,annunciation of the ,louvre1 through the unfinished ,st4 ,jerome of the ,vatican4 ,the ,early ,renaissance steps into the background1 where it belongs4 ,leonardo never rejects it2 he fulfils it with an exquisite sense of proportion4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aec4 ,leonardo4 ,madonna of the ,rocks4--,louvre4 ,if the first ,madonna of the ,rocks was painted before #adhb1 in ,florence1 so probably was the cartoon of the ,madonna with ,st4 ,ann1 ,figure #abg1 perhaps the most precious single work that ,leonardo has left us4 ,the inwardness of the relation between the two women is in the mood of the ,adoration of the ,kings1 single motives suggest the drawings for the ,madonna of the ,cat4 ,later ,leonardo was to lend to the motive greater complication and formal elegance1 somewhat at the cost of emotional insight4 ,pictures of intense and natural feeling ,leonardo does not produce after his thirtieth year4 ,instead we have dramatic objectivity in one phase1 and in another1 exquisite subtilities1 a calculated graciousness sweet to morbidity4 ,what drew ,leonardo from ,florence to ,milan we do not surely know4 ,probably he was called directly by the ,duke ,lodovico ,sforza to undertake the colossal equestrian statue of his father ,francesco4 ,moreover1 ,leonardo seems to have achieved notoriety at ,florence without gaining much confidence or achieving much success4 ,after all1 he had rather little to show for his genius--just his sketch books and his good intentions in unfinished masterpieces4 ,he seems1 too1 never to have mastered the practice which ever brought the best commissions1 fresco painting4 ,thus he had every reason to seek new fortunes4 ,he heralded his coming to ,milan with the most truthfully boastful of letters in which he arrogated to himself all ability as an inventor1 civil and military engineer1 painter1 sculptor1 and architect2 and he entered the presence of ,lodovico bearing a silver lute wrought in the form of a horse's skull4 ,this dramatic entrance was the forecast of arduous duties as an entertainer4 ,he sang1 told anecdotes and fables1 arranged pageants and masques1 conducted debates on his art--in short1 accepted the thousand and one duties and distractions of a courtier4 ,he painted the portraits of the ,duke's mistresses1 and it is possible that we have the girlish figure of ,cecilia ,gallierani in the lady with an ,ermine#ed at ,cracow4 ,the forms and feeling are entirely like ,leonardo's work in the early eighties4 ,he agreed to do an altar-piece for the ,church of ,san ,francesco1 and delivered it only after a delay of twenty-three years4 ,this most postponed of pictures is the version of the ,madonna of the ,rocks now at ,london4 ,meanwhile ,leonardo's constant concern was 8the horse10 as he calls it4 ,for seven years he worked at a rearing horse with a fallen foe trodden beneath4 ,it is shown in many drawings4 ,it was too sensational a theme to please him in the long run4 ,so in #adij1 spurred by the risk of losing the job1 he restudied the horse1 using the walking motive1 which had come down from classical antiquity4 ,eventually the clay model was set up before the ,sforza castle1 just in time for the invading ,french archers to make a target of it4 ,the rider was never even definitely planned4 ,the whole project remained a chagrin to ,leonardo even after the horse itself had disappeared4 ,one day in ,florence he civilly accosted ,michelangelo who turned on him with the taunt--8,thou who did'st model a horse and could'st not cast it in bronze40 ,amidst the distractions of the court1 the irksomeness of the rashly undertaken ,sforza monument1 and the increasing passion for scientific research1 ,leonardo managed to carry through his single monumental work1 the ,last ,supper1 in the refectory of ,santa ,maria delle ,grazie4 ,for three years ,leonardo worked spasmodically on the ,last ,supper1 and it was finished in #adih4 ,the design had been most carefully elaborated4 ,he started with the customary arrangement of the apostles in pairs1 ,john in ,jesus' bosom--a refractory motive1 and ,judas in sinister isolation on the near side of the table4 ,almost by accident he fell upon the effective grouping of the apostles by threes4 ,then he set himself to giving in expression and gesture the maximum emotion that could be contained within a monumental design4 ,he eliminated the old casual accessories and made all the lines of perspective converge on the face of ,christ4 ,he gave to all the figures a classical gravity1 though admitting many varieties of age and character4 ,thus even in its ruined estate ,the ,last ,supper1 ,figure #aed1 is perhaps the most impressive picture in the world4 ,the moment is that when ,christ says 8,one of you shall betray me40 ,the arrangement is in five great balancing waves4 ,from the ,christ there is an outgoing gesture of resignation and love1 from the apostles converging1 incoming waves of horror1 amazement1 curiosity and indignation4 ,each undulation is double4 ,extended arms or pointed hands check the motion where it is excessive or connect the separate groups4 ,only ,judas is out of the converging rhythm4 ,he swings back defiantly pondering his part4 ,highly agitated in details1 the whole is held within a noble and pathetic decorum4 ,it is the very ideal of a ,renaissance composition--dense1 rich1 energetic1 varied1 yet unified by a severe and calculated pattern which subordinates to its purpose the most diverse components4 ,raphael can only imitate it in the lower part of the ,disputa1 and monumental design ever since has gone to school with it4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aed4 ,leonardo da ,vinci4 ,last supper4--,s4 ,maria delle ,grazie1 ,milan4 ,it was unhappily painted in tempera1 not in oils as older accounts say1#ee on the dry wall1 and it soon began to deteriorate4 ,what we see today is merely the wraith of it1 yet a wraith that imposes itself and moves us as few better preserved masterpieces do4 ,in the year #aejj the ,french overran ,lombardy1 and1 ,leonardo1 after wandering in ,northern ,italy and a martial episode as engineer for conquering ,csar ,borgia1 returned1 in #aejc1 to his native ,florence4 ,he is fifty and already in spirit an old man4 ,his always limited will power has given out1 he broods incessantly over mathematical and physical lore1 wastes himself over fantastic inventions4 ,his exhibit is only a cartoon1 now lost1 for a ,st4 ,ann4 ,he makes portraits by proxy1 but paints1 himself1 only under peculiar incentives4 ,such he found in the commission for a great battle-piece for the ,priors' ,palace and in the personality of ,mona ,lisa4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aee4 ,leonardo da ,vinci4 ,sketches for the ,battle of ,anghiari4--,windsor ,castle4 ,early in the year #aejd he began to work on the cartoon for the ,battle of ,anghiari4 ,he chose the incident of a cavalry fight for the standard4 ,he composed a whirl of horses and infuriated riders1 hacking and slashing about a flag--a literal picture of bloodlust at its height4 ,the ability he expended on this atrocious theme may be sensed in a dozen preparatory sketches1 ,figure #aee4 ,the portion which he actually painted on the wall is represented only by inferior copies4 ,the original soon faded from deficient technical methods4 ,the old copies tell us that this great piece1 while the marvel of its day1 was sensational and highly exhibitionistic4 ,we need not too much mourn its loss4 ,the admiration it evoked was that of an age eager for novelty and responsive to display4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aef4 ,leonardo4 ,mona ,lisa4--,louvre4 ,while working on the battle-piece1 ,leonardo met the young ,neapolitan wife of ,francesco del ,giocondo and began her portrait1 ,figure #aef4 ,she had lost children and was habitually sad4 ,he employed musicians to charm the inscrutable fascinating smile to her face4 ,he set her demure and watchful before a romantic expanse of river plain rimmed by blue alps4 ,against this wild charm of nature1 he made ,mona ,lisa a symbol for all that is cultured1 self-contained1 sophisticated1 civilized4 ,simple people instinctively dislike her1 and are right4 ,subtle people adore her1 and are also right4 ,such as wish poetic commentary on her mysterious beauty may find it for themselves in ,walter ,pater's admirable essay4 ,they will do well to temper his eloquence with ,kenyon ,cox's#ef just if prosaic observation that this portrait is simply the finest1 most accurate1 and subtle bit of modelling in the world4 ,its mystery is perhaps merely one of amazing vision and impeccable workmanship4 ,the truth may well lie between two interpretations1 each of which is valid in its own field4 ,had there not been some extraordinary spell in the woman herself1 ,leonardo1 now well weary of painting1 would hardly have studied either her soul or her modelling with such tenacity4 ,during his brief sojourn in ,florence1 ,leonardo did cartoons for two designs of ,leda and the ,swan1 his only mythological picture4 ,one represents her standing1 the other crouching4 ,if we may trust the inferior imitations1 in which alone we know these subjects1 their calculated sensuousness was almost cloying4 ,their mood is that of his least agreeable imitator1 ,sodoma4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aeg4 ,leonardo4 ,madonna with ,st4 ,ann4--,louvre4 ,in ,may #aejf ,florence lent ,leonardo to ,charles d',amboise1 the ,french viceroy at ,milan1 and there he spent the most of the next five years4 ,the ,franciscans had been biding their time1 and under legal duress made him finish the ,madonna which he had promised twenty-three years earlier4 ,thus the second ,madonna of the ,rocks1 at ,london1 was painted somewhat against the grain4 ,it has more simplicity and breadth than the earlier version and shows improvements in the position of the angel4 ,it also lacks the minute and painstaking delicacy of its original1 reveals a tired hand and mind4 ,otherwise ,leonardo achieved in painting only the third version of the ,madonna and ,st4 ,ann1 ,figure #aeg1 now in the ,louvre4 ,the interweaving of the figures is compact and masterly1 the solution of the difficult problems of the two heads consummately clever4 ,it has passages of the utmost loveliness1 like the foot of the ,madonna1 but there is some suspicion of oversophistication1 and ,leonardo never summoned the energy to finish it4 ,painting little himself1--for he was busy with canals1 architecture1 and the never finished equestrian monument of ,trivulzio1--,leonardo gave his stamp to the entire ,milanese school4 ,such pupils as ,boltraffio1 ,cesare da ,sesto1 ,andrea ,solario1 his old partner1 ,ambrogio de ,predis1 and his intimate1 ,francesco ,melzi1 readily grasped his mannerisms1 and filled ,italy with ,leonardesque pictures of inferior inspiration4 ,more robust and independent spirits1 like ,bernardino ,luini1 adapted his manner intelligently to the needs of mural painting4 ,lombardy under his influence for a moment seemed to vie with ,florence and ,rome4 ,in #aeac ,leonardo was called to ,rome by the new ,pope ,leo ,x1 ,lorenzo de' ,medici's son1 ,giovanni4 ,it was the moment for artistic ambition to flame in one who felt himself a great painter4 ,michelangelo had recently unveiled the ,sistine ceiling1 and ,raphael had completed the ,camera della ,segnatura4 ,leonardo was sixty-one1 when a painter should be at his best4 ,yet he plunged himself into scientific experiments1 perpetrated strange practical jokes on his patrons1 produced nothing but disorderly notes1 and after two wasted years left the repute of one rather an amateur magician than an artist4 ,having lived a wanderer1 it was appropriate that ,leonardo should die an exile4 ,francis ,i1 an enthusiastic patron of ,italian art1 called him to ,france and settled him honorably in the ,chteau of ,cloux1 near ,amboise4 ,we hear of him as immensely learned and venerable1 but palsied1 and dependent on the affectionate care of his pupil ,melzi4 ,he died on the morrow of ,mayday #aeai at peace with the church1 leaving money to sixty poor persons who should follow his body with candles to the tomb4 ,doubtless you could have marked in that pitiful procession many of those gnarled1 toothless and haggard faces which ,leonardo formerly loved to sketch in the intervals of his endless quest of beauty4 ,as we study the marvelous drawing of himself in old age1 ,figure #aeh1 we may surmise that he was glad to go4 ,it is hard to see in it the courtier who bore the fantastic silver lute to ,lodovico1 the artist who charmed a smile from the weary and cautious face of ,mona ,lisa4 ,one sees a man immensely old1 though at an age generally robust and cheery--one who has tried to crowd many lives into one and has paid the inevitable penalty4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aeh4 ,leonardo da ,vinci4 ,his own portrait4--,turin4 ,broken and intermittent as it had been1 ,leonardo's painting had sufficed to show the way4 ,he had substituted mystery of light and shade for allurement of frank color1 study of the subtler and finer shades of emotion for obvious characterization1 had founded modern portraiture4 ,he had shown how to express power and passion with delicacy1 had combined the richest animation and variety with monumental severity of design4 ,after him the art of painting was never to be the same again4 ,its standards became ampler and more classic4 ,stolid men like ,fra ,bartolommeo immediately accepted his principles of composition and so did miraculously alert intelligences like ,raphael's4 ,his mere passing contact and tradition inspired that admirable language of light and dark that became poetry in ,giorgione and ,correggio4 ,the good and the harm he did is active today in thousands of academies and art schools4 ,his is assuredly the finest intelligence that ever applied itself to the painter's art1 and if he failed in will and in fecundity1 he has impressed himself upon posterity as no other ,italian painter save ,titian4 ,his art had its limitations1 but its capacity for influence1 to which he added the thoughtful eloquence of his written word1 seems limitless2 and his glory is imperishable4 ,nowhere does the superiority of ,florence show more clearly than in the attitude of her artists to ,leonardo4 ,where his ,milanese followers aped his superficial mannerisms1 his ,florentine admirers studied and assimilated his construction in light and shade and his principles of geometrical composition4 ,unhappily the early years of the sixteenth century were a slack time in ,florence4 ,such transitional painters as ,piero di ,cosimo1 ,granacci1 ,franciabigio1 ,il ,bacchiacca1 and ,ridolfo ,ghirlandaio were not men to carry forward ,leonardo's discoveries1 but they and others1 at least paid him an intelligent homage and sensibly clarified their practice under his influence4 ,greater intelligences like ,fra ,bartolommeo and ,andrea del ,sarto not merely adopted ,leonardo's canons1 but even at certain points criticized them4 ,both saw the drawback of ,leonardo's passionate concern with chiaroscuro--that it flooded the canvas with colorless shadow1 tending to reduce the palette to black and white4 ,both men then therefore kept their rich shadows colorful4 ,both worked for a more compact and intricate composition as well as for graceful1 abstract poses4 ,in these latter endeavors they simplified and sharpened principles which ,leonardo himself only rarely carried to their logical extreme4 ,leonardo retained certain primitive qualities4 ,he seldom reduced his compositions to dense arrangements of the figures1 loving to allow elbow room and delighting to open up landscape backgrounds4 ,and while in the 8,treatise on ,painting0 he advocated elaborately balanced and counterpoised poses1 in practice he usually sought an excuse for them in action4 ,a consummate stylist1 he achieved style on a basis of function4 ,the pose1 in his own words1 must express 8the emotions of the soul40 ,right here his ablest followers took issue with him4 ,posture with them no longer expressed specific or individual emotion1 but abstract beauties of grace1 dignity or grandeur4 ,the figures no longer do or feel anything1 they are arranged as the general composition and mood of the picture require4 ,such gradual advance towards pure style heralds the advent of the ,high ,renaissance4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aei4 ,fra ,bartolommeo4 ,god appearing to two ,saints4--,lucca4 ,of the somewhat stolid and occasionally sentimental sublimity of ,fra ,bartolommeo#eg nothing much need be said except that it was a formative influence on young ,raphael4 ,the ,dominican monk is an impressive and amiable figure personally4 ,working solely for the glory of ,god and the profit of the ,convent of ,san ,marco1 perturbed by the tragic fate of his cloister mate1 ,savonarola1 he strove incessantly for a fuller color and a greater dignity4 ,in his numerous ,holy ,families he is stately in a conventional way1 nowhere more so than in the unfinished design for a ,madonna with ,st4 ,ann1 in the ,uffizi4 ,occasionally1 in such pictures as the ,deposition of the ,uffizi1 and the ,madonna of ,pity at ,lucca he achieves poignant1 one is tempted to say operatic effects1 forecasting the mood of the ,baroque4 ,lucca also affords in the great picture ,god ,adored by ,two ,saints1 ,figure #aei1 a fine example of this painter's simple and massive compositions4 ,in the fresco of ,the ,last ,judgment1 which1 being ruined1 is better represented by ,copies1 ,figure #afj1 we find an elaboration1 in ,leonardo's sense1 of the simple symmetries of ,perugino4 ,it is the precedent for ,raphael's monumental frescoes at ,rome4 ,his short career1 from about #adie to #aeag1 fell on evil times for ,florence4 ,in happier days he might have harmonized more perfectly the stylist and the lyrical dramatist that1 as it was1 never quite came to terms in his grave and noble personality4 ,yet to have mediated between ,leonardo and ,raphael would seem glory enough for any painter1 and it was also no slight service to borrow for ,florentine painting1 rapidly becoming starved of color1 something of the colorful richness of ,giovanni ,bellini and ,giorgione4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #afj4 ,fra ,bartolommeo4 ,copy of ,lost ,fresco of ,last ,judgment4--,uffizi4 8,the ,perfect ,painter0 was what the ,florentines called ,andrea del ,sarto1#eh and he merited the title4 ,he produced no masterpiece of the first order1 but his ,work is singularly uniform on a high level4 ,its chief qualities are dignity and grace with a great richness of color4 ,the deep shadows are warm and full of dusky light1 the stylistic poses of the figures always easy1 and the weaving of the complicated groupings ever tasteful and harmonious4 ,to the refractory art of fresco painting ,andrea brought a richness1 depth and variety of color that others hardly attained in oil painting4 ,only ,luini in the north came near him in this regard4 ,in short he is a consummate technician1 carrying his art as far as skill and taste unillumined by sheer genius will reach4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #afa4 ,andrea del ,sarto4 ,birth4--,annunziata4 ,little of his excellence can be laid to his early training4 ,before #aejj he was working with ,piero di ,cosimo1 and ,andrea's youthful frescoes of the miracles of ,s4 ,filippo ,benizzi1 in the fore-court of the ,annunziata1 show the loose and animated arrangements and the exaggeration of picturesque landscape features characteristic of his master4 ,but ,andrea learned rather of the time-spirit than of any other master4 ,by #aead his art is complete and one may see its flowering in the frescoes of the ,birth of the ,virgin1 ,figure #afa1 and the ,madonna of the ,sack1 ,figure #afb1 respectively in the fore-court and in the cloister of the ,annunziata4 ,it is a sumptuous and grave kind of design redeemed from heaviness by its exquisite balance of color masses1 and from conventionality by the hint of portraiture in the artfully disposed figures4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #afb4 ,andrea del ,sarto4 ,madonna of the ,sack4--,annunziata4 ,scores of times ,andrea repeats these perfections in the great altar-backs required for the new ,renaissance chapels4 ,the ,four ,saints in the ,pitti1 the ,madonna of the ,harpies in the ,uffizi1 ,figure #afb;a1 the ,enthroned ,madonna at ,berlin may serve among many to illustrate his accomplishment in this new vein4 ,somewhat reminiscent of the heavier monumentality of ,fra ,bartolommeo1 these great pictures add a personal and disquieting note from the presence of the moody1 handsome wife1 ,lucrezia whose caprices and infidelities are the tragic element in an otherwise even life4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #afb;a4 ,andrea del ,sarto4 ,madonna of the ,harpies4--,uffizi4 ,andrea in his later years won new glories but added no new note to his art4 ,the monochrome frescoes in the ,cloister of the ,scalzo representing the ,life of ,st4 ,john ,baptist merely show the old gravity somewhat exaggerated4 ,the series which extended over many years 7#aeae-aebf7 is uneven1 and many of these perhaps overestimated compositions are plainly of student execution4 ,without his color1 ,andrea seems somewhat coldly academic4 ,it was precisely this quality of stylistic grandeur1 however1 that appealed paradoxically to the romantic monarch1 ,francis ,i4 ,he called ,andrea to ,france in #aeah and kept him there in honor for a year4 ,had ,andrea possessed any of the capacities of a teacher and theorist1 he might have inaugurated the ,renaissance in ,france4 ,as it was he remained merely a harbinger of such inferior but more influential spirits as ,il ,rosso and ,primaticcio who a few years later were to found the ,school of ,fontainebleau4 ,often the portfolios of a great technician are more thrilling than his major works4 ,this is the case with ,andrea del ,sarto4 ,his numerous sketches in red chalk1 have an athletic charm which his painting lacks4 ,others have drawn differently in this medium1 but no one has drawn better4 ,when ,andrea died in #aeca1 8full of glory and domestic trials10 as ,vasari recounts1 the normal development of ,florentine painting ended1 and ,florence had already seen her artistic star dimmed by the rising splendors of ,venice and ,rome4 ,artistically she became a city of wit and ingenuity1 chronicling and criticizing art rather than producing it4 ,moreover the obsession of ,michelangelo's sublimity worked havoc with his dilettante imitators4 ,some of these have the grace of lucidity1 like ,agnolo ,bronzino1 who 7#aejb-aegb7ei practiced a reactionary sort of portraiture based on the old tradition of tempera painting4 ,in sheer beauty of surface1 enamel one is tempted to call it1 he is little inferior to his great ,german contemporary1 ,hans ,holbein1 and his sense of character is only less keen because less individual4 ,in the haughty patricians surrounding the person of ,cosimo1 the first grandduke1 he found congenial sitters1 ,figure #afc4 ,in the narrow field of portraiture he is nearly in the first rank1 while in his rare mythologies and religious pictures his limitations appear painfully4 ,he was a vicious person1 a cold sthete1 with few of the generous virtues that nourish the soul4 ,yet in his flinty way he was quite perfect1 and as one of the first professionally unmoral artists he cannot be neglected by the psychological critic4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #afd4 ,pontormo4 ,the ,deposition4--,s4 ,felice4 ,a more appealing figure is his master1 ,jacopo ,carrucci1 called from his birthplace ,il ,pontormo4#fj ,his was a tender and deeply religious spirit with the poet's capacity for elation and melancholy4 ,in his altar-pieces1 such as the ,deposition1 ,figure #afd1 at ,san ,felice he seeks and achieves a positive pathos4 ,influenced by ,michelangelo's sublimity1 he converts it to more specific and psychological ends4 ,often he is restless and over-emphatic as in the frescoes of the ,passion in the cloister of the ,florentine ,certosa1 or in the strangely complicated and contorted little picture of the ,martyrdom of ,st4 ,mauritius and his ,legionaries1 in the ,uffizi4 ,in such work he moves towards the absolute expressionism of an ,el ,greco1 preluding also the more conventional emotionalism of the ,baroque4 ,as a portraitist he had no equal at ,florence except his pupil ,bronzino4 ,often the sensitiveness and moodiness of his characterizations recall his ,venetic contemporary1 ,lorenzo ,lotto4 ,even when he is robust he is sensitively psychological1 as in the superb portrait of a ,halberdier1 ,figure #afe4 ,above all he was a powerful and subtle draughtsman whether with pen or chalk4 ,his line writhes in a fashion at times sinister1 at times singularly blithe1 and his figure sketches have something of the imaginative thrill of the figure studies of ,blake4 ,for the grandducal palace of ,poggio a ,cajano1 ,figure #aff1 he did in a huge lunette pierced by a great round window a most original decoration for the odd triangles at the base4 ,the unconventional fields are filled each by a rather small figure energetically posed and surrounded by greenery4 ,the thing is at once monumental and pastoral and its freedom and tonality almost as modern as a ,besnard4 ,i would willingly dwell longer on so sympathetic an artist1 but can only refer the interested reader to ,dr4 ,f4 ,m4 ,clapp's two authoritative volumes4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #afc4 ,bronzino4 ,eleonora of ,toledo and her son4--,uffizi4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #afe4 ,pontormo4 ,the ,halberdier4--,c4 ,c4 ,stillman1 ,n4 ,y4 ,for a century and more after ,pontormo's death in #aeef there are still occasional artists of talent at ,florence1 but there is no longer a ,florentine school4 ,the masterpieces of ,michelangelo were at ,rome1 those of ,raphael widely scattered4 ,conscious of her decline1 ,florence begins to import artists--the ,flemish portraitist1 ,sustermans2 the ,venetian decorator1 ,luca ,giordano4 ,one of her own abler painters1 ,francesco ,salviati1 attaches himself to the ,venetian manner4 ,being an academic city1 ,florence eschews the rugged naturalism of ,caravaggio1 but has no longer vitality enough to find a substitute of her own4 ,in the late sixteenth century her fresco painting sinks to the pompous emptiness represented by ,giorgio ,vasari1 or by the hardly better mythologies of the brothers ,federigo and ,taddeo ,zuccaro4 ,in the seventeenth century she still can produce an idyllist of great romantic and sensuous charm in a ,francesco ,furini and a genial illustrator in a ,giovanni di ,san ,giovanni4 ,but such names only suggest the incoherence of the times4 ,florence is no longer a main current but an eddy1 and what small flood-tide still runs courses in the more resolute academism of ,bologna1 which is to be capable of inspiring a ,poussin2 and in the raw naturalism of ,naples1 which is about to give lessons to a ,velasquez4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aff4 ,pontormo4 ,frescoed ,lunette4--,poggio a ,cajano4 ,,illustrations ,,for ,,chapter ,v ,,poetry ,,and ,,painting ,,in ,,the ,,renaissance ,reversing the maxim ut pictura poesis1 the ,renaissance believed that painting should be poetical4 ,indeed the term poesia is commonly applied to all painting of a mythological or idyllic sort4 ,angelo ,poliziano's unfinished but very popular poem on the joust of #adfh is lavish in descriptions1 of which the painters made use4 ,botticelli surely got more than a hint for the ,birth of ,venus from stanzas xcix-ci of ,la ,giostra1 though the mood of the picture is wholly ,sandro's own and unlike the pagan joyousness of ,poliziano4 8,one saw ,born in the sea1 free and joyous in her acts1 ,a damsel with divine visage ,driven ashore by the ardent zephyrs ,balancing on a shell2 and it seemed the heavens rejoiced thereat40 8,true the foam and true the sea you would have said ,true the shell1 and the blowing of the winds true4 ,you would have seen the gleam of the ,goddess' eye ,and the heavens laugh about her1 and the elements4 ,and the ,hours in white garments on the strand1 ,and the winds toss their spreading soft locks40 8,you could swear that you could see the goddess coming from the waves ,wringing out her hair with her right hand ,and with the left covering the sweet mount of desire1 ,and the sand1 once trodden by her feet1 ,clothing itself with grass and flowers4 ,then with joyous and expectant glance ,you would have seen her clasped by the three nymphs ,and wrapped in a starry robe40 ,botticelli's charming and even slyly humorous picture of ,venus with sleeping ,mars1 at ,london1 follows afar and discreetly ,la ,giostra1 ,i4 stanzas cxxii-iii1 but ,botticelli has taken the motive out of doors and otherwise considerably subtilized it4 ,venus is 8,seated in bed outside the covers ,just released from the arms of ,mars ,who1 lies backward on her lap 8,above them and around the tiny loves ,played naked1 flying now here now there 8,one fills the quiver with fresh flowers ,then comes and empties it on the bed40 ,poliziano also supplied to ,raphael the theme of the ,galatea1 in the ,farnesina1 ,giostra1 ,i4 cxviii 7,fig4 #aib;a7 8,two shapely dolphins draw a car2 ,on it is ,galatea who holds the reins1 ,and they swimming breathe with equal breath4 ,around circle the more amorous throng4 ,one spits out the salt wave1 the others circle round2 ,one seems to play at love and dallies4 ,the fair nymph with her trusted sisters ,laughs charmingly at their hoarse singing40 ,titian1 too1 may have had in mind the ,giostra1 ,i4 cxi1 when he composed his ,bacchus and ,ariadne4 7,fig4 #bfj7 8,comes upon a car covered with ivy and rushes ,drawn by two tigers--,bacchus ,and with him it seems that fauns and mnads ,tread the deep sand and shout with raised voices4 ,one we see staggering2 others seem to stumble1 ,one clashes the cymbal2 others seem to laugh4 ,one drinks from a horn1 one from his hand4 ,one has grabbed a nymph1 and one turns handsprings40 ,,leonardo ,,and ,,the ,,academic ,,idea ,,of ,,painting ,the extraordinary mixture of liberality and dogmatism1 of naturalism and taste in ,leonardo is best illustrated from his own ,trattato della ,pittura4 ,i quote from the standard edition of ,h4 ,ludwig1 ,vienna1 #ahhb1 using his paragraph numbers3 ,,modelling ,,in ,,chiaroscuro ,,as ,,the ,,painter',s ,,first ,,object #dab4 8,the first object of the painter is to make a flat plane appear as a body in relief and projecting from that plane1 and he who in such art excels the others1 deserves the greater praise1 and such research1 or rather crown of such science1 is born from light and shade1 or ,i mean chiaroscuro4 ,then he who flees from shadows1 flees also from the glory of our art among noble spirits and gains it with the ignorant herd1 which desires nothing in painting but beauty of colors1 forgetting entirely the beauty and wonder of showing a flat thing as if it were in relief40 ,,on ,,judging ,a ,,painter',s ,,work #dhc4 8,the first thing is that you consider the figures1 if they have the relief which the place and light demand4444 8,the second is that the scattering1 or rather distribution of the figures be made according to the way in which you wish the story to be4 8,the third is that the figures be alert and intent on their particular purpose40 ,,on ,,the ,,movements ,,that ,,mark ,,the ,,emotions #abb4 8,the most important thing which can be found in the theory of painting are the movements appropriate to the mental state of each being1--as desire1 scorn1 wrath1 pity and the like40 ,,the ,,steps ,,in ,a ,,painter',s ,,education #hb4 8,draw first designs of a good master made in the fashion of nature and not mannered2 then from a relief1 in the presence of a drawing made from that relief2 then from a good natural object40 ,,judgment ,,versus ,,dexterity #fb4 8,that painter who does not doubt learns little4 ,when the work surpasses the judgment of the worker1 that worker acquires little1 and when the judgment surpasses the work1 that work never ceases to grow better1 unless avarice prevents it40 ,,on ,,use ,,of ,,memory ,,in ,,the ,,night ,,watches #fg4 8,also ,i have proved it to be of no little use to me1 when you find yourself in bed in the dark1 to repeat in the imagination the things studied earlier1 or other things of notable sort comprised in subtle thought1 and this is truly a laudable act and useful in fixing things in memory40 ,,on ,,selective ,,imitation #eh;a4 8,the painter should be solitary and think over what he sees and discuss with himself1 selecting the most excellent parts of the species of whatever he sees1 acting after the fashion of a mirror which transmutes into as many colors as there are things what is set before it4 ,and so doing he will seem to be himself a second nature40 #ih4 8,winter evenings should be used by young painters in the study of things prepared in summer1 that is bring together all the nudes which you have made in the summer1 and make a choice of the better limbs and bodies and practice from them and fix them in mind40 ,,on ,,high ,,standards #ei4 8,if you painter will seek to please the first painters1 you will make your pictures well1 because they alone can guide you truthfully1 but if you wish to please those who are not masters1 your pictures will have few foreshortenings and little relief or alert movement1 and thereby you will fail in that part in which painting is held to be an excellent art1 that is in giving an effect of relief where there is nothing in relief40 ,,on ,,avoiding ,,harsh ,,shadows ,,and ,,sunlight ,,effects #hg4 8,the light cut off from the shade too clearly is greatly blamed by painters4 ,hence to avoid such a fault1 if you paint bodies in the open country1 you will not make the figures as lighted by the sun1 but imagine some sort of mist or transparent clouds to be interposed between the object and the sun1 whence1 since the figure is not emphasized by the sunlight1 the demarcations of light and shade will not be emphasized40 ,,on ,,the ,,most ,,pleasing ,,light #ach4 8,if you have a court yard that can be covered as you wish with a linen awning1 that will be a good light2 or when you wish to draw anyone1 draw him in bad weather1 towards nightfall1 and make the sitter stand with his back to one of the walls of this court4 ,in the streets set your mind towards nightfall on the faces of the men and women1 in bad weather1 how much grace and sweetness appears in them40 ,,on ,,counterpoise ,,of ,,the ,,figure #hh4 8,do not have the head turned the way the breast is1 nor the arm the way the leg is2 and if the head is turned over the right shoulder make the parts lower on the left than on the right0 and vice versa4 ,at first blush this stylistic counsel flatly contradicts ,leonardo's principle that poses and emotions should express state of mind1 but as a matter of fact many expressive movements obey this law of counterpoise or active equilibrium4 ,leonardo himself generally finds motives for such poses4 ,such successors as ,raphael and ,andrea del ,sarto habitually used such poses without other excuse than that of their own inherent gracefulness4 ,,on ,,freedom ,,in ,,making ,a ,,composition #ahi4 8,have you never considered the poets composing their verses8 ,they take no trouble to make fine letters1 nor do they mind cancelling some of the verses and making them better4 ,do you1 then1 painter1 make the limbs of your figures roughly and attend first to the movements appropriate to the mental state of the beings composing your story1 rather than to the beauty and rightness of their members1 because you must understand that if such a composition in the rough will meet the needs of the invention1 it will please all the more after it has been adorned with the perfection appropriate to all its parts4 ,i have seen in the clouds and spots on the wall what has aroused me to fine inventions of various things1 since these spots though entirely without perfection in any part1 did not lack perfection in their movements and other actions40 ,,painting ,,the ,,grandchild ,,of ,,nature #ab4 8,if you shall despise painting1 which is the only imitator of all the apparent works of nature1 assuredly you will despise also that careful investigation which with philosophical and careful speculation considers all the qualities of forms3 the sea1 place1 plants1 animals1 herbage1 flowers1 which are enveloped in light and shade4 ,and truly this speculation is science and the legitimate child of ,nature1 since painting is born of this nature4 ,but1 to speak more correctly1 we will say grandchild of nature1 since all apparent things are born of ,nature1 of which things painting is born4 ,hence rightly we shall call it the grandchild of this nature and the kinsman of ,god40 ,,that ,,the ,,painter ,,should ,,be ,,solitary #ej4 8,the painter1 or rather designer1 should be solitary1 and especially when he is intent on speculations and considerations which continually appearing before the eyes give matter to be well kept in memory4 ,and if you are alone1 you will be entirely yours4 ,and if you shall be accompanied by a single companion you will be half yours1 and so much the less as the indiscretion of your companionship shall be the greater 444 ,and if you would say #8,i will do in my fashion1 ,i will hold myself apart' 444 one cannot serve two masters4 ,you will fulfil badly the duty of a companion1 and worse the aim of reasoning on the art 444 ,and if you say #8,i will withdraw myself entirely1' 444 ,i tell you you will be held a madman1 but1 lo1 thus doing you will at least be alone40 ,here ,leonardo takes sharpest issue with the easy-going sociable methods which for generations had held in the painter's bottega1 and shows himself an individualist of modern type4 ,,rubens' ,,praise ,,of ,,leonardo ,peter ,paul ,rubens1 who had copied ,leonardo's battle-piece1 has left the following perceptive tribute to the genius of his predecessor3 8,nothing escaped him that related to the expression of his subject3 and by the heat of his fancy1 as well as by the solidity of his judgment1 he raised divine things by human1 and understood how to give men those different degrees1 that elevate them to the character of heroes4 8,the best of the examples which he has left us is our ,lord's ,supper1 which he painted at ,milan1 wherein he has represented the apostles in places that suit with them1 and our ,saviour in the most honourable1 the midst of all1 having nobody near enough to press or incommode him4 ,his attitude is grand1 his arms are in a loose and free posture1 to show the greater grandeur1 while the apostles appear agitated one side to the other by the vehemence of their inquietude1 and in which there is1 however1 no meanness1 nor any indecent action to be seen4 ,in short by his profound speculations he arrived to such a degree of perfection1 that it seems to me impossible to speak so well of him as he deserves1 and much more to imitate him40 ,the ,art of ,painting 444 ,translated from the ,french of ,monsieur ,de ,piles1 ,london about #agbe4 p4 #ajg f4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #afg4 ,raphael4 ,count ,baldassare ,castiglione1 author of 8the ,courtier40--,louvre4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,,the ,,golden ,,age ,,raphael ,,and ,,michelangelo ,on pride and humility in ,art--,the new ,grand ,style defined--,umbrian humility in the ,early ,painters--,gentile da ,fabriano--,the ,fifteenth ,century--,luca ,signorelli--,perugino--,raphael2 ,early development--,roman triumph--,michelangelesque aberrations--,michelangelo4 ,whether the greatest art is grounded in pride or in humility has divided the critics4 ,to most it will seem evident that the artist's assertion of his own powers is an act of pride--a pride of person which is often reinforced by that of nation and race4 ,as fine a critic as ,john ,ruskin1 on the contrary1 has insisted that the greatest art springs from humility--reverence for ,god1 admiration of ,his works in nature1 homage also to one's earthly master in art and withal to the great tradition of one's craft4 ,the difference is world-wide4 ,according to one interpretation or the other1 the work of art becomes an act of display or of worship4 ,such opposites in the realm of analysis often meet comfortably enough in the realm of practice4 ,a haughty individualist like ,leonardo da ,vinci insists that his investigations of appearance and reality lead to that knowledge of ,god without which love is impossible4 ,and the ,golden ,age of painting itself1 though mostly based on corporate and individual pride1 has also its infusion of humility4 ,if ,michelangelo represents the flowering of three generations of research1 of that pride of intellect which ever ruled ,florence1 so equally does ,raphael represent many generations of humility and teachableness in his native ,umbria4 ,for about ten years pride and humility worked side by side1 and that was the ,golden ,age4 ,pride prevailed over humility1 and the classical style of ,central ,italy sunk to a pretentious exhibitionism4 ,our theme is that brief moment of accomplishment which witnessed the rise of ,rome as centre of art1 and the greatest painting of ,raphael and ,michelangelo4 ,we need not hesitate to apply to it the oldfashioned term1 the ,golden ,age4 ,but we shall not use it with quite the oldfashioned unction1 knowing as we do the heavy sacrifice involved in attaining the so-called ,grand ,style1 and the still heavier penalty it imposed upon the art that succeeded it4 ,the ,florentines believed that painting had reached its height in the years #aejd and #aeje1 when ,leonardo da ,vinci and ,michelangelo were designing the great competitive battle-pieces for the ,priors' ,palace at ,florence1 and ,raphael was painting his loveliest ,madonnas4 ,modern critics might rather be inclined to date the grand climacteric from a pathetic incident of a few years later4 ,in #aejh1 when ,pope ,julius ,,ii wished to decorate the new ante-rooms of the ,vatican1 the famous ,stanze he called the best of the older painters--,sodoma1 ,perugino1 ,signorelli1 among others4 ,no sooner had they begun to decorate the vaults than their work seemed inadequate4 ,they were turned off incontinently and the young man ,raphael called down from ,florence to take their place4 ,the incident shows how suddenly the new beauty dawned upon the world of art patronage4 ,vividly conscious of its advent1 the ,italians were less conscious of the equally sudden waning of the great style4 ,with the wisdom of hindsight we can now see that the whole development was a marvelous spurt1 lasting a bare dozen years1 from the battle cartoons of #aeje to ,raphael's tapestry cartoons of #aeaf4 ,raphael and ,michelangelo1 who created the lasting glory of the ,renaissance1 also dug its grave4 ,before considering the creative and destructive energies of these two giants1 we may profitably note the characteristics of what whether for praise or mockery has ever since been called the ,grand ,style4 ,and here ,i have little to do beyond condensing ,professor ,wlfflin's excellent book4 ,in the ,grand ,style the accent was on maturity1 decorum1 and measured power4 ,vivacious and picturesque incidents are eschewed4 ,the new art demands simplicity and centrality4 ,the human figure dominates the compositions4 ,the frame is filled densely with a complicated group4 ,the figures themselves are ample and mature4 ,the ,madonna is no longer a girl1 but a gracious woman of thirty years4 ,the ,christ ,child is no longer an infant1 but a well-grown lad1 whose supple curves harmonize with those of grown folks4 ,as to pose1 the figures no longer are casually arranged or in some posture required by a specific action4 ,they are cast in conventional poses which bring out the active beauty of the body4 ,heads swing across shoulders1 the upper body turns against the thrust of the lower1 the arms counter the action of the legs4 ,such counterpoise is always active1 implying motion4 ,straight lines give way to weavings of ,s curves--so many springs whose tension is kept equal4 ,violent motion or torsion of the body is frequent1 but one motion or torsion must be immediately taken up and balanced by some equivalent4 ,following the general principle of centrality1 colors are fewer and more studied4 ,in portraiture1 for example1 we no longer have landscape or elaborate interiors1 but plain dark backgrounds4 ,at all points we have left spontaneity and happy accident behind and have entered a world of exquisite calculation4 ,society had moved with art towards ideals of simplicity and decorum4 ,you no longer find the braided1 beribboned and jewelled coiffures of ,botticelli's women1 but serene brows with the hair drawn back evenly from its part and disposed as a mass in a net4 ,young gallants wear their abundant locks much the same way and sport seignorial spade beards4 ,old men are even more magnificently provided with beards of monumental scale4 ,such men are clothed no longer in parti-colored raiment1 but in richly sober black4 ,the ideal is dignity1 composure1 and magnanimity4 ,you may trace it through all its intricacies of casuistry in what is still one of the best pictures of what a gentleman and lady should be1 the ,cortegiano of ,baldassare ,castiglione4 ,it was finished in #aeaf while his friend ,raphael was designing the tapestry cartoons4 ,and you may read much of this high teaching in ,count ,castiglione's own sensitive and comprehending face1 ,figure #afg1 as ,raphael then painted it4 ,it breathes that fine interplay of pride and humility which was the mainspring of the ,renaissance1 and it brings us back to the double origin of the ,grand ,style in the pride of ,florence and the humility of ,umbria4 ,umbria in the narrow sense includes only the lovely stretches of the upper ,tiber1 and the rolling banks of ,lakes ,trasimene and ,bolsena4 ,but all the way over the mountains to the ,adriatic the civilization was of a similar type1 and so the art4 ,thus we may reckon the ,adriatic ,marches from ,ancona to ,ravenna as ,umbrian from the point of view of the historian of painting4 ,there were no great cities and little commerce4 ,it is a region of small hill-top communes within the walls of which the peasants huddled for protection at night1 going down to the fields in the day4 ,it was a country of hot passions and violent feuds1 and equally of religious enthusiasm and mystical piety4 ,great heresies had swept the land and so had the joyous and practical ,christianity of ,st4 ,francis1 greatest of ,umbria's sons4 ,we have much of the volatility that we noted in ,siena1 without1 however1 a capital city to centralize it1 and we also have what ,siena lacked--an abiding and beautiful humility4 ,umbria knew her provincial estate and accepted its limitations4 ,nowhere is this more plainly shown than in her art4 ,for two centuries she was in the position of inducing foreign artists to come in1 ever in an attitude of admiration and docility4 ,thus ,giunta of ,pisa1 ,cimabue and his ,roman contemporaries2 ,giotto and his ,florentine pupils2 ,simone ,martini and other ,sienese painters decorated the chief monument of ,umbria1 the ,basilica of ,st4 ,francis at ,assisi4 ,their work extended over a century to say #accj4 ,later still ,sienese artists were employed at ,perugia1 among others1 ,taddeo ,bartoli1 and the region promised to become an artistic dependency of ,siena4 ,but with the dawning of the ,renaissance and the extension of ,florentine power beyond ,arezzo1 ,florentine artists are preferred4 ,we find ,domenico ,veneziano at ,perugia1 in #adch1 in the pay of the ruling ,baglioni4 ,a little earlier ,fra ,angelico had painted for several years at ,cortona4 ,in the early fifties ,benozzo ,gozzoli painted his ,franciscan frescoes at ,montefalco1 and was otherwise active in the ,tiber valley4 ,in #adfh ,fra ,filippo ,lippi was called to ,spoleto4 ,soon after1 ,umbria learned to depend on her own artists4 ,in the ,adriatic ,marches there had been a limited penetration of ,giotto's style1 chiefly by way of ,padua and ,rimini4 ,by the end of the century the ,lorenzettian manner dominated4 ,it was succeeded by the influence of the ,venetian ,renaissance as exemplified by such rather backward artists as the ,vivarini and ,carlo ,crivelli4 ,still later the diffused influence of ,giovanni ,bellini meets harmoniously that of ,perugino4 ,thus in humility and teachableness ,umbria very slowly1 and through most various stages of discipleship1 worked out her own originality4 ,and when it came one felt deeply in it the teaching of her spacious intervals and blue mountains4 ,it is so with the first notable painter that ,umbria produced1 ,gentile da ,fabriano4#fa ,he felt landscape as no artist before him4 ,born about #acfj1 he was trained by his fellow townsman1 ,alegretto ,nuzi4 ,alegretto had made sound studies at ,florence and had also observed with admiration the pictures of the ,lorenzetti4 ,his own altar-pieces have the ,sienese splendor with a touch of sweetness that is wholly ,umbrian4 ,his pupil ,gentile prefers more ornate and florid compositions such as we see in his early ,coronation of the ,virgin at ,milan4 ,soon ,gentile gave himself to the panoramic narrative style1 outdoing the ,lorenzetti in elaboration1 vivacity1 and gracefulness4 ,superficially he resembles such ,florentine contemporaries as ,lorenzo ,monaco and ,masolino1 but his mood is broader and more genial1 and his decorative accent more splendid4 ,before #adaj he was called to ,venice to paint in the new ,ducal ,palace4 ,his animated historical frescoes were soon destroyed by fire1 but his sojourn was long enough to impress his manner1 through his pupil ,jacopo1 ,bellini1 and numerous imitators1 on the ,venetian narrative school4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #afh4 ,gentile da ,fabriano4 ,adoration of the ,magi4--,uffizi4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #afi4 ,gentile da ,fabriano4 ,the ,nativity4 ,predella piece from ,adoration of ,magi4--,uffizi4 ,passing to ,florence1 he left there the fullest expression of his gracious talent in the resplendent ,adoration of the ,kings1 ,figure #afh1 now in the ,uffizi1 which was painted for ,palla ,strozzi's chapel in the ,trinit4 ,it was signed in ,may #adbc1 and perhaps because it was the season of flowers1 ,gentile painted in the rich pilasters growing sprays of morning glory1 iris1 anemone1 and cornflower4 ,within its fantastic ,gothic frame we witness a pageant such as ,italy often saw on holy days--the procession of the ,wise man moving through her streets4 ,around the ,mother and her ,child devotion reigns1 but soon the scene passes off into the tumult of waiting men-at-arms1 of chafing steeds1 and snarling animals of the chase4 ,the color is a radiance of scarlet1 crimson1 azure and gold1 after the ,gothic fashion4 ,but the picture is more than ,gothic in the tender and almost atmospheric shading of the rolling hills in the background4 ,skilfully blending ,sienese idealism with narrative breadth and vivacity1 the picture is the last and most magnificent memorial to a chivalry now merely an afterglow1 but dying with all the iridescence of the sunset hour4 ,as is usually the case1 the modern contribution of the picture is modestly made in the predella panels4 ,the ,nativity1 ,figure #afi1 with the light radiating tenderly from the ,christ ,child and golden stars glimmering above the hill-top pastures is perhaps the first nocturne in art1 and still one of the loveliest4 ,the ,flight into ,egypt1 shows a joyous sunrise creeping over the glad hills4 ,the means are conventional1 the highlights are touched in with gold1 but the mood and effect are there4 ,young ,masaccio surely considered these little panels before he undertook his more naturalistic adventure in structural light and shade4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #agj4 ,andrea da ,bologna4 ,madonna of ,humility4--,cleveland4 ,soon ,pope ,martin ,v1 returning from exile at ,avignon and planning to restore the splendors of ,christian ,rome1 called ,gentile and set him to decorating the nave of ,st4 ,john ,lateran4 ,again fire has deprived us of the monumental works which constituted ,gentile's contemporary fame4 ,we know that they won the praise of the greatest ,flemish painter who visited ,renaissance ,italy1 ,rogier de la ,pasture of ,tournai4 ,and two generations later crabbed ,michelangelo declared almost sentimentally that ,gentile was gentle both by name and by nature4 ,for us it is important to note that ,gentile forecast precisely the future triumphs of ,raphael1 carrying the glory of ,umbrian painting widely through ,italy before asserting it at ,rome4 ,of course such work as ,gentile's was highly exceptional in the ,umbrian ,marches4 ,the average state of things is represented by the shy and humble ,madonnas which ,francescuccio ,ghisi repeated indefinitely4 ,this type of ,madonna of ,humility is nowhere more delightfully represented than in the lovely panel at the ,cleveland ,museum1 ,figure #agj1 for which ,i have elsewhere suggested the attribution of ,andrea da ,bologna4#fb ,she is most unlike the majestic ,madonnas of ,florence and ,siena4 ,to assure us that this gentle ,mother is after all ,queen of ,heaven and the ,second ,eve come for our salvation1 the artist has given her a resplendent aureole with tiny miniatures of her champions1 the apostles1 and has stretched at her feet that ,first ,eve in whom we all sinned4 ,the picture will have been painted before #achj1 and1 with its ,byzantine reminiscences1 it well exemplifies the medivalism that held its own in the ,adriatic ,marches long after ,tuscany had set her face towards the ,renaissance4 ,it would add little to our survey of ,umbria to dwell on ,ottaviano ,nelli at ,urbino1 a gently vivacious story-teller2 nor yet on those early painters at ,camerino and ,san ,severino who tinged the softer native style with the splendid severity of the early ,venetian manner4 ,i pass their works with regret1 for they are often lovely in their frank dependence on greater spirits4 ,in a general survey the middle years of the fifteenth century in ,umbria show rather little to attract us until the rise of ,pietro ,perugino4 ,he emerges in an artistic world dominated in the ,tiber ,valley by the ,florentine1 ,gozzoli1 and beyond the mountains by ,carlo ,crivelli and the ,vivarini4 ,such predecessor of ,perugino as ,benedetto ,bonfigli of ,perugia need not detain us4 ,he had learned a little1 a very little1 from the ,florentine1 ,domenico ,veneziano1 paints ,madonnas with a modest ideality2 and narratives1 the life of ,st4 ,ercolano in the ,communal ,palace of ,perugia1 with abundant and muddled detail1 after the fashion of ,gozzoli and ,domenico di ,bartolo4 ,his bottega was a factory of those quaint and often terrible religious banners1 ,figure #aga1 which the devout ,umbrians carried processionally to avert the recurrent plague4 ,we need not dwell upon ,perugino's alleged master1 ,fiorenzo di ,lorenzo1 whose ugly and emphatic draughtsmanship derives from ,verrocchio and the ,pollaiuoli4 ,we may best appreciate ,perugino's extraordinary originality by considering contemporaries who came up with equal advantages4 ,lorenzo di ,san ,severino exemplifies the usual ,umbrian blend of ,gozzoli and ,venetian influences4 ,and in such a picture as the ,enthroned ,madonna1 ,figure #agb1 in the ,holden ,collection1 at ,cleveland1 he attains an ideality of feeling and a beauty of workmanship of the most refreshing sort4 ,this picture must have been painted about #adij4 ,it may represent the high mark reached in the ,marches towards the end of the century--may thus dispense us from considering such inherently charming painters as ,girolamo da ,camerino and his fellow townsman ,giovanni ,boccatis4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aga4 ,bontigli ,plague ,banner4 ,the ,virgin protecting her ,devotees from plague ,shafts hurled by ,christ4--,chiesa del ,gonfalone1 ,perugia4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #agb4 ,lorenzo di ,san ,severino4 ,madonna and ,saints4--,cleveland1 ,o4 ,a very similar training produces more ambitious but hardly more pleasing results in ,niccol ,liberatore of ,foligno1 7#adcj to #aejb74 ,early influenced by ,gozzoli1 he later aped the intensity of the ,venetian1 ,carlo ,crivelli4 ,niccol thus chafes within the modest bounds proper to art in ,umbria4 ,he essays tragedy and too often achieves burlesque4 ,he paints1 like most of the ,umbrians1 processional banners1 and also the most complicated altar-pieces1 in which cusps1 carving and pinnacles almost efface the ,madonna and saints1 who show a peasantlike uneasiness amid so much splendor4 ,such is the character of the triptych in the ,vatican1 which is dated #adff4 ,it represents rather favorably ,niccol's at once slender and ambitious talent4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #agc4 ,melozzo da ,forl4 ,pope ,sixtus ,,iv and his ,court4 ,fresco4--,vatican4 ,such obscure artists as we have been considering#fc could maintain the idealism out of which a ,perugino should grow1 could provide his spiritual background4 ,they could do little to nurture him on the positive side4 ,that task fell to men of greater power1 who had saturated themselves with ,florentine realism--,melozzo da ,forl#fd and ,luca ,signorelli4 ,both were pupils of that giant among ,umbro-,florentines1 ,piero della ,francesca4 ,melozzo was born in #adch and early employed by the ,dukes of ,urbino4 ,he practices an energetic draughtsmanship both in decoration and portraiture1 indulges the boldest foreshortening1 adds a positive athleticism to that pride of life which we have noted in more static form in his master4 ,thus his frescoes for the domes of the sacristy of the ,santa ,casa at ,loreto1 and the justly famous fragments of playing angels from the demolished sacristy of old ,st4 ,peter's at ,rome reveal a strength and measured audacity which at once rival the contemporary effort of ,mantegna at ,mantua and forecast the more pagan exuberance of ,mantegna's greatest pupil1 ,correggio4 ,this robust and masculine manner appears in a more restrained and traditional form in the superb fresco portraits of ,pope ,sixtus ,,iv and his ,court1 ,figure #agc1 in the ,vatican4 ,such work transcends ,umbrian standards4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #agd4 ,luca ,signorelli4 ,pan1 ,god of ,music4--,berlin4 ,even more does the intense and rugged art of ,melozzo's fellow disciple1 ,luca ,signorelli4#fe ,born at ,cortona in #adda1 we know little of his early career except that he studied with ,piero della ,francesca1 passed to ,florence and was permanently swayed by the anatomical and passionate realism of ,antonio ,pollaiuolo4 ,signorelli's early work is obscure to us4 ,we may well study him first in the pastoral mythology1 ,pan1 ,god of ,harmony1 ,figure #agd1 now at ,berlin4 ,it was painted about #adij for the ,medici1 for the villa for which ,botticelli designed the ,primavera and ,birth of ,venus4 ,it is inferior to its companion pieces in imagination and delicacy1 and particularly in color1 but in its own measured way it echoes delightfully the poetic wistfulness of early ,florentine humanism4 ,similar qualities of imagination are in the great fresco ,the ,last ,days of ,moses1 in the ,sistine ,chapel1 painted in #adhb after his design4 ,but the vein is exceptional in ,signorelli4 ,soon he gave himself to a rugged realism1 unpleasing in his religious themes4 ,meeting little favor in the great cities1 he painted many altar-pieces for the ,umbrian towns4 ,these pictures are stern in spirit and leaden in color4 ,there is no attempt to please4 ,relentlessly ,signorelli pursued his personal quest of expressive anatomy4 ,legend tells us that1 dry-eyed1 he sketched the fair body of his own murdered son for the picture of the ,entombment at ,cortona4 ,we see him introducing nude figures into the background of the round ,madonna at the ,uffizi1 ,figure #age4 ,the experimentalist dominates the artist4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #age4 ,signorelli4 ,madonna4--,uffizi4 ,in the year #aejj1 being nearly sixty1 he found the real use for his truculent art4 ,he was called to paint in the ,chapel of ,s4 ,brixio1 in the ,cathedral of ,orvieto4 ,the subject was the ,last ,judgment4 ,more than fifty years earlier ,fra ,angelico had begun the work with angel choirs in the vaults4 ,with a far different temper ,signorelli continued the task4 ,at the entrance and back of the ,chapel he showed mankind scourged by the final plagues4 ,in the four arched spaces at the sides he set ,the ,preaching of ,antichrist1 a sinister scene detailed with all the circumstantiality of the ,early ,renaissance4 ,for the three remaining scenes1 the ,resurrection of the ,dead1 ,figure #agf1 the ,condemnation of the ,sinful1 ,figure #agg1 and the ,reward of the ,just1 he invented new modes both of interpretation and of composition4 ,how far we are from the solemn assizes of ,giotto or the garden and labyrinth motives of ,fra ,angelico6 ,in every case we have in the lunette celestial figures1 or at least supernal1 while below we have swarming masses of nude folk1 bewildered at the forgotten light1 aspiring heavenwards or shrinking from the clutches of the fiends4 ,what distinguishes these frescoes is a magnificently just matter-of-factness4 ,only one question is raised by the artist4 ,given the literal truth of the ,book of ,revelations1 how would the last judgment look1 and how would one feel if he were indeed there8 ,so he reasons it out--the struggle of the skeletons to push up to the light1 their reinvestiture successively with sinews1 muscles and skin1 the embarrassment as a half assembled body vainly seeks recognition4 ,and all this he contrasts with the confident1 strong bearing of the archangels above4 ,again in the ,ascent of the ,just to ,heaven1 the aspiration is chiefly physical1 magnificently so4 ,these clean strong bodies chiefly wish to escape the corruption from which the last trump has summoned them4 ,and even the guardian angels are less tender than jubilant at the thought of fit recruits to replenish ,st4 ,michael's celestial militia4 ,equally the damned wince1 not from conscience1 but from physical dread of the chains and claws and the imminence of the eternal fires4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #agf4 ,luca ,signorelli4 ,the ,general ,resurrection4--,cathedral1 ,orvieto4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #agg4 ,luca ,signorelli4 ,the ,souls of the ,damned4--,cathedral1 ,orvieto4 ,this sturdy1 upright art seems hardly ,italian4 ,the spirit of it is ruthless and ,northern4 ,it mitigates nothing1 tells pretty much everything1 presents the body in its ugliness1 disregards obvious considerations of style4 ,yet as a successful blend of a vast technical experiment in anatomy with an honest and powerful effort of imagination1 this is one of the most remarkable achievements of the ,italian ,renaissance4 ,it has little of the ,italian nobility1 but it powerfully influenced those who had4 ,perugino and ,raphael imitated ,signorelli's orderly arrangement of his scenes in a double1 vertical order1 and ,michelangelo fed his dream of a heroic world of splendid nudity from the drastic visions of ,signorelli4 ,over-rich and over-emphatic as ,signorelli is1 he is also an elemental1 tonic power4 ,no one is quite the same after a visit to the ,chapel of ,s4 ,brixio4 ,if ,signorelli was the greatest character in ,umbria before ,raphael1 ,pietro ,perugino was the finest intelligence and taste4 ,he was born in #addf at ,citt della ,pieve and at nine years old was put with a poor ,perugian painter4 ,his early activity is matter only of ingenious conjecture4#ff ,there is an ambiguous range of pictures variously ascribed to him and to ,fiorenzo di ,lorenzo1 a difficult and rather unimportant problem which ,i willingly let alone4 ,what is certain is that in his early twenties ,perugino was studying with ,verrocchio at ,florence alongside of ,leonardo da ,vinci4 ,by #adha and #adhb ,perugino emerges artistically full-grown in the ,sistine ,chapel4 ,his superiority1 as shown in the fresco of the ,giving of the ,keys to ,peter1 ,figure #aah1 and in numerous works of his forty-two remaining years1 is so uniform and almost monotonous that its greatness has until recently passed unnoticed4 ,only such critics as ,mr4 ,berenson and ,professor ,wlfflin have done him full justice4 ,he worked upon perfectly clear and conscious ideals of simplicity1 symmetry1 and spaciousness2 in all of which he took issue with his times4 ,rejecting the picturesque richness and confusion of the ,early ,renaissance1 he took counsel of the ,byzantine painters and of ,fra ,angelico at ,san ,marco4 ,they taught him the worth of simple geometrical forms of figure composition1 and how to sacrifice details to broad effects4 ,that his groups disposed in simple pyramids1 oblongs1 or ovals should not seem too bare1 he cunningly varied the positions of the figures1 thus relieving the severity of the underlying symmetry4 ,every tilted head1 pointed foot and swaying thigh has its precise compositional value4 ,as for the figures1 there is no strenuousness of draughtsmanship1 they are simply good enough4 ,a principle of artistic economy1 alien to the spirit of the moment1 rules here as elsewhere4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #agh4 ,perugino4 ,mystical ,crucifixion4 ,fresco4--,santa ,maria ,maddalena de' ,pazzi4 ,florence4 ,so far he appears as a critic and amender of the ,early ,renaissance style4 ,his positive contribution was a particularly spacious and lovely sort of landscape1 an immensity of light and air to set behind the restricted patterns of his figures4 ,this landscape is a beautiful generalization of the scenery of the upper ,tiber valley4 ,the forms are few4 ,feathery trees mark the middle distance2 a river valley opens gently with interlocking banks toward distant blue mountains4 ,above a silvery horizon1 the heavens gradually deepen to an intense blue1 accentuated by sparse floating clouds4 ,there are few colors1 a warm brown1 a fresh green1 a paler and a deeper blue1 a variety of grays4 ,with these simple means is attained a sense of infinite space and of encompassing peace4 ,all these perfections are in the great frescoed ,crucifixion ,figure #agh1 in the convent of ,santa ,maria ,maddelena dei ,pazzi1 at ,florence4 ,the date is #adie1 ,perugino's fifty-second year4 ,the lyrical quietism of the effect rests on delicate evasions of the very formal symmetry4 ,such features as the tilted head of the ,saint ,john and the three trees at the left balancing the ,magdalen at the right of the cross are essential4 ,indeed any slight change either in the position of the figures or the lines of the landscape would produce a discord4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #agi4 ,perugina4 ,enthroned ,madonna4--,vatican4 ,we have a very similar effect with the addition of a stately and simple architecture in the enthroned ,madonna of the ,vatican4 ,figure #agi4 ,again the formality of the pyramidal pattern is relieved by varied dispositions of the figures which individually considered may seem affected1 but which are essential to the composition4 ,more overtly emotional but still restrained is the ,deposition1 ,figure #ahj;a1 of the ,uffizi ,gallery4 ,it is arranged as an oval with catenary internal curves1 anticipating much more complicated patterns of ,raphael4 ,at this moment1 #adid1 no living artist but ,leonardo could have woven this group together with such certainty of taste1 and he could have hardly equalled its broad and serene landscape4 ,in the first years of the new century ,perugino decorated the merchants' exchange of ,perugia1 the ,cambio1 with frescoes partly religious1 partly moral and symbolical4 ,the most famous represent the ,virtues1 ,figure #ahj1 in pairs1 hovering in the heavens with their representatives below4 ,for example1 ,prudence and ,justice with the great law-givers4 ,so ,fortitude and ,temperance are represented respectively by the venerable forms of brave ,horatius1 and ,leonidas2 of ,cato and ,cincinnatus4 ,it seems that ,perugino executed most of this latter decoration through assistants1 and it has been suggested that ,raphael is responsible both for the design and painting of the beautiful ,sibyls4#fg ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ahj4 ,perugino4 ,prudence and ,justice with their ,representatives4 ,fresco4--,cambio1 ,perugia4 ,like most of his contemporaries ,perugino outlived his fame4 ,he was insulted by ,michelangelo1 criticized for repeating his figures1 thrust out of the ,vatican in #aejh and superseded by his former helper1 ,raphael4 ,and his exquisite art in his later years shows a certain relaxation4 ,he died of the plague in #aebd and was denied ,christian burial1 although in his day he had painted plague banners to protect the faithful4 ,the known atheism of ,perugino affords a curious problem4 ,how reconcile it with the mild and gentle religiosity of his art8 ,were he a modern artist1 one might hold that he entered by sthetic sympathy into experiences of religion which his rational self denied4 ,for an atheist of the ,renaissance the explanation seems too subtle4 ,they were of tough fibre and kept their sympathy logically in hand4 ,mr4 ,berenson has offered the ingenious explanation that in his noble composition in space ,perugino appealed to emotions which are so nearly akin to religion as to be readily substituted therefor4 ,in the great spaces of ,perugino the spirit finds liberation and a sense of the infinite4 ,such intuition of infinity one finds also in personal religion1 and the two experiences are in a degree interchangeable4 sthetically satisfactory1 this explanation may fail to convince a devout person4 ,he will want to know how the art of an avowed atheist enthralled the pious folk inhabiting the valley sanctified by the memory of ,st4 ,francis4 ,whatever be the explanation1 the space composition of ,perugino later sufficed to express ,raphael's vision of the central mystery of ,christianity1 of the nobility of pagan intellect and of the serene splendor of the ,grecian ,olympians4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ahj;a4 ,perugino4 ,the ,deposition4--,uffizi4 ,raphael ,sanzio#fh is the finest example of the ,umbrian virtue of teachableness4 ,his course is a series of exquisitely felt admirations4 ,his readiness to assimilate any sort of excellence was his strength1 and at times his weakness1 for he was not always self-critical enough to reject merits alien to his own personality4 ,his admitted primacy rests on perfection of composition1 and that perfection represented a beautiful synthesis of the methods of ,perugino1 ,fra ,bartolommeo1 and ,leonardo da ,vinci4 ,in dramatic power1 force of draughtsmanship1 and charm of color many of his contemporaries surpassed him4 ,his1 indeed1 is a triumph of tact and judgment1 and not of any single achievement4 ,he seems one of the young men of the ,platonic dialogues come back to earth--graciously prudent1 gently effective1 superior yet companionable4 ,he approached art as his fellow ,umbrian1 ,st4 ,francis1 approached life1 with friendly confidence4 ,he was equally at home with noble and artisan1 with austere prelate and libertine humanist4 ,men readily gave him their loyalty and women their love4 ,raphael ,sanzio was born at ,urbino in #adhc4 ,his father1 ,giovanni1 a mediocre poet and painter1 left him an orphan at eleven4 ,raphael's first steps in painting were probably guided by ,timoteo ,viti1 who practiced1 partly under ,perugino's influence1 the timidly idyllic style of the ,northern ,marches--,bologna and ,ferrara4 ,such boyish efforts of ,raphael as the ,orleans ,madonna1 the ,three ,graces1 and the ,dream of a ,knight1 in the ,national ,gallery show ,raphael's complete assimilation of this idyllic manner4 ,the little picture at ,london in which a stripling ,hercules slumbers between an attractive girlish ,wisdom and a most innocent effigy of ,vice--holding the flower that signifies the primrose path--shows us ,raphael at seventeen and by no means precocious4 ,in the year #aejj he was called from ,urbino to work in ,perugino's home shop at ,perugia1 soon rising to the position of foreman4 ,in four years he made the most devout and complete assimilation of his master's style4 ,such pictures as the ,coronation of ,mary1 in the ,vatican1 and the ,marriage of the ,virgin1 ,figure #aha1 at ,milan1 would surely be reckoned as consummate ,perugino's were it not for signatures and old tradition4 ,the ,marriage of the ,virgin in particular is merely a rearrangement of ,perugino's composition for the ,giving of the ,keys to ,peter4 ,but ,raphael has eliminated unnecessary incidents and has outdone ,perugino himself in sweetness and calm4 ,the picture was finished in #aejd1 and that year ,raphael took letters of recommendation from his first patroness1 the ,duchess of ,urbino1 to the ,magistracy of ,florence4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aha4 ,raphael4 ,marriage of the ,virgin4--,milan4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ahb4 ,raphael4 ,maddalena ,doni4--,pitti4 ,imagine a youngster of twenty-one who has diligently mastered a pictorial style only to learn that it is already obsolete4 ,that is ,raphael taking the manner of ,perugino to a ,florence agog over the battle cartoons of ,leonardo and ,michelangelo4 ,the coolness with which young ,raphael faced this emergency is characteristic4 ,in four years he made himself over into a realistic draughtsman4 ,abandoning the readymade faces and figures of ,perugino1 he wisely held to ,perugino's sweetness and spacious compositional patterns4 ,young ,raphael achieves an extraordinary act of criticism4 ,he takes from the reformers just what he needs and no more--from ,leonardo his incisiveness and psychology as a draughtsman and his dense and rich compositional patterns1 from ,fra ,bartolommeo his dignity and monumentality1 from ,michelangelo very little as yet2 and1 withal1 he retains whatever still seemed valuable from his ,umbrian experience4 ,thus with resolute and unperturbed intelligence within four years he completely reconstructed his style1 and put himself on a parity with older contemporaries who had been experimenting for a score of years4 ,the steps of this re-education are most interesting4 ,in #aeje he did the portraits of ,agnolo ,doni and his wife ,maddalena1 ,figure #ahb4 ,the posture of the woman is that of ,leonardo's ,mona ,lisa4 ,the draughtsmanship and characterization are severe1 the hint of ,umbrian landscape is a survival4 ,in later portraits we shall see the elimination of accessories1 the line yielding to the most refined modelling in light and dark1 the effect concentrated without insistency4 ,a comparison of the ,doni portraits with those of ten years later1 the ,julius ,,ii and the ,fornarina1 will tell better than words of the tendency of ,raphael's portraiture towards its ultimate mastery4 ,in #aeje ,raphael returned for a time to ,perugino to paint the fresco of the ,trinity at the ,convent of ,san ,severo4 ,in the splendid geometrical pattern he has already improved on the flat groupings of ,perugino4 ,the consistory of ,saints bends back in depth after the fashion of a semi-dome4 ,raphael borrows the new motive from ,fra ,bartolommeo's fresco of the ,last ,judgment painted in #adii for the ,florentine ,hospital of ,santa ,maria ,nuova4 ,sixteen years later ,perugino added the languid saints at the base of the ,trinity1 a touching reversal of the natural relations of master and pupil4 ,as for ,raphael1 in a single experiment he has mastered the sort of symmetrical composition in depth which should suffice within five years for his masterpiece1 the ,disputa4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ahc4 ,raphael4 ,madonna del ,granduca4--,pitti4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ahd4 ,raphael4 ,la ,belle ,jardinire4--,louvre4 ,the matronly sweetness of ,raphael's early madonnas has won them affection from the first4 ,with increasing dignity1 they retain a hint of the girlish refinement of their predecessors of the ,early ,renaissance4 ,but they are less assertively fastidious1 more normal and natural4 ,all these obvious reasons for liking them are sound1 and these pictures afford as well an insight into ,raphael's consciously directed studies4 ,the effect is ever towards richer and more complicated composition1 and towards more interesting and stylistic dispositions of the figures4 ,the naturalness is that of taste and calculation4 ,near the beginning of the series we have the lovely ,madonna of the ,grand ,duke1 #aeje1 ,figure #ahc4 ,the upright1 frontal position and form and serene oval of the face recall ,perugino4 ,but reality has supervened1--,perugino never painted such a ,bambino1--and for the sake of concentration the background is kept plain4 ,we see in the ,madonna of the ,tempi ,family1 at ,munich1 the ,madonna turned in three-quarters position1 the pose energized1 the body swaying in a slight counterpoise4 ,then he tries seated poses which offer the triangular pattern of ,leonardo4 ,perhaps the earliest of this series is the lovely ,cowper ,madonna1 now in the ,widener ,collection4 ,soon he adds figures1 constructs the pyramids more ornately and restores the background of landscape4 ,at the head of this line is the ,madonna of the ,finch in the ,pitti4 ,it illustrates that gracious formality which ,leonardo established in the ,madonna of the ,rocks4 ,finding the balance of the two standing nude children a little too obvious1 ,raphael carries the motive to its perfection in the ,belle ,jardinire of the ,louvre4 ,figure #ahd4 ,here1 to break the rigid symmetry1 the ,st4 ,john kneels1 and superfluous trees have been cleared away from the background4 ,he seeks further to enrich the pyramid1 and in the ,madonna of the ,canigiani family1 at ,munich1 ,figure #ahe1 finished in #aejg1 we have at once the densest of symmetries and the stylistic handling of all the figures in active and counterpoised attitudes4 ,in two years the process is complete4 ,later1 in the ,madonna of the ,fish and of the ,pearl1 executed by students1 ,raphael will adopt diagonal arrangements1 he will take up the old ,circular form in the ,madonna of the ,chair1 and will amplify the simple patterns of ,perugino in the ,sistine ,madonna and the ,madonna of ,foligno4 ,the forms and faces will become graver1 nobler1 more mature1 but the whole course is fully anticipated in the joyous and lucid years of experiment from #aeje to #aejg4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ahe4 ,raphael4 ,canigiani ,holy ,family4--,munich4 ,in that year ,raphael pulled himself together to produce a masterpiece and signally failed4 ,so far he must have seemed only a charming painter1 a more gracious ,fra ,bartolommeo or a more learned ,albertinelli1 he will now surpass ,leonardo and equal ,michelangelo--a perilous competition for a man of twenty-five4 ,in #aejg ,atalanta ,baglioni of ,perugia ordered a ,deposition to be set over the tomb of her murdered son1 the tyrant ,astorre4 ,raphael1 in a theme properly lyrical and pathetic1 tries to add tumult and drama--tries too hard4 ,at first he adopted a scheme very similar to that of ,perugino's masterpiece1 with the dead ,christ on the ground1 a quietly mourning group and a spacious landscape4 ,the design is shown in a pen sketch at ,oxford4 ,he rejects this motive as too quiet and familiar4 ,by successive efforts and exaggerations he arrives at the picture which we now see in the ,borghese ,gallery4 ,figure #ahf4 ,it has become a disagreeable tangle of legs1 a display of over-muscular arms which support nothing--a welter of histrionic gestures4 ,the clew to the trouble is in the effective but meaningless pose of the woman at the right1 which is borrowed directly from ,michelangelo's ,madonna of the ,doni ,family4 ,figure #aie4 ,the landscape no longer liberates the spirit1 but almost crowds the figures out of the frame4 ,doubtless so self-critical an artist as ,raphael learned much from this failure4 ,it must have shown him that the rich density and measured dramatic effect of ,leonardo were not as accessible as he had thought1 and he accordingly restudied the whole problem of energetic monumental design4 ,moreover it showed him1 at least for some years1 that ,michelangelo was the worst of models for him and threw him back upon his proper exemplars1 ,perugino and ,fra ,bartolommeo--in short1 upon that native humility which was at once his charm as a man and his strength as an artist4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ahf4 ,raphael4 ,the ,entombment4--,borghese1 ,rome4 ,in #aejh ,raphael was called to ,rome through the influence of a former ,urbino friend1 ,bramante1 now the architect of new ,st4 ,peter's4 ,the task set by ,pope ,julius ,,ii was the decoration of the four new antechambers called the ,stanze4 ,about the same time ,michelangelo began on the ceiling of the ,sistine ,chapel4 ,thus the two artists worked within two hundred feet of each other1 but held apart partly by a natural rivalry1 and even more by the irascible and suspicious nature of ,michelangelo4 ,and two masterpieces were produced as from two different worlds--,michelangelo's all tragic and perturbed1 ,raphael's all hopeful and serene4 ,between #aeji and #aeaa ,raphael frescoes the ,camera della ,segnatura1 mostly with his own hand4 ,the scheme comprised the finest leading ideals of contemporary humanism1 and the little room is the most important of documents for the student of the ,renaissance4 ,religious authority1 legal justice1 secular philosophy and science1 the arts--such are the four great themes impersonated on the side walls1 and echoed in symbol and human illustration on the beautiful ceiling2 these are the props of a perfect society4 ,religious authority and theology are represented by the famous fresco called erroneously the ,dispute concerning the ,sacrament1 ,figure #ahg4 ,christ1 as the fully revealed member of the ,trinity1 sits in a heaven rayed and studded with gold2 beside him sit the prophets and apostles--the actual witnesses of his passion4 ,the seated group sweeps grandly back describing a sort of semi-dome in space4 ,below and precisely in the centre1 on an altar1 glitters the wafer which in the recurrent miracle of the ,mass becomes ,christ's body4 ,to right and left of the altar are closely compacted and agitated groups insisting on the truth of the miracle of transubstantiation4 ,these are the martyrs and church doctors1 those who after the apostolic age either in experience or divine intuition certified to the central mystery of the ,church4 ,the upper group is composed after the fashion of ,fra ,bartolommeo and ,perugino1 is a mere expansion of ,raphael's fresco at ,san ,severo2 the lower group is held together after the fashion of ,leonardo da ,vinci's ,last ,supper1 the vehemence of the particular gestures being assimilated in a running balance of thrust against thrust1 so that the whole effect is of a rich and energetic harmony4 ,the figures themselves are established adequately1 but in draughtsmanship are inferior either to ,leonardo's or ,michelangelo's4 ,with the thriftiness of a born decorator1 ,raphael makes the figure count in its place and beyond that takes no unnecessary pains4 ,it might indeed be argued that the decoration would be worse as a whole if the parts were more perfect4 ,finally1 note how essentially classical1 ,roman1 juridical the motive is2 how concrete and material4 ,raphael seeks to express nothing more mystical than the obvious equation of ,christ and the host1 and he merely cites a multitude of witnesses to prove that the equation is true4 ,this very simplicity of motive has thoroughly humanized what might have been a tenuous theme4 ,the picture is a magnificent conclave out of many ages1 a symbol of the cumulative splendor of the ,catholic tradition4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ahg4 ,raphael4 ,la ,disputa--,the ,truth of the ,eucharist4 ,fresco4--,vatican4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ahh4 ,raphael4 ,the ,school of ,athens4 ,fresco4--,vatican4 ,on the opposite wall1 in the ,school of ,athens1 ,figure #ahh1 ,raphael pictures a similar continuity of human thought on the secular plane4 ,the arched space opens into a vast basilica whose gods1 represented as colossal statues at the sides1 are ,apollo and ,minerva4 ,raphael has studied the ,basilica of ,constantine and has modestly scanned ,bramante's plans for new ,st4 ,peter's4 ,he invents a vaulted interior more impressive than any that man has ever built4 ,within finite bounds he suggests the infinity of ,umbrian space4 ,without the figures1 or with quite other figures1 we should still have a great picture4 ,but the group is as nobly disposed as the architecture4 ,you may imagine a foreshortened ring of which the reverend forms of ,plato and ,aristotle are the twin jewels4 ,aristotle at the right is in the vigor of middle age as a scientist should be4 ,his disciples crowd towards him or gather in secondary groups about some leader4 ,science is social and co-operative4 ,raphael puts himself in this group4 ,plato at the left is immensely old and feeble4 ,speculative philosophy requires only strength of spirit4 ,his disciples are generally isolated in personal meditation4 ,philosophical truth is arrived at not in society but in solitude4 ,certain ardent young faces recall ,leonardo da ,vinci1 and the construction of the group is his4 ,we have linking motives1 like that of sprawling ,diogenes on the steps1 curves that repeat or counter the vault above1 turns and thrusts of bodies in active balance1 an energetic variety within a serene harmony4 ,the mood is less agitated than that of the ,disputa1 while the composition is freer4 ,human science and philosophy are at once less bound than is theology1 and move more equably because they strive for more readily attainable ends4 ,like its companion piece1 the ,school of ,athens is both a citation of witnesses and a profession of faith1 of faith in the capacity of the human mind4 ,the fresco of ,parnassus repeats approximately the grouping of the ,school of ,athens1 but changes the mood to one of lyrism1 and shifts the scene to a hill top4 ,about ,apollo and the ,muses wander the forms of the elder and recent poets4 ,often the faces are a bit insipid1 but no one thinks of that1 so easy are the postures1 so gracious the whole effect1 so instinct with the quiet good breeding of an academic pastoral4 ,all the ,umbrian reticence and discretion and humility of ,raphael are in this beautifully calculated work4 ,it betrays1 too1 certain ominous symptoms of display1 in the way1 for example1 in which the figures at the window protrude beyond the wall4 ,primarily this is only a way of softening two ugly angles of the window opening1 but it is also a concession to ,michelangelo's dangerous habit of painting away the architecture4 ,all the forms have an amplitude and dignity akin to that of classical sculpture4 ,hellas is for ,raphael no longer a far-away1 inaccessible world1 as it was1 for example1 to ,botticelli4 ,raphael has effectively reconstructed it1 in part by a gracious act of intuition1 in part by study of the wall paintings and statues of old ,rome4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ahi4 ,raphael4 ,prudence1 ,temperance1 ,force--generally called ,jurisprudence4 ,fresco4--,vatican4 ,the decoration of the ,camera della ,segnatura was completed triumphantly with the fresco symbolizing ,jurisprudence1 ,figure #ahi1 in which ,raphael invents a new and beautiful compositional formula4 ,having to deal with a lunette awkwardly shortened by the window1 he used three seated figures signifying the judging1 restraining and rewarding aspects of justice4 ,there is no strict centrality and no exact symmetry4 ,the large curves of the figures play off from each other in a continuous rhythm melting into the bounding curve4 ,one may conceive it in terms of the growth of plants1 as so many sprays meeting1 diverging1 opposing each other1 and all managing to conform to the line of an arch4 ,it is a type of composition that ,raphael will develop with still greater subtlety in the ,sibyls of the ,madonna della ,pace4 ,when ,raphael finished the ,camera della ,segnatura he was about twenty-eight years old4 ,his remaining nine years added certain remarkable portraits1 the ,castiglione1 the ,leo ,x1 ,figure #aij1 the ,fornarina and the young ,cardinal at ,madrid1 one sublime altar-piece1 in the ,sistine ,madonna2 a dramatic masterpiece in the ,transfiguration1 and a few frescoes4 ,but in the main these are years of retrogression4 ,his popularity had got beyond his power to utilize it4 ,michelangelo in #aeab had unveiled the ceiling of the ,sistine ,chapel4 ,raphael1 with all ,rome1 felt qualities of energy and grandeur which he himself lacked1 and1 with less than his usual intelligence1 began a fruitless emulation4 ,the last three ,stanze show in their very look that ,raphael is no longer his unperturbed self4 ,the figures no longer hold up their place on the wall1 they crowd out toward the spectator appallingly4 ,the compositions no longer show restful patterns which conform to the flatness of the wall4 ,there are disturbing flashes of light and obscure gaps4 ,the figures themselves are contorted and vehement2 straining sinews and knotted muscles are advertised for their own sake4 ,emulating the sublimity of ,michelangelo1 ,raphael only achieves sensationalism4 ,then he is no longer a painter but a director of painting4 ,nothing but the designs are now his own4 ,the working sketches and cartoons are by his pupils1 who work under the sway of a young ,mantuan of facile and brutal talent1 ,giulio ,romano4 ,one passes through the last three ,stanze with mixed feelings4 ,the high pleasures of art are left behind2 remains the spell of great power and intelligence now almost untouched by taste4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aij4 ,raphael4 ,pope ,leo ,x4--,pitti4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aia4 ,raphael4 ,heliodorus driven from the ,temple by a ,celestial ,horseman4 ,fresco4--,vatican4 ,the ,stanza of ,heliodorus finished in #aead contains a superbly dramatic fresco of ,heliodorus1 ,figure #aia1 thrust by a celestial horseman from the temple he would profane4 ,the execution is mostly by ,giulio ,romano4 ,raphael himself appears in one of his most massive designs1 the ,mass of ,bolsena4 ,the theme is a sceptical priest persuaded of the truth of the sacramental miracle through the bleeding of the wafer4 ,the miracle takes place in the presence of ,pope ,julius ,,ii4 ,there is a weight of character in the picture which is unique in ,raphael's mural painting4 ,the adjustment of masses is in an impeccable symmetry all the more difficult that the space is irregular and refractory4 ,the fine figures that carry the theme down into the narrow rectangles alongside the window are in part repainted by a young rival of ,raphael1 ,michelangelo's proteg1 ,sebastiano del ,piombo4 ,the ,chamber of the ,incendio1 finished in #aeag1 shows even more plainly the devastating influence of ,michelangelo4 ,the subject is a fire arrested miraculously by ,pope ,leo ,,iv1 ,figure #aib4 ,it is a magnificent display of poses and anatomy1 an artistic show window rather than a decoration4 ,the eye wanders in bewilderment to find the picture and finds nothing but isolated1 splendid forms posing superbly or simulating unfelt emotions4 ,from the point of view of decoration1 the space has been systematically violated4 ,again the remorseless hand of ,giulio ,romano is everywhere felt4 ,this is the last anteroom of the ,vatican which ,raphael saw finished1 though he left to his helpers many sketches for the two remaining ,stanze4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aib4 ,raphael's ,design executed by ,giulio ,romano4 ,il ,borgo4 ,the ,fire at ,rome4--,vatican4 ,in #aeaf and #aeag ,raphael is superintending half a dozen great tasks at once4 ,from the early months of #aeae he had been ,bramante's successor as architect of new ,st4 ,peter's1 the same year he became superintendent of all archological excavations at ,rome4 ,to these heavy administrative charges he adds the decoration of the ,farnesina1 the continuation of the ,stanze1 designs for mosaics in ,santa ,maria del ,popolo1 plans for two private palaces1 sixteen cartoons for the ,vatican tapestries1 and the preliminary studies for the ,loggia of the ,vatican4 ,he designs half a dozen great altar-pieces and paints with his own hand the ,portrait of ,leo ,x1 the marvelous ,st4 ,cecilia at ,bologna1 the ,sibyls of the ,pace1 and the ,sistine ,madonna4 ,he was rich and beloved1 great nobles pressed him with social attentions1 and a cardinal vainly sought to ally him with his family by marriage4 ,we can consider these multiform activities of the later years only in general terms4 ,the tapestry cartoons at ,south ,kensington representing the miracles of ,st4 ,peter and ,st4 ,paul complete that magnificent line of narrative painting that begins with ,giotto4 ,raphael works for simplicity and concentration and dignity in an eminently classic spirit4 ,one feels the influence of ,masaccio4 ,though rudely executed to guide the ,flemish weavers and executed by the assistant1 ,penni1 the mind of ,raphael controls the form throughout4 ,such designs as the ,miraculous ,draught of ,fishes1 ,paul ,preaching at ,athens1 the ,death of ,ananias1 the ,blinding of the ,sorcerer ,elymas are among the marvels of our art4 ,yet many of these designs are over-studied1 and few ,i feel fully bear the comparison with the best of ,giotto and ,masaccio4 ,a little over-emphasis of style recalls the bitter word of ,michelangelo concerning ,raphael--that he succeeded not by grace of nature but by study4 ,the frescoes of the ,life of ,psyche1 in the ,farnesina1 are beautiful in arrangement and full of a robust paganism4 ,but the wall is overcharged with the weight of figures which too often show ,giulio ,romano's heavy and insolent hand4 ,all the same1 the whole effect is gracious and the garlanded borders of the coves and spandrels by ,giovanni da ,udine are delightful4 ,to realize how much these frescoes lost from student execution one has only to consider the ,galatea1 ,figure #aib;a1 in the same ,palace1 which ,raphael painted himself in #aead4 ,it is on the verge of over-ripeness1 but keeps its saving element of restraint4 ,in answer to an inquiry from that great diplomat and gentleman1 ,count ,baldassare ,castiglione1 ,raphael wrote that though beautiful models were not rare1 for the ,galatea as for other figures1 he had followed only an idea2 and indeed the mind's eye is what ever counts with ,raphael4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aib;a4 ,raphael4 ,galatea4 ,fresco4--,farnesina1 ,rome4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aic4 ,raphael4 ,the ,sistine ,madonna4--,dresden4 ,raphael's final work for the ,vatican was the decoration of an open1 vaulted ,loggia4 ,he invented fifty-two little ,bible stories1 leaving most of the painting to his assistant1 ,penni1 and he drew about the arches1 pilasters and window frames the most delicious arabesques4 ,from study of similar decoration in the ,baths of ,titus he worked out a style1 crisp1 formal and sophisticated1 and as various as ,gothic ornament itself4 ,geometrical1 animal1 and plant forms meet and blend audaciously4 ,there is interplay of spiral and angular motives1 the whole effect is highly playful and ingenious4 ,the style has had vogue to our own day and still speaks to us charmingly of the unserious side of ,raphael4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aid4 ,raphael4 ,the ,transfiguration4--,vatican4 ,perhaps in the harassed1 competitive years we have been describing1 ,raphael turned occasionally upon his own ingenuity1 and refreshed himself by renewing these simple and gracious modes in which he had been bred4 ,such a theory would account for the ,sistine ,madonna1 ,figure #aic1 and in part for his last picture1 the ,transfiguration4 ,the most memorable of ,raphael's ,madonnas is based on the lucid symmetry of ,perugino4 ,although1 for greater concentration1 the background is merely a sky1 the hovering figures are easily spaced in the usual triangle4 ,the effect is ineffably grand and gentle4 ,a quiet silvery cloudland is created and filled by the devotion of the attendant saints and the inspired glance of the ,virgin and her ,son4 ,with all the resources of the ,renaissance1 ,raphael has expressed an emotion as intense and reverent as that of ,fra ,angelico4 ,it is an amazing act of the sympathetic intelligence1 for there is no reason to suppose that the painter was ever a deeply religious spirit4 ,almost as traditional was the unfinished picture before which in springtime of #aebj ,raphael's body lay in state4 ,the ,transfiguration1 ,figure #aid1 repeats the method of the ,disputa4 ,the celestial group of ,christ and ,moses and ,elijah is disposed as ,perugino would have counselled1 in a swaying triangular group set before the gulf of the firmament4 ,raphael painted this part with his own hand4 ,the lower part1 which was left to ,giulio ,romano to finish1 rests on the maxims and practice of ,leonardo4 ,an energetic variety compelled into a close balance is the ideal1 a formal order which contains and softens otherwise extravagant expressions and gestures4 ,there is perhaps intended not merely an illustration of the ,gospel text1 but also the contrast between that life of contemplation towards which the soul aspires1 and that world of suffering of mind and body which presses closely upon our rare moments of spiritual escape4 ,even that world of facts had been very kind to ,raphael4 ,it was fitting then that in his last days he should forget the haunting spectre of ,michelangelo's sublimity1 and should use his last forces in an imitation which was a sort of gratitude to those two great masters who had set him on the right way4 ,one would like to believe that the ,sistine ,madonna and the ,transfiguration are the sign that ,raphael when overtaken by an untimely death was purging himself of an unfruitful rivalry1 and becoming once more master of his own soul4 ,yet since even ,michelangelo shipwrecked on the ,michelangelesque1 it is an open question whether ,raphael could ever have permanently recovered his natural equipoise4 ,however that be1 ,raphael in the glorious years from #aejj to #aeab resumes and perfects every gentle1 orderly1 and reasonable strain in ,italian painting4 ,whether in portraiture or narrative1 in mythology or symbolism1 in pictures of the ,madonna or in pure decoration1 he gave to ,italian painting its final stamp4 ,he achieved a grandeur of space composition akin to the movement of a symphony1 a hidden structure more appealing than any separate hue or form4 ,his best work rests on a great humility1 and his later pride went far towards undoing him as an artist4 ,such pride was the breath of life and the source of strength to his rival ,michelangelo1 the fulfiller and perfector of everything that had been insurgent1 unbounded and not quite reasonable in the art of ,florence4 ,by a peculiar irony all that was valuable in such truculent and self-sufficing predecessors as ,donatello and ,bertoldo1 ,andrea del ,castagno1 ,antonio ,pollaiuolo and ,luca ,signorelli was finally concentrated in the small and ill-favored body of a neurasthenic4 ,there is the tragedy of ,michelangelo#fi in its simplest terms4 ,a ,titan in capacity to feel and work1 he lived in an atmosphere of suspicion and fear4 ,thrice he ran away from physical danger1 once was virtually a military deserter4 ,to unworthy dependent relatives he gave lavishly1 scolding and fretting as he gave4 ,he deliberately affronted two of the most courteous and accomplished colleagues1 ,leonardo da ,vinci and ,perugino4 ,he suspected the worst of his gracious and generous rival1 ,raphael4 ,from a ,roman studio as unkempt and filthy as its owner1 he snarled at the world and himself like a dog from a kennel4 ,yet1 note the paradox1 this snarling is embodied in fine poetry1 and this haggard and more than untidy artist is the friend of such elect spirits as ,tommaso ,cavalieri and ,vittoria ,colonna4 ,transient solaces4 ,near the end of his long life he writes3-- 8,alas6 ,alas6 again and once again ,i see my past and there ,i find not one-- ,in all1 not one whole day that has been mine40 ,these were the words of a man who was admired like a god and had achieved a lifework of unexampled copiousness and athleticism4 ,the great enigma1 how ,michelangelo converted what are usually weaknesses into sources of artistic strength1 may best be faced in his life and works4 ,he was born at ,caprese in #adge1 soon taken back to ,florence and put to nurse with a stonecutter's wife1 with whose milk he later used to say he sucked in the mallets and chisels he wielded so powerfully4 ,at thirteen he was articled to ,ghirlandaio as a paid assistant and doubtless did some minor work on those prettiest of frescoes in the choir of ,santa ,maria ,novella4 ,extricating himself from an uncongenial task1 he became one of the protegs of ,lorenzo de' ,medici1 studying the antique marbles of the ,medici ,gardens under the kindly guidance of old ,bertoldo4 ,there he mingled freely for three years in the most learned and gentle society of the time4 ,he mastered anatomy and modelling1 searched the compositional secrets of ,masaccio4 ,soon ,savonarola's revolution dismantled that artistic paradise which had been the ,medici ,gardens1 and ,michelangelo became what he frequently was afterwards1 a fugitive and a solitary man1 without either fixed friendships or abiding place4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aie4 ,michelangelo4 ,holy ,family of the ,doni4--,uffizi4 ,how he made himself great in sculpture is not our theme4 ,he was thirty and already the master of the ,david and the ,piet before he began to be a painter4 ,his first commission1 in #aeje1 was for a ,holy ,family1 ,figure #aie1 in medallion form for ,agnolo ,doni1 who at the same time was having his portrait painted by ,raphael4 ,the picture as we see it in the ,uffizi shows a master who thinks in fresco4 ,the brown flesh1 the dull yellows and blues of the draperies could have come from the ,brancacci chapel4 ,remarkable is the complete waiver of charm and sweetness4 ,the superb figures are skilfully contorted into interesting poses1 the circle is densely filled and the few interstices left by the main figures are filled with athletic nudes4 ,the aim1 which is successfully attained1 is an austere grandeur4 ,there is to be no ordinary human appeal in our youthful ,lord and his parents4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aif4 ,michelangelo4 ,detail from ,cartoon of the ,bathers1 by the contemporary engraver1 ,marcantonio4 ,at this moment ,leonardo was already well advanced on the cartoon for the ,battle of the ,standard1 treating it in terms of literal narrative4 ,in #aeje ,michelangelo received a signal honor in the commission for the companion fresco1 the ,battle of ,pisa4 ,both were for the ,hall of the ,great ,council4 ,we can imagine ,michelangelo casting about for a reason to abandon a narrative treatment and to find one that could be expressed by the nude4 ,he found it in an incident in ,leonardo ,aretino's ,chronicle4 ,it seemed that the trumpet found the ,florentine men-at-arms bathing in the ,arno4 ,here was the theme of what was properly called ,the ,bathers4 ,great muscular forms are drawing themselves up the bank1 and are hurrying into clothes and armor4 ,we have not a fight1 but its alarm and imminence1 a fine imaginative substitute for the obvious event4 ,the picture was never executed1 and the cartoon1 which was the marvel of its day1 was soon destroyed1 but ,michelangelo's sketches tells us something of the composition1 and the contemporary engraver1 ,marcantonio1 ,figure #aif1 has left us a masterly print of the central group4 ,it is plain that ,michelangelo made a display of minute anatomy that put his contemporaries to shame1 plain also that he subordinated this feature to monumental effect4 ,the failure to execute the fresco and the destruction of the cartoon must count among the capital losses in the history of art4 ,burdened already with the impossible task of the tomb of ,julius ,,ii1 ,michelangelo was called to ,rome to fresco the vault of the ,sistine ,chapel4 ,contemporary gossip believed that he was proposed by the jealous and shifty ,bramante1 architect of ,st4 ,peter's1 in the hope of discrediting him4 ,if so1 ,bramante reckoned ill4 ,at first ,michelangelo planned a very modest scheme of colossal figures of ,apostles in the twelve spandrels4 ,soon1 dismissing his incompetent helpers1 he attacked single-handed the present great scheme4 ,he worked at it four bitter years1 and came out of it temporarily crippled and with eyes distorted from the constant strain of looking upwards4 ,the ceiling was unveiled on ,all ,saint's ,day of #aeab and has been a portent ever since4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aig4 ,michelangelo4 ,the two ,western ,compartments of the ,ceiling of the ,sistine ,chapel3 ,god parting ,light from ,darkness2 ,god creating the ,sea and ,plants4 ,example of the ,decorative ,scheme4 ,enter the ,sistine ,chapel1 turn your back to the overwhelming apparition of the ,last ,judgment1 and your eye will naturally seek the lightest part of the rich decoration4 ,in a long strip1 down the centre of the ceiling1 made up of nine oblongs alternately large and small1 colossal figures stand out against the sky4 ,we see the drama of the ,creation and ,fall of man4 ,nude titans play the minor parts in so many simultaneous scenes4 ,the gigantic1 draped form of the ,eternal dominates the first five4 ,we see him an aged athlete1 an expression of utmost physical force1 rending chaos asunder into light and darkness2 by his touch illumining the sun and moon2 ,figure #aig1 drawing out the plants from the earth4 ,i know no more sublime conception in painting than the figure of ,god assigning the oceans their place1 ,figure #aih4 ,here is a form that would weigh tons hovering with the lightness of an eagle in space1 with extended beneficent arms as solid as reality but coaxed out of the wet plaster with touch and hues as delicate as those of a ,whistler symphony4 ,a miracle of conception and of workmanship4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aih4 ,michelangelo4 ,god hovering over the ,waters4 ,shows the decorative use of the so-called 8,slaves40--,vatican4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aii4 ,michelangelo4 ,creation of ,adam4 ,the eye will dwell longest on the great fresco of the ,creation of ,adam1 ,figure #aii4 ,it is all noble energy in the figure of ,god giving life by ,his touch1 all noble languor in the relaxed form of ,adam only dimly conscious of himself and wistful4 ,there could be no truer or more striking illustration of the pessimistic view that life was imposed upon the earth and brought sadness with it4 ,the titan form of ,adam has a singular and enigmatic relaxation4 ,he undergoes a gift he has never besought and faces it with something between confusion1 mistrust and resignation4 ,perhaps the splendid body would have been more at ease1 had the soul not been added4 ,so in a spirit of ,christian pessimism ,michelangelo represents ,deity sharing its divine powers with the first man4 ,at the centre of the ceiling is the creation of ,eve1 again an extraordinary study in lassitude1 but with a significant difference in the figure of ,eve4 ,the woman1 the chosen receptacle and transmitter of life1 accepts the gift eagerly4 ,she presses up to ,god in thankful adoration4 ,no doubts or ambiguities here4 ,and what a figure--fit to be the mother of a race1 exulting already in a fecundity that is to be most grievous4 ,compare her action with the languid and almost disdainful gesture of ,adam in the last fresco1 and learn that if the world is still peopled it is due to the unreflective and unshaken fealty to life of all ,eve's true daughters4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bjj4 ,michelangelo4 ,the ,temptation and ,expulsion from ,eden4 ,perhaps the most decorative subject1 if one may use the word of themes so morally impressive1 is that which represents the sin of the forbidden fruit and the expulsion from ,eden1 ,figure #bjj4 ,the elements of pathos which are strong in the story of ,genesis are absent4 ,michelangelo has not deigned to show us a habitable or desirable ,eden4 ,we see instead the swiftly changing episodes of a great doom1 which culminates in this scene4 ,marvelous are the paired groups1 superb the contrast between careless appetite under the tree of knowledge and utter shame in the exiled pair4 ,one feels that ,eve1 who shrinks most1 will soonest recover4 ,her mission is still valid in the world of sin and shame4 ,the composition is the first one made up entirely of nudes4 ,we may pass quickly over the three compartments devoted to the story of ,noah4 ,the scale of the figures1 especially in the ,deluge1 is too small to count at the distance from the eye4 ,these three frescoes were the beginning of the work1 the proper scale being arrived at through trial and error4 ,inherently the two small oblongs are among the most beautiful in the ceiling1 having a stylistic grace that is less marked in the earlier more august themes4 ,with the charm of ,greek intaglios these stories of ,noah combine monumentality4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bja4 ,michelangelo4 ,the ,prophet ,jeremiah4 ,i have tried to put myself in the position of a visitor to the ,sistine ,chapel following the instincts of his eye4 ,at this point1 having glanced over the ceiling1 his mind might well come in and ask the meaning of a whole of which he is becoming dimly aware4 ,the nine scenes above are simply the historic axioms upon which the ,christian scheme of redemption is based4 ,the abstract sparseness of the nine episodes from ,genesis is justified by the fact that they are less human events than terms in a great argument1 which runs as follows3 ,we were created innocent1 sinned in our first parents1 were spared in the world-flood and promised eventual redemption4 ,this prolonged drama of redemption is witnessed by a solemn chorus of draped male and female figures enthroned impressively in the spandrels4 ,here1 representing respectively the pagan and ,hebrew world1 are seven sibyls and five prophets who had the dim but certain vision of a coming ,redeemer4 ,these figures as ,hawthorne has well said are 8necessarily so gigantic because the weight of thought within them is so massive40 ,they brood quietly or sway with the burden of yearning4 ,they are magnificently draped and contrast most decoratively with the many nudes of the ceiling4 ,they vary in age and disposition4 ,contrast the actively inspired and youthful ,daniel1 or the fiery ,ezechiel with the ponderous gravity of ,jeremiah1 ,figure #bja4 ,what shades of delicate characterization are in the athletic loveliness of the ,delphic ,sibyl1 ,figure #bjb1 the powerfully concentrated senility of ,the ,cumean ,sibyl1 she who predicted to ,virgil the new era of salvation1 and the aristocratic aloofness of the ,libyan seeress1 ,figure #bjc1 most daintily preparing her day's work in divination4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bjb4 ,michelangelo4 ,the ,delphic ,sibyl4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bjc4 ,michelangelo4 ,the ,libyan ,sibyl4 ,magnificent is the indignant sprawling form of the unwilling prophet ,jonah1 remanded by the sea to an ungrateful mission4 ,he is the active counterpart of the passive ,adam on the ceiling4 ,he obeys under protest4 ,the form itself1 foreshortened against the curve of the spandrel1 is a masterpiece of draughtsmanship4 ,decoratively it is the link between the nudes of the ceiling and the draped prophets and sibyls4 ,below the prophetic figures1 in the older frescoes of the side walls1 are set the foreshadowing of the work of salvation in the life of ,moses and its accomplishment in the life of ,christ1 and the drama closes with ,michelangelo's ,last ,judgment on the altar wall4 ,there ,christ separates eternally the saved from the damned1 echoing the definitive gesture with which ,god in the adjoining ceiling separates light from darkness4 ,so the scheme closes with the inexorable logic with which it began4 ,the decorative task of ,michelangelo was to mediate between the prophets and sibyls and the ceiling frescoes above1 and likewise to link the great figures with the side walls below4 ,above1 he set a multitude of nude forms4 ,on the massive sides of the twelve thrones are four caryatids in two pairs4 ,at the top of these piers are seated the lithe forms of nude youths1 ,figure #aih1 forty in all1 supporting medallions and bent into every conceivable attitude that might set off the flexibility and power of these superb young bodies4 ,but however extravagant any single pose may be1 it is immediately balanced by an opposing thrust from some other body1 so that the whole composition is locked together into an active and thrilling equilibrium4 ,even the triangles over the coves are filled with huddled nudes most adroitly disposed in the narrow and refractory spaces4 ,below the prophets and sibyls1 the linking motives are made up of draped figures4 ,weakest are the caryatid geniuses below each throne4 ,the triangular splays at the corners contain those four bloody and sensational acts which assured the perpetuity of ,god's ,chosen ,people--the ,raising of the ,brazen ,serpent1 the ,slaying of ,goliath and of ,holophernes1 the ,hanging of ,haaman4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bjd4 ,michelangelo4 ,decoration of ,cove over ,window4 ,in the triangles roofing the coves and in the lunettes about the arched window heads are family groups of the ancestors and precursors of ,christ4 ,figure #bjd4 ,the mood of anticipation which has been calm and official in the prophets becomes agitated1 passionate1 personal in these half hidden groups4 ,so many pilgrims of eternity yearn for the fulfillment that shall give meaning to their wanderings--a promised goal and rest4 ,very subtle and beautiful is the contrast between the groups sundered by the window heads1 individually meditative1 and those which blend their longing in the close relations forced by the triangular coves4 ,what has begun as noble abstraction finishes in terms of almost inexpressible tenderness4 ,in color the whole gigantic composition is unified by a sonorous chord of yellow and violet which is moderately asserted in the ceiling and pushed to the utmost in the spandrels4 ,of the color ,john ,la ,farge has written3 8,the unity is so great1 the balance of effects so harmonious1 that it is only by study that we see expressed in the methods of the painting the ancient rules1 handed down by practice1 which unite with the latest teaching of modern scientific coloring40 ,what a mind it took to hold the tumultuous and pathetic details of this great work within an enveloping order and calm6 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bje4 ,michelangelo4 ,the ,last ,judgment4 ,in framing his great work out of nudes relieved by draped figures1 ,michelangelo renewed the ,grecian practice4 ,precisely the difference between the ,sistine ceiling and the metopes of the ,parthenon1 or the frieze of ,pergamon1 raises the question--,what does the nude of ,michelangelo express8 ,i do not find in it1 at least in the ,sistine ceiling1 much of that terribleness1 terribilt1 which has been remarked by critics from ,vasari to ,henri ,beyle4 ,it seems to me rather an art of lassitude and relaxation1 the reluctantly awaking ,adam being the clue to the mood4 ,except for the gestures of ,god and ,eve1 the gestures and poses are unspecific4 ,the lithe bodies of the slaves are twisted only that they may attain consciousness of powers which have no use4 ,the relaxation which marks nearly all the nudes1 whether in the stories or in the incidental ornament1 is not that of fatigue after action1 nor yet that of preparation for an ordeal4 ,in barren lassitude we have expressed powers which do not imply action or use1 but breathe a great melancholy4 ,we are far from the splendors of passion and achievement1 we see humanity confused at a fate that calls itself ,god1 a passive factor in an arbitrary process that makes the glory of the flesh a vain thing4 ,as a humanist1 ,michelangelo asserts that failing glory1 as a ,christian he accepts the nothingness of mankind and the rightness of ,god's inscrutable and apparently cruel designs4 ,perhaps the spell of ,michelangelo1 his sthetic1 to put it pedantically1 is simply the noble resignation with which the humanist accepts the ,christian pessimism as regards this world4 ,and here ,i may note that ,rodin has significantly shown that even the forms of ,michelangelo are not uprising and resilient like the antique1 but compressed and yielding like those of the ,christian ,gothic sculptors4 ,twenty-one years after the ,sistine ceiling was unveiled1 ,michelangelo began reluctantly the great fresco of the ,last ,judgment1 ,figure #bje4 ,he worked on it for seven years1 and it was unveiled on ,christmas ,day of #aeda4 ,how the choristers had the heart to chant the angelic message of peace and good will before it1 ,i cannot imagine4 ,michelangelo was sixty-six years old1 a disillusioned and embittered man1 an alien in the corrupt and pleasure loving ,rome of ,paul ,,iii4 ,he has put into the ,christ all his contempt for mankind4 ,the ,christ who earlier wrathfully hurled the darts in the ,umbrian plague banners has become a far darting ,apollo1 ,figure #bjf1 rejoicing in his dire task4 ,behind him the murky air is full of hurtling contorted angels1 in aspect quite indistinguishable from fiends1 who bear the implements of the ,passion4 ,below1 the just and unjust rise or fall in knots and festoons of writhing nude bodies all equally sinister4 ,the conception is violently corporeal1 and never elsewhere in painting has the human body been used with such ingenuity and power4 ,but it is a power that defeats itself4 ,i believe the spectator is not so much appalled as confused before the ,last ,judgment4 ,its vehemence seems so unrelieved and insensate4 ,if this be indeed the goal of mankind1 no wonder moody ,adam in the ceiling above faces his ,creator with doubt and a hint of distrust4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bjf4 ,michelangelo4 ,christ with the ,virgin and the ,apostles4 ,from the ,last ,judgment4 ,its sheer display of force won all contemporaries1 and the ,french critic and superman1 ,stendhal1 has highly praised the work for its burning energy4 ,while not sharing his enthusiasm1 ,i gladly refer the reader to his admirable pages4 ,in my own opinion the creative ardor of ,michelangelo had waned by this time4 ,he offers1 instead1 his spleen1 which is more valuable than most men's genius1 and his amazing technical skill4 ,michelangelo has become ,michelangelesque4 ,that is deplorably true in the frescoes for the ,pauline ,chapel which were finished in #aedg1 his seventy-second year4 ,nothing is left but sensationalism1 and the ,pope does well not to exhibit these works4 ,as regards humanity1 ,michelangelo's vein is completely exhausted4 ,he still is capable of exquisite calculation1 as in the design for the dome of ,st4 ,peter's1 still retains a dmonic capacity for work and emotion1 but the sculptor in him is nearly dead and the painter completely so4 ,the poet of the rugged sonnets has superseded them both4 ,when he died at #hi1 in #aefd1 the little ill-favored body was honored like that of a king4 ,his sheer power had swept the whole rising generation of artists under his sway4 ,to their own hurt and to the bankruptcy of the ,golden ,age4 ,such forms as ,michelangelo's are tolerable only when possessed by that melancholy poetry of his which gives them meaning4 ,if the serene intelligence of a ,raphael had not found emotions to fill such forms1 if ,michelangelo himself in his later years falls back on a monotonous formula of terribleness1 what hope was there for such uninspired imitators as the ,venustis1 ,volterras1 and ,vasaris8 ,one and all1 they entertained monstrous delusions of effortless attainment--cleverly contorted their nudes1 shrewdly calculated their terrors4 ,and the ,roman art of the ,golden ,age1 forgetting both the wise humility of ,umbria and the reasonable pride of ,florence1 suddenly collapsed in the ugliest and most irrational ostentation4 ,michelangelo had passed--to fulfill and to destroy4 ,,illustrations ,,for ,,chapter ,,vi ,a ,,contemporary ,,list ,,of ,,great ,,artists1 ,,before #aeaj ,in an offhand mention in ,the ,courtier ,baldasarre ,castiglione tells us who seemed to be great artists to a cultured and well-informed gentleman about the year #aejh4 ,titian had not yet emerged and of the older men only ,leonardo da ,vinci and ,mantegna are remembered4 ,as seniors1 they are the first mentioned4 8,again various things give equal pleasure to the eyes1 so that we can with difficulty decide what are more pleasing to them4 ,you know that in painting ,leonardo da ,vinci1 ,mantegna1 ,raphael1 ,michelangelo1 ,giorgio da ,castelfranco are very excellent1 yet they are all unlike in their work2 so that no one of them seems to lack anything in his own manner1 since each is known as the most perfect in his style40 ,the ,book of the ,courtier by ,count ,baldesar ,castiglione1 translated by ,leonard ,ekstein ,opdycke1 ,new ,york1 #aijc1 p4 #ej4 ,,michelangelo ,,on ,,renaissance ,,counterpoise ,it is said then that ,michelangelo once gave his advice to ,marcoda ,siena1 his pupil1 that 8one should make the figure pyramidal1 spiral1 7serpentinata7 and multiplied by one1 two1 and three40 ,lomazzo ,trattato1 ,milan1 #adhd1 p4 #bc4 ,the pose1 that is1 should be contained geometrically1 should display opposing thrusts1 and should be mathematically proportioned within the inclosing geometrical form4 ,,vasari ,,on ,,the 8,,modern ,,style0 ,vasari's account of the ,grand ,style or 8,third ,manner10 in the ,preface to ,part ,,iii 7,de ,vere's translation1 ,vol4 ,,iv1 pp4 #gi-he7 is still authoritative4 ,he praises the artists before ,leonardo1 but finds in them a certain hardness1 lack of finish and uncertainty of proportions4 ,the change to the perfect manner was caused by the discovery of ancient marbles4 8,after them the predecessors of ,leonardo1 their successors were able to attain to it through seeing excavated out of the earth certain antiquities cited by ,pliny as amongst the most famous1 such as the ,laocoon1 the ,hercules1 the ,great ,torso of the ,belvedere1 and likewise the ,venus1 the ,cleopatra1 the ,apollo1 and an endless number of others1 which1 both with their sweetness and their severity1 with their fleshy roundness copied from the greatest beauties of nature1 and with certain attitudes which involve no distortion of the whole figure but only a movement of certain parts1 which are revealed with a most perfect grace1 brought about the disappearance of a certain dryness1 hardness1 and sharpness of manner4444 ,he mentions the contemporary admiration of such precursors as ,francia and ,perugino4 8,but their error was afterwards clearly proved by the works of ,leonardo da ,vinci1 who1 giving a beginning to that third manner which we propose to call the modern--besides the force and boldness of his drawing1 and the extreme subtlety wherewith he counterfeited all the minutenesses of nature exactly as they are--with good rule1 better order1 right proportion1 perfect drawing1 and divine grace1 abounding in resources and having a most profound knowledge of art1 may be truly said to have endowed his figures with motion and breath4 8,there followed after him1 although at some distance1 ,giorgione da ,castelfranco1 who obtained a beautiful gradation of colour in his pictures 4442 and not inferior to him in giving force1 relief1 sweetness1 and grace to his pictures1 with his colouring1 was ,fra ,bartolommeo di ,san ,marco4 ,but more than all did the most gracious ,rafaello da ,urbino1 who1 studying the labours of the old masters and those of the ,moderns1 took the best from them1 and1 having gathered it together1 enriched the art of painting with that complete perfection which was shown in ancient times by the figures of ,apelles and ,zeuxis1 nay1 even more1 if we may make bold to say it1 as might be proved if we could compare their works with his4 ,wherefore nature was left vanquished by his colours4444 8,in the same manner1 but sweeter in colouring and not so bold1 there followed ,andrea del ,sarto1 who may be called a rare painter1 for his works are free from errors4 99 99 99 99 99 8,but he who bears the palm from both the living and the dead1 transcending and eclipsing all others1 is the divine ,michelangelo ,buonarotti1 who holds the sovereignty not merely of one of these arts1 but of all three together4 ,this master surpasses and excels not only all those moderns who have almost vanquished nature1 but even those most famous ancients who without a doubt did so gloriously surpass her2 and in his own self he triumphs over moderns1 ancients1 and nature1 who could scarcely conceive anything so strange and so difficult that he would not be able1 by the force of his most divine intellect and by means of his industry1 draughtsmanship1 art1 judgment and grace1 to excel it by a great measure2 and that not only in painting and in the use of colours under which title are comprised all forms1 and all bodies upright or not upright1 palpable or impalpable1 visible or invisible1 but also in the highest perfection of bodies in the round1 with the point of his chisel40 ,,unity ,,of ,,design ,,in ,,the ,,renaissance ,the humanist ,benedetto ,varchi1 renewing the debate which ,leonardo da ,vinci had started concerning the relative rank of sculpture and painting1 sent the text of his lecture to ,michelangelo and asked for his opinion4 ,the sculptor writes in #aedi3 8,in my opinion painting should be considered excellent in proportion as it approaches the effect of relief1 while relief should be considered bad as it approaches the effect of painting4 ,i used to consider that sculpture was the lantern of painting and that between the two things there was the same difference as that between the sun and the moon4 ,but now that ,i have read your book1 in which1 speaking as a philosopher1 you say that things which have the same end are themselves the same1 ,i have changed my opinion2 and ,i now consider that painting and sculpture are one and the same thing1 unless greater nobility be imparted by the necessity for a keener judgment1 greater difficulties of execution1 stricter limitations and harder work4 ,and if this be the case1 no painter ought to think less of sculpture than of painting and no sculptor less of painting than of sculpture4 ,by sculpture ,i mean the sort that is executed by cutting away from the block3 the sort that is executed by building up resembles painting4 ,that is enough1 for as one and the other1 that is to say1 both painting and sculpture proceed from the same faculty1 it would be an easy matter to establish harmony between them and to let such disputes alone1 for they occupy more time than the execution of the figures themselves4 ,as to that man ,leonardo da ,vinci who wrote saying that painting was more noble than sculpture1 as though he knew as much about it as he did of the other subjects on which he has written1 why my serving-maid would have written better60 ,from ,robert ,w4 ,carden1 ,michelangelo1 a ,record of his ,life1 ,boston and ,new ,york1 #aiac1 a book which from ,michelangelo's letters gives a very intimate view of the sculptor's character4 ,,sir ,,joshua ,,reynolds ,,on ,,the ,,grand ,,style ,no critic of art has better expressed the ideal of the ,grand ,style than ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds4 ,i quote from the third of his ,discourses1 in the admirable edition of ,roger ,e4 ,fry1 ,new ,york1 #aijf4 pp4 #ea ff4 8,every language has adopted terms expressive of this excellence4 ,the gusto grande of the ,italians1 the beau idal of the ,french and the great style1 genius and taste among the ,english1 are but different appellations of the same thing4 ,it is this intellectual dignity1 they say1 that ennobles the ,painter's ,art2 that lays the line between him and the mere mechanic3 and produces those great effects in an instant1 which eloquence and poetry1 by slow and repeated efforts1 are scarcely able to retain44440 ,the grand style is seen to rest upon a sort of generalizing tendency4 8,the whole beauty and grandeur of the ,art consists1 in my opinion1 in being able to get above all singular forms1 local customs1 particularities and details of every kind40 ,the artist 8being enabled to distinguish the accidental deficiencies1 excrescences1 and deformities of things1 from their general figures1 he makes out an abstract idea of their forms more perfect than any one original2 and1 what may seem a paradox1 he learns to design naturally by drawing his figures unlike to any one object40 ,sir ,joshua advocates the study of the antique1 not to imitate any single work1 but to master the principle that underlies them all4 8,beauty and simplicity have so great a share in the composition of the great style1 that he who has acquired them has little else to learn4 ,it must not1 indeed1 be forgotten that there is a nobleness of conception1 which goes beyond any thing in the mere exhibition of perfect form2 there is an art of animating and dignifying the figures with intellectual grandeur1 of impressing the appearance of philosophic wisdom1 or heroic virtue4 ,this can only be acquired by him that enlarges the sphere of his understanding by a variety of knowledge1 and warms his imagination with the best productions of ancient and modern poetry40 ,,kenyon ,,cox ,,on ,,the ,,classic ,,spirit ,the ideals of the ,high ,renaissance are eloquently1 if incidentally1 defined by the late ,kenyon ,cox in ,the ,classic ,point of ,view1 ,new ,york1 #aiaa4 pp4 #c-e4 8,the ,classic spirit is the disinterested search for perfection2 it is the love of clearness and reasonableness and self-control2 it is1 above all1 the love of permanence and of continuity4 ,it asks of a work of art1 not that it shall be novel or effective1 but that it shall be fine and noble4 ,it seeks not merely to express individuality or emotion1 but to express disciplined emotion and individuality restrained by law4 ,it strives for the essential rather than the accidental1 the eternal rather than the momentary--loves impersonality more than personality1 and feels more power in the orderly succession of the hours and the seasons than in the violence of earthquake or of storm4 ,and it loves to steep itself in tradition4 ,it would have each new work connect itself in the mind of him who sees it with all the noble and lively works of the past1 bringing them to his memory and making their beauty and charm a part of the beauty and charm of the work before him4 ,it does not deny originality and individuality--they are as welcome as inevitable4 ,it does not consider tradition as immutable or set rigid bounds to invention4 ,but it desires that each new presentation of truth and beauty shall show us the old truth and the old beauty1 seen only from a different angle and colored by a different medium4 ,it wishes to add link by link to the chain of tradition1 but it does not wish to break the chain40 ,,the ,,end ,,of ,,the ,,renaissance ,,and ,,the ,,coming ,,of ,,fear ,an artistic collapse whether in an artist or a nation is usually due to a prior collapse in morale4 ,florence suffered such loss of face when the ,imperialists stormed the city and crushed the ,republic4 ,we may study the disaster in ,michelangelo's personal case and in its effect on the citizenry at large4 ,michelangelo was military engineer4 ,writing from ,venice1 ,sept4 #be1 #aebi1 he describes his desertion with singular objectivity3 8,i had intended to remain in ,florence to the end of the war1 having no fears for my own safety4 ,but on ,tuesday morning1 the #bast of ,september1 a certain person came out by the ,porta a ,san ,nicol while ,i was engaged in inspecting the bastions1 and whispered in my ear that ,i must remain there no longer if ,i valued my life4 ,he accompanied me to my house1 dined there1 brought me horses1 and never left my side until he had carried me out of ,florence1 declaring that it was for my good that he so acted4 ,whether it were ,god or the devil ,i cannot say40 ,from ,robert ,w4 ,carden1 ,michelangelo1 a ,record of his ,life1 ,boston and ,new ,york1 #aiac1 p4 #afh4 ,florence suffered not from hallucinations1 as this seems to have been1 but from the humiliation and confusion incident upon defeat and foreign occupation4 ,i translate from ,benedetto ,varchi's ,storia1 the extract in ,ancona and ,bacci's ,manuele della ,letteratura ,italiana1 ,vol4 ,,ii1 p4 #ejf4 8,the city of ,florence when her liberty was lost was full of such sorrow1 of such terror1 of such confusion1 that it can hardly be described or even imagined4444 ,the nobles were indignant among themselves and inwardly resented being scorned and vilified by the lowest classes2 the plebeians in extreme need1 would not refrain at least from relieving their minds about the nobility2 the rich1 how they could manage not to lose their property2 the poor1 day and night1 what they should do not to die utterly and of famine2 the citizens were dismayed and desperate1 because they had spent and lost a lot3 the peasants1 much more1 because there remained for them nothing at all2 the priests were ashamed of having deceived the laity2 the laity grieved at having believed the priests2 men had become extraordinarily suspicious and covetous2 women immeasurably incredulous and distrustful3 finally1 every one with lowered face and staring eyes1 seemed beside himself1 and all without exception pallid and bewildered feared at all times every sort of ill40 ,from such a shell-shocked community as this1 no serene or noble art was to be expected4 ,it was much that ,florence in bondage still could nurture the exquisitely morbid art of a ,pontormo and the aristocratic detachment and finesse of a ,bronzino4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bjg4 ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,st4 ,francis receiving the ,stigmata4--,h4 ,c4 ,frick ,coll41 ,new ,york4 ,,chapter ,,vii ,,venetian ,,painting ,,before ,,titian ,on the splendor of ,venice--,italo-,byzantine painters of the #adth ,century--,paduan1 ,veronese1 and ,umbrian ,painters at ,venice--,jacopo ,bellini--,squarcione's school at ,padua1 ,carlo ,crivelli--,andrea ,mantegna1 mentor for ,northern ,italy--,antonello da ,messina's ,realism--,the flowering of the old ,narrative ,school in ,gentile ,bellino--,giovanni ,bellini--,the backward ,vivarini--,carpaccio and the end of the old ,narrative ,style--,literary background of ,giorgione's ,art--,giorgione of ,castelfranco4 ,when1 about the middle of the fifth century1 a pitiful throng of refugees sought safety from ,attila and his ,huns in the fens at the head of the ,adriatic1 they took with them what was left of the constructive genius of the ,roman ,empire4 ,they raised amid the lagoons a healthful and convenient city1 which in the course of centuries became the most beautiful in ,europe4 ,they developed a strong and wise oligarchy1 under forms sufficiently democratic to satisfy the people4 ,they attained an extraordinary capacity for diplomacy and overseas trade--a brilliant commercialized civilization4 ,secure in their isolation and wealth1 the ,venetians mediated the long strife between the popes and the ,teutonic emperors1 making favorable terms with both4 ,venice enjoyed a wholly exceptional political stability4 ,no other commune of ,europe could have fittingly assumed the title1 ,serenissima4 ,her galleys and sailing craft plied to ,candia1 ,rhodes1 ,smyrna1 ,alexandretta1 ,constantinople4 ,down the ,adriatic to ,malta1 her trading stations shone white under the yellow cliffs4 ,her incoming ships brought back the splendid rugs and silks and embroideries from the ,levant1 the beautiful potteries of ,asia ,minor1 ,persia and distant ,china1 the veined marbles and porphyries of ,egypt and of ,istria to build into her churches and palaces4 ,she was astute and powerful enough to divert a crusade into a plundering expedition against her rival1 ,constantinople4 ,and thus she got the four antique bronze horses still chafing above the portico of ,st4 ,mark's and many a relic of the later ,byzantine splendor4 ,her doors ever opened to the ,orient4 ,her quays swarmed with turbaned traders4 ,the ,greeks had their churches and confraternities at ,venice1 and so had the ,slavonians4 ,for articles of luxury the northern caravans came to ,venice over the ,brenner to load from the ,german warehouses on the ,grand ,canal4 ,so stable1 rich and proud a city was singularly slow in producing its own art4 ,venice was never primarily a manufacturing community1 and from the first she expected to import most articles of luxury and display4 ,thus when the manydomed ,basilica rose over the body of her patron1 ,st4 ,mark1 ,venice called masters from ,constantinople to enrich the surfaces with mosaics1 and when1 towards the end of the fourteenth century1 she wished to picture the new ,palace of the ,doges1 she called not her own artists to the task1 but those of ,padua1 ,verona and distant ,fabriano4 ,her originality and greatness in painting do not clearly assert themselves until about #adge in the work of the brothers ,bellini1 and by #aegg1 the year of ,titian's death1 the period of her artistic supremacy has passed4 ,the whole development is comprised within a century2 its acceleration is even more remarkable than the tardiness of its appearance4 ,in three generations ,venetian painting made the progress that had required six in ,tuscany1 and the whole preparatory period1 which in ,florence stretched over a century and three-quarters1 is included in the single life of such a master as ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,this means that ,venetian painting followed simpler and more unperturbed ideals than that of ,florence4 ,the composure1 complacency1 and self-centered quality of the ,venetians was a source of strength to their artists and as well a limitation4 ,the city stuck closely to its chief business of gaining greatly in order to live magnificently4 ,and unlike ,florence1 ,venice interprets magnificence in the most material terms1 in terms of velvet and veined marbles1 fair skins and lustrous hair1 in feasting and measured revelry1 grave and gentle manners1 colorful pageantry in honor of ,god1 his saints and the ,serenissima ,republica4 ,you will not find poets1 scholars1 scientists a-plenty at ,venice4 ,her painters have no tendency to be also architects1 sculptors1 mathematicians1 theorists in sthetics2 they stick placidly to the main business of painting4 ,and perhaps just because the ,venetian painter refused to be diverted from the problems proper to his craft1 his progress was so rapid and assured1 and the ,venetian school1 simply as painting1 the most beautiful school of painting the world has ever seen4 ,it was written in the lagoon itself that ,venetian painting should be a school of color4 ,long before the marble and porphyry palaces and the shining bridges of ,renaissance ,venice spanned the canals1 the brown water gave its satiny reflections of rude hut1 coppered galley1 tawny sail1 and1 in days of complete calm1 of the serrated ivory of the ,julian ,alps or the velvety azure of the ,euganean ,hills4 ,as the city grew palatially1 the marble and gold of the palace fronts1 and spires and domes1 with the buff and red of soaring bell towers1 further enriched the shimmering of the lagoon4 ,its waters were ruffled not merely by winds blending and effacing the weaving of borrowed colors1 but also by the passing of gilded processional barges with rhythmical oars celebrating the ,assumption of the ,virgin or the marriage of ,venice to the ,adriatic4 ,ashore the splendor was hardly less4 ,along the balustrades of innumerable little bridges1 the rose or yellow marble got an ineffable finish from the touch of countless hands4 ,dusky archways gave upon courts encrusted with variegated marbles1 porphyry and mosaics4 ,in the gloomy streets1 gay pictorial frescoes enlivened the fronts of the less pretentious houses4 ,in the great ,piazza of ,st4 ,mark and other open spaces1 often passed in solemn procession the religious confraternities called ,schools1 the members garbed with a splendor rare even in the ,renaissance4 ,there were clubs of young fops1 not yet broken to the paternal commerce1 who gave themselves to the invention and display of the finest tailoring and haberdashery4 ,and the unorganized kindred activities of the women of all ages were as effective from the point of view of social display4 ,such was the spectacle that ,venice offered the painter for record and even more for inspiration4 ,and the greatness of the ,venetian painters lay in their capacity to lend to this chiefly material splendor their own kind of ideality4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bjh4 ,presentation2 ,flight to ,egypt2 ,miracle at ,cana2 ,temptation4 ,from an ,italo-,byzantine ,altar-front of about #acej4--,trieste4 ,when ,venetian painting about the year #acej made its first timid assertions of originality1 the leading influence was that of the late ,byzantine artists of the ,slavonian coast and the ,ionian ,islands4 ,we see their narrative painting assuming a very slightly ,italian guise in the composite altar-front preserved in the museum of ,trieste4 ,figure #bjh4 ,its date cannot be very late in the fourteenth century1 and the stereotyped religious compositions represent models vividly before the ,venetian painter up to the ,renaissance4 ,such ,venetian masters as ,paolo1 active from #accb to #aceh1 and ,lorenzo1 whose work falls a generation later1 make slight and external improvements on the ,byzantine manner4#gj ,they reject its more rigid formulas--the gold web over drapery1 the multiplied small folds1 the painfully schematized muscles4 ,they add on their own account radiant blond coloring1 splendid brocades1 more gorgeous fashions of gilding1 and a new type of architectural arrangement4 ,the elaborate altar-backs with perforated pilasters1 and flamboyant arches and cresting2 with full-length figures below and half-length of like scale above1 become the standard form of ,venetic ancona about #acej and remains so for nearly a century and a half4 ,we may see the form1 with the upper central panel modernized1 in ,lorenzo's ,annunciation of #aceg1 in the ,venetian ,academy4 ,the effect depends largely on the frame-maker4 ,such altar-pieces are made more thoughtfully by ,caterino and ,donato and indeed persist in all ,northern ,italy until after #adej4 ,figure #baa4 ,we may study a similar type of ancona with narratives instead of single figures in the very accomplished and colorful work doubtfully ascribed to ,nicolo ,semitecolo1 towards the beginning of the new century4 ,though the narratives follow pretty closely the old ,byzantine requirements1 the whole surface shows the flower-bed variety and harmony of color which is proper to ,venice4 ,such work1 as a blend of ,byzantine and ,gothic features1 repeats what ,siena had effected with far greater originality and finesse about seventy years earlier under ,duccio and ,simone ,martini4 ,modena and ,bologna and ,padua through the latter half of the fourteenth century share this development1 but again on a basis of rather marked inferiority to ,siena4 ,the ,venetian authorities were fully conscious of the backwardness of their own artists4 ,when the ,ducal ,palace was finished in #acfe1 they called to fresco its great hall not any of the various local followers of ,paolo and ,lorenzo1 but ,guariento from neighboring ,padua4 ,he executed the great ,coronation of the ,virgin which was later damaged by fire and covered by ,tintoretto's ,paradise4 ,the temporary removal of ,tintoretto's canvas showed for a time the crumbling remains of ,guariento's fresco4 ,it is in an elaborate ,gothic-,byzantine style and abounds in incidental architectural ornament4 ,below the ceremony of the ,coronation there is a screen of pierced marble niches occupied by graceful angels4 ,it is a motive that will often recur in the new century4 ,on the whole ,guariento brings little new to ,venice1 but he does demonstrate the decorative possibilities of the local style4 ,his influence was restricted because the ,venetians soon ceased to work in fresco4 ,the impetus necessary to lift ,venetian painting out of its routine condition was supplied in the fifteenth century by ,gentile da ,fabriano and ,pisanello4 ,gentile1 who worked in the ,ducal ,palace about #adaj1 commanded both the exquisiteness of the ,sienese style and its narrative breadth4 ,unhappily his ,venetian frescoes which are lauded in contemporary accounts have perished4 ,his sweetness and ideality are attested by various ,madonnas4 ,we may infer his raciness and vivacity as a narrative painter from the predella of his master work1 the ,adoration of the ,kings 7#adbc74 ,the little panel of the ,presentation in the ,temple is admirable for its architectural inscenation and for the actuality of its incidental figures4 ,we have a man whose eye takes in the look of things4 ,this is even more the case with ,pisanello 7#acig-adee71 who worked a little later in the same hall4 ,he has severe notions of draughtsmanship1 as befitted the greatest of all medallists4 ,he brought from ,verona1 where his artistic ideas were formed1 the ideal of elaborate and credible setting1 especially as regards the relations of figures to architecture4 ,in his ruined fresco of ,st4 ,george of ,verona1 ,figure #bji1 we may catch his quality4 ,but the ,veronese style is really better represented by such immediate predecessors as ,avanzo and ,altichiero4 ,jointly about #ache they frescoed the great ,oratorio of ,st4 ,george at ,padua4 ,especially remarkable are the legends of the titular saint1 ,figure #baj4 ,through repainting one may still discern the dignity and discretion of the arrangement1 and in particular the just and tasteful elaboration of contemporary architectural features4 ,florentine and ,sienese frescoes of the time are hardly as accomplished4 ,the festal value of the architecture persists as a leading ideal of the school of ,verona down to her greatest master1 ,paolo ,veronese1 and the ideal was taken up with conviction at ,venice--became indeed the distinctive feature of her narrative school4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #baj4 ,altichiero of ,verona4 ,st4 ,george baptizes the ,family of the ,princess4 ,fresco4--,oratory of ,st4 ,george1 ,padua4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bji4 ,pisanello4 ,st4 ,george meets the ,princess4 ,fresco4--,sant' ,anastasia4 ,verona4 ,jacopo ,bellini1#ga the first great painter whom ,venice herself developed1 was the pupil of ,gentile da ,fabriano and also profoundly influenced by the ,veronese4 ,thus he combines in himself the two main strains of early ,venetian painting--its desire for sweetness and its desire for vivacity and elaborate truthfulness in narrative4 ,alongside of ,jacopo ,bellini worked the faithful imitators of ,paolo1 ,lorenzo1 and ,guariento4 ,such artists as ,jacobello del ,fiore and ,michele ,giambono1 while often inherently attractive1 are of small importance4 ,their contemporary1 ,antonio ,vivarini1 though in most ways less sensitively the artist1 prepared the way for the conservative school of ,murano4 ,antonio's quality is somewhat obscured by his habit of working with a ,german partner1 ,giovanni4 ,yet the part of ,antonio1 as represented by his altar-piece in the ,vatican1 dated #adfd1 ,figure #baa1 seems to have been merely to build cautiously on the work of ,guariento and ,lorenzo4 ,his nephew1 ,alvise1 and his younger brother1 ,bartolommeo1 become influential figures towards the end of the century4 ,the hope of the future rested with that far more searching spirit1 ,jacopo ,bellini4 ,he gave to art not merely his own indefatigable curiosity but two sons of genius1 ,gentile and ,giovanni4 ,all the leading tendencies of the ,early ,renaissance in ,venice originate with this remarkable family4 ,we first meet ,jacopo ,bellini in #adbd as an assistant of ,gentile da ,fabriano and he worked on till #adgj4 ,the great decorative canvases which he made for the ,ducal ,palace1 and for the ,schools of ,st4 ,mark and ,st4 ,john the ,evangelist have perished1 while the few pictures remaining from his brush are mostly of late date and inadequately express his ambitions4 ,his ,madonnas at the ,uffizi1 ,venice1 ,paris1 and ,milan retain the exquisite sweetness of his master's vein4 ,their modest grace may be felt in the little ,madonna1 ,figure #bab1 at ,venice4 ,of admirable gentleness and spirit is the ornate ,annunciation painted in #addd1 in ,sant' ,alessandro at ,brescia4 ,its predella panels1 although probably of student execution1 show how definitely his narrative compositions derive from ,altichiero and the ,veronese4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #baa4 ,antonio ,vivarini4 ,st4 ,antony 7polychromed wood statue7 and ,saints4 #adfd4--,vatican ,gallery1 ,rome4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bab4 ,jacopo ,bellini4 ,madonna4--,venice4 ,but we get the full stature of the man1 not from the minor paintings which chance has spared1 but from the two extraordinary sketch books respectively in the ,louvre and the ,national ,gallery4 ,here we trace his day by day exercises4 ,perspective is his constant concern4 ,he piles up elaborate architecture with an extravagance which even his ,veronese exemplars never ventured4 ,the subject matter gets lost in the setting4 ,the ,annunciation becomes a mere episode in an architectural extravaganza4 ,so does the ,feast of ,herod1 ,figure #bac4 ,the buildings generally are of ornate ,early ,renaissance type4 ,he loves to adorn them with swags and statues and low reliefs4 ,sometimes he sketches actual ,roman sculptures and coins1 medallions1 and inscriptions4 ,he makes strange1 stern backgrounds for his outdoor scenes1 with twisted stratified mountains and stately distant cities4 ,he loves wild beasts2 draws capital horses for ,st4 ,george or for ,perseus4 ,he is a bit of a humanist1 doing bacchanals1 with mischievous satyrs4 ,there are a few fine portraits and designs for ,madonnas4 ,thus these sketches with the silver point and quill pen anticipate every mode of the next generation--the narrative style1 the altar-piece1 the pastoral mythology4 ,one feels in the sketch books a nature rather alert and curious than thorough--a certain lack of concentration and real seriousness4 ,but the sketches evince an inexhaustible fancy1 and if they are ever published cheaply1 they should rival in popularity the most loved picture-books of fairyland4 ,jacopo was not only a versatile but a travelled artist4 ,active for a time at the brilliant court of ,lionello d',este at ,ferrara1 he had also visited ,florence and probably ,rome4 ,but his most important move as regards the history of art1 was to ,padua1 about #adec4 ,there the whole course of ,venetian painting was shaped by the apparently casual fact that an austere young painter named ,andrea ,mantegna fell in love with ,jacopo's daughter1 ,niccolosia1 and married her4 ,through that alliance1 the most formidable of brothers-in-law became the artistic mentor of ,gentile and ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bac4 ,jacopo ,bellini4 ,the ,feast of ,herod 7in upper right loggia74--,from the ,paris ,sketch ,book4 ,for a moment1 indeed1 ,padua and ,mantegna quite efface ,venice in interest4 ,for ten years before this lucky marriage1 ,padua had been the scene of intense artistic activity4 ,donatello1 the most powerful realist sculptor of ,florence1 was at work on the bronze reliefs for the altar of ,sant' ,antonio1 and on the ,gattamelata statue4 ,he gave young ,mantegna a strong impulse in the direction of constructive realism4 ,such ,florentine realists as ,paolo ,uccello and ,fra ,filippo ,lippi were also transient visitors at this time4 ,and ,padua1 ever an academic city1 saw the first systematic art school started by a shrewd and able master1 ,francesco ,squarcione4 ,squarcione collected ,roman marbles and bronzes1 concerned himself with the new mysteries of perspective1 foreshortening and precise anatomy4 ,he made his students acquire a line with the resiliency of bronze4 ,he made them copy minutely veined marbles and sculptured reliefs4 ,he insisted that every picture should have garlands of laurel mixed with vegetables and fruits4 ,the whole surface had to be brought to the lustrous surface of an enamel4 ,severe teaching usually attracts good pupils4 ,so it was in ,squarcione's case2 he had scores of pupils from all of the ,venetic region and even from ,dalmatia beyond the ,adriatic4 ,he was too sensible to paint much himself2 it didn't pay so successful a teacher4 ,so the few pictures ascribed to him are either of small importance or of dubious authenticity4 ,but his stamp is on all his pupils4 ,what his teaching meant may be grasped in early ,mantegna and even better in a painter who never emancipated himself--,carlo ,crivelli1 of ,venice1 8,eques ,aureatus40 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bad4 ,carlo ,crivelli4 ,madonna4 ,angels bearing ,symbols of the ,passion4--,verona4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bae4 ,carlo ,crivelli4 ,piet4--,boston4 ,crivelli's#gb fame was great but provincial4 ,originally most of his altar-pieces adorned churches of the ,adriatic ,marches4 ,dozens have passed thence to the museums of ,europe and ,america4 ,one and all they seem less painted things than the most splendid of mineral productions4 ,it is incredible that mere brush and paint can achieve so tense a line and such jewel-like surfaces4 ,entirely typical is an early ,madonna1 at ,verona1 ,figure #bad4 ,the great ancona of #adgf in the ,national ,gallery shows him faithful to the arrangements of the early ,venetians4 ,the ,annunciation1 in the same gallery1 painted ten years later1 reveals him affected by the narrative tradition of ,jacopo ,bellini4 ,in ,america fine ,piets at ,boston1 ,figure #bae1 ,new ,york1 and in the ,johnson ,collection1 ,philadelphia1 exemplify his rectitude and energy4 ,while ,mrs4 ,gardner's ,st4 ,george and the ,dragon1 as the most fastidious of fairy tales1 consoles us for the absence of this subject among the few pictures of ,jacopo ,bellini4 ,from his beginnings about #adfj to his death in #adic1 ,carlo ,crivelli remained true to his early teaching4 ,whoever understands his works has little need to consult further the entirely similar achievement of such great ,ferrarese painters as ,marco ,zoppo 7#addj ca4-#adih7 and ,cosimo ,tura 7#adcj ca4-#adie74 ,the influence of ,squarcione passed to the conservative painters at ,venice1 and influenced the entire ,murano school4 ,we have a resplendent masterpiece of this sort in the single known work of ,antonio da ,negroponte1 ,figure #baf1 in ,san ,francesco della ,vigna1 at ,venice4 ,it combines with its evident ,squarcionesque features1 the magnificence of the old ,gothic-,byzantine style1 and much of the sweetness of ,jacopo ,bellini4 ,its date is about #adej1 and the picture is an excellent point of departure for our understanding of the radical reform that came into ,venice and all ,lombardy with the activity of ,andrea ,mantegna4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #baf4 ,fra ,antonio da ,negroponte4 ,madonna4--,s4 ,francesco della ,vigna4 ,born in #adca at ,vicenza1 we find ,mantegna#gc enrolled at the tender age of thirteen in the painters' guild at ,padua4 ,he is described as an adoptive son of ,squarcione4 ,mantegna was scarcely twenty-four when he engaged with other fellow pupils to decorate a chapel in the ,church of the ,eremitani1 the subject being the legends of ,st4 ,james and ,st4 ,christopher4 ,in the six panels assigned to ,mantegna1 his quality and superiority are already manifest4 ,his style is severely archological and ,roman4 ,he endeavors honestly to reconstruct the times of the apostles4 ,but his method is more severe than that of the ,romans themselves4 ,the line moves with the slow authority of an engraved contour4 ,the relief is dry and harsh4 ,there is little sense of difference between living forms and sculptured figures4 ,the landscape is built in spiral strata as if worked out of metal4 ,here transpires clearly the influence of ,jacopo ,bellini1 which is as evident also in the ornate architectural settings4 ,the colors are at once dull and garish1 the textures scrupulously studied after ,squarcione's precepts4 ,a most strenuous art this1 and with all its pedantry full of power and dignity4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bag4 ,mantegna4 ,st4 ,james led to ,execution4 ,fresco4--,eremitani1 ,padua4 ,certain innovations in perspective should be noted4 ,in the fresco1 ,st4 ,james led to ,execution1 ,figure #bag1 ,mantegna avoids the usual conventional perspective1 which tilts the picture towards the spectator2 and treats the group as if it were on an actual stage set at the height of the fresco4 ,thus no ground is seen2 the projecting floor cuts off the feet of the figures2 and all vanishing points are precisely set at the level of the spectator's eye below4 ,the aim is to create illusion4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bah4 ,andrea ,mantegna4 ,madonna with ,saints4--,san ,zeno1 ,verona4 ,before the completion of the ,eremitani frescoes1 ,mantegna had married ,niccolosia ,bellini1 had profited largely by her father's advice1 and had influenced strongly her two brothers1 ,gentile and ,giovanni4 ,they seem to have been the first eager pupils of the man who was soon to be the artistic schoolmaster for all ,northern ,italy4 ,two years after his marriage1 in #adee1 ,mantegna liberated himself from legal bondage to ,squarcione1 and soon after began the masterpiece of his developed ,renaissance style1 the altar-back for ,san ,zeno ,maggiore at ,verona1 ,figure #bah4 ,it was finished in #adei1 the artist being twenty-eight years old4 ,it is a little over-rich1 finished throughout like a miniature1 and very stately4 ,in arrangement it obeys the artist's new law of illusion4 ,the base of the picture is precisely at the level of the eye1 so no floor is seen4 ,the carved classical frame is regarded as the front of an actual pavillion which is continued in paint4 ,without the frame1 the architectural perspective of the picture would not explain itself1 and if the picture were set higher or lower all the perspective relations would be wrong4 ,at ,siena1 a century and more earlier1 the ,lorenzetti had devised this motive of an open box of which the frame is the plastic front4 ,mantegna made this sort of illusionism standard for ,venice and all ,northern ,italy4 ,its value is open to question1 but ,i believe that the monumental altar-pieces of ,mantegna and ,giovanni ,bellini gain something in gravity and stability from this careful adjustment of the perspective to the actual position of the spectator4 ,at any rate it was the rigid logic and probity of ,mantegna that gave to ,venetian art precisely the tonic stimulus it needed4 ,by thirty he was famous1 and yielding to repeated persuasion1 he left ,padua for ,mantua and the court of the most generous art patrons of the moment1 the ,gonzagas4 ,his most notable work for them was the decoration of the ,camera degli ,sposi1 #adgd1 in their great palace1 and the canvases of the triumphs of ,csar1 #adha to #adid1 which1 sadly damaged and repainted1 are now seen at ,hampton ,court4 ,the two series represent strikingly the dual and never completely harmonized strains in ,mantegna's genius--realism and archaism4 ,he was never more the realist than in the room decorated in honor of the marriage of ,lodovico ,gonzaga and ,barbara of ,brandenburg1 the ,camera degli ,sposi4 ,the motives are wholly novel--no religious subjects1 nothing mythological1 just the ,gonzaga family and their courtiers1 sitting in conversation1 meeting ceremoniously1 or preparing for the hunt4 ,nowhere before had such a consistent use of the principle of illusionism been made1 not even in ,roman mural painting of the ,antonine age4 ,mantegna has completely painted away the real walls of the room1 and has replaced the real architecture by a simulated classical pavillion1 with arcades looking out to the country side and a round opening above4 ,all the figures are out of doors4 ,to see the scheme properly you must stand precisely in the centre of the room and turn on your heel4 ,the arrangement in short is periscopic4 ,as you look up you will see a balcony with cupids1 ,figure #bai1 standing on the outside ledge and maids of honor and peacocks looking down over the balustrade4 ,you see everything feet foremost as if it were actually there4 ,then you look out through the arcades where the view of outside doings is sometimes interrupted by a curtain4 ,generally it is drawn aside that you may see these great folk at ease outside their pleasure house1 ,figure #bbj4 ,the portraits are of utmost dignity and authority4 ,in dealing with real people ,mantegna's style is less pinched than in his classical decorations4 ,if ,i have insisted on the point of illusionism1 it is only because the audacious logic of ,correggio and a host of baroque followers for a century and more really grows out of this scheme at ,mantua4 ,you will see the open well with figures outside the parapet in ,correggio's dome at ,parma1 and the figures outside the painted roof in the ,convent of ,st4 ,paolo4 ,indeed1 you have only to let the clouds come down through such open roofs and seat decorative figures on the clouds to arrive at the fully developed baroque style4 ,and it is odd enough that its most romantic extravagances are clearly deducible from this rather sober and pedantic illusionism of ,andrea ,mantegna4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bai4 ,mantegna4 ,detail of ,ceiling4--,camera degli ,sposi1 ,mantua4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bbj4 ,mantegna4 ,portraits of the ,gonzaga ,family4 ,fresco4--,camera degli ,sposi1 ,mantua4 ,of the painted cloths representing the ,triumphs of ,csar1 ,figure #bba1 7#adhd-adib71 nine remain in debased condition at ,hampton ,court1 ,england4 ,here the classicism of ,mantegna finds its most legitimate expression4 ,the designs are better seen in the engravings of his school and in the later woodcut copies by ,andreini4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bba4 ,mantegna4 ,triumph of ,csar4--,hampton ,court1 ,england4 ,despite such great commissions1 ,mantegna lived in something near poverty4 ,he could never resist a beautiful antique1 and he was proud and difficult in his relations to exacting patrons4 ,his style after his ,roman visit of #adhh to #adij loses something of its tension and develops breadth4 ,perhaps the most impressive picture of this time is the ,madonna of ,victory1 ,figure #bbb1 in the ,louvre1 which was painted in #adie to celebrate ,gianfrancesco ,gonzaga's drawn battle with the ,french at ,fornovo4 ,its severity is mollified by the graciousness of the evergreen bower in which the group is set and by the contrasting seriousness of ,st4 ,elizabeth and the kneeling donor4 ,these figures forecast a mystical and tender quality in certain of the later ,madonnas4 ,in his last years ,mantegna undertook an attractive but difficult task in decorating the study of the famous bluestocking1 ,isabella d',este1 wife of ,gianfrancesco4 ,with the pertinacity of a suffragette born out of due time1 this great lady framed the most elaborate written programmes1 upon the literal accomplishment of which she insisted4 ,her correspondence with such unfortunate protegs as ,perugino and ,lorenzo ,costa is among the delightful eccentricities of ,renaissance annals4 ,the resultant decorations reflect the sophisticated and somewhat brittle grace of ,isabella's own personality4 ,none are better than those of ,mantegna which were done about the year #aejj4 ,his ,parnassus1 ,figure #bbc1 with its romantically picturesque gods and godesses1 and its admirable round of dancing muses1 is the best that ,northern ,italy can show in comparison with ,botticelli's mythologies1 unless it be the companion piece1 ,minerva expelling the ,vices1 ,figure #bbd1 which is wonderful alike in energy1 inventiveness and grotesque humor1 anticipating in its mood similar refinements in ,spenser's 8,faerie ,queene0 and ,milton's 8,comus40 ,mantegna in these works becomes the true precursor of that poetic pastoralism which in ,giorgione soon dominates the ,venetian scene4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bbb4 ,mantegna4 ,madonna of ,victory4--,louvre4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bbc4 ,mantegna4 ,parnassus4--,louvre4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bbd4 ,mantegna4 ,minerva ,expelling the ,vices4--,louvre4 ,mantegna lived on1 none too well treated by the younger ,gonzagas1 until #aejf4 ,to relieve his poverty he offered for sale his most treasured marble1 an ,agrippina4 ,he left in his studio his most rigid and painful piece1--the ,foreshortened ,christ he called it4 ,all his probity is in the picture4 ,for ,giovanni ,bellini and others it served as the highest model of the tragic style1 and it refutes the shallow views of such as find ,mantegna merely academic and cold4 ,he left many engravings and marvellous drawings in which perhaps better than in the paintings we may feel the exquisiteness of his austerely fastidious taste4 ,such a drawing as the ,judith in the ,uffizi1 ,figure #bbe1 is an epitome of all that ,mantegna had to bequeath to the ,renaissance4 ,well his contemporaries knew the value of his example4 ,it rebuked the slackness of their own practice4 ,alongside the exquisitely modelled foot of his ,st4 ,sebastian in the ,louvre1 stands the severed marble foot from a ,greek statue4 ,as he ever measured his work against the antique1 so the painters of ,milan1 ,vicenza1 ,ferrara1 ,verona and ,venice had to measure their work against his4 ,and that simple act of honest comparison in a single generation furthered the art of ,northern ,italy to a degree that in ,tuscany it had taken a century to attain4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bbe4 ,andrea ,mantegna4 ,judith4 ,wash ,drawing4--,uffizi4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bbf4--;,antonello da ,messina4 ,the ,condottiere4--,louvre4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bbg4 ,antonello da ,messina4 ,st4 ,jerome in his ,study4--,london4 ,at the moment when ,mantegna's influence was at its height1 it was happily modified in a realistic direction by the advent of ,antonello da ,messina4#gd ,despite recent discoveries1 the career of this great ,sicilian realist remains obscure4 ,vasari imagined him a traveler in ,flanders and a direct pupil of ,jan van ,eyck1 whose invention of oil painting he was believed to have adopted4 ,the legend is thoroughly discredited by newly discovered documents4 ,antonello came up in ,sicily under the influence of visiting ,spanish masters4 ,from them he caught at second hand the point of view of ,northern realism1 from them he learned the advantages of the more fluid and lustrous oil vehicle4 ,but he must also have seen and carefully studied fine paintings of the ,flemish school4 ,there were such in ,sicily and at ,naples4 ,antonello emerges about #adgj as the most energetic and truthful draughtsman of his time1 and a portraitist of powerful character equipped with a new and better technique4 ,in #adge he was in ,venice and ,lombardy4 ,such portraits as the captain of mercenaries1 ,il ,condottiere1 ,figure #bbf1 at the ,louvre1 immediately set the standard for the entire region4 ,we no longer find flat profiles1 but heads perfectly drawn in three-quarters aspect1 modelled minutely1 but with no loss of character and effect4 ,no such eye as ,antonello's1 unless it were that of ,piero della ,francesca1 had as yet applied itself to the problems of painting4 ,whether in the nude1 in his ,st4 ,sebastians and ,crucifixions1 or in his rare interiors1 such as the ,st4 ,jerome in his ,study1 ,figure #bbg1 in the ,national ,gallery1 he announced new perfections in lighting1 modelling and perspective4 ,he painted for the ,church of ,san ,cassiano at ,venice a stately and massive ,madonna which led the local painters in the direction of mass and monumentality4 ,recent criticism has recognised the mutilated central panel in the ,vienna gallery4 ,antonello's work imposes itself primarily by its mere intensity of existence4 ,it has no charm1 and no especial emotion4 ,precisely this impersonality makes it an admirable and safe model4 ,before his coming the ,venetians had experimented with oil mediums1 but they gladly adopted his lustrous enamels1 and strong shadows4 ,he returned soon to his native ,sicily1 where he died in #adgi1 but his brief sojourn in the ,north had left its stamp4 ,montagna of ,vicenza1 ,cima of ,conegliano1 ,buonsignori of ,verona1 ,alvise ,vivarini of ,venice are among his conscious emulators1 and all the figure painting of ,venice assumes new gravity and authority4 ,and we may mark his influence even in the leading masters of the new school1 ,gentile and ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,the tardy emergence of these two brothers of genius is one of the puzzles of the ,venetian school4 ,neither makes any impression till he is in his forties1 and their work has no directive influence till after #adhj4 ,the simplest explanation is that of ,mr4 ,berenson4 ,he suggests that the brothers loyally contented themselves with the position of partners in their father's bottega until his death in #adgj4 ,from that moment their progress is swift4 ,giovanni enlarges the style of the altar-piece in a ,renaissance and monumental sense1 and later moves gradually in a pastoral direction4 ,gentile brings to its perfection the complicated narrative style of his father4 ,both paint admirable portraits4 ,since ,gentile is less an innovator than a perfector of an established mode1 we may well begin with him4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bbh4 ,gentile ,bellini4 ,sultan ,mahomet ,,ii4--,london4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bbi4 ,gentile ,bellini4 ,a ,turkish ,youth4 ,miniature4--,mrs4 ,john ,l4 ,gardner1 ,boston4 ,such early works as the organ shutters of ,st4 ,mark's and the processional banner with the portrait of the ,blessed ,lorenzo ,giustiniani1 #adfe1 show that he based himself on ,mantegna4 ,his career1 however1 is associated with narrative mural paintings for the schools1 in which work he developes a real originality4 ,whatever he painted in #adff for the ,great ,school of ,st4 ,mark was soon destroyed in a fire4 ,it was presumably the fame of these canvases that got him in #adfi the titles of knight and count palatine4 ,in #adgi1 being fifty years old1 he was called to ,constantinople to serve that cruel voluptuary1 ,sultan ,mahomet ,,ii4 ,gentile's portrait of him1 now in the ,national ,gallery1 ,figure #bbh1 is an appalling piece of exact characterization4 ,one feels the malignity of a character softened by vices1 but retaining all mental lucidity and capacities for both cruelty and calculated self-indulgence4 ,a more amiable souvenir of this trip is the exquisite miniature portrait of a young ,moslem prince1 ,figure #bbi1 which is at ,fenway ,court4 ,gentile brought back to ,venice the new title of ,pasha4 ,we do not find him about his proper work until #adib1 when he agrees to do 8not for money but by superhuman inspiration0 the new canvases necessitated by the fire in the ,great ,school of ,st4 ,mark4 ,the greatest of these is the view of the ,piazza of ,st4 ,mark's with the procession made by the ,school itself on ,corpus ,christi day1 ,figure #bcj4 ,in the centre is their venerated relic of the ,true ,cross4 ,about it attention is fixed and almost military1 relaxing gradually at the sides4 ,there are hundreds of figures and scores of portraits in the picture1 yet there is no smallness of presentation4 ,such eighteenth century town painters as ,canale and his followers could hardly improve upon the truthfulness of the scene as regards light and air even4 ,its value as record is immense4 ,and1 barring a certain stiffness1 its value as art is hardly less4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bcj4 ,gentile ,bellini4 ,corpus ,christi ,procession in ,piazza of ,s4 ,marco4--,venice4 ,another panel from this series shows ,gentile's really great capacity as an out-of-doors painter4 ,it represents the miraculous recovery of the reliquary of the cross which had fallen into the canal4 ,how perfectly the play of light over the encrusted and plastered palaces is felt1 its shimmer upon the smooth water and through the moving crowds6 ,in the essentials of plein-airisme we moderns have not so much surpassed this work4 ,and if ,gentile seems after all not quite a great artist1 it is due to that impassivity which is proper to a luminist4 ,with equal realism1 ,gentile's imitator1 ,carpaccio1 added sentiment1 hence he is beloved and ,gentile ignored4 ,yet early ,venetian narrative painting is complete with ,gentile1 and from every consideration of naturalism it is immensely superior to anything produced at ,florence in this period4 ,it gains all the smaller points of representation with the most amazing ease1 perhaps because it waives the greater issue of monumentality4 ,it is well put together1 but shows little selection1 is even at its best rather casually full of persons and things4 ,this produces1 as compared with ,florence1 an odd reversal of conditions4 ,the altar-piece1 which in ,florence is rather intimate1 is in ,venice far the most monumental type of painting4 ,we study the development of monumental design better in ,giovanni ,bellini's altar-backs than in his brother's narratives4 ,to ,gentile1 at once a searching spirit in details and a conservative on the whole1 it must have been a great satisfaction to have perfected the narrative mode that his father had so brilliantly inaugurated4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bca4 ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,piet4--,milan4 ,after #aejj1 being in the seventies and ailing1 old ,gentile acquired the ominous habit of frequently making and unmaking wills4 ,his last one1 which became effective in #aejg1 left to his vigorous brother1 ,giovanni1 the precious paternal sketch books and the heavy duty of finishing for ,st4 ,mark's ,school the vast ,canvas of ,st4 ,mark ,preaching at ,alexandria1 which is now at ,milan4 ,giovanni was nearly eighty himself1 but he put the great work through handsomely4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bcb4 ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,christ at ,gethsemane4--,london4 ,giovanni ,bellini#ge was a natural son1 but as was the humane ,italian custom1 taken into his father's family4 ,he was born about #adcj1 and his early efforts were completely dominated by ,mantegna4 ,indeed he hardly finds himself artistically until he is fifty1 and then he develops a most gracious capacity for growth which ceases only with his death at eighty-five4 ,of the score of pictures which are ,mantegnesque in quality the earliest and most remarkable is the ,piet at ,milan1 ,figure #bca4 ,in the tragic power it outdoes ,mantegna himself1 and with all its hardness1 it is more painter-like4 ,the distribution of light and dark is broader1 the expression more homely and genuine4 ,only a little later1 perhaps towards #adgj1 is the ,christ on the ,mount of ,olives1 at ,london1 ,figure #bcb4 ,with a very similar picture by ,mantegna in the same gallery1 it is based on a sketch of ,jacopo ,bellini's4 ,although ,giovanni frankly imitates the rigid folds of drapery and landscape from ,mantegna1 it is with a distinct difference4 ,the mood is gentler1 details are less obtrusive1 there is an exquisite sense of evening sky1 and of hills in gloom1 and of the coming of twilight over a river plain4 ,it is the first greatly felt landscape in ,venetian painting1 and though ,giovanni was far to surpass it in fineness and accuracy1 even he never excelled it in depth and truthfulness of feeling4 ,the serenity of the eventide is the fitting foil to ,our ,lord's single moment of human weakness and despair4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bcc4 ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,madonna4--,estate ,theodore ,davis4 ,giovanni's early ,madonnas are singularly various4 ,we have one very stately and tender in the estate of ,theodore ,m4 ,davis1 ,figure #bcc4 ,the ,madonna in the ,john ,g4 ,johnson collection1 ,philadelphia1 is wistful and emaciated4 ,one belonging to ,mr4 ,philip ,lehman1 ,new ,york1 is of sensuous1 peasant type1 while the painting1 unlike the soberness of the two earlier ones1 shows the utmost resplendence of ,mantegnesque enamels4 ,its date may be about #adgj4 ,so we see ,giovanni wholly flexible and experimental at forty1 and developing chiefly under ,mantegna's influence4 ,giovanni's emancipation from ,mantegna takes place very gradually4 ,it is virtually complete in the ,transfiguration1 ,figure #bcd1 at ,naples which may be dated towards #adhj4 ,bellini asserts himself fully in the gracious monumentality of the chief group1 while his ,arcadian mood is forecast in the ample landscape softly invested with a colorful light and shade4 ,there is a more specific emotion and a more romantic richness of setting in ,st4 ,francis receiving the ,stigmata1 ,figure #bjg1 ,frick ,collection1 which may be a year or two later4 ,these are both ,wordsworthian pictures1 imbued with a mystical tenderness for natural appearances4 ,such are the sources from which ,giorgione will soon draw his pagan pastoralism4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bcd4 ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,the ,transfiguration4--,naples4 ,towards #adhj ,giovanni ,bellini's work assumes monumental breadth1 and withal a new sweetness4 ,his ,madonnas settle into what was to be the ,venetian type--superb1 mature forms at once queenly and maternal4 ,earlier there had been no ,madonna type in his work but a singular variety of forms and faces4 ,in generalizing the stately charm of ,venetian motherhood1 ,giovanni moves towards the grand style1 and does so nearly twenty years sooner than the ,florentines4 ,his characteristic works are now great altar-pieces1 with monumental distribution of the figures within fine architectural spaces4 ,generally the frame is a part of the pictorial organism1 the plastic front of a pavillion4 ,it is about the only survival of ,mantegna's practice in these solemn and gracious pictures4 ,unluckily the first of the series perished in #ahfg in the disastrous fire which robbed us also of ,titian's ,death of ,st4 ,peter ,martyr4 ,but surviving copies of this altar-back for the ,church of ,s4 ,giovanni e ,paolo confirm the tradition that it was painted well before #adhj4 ,in its arrangement and details1 especially in the tendency to crowd the many figures forward1 it reveals to me the influence of ,antonello da ,messina's great altar-piece for ,san ,cassiano4 ,it had apparently a somewhat rigid formality like that of the slightly earlier piece at ,pesaro4 ,bellini is not yet quite at ease in his new and broader style1 but he has at least glimpsed the ideal of monumentality and acquired a new technique1 that of oil painting1 in which to express it4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bce4 ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,madonna with ,saints4--,frari1 ,venice4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bce;a4 ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,madonna of ,st4 ,job4--,venice4 ,we find him full-grown in the noble ,madonna of ,st4 ,job1 ,figure #bce;a1 made for the church of that name about #adhd and now in the ,venice ,academy4 ,in this picture the new ,venetian ideals of ardor and gravity unite harmoniously with the old ideal of material splendor4 ,what playings of light and half-lights there are over mosaics1 polished marbles and carvings6 ,how admirably the strict symmetry of the group is relieved by varying the postures of the six saints and by contrasting the sober garb of the monkish saints with the superb nudity of ,saints ,job and ,sebastian and the shimmering silks of the playing angels below4 ,and the great picture1 with all its monumentality1 retains much of that old lyrical fire1 which is gradually yielding to more sedate and reflective aims4 ,we shall find the two great ,madonnas of #adhh1 for the ,frari1 ,figure #bce1 and for ,st4 ,peter's at ,murano1 conceived more impassively4 ,for the city church1 ,bellini insisted on hieratic effect and incidental splendors1 reverting to the form of the triptych and arranging it after ,mantegna's fashion with the frame and picture in one perspective4 ,it is perhaps the grandest as it is the most formal of his altar-backs1 consciously regal in the attitude of the ,virgin1 with saints as magisterial as so many ,venetian senators4 ,for the suburban church at ,murano he set the ,madonna low amid her paladins and opened up delicious landscape vistas at the sides4 ,the thing1 with all its dignity1 is lyrical1 and almost intimate4 ,it anticipates the mood of the later open-air ,sacred ,conversations4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bcf4--;,giovanni ,bellini4 ,madonna with ,st4 ,paul and ,st4 ,george4--,venice4 ,in the nineties and the early years of the new century1 masterpiece follows masterpiece1 and we must proceed by selection4 ,giovanni invents a charming form of altar-piece for private chapels4 ,these ,madonnas and saints at half-length have already the mood of the later conversation pieces1 and need only the less symmetrical scheme which ,bellini's pupil1 ,titian1 will soon give them4 ,for harmony one might prefer the ,madonna with two female saints1 or for robust contrast and vitality the ,madonna with two burly military champions1 ,figure #bcf4 ,both are in the ,venetian ,academy4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bcg4 ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,madonna of the ,trees4--,venice4 ,the single1 half-length ,madonnas1 ,figure #bcg1 of this period are counted by scores1 and are in many public and private collections in ,europe and ,america4 ,they are singularly uniform in inspiration1 and yet the mood is so rich and noble that an apparent monotony is never cloying4 ,bellini's gift in these pictures is to combine a kind of serene obviousness with great delicacy4 ,there are hints of wistfulness and sadness through the series1 but such sentiments are never much insisted on4 ,the real mysticism of these pictures is nothing but the notation of the most natural and mysterious thing in the world--the bond between mother and babe1 the pride of it1 the exclusiveness of it1 the joyous burden of it4 ,art could hardly be less theological or more genuinely religious than in these ,madonnas4 ,i think no human being could miss either their naturalness or their sacredness4 ,as ,giovanni ,bellini approached the scriptural term of years1 and the century drew to its close1 he cultivates by way of recreation certain old leads which become new and powerful influences on his successors4 ,the element of tact in the man is miraculous4 ,he does nothing till the time has come when the doing will be most useful4 ,thus such pastoral recreations as the ,religious ,allegory in the ,uffizi1 ,figure #bch1 and the little symbolical panels in the ,venice ,academy lead directly to the fantastic ,arcadianism of ,giorgione4 ,the ,religious ,allegory is vaguely an illustration for the old ,french poem 8,man's ,pilgrimage40 ,we have a ,paradise1 with the new souls in infant form4 ,the apostles ,peter and ,paul stand guard outside the celestial barrier1 while the ,madonna presides within4 ,beyond a dark stream is the hazardous world1 a place of caverns and crags1 and hermits and centaurs2 of mystery and uncertainty4 ,perhaps ,giovanni ,bellini cared rather more for the darkling shadows over water and river bank1 for the broken light under a veiled sky than for the formal allegory4 ,certainly the element of strangeness and glamour is evident enough in the five little panels depicting virtues and vices4 ,again the faery quality1 our earth grown strange to us1 is the basis of the charm4 ,we have noted similar fantastic inventions at ,florence1 notably in the work of ,piero di ,cosimo4 ,bellini evokes a more normal poetry which is based on a more intimate study of nature4 ,such landscapes as his1 even when unpeopled1 suggest nymphs and shepherds4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bch4 ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,religious ,allegory1 ,souls in ,paradise4--,uffizi4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bdj4 ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,doge ,loredano4--,london4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bci4 ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,madonna with ,saints4--,s4 ,zaccaria4 ,at seventy1 at the opening of the new century1 ,giovanni ,bellini's mind was still flexible1 so much so that we hardly know whether he leads or follows such pupils of genius as ,titian and ,giorgione4 ,his color acquires a deeper glow1 his warm shadows are heavier and more carefully graduated2 he drops his few remaining ,mantegnesque habits4 ,in the ,madonna for ,san ,zaccaria1 ,figure #bci1 dated #aeje1 we have no longer the illusionistic perspective of the altar-pieces of the '#hjs4 ,the group is set well back1 the suffusion of the niche with air is more dense1 the saintly figures have exchanged the old resolute1 hieratic attitudes for a gentle dreaminess2 the mood is that of ,giorgione's contemporary altar-piece at ,castelfranco4 ,in the portrait of ,doge ,loredano1 ,figure #bdj1 of the same year resolution and wistfulness blend fascinatingly4 ,the delineation has the force and certainty of ,antonello da ,messina with a refinement ,antonello never even glimpsed4 ,in these later years ,giovanni ,bellini multiplied1 largely through student aid1 conversation pieces with gracious gatherings of saints in the open air4 ,the mood is that of courtly revery4 ,titian and ,palma will later repeat the theme indefinitely4 ,one of the best is at ,s4 ,francesco della ,vigna1 and bears the date #aejg4 ,it is an idyl borrowing religious forms4 ,in the altar-piece painted in #aeac1 ,figure #bda1 for the church of ,s4 ,giovanni ,crisostomo1 ,giambellino anticipates the new and compositional forms of the rising generation4 ,the rich architecture opens upon a contemplative old man reading on a crag1 with majestic mountain lines behind him athwart a serene sky4 ,everything above is off centre and diagonal1 stability being preserved by the great vertical figures of the saints in the foreground1 and by the formality of the parapet behind them4 ,we have almost a picture within a picture1 the maximum of formality and informality1 of nature and artifice--all those elaborate and calculated beauties which we associate with ,titian's maturity4 ,there is withal a mystical earnestness of which ,titian himself lacked the secret4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bda4 ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,st4 ,john ,crisostom4--,s4 ,giov4 ,crisostomo4 ,in his remaining two years ,bellini designed the lovely and modest nude ,lady at her ,toilet1 at ,vienna1 and the ,feast of the ,gods1 ,figure #bdb1 now in ,mr4 ,joseph ,widener's collection at ,philadelphia4 ,his career ends in a rather skeptical acceptance of the sensuous graces of the new humanism1 for the gods are merely ,venetian picnickers on an excursion4 ,the penetrating poetry of the picture is of a homely sort without pretensions to grandeur4 ,the landscape is partly by ,titian4 ,giovanni died in #aeae1 being more than eighty-five years old4 ,as late as #aejf1 ,albrecht ,drer found him the greatest artist at ,venice4 ,he had begun with the faint dawn of the ,renaissance and ended in its midday glow4 ,he had raised ,venetian painting to monumental estate1 had mastered the secrets of landscape and its illumination1 had initiated a delightful pastoralism1 had conveyed religious emotion in forms humanly sweet and grave1 had made the best of every world4 ,scores of his pupils extended his manner to ,brescia1 ,bergamo1 ,vicenza1 and ,treviso4 ,his genius knew neither haste nor hesitation1 he was almost never below his best4 ,the ,renaissance produced a few painters of greater scope and powers1 but none more consistently great as an artist or more venerable as a personality4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bdb4 ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,feast of the ,gods4--,widener ,coll41 ,elkins ,park1 ,pa4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bdc4 ,bartolommeo ,vivarini4 ,madonna with ,saints4--,naples4 ,to appreciate his value a glance at less progressive contemporaries will suffice4 ,we find ,bartolommeo ,vivarini normally continuing the routine of the ,murano ,school4 ,in the polyptych at ,bologna1 done with his elder brother ,antonio in #adej1 we have with slight ,squarcionesque improvements the old attenuated ,venetian forms4 ,in the highly decorated ,madonna at ,naples1 dated #adfe1 we have an intelligent use of both the ,squarcionesque realisms1 and the refinements of ,jacopo ,bellini4 ,figure #bdc4 ,later pieces such as the triptych of #adhg at the ,frari reveal a heavy-handed imitation of ,mantegna1 and any little originality of the master soon gets lost in the voluminous output of the shop4 ,bartolommeo died in the last year of his century1 whose fair average he had well represented4 ,his nephew ,alvise ,vivarini deserves notice as the transmitter of the realism of ,antonello da ,messina to such artists as ,montagna1 ,cima1 and ,lorenzo ,lotto4 ,as a portraitist he has real power4 ,his great altar-pieces have their bleak and unattractive nobility4 ,venice greatly honored him in confiding several of the new panels for the ,ducal ,palace to his care4 ,but since these works of the eighties were soon burned1 our view of ,alvise remains imperfect4 ,i suspect modern criticism has somewhat exaggerated his importance4 ,he was active from about #adfj to #aejc1 and his altar-pieces afford the best foils for ,giovanni ,bellini1 as revealing a lesser capacity for growth4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bdd4 ,carpaccio4 ,prince ,hero ,taking ,leave of his ,father 7,l7 and ,greeting ,ursula 7,r74--,venice4 ,we have now to trace the old narrative style to its climax and end in ,vittore ,carpaccio4#gf ,he inherited all the panoramic and luministic accomplishments of ,gentile ,bellini1 but applied them with far greater imagination4 ,he deals with legend1 giving it contemporary color1 and in his sensitive hands it becomes the most veridical and charming of fairy lands4 ,carpaccio's training is obscure to us4 ,it may be that the very mediocre narrative painter1 ,lazzaro ,bastiani1 first taught him4 ,in any case he drew more from ,gentile ,bellini's resolute handling of light1 textures and costume4 ,we first meet ,carpaccio as an artist in the decoration of the ,great ,school of ,st4 ,ursula from #adib to #adie4 ,he was probably all of fifty years old4 ,the childlike legend1 with its numerous embassies1 meetings and partings1 settings out and arrivings1 gave him spectacular opportunities of which he made the most winning use4 ,in the nine canvases now in the ,academy we find an epitome of the courtesy1 circumstance and adventure that accompanied travel in those days1 and the mere spectacle is underlaid with a pensive ideality2 for these are no ordinary journeys1 but the quest of martyrdom by a princely youth and maiden4 ,nothing is insisted on1 however1 but the gayety of the events1 and the picturesqueness of their settings4 ,as in all good story-telling1 the persuasiveness depends on veracious minor episodes4 ,there are the most attentive scribes and secretaries1 as if to carry off the unlikely matter they are inditing4 ,the heavy ease of men-at-arms and self-conscious elegance of young ,venetian fops make them credible witnesses to else incredible legend4 ,to adorn his tales ,carpaccio borrowed from the woodcut illustrations to ,breydenbach's 8,itinerary to ,jerusalem40 ,it is remarkable how he invests these mere skeletons of cities with color1 sunlight1 the glamour of the orient4 ,about all he draws a veil of air saturated with sunlight1 concentrated into rising clouds whose shadows darken the lustrous blue of the tranquil lagoon4 ,there never was a more ravishing raconteur in the art of making incidentals count for essentials4 ,such a picture as ,prince ,hero taking leave of his father and greeting ,st4 ,ursula1 ,figure #bdd1 is the fulfilment of all that old ,jacopo ,bellini and his ,veronese precursors had dreamed of4 ,it is typical of a series which has its more intimate phases only by way of exception4 ,the virginal beauty of the legend gets a real expression only in the ,vision of ,st4 ,ursula4 ,figure #bde4 ,the character of the earnest1 slumbering face and the sweet slight body carries through the exquisitely indicated space1 and we hardly need to be told that the wistful boyish angel is offering a martyr's palm4 ,possibly it takes a mundane person like ,carpaccio to realize the beauty of the more fantastic religious ardors4 ,a completely devout person takes them as in the day's work4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bde4 ,carpaccio4 ,dream of ,st4 ,ursula4--,venice4 ,before the end of the century1 ,carpaccio painted for the ,school of ,s4 ,giovanni ,evangelista the ,miracle of the healing of a ,demoniac4 ,the picture is now in the ,academy4 ,it is a marvellous panorama of contemporary ,venice1 with the bustle of eager crowds1 the slipping of gondolas over the canal1 and light flickering over and caressing the manifold colors of the gay scene4 ,it has the fidelity of ,gentile ,bellini without his dryness4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bdf4 ,carpaccio4 ,st4 ,george and the ,dragon4--,school of ,st4 ,george of the ,slavonians4 ,the most delightful if not the most important monument of ,renaissance ,venice is unquestionably the ,school of ,st4 ,george of the ,slavonians4 ,it is the only school that retains its primitive paintings still set in the original carved and golded wainscoting4 ,there one sees in the ground floor the legends of ,st4 ,jerome1 an odd mixture of gravity1 richness1 and humor4 ,nothing more sumptuous than the ,saint in his exquisitely appointed study1 or more archly comic than the scene of consternation when the ,saint brings home his lion from the desert4 ,the series was painted about #aejb4 ,upstairs we have the chivalric legend of ,st4 ,george of ,cappadocia1 painted some eight years later4 ,nothing could be more romantically entrancing than the boyish champion charging intrepidly over the sun-dried shreds and tatters of his predecessors into the very jaws of the most confidently virulent of dragons1 ,figure #bdf1 unless it be the scene where he leads his tame dragon into the astounded court1 or that in which he proudly baptizes his future bride and her parents while a ,turkish band plays a fanfare4 ,about the blowing of these horns of elfland there is no faintness whatever4 ,we are in the realm of most palpable adventure and romance1 and the emphasis depends on splendid color and on drawing of a magical alertness4 ,carpaccio's merit as the liveliest and most persuasive of raconteurs seems so definite that it is almost a shock to meet him in other capacities4 ,also a disappointment to find in the ,new ,testament subjects from the ,school of the ,albanians1 #aejd1 that in such stereotyped subjects he can be almost mediocre4 ,certainly in the great altar-piece of the ,presentation in the ,temple1 ,figure #bdg1 at the ,academy1 he shows that he fully understands the new monumentality of ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,the date is #aeaj4 ,the picture is of the most reverent composure1 and as tender as it is grand4 ,in the portrait of ,two ,courtesans on a ,balcony1 in the ,correr1 ,carpaccio shows a force of character wholly modern4 ,with a kind of irony he has taken the moral emptiness of his sitters out of doors1 flooded it with sunlight and air1 given it harshness and ugliness1 lavishing upon the rich costumes and fair skins the most delicate pains4 ,john ,ruskin will tell you that these are honest women4 ,such faith is more worthy of reverence than of imitation4 ,the greatness of ,carpaccio lies in the impartiality with which he renders a certain kind of life on its own terms4 ,the romancer is capable of appalling truthfulness4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bdg4 ,carpaccio4 ,the ,presentation4--,venice4 ,that he was also a mystic of the most intense sort is hard to believe4 ,yet if the marvellous ,meditation on the ,passion1 ,figure #bdh1 in the ,metropolitan ,museum1 be really by him1 such is the case4 ,in a desert the ,dead ,christ sits in a crumbling throne1 while two grim sages1 ,st4 ,job and ,st4 ,onophrius1 sit in rapt contemplation4 ,their mood has evoked the bodily vision of their ,lord4 ,art has produced few such symbols for the hallucinative intensity of the life contemplative4 ,these weather-beaten forms seem an emanation from the sands and blistering sunlight4 ,they have few relations to our world4 ,their souls move in vast uninhabited spaces4 ,that ,carpaccio can have produced this masterpiece as late as #aebj1 and cast it deliberately in a style learned forty years earlier seems to me a fantastic hypothesis1 even if it has enlisted grave authority4 ,the abundant similarities of the landscape with that of the ,st4 ,francis of the ,frick ,collection make me feel that the invention of this picture is ,giovanni ,bellini's1 at his moment of highest emotional power1 about #adhj4 ,since the actual painting is evidently in large part ,carpaccio's1 ,i am driven to the by no means satisfactory hypothesis that ,carpaccio may have executed this masterpiece1 and the group to which it belongs1 while serving as studio assistant to ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,such a view at least expresses my conviction that the picture transcends ,carpaccio's powers4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bdh4--;,ascribed to ,carpaccio1 perhaps ,giovanni ,bellini's ,design4 ,desert ,hermits ,meditating the ,passion4--,new ,york4 ,as for his later years1 his work goes off1 he loses most of his ,venetian patronage1 and paints for the obscure ,istrian and ,dalmatian seaports1 the critics mock him1 he dies some time after #aebc1 leaving no deep impression4 ,vasari dispatches him with a few condescending lines1 and nobody cares for him till young ,burne-,jones came to ,venice some sixty years ago4 ,he plainly stands out of the main line of progress4 ,he was too romantically traditional in his themes1 and too minutely naturalistic in his vision to fit into the monumental development of the ,renaissance4 ,in a sense he merely brings the old narrative tradition to a splendid close4 ,but in so doing he preserves the look of an exquisite moment--of ,venice still in her medival gayety and splendor1 not yet reduced to her ultimate magnificent decorum4 ,in him we glimpse the eager comeliness of patrician youth1 self-sufficient in love of living4 ,and this we see between the glistening waters of the lagoon and the lambent blue heavens1 with pearly domes and bell towers rising as lightly as the drifting summer clouds above4 ,all this may or may not be apart from what the wise esteem artistic greatness4 ,in any case it is charm of the most persuasive and durable kind4 ,whether ,giorgione of ,castelfranco is to be regarded as the last of the ,venetian primitives or as the first of the men of the ,renaissance is no simple problem4 ,it is further complicated by the fact that we do not surely know what pictures he painted4 ,according to the austerity or geniality of the critics1 the lists vary from eight1 ,lionello ,venturi's1 to over seventy1 ,herbert ,cook's4 ,naturally ,i also have my own list1 which1 with old copies1 runs to twenty-four1 but ,i am unwilling to claim demonstrative weight for what are merely strong subjective convictions4 ,walter ,pater daintily evaded the issue by writing the most subtle of essays not on the person1 but on the ,school of ,giorgione4 ,i shall in part imitate him in defining first the ,giorgionesque mood before considering the canon of his works4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bdi4 ,giorgione4 ,portrait of a ,youth4--,berlin4 ,on the side of minor technique ,giorgione marks a great advance4 ,he early abandons the old frank coloring of ,giovanni ,bellini for a mysterious method which abolishes line1 builds in mass1 invests the picture with deep shadows that are marvellously warm and colorful4 ,what contemporaries loved to call the ,venetian fire originates with him about #aeje4 ,vasari may well be right in saying that he learned the method directly from ,leonardo da ,vinci1 who was a fugitive in ,venice in the year #aejj4 ,only ,leonardo never taught him that shadow is color4 ,that was ,giorgione's own beautiful discovery1 one immensely important for all decorative painting ever since4 ,in his early phase1 if ,i am right in thinking that ,sir ,martin ,conway's two stories of ,paris1 ,figure #bej1 and the ,ordeal of the ,infant ,moses and ,judgment of ,solomon in the ,uffizi1 are his1 ,giorgione was merely a graceful continuer of the slighter narrative mood of ,giovanni ,bellini and ,carpaccio1--that is1 distinctly a primitive artist4 ,in his fully developed ,arcadian vein he is neither a primitive nor fully of the ,renaissance1 but midway between1 and his work constitutes not so much a pioneer effort as a delectable episode quite complete in itself4 ,unhappily we are almost without biographical details4 ,giorgione was born in #adgh1 in ,castelfranco1 a long day's ride towards the ,friulian ,alps4 ,the country abounds in streams1 meadows1 and immemorial trees--is a subalpine ,arcadia4 ,he came pretty young to ,venice and worked with ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,legend tells us that he was big and handsome1 amorous1 and a musician4 ,we know that he died of the plague of #aeaj1 in his thirty-third year4 ,the rest is conjecture from pictures some of which are his1 and all of which are inspired by him4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bej4 ,giorgione4 ,the ,infant ,paris found by ,shepherds4--,sir ,martin ,conway4 ,maidstone1 ,england4 ,these breathe a single mood1 that of ,arcadian revery4 ,it is a world of desire indulged for its own sweetness1 of day dreaming apart from will1 action1 and results4 ,more blithely it had pre-existed in the ,idyls of ,theocritus2 more pensively1 in the ,eclogues of ,virgil4 ,this world revives a far-away pastoral golden age1 of lovers and their lasses1 of nymphs and fauns1 of vague ardors at once tempered and reinforced by a sympathetic nature4 ,we are dealing with one of the oldest resources of poetry1 and we can only understand this most beautiful visualization of the old theme by associating it with the tradition of literary pastoralism4 ,of course the ,eclogues of ,virgil were read generation by generation1 if not very understandingly1 through the ,middle ,ages4 ,still the more sensitive felt the appeal of mountain shadows lengthening over the evening meadows and the pathos of love-lorn shepherds sighing musically for hard-hearted shepherdesses4 ,by the middle of the fourteenth century1 the pastoral mode becomes once more contemporary1 incidentally in the interludes of ,bocaccio's ,decameron1 explicitly in his idyl of alternate prose and verse1 the ,ameto4 ,these are pale lights before the dawn4 ,pastoralism becomes widely current in the ,arcadia of ,jacopo ,sannazaro1 the bulk of which was ready by #adhi4 ,it is the parent of those slow-moving1 sentimental1 and ever lengthy romances in verse and prose of which ,sir ,philip ,sidney's ,arcadia is the most familiar to the modern reader4 ,dante had once longed for a magic boat in which congenial souls should drift forever and do nothing but discourse of love4 ,transfer these discourses to a leafy nook beside a running stream1 with the herds in view below the branches1 and nymphs and satyrs overhearing the debate--and you have ,sannazaro's ,arcadia4 ,we have the eternal poetry and perhaps eternal fallacy of a bygone golden age where duty and effort are absent1 where love and poesy reign4 ,in his most famous song1 ,alma beata1 ,sannazaro1 celebrating a dead beauty1 makes heaven itself merely an ,arcadia-- 8,other mountains1 other plains1 ,other groves and streamlets ,in heaven ,i see1 and withal new blossoms4 ,other fauns and sylvans1 through sweet summer places1 ,pursue their nymphs in happier loves than ours40 ,you find the mood clear cut in the ,venetian nobleman and prelate1 ,pietro ,bembo1 both in his ,asolani and in the separate poems4 ,these were being handed about in ,giorgione's time1 from #aejj on4 ,thus ,bembo sings of the shepherd's life3 8,tryphon1 who in place of ministrants and lackeys1 ,loggias and marbles1 woven gold and purple1 ,lovest about thee willows leafy1 cloister ,of joyous hillocks1 plants and rivulets-- ,well may the world admire thee40 ,naturally the denizens of such paradises live and dress in a state of nature4 ,the nymphs are lightly clothed and readily discard their slight draperies for the joys of the bath1 which they considerately take within the range of their shepherd swains4 ,bembo warmly praises those 8courteous garments0 which do not too much hide the fair throat and bosom1 and roundly curses more churlish concealing fashions4 ,sannazaro describes with a confusing mixture of metaphors what may be called a fortunate bath fall4 8,leading one day my herds beside a stream1 ,i saw a light amid those waters fair1 ,which bound me fast straightway with two blond tresses1 ,and stamped a face all milk and roses ,forever on my heart40 ,earlier painters than ,giorgione#gg had essayed these pastoral themes4 ,botticelli1 ,signorelli2 in a sardonic way1 ,piero di ,cosimo2 ,giovanni ,bellini and even ,andrea ,mantegna had variously attempted this sort of painted poesy4 ,but the flavor of the ,giorgionesque poesy is fuller and richer4 ,his beauty is that of languor1 revery1 dream4 ,whatever the ostensible theme may be1 his painting is ,arcadian4 ,his people have not merely no relation to our world1 but slight and ambiguous relations to each other within the picture4 ,they are isolated in their own musings1 rarely look at each other1 never suggest an action1 but only a mood4 ,even the portraits suggest rather temperament than character or will4 ,the proud youth1 at ,berlin1 ,figure #bdi1 withdraws himself from purpose and deed4 ,it is an early ,giorgione4 ,the ,shepherd with a ,flute1 at ,hampton ,court1 is bemused with his own fancy4 ,it is of the later years4 ,the fastidious patrician1 at ,new ,york1 reveals an almost worried and sickly detachment4 ,if indeed a ,giorgione1 which ,i cannot doubt1 it is of his latest manner4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bea4 ,giorgione4 ,fire ,ordeal of ,infant ,moses4--,uffizi4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #beb4 ,giorgione4 8,soldier and ,gipsy40--,giovanelli ,palace4 ,take the little ,carpaccian idyls at ,florence which cannot be much later than #aejj4 ,how far we are from real narrative6 ,in the ,ordeal of ,moses1 ,figure #bea1 a child is thrusting his tender fingers among live coals4 ,ladies and gentlemen stand languidly about and bask in the pleasantness of their own thoughts4 ,there is a similar nonchalance in the ,judgment of ,solomon where a newborn babe is threatened with the sword4 ,the horror is treated as a negligible incident of an al fresco party4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bec4 ,giorgione4 ,the ,three ,philosophers4--,vienna4 ,again what is the meaning of the mysterious idyl in ,prince ,giovanelli's gallery8 ,figure #beb4 ,in view of the picturesque walls and moat of ,castelfranco1 a half nude mother1 oblivious of a coming thunder shower1 nurses her child4 ,equally oblivious of her and the weather1 a fashionably dressed youth turns away4 ,ruins reflect the ominous lightning flashes4 ,old records call this 7one of the few certain ,giorgiones7 ,the ,soldier and the ,gipsy--evidently a bad guess4 ,a learned ,viennese professor chooses to think that this is ,prince ,adrastus finding the forsaken ,princess ,hypsiphile4 ,nobody can prevent such conjectures or disprove them4 ,it is safer to imagine that coming rain and thunder at ,venice recalls some old memory of similar weather and state of mind at ,castelfranco1 evokes some old desire of which this richly fanciful masterpiece is the enigmatic symbol4 ,some story of loving and parting surely underlies the poesy1 it would be foolish to be more specific than ,giorgione himself has chosen to be4 ,the ,three ,philosophers1 at ,vienna1 ,figure #bec1 again has been explained as ,aeneas surveying the future site of ,rome4 ,what we actually have is a glowing nook at eventide in which three grave men of different ages go separately about some task requiring thought and mathematical calculation4 ,and even this duty is yielding to the spell and mystery of the evening hour4 ,these pictures are probably a little earlier than the altar-piece of #aejd at ,castelfranco4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bed4 ,giorgione4 ,madonna with ,st4 ,george and ,st4 ,francis4--,castelfranco4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bee4 ,giorgione4 ,landscape by ,titian4 ,sleeping ,venus4--,dresden4 ,that lovely work1 ,figure #bed1 has much of the intimacy of ,bellini's altar-piece at ,s4 ,zaccaria1 in formal arrangement it is rather monumental4 ,the mood1 however1 is one of revery4 ,st4 ,francis of ,assisi makes his gesture only for himself1 and ,st4 ,george1 exponent of the active life1 broods moodily beneath his slackly held pennon4 ,the ,arcadian landscape quietly reinforces the idyllic feeling4 ,externally the thing is splendid in color1 and as saturated with atmosphere as it is with mood4 ,from now on the question of chronology becomes at once difficult1 and1 since we are dealing only with five years or so1 relatively unimportant4 ,the sleeping ,venus at ,dresden1 ,figure #bee1 may have been designed about #aeje4 ,a ,cupid slumbering at the ,goddess's feet has been painted out1 and the landscape was finished by ,titian4 ,the noble sleeping body1 to use a word of ,lucretius which ,montaigne commends1 seems 8poured out0 on the receptive earth--so grandly and easily it lies4 ,the gestures are unconscious caresses4 ,the ,goddess dreams of old joys4 ,what faun or sylvan even would not respect that dream8 ,not with passion1 then1 though himself knowing all its sting1 does ,giorgione deal1 but with ardors sublimated in memory4 ,the marvellous lines of this ,venus1 as sweeping as the curves of hills or river currents1 were imitated again and again1 but neither ,titian1 ,palma ,vecchio1 nor the rest ever recaptured the evasive poetry of their model4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bef4 ,giorgione4 ,judith4--,petrograd4 ,in #aejh1 working with ,titian1 ,giorgione finished certain frescoes for the outside of the ,german ,warehouse4 ,the remaining red blurs1 and ,zanetti's fragmentary copies1 tell us that the postures begin to have the breadth and conscious counterpoise of the advancing ,renaissance1 but that the mood is still that of languor4 ,very like one of these figures is the fascinating ,judith1 at ,petrograd1 ,figure #bef4 ,after the horrors of the night1 she stands dreamily4 ,her lovely left leg escapes from the courteous draperies1 and the foot touches lightly the brow of the peaceful1 severed head of ,holophernes4 ,the touch of the foot is almost careless1 as if merely to assure herself that the portent is really true4 ,her head bends gently1 her nerveless beautiful fingers barely feel her girdle or support her great sword4 ,behind her1 morning forests and fields stretch towards a tranquil sea and sky4 ,the gestures are those of one between sleeping and waking1 irresolutely feeling for some basis in reality4 ,we are in a realm where the most awful deeds and experiences count only as raw material for delicate imaginings4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #beg4 ,giorgione4 ,pastoral ,symphony4--,louvre4 ,in the later works problems multiply1 and a critic is pretty well reduced to personal intuitions4 ,no doubt1 however1 should attach to the pathetic and nearly effaced ,christ of ,st4 ,roch4 ,the ,christ is nobler than the earlier example at ,fenway ,court1 the feeling more expansive4 ,still nobody1 not even the executioner1 seems to will the atrocity of the deed4 ,the thing is not an act but a vision1 pervaded by a dreamy tenderness4 ,the completely repainted ,pastoral ,concert1 ,figure #beg1 at the ,louvre is never the less fraught with ,giorgione's peculiar poetry4 ,a courtly lover has struck a chord on the lute1 and gazes intently1 perhaps sadly1 at a shepherd sitting close to him4 ,a rustic1 nude nymph whose back only is seen takes the pipe from her lips to listen4 ,a proud beauty turns toward a fountain1 light draperies slip away from her superb form1 and with a graceful gesture of idleness she pours back into the fountain a tinkling jet from a crystal pitcher1 while she bends to note the ripple and catch the pleasant1 idle sound4 ,this strange scene takes place on the edge of a vale that winds down to a glittering sea1 affording a path to a shepherd and his flocks4 ,the meaning8 ,modern criticism is loath to look beyond contrasts of nude and clothed forms1 swing of tree-tops and of sky1 subtle interplay of light and shade4 ,my own reading is merely based on the contrast between the rustic and urban lovers1 and an intuition that the courtier in peering so wistfully at the shepherd is merely seeing himself in a former guise4 ,in lassitude1 perhaps in satiety1 beside a courtly mistress who is absent from him in spirit1 there rises the vision of earlier simpler love and of a devoted shepherdess who once piped for him in the shade4 ,the vision rises as his listless hand sweeps the lute strings in a chord unmarked by the far lovelier mistress at the fountain4 ,the golden age of love1 like ,arcady itself1 is ever in the past4 ,such may be the reading of this poesy4 ,indeed all ,giorgione's pictures are less facts than apparitions born of roving thought in idleness1--such stuff as dreams are made of4 ,the famous ,concert1 ,figure #beh1 of the ,pitti since ,morelli's time has been generally classed as an early ,titian1 ,i think erroneously4 ,the precise and powerful execution of the ,monk's head is certainly his1 but ,i question if the motive itself lay within the scope of his lucid and uncomplicated imagination4 ,an ,augustinian monk holds the initial harmony on the clavichord and turns towards the 'cellist while the singer waits impassively4 ,and this simple theme becomes a universal symbol for thwarted desire4 ,the player asks a kind of sympathy which this world rarely affords1 which certainly these companions cannot give4 ,as in the ,pastoral ,symphony1 the music awakens impossible longings1 is the accompaniment of inadequacy4 ,titian was too robust ever to have imagined such a thing1 and ,i feel we need only modify the old tradition to the extent of giving ,titian a hand in an unfinished ,giorgione to account for this poignant and most characteristic masterpiece4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #beh4 ,giorgione cum ,titian4 ,the ,concert4--,pitti4 ,there remains old and good tradition for crediting ,giorgione with the design of the altar-piece in ,san ,giovanni ,crisostomo4 ,the execution is unquestionably by ,sebastiano del ,piombo4 ,if this view be correct1 ,giorgione attained the external features of the coming ,renaissance style1 missing its athleticism4 ,certainly the abstraction of the saint and the unmotivated appearance of the three virtues1 and their unrelated gracefulness1 is entirely in ,giorgione's manner1 while the whole invention is alien to ,sebastiano's heavy and forthright talent4 ,for the view ,i have tried to give of this poet picture-maker ,i may claim at least the merit of consistency4 ,there is only one theme--languor of love and of remembered happiness2 and there is only one setting--the ,arcadia of the pastoral poets4 ,giorgione is the first painter who realized ,leonardo's definition of painting as 8mute poetry10 yet not quite mute for there is generally a suggestion of music4 ,and the music is less heard than contemplated1 as is the case in one of his latest pictures1 the ,shepherd ,boy1 ,figure #bei1 who hesitates to set the flute to his lips lest the melody fall short of that which the imagination has already heard4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bei4 ,giorgione4 ,shepherd with a ,flute4--,hampton ,court4 ,for ten years after ,giorgione's death his mood dominated ,titian with most of the rising artists4 ,it seemed likely to replace the sturdy and objective art of ,venice with a quite alien subjectivism4 ,meanwhile the normal effort of old ,giovanni1 ,bellini and of young ,titian continued4 ,the ,renaissance offered to the outer eye new dignities and splendors4 ,the inner eye went bankrupt in the numerous imitators of ,giorgione1 in trivial symbolism and merely playful mythology4 ,after her brief pause in ,arcadia1 ,venice once more took account of her own proud charms4 ,the nymphs paled before the comparison1 ,arcadia vanished4 ,but it never was wholly forgotten1 and1 ever since1 those who have craved actually to see the golden age of poesy have had to consult ,giorgione of ,castelfranco4 ,,illustrations ,,to ,,chapter ,,vii ,,praise ,,of ,,mantegna ,,in ,,the ,,renaissance ,the immense authority of ,mantegna kept his name on all honor lists of painters long after his death4 ,lorenzo of ,pavia1 writing in #aejd to ,isabella d',este1 says of a ,madonna by ,giovanni ,bellini3 8,the ,painter has made a great effort to do himself honour1 chiefly out of respect to ,m4 ,andrea ,mantegna1 and although it is true that in point of invention it cannot compare with the work of ,messer ,andrea1 that most excellent master1 ,i pray ,your ,excellency to take the picture1 both for your own honour and also because of the merit of the work40 ,julia ,cartwright1 ,isabella d',este1 ,new ,york1 #aijc1 ,vol4 ,i1 p4 #cea4 ,a little later ,lorenzo writes3 8,and1 as ,i have said before1 in point of invention no one can rival ,andrea ,mantegna1 who is indeed a most excellent painter1 the foremost of our age4 ,but ,zuan ,bellini excels in colouring40 l4 c4 #ceb4 ,on ,oct4 #af1 #aejf1 ,lorenzo writes1 on learning of ,mantegna's death3 8,i am much grieved to hear of the death of our ,messer ,andrea ,mantegna4 ,for indeed we have lost a most excellent man and a second ,apelles1 but ,i believe that the ,lord ,god will employ him to make some beautiful work4 ,as for me1 ,i can never hope to see again a finer draughtsman and more original artist40 ,isabella replied3 8,lorenzo1--,we were sure that you would grieve over the death of ,m4 ,andrea ,mantegna1 for1 as you say1 a great light has gone out40 l4 c4 ,i4 #cfi4 ,,titian',s ,,view ,,of ,,mantegna ,as late as #aeai1 ,titian admired the ,mantegnas at ,mantua4 ,girolamo da ,sestola1 ,isabella's music master1 writes to her3 8,m4 ,dosso and ,m4 ,tiziano1 another good master who is making a fine picture here ,the ,bacchanal1 at ,madrid for the ,lord ,duke1 went to ,mantua4 ,he saw all ,mantegna's works1 and praised them greatly to our signor1 and he also praised your studies4 ,but above all1 he admired your ,tondo the frescoed ceiling of the ,camera degli ,sposi1 ,fig4 #bai exceedingly1 and calls it the finest thing he has ever seen4 ,our ,signor has one here1 but ,titian says yours is incomparably the finest40 l4 c4 ,,ii4 #aga1 #b4 ,,ariosto',s ,,honor ,,list ,,of ,,painters ,ariosto as late as #aeae still includes ,mantegna and ,giovanni ,bellini among the best artists4 ,the list is instructive as to the fallibility of contemporary judgments4 ,the two ,dossi and ,sebastiano del ,piombo today have lost their place in the roll4 8,and those who were and still are in our days-- ,leonardo1 ,andrea ,mantegna1 ,giambellino1 ,the ,dossis1 he who chiselled and colored equally ,michel1 more than mortal1 ,angel divine1 ,sebastian1 ,raphael1 ,titian who honors ,no more ,cadore1 than they ,venice and ,urbino40 ,orlando ,furioso1 ,canto ,,xxxiii1 #b4 ,,lomazzo',s ,,list ,,of ,,great ,,painters ,,and ,,their ,,kindred ,,poets 8,each painter has naturally had a genus more conformable to one poet rather than another1 and has followed that poet in his work1 as it is easy to see in the modern painters4 ,for one sees that ,leonardo has expressed the movement and decorum of ,homer1 ,polidoro the grandeur and sweep of ,virgil1 ,michelangelo the profound obscurity of ,dante1 ,raphael the pure majesty of ,petrarch1 ,andrea ,mantegna the keen judgment of ,sannazaro1 ,titian the variety of ,ariosto1 and ,gaudenzio ,ferrari the devotion which one finds expressed in the books of the saints40 ,paolo ,lomazzo1 ,trattato dell' ,arte delle ,pittura1 ,milan1 #aehd1 p4 #bhc4 ,see also ,castiglione's list in ,illustrations to ,chapter ,,vi1 p4 #cac4 ,,giorgione--,,leonardo ,,on ,,rural ,,and ,,pastoral ,,delights 8,what moves thee1 ,o man1 to quit thy city habitations and leave thy friends and kin1 and go in places wild by reason of mountains and valleys1 if not the natural beauty of the world1 the which1 if thou well considerest1 thou enjoyest only through the sense of sight8 ,and if the poet wishes to call himself also a painter in such matters1 why do you not take such sites as described by the poet and stay at home without feeling the excessive heat of the sun8 ,and would not this be more useful and less wearisome since it is done in coolness and without moving about and risk of illness8 8,but the mind cannot enjoy the benefit of the eyes1 windows of its habitation1 and cannot receive the varieties of delightful spots1 cannot see the shady valleys furrowed by the play of winding streams1 cannot see the various flowers which with their colors make a harmony for the eye--and so with all the things which can be represented to that eye40 8,but if the painter in the cold and harsh winter time sets before thee those same places painted1 and others1 in which thou mayest have experienced thy pleasures beside some fountain1 thou canst see again thyself as a lover1 with thy loved one in blossoming meadows1 under the sweet shadow of verdurous trees--wilt thou not receive quite an other pleasure than from hearing such an effect described by the poet80 ,leonardo1 ,trattato1 ,wien1 #ahhb1 p4 #dd4 ,this is so fully in the mood of ,giorgione's idyllism that one likes to think that he may have talked over such themes with ,leonardo when they met in ,venice in #aejj4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bfj4 ,titian4 ,bacchus and ,ariadne4--,london4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,,venetian ,,painting ,,of ,,the ,,renaissance ,titian before #aede--,some contemporaries1 ,sebastiano del ,piombo1 ,palma ,vecchio--,the advent of ,modern ,sensitiveness in ,lorenzo ,lotto--,moretto of ,brescia--,correggio--,titian's last ,manner1 its subjectivism and impressionism--,the ,portraitist ,moroni--,tintoretto and the new dramatic emotionalism--,paolo ,veronese1 his spectacular mastery and impressionism1 his characteristic works--,eighteenth ,century ,venetians3 ,tiepolo1 ,canaletto and ,guardi--,longhi4 ,the glory of ,venetian painting is to an unusual degree that of a single individual1 ,titian#gh of ,cadore4 ,he lived nearly a hundred years1 from #adgg to #aegf1 and we can trace his painting for more than seventy years of serene and unbroken progress4 ,he had great contemporaries--,sebastiano del ,piombo1 ,palma ,vecchio1 ,tintoretto1 ,paolo ,veronese1 ,lorenzo ,lotto1 ,moroni1 ,moretto of ,brescia--but so various and comprehensive is his achievement that their work seems merely so many extensions of the paths first explored by him4 ,in his noble and measured sensuousness1 he seems nearer the ,greeks than any other ,italian painter4 ,if he is something less than admirable as a character1 it is because of an unpleasantly calculating side4 ,he schemed ruthlessly for preferment and lucrative sinecures1 had the repute of envying young artists of talent1 flattered to the limit his ,hapsburg patrons1 bargained and begged concerning prices1 let himself be puffed egregiously by his blackguard friend1 ,pietro ,aretino1 first and most formidable of yellow journalists4 ,yet this element of craft in the man was eminently ,venetian4 ,they schemed for splendor and pleasure1 and measured even their indulgences4 ,thus we should not expect lyrical raptures or extremes of any sort in ,titian4 ,his art is one of judgment and moderation4 ,indeed that calculating spirit which makes him unamiable as a man was a source of strength to him as an artist4 ,one of his pupils1 ,palma ,giovine1 has described his manner of working4 ,first he laid in his pictures heavily in neutral tones4 ,then he turned them to the wall for months to dry4 ,then he would pass from one to the other1 scrutinizing each 8as if it were his worst enemy40 ,he would add color1 amend drawing and composition1 thus systematically carrying many pictures forward at a time1 and subjecting each to repeated criticism and correction4 ,he never painted a figure at one go1 saying that 8he who improvises his song never achieves learned verses or well turned40 ,precisely the greatness of ,titian lay in his capacity to put ardor into these prolonged critical processes4 ,thus if certain raptures are denied him1 he is never below himself1 but always as noble in sentiment as he is resplendent in color4 ,tiziano ,vecellio was born at ,cadore1 in the ,dolomites1 in #adgg4gi ,its shadowy oaks and blue alps live in his backgrounds4 ,at eleven he was put with a mosaic worker1 ,zuccati1 at ,venice4 ,he may have worked for a time with ,gentile ,bellini1 but attained his real development in the studio of ,giovanni ,bellini1 under the stimulus of his fellow pupil1 ,giorgione4 ,this intimate and poetical phase of ,titian's genius lasts from before #aeje to #aeaf and the ,assumption4 ,his second period is that of fullest color and vitality4 ,it runs from #aeag to say #aecf1 ,titian's fortieth to fifty-ninth year1 and the characteristic works are the monumental altar-pieces at ,venice and the ,mythologies painted for the ,este family at ,ferrara4 ,the third period extends from about #aecg to #aedh4 ,it is marked by deeper resonances of color that is tending towards tone1 and by a more objective and static ideal4 ,energy is no longer squandered1 and intimate poetry is not sought4 ,typical works are those mythologies and portraits done for the ,duke of ,urbino1 and the early ,hapsburg portraits4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bfa4 ,titian4 ,portrait so-called 8,ariosto40--,london4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bfb4 ,titian4 ,portrait of a ,youth4--,temple ,newsham1 ,england4 ,the fourth period begins with #aedh or a little earlier1 ,titian's seventieth year1 and lasts nearly thirty years till his death4 ,a looser and more synthetic construction1 the substitution of broken shades and tone for frank color1 a more tragic and ardent mood1 a more energetic grandeur of composition1 with lesser formality1 are the marks of this amazing last phase1 in which ,titian becomes a precursor of ,rembrandt and ,velasquez4 ,since he now works chiefly for the ,hapsburgs1 the great examples are at ,madrid and ,vienna4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bfc4 ,titian4 ,the ,tribute ,money4--,dresden4 ,the earliest ,titians show the sultry shadows of ,giorgione1 and are distinguishable from his work only by a more linear quality1 and by a greater explicitness of mood4 ,titian's poetry is direct and rarely ambiguous4 ,what ardors of flesh and spirit are suggested in his early portraits of men6 ,the portrait of a bearded man in ,london1 ,figure #bfa1 is conceived entirely in ,giorgione's fashion1 as a short bust showing the hands1 and the mysterious envelopment in warm shadow is ,giorgione's as is the sensitiveness of touch and characterization4 ,but with all his gentle beauty1 the man is formidable4 ,his aloofness is no revery1 but some preparation of will for action4 ,again ,giorgione would hardly have labored to suggest the material splendor of the silvery satin sleeve4 ,even more perfect is the half-length of a young patrician at ,temple ,newsham1 ,figure #bfb1 ,england4 ,it is full of a reserved poetry1 yet the effect is as well almost shrewd and diplomatic4 ,this youth has the ,venetian capacity for both passion and affairs4 ,both these portraits should be a little earlier than #aeaj4 ,such masterpieces of smouldering ardor as the ,knight of ,malta1 erroneously ascribed to ,giorgione and the ,man with a ,glove1 at ,paris1 must be a little later4 ,in concentration these are as fine as ,giorgione's portraits1 but quite a different spirit transpires from the investing shadows4 ,these men of ,titian are no day-dreamers1 but resolute and purposeful4 ,they live little in memory and much in prospect4 ,their imagination implies action and possession4 ,even the drawing is more resolute4 ,study the eye sockets1 temples1 and cheek bones of these early ,titians4 ,nowhere in ,giorgione do you get such a sense of inner bony structure1 of thicker and thinner cushions of flesh1 of tenser or slacker skin4 ,the method finds its most admirable expression in the two marvellous heads of the ,tribute ,money 7#aead-e71 at ,dresden1 ,figure #bfc4 ,yet how little mystery or pathos is invoked4 ,with a gesture and an expression of exquisite consideration and breeding1 the ,saviour baffles the most eager and fanatical of inquisitors4 ,nothing could be more unlike the abstracted and almost morose ,christs of ,giorgione4 ,as usual1 ,titian stands on the ground of the finest worldliness1 as the ,greeks had done4 ,with the supernal1 whether in heaven or ,arcadia1 he has little concern4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bfd4 ,titian4 ,the ,three ,ages4--,bridgewater ,house1 ,london4 ,in the early poesies ,titian at once manifests his adoration of ,giorgione and his own independence4 ,in the ,three ,ages1 ,figure #bfd1 at ,bridgewater ,house we may grasp at its highest beauty his robust ,arcadianism4 ,in a meadow landscape an ardent nymph woos her bronzed swain4 ,complacently he accepts her unreserved advances4 ,nothing could be more explicit than the relation between the lovers1 and with equal plainness an old man and sleeping child serve to teach us that youth and its sweetest ardors are but a brief pause between childhood and old age4 ,let us then seize the moments when nature and love are kind to us4 ,such is the forthright poetry of ,titian4 ,it is the poetry of every boy and every girl--simple1 classic1 unchangeable4 ,think of the overtones and personal interpretations with which ,giorgione would have overlaid such a theme4 ,such twilight mysteries are alien to ,titian's fervent and lucid spirit4 ,he loves the morning hour with work and love ahead1 as ,giorgione loves the veiling glamour and brooding memories of eventide4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bfe4 ,titian4 8,sacred and ,profane ,love40--,borghese1 ,rome4 ,the ,three ,ages was probably painted about #aeab1 the far more famous poesy1 misnamed ,sacred and ,profane ,love1 ,figure #bfe1 is two or three years later4 ,the sumptuous variety and richness of ,titian are here at their height4 ,luminous marbles1 pearly nude forms1 lustrous stuffs1 dark shimmer of foliage and sun-swept slopes of grass seem created merely to set off their respective beauties of hue and texture4 ,purples1 azure1 rose1 saturated greens form a sonorous chord of colors which is so satisfying that one scarcely asks why a ,cupid stirs the waters of a magic fountain1 and why a splendidly clothed figure sits tranquilly at the side while a superb nude figure turns impulsively and holds aloft a burning lamp4 ,explanations of the fable abound4 ,it is ,venus persuading ,helen to harken to ,paris1 or ,medea to aid ,jason4 ,so the ,germans4 ,i am sure only that if we knew the meaning it would be quite as simple as these explanations4 ,my friend1 the late ,william ,p4 ,andrews1 suggested that we have a lovely symbolism for the inquietude of maidenhood and the composure of matronhood--love in prospect and retrospect4 ,the universality of the interpretation is in its favor4 ,titian's mind worked socially and concretely4 ,plainly the nude figure is reminiscent of ,giorgione's listless beauty by the fountain in the ,pastoral ,concert1 ,figure #beg4 ,titian's maiden lacks something of the momentary grace and spontaneity of her model1 but has in compensation a fuller grandeur4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bff4 ,titian4 ,flora4--,pitti4 ,perhaps the ideal portrait of ,flora 7#aeae-af71 in the ,pitti1 ,figure #bff1 should be reckoned with the poesies rather than with portraits4 ,in material beauty few ,titians excel it4 ,the curded whites of the drapery vie with the flushed ivory of face and bosom4 ,the sweetness of the impression is almost awe-inspiring4 ,what a world it is that thrusts forth carelessly such beauty as this6 ,think of ,giorgione's quite similar ,shepherd with the ,pipe1 ,figure #bei1 and imagine again the twilight mystery with which he would have invested this apparition4 ,titian on the contrary thinks and feels like every man1 but with an intensity and clearness quite his own4 ,the lyrical and subjective note is incidental and superficial in him even when he most seems to resemble his lost comrade4 ,titian's progress in composition is best noted in the religious pieces4 ,from the first he seeks to break up the old inert symmetries4 ,he invents active balances1 brings the main thrusts to the sides of the pictures rather than to the centre4 ,thus even his ,conversation ,pieces gain implications of action and energy4 ,in the altar-piece of ,st4 ,peter with ,donors1 at ,antwerp1 perhaps as early as #aejb1 and still somewhat in ,bellini's style1 we find the enthroned figure moved to the side and the accessory figures arranged in a processional approach4 ,the somewhat later altar-piece of ,st4 ,mark at the ,salute1 painted probably in #aejd1 ,figure #bfg1 again evades the old central symmetries4 ,the ,saint is enthroned off centre and his position gains great energy and novelty from its elevation and consequent foreshortening4 ,the four plague saints keep the old symmetry1 their types are partly from ,bellini 7the ,st4 ,sebastian71 partly from nature4 ,the structure in glowing shadow is that of ,giorgione4 ,we trace the same evasion of old symmetries and the same ,giorgionesque fire in the ,baptism of ,christ1 in the ,capitoline at ,rome1 and ,christ and ,mary ,magdalen1 at ,london4 ,such pictures with their slightly conscious emphasis prepare the way for the more assured and sonorous harmonies of the great altar-backs of the '#bjs4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bfg4 ,titian4 ,st4 ,mark with ,plague ,saints4--,salute4 ,the ,madonnas and ,conversation pieces again show us most vividly how his taste is working4 ,the ,gipsy ,madonna1 ,figure #bfh1 at ,vienna1 painted about #aeje1 is highly ,giorgionesque1 but ,giorgione never painted such sculptural forms1 nor ever conceived so resolute a ,christchild4 ,even the throwing of the outlet to one side reveals ,titian4 ,at ,madrid and ,vienna are superb half-length ,madonnas arranged symmetrically after ,bellini's fashion1 but with greater freedom of pose4 ,titian soon saw that the old compositional forms could not express the new energy4 ,he makes repeated experiments1 shifts the ,madonna to one side1 as in the unfinished ,madonna with ,st4 ,anthony at ,florence4 ,he adds figures and rearranges them until the ,conversation piece becomes an audience1 with the saints and donors approaching the ,madonna1 as in an ,adoration of the ,magi4 ,we find the completed form in the admirable ,conversation piece1 of about #aeaj with its two versions in the ,louvre and at ,vienna1 ,figure #bfi2 and considerably later1 a further development in those numerous full-length ,holy ,families in landscapes of which the ,madonna of the ,hare 7#aecj71 ,figure #bgj1 and ,the ,marriage of ,st4 ,catherine1 at ,london1 are consummate types4 ,and with all the conscious experimentalism of this work1 the sense of character and of beauty is unperturbed4 ,as compared with the contemporary ,holy ,families of ,raphael1 the accent is more individual and local4 ,these superb ,madonnas and gracious female saints with attendant martyrs and church doctors1 are merely the lads and lasses of ,carpaccio's legends1 grown up to manhood and womanhood1 increased in dignity and sweetness4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bfh4 ,titian4 ,gipsy ,madonna4--,vienna4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bfi4 ,titian4 ,madonna with ,saints4--,vienna4 ,until the death of ,giovanni ,bellini1 in #aeae1 ,titian seems a little hampered by his example as by that of ,giorgione4 ,then1 as if relieved of a restraint1 ,titian pursues his own aims4 ,his design1 in such great altar-backs as the ,assumption and the ,madonna of the ,pesaro family1 doubles its breadth and energy4 ,his mythologies1 in the bacchanals for the ,alabaster ,chamber of ,alphonso d',este1 at ,ferrara1 are no longer pensive lyrics1 but dithyrambs2 primordial lyrics1 for animation and power4 ,the religious pictures1 such as the noble ,entombment in the ,louvre1 are no longer insistently pathetic4 ,subjective poetry is everywhere giving way to masculine assertion of the splendor of love1 motherhood1 comradeship4 ,and these great objective commonplaces1 which were the very staple in their day of ,greek ,epic and ,sculpture1 receive in ,titian their finest modern embodiment4 ,his new energy requires a changed color4 ,all the hues are brighter and more resonant4 ,their harmonies no longer require the bond of deep shadow1 but are positive and established at the middle of the color scale1 where color is most itself4 ,if the music of ,giorgione was that of vibrating lute strings1 that of ,titian has the clarity and clangor of exquisitely harmonized woodwind and brass4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bgj4 ,titian4 ,holy ,family with ,rabbit4--,london4 ,before sounding this new music1 ,titian prudently secured the sinecure1 a ,commissionership of the ,salt ,taxes1 which old ,giovanni ,bellini had enjoyed4 ,while scheming for it1 he was designing also the most famous of his great altar-pieces1 the ,assumption1 ,figure #bga4 ,it was finished in #aeah1 set on the high altar of the ,friar's ,church1 whither it has lately returned4 ,titian adopts a form of composition which ,fra ,bartolommeo and ,raphael had employed4 ,the upper celestial tier is symmetrically arranged1 almost in a domical way1 the lower tier abounds in swinging turns and gestures1 one carefully balancing the others4 ,the forms are large and athletic1 such as the ,renaissance preferred1 for greater gravity4 ,their weight is compensated by the ease with which they hold themselves and by the numerous floating and falling cherubs1 playfully at home in their clouds1 like so many celestial rose leaves for the crispness and lightness with which ,titian's brush has touched them in4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bga4 ,titian4 ,the ,assumption4--,s4 ,m4 dei ,frari4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bgb4 ,titian4 ,pesaro ,madonna4--,frari4 ,an over-spiritual observer might ask1 ,why are the ,apostles so jubilant at losing their beloved ,mistress8 ,only a little earlier1 ,giovanni ,bellini1 who painted the theme for ,san ,pietro ,martire at ,murano1 invested his witnesses with pathos1 silence1 wonder and awe4 ,in comparison ,titian is obvious1 and barely reverent4 ,he thinks of nothing but that this is ,mary's moment of highest glory1 so of course her friends cheer boisterously as they wave her off heavenwards4 ,titian's mind does not work in half tones of sensibility1 yet he is honestly religious in his own way4 ,the ,lord's people are good enough for him1 and he likes them not in the hush of devotion but in the expansive moments of action4 ,the attitude is operatic4 ,choruses have no business with overtones1 all voices shall be robusto4 ,what infallible taste he shows along these simple lines6 ,there is no smallness1 no mere floridness of utterance1 no hint of over-emphasis4 ,such art is the despair of the modern artist4 ,he cannot feel so simply4 ,the great enduring commonplaces are denied to his more complicated genius4 ,perhaps ,titian is even more himself in the ,madonna of the ,pesaro ,family1 ,figure #bgb1 which was in hand from #aeai to #aebf4 ,for animation he sets the throne of ,mary to the right1 and carries splendid columns back in depth4 ,he gives to every gesture of saint or donor a balancing relation to the gracious curve of the body of the ,queen of ,heaven4 ,he renews the ,giorgionesque mystery in the portraits of children1 adds picturesque accessories of armor1 velvet1 and silken banner4 ,the picture is as rich as it is logical and monumental1 as varied in character as it is unified in mood4 ,it is only by chance that it stands almost over ,titian's tomb1 and yet it would have been hard to find a picture that better represents both his more intimate and his more objective perfections4 ,even such masterpieces as the ,madonna with six ,saints in the ,vatican 7#aebc71 and the lost ,slaying of ,saint ,peter ,martyr 7before #aecj71 which enjoyed three centuries of praise1 seem a little set and over-reasonable in comparison4 ,alphonso d',este's ,alabaster ,chamber at ,ferrara represented the high point of mythological poesy for the ,full ,renaissance1 as ,castello with its ,signorelli and ,botticellis marked a similar culmination for the ,early ,renaissance4 ,it is lamentable that we see these essential expressions of two great moments torn from their context and relegated to the promiscuity of museums4 ,yet the scattered poesies from the ,alabaster ,chamber remain a delight1 at ,london1 ,madrid1 and ,philadelphia1 and give us the truest impression of the pagan greatness of ,titian in his maturity4 ,for this series old ,giovanni ,bellini1 in #aead1 painted a sylvan ,feast of the ,gods1 ,figure #bdb4 ,titian1 succeeding to the work1 freely repainted the landscape1 to harmonize it with his own poesies4 ,two years later ,titian set up ,the ,worship of ,venus1 now in the ,prado4 ,before the white image of the goddess the shadowy lawn swarms with winged loves4 ,they frolic1 dally1 pluck apples shaken down by their mates from the trees above4 ,the strong little bodies glow delicately like the inside of a great shell4 ,a rhythm of joyous life runs through the picture4 ,in due course ,rubens1 ,boucher and ,fragonard will fill earth and air with tumbling ,cupids like these1 but will hardly recapture the spontaneous ecstasy of this scene4 ,it is baffling to learn that its origins are academic--from the imaginary gallery of the ,alexandrian philosopher1 ,philostratus4 ,again a two year interval1 for ,titian ever declined to be hurried1 and1 in #aebj1 the ,bacchanal1 or ,bacchus among the ,andrians1 was ready4 ,about the lolling figures of two clothed nymphs1 the sleek brown bodies of nude sylvans bend in grand gestures as they pour the wine4 ,at the left ,bacchus in professional aloofness goes about the serious business of emptying a flagon4 ,at the right is flung the relaxed body of a nymph overcome by sleep and wine4 ,her splendid nudity shines forth in competition with a soaring afternoon cloud1 while behind her a lightly draped shepherd dances with his lass4 ,the orgy is swept by the clean breeze and dappled with sunlight--purifying elements4 ,we have not intoxication in the gross sense1 but the ,greek notion of an elemental ,bacchic inspiration4 ,the decoration was triumphantly completed in #aebc with the ,bacchus and ,ariadne1 ,figure #bfj1 now in the ,national ,gallery4 ,the noisy train of the god of wine sweeps into the picture oblivious of the heroine4 ,as the leopards swing the car along the strand1 the ,god flings himself rapturously towards the form of startled ,ariadne1 who with a grand1 hesitating gesture turns her head and body away while her legs and feet still bear her towards her wooer4 ,the thing sparkles with wine-red and azure1 tingles electrically with passion1 gives forth a clamor which is also a harmony4 ,its exuberance is well contained in noble compositional forms4 ,the passionate yet disciplined soul of ,titian approaching fifty is fully expressed in this marvellous work4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bgc4 ,titian4 ,the ,entombment4--,louvre4 ,passing to the religious pictures once more1 the ,entombment1 ,figure #bgc1 now in the ,louvre1 which was painted for the ,gonzagas about #aebe1 is again a masterpiece of unaffected feeling and of finest disposition of masses4 ,the central group looms against the sky with the grandeur of a great dome4 ,whoever has seen strong men caring for the dead or stricken will realize the reserve and nobility of acts which are expressions of sympathies too deep for words4 ,i saw things like that at the ,messina earthquake4 ,equally fine and restrained is the protective attitude of the ,magdalen towards a ,mary stark and mute with grief4 ,magnificent is the contrast of the grand nude forms of the dead ,christ1 with the rich stuffs in which the attendants are clothed4 ,i imagine when ,titian conceived this simple elegy with such power and pathos he may have had scornful reference to ,raphael's distorted and sensational version of the same theme1 ,figure #ahf4 ,and perhaps the sthetic lesson of the picture is that choice feeling is far more difficult of attainment than fine painting4 ,in #aecc1 ,titian1 by command1 met the ,emperor ,charles ,v at ,augsburg1 was promptly made a knight and later a count palatine4 ,from now on he was much employed by the ,emperor and his son ,philip4 ,with that relationship a change begins to come over his art4 ,he becomes less exuberant1 more official and objective4 ,titian at sixty has said almost every possible thing on his own account1 and is content for a space to be observer and recorder of the stately world about him4 ,we have descriptions of him at this time1 maintaining a princely hospitality in his palace1 and declining to share the dissipations which he willingly provided for such loose-living friends as ,francesco ,sansovino and ,pietro ,aretino4 ,he strangely depoetizes himself4 ,the change comes somewhere about #aecf1 and a notable evidence of it is in the portrait of a lady in peacock blue velvet1 in the ,pitti4 ,posterity has agreed to call her simply ,la ,bella1 and so impersonal a style well befits her impassive beauty4 ,materially ,titian has never painted more exquisitely1 but it has become a painting of surfaces4 ,the appeal is vague1 general1 social1 there are no personal intimations1 merely a magnificent statement of entirely obvious perfections4 ,again ,titian is content to be the mere painter in the so-called ,venus of ,urbino1 ,figure #bgd4 ,it was painted about #aech1 and is in the ,uffizi4 ,evidently the sleeping ,venus of ,giorgione is in ,titian's mind1 but what a loss in awaking her6 ,titian sees the gracious forms for what they are of nacreous light and rosy shadow1 he sees the room for what it is in distribution of curtained interior and alcove space irradiated by morning light4 ,he studies curiously the delicate nuances of bluer sheet and creamier skin1 he models out the slender body with faintest investment of almost imperceptible shadow4 ,in short1 he is just a painter1 but what a painter he is6 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bgd4 ,titian4 ,venus of ,urbino4--,pitti4 ,about the same time he did the official portraits of ,eleonora and ,federigo ,gonzaga4 ,he treats them as grandees4 ,they are imposing1 almost pompous1 every inch the prince and princess4 ,he sees with a courtier's eye1 and gives to official portraiture that impersonal cast which it has since only too faithfully retained4 ,he revives the great traditions of ,venetian narrative painting4 ,the great wall painting1 in the ,ducal ,palace1 of the ,imperial ,victory at ,cadore has perished4 ,old copies and engravings tell us of its energy1 picturesqueness and panoramic breadth4 ,fortunately the great mural canvas1 finished in #aech and representing ,mary entering the ,temple1 is still in its place2 for the old ,school of the ,carit has become the ,academy4 ,in this picture ,titian realizes all that the ,veronese and ,venetian painters from ,altichiero down had sought for4 ,like his predecessors1 he is chiefly spectacular1 subordinating character1 but he attains a monumental breadth which they never remotely glimpsed4 ,the scheme is worked out in magnificent oblongs varied by triangular forms which repeat the motive of the steps4 ,the chief narrative motives1 the childish determination of the ,virgin1 the gracious expectancy of the high priest1 the admiration of the women below1 hold their own amazingly in the vast space4 ,the surface sings with color4 ,the painting was affixed to the wall in #aech1 fully ten years before ,paolo ,veronese had made this sort of pageantry his special domain4 ,almost as dispassionate is the great canvas1 depicting ,christ before the ,people 7#aedc71 at ,vienna4 ,it becomes less an expression of the submission of ,christ than an exaltation of the ,imperial power that has him in charge and of the mob spirit that cries for his blood4 ,the architectural surroundings are magnificent4 ,there are wonderful details1 as in the howling boy at the left and the white form of a girl caught in the throng4 ,her sudden apparition as an element of relief and mystery anticipates by nearly a century a similar device in ,rembrandt's ,night ,watch4 ,very characteristic in its patrician decorum is ,the ,disciples at ,emmaus1 in the ,louvre1 ,figure #bge1 which was painted about #aede4 ,here there is no intensity in the moment of surprise and revelation4 ,benignly the ,christ breaks bread2 reverently and without excitement the disciples give him his due worship4 ,all the homeliness and surprise that are in ,st4 ,luke's narrative1 and that ,rembrandt later emphasized1 have been leveled out in the interest of discretion and nobility4 ,the disciples show no more enthusiasm than a ,venetian dignitary and prelate should4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bge4 ,the ,supper at ,emmaus4--,louvre4 ,two portraits which were both painted within the year #aede show ,titian at the parting of the ways4 ,the ,aretino1 in the ,pitti ,palace1 the even finer sketch being in the ,frick ,collection1 ,new ,york1 ,figure #bgf1 reveals the truculent and sensual man of letters in all his formidable massiveness4 ,the satin and velvets in which he is clad are painted lightly but with fullest regard for their textures and material beauty4 ,titian liked ,aretino and had profited by his bitter and venal pen4 ,so without emphasizing ,aretino's effrontery and brutality ,titian brings out his resolute intelligence4 ,in the portraits of ,paul ,,iii1 ,figure #bgg1 especially in that scene where the decrepit ,pope muses craftily between two smooth flatterers and traitors1 his own kinsmen1 the sinister air seems filled with contesting wills4 ,a veil of atmosphere interposes itself before the figures4 ,the touch is light1 contrasts are evaded1 materials count for very little1 there is no copying of rich surfaces4 ,even the color is reduced to tones of gray merely warmed with reds or cooled with blues4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bgf4 ,titian4 ,pietro ,aretino4--,frick ,coll41 ,n4 ,y4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bgg4 ,titian4 ,paul ,,iii and his ,nephews4--,naples4 ,in its tremulous psychology1 in its reticence1 in its substitute of richly broken monochrome for a gamut of real color1 this picture is a kind of negation of everything ,titian had attained4 ,his remaining thirty years were given to ideals which are no longer bounded by the ,venetian lagoon1 but are as broad perhaps and indeterminate as the modern imagination itself4 ,before exploring this mystery of ,titian's renovation of his art at seventy1 and since his ,venetian style has closed1 we may do well to consider some of his contemporaries at ,venice and in ,lombardy4 ,sebastiano del ,piombo#hj was born at ,venice in #adhg1 and like most of his generation emulated the smouldering harmonies of ,giorgione4 ,he paints such admirable portraits as the so-called ,fornarina1 at ,florence1 which long passed for a ,raphael4 ,he soon passes from the lyrism of ,giorgione to a dramatic mode quite his own4 ,he was called to ,rome1 made keeper of the ,papal ,seal1 became an executant of ,michelangelo's designs1 and thus indulged a losing rivalry with ,raphael4 ,he commands a heavy dignity in his male portraits1 and in his various pictures of the ,dead ,christ and ,mary1 attains a robust and telling pathos4 ,down to his death1 in #aedg1 he maintained a tradition of ,giorgionesque color in the alien air of ,rome1 and represented something of the gravity of the ,venetian ,renaissance in a city rapidly giving itself to sensationalism4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bgh4 ,palma ,vecchio4 ,adoration of the ,shepherds4--,louvre4 ,palma ,vecchio#ha is a more considerable figure4 ,born at ,serinalta amid the ,bergamesque hills1 in #adhj1 we find him at ,venice1 by #aeje among the pupils of ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,like the rest1 he is touched by ,giogione's poetry1 but on the whole he merely intensifies and refines upon simpler methods4 ,he follows ,titian in the conversation piece1 and does many ,arcadian ,holy ,families which are beautifully lighted1 radiantly colored and felt with a warmth and simplicity that just misses sentimentality4 ,among the best is the ,adoration of the ,shepherds1 ,figure #bgh1 in the ,louvre4 ,with ,titian1 he loves women of generous build and he sets off their impressive charms by careful posing1 employing all the new devices of counterpoise4 ,one may see him at his grandest in the altar-piece of ,st4 ,barbara1 ,figure #bgi1 painted after #aefa4 ,the saint is worthy to be the patroness of artillerymen4 ,she holds her martyr's palm like a field marshal's baton1 she is imperiously confident and yet gentle--a lovely ,amazon of the ,christian pantheon4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bgi4 ,palma ,vecchio4--,s4,m4 ,formosa4 ,in the ,arcadian nude ,palma has delicacy and refinement of workmanship1 but the mood is obvious4 ,for him beauty is literally skin deep1 and he gives himself to the impossible competition of paint with nature's nacreous shades and ineffable carnations4 ,but he so nearly succeeds that just as a painter of lovely surfaces no ,venetian painter quite equalled him1 not even ,titian1 and with this single talent ,palma almost made himself a great portraitist4 ,indeed if painting surfaces were all of portraiture1 he would be the greatest portraitist of the ,renaissance4 ,but his big1 blond models lose condition in his hands4 ,charming as is such a group as the ,three ,graces at ,dresden1 or the dozen or more single portraits of men and women1 they lack the last quality of distinction4 ,he tries to gain it by adopting rather overtly the pathos and wistfulness of ,giorgione1 but it doesn't suit his exquisitely groomed cavaliers nor yet their even more exquisitely groomed and most ample light o'loves4 ,indeed1 despite a handful of superb portraits1 ,palma has ever the air rather of a consummate beauty doctor than that of a great artist4 ,however that be1 his influence was widespread throughout ,northern ,italy1 and especially around his native ,bergamo4 ,he died in #aebh1 leaving a ,veronese pupil1 ,bonifazio1 to complete his unfinished canvases and to carry on to the middle of the century his brilliant and gentle style4 ,within his narrow range ,palma is admirable1 never uneasy1 never below himself4 ,in his unperturbed ,arcadianism and even in his harmless sentimentalism1 in his delicacy and robustness1 he seems more ,venetian than the ,venetians themselves4 ,composure is the very soul of the grand style whether in fifth century ,athens or in sixteenth century ,florence1 ,rome1 or ,venice4 ,it accepts the human spectacle as worthy and thrilling1 admires without misgivings the best things that come before its eye4 ,that is why radicals hate the grand style--and rightly1 for it is always aristocratic1 caring rather little for the average man and much for that privileged remnant which lives in highest bodily efficiency and mental ease4 ,the grand style is on the side of what ,matthew ,arnold called the barbaric virtues of wealth1 health1 and generous living4 ,the moment the artist begins to question the social order1 to be curious about the foibles and fates of individuals as such1 the grand style is in peril4 ,this delicate and inquisitive sensibility makes its appearance in ,italy not long after the death of ,raphael4 ,you will find it in ,pontormo1 at ,florence1 in ,lorenzo ,lotto1 in the ,venetic region1 in ,moretto of ,brescia1 above all in ,correggio1 more assertively in ,tintoretto1 and latent in ,titian's last phase4 ,it is a tremor on the sea of history that heralds a new dawn4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bhj4 ,lorenzo ,lotto4 ,adoration of the ,shepherds4--,brescia4 ,lorenzo ,lotto1#hb born at ,treviso in #adhj1 first and most characteristically embodies the new intimacy4 ,he worked widely through ,lombardy and the ,marches1 enjoying a transitory vogue at ,venice4 ,trained in the austere methods of ,alvise ,vivarini1 he soon gave himself to his own native melancholy4 ,one may see his qualities and defects in the great ,enthroned ,madonna1 in ,san ,bartolommeo at ,bergamo4 ,mr4 ,berenson has well remarked that the saints are no longer demi-gods and objects of worship1 but 8pious souls in whose faces and gestures we discern the zeal1 the fervor1 the yearning1 the reverie1 or even the sentimental ecstacy peculiar to the several temperaments most frequently occurring among the children of ,holy ,mother ,church40 ,note too how the stately architecture derived from ,giovanni ,bellini and the crowded figure group mutually dwarf one another4 ,intimacy and monumentality do not live well together4 ,this picture was finished in #aeaf1 the year that ,titian began the ,assumption4 ,does not the contrast show ,lotto an alien in his time and a harbinger of ours8 ,in later pictures of less monumental pretensions1--as in a ,nativity1 ,figure #bhj1 at ,brescia1 which may profitably be contrasted with ,palma's more assured version1--he attains a penetrating beauty of a morbid kind1 and his sensitiveness makes him a most appealing portraitist4 ,he has left an extraordinary gallery of shy1 inadequate1 sometimes morose and invalid men1 and women1 ,figure #bha4 ,they have not the confidence of the ,renaissance1 but hesitations like our own4 ,which shows perhaps that the ,renaissance mood was ever urban and the affair of a minority of statesmen1 merchants and humanists4 ,in the little cities where there was no enlightened court the human spirit retained and betrayed its immemorial frailties and misgivings4 ,lotto died in #aeef1 having widely diffused his sensitive art through the ,marca and ,lombardy4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bha4 ,lorenzo ,lotto4 ,the ,marriage ,yoke4--,madrid4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bhb4 ,moretto of ,brescia4 ,madonna with ,st4 ,nicholas4--,brescia4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bhc4 ,correggio4 ,detail of ,ceiling4--,convent of ,s4 ,paolo1 ,parma4 ,it is significantly the provincial painters and not the born ,venetians who indulge these quite feminine refinements of sensibility4 ,such a one is ,moretto of ,brescia1 born in #adih and active until #aeee4 ,although closely in touch with ,palma and ,titian1 he avoids their positive color and dreams his pictures in delicate harmonies of silver and blue4 ,there is a morning coolness about them which anticipates certain perfections of early ,velasquez and even of the figure painting of ,corot4 ,he is a distinguished spirit but an anomaly in the age of ,aretino4 ,milton would have understood him4 ,in portraiture1 as in the richly clad nobleman of the ,national ,gallery1 he forces the note of picturesqueness to restlessness4 ,in such religious pictures as the ,madonna in ,glory1 7#aedj71 in ,san ,giorgio ,maggiore1 at ,verona1 or in the ,madonna with ,st4 ,nicholas1 at ,brescia1 7#aeci71 ,figure #bhb1 he shows an ecstatic lyrical feeling1 and finds the free and florid compositional forms to express it4 ,it has an informality which ,titian would never have permitted himself at this moment4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bhd4 ,correggio4 ,st4 ,augustine4 ,fresco4 ,toschi's ,copy4--,cathedral1 ,parma4 ,of course the greatest of those who in the name of sentiment undermined the grand style was ,antonio ,correggio1#hc a provincial painter1 a disappointed and unsuccessful man1 who lived out his less than fifty short years 7#adhi8-aecd7 in or near ,parma4 ,his ideas he took from ,mantegna1 master of all ,northern ,italy1 whose illusionism he carried a point further4 ,he made in #aeah for the ceiling of the reception room of the ,convent of ,san ,paolo1 ,figure #bhc1 a trellis through the verdurous ovals of which one sees pairs of nude boy geniuses at play4 ,he paints away the domes of the ,church of ,san ,giovanni 7#aebd7 and of the ,cathedral 7#aecj71 shows us ,christ or ,his ,mother soaring into the clouds with hosts of accompanying angels4 ,he brings the clouds down through the painted wall and sets them before the pendentives4 ,church ,doctors1 ,figure #bhd1 or ,evangelists ride their cloud-thrones easily in the company of the fairest nude angels of either sex4 ,the painting fairly annuls the architecture4 ,these decorative frescoes are so vital and so richly various that they demand admiration and disarm criticism4 ,to walk among the demi-gods and goddesses that loll on the parapet painted about the ,cathedral dome1 ,figure #bhe1 is to have known the company of ,homer's immortals4 ,the impression is over-powering and unforgettable4 ,cautious people have always resented such profusion and such unrestrained assertion of life and joy4 ,at the time they called the dome1 with its confusion of wriggling rosy legs of ascending angels1 the 8frog pond40 ,they cavilled at ,correggio's price and appealed to ,titian1 who knowing a miracle of fine workmanship1 told them that if they turned the dome over and filled it with ducats1 it would not be too much4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bhe4 ,correggio4 ,detail of fresco decoration of ,dome of the ,cathedral4 ,after ,toschi's ,copy4--,parma4 ,it was ,correggio's distinction to fill an immense decoration with lyrical ecstacy4 ,michelangelo in the ceiling of the ,sistine ,chapel had done as much in elegiac vein4 ,both set a destructive example to smaller men who followed4 ,for two centuries after ,correggio's death in #aecd the clouds blew into churches1 and rosy angelic apparitions cooled their nude charms in these clouds and dangled their delicate legs therefrom1 and painters worked their will upon mere architecture1 and the baroque style took possession of all ,catholic ,europe4 ,at its best it is captivating even to an unwilling ,protestant imagination1 but it never regained the height of its beginnings in ,correggio4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bhf4 ,correggio4 8,the ,day40--,parma4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bhg4 ,correggio4 ,marriage of ,st4 ,catherine4--,louvre4 ,in his religious pieces and mythologies1 ,correggio is respectful to the grand style4 ,he had in one way or another taken account of his ,titian1 ,raphael1 and ,michelangelo1 and he builds his groups in their active symmetries4 ,but such an allegiance to the decorous style is merely superficial1 his affinities are with the following centuries and the devotees of sensibility4 ,even in a grandly composed picture like the ,holy ,family called ,the ,day1 ,figure #bhf1 the women are disquieting in their personal loveliness4 ,there is no relation to the ,parthenon marbles1 as there always seems to be in ,titian1 no suggestion of a larger air4 ,these ,maries know love1 and raptures and tears4 ,in the somewhat earlier ,marriage of ,st4 ,catherine1 ,figure #bhg1 at ,paris1 the mood is simply one of great tenderness4 ,in later pictures like the ,madonna with ,st4 ,george and the ,holy ,night1 at ,dresden1 the excitement of all the figures becomes almost unpleasant4 ,so1 in the mythologies1 ,leda1 or ,danae1 or ,antiope1 ,figure #bhh1 is not goddesslike but perturbingly feminine and desirable4 ,a most delicate erotic appeal is in all this work4 ,it is like ,alexandrian sculpture4 ,it is still noble1 but less so than ,titian or ,raphael1 less abstract and stylistic4 ,the exquisite ambiguity of the mood is not quite compatible with the compositional formulas4 ,one feels it is but a step and a legitimate one from ,correggio to the rare1 sentimental nudes of ,gainsborough and ,sir ,joshua and ,romney4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bhh4 ,correggio4 ,jupiter and ,antiope4--,louvre4 ,in every phase ,correggio's work is distinguishable by the most beautiful handling of color and light and dark4 ,like ,moretto and ,lotto he prefers a blonder scale than the ,venetian1 and makes his surfaces so many miracles of ivory1 silvery grays and straw yellows1 invested with shadow tenuously modulated1 yet of strongest modelling power4 ,he cares nothing about textures or individually rich passages2 it is the whole picture that counts4 ,the brush sweeps lightly and swiftly1 there is no loading of color1 everywhere an exquisite economy and a subtlety that conceals itself4 ,at all points1 technically as well as psychologically1 ,correggio deals in overtones4 ,and by that token he is not of the ,renaissance1 but is greater or smaller than it1 as you may choose to decide4 ,he is more our contemporary than he is ,titian's4 ,meanwhile ,titian himself is passing into a subjective phase4 ,in #aede he was at ,rome4 ,michelangelo1 who offered him unusual courtesies1 doubtless showed him the ,sistine ceiling and the recently finished ,last ,judgment4 ,titian1 as he writes himself1 studied with humble amazement the 8marvellous old stones0 that the ,roman soil was yielding up to the newly founded museums4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bhi4 ,charles ,v4 at ,mhlberg4--,madrid4 ,even before the ,roman trip1 his style begins to show an old man's restless vehemence4 ,the titanic ceiling decorations for the ,salute1 of #aedc and #aedd1 ,abraham and ,isaac1 ,cain and ,abel1 ,david and ,goliath1 display at once an almost sensational energy and a lesser regard for the superficial attractions of color4 ,the rugged designs are hacked out in bold splotches of light and dark4 ,the method begins to be luministic4 ,the partial foreshortening of the figures to adjust them to being seen from below is the decorative compromise which prevails at ,venice from ,tintoretto to ,tiepolo4 ,the new point of view is easiest studied in ,christ crowned with ,thorns1 in the ,louvre4 ,titian passes swiftly through this overtly dramatic stage4 ,the same year1 #aedh1 that saw the ,crowning with ,thorns1 saw also the equestrian portrait of ,charles ,v1 ,conqueror1 ,figure #bhi1 after the battle of ,mhlberg4 ,what is odd about the picture is the elimination of all military conventions--no battle reek1 no stricken foes1 no busy staff4 ,instead just the pale1 inflexible1 thoughtful face of a slight old man1 physically frail but firmly seated on a cantering horse4 ,there is no frank color except the purple scarf and the gold of armor and horse trappings4 ,everything is expressed in marvellous grays and browns which contain hints of all the colors4 ,there is no linear drawing2 edge melts into edge without abrupt contrasts4 ,a twilight mystery1 a veiled quality1 adds immensely to the expression of melancholy and might4 ,the mere spectacle of life has become relatively uninteresting to ,titian4 ,he rather meditates on those creative throes of the mind which underlie action4 ,his conqueror is a thinker4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bij4 ,titian4 ,the ,rape of ,europa4--,mrs4 ,john ,l4 ,gardner1 ,boston4 ,in ,titian's own portrait1 of #aeej1 at ,berlin1 the new method is more strongly announced4 ,the form grows out of a silvery gloom by reason of hesitating flickers of light which yet have extraordinary modelling power4 ,in character the work is remarkable4 ,one senses smouldering under the weathered surfaces of this man of seventy-three the most formidable capacities for wrath and for passion4 ,the nudes and mythologies of these final years1 the various ,danae's and the ,nymph and ,faun at ,vienna1 the ,calisto and ,acton at ,bridgewater ,house1 the ,venus and ,adonis at ,madrid1 all show a very different temper from the early poesies4 ,there is no suggestion of meditative dalliance1 no shy ,arcadianism4 ,these are mortals stung and lashed by desire4 ,love is not sweet on their lips but bitter and fateful4 ,even ,europa1 ,figure #bij1 at ,fenway ,court1 the finest of these later poesies1 seems to fill the sunlight sky and sea with a spasm of erotic expectancy4 ,passion becomes cosmic4 ,strange capacities for tenderness also appear4 ,compare the ,deposition in the ,prado1 ,figure #bia1 of #aeei1 with the masterpiece of forty years earlier1 ,figure #bgc1 at the ,louvre4 ,the noble domelike arrangement persists1 but within the compositional dome what a change6 ,the body of the ,christ is no longer grandly disposed4 ,it crumples as it is turned into the tomb4 ,the thing has the unexpectedness of fact4 ,the canvas is soberly incandescent with half-lit faces which gleam through the deep grays and browns4 ,each light is a focus of compassion4 ,titian himself1 impersonating ,st4 ,joseph of ,arimathea1 supports the ,christ4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bia4 ,titian4 ,the ,entombment4--,madrid4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bib4 ,titian4 ,education of ,cupid4--,borghese1 ,rome4 ,in one of the latest poesies1 the ,education of ,cupid1 ,figure #bib1 at the ,borghese1 ,rome1 the new method may be studied4 ,the forms are built up of little and apparently indeterminate touches of russets and grays that glow from within4 ,the form builds itself out vibratingly4 ,it is no longer as palpable to the hand as that of the early ,titians1 but it is more palpable to the eye and to the mind4 ,tone has driven out color2 atmospheric envelopment has replaced minute description2 the artist merely creates gradations of light which afford the illusion of bulk4 ,it is what we call today1 rather loosely1 impressionism1 or1 more accurately1 luminism4 ,in the character of these goddesses we have no longer wistfulness1 that ineffable adolescent quality of ,titian's early poesies1 but women fully conscious of their power to give or take away4 ,his later pictures1 ,the ,crowning with ,thorns at ,munich 7#aegj7 and the ,piet 7#aegf7 in the ,venice ,academy1 are nobly tragic in mood4 ,titian faces the last great event not as a humanist1 but as a humble believer sorrowing in the suffering of his ,lord4 ,carried off by the plague in #aegf1 ,titian had lived nearly a century1 for over seventy years had been a famous painter4 ,in that long course there is no sign of failure of power4 ,his dominant mood changes according to his age from the ardent pastoralism of his early maturity1 through the dramatic energy of his middle age1 and the impersonal splendor of his first old age4 ,and when he had passed the scriptural term1 he developed new depths of feeling1 and created to contain them a pulsating realm of light and dark in twilight4 ,he had begun with the cool preciseness of ,giovanni ,bellini and closed with a passionate mystery of expression which foretells ,rembrandt4 ,so far as ,venice was concerned1 he not merely led its ,renaissance1 but was its ,renaissance1 both in rise and decay4 ,and it is noteworthy that while ,raphael and ,michelangelo end in ostentation of power and decline of feeling1 ,titian ends in deeper capacities whether for passion or sympathy1 works away from the daylight realities of humanism towards new depths in natural appearance and new depths in his own soul4 ,around such a man a throng of able painters naturally grew up4 ,the poorest imitated him1 the better took hints from his marvellous practice and went their own way4 ,among these was ,giambattista ,moroni of ,bergamo1 born in #aebj and trained under ,moretto of ,brescia4 ,mediocre as a religious painter1 he was a portraitist of acutest vision for character4 ,a provincial1 he cared little for the idealizations of the time4 ,in such a portrait as the ,tailor1 at ,london1 or the amazing old ,abbess in the ,metropolitan ,museum1 or the ,husband and ,wife1 at ,cleveland1 or ,the ,widower1 at ,dublin1 ,figure #bic1 he gives us the very look of people1 even to their uneasiness as they submit to the ordeal of being portrayed1 and withal their intelligence1 diligence1 and patience4 ,titian1 when overdriven with portrait commissions1 habitually referred his clients to ,moroni1 as an abler artist in the specialty4 ,and indeed ,moroni1 while lacking ,titian's style1 looked harder at his sitters than ,titian ever did4 ,he died in #aegb1 four years before his generous friend4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bic4 ,g-,b4 ,moroni4 ,the ,widower4--,dublin4 ,the ,bassanos1 the father ,jacopo and his sons ,leandro and ,francesco1 were too popular to be omitted4 ,their style is pretty eclectic with something of late ,titian and ,tintoretto in it4 ,they treat the old religious themes1 are good portraitists1 and carry out on their own initiative a bucolic sort of painting1 with abundant horses1 cattle and dogs4 ,so homely a tradition has its place in breaking down the decorum of the grand style4 ,the excellent average of the family in their craft may be judged from ,leandro's ,piet1 at ,cleveland4 ,sometimes over the velvety calm of ,venice and the lagoon will roll up a thunder storm4 ,the radiant color becomes more sombrely rich under the tossing clouds4 ,their steely edges break into the lightning flash2 domes and towers for a moment stagger under the lashing of the rain squall4 ,the storm passes1 the leaden clouds show saffron backs against the blue1 the evening is here with double serenity and purity4 ,such is ,jacopo ,tintoretto amid the reflective tranquility1 and confident splendors of ,venetian painting--a wind of the spirit1 a shattering1 yet consoling1 apparition4 ,tenderness1 tragedy1 romance1 are his realm4 ,where his contemporaries dealt in superb averages1 he deals in transcendent exceptions4 ,thus he has ever been a baffling figure to the critics4 ,for the febrile ,ruskin1 he is among the greatest of painters2 for the coolly analytical ,kenyon ,cox1 he is little better than a reckless sensationalist4 ,every one1 friend or foe of his art1 must admit its ,shakespearean richness and variety4 ,he lacks ,titian's ,olympian poise1 but is more universal4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bid4 ,tintoretto4 ,tithonus and ,aurora4 ,tempera color sketch4--,british ,museum4 ,jacopo ,robusti1#hd the dyer's son1 was born in ,venice in #aeah4 ,at seventeen he was put with ,titian4 ,once passing through the studio ,titian saw on the floor a number of ,tintoretto's sketches4 ,not trusting himself to speak1 he sent word that the newcomer should never again enter his studio4 ,an act which contemporary gossip ascribed to jealousy1 is rather to be referred to disgust at ,tintoretto's unbridled vehemence4 ,whoever has studied ,tintoretto's tempera sketches1 ,figure #bid1 in the ,british ,museum may realize how ,titian felt4 ,the sketches are superb1 but ,titian in #aece was in no way to realize their value4 ,twenty years later he may have appreciated them4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bie4 ,tintoretto4 ,presentation of ,virgin in the ,temple4--,s4 ,m4 dell' ,orto4 ,driven out by the best master in ,venice1 ,tintoretto was reduced to the process of self-education1 in which he was aided by that brilliant decorative colorist and ever luckless artist1 ,andrea ,schiavone4 ,tintoretto's earliest work of note is the decoration of his own parish church of the ,orto1 which he undertook about the year #aedf for the costs4 ,the gigantic canvases of the ,deluge and ,worship of the ,golden ,calf in the ,choir made his fame1 but we see his peculiar quality better in the ,presentation in the ,temple1 ,figure #bie4 ,it was finished only a few years after ,titian's masterpiece in the ,scuola della ,carit1 hence the contrast between the two works on the same theme is enlightening4 ,titian's picture is fundamentally a spectacle and a ceremony4 ,everything goes as arranged and expected4 ,tintoretto's picture is a sudden and thrilling event full of unexpected graces4 ,the little ,virgin is well within the picture1 but keeps her prominence through her position against the sky and even more by reason of the focusing of intense interest on her by all the persons in the composition4 ,it is a charming invention that three mothers and their infant daughters on the steps should share in the glory of her consecration4 ,at the left a prophetic figure suddenly grasps the import of the moment and sways with wide stretched arms towards the hope4 ,from him to the head of the steps rises a pathetic line of cripples and beggars mercifully veiled in half light4 ,these are witnesses to the human misery that the ,virgin through her ,son is to assuage4 ,the unifying principle1 apart from the fine linear design1 is the light which floods out of the picture over the beautifully carved steps4 ,everything is conceived in depth1 while ,titian's ,presentation is relatively on one plane4 ,golden browns and yellows of great luminosity are prevailing colors1 the crimsons and blues serving merely as relief and accent4 ,with all its richness of illustrative content1 the thing is a noble decoration4 ,a little later1 perhaps in #aedh1 ,tintoretto did the first of three canvases for the ,scuola ,grande di ,san ,marco4 ,it represents the moment when a ,christian slave is about to be brained4 ,the liberating figure of ,st4 ,mark1 ,figure #bif1 swoops down1 the maul snaps in the executioner's hand4 ,with a singular delicacy the entire interest of the bystanders is concentrated on the helpless white body of the martyr4 ,the suspense is breathless4 ,only the old magistrate high at the right has seen the miraculous breaking of the executioner's sledge4 ,his gesture carries the eye to the figure of the downward swooping saint1 thus the most sensational feature is last seen and comes as a climax4 ,such dramatic modulations are of the very essence of ,tintoretto's genius4 ,again1 though the sweeping curves of the linear design are splendidly balanced1 the light is the ultimate harmonizer4 ,it ripples out in an increasing wave towards the spectator1 kindling as it goes the colors of rich stuffs and the bronzed or pearly roundings of brows1 shoulders1 throats and limbs4 ,the carrying of a uniform rhythm of motion through earth and sky is again ,tintoretto's invention4 ,he uses it here as elsewhere not as a sprightly device--which was later the baroque attitude--but as a necessary factor in emotional expression4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bif4 ,tintoretto4 ,miracle of the ,slave4--,venice4 ,in #aefa ,tintoretto finished the great ,marriage at ,cana for the ,salute4 ,the picture is tremendously developed in depth1 and the ,christ is set in the distance4 ,the foreground figures alone are concerned with the miracle4 ,very effective is the contrast of the quiet feasters with those who are stirred by the marvel4 ,the lighting is consummately fine4 ,there are passages of extreme loveliness1 such as the swaying row of women's faces on the right of the table1 but the whole thing is far from clear2 illustrative and decorative features are imperfectly harmonized4 ,in this great scale ,tintoretto's richness and insatiate inventiveness tend to work against him4 ,before considering his colossal labor in the ,school of ,st4 ,roch1 we should note his avowed ideal4 ,it might be read on the walls of his studio3 8,the ,drawing of ,michelangelo and the ,coloring of ,titian40 ,in the studio were casts of ,michelangelo's sculptures brought up at great expense from ,florence and ,rome4 ,and to ,michelangelo we owe the slender and alert proportions of ,tintoretto's figures1 quite different as they are from the gravity1 almost ponderosity of ,titian1 ,palma1 and ,paolo ,veronese4 ,the color is based on late ,titian1 but is more sonorous1 simple1 and uncomplicated by minor tones4 ,the brush stroke is unlike anything earlier--sketchy1 impetuous1 definitive1 working by first intention4 ,accordingly the surfaces are much broken1 and1 to a near view1 lack preciousness4 ,we have neither the fluent enamel of ,giorgione and early ,titian1 nor yet the muffled richness of ,titian's later manner4 ,but in the best ,tintorettos the touch is infallibly crisp1 right and expressive4 ,to exaggerate these generously avowed influences of the master who repudiated him and the master he never saw would be easy4 ,as a matter of fact1 ,tintoretto is always more the illustrator than either of his models4 ,if he adopts the grand poses of ,michelangelo1 he does so not for abstract beauty1 but ever seeks a motive for them4 ,if he chooses ,michelangelo's slender1 athletic proportions1 he invests them with tenderness and enthusiasm4 ,unlike ,titian1 he avoids both classical draperies and rich contemporary costumes1 choosing compromise forms of dress which1 without ceasing to be classical1 should seem familiar1 and fit for a real world4 ,if he adopts ,titian's coruscating light1 he gives it a special poetry4 ,it does not glow evenly through the picture1 but flashes intermittently1 as an accent or accompaniment to emotion4 ,in #aefj the famous charitable confraternity of ,st4 ,roch determined to decorate their beautiful ,school4 ,they called ,federico ,zuccaro1 and ,francesco ,salviati1 who had ,roman honors1 ,tintoretto1 and his friends1 ,schiavone and ,paolo ,veronese4 ,the subject in competition was to be a cartoon of ,st4 ,roch in glory for the ceiling of the refectory4 ,when the day came1 ,tintoretto unveiled not a cartoon but the finished oval4 ,that was his drawing1 he said2 he hoped they would not be offended1 but he knew no other way4 ,the misunderstandings due to this summary procedure were soon cleared up4 ,tintoretto became titular painter to the ,school1 later a member1 and worked at the two great halls and ante-rooms for twenty-eight years4 ,st4 ,roch was the ,physician ,saint who cared for the plague stricken4 ,thus the upper hall was pictured with examples of miraculous mercy and deliverance chosen from the ,old ,testament4 ,the lower hall was devoted to the more familiar stories of the life of ,christ and of ,his ,mother4 ,sadly darkened and neglected1 often in impossible light1 these pictures baffle all but the enthusiast4 ,one needs all the vicarious enthusiasm that may be drawn from a ,ruskin to do ,san ,rocco with any thoroughness4 ,whoever persists will be rewarded1 for while ,tintoretto is by no means at his greatest as a painter in this work1 it reveals his inexhaustible inventiveness1 his warmth and tenderness1 and power1 as no other series does1 whereas it has in the little moonlit landscapes with ,st4 ,mary ,magdalen and ,st4 ,mary of ,egypt faery refinements elsewhere lacking in the master4 ,everybody knows at least the great ,calvary1 with its sense of cosmic disaster4 ,marvellous is the storm which sweeps towards the cross from behind1 superb alike the cluster of faithful friends at the foot of the cross and the proud riders at the flanks4 ,hate1 love and indifference mingle in the scene4 ,it gets its profound tragedy on terms of fact1 is free from all mystical sentimentality4 ,what was it like on that awful evening8 is the only question the artist asks himself1 and his answer1 a sheer gift of the imagination1 transcends all the lyrical sweetness and measured solemnity of the ritual crucifixions4 ,humanism and religion unite for once in this masterpiece4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #big4 ,tintoretto4 ,christ ,tempted by ,satan4--,scuola di ,s4 ,rocco4 ,among the scores of narratives in the two halls the eye will rest upon ,moses ,smiting the ,rock1 for its majesty2 upon the meeting of ,mary and ,elizabeth which has the intensity of ,giotto's fresco at neighboring ,padua1 with an abandon all its own2 upon the ,flight into ,egypt1 with its idyllic landscape2 upon the awful tumult and despair of the ,massacre of the ,innocents2 upon the pathos of the white-robed ,christ1 awaiting his doom from an indifferent proconsul4 ,these occur among many that are equally memorable4 ,perhaps the subtle humanism of ,tintoretto is best shown in the ,temptation of ,christ1 ,figure #big4 ,instead of the ignoble bat-like ,satan of the medival painters1 we have a magnificent starry-eyed youth1 a veritable genius of the pride of life4 ,with outstretched1 generous arms he offers unstinted power and pleasure4 ,the ,christ regards him with tranquil kindness1 as one might a splendid animal fawning too eagerly4 ,for so ,christian a man as ,tintoretto1 it implies extraordinary sympathy to imagine a ,satan in his own way gloriously sure of his case4 ,in these compositions the method is most various4 ,but where there are many figures ,tintoretto generally avoids the convention of placing the chief personages on the picture plane4 ,you look over heads or between bodies to glimpse the ,saints or the ,blessed ,virgin or ,christ4 ,and curiously this procedure does not confuse the eye4 ,on the contrary these apparently casual but really most thoughtful arrangements heighten the sense of reality2 one feels like a witness1 like one himself on the edges of the throng4 ,along with the decoration of ,san ,rocco1 ,tintoretto undertook frequent commissions for the ,ducal ,palace4 ,but the fire of #aegg consumed his picture of the naval victory at ,lepanto1 with much else4 ,in the mythologies of the ,anticollegio painted in #aegh we have the loveliest poesies of the ,venetian school4 ,these are the ,marriage of ,bacchus and ,ariadne1 ,mercury and the ,graces1 ,minerva expelling ,mars and the ,forge of ,vulcan4 ,from the point of view both of decoration and sentiment these are perhaps the finest nudes in painting4 ,they glow with outdoor health1 the firm wholesome bodies sway from sheer joy in motion1 or hover lightly in the limpid air4 ,the noble forms are fixed for us in transparent shadows1 and broad dapplings of light4 ,there is little of the sheer dreaminess of ,giorgione1 who yet counts for something in the work1 nor yet of the explicit sensuousness of ,titian4 ,these noble creatures go about our business1--marrying1 seeking grace in life1 composing strife1 providing munitions should strife arise4 ,miss ,phillipps is probably right in divining here an allegory of the greatness of ,venice1 bride of the ,adriatic1 protected by her diplomacy1 admired for her arts1 yet ever ready in her arsenals4 ,what is better worth noting is the combination of breadth and delicacy in the finest of these poesies1 ,the ,marriage of ,bacchus and ,ariadne1 ,figure #bih4 ,the interlocking of the superb forms in a flowing rhythm or pattern1 the technical miracle of ,venus's easy turn in the air as she offers the ring and the starry crown1 the exquisite alternations of light and half light others might conceivably have invented4 ,what is proper to ,tintoretto and to him alone is the hesitating hand of ,ariadne and her almost resigned and reluctant acceptance of a new love1 being mindful of love once betrayed4 ,also the delicacy of ,bacchus's ardent gesture1 as knowing himself to be not only wooer but consoler1 is purest ,tintoretto4 ,the picture with its companion pieces is the effulgent afterglow of the ,arcadianism that began with ,giorgione4 ,it breathes a charm that has never since been fully recoverable4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bih4 ,tintoretto4 ,bacchus and ,ariadne4--,ducal ,palace4 ,while these poesies were in progress1 about #aege1 ,tintoretto painted for the ,church of ,san ,cassiano the most original of his ,crucifixions1 ,figure #bii4 ,one looks over the narrow top of ,golgotha to a peaceful expanse of marbled evening sky4 ,the heads and serried pikes of the ,roman legionaries suggest a throng behind the hill4 ,the sharpest note of color is a banner1 and the purple robe just stripped from the ,christ4 ,between ,john and ,mary and the executioners on the ladder and against the sky the strangest episode passes4 ,it is the moment when a ,pharisee hands up to the executioner the mocking placard 8,jesus of ,nazareth ,king of the ,jews40 ,with a sudden impulse ,john points out the act to ,mary1 to console her4 ,christ's enemies affirm the truth of him4 ,even in the hour of defeat and death he is eternally his people's king4 ,the level light which ripples softly over the nude forms of ,christ and the thieves takes away all harshness4 ,at ,san ,rocco ,tintoretto presented an epic and cosmic terror4 ,here he suggests all the intimate and lyrical hopes that have grown out of the sacrifice on ,calvary4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bii4 ,tintoretto4 ,calvary4--,s4 ,cassiano4 ,like all the ,venetians ,tintoretto was an admirable portraitist4 ,his sober and powerful vein is well shown in the ,madonna with ,three ,magistrates1 ,figure #cjj4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cjj4 ,tintoretto4 ,madonna with ,three ,magistrates4--,venice4 ,among the later altar-pieces none is finer than the ,miracle of ,st4 ,agnes in the ,orto4 ,it has all of ,tintoretto's sweetness1 power and suddenness1 and is nearly in its original condition of color4 ,in #aehg1 being nearly seventy years old1 he got the commission for his greatest and perhaps his last picture1 the ,paradise1 in the ,hall of the ,great ,council in the ,ducal ,palace4 ,darkened and dried1 it is still to the perceptive observer a billowing sea of rapturous faces of the blest1 obeying in its widening circles of cloud-borne angels an oceanic rhythm4 ,during the three years that ,tintoretto was painting it1 his young daughter and comrade1 ,marietta1 dressed like a ,shakespearean page for greater convenience1 worked and chattered beside him on the scaffolding4 ,she hardly lived to see the great canvas set on its wall4 ,tintoretto lived on till #aeid1 and then his aged and withered body was carried across the canal from his palace to his vault in the ,orto4 ,such friends as ,schiavone and ,paolo ,veronese had gone before him1 the old merrymakings and impromptu concerts in his home had ceased4 ,it was a very tired old man who bid his sons continue the honorable trade of painting4 ,he had shared nobly the greatest range of human emotions1 and his last artistic vision was of an ecstatic peace in ,paradise4 ,after ,tintoretto1 ,paolo ,veronese#he seems an anti-climax4 ,his imagination is very limited4 ,his greatest pictures treat the sole theme of stately feasts4 ,his soul is that of a very high class society editor4 ,but no well-advised person looks to ,paolo ,veronese for soul4 ,one rather seeks in him judgment and fine painting4 ,both are at their maximum4 ,paolo ,caliari was born at ,verona in #aebh1 trained by a half primitive master1 ,antonio ,badile1 and influenced by the energetic compositions of ,brusasorci4 ,paolo inherited the long ,veronese tradition for spectacular narrative painting with splendid architectural accessories1 and he carries the local tradition to its close and height4 ,he came to ,venice at twenty-seven1 a finished and famous artist1 bringing with him a novel sort of color4 ,he avoids the contrasts and keen resonances of the true ,venetians1 painting rather in luminous half tones based on gray and blue4 ,his forms are rich and solid without heavy shadow1 and his canvases have the generally blond and uniform color quality of the modern out-of-door school4 ,his preference is for feasts and pageants4 ,we have the spectacle of a rich and gentle society1 dignified in its pleasures and resplendent in its costume4 ,gold brocade sets off the pearly skins of the portly and gracious ladies in his pictures1 and their cavaliers are as magnificently clad in satins1 velvets and furs4 ,the feasts are generally half out of doors in great colonnades1 with the light glinting impartially upon fair throats and faces and upon channeled columns and sculptured balustrades4 ,behind1 pale cornices and spires swim against a blue sky4 ,it was the habit of the wealthy chapters of monks who maintained the great ,venetian churches to paint in their refectories some ,scriptural feast1 as a warrant perhaps for their own daily convivialities4 ,earlier1 the most solemn of all meals1 ,the ,last ,supper1 would have been chosen4 ,not so with ,veronese and his contemporaries4 ,they chose instead the ,marriage at ,cana or the ,feast in the ,house of ,simon or of ,levi1 ,figure #cja1--splendid events of small or only incidental religious significance1 and treated merely as contemporary banquets4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cja4 ,paolo ,veronese4 ,feast in ,levi's ,house4--,venice4 ,of the four great feasts painted by ,paolo ,veronese the ,marriage at ,cana1 in the ,louvre1 painted in #aefc1 is earliest1 and most imposing4 ,it builds up indefinitely from the marble pavement1 with tier upon tier of people1 clinging to columns and peering from balconies4 ,one may count no less than two hundred and fifty heads4 ,it has all the stir of a public banquet and everywhere the greatest richness of table accessories and costumes4 ,the theme called for little religious emotion4 ,the miracle itself is a convivial one4 ,yet ,veronese has made this different from other feasts by a most complicated system of guiding lines which always lead the eye to the gentle face of the ,christ in the centre4 ,he fairly dominates all this animation and splendor4 ,in the trio of musicians in the foreground ,veronese has given us a precious hint of the part music played in the life of all ,venetian artists4 ,paolo himself plays the viola1 ,tintoretto the 'cello1 and ,titian the bass4 ,what is remarkable about the great canvas is its unity4 ,bathed in equable cool light1 the eye takes it in at a glance2 there is no confusing or distracting emphasis2 the whole thing is nobly tranquillizing4 ,in #aefi ,veronese was in ,rome4 ,we may possibly see some slight influence of ,michelangelo in the frescoes of the ,villa ,barbaro1 at ,maser4 ,these contain the only nudes of ,veronese that have a real athleticism1 and the whole decoration has a more positive and sprightly spirit than is usual in ,veronese's placid style4 ,working in a country house for liberal and congenial patrons1 ,daniele ,barbaro was himself an architect of merit1 ,veronese sheds something of that professional dignity which is sometimes excessive in his official work4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cjb4 ,paolo ,veronese4 ,marriage of ,st4 ,catherine4--,santa ,caterina4 ,among his numerous altar-pieces1 the ,marriage of ,st4 ,catherine1 ,figure #cjb1 in the ,venetian ,church of that name is perhaps the most gracious4 ,the women are adorable--hothouse flowers1 incredible for poise1 hue and delicate surface bloom4 ,they are not very personal1 their charm is a social one4 ,but they are very gentle1 reasonably unconscious of their own beauty1 and quite unforgettably lovely4 ,it took a wonderful eye to see them at once so simple and so regal4 ,in the last twelve years of his life1 ,veronese was constantly employed in the ,ducal ,palace and the adjoining public buildings4 ,he employed assistants freely1 and the work affords difficult critical problems4 ,the work is uneven4 ,in mythology he belies the hopes based on the frescoes at ,maser1 where it seemed as if he too might attain the ,olympian mood4 ,it is sadly lacking in the hoydenish group that enacts ,europa and the ,bull1 ,figure #cjc1 in the ,ducal ,palace4 ,why are these heavy ,venetian lasses risking their skins and skirts and shins near the seaside and a bull8 ,the flat prose of the feeling1 or rather the absence of any real feeling1 makes one forget the splendor of the painting4 ,such also is the effect of the superbly painted ,venus and ,mars1 at ,new ,york1 and of most of the mythologies4 ,we have to do with sheer prose and not very sincere prose at that4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cjc4 ,paolo ,veronese4 ,rape of ,europa4--,ducal ,palace4 ,when1 however1 the theme can be drawn from everyday ,venice1 ,veronese is overpoweringly fine4 ,again and again in looking at the ceilings of the ,ducal ,palace one catches his breath before such visions of magnificence as ,venice as ,justice1 ,figure #cjd1 ,venice as ,queen of the ,world4 ,for all its contemporary quality1 it attains a strange other-worldliness4 ,it is as if some one had looked at superb ,venice through a magnifying glass that ennobled the forms and greatly enhanced the colors4 ,you feel how ,veronese loved it all and how little he cared for anything beyond the splendor1 dignity and prosperity of his adoptive city4 ,he gives us the look of ,venice at her climax of ,renaissance glory1 as ,carpaccio had given the dying radiance of her medival estate4 ,from the point of view of judgment1 style and fine craftsmanship1 it is impossible to overpraise ,veronese4 ,he should be regarded rather as a great painter in the narrower sense than a supreme artist4 ,when he died in #aehh1 only fifty years old1 he left a very enduring inheritance4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cjd4 ,paolo ,veronese4 ,venice attended by ,force and ,justice4 ,ceiling ,panel4--,ducal ,palace4 ,it was on the whole his moderate and judicious sumptuousness that inspired the painters of the next century4 ,it was well that they sought his imitable merits and not the passion of ,titian and ,tintoretto4 ,it was largely thanks to ,veronese that ,venetian art suffered no such sharp decline as befell that of ,florence and ,rome4 ,the decorative tradition of ,veronese sufficed to nourish a ,piazetta and a ,tiepolo a century and a half after his death4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cje4 ,g-,b4 ,tiepolo4 ,time revealing ,truth4--,villa ,biron1 ,vicenza4 ,for ,giovanni ,battista ,tiepolo#hf 7#afie-aggj7 in sheer force and fertility yields to none of his ,renaissance predecessors4 ,there never was a more valiant draughtsman or a more splendid colorist4 ,such decorations as those of the ,scuola del ,carmine1 and the ,labia ,palace fall little behind ,veronese's pageantry in grandeur while representing an audacity of stroke and coloration which ,veronese lacked4 ,so the tragic scenes of ,christ's ,passion at ,san ,luigi have the intensity of ,tintoretto if lacking something of his nobility4 ,in the ceiling decorations of ,tiepolo1 ,figure #cje1 we see the freest fancies of the ,baroque1 its customary tumult of shimmering clouds and hovering pearly figures1 repeated with a lightness and audacity and withal measure which the ,baroque itself never attained save in its great initiator ,correggio4 ,such powers as ,tiepolo's soon won him international patronage4 ,he painted in ,austria and died at ,madrid4 ,with him perishes the grandeur of the ,venetian school4 ,only a tinge of masquerade and exhibitionism puts him lower than his constant exemplar1 ,paolo ,veronese4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cjf4 ,antonio ,canale4 ,island of ,san ,michele4--,royal ,collections1 ,windsor4 ,indeed the simplicity which is the most enduring charm of any art is more felt in the minor ,venetians of ,tiepolo's time1 as in ,antonio ,canale1 called ,canaletto1 ,figure #cjf1 who painted the irradiated panorama of the ,venetian lagoon and canals with the ardent precision of a reborn ,gentile ,bellini4 ,francesco ,guardi#hg 7#agab-agfe71 ,canaletto's pupil1 with a freer brush and fancy paints the spectacle of ,venice1 ,figure #cjg1 its balls and promenades and water pageants1 with the sensitiveness of a ,carpaccio4 ,but ,carpaccio's youthful world is no longer there to paint4 ,romance has given way to casual amorous intrigue1 sentiment to show4 ,but out of the welter of sophisticated gayety still rise clean against the heavens the pale domes and bell towers of an older and finer ,venice4 ,guardi is perhaps at his best in the numerous tiny oil sketches which deal with the remote and solitary groves and ruins of the lagoon4 ,here we have felicities of broken color and niceties of observation1 accurate notations of evanescent effects of light1 which can still give lessons to the most modern landscapists4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cjg4 ,francesco ,guardi4 ,scuola di ,san ,marco4 ,pen and ,wash ,drawing4--,lamperti ,coll41 ,milan4 ,in ,pietro ,longhi 7#agjb-agfb7 ,venice developed a sympathetic chronicler of her social pleasures1 ,figure #cjh4 ,the world of his delicate and witty little canvases is that of the card party1 the formal call1 the vanity and ceremony of philandering1 the shop1 the musicale1 the masked ball4 ,only ,holland has given so true and sympathetic a record of her smaller affairs1 and at the moment1 only ,hogarth in ,england and ,chardin in ,france were doing the thing with equal ability4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cjh4 ,pietro ,longhi4 ,maskers at the ,zoo4--,london4 ,nothing better shows the slightly anachronistic quality of ,tiepolo's grandeur than a fine ,longhi4 ,the ,venetian imagination had moved indoors1 so to speak1 had foregone in favor of individual gratifications the old vision of the collective splendor4 ,venice no longer dines grandly in the open with ,veronese1 she coquettishly sips coffee with ,longhi4 ,if she had declined in nobility1 she had at least kept her sincerity and taste4 ,her affair had ever been rather with appearances than with ideals or interpretations4 ,but since the ,greeks no other nation had considered appearances with such noble candor4 ,she kept to the end the good pictorial habit of letting appearances explain themselves4 ,thus if a ,titian will stand beside a ,pheidian marble1 so will a ,tiepolo beside an ,alexandrian masterpiece1 while a trim belle of ,pietro ,longhi need feel no confusion before a ,tanagra figurine4 ,time passes gently over a city whose artistic aims are as limited as her taste is sure4 ,venice had ever been gracious in her grandeur1 and gracious she remained even after she had ceased to be grand4 ,,illustrations ,,for ,,chapter ,,viii ,,titian',s ,,assumption ,,the ,,beginning ,,of ,,the ,,venetian ,,grand ,,style ,titian's contemporaries were fully aware that the ,assumption 7#aeah7 marked the beginning of the ,grand ,style at ,venice and that the change was revolutionary4 ,the critic ,lodovico ,dolce writes in his ,dialogo della ,pittura1 ,florence1 #agce1 p4 #bhf f4 putting the words into the mouth of ,aretino3 8,after not much time after the ,fondaco frescoes1 #aejh he was given to paint a great panel for the high altar of the ,friars ,minor2 where ,titian1 still young1 painted in oils the ,virgin1 who rises to heaven among many angels who accompany her1 and above her he figured a ,god ,father flanked by two angels4 ,it seems really as if she rises with a face full of humility1 and her robes fly lightly4 ,at the bottom are the disciples who with various attitudes manifest joy and amazement1 and are mostly larger than life1 and assuredly in that picture is contained the grandeur and terribleness of ,michelangelo1 the pleasingness and grace of ,raphael1 with the coloring proper to nature1 and1 moreover1 this was the first public work which he made in oils2 and he made it in very little time1 and young40 8,thereupon the stupid painters and the vulgar herd who up to then had seen nothing but the cold and dead things of ,giovanni ,bellini1 of ,gentile1 and of ,alvise ,vivarini 7since ,giorgione1 working in oils1 had not yet had any public work2 and for the most part made no other works than half figures and portraits7 which were without movement and without relief1 spake great ill of that picture4 ,afterwards1 as envy cooled1 and opening their eyes a little to the truth1 the people began to be amazed at the new manner discovered in ,venice by ,titian3 and all the painters from then on strove to imitate it2 but being off their own path1 became confused4 ,and surely it must seem a miracle that ,titian1 without having at that time seen the antiquities of ,rome1 which were the light of all the good painters1 solely with that little spark1 which he had discovered in the works of ,giorgione1 saw and perceived the idea of perfect painting40 ,the general critical justness of this statement must condone its abundant overstatements and errors of fact4 ,,aurelio ,,luini ,,on ,,titian',s ,,impressionism 8,aurelio ,luini has excellently understood this art of landscape to whom it once happened that visiting ,titian1 and asking him his opinion about the background of trees1 besides many reasons which he heard from him about making the foliage sparkle against the background1 he saw one of his ,titian's wonderful landscapes which he had at home1 which1 having seen quietly1 ,aurelio thought a daubed up thing1 but afterwards1 having withdrawn to a distance1 it seemed to him that the sun shone resplendently in it1 making the paths retreat on this side and that2 so that ,aurelio had to say that he had never seen a rarer thing in the world in the way of landscapes40 ,lomazzo1 ,trattato1 ,milan1 #aehd1 p4 #dgd1 #e4 ,,on ,,belle ,,nature ,,and ,,the ,,antique ,the ,renaissance idea that ,nature must be ennobled and corrected by the ,antique is plainly formulated by ,dolce1 again under the name of ,aretino1 ,dialogo1 p4 #aij4 8,one should then choose the most perfect form1 imitating nature in part4444 ,and partly one should imitate the beautiful marble and bronze figures of the ancient masters4 ,whereof who so shall taste and possess fully the marvellous perfection1 will be able with certainty to correct many defects of nature1 and make his pictures noteworthy and grateful to all4 ,inasmuch as the ancient things contain the entire perfection of art1 and can be the exemplars of all beauty40 ,this is one of the earliest full statements of the notion of belle nature1 and of the antique as normative4 ,the dogma persists with unabated rigor down to ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds 7see ,illustration to ,chapter ,,vi1 p4 #caf7 and ,jacques ,louis ,david4 ,,george ,,frederick ,,watts ,,on ,,the ,,greek ,,affinities ,,of ,,venetian ,,painting 8,the revival of the ,greek ,language and ,greek ,literature raised the long ebb into a wave that swept over civilized ,europe4 ,on its glittering crest the ,venetian painters especially were lifted into the society of gods1 goddesses1 nymphs1 and satyrs4 ,they might see sky1 sea and earth peopled with radiant beings2 perhaps with a sort of semi-belief such as we accord to the ,lorelei and fairies1 creations that somehow easily worked in with creeds and experience4 ,anyhow1 they might see ,pan come dallying down the sparkling brook-side1 now shouting to the laughing brown nymphs rustling through the reeds1 and pretending to be afraid1 now scattering a shower of notes from his pipes that would fall upon the ears as the brightness of the iris over a fountain falls upon the eye40444 8,it may seem strange if ,i place the ,venetian school and ,titian1 with his liberal line--which1 however1 is by no means wanting in reticence--in closer relationship with ,greek art of the great period than the more classical schools of ,tuscany and ,rome4 ,supposing one were to endeavor to paint a restoration of the pediments of the ,parthenon1 it would be possible to interpolate with figures by ,titian1 never with any by ,poussin1 or1 ,i think1 even by ,raphael or ,michael ,angelo40444 8,in spite of extravagant and even absurd defects 7for the great artist's eyes no longer served him faithfully71 when ,titian1 towards the end of his life painted the #8,europa' 444 the muse who inspired ,pheidias laid her hand on the old man's shoulder1 and she inspired the wealth of volume1 ease of line1 and glowing sense of nature's exuberance40 ,george ,frederick ,watts1 his ,life and ,writings1 ,london and ,new ,york1 ,vol4 ,,iii41 pp4 #bea1 #bec1 #bed4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cji4 ,caravaggio4 ,death of the ,virgin4--,louvre4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,,the ,,realists ,,and ,,eclectics ,the ,confusion following ,raphael and ,michelangelo--,giulio ,romano--,caravaggio and realistic ,revolt--,salvator ,rosa1 romantic ,individualism and the ,picturesque--,the ,carracci and the ,eclectic ,ideal--,later ,eclectics2 ,guido ,reni--,domenichino--,the ,waning of ,italian ,greatness--,influence of ,italy on the ,schools of ,france1 ,flanders1 and ,spain4 ,italian painting suddenly declined for lack of taste4 ,the followers of ,raphael and ,michelangelo possessed astonishing power and knowledge1 but1 save their own cleverness1 no longer had anything to express4 ,thus painting became merely an art of self-exploitation and display1 a matter of difficult foreshortenings1 complicated groupings1 and novel constructions in light and shade4 ,such at least was the case at ,rome1 and partly at ,florence4 ,at ,venice1 ,milan1 ,cremona1 ,ferrara1 and generally in the ,north the decline was gradual and benign4 ,sincere art of a minor character was still produced4 ,but in the artistic centre the collapse was complete1 and all the more disastrous that nobody realized that a collapse had come4 ,it is staggering to find that ,vasari1 in the face of merited ridicule1 had no doubt that he was a great painter4 ,how he boasts of his own powers6 8,but what matters most for this art1 is that they have made it so perfect today1 and so easy for him who possesses design1 that where formerly a picture was made by one of our masters in six years1 today our masters make six in one4 ,and ,i am the credible witness of this both by my observation and by my work4 ,and many more perfect and finished pictures are now seen1 than formerly were made by the important masters40 7,vol4 ,,iv1 p4 #ac47 ,nothing is more appalling than to find ,vasari at ,florence and ,lomazzo at ,milan regularly naming ,giulio ,romano1 ,polidoro and ,maturino along with ,raphael and ,michelangelo4 ,evidently the old sure taste of the ,renaissance has yielded to confusion4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #caj4 ,giulio ,romano4 ,battle for ,troy4 ,fresco4--,palazzo del ,t4 ,mantua4 ,indeed patronage had changed4 ,it is no longer spontaneous but organized4 ,we now have academies1 art schools1 art criticism1 exhibitions1 archologists1 picture dealers4 ,art no longer rests on generally accepted ideas and broad approbations1 but is a game between experts4 ,to enumerate the followers of ,michelangelo and ,raphael and allot to each his due dispraise would be in no way profitable4 ,giulio ,romano may represent them all4 ,with extraordinary powers as a draughtsman of the figure1 and with paradoxical taste in minor decoration1 we know him already as the vulgarizer of ,raphael's designs in the ,stanza of ,heliodorus and of the ,burning ,city4 ,later 7#aebd-df7 removed from ,raphael's influence1 at ,mantua1 he develops a coarse titanism4 ,the old ,castello of the ,gonzagas and the ,palazzo del ,t1 ,figure #caj1 are tediously full of sensational and occasionally obscene mythologies which are done with amazing energy and facility1 but are as restless and undecorative in design as they are hot and foxy in color4 ,and the immoderations and indecencies have not even the excuse of naturalness1 they are coldly calculated and studied4 ,such talented ,florentine imitators of ,michelangelo as ,pontormo and ,bronzino we have already considered4 ,at ,rome1 he left at least one disciple of talent1 ,daniele da ,volterra1 in the composition of whose masterpiece the ,deposition in the ,convent of the ,trinit1 at ,rome1 the master himself may have had a hand4 ,rather than delay over these complacent epigones we do well to pass to those few more intelligent artists who saw that something was amiss4 ,michelangelo ,amerighi1 7#aefi-afjh71 called from his ,lombard birthplace ,caravaggio1 and ,annibale ,carracci of ,bologna are here the outstanding names4 ,the former bitterly fought the grand style in the name of naturalism1 the latter attempted to reintegrate it through a critical eclectism4 ,their influence is dominant from the last decade of the sixteenth century4 ,caravaggio#hh had carefully studied the impressionistic manner of late ,titian but finally adopts a harsh and resolute chiaroscuro with the light restricted and the canvas mostly black4 ,thus his modelling is both brutal and academic4 ,his real fight was with the nobility of ,raphael4 ,his saints are taken from the streets and often from the gutters4 ,he loves character above all1 and wants it proletarian4 ,within his chosen limitations he is a powerful and sincere artist4 ,his masterpieces are the ,entombment in the ,vatican1 and the ,death of the ,virgin in the ,louvre1 ,figure #cji1 which created so much disapproval that it had to be removed from its altar4 ,both pictures take the theme out of the realm of legend1 making it drastic and contemporary4 ,both1 while rejecting all grandeur in the figures1 preserve the tradition thereof in the composition4 ,one gets ,caravaggio in epitome in ,the ,peter denying his ,lord of the ,vatican4 ,figure #caa4 ,it is a powerful character study from low life4 ,indeed character is his watchword4 ,one finds it extravagantly over-emphasized in his famous pothouse and gambling scenes1 a revolutionary innovation4 ,the most famous and one of the best is ,the ,card ,players1 at ,dresden1 ,figure #cab4 ,it is the symbol of the painter's love of low life4 ,he killed his man in a duel1 and died himself when turned out of prison into the ,august sun4 ,before that fitting end he had fled to ,naples where amid the corruption of the ,spanish overlordship his proletarian ideals became generally contagious4 ,they were taken up eagerly by the ,valencian1 ,jos ,ribera1 who with an equal sense for character and a more genuine religious feeling transmitted the manner to ,seville and eventually to ,velasquez4 ,so ,caravaggio became the founder of the modern realistic and impressionistic schools1 a precursor of ,courbet and ,manet4 ,except for a surplusage of too emphatic character studies1 smiling and weeping philosophers1 ,ribera was a true and most skilful artist4 ,having no quarrel with an earlier grand style1 he had the grace of simplicity4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #caa4 ,caravaggio4 ,st4 ,peter denying his ,lord4--,vatican4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cab4 ,caravaggio4 ,the ,card ,players4--,dresden4 ,both at ,rome and ,naples swaggering ,caravaggio had enormous success4 ,his heads1 we read1 brought more than other men's compositions4 ,he boasted himself the greatest painter of all time1 and was often believed4 ,from his swarthy tones his entire school took the name1 the ,tenebrists4 ,his experiments in interior and artificial lighting were widely imitated1 and again ultimately passed into recent ,impressionism4 ,his rejection of noble form in favor of what one sees1 and of decorative color in favor of natural1 was the sharpest possible challenge of the ,renaissance style1 and outside of ,italy where the noble tradition was only incipient did much to arrest its diffusion4 ,from the point of view of modern art there are few more important figures4 ,from the point of view of art broadly he has his serious limitations4 ,most damaging is his waiver of civilization1 he looks at low life not with the eyes of a detached artist but with those of a ruffian4 ,he did not have the intelligence to live up to his own formula4 ,annibale ,carracci was once looking at ,caravaggio's ,judith1 and1 being pressed for an opinion1 remarked that it was 8too natural40 ,he spoke as an admirer of the grand style4 ,a modern realist would make the far more radical criticism that ,caravaggio is never natural enough4 ,he really makes no close study of the subtleties of natural appearance or of the actual refinements of illumination1 but rather substitutes for the old stately formulas a new1 more ugly1 and less studied formula of his own4 ,logically he should have gone forward with ,ribera and ,velasquez to a real investigation of appearances4 ,but his logic was only that of scorn1 and it would doubtless have somewhat compensated him for a sordid and premature end1 could he have forseen that his biographers would credit him with the ruin of ,italian painting4 ,through ,ribera1 ,caravaggio's influence passes to the ,neapolitan1 ,salvator#hi ,rosa 7#afae-afgc74 ,with greater vivacity and better color ,salvator repeats the character studies and tavern scenes1 also bringing the proletarian mood into mythology4 ,he painted battle pieces of real ferocity4 ,he was an irascible1 vain and capricious person1 proud of being so2 a scorner of his own patrons and of the bourgeois generally2 a maker of epigrams1 and a writer of satires4 ,his specialty is the sinister and picturesque1 and he practices it with gusto and ability1 ,figure #cac4 ,salvator is the real discoverer of the picturesque1 the first enthusiast for the savage aspects of nature4 ,likewise he was one of the first artists to study effects--sunsets1 storms1 mists1 and whirling clouds4 ,he excursioned in the ,abruzzo1 equally savoring its crags1 torrents1 and forests1 and its ferocious banditti4 ,his letters on these wanderings are among the first and most important documents of the modern cult of nature4 ,he writes3 8,you have saddened me by giving me the news of your having been in ,garfagna1 and having rejoiced in the savagery of that country so congenial to my nature4444 ,to be merely reminded of it brings the tears to my eyes40 ,again he writes from the ,adriatic ,apennines3 8,i have been two weeks in continual travel and the trip is much more strange and picturesque than that of ,florence1 beyond comparison so1 since there is such an extravagant mixture of the rough and cultivated1 of the level and precipitous that nothing more could be desired for the satisfaction of the eye40444 8,at ,terni1 four miles off the road ,i saw the famous falls of the ,velino1 a thing to haunt and possess the most insatiable mind because of its horrid beauty4 ,to see a river that plunges straight down a mountain for half a mile1 and sends up its foam as high60 ,much of the stormy and energetic character of such scenes is transcribed in the best landscapes of ,salvator1 ,figure #cad4 ,in their age they evoked little following4 ,but these forests1 cascades1 evening seaports1 and ruined sites were freely bought by the ,english1 greatly admired and had their part in producing the literary enthusiasm for wild nature in the eighteenth century4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cac4 ,salvator ,rosa4 ,landscape with figures4--,pitti4 ,salvator avows his 8extravagant genius10 is driven by the lust for novelty1 is a modern and romantic spirit4 ,withal he was a man of capacity and taste with an open-minded understanding of quite alien merit4 8,here1 we esteem ,m4 ,poussin10 he writes in ,october1 #affe1 8more than any one else in the world40 ,poussin could never have returned the compliment4 ,his approbation was for ,raphael1 the ,carracci and ,domenichino4 ,indeed a chief glory of the ,bolognese ,eclectics was that their critical method sufficed to nurture so classic a spirit as ,poussin's and so to establish the academic tradition for ,northern ,europe4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cad4 ,salvator ,rosa4 ,landscape4--,pitti4 ,though the ,eclectic movement is properly associated with the cousins ,lodovico and ,annibale ,carracci1#ij it somewhat antecedes them4 ,the impetus comes from ,flanders with the painter of ,antwerp1 ,denis ,calvert1 who came to ,bologna late in the sixteenth century and founded an art school4 ,like all the better educated ,flemings1 he represented a profound nostalgia for ,renaissance grandeur1 and also a certain detachment from the particular ,italian artists who had embodied the ideal of grandezza4 ,such a man is1 perforce1 an eclectic1 studying widely the methods of his great predecessors and seeking to assimilate in his own art their various perfections4 ,besides1 methods of comparative study which had formerly been extremely difficult if not impossible were now easy4 ,casts were available of the antique marbles1 fairly faithful engravings were at hand for all the great painters4 ,it is significant that both the ,carracci were reproductive engravers4 ,denis ,calvert was no genius1 but a prudent and sagacious artist who made the most of a slender endowment4 ,his critical and assimilative spirit passed over to his best pupils4 ,their reform1 unlike ,caravaggio's1 was not revolutionary1 but based on a careful restudy of the grand style1 which they had never wavered in venerating4 ,annibale ,carracci was reared in devotion to ,raphael1 whose fine ,st4 ,cecilia was at ,bologna4 ,venice lured him1 but he was rebuffed by ,tintoretto4 ,annibale made profound studies of ,correggio at ,parma1 whence he writes that ,raphael now seems wooden to him in comparison4 ,he is now launched on the impossible quest of combining with the austere grandeur of the ,roman ,school1 the charm of ,venetian coloring and the emotional instability of ,correggio4 ,thus it was an attempt to restore the grand style largely in the name of one of its chief disintegrators1 and as such it was from the first headed for failure4 ,yet it was an attempt dictated by the times1 and the inevitable choice of any superior spirit who wished to reknit the ,renaissance tradition4 ,it was the moment of the ,catholic ,reaction and of the endeavor of the new ,jesuit ,order to rebuild a shaken ,church on the basis of persuasion4 ,largely shorn of authority1 the ,church must now be popular or perish4 ,it wisely chose to be popular1 adopting the thrilling novelties of ,baroque architecture1 borrowing from the opera its swelling choral cadences1 everywhere stressing the note of charm1 surprise and emotion4 ,so the moderation and austerity which underlay the ,renaissance style were forbidden to the ,eclectics1 and they chiefly differed from the rival ,naturalists in choosing to make their sensationalism as decorous as the circumstances permitted4 ,such is the social background of the ,carracci's reform1 and they deserve utmost credit for achieving so much under such limitations4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cae4 ,lodovico ,carracci4 ,assumption4--,bologna4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #caf4 ,annibale ,carracci4 ,madonna in ,glory4--,bologna4 ,agostino 7#aefh-afjb7 was the brains of the family1 courtier1 scholar1 man of the world4 ,annibale 7#aefj-afji7 was the nerves1--moody1 shy1 solitary1 with titan ambitions in a small and unprepossessing frame4 ,his cousin1 ,lodovico 7#aeee-afai71 was possibly the best artist of the three if only because he attempted less and followed sentimentalism frankly without too much bothering about grandeur4 ,lodovico1 ,figure #cae1 and ,annibale1 ,figure #caf1 enriched the churches of ,bologna with great animated altar-pieces which enthralled their contemporaries1 and today seem more than a little affected4 ,but that is merely because we no longer share what was an entirely sincere way of religious feeling4 ,they started an ,academy in which the antique1 the nude1 and competitive composition were the staple of instruction quite as in ,french and ,british ,state art schools today4 ,in the ,bolognese palaces the ,carracci did in fresco great mythological series1 consulting ,homer1 ,virgil and ,ovid and ,apollonius of ,rhodes4 ,in the main they had friezes to do1 and they drew heavily from ,correggio1 tempering his alacrity with something of the heavier energy of the ,roman style4 ,in #aehe the ,carracci set up their ,academy4 ,it was soon thronged4 ,agostino1 a courtly1 learned and accomplished person1 was the leading influence1 being lecturer as well as drawing master4 ,even1 ,annibale1 habitually an offish and difficult man1 is said to have been affable and helpful to his disciples4 ,in studying his pictures1 one feels that he was thwarted of his true development4 ,not only was he much of a realist1 painting tavern scenes1 ,figure #cag1 after ,caravaggio's lead1 but also a studious and charming landscape painter1 ,figure #cah4 ,his soberly colored and gracefully composed landscapes were an important influence on ,poussin4 ,annibale's adventures in the grand style1 though audacious and loudly applauded1 really did some violence to his modest and sensitive spirit4 ,his was the least academic temperament imaginable1 and the final disastrous quarrel with his eminently academic brother1 ,agostino1 was inevitable4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cag4 ,annibale ,carracci4 ,the ,bean ,eater4--,prince ,colonna1 ,rome4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cah4 ,annibale ,carracci4 ,flight to ,egypt4--,doria1 ,rome4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cai4 ,annibale ,carracci4 ,ceiling ,detail4--,farnese ,palace1 ,rome4 ,annibale and ,agostino were called to ,rome in #aeie to fresco ,cardinal ,odoardo ,farnese's palace4 ,annibale was thirty-five years old1 ,agostino a few years younger4 ,both had reaped all honors possible at ,bologna1 and they came to the ,eternal ,city at a fortunate moment4 ,the favorite decorators were men of routine talent1 ,taddeo ,zuccaro and the ,cavaliere d',arpino4 ,caravaggio's amazing and perturbing genius had already asserted itself1 but he was not a mural painter4 ,after a preliminary series of mythologies in the riverside casino of the ,palazzo ,farnese1 ,annibale turned1 in #aeig1 to the decoration of the great hall4 ,it was a lofty tunnel-like room of refractory proportions4 ,the theme was to be the loves of the gods4 ,but the great spaces in which are represented ,bacchus and ,ariadne1 the ,judgment of ,paris1 ,polyphemus and ,galatea1 ,cephalus and ,aurora1 ,hero and ,leander1 amongst other subjects1 yield in effect to the general plan and the incidental decoration4 ,annibale1 who despite contemporary accounts to the contrary1 controlled everything1 has taken as his motive the architectural framework which ,michelangelo designed for the ,sistine1 with its burden of decorative nudes4 ,one looks past heavy painted cornices1 ,figure #cai1 to painted statuary in profusion1 thickly set1 and1 behind1 more nudes in natural hues1 the whole echoed by nudes in stucco relief on the walls4 ,we have instead of the relative flatness of ,michelangelo and his predecessors a consistent lumpiness1 which1 while theoretically tasteless1 is actually rich1 satisfying1 and even light4 ,only an extraordinary ability could have kept any kind of unity in this wilful and extravagant complexity1 ,figure #cbj4 ,but unity there is and coherent expression of a mood at once pompous and festal4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cbj4 ,annibale ,carracci and ,helpers4 ,grand ,hall1 ,farnese ,palace4--,,rome4 ,the pictures1 as we have noted1 seem to count for less than their borders4 ,when we examine the love scenes1 we find them at once coarse and mannered4 ,they are superficially like ,giulio ,romano at ,mantua but without his self-satisfied brutality4 ,to this extent they are inferior1 and indeed the strain to be at once grand1 graceful1 and passionate is only too apparent throughout the pictorial part4 ,yet as a whole the decoration seems hardly inferior in power1 ingenuity1 and rhythmical fulness to such ancient masterpieces of kindred inspiration as the ,pergamon frieze4 ,for the moment the decoration was enthusiastically acclaimed1 after three-quarters of a century it taught ,charles ,le ,brun the way to decorate the ,louvre and the ,palace at ,versailles1 and even today the admirer of the fountains of ,rome and of her ,baroque churches must admit that ,annibale caught the very spirit of his day1 in its superfluity of learned vaingloriousness and shortage of the simpler and more noble passions4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cba4 ,guido ,reni4 ,madonna with two ,saints4 ,for the artist the work brought only chagrin4 ,the ,cardinal treated him with stinginess and personal spite4 ,his irritation with his brother reached the explosive point4 ,agostino left him staggering under the weight of an ungrateful task1 he fell into a dangerous melancholy1 and in #afji died miserably1 leaving his helpers ,albani and ,domenichino to finish the gallery4 ,of the followers of the ,carracci1 ,guido ,reni#ia 7#aege-afdb7 and ,domenichino 7#aeha-afda71 are the most important4 ,at his worst ,guido ,reni is the most repellant of sentimentalists1 at his best a realist of the calibre of ,ribera himself4 ,in his time there are no grander old men than his1 better painted or more fully realized as characters4 ,you find them at their best in the ,madonna of ,st4 ,paul1 at ,berlin1 or the ,immaculate ,conception at ,petrograd1 or the ,madonna with ,st4 ,jerome1 in the ,vatican1 ,figure #cba4 ,it is hard to reconcile them with his sleek and cheaply seductive ,magdalens1 ,cleopatras and ,venuses4 ,what steadies him in his inconsistency is a fine and simple sense of composition4 ,he is lucid where his masters1 the ,carracci1 tend to be confused4 ,his taste is more coherent than his character4 ,under other conditions than those of academic ,bologna and ,papal ,rome he might easily have become a realist of ,zurbaran's type4 ,as it was1 he undertook the usual synthesis of the grand style with the new sentimentality4 ,generally speaking he is neither grand nor sentimental enough1 but superficial in both regards4 ,yet his discretion saves him in such works as the ceiling of the ,villa ,rospigliosi 7#afae7 and the supremely elegant ,st4 ,michael1 ,figure #cbc1 of the ,cappucini4 ,i like the ,aurora1 ,figure #cbb1 nay love it well this side of idolatry1 for the same reason that ,i like ,kipling's lines 8,an' the dawn comes up like thunder ,outer ,china 'crost the bay40 ,both the fresco and the verses have the same pounding and obvious1 yet thrilling cadences1 both bring lyricism to the brink of bombast without letting it go over4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cbb4 ,guido ,reni4 ,aurora4 ,ceiling ,fresco4--,casino ,rospigliosi1 ,rome4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cbc4 ,guido ,reni4 ,saint ,michael4--,cappucini1 ,rome4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cbd4 ,domenichino4 ,last ,communion of ,st4 ,jerome4--,vatican4 ,domenico ,zampieri1 called ,domenichino1#ib 7#aeha-afda7 is a far more serious figure4 ,we see him best not in the sentimental sibyls which he multiplied nor even in the studied emotionalism of his most famous altar-piece1 the ,last ,communion of ,st4 ,jerome1 in the ,vatican1 ,figure #cbd1 but1 rather in such decorations as those in ,s4 ,andrea della ,valle1 and in the monastic church of ,grotta ,ferrata4 ,here we find a heavy and simple emphasis1 a great clarity both of figure construction and of composition4 ,for his personal awkwardness1 patience and quietism his comrades mockingly called him the ,ox4 ,it took character to play the ox amid the febrile sprightliness of the ,catholic ,reaction4 ,his gravity is marked also in his color4 ,he forsakes the old decorative conventions of the ,renaissance and works in olive and silvery tones which suggest in a generalizing way the coolness and freshness of nature4 ,above all he is not facile like most of his contemporaries1 but studious1 dilatory1 and considerate4 ,at times he yields to the prevailing sentimentality1 but usually he is both spontaneous and reticent4 ,he seldom insists1 but candidly lets the picture be seen4 ,all these qualities appear in the modestly hoydenish masterpiece1 ,diana and her ,nymphs1 in the ,borghese ,gallery1 ,figure #cbe4 ,it is completely captivating for its element of surprise1 its manly wholesomeness1 its winsome setting of lithe girlish bodies amid verdure under a gray sky4 ,this unaffected mood in mythology has rarely been recaptured4 ,we have it in ,vermeer's little ,diana at the ,hague and1 only yesterday1 in the ,nausicaa of ,lucien ,simon4 ,such qualities of lucidity1 reserve1 and simple nobility made ,domenichino the natural model for ,nicholas ,poussin4 ,we can trace the influence through ,poussin's masterpieces1 and had ,france been wise enough to understand her greatest painter1 her academic tradition1 which was promoted in ,poussin's name1 might have taken a much more fruitful course than it actually did4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cbe4 ,domenichino4 ,diana and her ,nymphs4--,borghese1 ,rome4 ,an ill fate finally took ,domenichino to ,naples4 ,there he found the ruffianly local painters banded against every foreigner1 and in particular he met the systematic animosity of the truculent ,spaniard1 ,ribera4 ,outright terrorism alternated with petty persecution4 ,they defaced his work and tampered with his materials4 ,soon they broke his delicate and timid spirit1 even turned him against the wife with whom he had lived on terms of ideal affection4 ,today it remains uncertain whether he died of shattered nerves or was actually poisoned4 ,presumably the barbarous ,neapolitans would have done about the same to any visiting artist1 but doubtless they turned the screw a shade harder upon a gentle idealist who brought into their realistic stews some afterglow of the quietistic dignity of a ,montagna or a ,cima4 ,when all reservations are made1 the ,eclectics had fairly done their work of correcting the disorder of the late ,renaissance and of restoring something of the old decorum4 ,they made possible the revival of the grand style at ,rome1 in the eighteenth century1 by ,carlo ,maratta and ,raphael ,mengs4 ,the ,eclectics were the bridge by which the classical manner passed over into ,western ,europe1 an indispensable link in the chain of the great hellenistic tradition4 ,that should be enough to keep them in memory if not in unqualified honor4 ,our review of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth1 century in ,italy will have served its purpose if it has convinced the reader that this was no time of stagnation4 ,we have rather to do with activities of exploration and reconstruction which are much too restless and various4 ,the intellectual power of the ,italian painters had not greatly diminished in comparison with the ,renaissance4 ,italy still was capable of giving the leads which have guided painting elsewhere ever since4 ,what was lacking was not energy but patience1 reflection and taste4 ,the ,italian artist tended to regard himself as a swift and resolute executant first of all1 and no longer knew how to nourish his spirit as a man4 ,even as executants1 the realists and eclectics had the humiliation of finding themselves outdone by foreigners4 ,successively in the seventeenth century ,ribera1 ,rubens1 ,van ,dyck1 ,velasquez1 ,claude ,lorrain and ,poussin came to ,italy and sojourned there4 ,it was in every case apparent that the foreigner excelled all native artists in his field4 ,the traditional authority of ,italian painting still held1 but its contemporary glory was evidently waning4 ,but even in decline ,italy was strong enough to hand on her torch to newer hands4 ,from ,titian stems the florid classicism and aristocratic portraiture of ,rubens and ,van ,dyck1 which dominated the whole eighteenth century in ,france and ,england2 through ,caravaggio and ,ribera1 ,italy made ,velasquez the founder of those most characteristic nineteenth century movements1 realism and impressionism2 through ,raphael1 the ,carracci and ,domenichino1 she fed the white flame of ,poussin's classicism1 which in one way or another has determined the academic development of all ,western ,europe4 ,thus ,italian painting1 eternally alive in the timeless region where dwells the fame of ,giotto1 ,masaccio1 ,leonardo1 ,giorgione1 ,raphael1 ,michelangelo1 ,titian1 is as well most practically and actually alive in the recent and present struggles1 failures1 and triumphs of our modern schools4 ,without understanding ,italian painting we cannot understand our own painting4 ,and while the modern world will hardly return to the coherence1 solidity1 and grace of the great ,gothic and ,renaissance masters1 ,i am confident that there can be no exit from our present confusion and incoherence until our painters learn at least to consult those great ,italian predecessors who dwelt on the heights above which is the abode of the human spirit's creative rest4 ,,illustrations ,,for ,,chapter ,,ix ,,on ,,the ,,eclectic ,,ideal ,the nearly contemporary account of ,carlo ,cesare ,malvasia1 ,felsina ,pittrice1 ,bologna1 #ahda1 ,tom4 ,i4 p4 #bfc is instructive4 8,lodovico 444 was the first who supplied a firm prop to tottering painting and was able to save it from imminent harm and ruin4 ,he was the one who courageously opposed that vainglorious time1 which succeeded the most perfect age1 and liberating it from the common ills of those erroneous mannerisms which dared to tyrannize that fair profession that had been raised so high1 not only wished to restore it to its first vigor1 but also to a state still more perfect and sublime4444 ,taking the best from all the best artists1 one sees him1 with a facility no longer used and valued1 form from them a brief compendium1 rather a precious extract1 outside of and beyond which little more remained for the studious to desire4 ,and coupling and uniting with the discretion of ,raphael the intelligence of ,michelangelo1 and adding withal with the color of ,titian the angelic purity of ,correggio1 he succeeded in forming from all these manners a single one1 which had nothing to envy in the ,roman1 ,florentine1 ,venetian and ,lombard manners40 ,a ,sonnet supposed1 without complete evidence1 to have been addressed by ,annibale ,carracci to the painter ,niccol d',abate gives an even more complete and correct account of the elements that blended in the style of the ,carracci4 ,i quote it from ,rouchs1 ,la ,peinture ,bolonaise1 ,paris1 #aiac1 p4 #abc1 note #a4 8,to make a good painter let him have ,at ready and eager hand the drawing of ,rome1 ,the movement with the shading of ,venice1 ,and the dignified coloring of ,lombardy4 ,the terrible manner of ,michelangelo ,and ,correggio's pure and sovereign style ,and the true symmetry of ,raphael1 ,tibaldi's decorum and substance1 ,the inventiveness of learned ,primaticcio ,and a little of ,parmigianino's grace4 ,not without having strenuously made such studies ,let him place before himself for imitation ,the works which our ,niccol has left here40 ,,the ,,end ,,notes ,,chapter ,i4 ,footnote #a3 ,for the altar as tomb-shrine see ,yrj ,hirn's learned and fascinating book1 ,the ,sacred ,shrine1 ,london1 #aiab4 ,footnote #b3 ,for the ,byzantine pictorial style see the excellent summary in ,fogg ,art ,museum1 ,collection of ,mediaeval and ,renaissance ,paintings1 ,harvard ,univ4 ,press1 #aiai1 pp4 #c-aj2 also a more extended treatment in ,o4 ,m4 ,dalton ,byzantine ,art and ,archaeology1 ,oxford1 #aiaa1 chapters ,v1 ,,vi1 ,,vii4 ,footnote #c3 ,for the influence of ,st4 ,dominic1 ,st4 ,thomas ,aquinas1 and ,st4 ,francis read the respective chapters in ,taylor1 ,the ,mediaeval ,mind2 for ,st4 ,francis1 ,thomas ,okey's translation1 ,the little ,flowers of ,st4 ,francis in 8,everyman's ,library40 ,e4 ,gebhart1 ,italie ,mystique1 ,paris1 #aijh1 is also enlightening4 ,footnote #d3 ,burlington ,magazine1 ,vol4 ,,xxxii 7#aiah7 pp4 #de-f4 ,mr4 ,berenson in ,rassegna d',arte1 8,dedalo10 ,vol4 ,,ii41 7#aiba7 fasc4 ,v1 makes this superb ,madonna a ,constantinople picture of the late #abth century4 ,his confessedly slight argument fails to convince me4 ,aside from the air of the picture1 the form of the wooden throne is specific for ,tuscany and the second half of the #acth century4 ,cimabue4 ,andreas ,aubert1 ,cimabue ,frage1 ,leipzig1 #aijg1 is the standard work4 ,the various views on the early frescoes of the ,upper ,church at ,assisi are well summarized in ,brown and ,rankin1 ,a ,short ,history1 pp4 #ed and #eg-ei4 ,an unsuccessful attempt to reduce ,cimabue to a myth has been made by ,langton ,douglas in his edition of ,c4 4 ,c41 ,vol4 ,i41 p4 #ahg-aic4 ,the constructive and accepted view is that of ,aubert4 ,my list differs slightly from his and is3 ,louvre ,madonna1 about #abge1 ,louvre4 ,trinit ,madonna1 about #abhe1 ,uffizi4 ,the frescoes of the ,choir and transepts of ,s4 ,francesco at ,assisi1 saving possibly the big ,ascent to the ,cross1 circa #abif1 ,assisi4 ,madonna with ,st4 ,francis 7fresco71 after #abij1 ,assisi1 ,lower ,church of ,san ,francesco4 ,st4 ,john in mosaic in the ,apse of the ,cathedral at ,pisa1 #acja4 ,venturi's endeavor to attach to ,cimabue some of the later ,new ,testament mosaics in the vault of the ,florentine ,baptistry1 see ,storia1 ,vol4 ,v41 p4 #bbi--;is plausible but not convincing4 ,his attribution of lost frescoes in the portico of old ,st4 ,peter's1 known from sketch copies1 ,storia1 ,vol4 ,v1 p4 #aie--;has no solid basis4 ,two fresco fragments1 heads of ,peter and ,paul1 remain1 and are published by ,wilpert1 ,die ,mosaiken 1 bd4 ,i1 fig4 #add1 and by him correctly assigned to ,cavallini or some ,roman follower4 ,r4 van ,marle1 in ,la ,peinture ,romaine1 ,strasbourg1 #aiba1 has made a most careful study of all the earliest frescoes in the ,upper ,church4 ,generally ,i concur in his conclusions1 but cannot see ,cavallini in the far abler work of the ,isaac ,master4 ,the date1 #abif1 which ,van ,marle found in the ,choir at ,assisi1 makes it pretty certain that all the frescoes in the ,upper ,church were executed between #abic-e and #acjj4 ,in ,toskanische ,maler im ,,xiii ,jahrhundert1 ,berlin1 #aibb1 ,dr4 ,o4 ,sirn makes a comprehensive survey of the earliest painters of ,lucca1 ,pisa1 and ,florence4 ,he endeavors to reconstruct the works of ,coppo di ,marcovaldo whom he regards as a formative influence on ,cimabue4 ,to the usual list of ,cimabue's works ,dr4 ,sirn adds1 with ,aubert1 a great ,madonna in the ,servi1 ,bologna2 and also a ,madonna in the ,verzocchi ,collection1 ,milan2 and an extraordinarily fine crucifixion in the d',hendecourt ,collection1 ,london4 ,dr4 ,sirn also accepts for ,cimabue the triptych of ,christ1 ,st4 ,peter and ,st ,james1 which ,berenson first published in ,art in ,america1 for #aibj4 ,of these accretions none but the d',hendecourt ,crucifixion is at all persuasive to me4 ,footnote #e3 ,the latest and fullest discussion of ,pietro ,cavallini is by ,stanley ,lothrop in ,memoirs of the ,american ,academy in ,rome1 ,vol4 ,,ii1 #aiah4 ,i think he is in error in seeing ,cavallini at ,assisi and ,perugia4 ,van ,marle1 note above1 has thrown additional light on the continuity of a ,roman school4 ,footnote #f3 ,c4 4 ,c4 7,ed4 ,hutton7 ,vol4 ,i1 pp4 #aid-e4 ,zimmermann 7,giotto c41 ,leipzig1 #ahii71 ,h4 ,thode 7,franz von ,assisi1 ,berlin1 #aijd71 and ,fr4 ,hermanin 7,gallerie nazionali ,italiane1 ,vol4 ,v 7#aijb71 p4 #aac7 ascribe the ,stories of ,isaac and some other superior frescoes of the upper row to youthful ,giotto4 ,they seem too accomplished and mature for that and are all allied to ,gaddo ,gaddi's mosaics at ,rome4 ,footnote #g3 ,giotto4 ,osvald ,sirn1 ,giotto and ,some of his ,followers1 ,cambridge1 ,harvard ,univ4 ,press1 #aiag1 in #b ,vols41 gives a reasonable chronology and is valuable for illustrations4 ,roger ,e4 ,fry1 ,monthly ,review1 ,vol4 ,i1 pp4 #abf-aea2 ,vol4 ,,ii1 pp4 #aci-aeg2 ,vol4 ,,iii1 pp1 #if-aba is an admirable critical analysis of ,giotto's style1 but the ascriptions and chronology are often doubtful4 ,excellent on the frescoes at ,sta4 ,croce4 ,the essay is reprinted in ,vision and ,design1 ,london1 #aiba4 ,j4 ,b4 ,supino's startling views in the chronology of ,giotto1 expressed in ,giotto1 ,florence1 #aibj1 in #c ,vols41 seem to me fantastic4 ,his general order is the ,allegories of the ,lower ,church and the ,baroncelli altar-piece about #acjj1 the ,arena frescoes #acje1 the ,st4 ,francis series in the ,upper ,church about #acaj1 the ,peruzzi ,chapel about #acab1 etc4 ,my list would be3 ,the ,early ,part of the ,st4 ,francis ,series 7,,ii-,,xviii7 before #acjj ,the ,mosaic of the ,navicella 7completely restored7 about #acjj ,stigmatization of ,st4 ,francis 7,louvre7 ,the ,arena ,frescoes about #acje ,the ,madonna of ,ognissanti ,the ,franciscan ,allegories1 ,lower ,church 7design only7 #acab-bj ,the ,stefaneschi ,altar-piece 7in part7 #acbj1 perhaps earlier ,the ,peruzzi ,chapel1 ,santa ,croce after #acbj ,the ,bardi ,chapel1 about #acbe ,the ,dormition of the ,virgin1 at ,berlin #acbe ,madonna1 ,ancona1 ,bologna 7design only7 #accj ,the ,paradise in the ,bargello after #accj ,part of the ,magdalen ,legends there ,part of the ,magdalen ,legends1 ,lower ,church1 ,assisi ,baroncelli ,altar-piece 7design only7 ,small panels of the ,life of ,christ at ,new ,york1 ,fenway ,court1 ,boston2 ,munich and ,berenson ,collection1 ,settignano 7bottega works7 ,footnote #h3 ,padre ,angelis1 ,collis ,paradisi1 #agjd1 ,i1 p4 #cc4 ,footnote #i3 ,about the #bh stories of ,st4 ,francis there is no agreement except that ,nos4 ,i and ,,xxvi-,,viii are by the 8,cecelia ,master40 ,venturi sees ,giotto only in the later stories4 ,i agree with ,berenson that the ruder frescoes1 ,,ii-,,xviii1 which are based on the so-called ,roman work above show us ,giotto at his beginnings4 ,for the various views consult ,brown and ,rankin1 ,a ,short ,history1 pp4 #dh-i1 #ei1 #fa4 ,footnote #aj3 ,alex4 ,romdahl's attempt to set the upper row many years later than the rest is entirely unconvincing to me4 ,see ,jahrbuch der ,k4 ,preussischen ,kunstsammlungen1 #aiaa1 pp4 #c-ah4 ,footnote #aa3 ,john ,ruskin1 ,mornings in ,florence1 passim4 ,footnote #ab3 ,giotto's ,followers4 ,osvald ,sirn1 ,giotto and ,some of his ,followers1 see note #g1 may be freely consulted for illustrations and very cautiously for attributions4 ,footnote #ac3 ,peleo ,bacci's ascription of the recently discovered ,passion frescoes in the ,badia to ,buffalmacco seems reasonable1 ,bollettino d' ,arte1 ,v 7#aiaa7 pp4 #a-bg4 ,dr4 ,sirn ascribes these frescoes to ,nardo di ,cione and follows ,venturi in identifying ,buffalmacco with the 8,cecelia ,master40 ,burlington ,magazine1 ,vol4 ,,xxxvi1 p4 #aj4 ,the hypothesis still lacks solid foundation4 ,footnote #ad3 ,by ,vasari the ,spanish ,chapel was divided between ,taddeo ,gaddi and ,simone ,martini4 ,c4 4 ,c4 discovered that the work was by an ,andrea da ,firenze who as a document attests painted stories of ,s4 ,ranieri at ,pisa1 in #acgg4 ,the contract which proves this ,andrea to have been ,andrea ,bonaiuti1 active #acdc-gg1 was published in ,arte e ,storia1 ,florence1 ,feb41 #aiag1 p4 #cc4 ,it gives the date of the contract for the ,spanish ,chapel1 #acfe4 ,the very elaborate decoration of the ,spanish ,chapel is fully described in ,c4 4 ,c4 7,hutton7 ,vol4 ,i41 pp4 #cji-cab4 ,there are useful literary illustrations in ,venturi1 ,storia dell' arte italiana1 ,vol4 ,v41 pp4 #gib-hji4 ,ruskin in ,mornings in ,florence gives a partial analysis which is fascinating from a literary point of view1 but badly overestimates the merit of the work4 ,,chapter ,,ii4--,,siena ,,general ,,works3 ,langton ,douglas4 ,a ,history of ,siena4 ,new ,york1 #aijb4 ,ferdinand ,schevill4 ,siena1 the ,story of a ,medival ,commune1 ,new ,york1 #aiji4 ,edmund ,g4 ,gardiner4 ,the ,story of ,siena and ,san ,gemignano1 ,london1 #aijb4 ,william ,heywood and ,lucy ,olcott4 ,guide to ,siena1 ,history and ,art1 ,london1 #aijc4 ,,painting1 ,,the ,,school4 ,emil ,jacobsen4 ,sienesische ,meister des ,trecento in der ,gemlde ,galerie zu ,siena1 ,strassburg1 #aijg2 ,das ,quattrocento in ,siena1 ,strassburg1 #aijh2 ,sodoma und das ,cinquecento in ,siena1 ,strassburg1 #aiaj2 all very valuable for illustrations4 ,venturi1 ,storia dell' ,arte ,italiana1 ,vols4 ,v and ,,vii4 ,bernard ,berenson1 ,central ,italian ,painters of the ,renaissance1 ,new ,york and ,london1 #aiji4 ,c4 ,ricci1 ,il ,palazzo ,pubblico di ,siena e la ,mostra d',antica ,arte ,senese1 ,bergamo1 #aijd1 offers a good and inexpensive survey of ,sienese handicraft in general4 ,,sienese ,,pictures ,,in ,,the ,,united ,,states4 ,consult the illustrated catalogues of the ,fogg ,museum1 ,harvard2 and of the ,jarves ,collection1 ,yale4 ,also many special articles in ,art in ,america1 especially the series in ,vol4 ,,viii-,,ix1 by ,f4 ,mason ,perkins1 ,some ,sienese ,paintings in ,american ,collections4 ,footnote #ae3 ,the fact that the ,madonna of the ,palazzo ,pubblico had been much repainted in ,duccio's time not unnaturally threw ,milanesi and other critics off the track4 ,but the date is entirely genuine 7see ,c4 ,c4 ,douglas ,vol4 ,i1 p4 #afb1 note #a992 and ,e4 ,jacobsen1 ,das ,trecento1 p4 #ah74 ,the latter writes1 8,the signature and date are genuine4 ,there is no tenable ground for doubting them40 ,i have satisfied myself by close inspection that such is the case1 and the half dozen or so other panels associated with this ,madonna stylistically all seem to belong to the first half of the #acth century4 ,footnote #af3 ,sirn1 ,burlington ,magazine1 ,,xxxii 7#aiah7 p4 #de1 ascribes this panel to ,cavallini4 ,berenson in ,dedalo1 ,vol4 ,,ii1 fasc4 v1 allots it to ,constantinople at the end of the #abth century4 ,neither view is even plausible to me4 ,footnote #ag3 ,duccio4 ,a4 ,lisini1 ,notizie di ,duccio c4 ,siena1 #ahih4 ,curt ,weigelt1 ,duccio di ,buoninsegna1 ,leipzig1 #aiaa1 the standard monograph1 well illustrated4 ,footnote #ah3 ,the whole matter of the ,rucellai ,madonna is well discussed by ,douglas in his edition of ,c4 ,c41 ,vol4 ,i4 ,appendix to chapter ,,vi4 ,andreas ,aubert1 ,cimabue1 p4 #ach ff41 and ,curt ,weigelt1 ,duccio1 both agree that the ,rucellai ,madonna is the picture called for by the contract of #abhe1 hence is by ,duccio4 ,aside from many stylistic similarities to ,duccio's early ,madonna with ,franciscans in the ,siena ,academy1 the exquisitely drawn bare feet of the ,angels in the ,rucellai ,madonna amount almost to a signature for ,siena's greatest painter4 ,h4 ,thode and ,o4 ,sirn hold that a picture designed and begun by ,duccio was finished by ,cimabue1 ,toskanische ,maler1 pp4 #cjh-i1 and note #da to latter page4 ,the hypothesis that ,duccio was strongly influenced by ,cimabue in this work seems simpler4 ,footnote #ai3 ,the contract is worth quoting in part from ,g4 ,fontana1 ,due documenti inediti riguardanti ,cimabue1 ,pisa1 #ahgh2 it is reprinted in ,strzygowski1 ,cimabue und ,rom1 ,wien1 #ahhh4 ,the papers were recovered from a grocer who was about to use them for wrappers4 8,which picture of the ,majesty of ,divine and ,blessed ,virgin ,mary and of the ,apostles and other saints is to be made in columns and in the predella and main spaces of the picture good and pure florin gold shall be used2 the other pictures which are to be made in the aforesaid panel above the columns in tabernacles1 gables1 and frames shall be made 444 of good silver gilt40 ,the picture apparently was a polyptych of three1 five1 or seven panels with columns and round arches1 with an upper order of gables and tabernacles4 ,it seems to have been the first well-peopled ,madonna in ,majesty1 and it probably served as ,duccio's exemplar4 ,cimabue died before finishing it1 but since in ,nov4 #acjb he received a large installment of #dj ,pisan lire1 he must at least have fully drawn the composition on the panel4 ,footnote #bj3 ,simone ,martini4 ,see the standard work by ,raimond van ,marle1 ,simone ,martini1 ,strasbourg1 #aibj4 ,there is considerable difference among critics in dating these frescoes1 and no objective evidence4 ,the early date1 #acbb-be1 suggested by ,venturi and ,van ,marle1 is confirmed by the stylistic character of the work4 ,it lacks the calligraphic1 linear formulas which abound in ,simone's works after #accj4 ,the early date also agrees with the general probabilities of the course of events in the decoration of the ,lower ,church at ,assisi4 ,footnote #ba3 ,frey's ed4 ,berlin1 #ahhf1 p4 #db4 ,footnote #bb3 ,the contract for this altar-piece is translated in the illustrations to chapter ,,ii1 p4 #ajf4 ,footnote #bc3 ,venturi1 ,vol4 ,v1 pp4 #fhj-fid1 offers a sensible compromise view of the authorship of this series1 assigning to ,pietro himself only the ,deposition1 ,entombment1 ,stigmatization of ,st4 ,francis and a ,madonna and ,saints1 ascribing most of the subjects to an assistant4 ,dr4 ,ernest ,dewald in a forthcoming ,princeton dissertation takes a more skeptical view than ,venturi as to ,pietro's presence at ,assisi4 ,footnote #bd3 ,however the 8,cecelia ,master10 active about #acjj1 deals ably with such spatial problems4 ,see ,o4 ,sirn1 ,burlington ,magazine1 ,vol4 ,,xxxiv1 p4 #bcd1 and ,,xxxvi1 p4 #d4 and ,giotto1 plates #aa-ac1 ,vol4 ,,ii4 ,footnote #be3 ,sassetta4 ,bernard ,berenson4 ,a ,painter of the ,franciscan ,legend1 7,sassetta71 ,london and ,new ,york1 #aiji4 ,footnote #bf3 ,matteo di ,giovanni4 ,we have the standard work of ,g4 ,hartlaub1 ,matteo da ,siena1 ,strassburg1 #aiaj4 ,mr4 ,berenson in ,essays in the ,study of ,sienese ,painting1 ,new ,york1 #aiah1 essay on ,cozzarelli1 has made useful criticisms of the list of pictures usually ascribed to ,matteo4 ,footnote #bg3 ,sodoma4 ,hobart ,cust1 ,giovanni ,antonio ,bazzi1 usually styled 8,sodoma10 ,new ,york1 #aijf4 ,,chapter ,,iii4--,,masaccio ,,and ,,the ,,new ,,realism ,on the general matter of the realists of the ,early ,renaissance not much has been added to ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle1 but ,mr4 ,berenson's comment in ,florentine ,painters and ,central ,italian ,painters of the ,renaissance is of high critical value4 ,vasari is interesting1 but never more inaccurate than when dealing with this group4 ,as usual the latest collected information is in ,venturi4 ,storia1 ,vol4 ,,vii1 part ,i1 and elsewhere4 ,footnote #bh3 ,matteo ,villani1 ,istorie1 ,florence1 #aeha1 ,lib4 ,i1 cap4 iv1 pp4 #e-f4 ,footnote #bi3 ,lorenzo ,monaco4 ,the standard work is by ,o4 ,sirn1 ,don ,lorenzo ,monaco1 ,strassburg1 #aije4 ,footnote #cj3 ,fra ,angelico4 ,langton ,douglas4 ,fra ,angelico1 ,london and ,new ,york1 #aijj4 ,vasari's ,life is admirable and in essentials correct4 ,footnote #ca3 ,masolino-,masaccio4 ,the summary in ,c4 ,c4 7,douglas7 ,vol4 ,,iv2 7,hutton71 ,vol4 ,,ii1 reasonably brings the controversy up to date4 ,the latest review is by ,dr4 ,richard ,offner1 ,art in ,america1 ,vol4 ,,viii1 pp4 #fh-gf1 ,a ,st4 ,jerome by ,masolino4 ,dr4 ,offner1 in ,dedalo1 ,mar41 #aibc1 publishes a fine ,st4 ,julian1 by ,masolino1 which reveals in a new light that artist's romantic temperamentalism4 ,mr4 ,berenson1 l4 c41 publishes a predella piece for the same panel4 ,the large album of plates accompanying ,august ,h4 ,schmarsow's ,masaccio1 der ,begrnder des ,klassischen ,stils c4 ,kassel1 #aijj1 is indispensable to the serious student4 ,it is available in the great libraries4 ,cuts of all the works involved in the controversy are more readily attainable in ,p4 ,toesca's ,masolino da ,panicale1 ,bergamo1 #aijh1 and in ,venturi1 ,storia1 ,vol4 ,,vii1 pt4 ,i4 ,footnote #cb3 ,the rider with his back turned at the left of the fresco of the ,calvary has a rondel protecting the nape of his neck4 ,it is a short-lived and unsuccessful invention which was not used before #adce-dj4 ,this information1 which ,i owe to ,dr4 ,bashford ,dean of the ,metropolitan ,museum1 dates the ,calvary well after ,masaccio's death1 and1 inferentially1 all the other frescoes in the same chapel4 ,footnote #cc3 ,cassoni and other ,furniture ,panels4 ,the standard work is by ,paul ,schubring1 ,cassoni c4 ,leipzig1 #aiae4 ,many of the examples in ,american ,collections have been published and discussed by ,william ,rankin and myself in the ,burlington ,magazine1 ,vol4 ,,viii1 ,,ix4 ,see also a popular sketch by me in ,arts and ,decoration1 ,dec4 '#je4 ,the furnishing and decoration of a patrician ,florentine house in the #aeth century is learnedly and delightfully treated by ,a4 ,schiaparelli1 ,la ,casa fiorentina c41 ,florence1 #aijh4 ,footnote #cd3 ,see my article in ,art in ,america1 ,vol4 ,,viii1 p4 #aed1 and in ,arts and ,decoration1 ,note #f1 above4 ,footnote #ce3 ,masaccio1 bibliography in ,note #d above4 ,in essentials the view and chronology of ,masaccio's works here given differs from ,cavalcaselle's only in relegating the frescoes in ,s4 ,clemente to ,masolino and their proper date in the late #cjs or early #djs4 ,in this ,i have been partially anticipated by ,pietro ,toesca1 ,masolino da ,panicale1 ,bergamo1 #aijh4 ,the reader may justly wish me to commit myself on this most disputed question to the extent of a list4 ,i give it in a tentative chronological order assuming that ,masaccio may have begun to work as early as #adbj4 ,early ,works under ,masolino's influence3 ,madonna and ,saints 7fresco74 ,shrine at ,montemarciano near ,s4 ,giovanni4 ,piet 7fresco74 ,cathedral1 ,empoli4 ,miracle of healing by ,christ 7ruined by repainting74 ,john ,c4 ,johnson ,coll41 ,philadelphia4 ,madonna and ,st4 ,ann4 ,uffizi1 ,florence4 ,adam and ,eve ,tempted 7fresco74 ,brancacci ,chapel4 ,resuscitation of ,tabitha 7fresco74 ,brancacci ,chapel4 ,later ,works3 ,st4 ,peter ,preaching 7fresco1 possibly earlier74 ,brancacci ,chapel4 ,birth of ,st4 ,john 7salver74 ,kaiser ,friedrich ,museum1 ,berlin4 ,polyptych for the ,carmine1 ,pisa1 #adbf4 ,the ,madonna1 some small pilaster pieces1 and a small rondel with bust of ,god ,father4 ,national ,gallery1 ,london4 ,three predella panels 7largely school work7 and some small pilaster pieces4 ,kaiser ,friedrich ,museum1 ,berlin4 ,crucifixion central pinnacle4 ,naples ,museum4 ,a ,saint 7upper order74 ,civic ,museum1 ,pisa4 ,a ,saint 7upper order74 ,lanckoronski1 ,vienna4 ,the ,trinity 7fresco74 ,s4 ,maria ,novella1 ,florence4 ,all the remaining frescoes of the ,brancacci ,chapel save the parts and panels now universally assigned to ,filippino ,lippi4 ,footnote #cf3 ,schmarsow1 ,masaccio ,studien1 bd4 #c4 p4 #bg1 #h4 ,footnote #cg3 ,andrea del ,castagno1 see the important articles by ,herbert ,p4 ,horne in the ,burlington ,magazine1 ,vol4 ,,vii1 #aije4 ,richard ,offner1 in ,art in ,america1 ,vol4 ,,vii1 pp4 #bbg-ce1 first published the admirable portrait in ,mr4 ,morgan's ,library1 ,new ,york4 ,a magnificent tournament shield with the figure of a ,david is in the ,widener ,collection1 ,elkins ,park1 ,penna41 and was first published by ,guido ,cagnola in ,rassegna d' ,arte1 ,vol4 ,,xiii 7#aiac71 p4 #di4 ,andrea worked at ,venice in #addb4 ,see ,g4 ,fiocca1 ,burlington ,magazine1 ,vol4 ,,xl1 p4 #aa4 ,footnote #ch3 ,alesso ,baldovinetti4 ,see ,e4 ,londi1 ,alesso ,baldovinetti1 ,firenze1 #aijg4 ,,chapter ,,iv4--,,fra ,,filippo ,,lippi ,,and ,,the ,,new ,,narrative ,,style ,footnote #ci3 ,fra ,filippo ,lippi4 ,edward ,c4 ,strutt1 ,fra ,filippo ,lippi1 ,london1 #aijf4 ,vasari's ,life is capital4 ,robert ,browning's poem1 in ,men and ,women1 an admirable side-light4 ,footnote #dj3 ,benozzo ,gozzoli4 ,i accept ,col4 ,g4 ,f4 ,young's date for these frescoes4 ,see ,the ,medici1 ,new ,york1 #aiji1 ,vol4 ,i41 ,chapter vii1 where there is a good analysis of this decoration4 ,footnote #da3 ,antonio ,pollaiuolo4 ,maud ,crutwell's ,antonio ,pollaiuolo1 ,london and ,new ,york1 #aijg4 ,for later information consult ,venturi1 ,storia1 ,vol4 ,,vii1 pt4 ,i1 pp4 #eeh-egh4 ,footnote #db3 ,piero della ,francesca4 ,w4 ,g4 ,waters1 ,piero della ,francesca1 ,london1 #aija2 and ,corrado ,ricci's superbly illustrated folio1 ,piero della ,francesca1 ,rome1 #aiaj4 ,footnote #dc3 ,early ,frescoes of the ,sistine ,chapel4 ,magnificently reproduced in the album accompanying ,ernst ,steinmann's ,die ,sixtinische ,cappelle1 ,munich1 #aija4 ,footnote #dd3 ,francesco ,pesellino4 ,consult ,dr4 ,w4 ,weisbach's able and beautifully illustrated work1 ,francesco ,pesellino und die ,romantik der ,frhrenaissance1 ,berlin1 #aija4 ,for cuts of ,cassoni1 ,paul ,schubring1 ,cassoni1 ,leipzig1 #aiae1 and the books and articles already cited in note #f to ,chapter #c4 ,footnote #de3 ,domenico ,ghirlandaio4 ,a copious and satisfactory life is that of ,gerald ,s4 ,davies1 ,ghirlandaio1 ,london and ,new ,york1 #aiji4 ,briefer but of greater cultural scope is ,ghirlandaio1 by ,henri ,hauvette1 ,paris1 8,les matres de l'art40 ,for a summary criticism my article in ,the ,nation 7,n4 ,y471 ,aug4 #bj1 #aijh1 p4 #afg4 ,ruskin's famous assault on ,ghirlandaio in ,mornings in ,florence is joyous reading if whimsically exaggerated4 ,,chapter ,v4--,,botticelli ,,and ,,leonardo ,,da ,,vinci ,footnote #df3 ,botticelli4 ,the standard work is ,herbert ,p4 ,horne1 ,sandro ,botticelli1 ,london1 #aijh4 ,a little additional information may be found in ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle1 ,a ,history of ,painting in ,italy1 ,hutton ,ed4 ,vol4 ,,ii1 and in ,venturi1 ,storia dell' ,arte ,italiana1 ,vol4 ,,vii1 pt4 #a4 ,walter ,pater's essay in ,the ,renaissance offers beautifully a one-sided view4 ,the essays1 the ,soul of a ,fact1 and ,quattrocentisteria1 in ,maurice ,hewlett's ,earthwork out of ,tuscany are poetically illuminative4 ,mr4 ,berenson's analysis in ,florentine ,painters of the ,renaissance is important4 ,i have written more fully on ,botticelli in ,estimates in ,art1 ,new ,york1 #aiab4 ,botticelli's ,dante illustrations are published in a cheaper and more sumptuous form by ,friedrich ,p4 ,lippmann4 ,botticelli1 ,zeichnungen von ,sandro ,botticelli1 ,berlin1 #ahif4 ,lists of ,botticelli's works differ considerably4 ,i incline to accept a number of early paintings which are neglected by such exclusive critics as ,berenson and ,horne4 ,my own list1 which for reasons of space cannot be given here1 would not differ much from that of ,a4 ,venturi1 in ,storia ,,vii1 i1 #ehh-fdb4 ,footnote #dg3 ,filippino ,lippi4 ,i4 ,b4 ,supino1 ,les deux ,lippi1 ,firenze1 #aijd4 ,footnote #dh3 ,piero di ,cosimo4 ,fritz ,knapp1 ,piero di ,cosimo1 ,halle1 #ahii4 ,as usual later information in ,venturi1 ,storia1 ,vol4 ,,vii1 pt4 #a4 ,footnote #di3 ,this extraordinary series of which four have been recovered is fully discussed and somewhat differently interpreted by ,roger ,e4 ,fry1 in ,burlington ,magazine1 ,vol4 ,,xxxviii1 p4 #aca;f4 ,see also letter on page #beg4 ,footnote #ej3 ,leonardo da ,vinci4 ,the standard life is by ,w4 von ,seidlitz1 ,leonardo da ,vinci1 ,berlin1 #aiji4 ,the early work of ,leonardo and his relations with ,verrocchio have been thoroughly and lucidly analyzed by ,jens ,thys1 ,leonardo da ,vinci1 ,london1 #aiac4 ,amid the confusingly rich bibliography1 the student may do well to stick to ,vasari's admirable ,life in any of the translations1 to ,dr4 ,o4 ,sirn's scholarly and cautious book ,leonardo da ,vinci1 ,new ,haven1 and ,london1 #aiaf and to the late ,dr4 ,j4 ,p4 ,richter's incomparable work 8,the ,literary ,works of ,leonardo da ,vinci10 ,london1 #ahhc1 obtainable only in libraries4 ,giovanni ,poggi1 ,leonardo da ,vinci1 ,firenze1 #aiai1 has thoroughly edited ,vasari's ,life1 and should be consulted for latest views and for illustrations4 ,my own view on the early development of ,leonardo1 a most disputed matter1 is set forth more fully in ,art and ,archology1 ,vol4 ,,iv4 pp4 #aaa-abb4 ,for literary side-lights ,walter ,pater's essay1 in ,the ,renaissance2 for an iconoclastic view ,berenson in ,study and ,criticism of ,italian ,art1 ,fourth ,series1 ,new ,york1 #aibj4 ,edward ,mc,curdy's selected translations from ,the ,notebooks of ,leonardo da ,vinci1 ,new ,york1 #aijf1 are valuable for those to whom ,richter is inaccessible4 ,leonardo's drawings1 which are no less important than his paintings1 may best be approached through ,mr4 ,berenson's monumental work1 ,the ,drawings of the ,florentine ,painters1 ,new ,york and ,london1 #aijc1 while the drawings before #adhj are clearly and ably discussed by ,dr4 ,thys4 ,footnote #ea3 ,the capital mistake of the more exclusive critics of ,leonardo's early work is that they set this delightful little masterpiece at the beginning of the series in an impossibly early date4 ,there is no such manipulation of paint and no such feeling for unity of landscape before #adge or so4 ,being a revision of the design of the ,uffizi ,annunciation1 it is necessarily later4 ,my list of ,leonardo's would include1 in approximate order3 #a4 ,in ,verocchio's ,baptism4 ,the landscape at left and distance1 the ,angel kneeling to right1 about #adgj1 ,uffizi4 #b4 ,madonna and ,child with an ,angel1 design by ,verrocchio1 ,london4 #c4 ,the ,annunciation1 design mostly by ,verrocchio1 about #adge1 ,uffizi4 #d4 ,portrait of a ,girl1 possibly a ,verrocchio1 ,prince ,liechtenstein1 ,vienna4 #e4 ,annunciation1 ,louvre4 #f4 ,benois ,madonna1 about #adgh-i1 ,petrograd4 #g4 ,st4 ,jerome1 unfinished1 ,vatican1 ,rome4 #h4 ,adoration of the ,magi1 left unfinished about #adha1 ,uffizi4 #i4 ,cartoon of ,st4 ,ann1 ,burlington ,house1 ,london4 #aj4 ,madonna of the ,rocks1 between #adhj-hc1 ,paris4 #aa4 ,so-called ,belle ,ferronnire1 perhaps bottega piece1 about #adij1 ,paris4 #ab4 ,girl with an ,ermine1 perhaps a bottega piece1 about #adie1 ,cracow4 #ac4 ,clay model of the ,sforza horse1 destroyed in #aejj4 #ad4 ,last ,supper1 #adih1 ,santa ,maria delle ,grazie1 ,milan4 #ae4 ,cartoon for a ,st4 ,ann1 lost but represented by sketches at ,venice1 #aejc4 #af4 ,madonna of the ,distaff1 represented by old copies4 #ag4 ,cartoon for ,battle of ,anghiari1 only central group painted1 partly represented by sketches and old copies1 #aejd4 #ah4 ,portrait of ,mona ,lisa1 ,paris4 #ai4 ,cartoon for a standing ,leda1 probably only the figure1 since numerous old copies have widely varying accessories4 #bj4 ,madonna of the ,rocks1 #aejg1 ,london4 #ba4 ,cartoon for a ,kneeling ,leda1 the figure only4 ,sketches and old copies4 #bb4 ,madonna and ,st4 ,ann1 ,paris4 #bc4 ,st4 ,john1 half-length1 ,paris4 ,all ,leonardo's main activity as a painter lies from #adgj-aejj4 ,he painted a picture about every two years4 ,various sculptures have been ascribed to ,leonardo4 ,of these only two1 which will have been made in ,verrocchio's bottega and under his direction1 seem to me to deserve the distinction4 ,a terra cotta ,madonna and ,child in the ,metropolitan ,museum1 there ascribed to ,verrocchio's school1 may represent ,leonardo's modelling about #adfe4 ,a stucco ,madonna owned by ,mr4 ,george ,diblee1 at ,oxford1 is perhaps ten years later4 ,the first is discussed by me in ,art and ,archaeology1 ,vol4 ,,iv1 p4 #abb2 the second is reproduced and accepted as a ,leonardo by ,prof4 ,a4 ,venturi in ,l' ,arte1 ,vol4 ,,xxv1 p4 #aca4 ,footnote #eb3 ,the best study of this picture and of its contemporary influence is that of ,george ,gronau in ,zeitschrift fr bildende ,kunst4 ,n4 ,f4 ,vol4 ,,xxiii1 pp4 #bec-bei4 ,he fails to perceive that so primitive a picture as late as #adgh furnishes the best reason for accepting most of the rejected early ,leonardos4 ,footnote #ec3 ,in all this matter ,jens ,thys's admirable studies are indispensable4 ,see note #e above4 ,footnote #ed3 ,the ,lady and the ,ermine and the ,belle ,ferronnire are thoroughly discussed by ,h4 ,ochenkowski1 ,burlington ,magazine1 ,vol4 ,,xxxiv1 p4 #ahf f41 where a full bibliography will be found4 ,footnote #ee3 ,this error which has persisted since ,vasari was finally corrected by the great restorer ,cavenaghi in his report of the last restoration4 ,malaguzzi ,valeri in ,milano1 ,bergamo1 #aijf1 pt4 #b1 p4 #ad1 first advanced the correct view that the painting was done in tempera4 ,footnote #ef3 ,kenyon ,cox1 ,concerning ,painting1 ,new ,york1 #aiag1 p4 #gc4 ,footnote #eg3 ,fra ,bartolommeo4 ,the standard work is ,fritz ,knapp's ,fra ,bartolommeo della ,porta1 ,halle1 #aijc4 ,h4 v4 d4 ,gablentz1 ,fra ,bartolommeo in #b vols41 ,leipzig1 #aibb4 ,footnote #eh3 ,andrea del ,sarto4 ,h4 ,guinness1 ,andrea del ,sarto1 ,london and ,new ,york1 #aija4 ,andrea's drawings are finely analyzed by ,bernard ,berenson in ,the ,drawings of the ,florentine ,painters4 ,footnote #ei3 ,bronzino4 ,hans ,schulze1 ,die ,werke ,angelo ,bronzino's1 ,strassburg1 #aiaa4 ,footnote #fj3 ,pontormo4 ,we have two admirable books by the same writer1 ,dr4 ,f4 ,m4 ,clapp2 ,les ,dessins de ,pontormo1 ,paris1 #aiad2 ,pontormo1 his ,life and ,work1 ,new ,haven1 #aiaf4 ,pontormo's supreme masterpiece of portraiture1 ,the ,halberdier1 is published by myself in ,art in ,america1 ,vol4 ,x1 p4 #ff4 ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,the ,,high ,,renaissance4 ,the indispensable books are1 for leading ideas1 ,j4 ,c4 ,burckhardt1 ,civilization of the ,renaissance in ,italy1 ,new ,york1 #ahij2 for the stylistic development in ,art1 ,h4 ,wlfflin1 ,the ,art of the ,italian ,renaissance1 ,new ,york1 #aiac4 ,very valuable for history and biography are ,j4 ,addington ,symonds's ,the ,renaissance in ,italy1 #e ,vols41 ,london2 and ,h4 ,o4 ,taylor's ,thought and ,expression in the ,sixteenth ,century1 ,new ,york1 #aibj4 ,for ,renaissance ideals of nobility and moderation the capital contemporary work is ,il ,cortegiano1 by ,baldassare ,castiglione1 translated as ,the ,courtier by ,l4 ,e4 ,opdycke1 ,new ,york1 #aije4 ,for stylistic analysis ,berenson's introductions to ,florentine ,painters1 and to ,central ,italian ,painters of the ,renaissance1 are suggestive and important4 ,footnote #fa3 ,gentile da ,fabriano4 ,a4 ,colasanti1 ,gentile da ,fabriano4 ,bergamo1 #aiji4 ,also my ,essay review4 ,the ,nation1 ,vol4 #hi 7#aiji7 pp4 #afh-agj4 ,footnote #fb3 ,andrea da ,bologna4 ,the ,nation 7,n4 ,y47 ,vol4 #ie4 7#aiab7 p4 #cib4 ,footnote #fc3 ,fifteenth ,century ,umbrians4 ,walter ,rothes1 in ,anfnge 444 der ,alt-,umbrischen ,malerschulen1 ,strassburg1 #aijh1 gives excellent illustrations for the ,early ,umbrian ,artists4 ,also for cuts1 ,u4 ,gnoli1 ,la ,mostra ,umbra1 ,bergamo4 ,footnote #fd3 ,melozzo da ,forl4 ,a4 ,schmarsow1 ,melozzo da ,forl1 ,berlin1 #ahhf1 and ,c4 ,ricci1 ,melozzo da ,forl1 ,rome1 #aiaa1 are the standard works4 ,footnote #fe3 ,luca ,signorelli4 ,maud ,crutwell1 ,luca ,signorelli1 ,london1 #aija4 ,see ,venturi1 vii1 as usual4 ,footnote #ff3 ,pietro ,perugino4 ,venturi1 ,storia1 ,vol4 ,,vii1 pt4 #b1 ch4 v1 makes ,perugino the direct pupil of ,piero della ,francesca1 ascribing to ,perugino many pictures formerly ascribed to ,fiorenzo di ,lorenzo4 ,the view while attractive is not wholly convincing to me4 ,all of ,perugino's works are published in ,klassiker der ,kunst1 ,no4 ,,xxv1 ,stuttgart1 #aiad4 ,the best general estimate of ,perugino is that of ,wlfflin and of ,berenson1 in ,central ,italian ,painters4 ,footnote #fg3 ,the ,cambio frescoes4 ,while it is inherently likely that ,raphael worked on these frescoes1 ,prof4 ,venturi's plea for ,raphael's authorship of ,god1 the ,prophets and ,sibyls1 ,storia1 ,vol4 ,,vii1 pt4 #b1 p4 #hbh ff4 depends largely on the shaky evidence of drawings attributed arbitrarily to ,raphael4 ,,raphael ,,and ,,michelangelo4 ,from the point of view of pure style the best treatment of these artists and of the ,high ,renaissance is that of ,heinrich ,wlfflin in ,the ,art of the ,italian ,renaissance1 ,new ,york1 #aiac4 ,it is a book that every student should read and if possible own4 ,mr4 ,berenson's treatment of space composition1 in the introduction to ,central ,italian ,painters of the ,renaissance1 is perhaps his finest achievement in criticism4 ,footnote #fh3 ,raphael4 ,hermann ,grimm's two volume ,life of ,raphael is still valuable for background4 ,among the numerous popular books in ,english none is outstanding4 ,henry ,strachey's ,raphael1 in 8,great ,masters of ,art10 is good1 and so are ,julia ,cartwright's two monographs3 ,the ,early ,work of ,raphael and ,raphael in ,rome1 in the ,portfolio ,series1 ,london1 #ahie4 ,for ,raphael's participation in the frescoes of the ,cambio it seems to me that ,professor ,venturi1 in ,storia dell' ,arte ,italiana1 ,vol4 ,,vii1 part #b1 makes out only a plausible case4 ,reproductions of all of ,raphael's works in ,klassiker der ,kunst1 ,no4 ,i41 ,raphael1 ,stuttgart and ,leipzig4 ,among the innumerable essays on ,raphael none is more understanding than ,john ,la ,farge's1 in ,great ,masters1 ,new ,york1 #aijc4 ,footnote #fi3 ,michelangelo4 ,the best source for the study of ,michelangelo1 painter1 is the superb plates in ,ernst ,steinmann's ,die ,sixtinische ,cappelle1 ,munich1 #aija4 ,among recent short biographies that of ,charles ,holroyd1 ,michelangelo1 ,london and ,new ,york1 #aiaa and ,romain ,rolland 7a longer study1 ,the ,life of ,michelangelo1 ,new ,york1 #aiab2 a different and shorter work1 ,michelangelo1 a ,study1 c41 ,new ,york1 #aiae7 are perhaps the best4 ,the two volume biographies by ,hermann ,grimm and by ,j4 ,addington ,symonds are valuable1 especially for historical background4 ,but the reader may be wise to content himself with one of the brief biographies and such contemporary lives as ,vasari's1 ,ascanio ,condivi's1 and ,francesco d',olanda's4 ,the two latter are translated in ,holroyd's book4 ,the drawings of ,michelangelo are admirably discussed and presented in a perfect selection by ,mr4 ,berenson in ,the ,drawings of the ,florentine ,painters4 ,the drawings are chronologically arranged and beautifully reproduced by ,karl ,frey1 ,die ,handzeichnungen ,michelangelo's1 #b vols41 ,berlin1 #aiaa4 ,w4 ,r4 ,valentiner treats ,the ,late ,years of ,michelangelo 7,new ,york1 #aiad7 with insight1 devoting himself chiefly to the more finished drawings4 ,for a brief yet comprehensive survey1 ,john ,la ,farge in ,great ,masters1 ,new ,york1 #aijc4 ,the works are completely reproduced in ,klassiker der ,kunst1 ,no4 ,,vii4 ,michelangelo1 ,stuttgart and ,leipzig4 ,,chapter ,,vii4--,,early ,,venetian ,,painting ,footnote #gj3 ,little literature of a general sort is available to the ,english speaking reader4 ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle1 ,a ,history of ,painting in ,northern ,italy1 admirably edited by ,tancred ,borenius1 in three volumes1 ,london1 #aiac1 is the chief repository of facts4 ,evelyn ,march ,phillipps1 ,the ,venetian ,school of ,painting1 ,london1 #aiab1 is an excellent brief survey4 ,for readers of ,italian ,lionello ,venturi's ,le ,origini della ,pittura ,veneziana1 ,venice1 #aiaa1 is the best book4 ,a treasure house of materials in ,laudadeo ,testi's two volumes1 ,la ,storia della ,pittura ,veneziana1 ,bergamo4 ,john ,ruskin's masterpiece1 ,stones of ,venice1 may be consulted with profit and delight4 ,there are treasures of antiquarian information in ,pompeo ,molmenti1 ,la ,storia di ,venezia nella ,vita ,privata1 #c vols41 ,bergamo1 #aije4 ,footnote #ga3 ,jacopo ,bellini4 ,the extraordinary and fascinating sketch books are published in two forms1 by ,corrado ,ricci1 ,jacopo ,bellini e i suo libri di designi1 #b vols41 ,florence1 #aijh1 and by ,v4 ,goloubew1 ,les ,dessins de ,jacopo ,bellini1 ,bruxelles1 #aijh4 ,footnote #gb3 ,g4 ,mc,neill ,rushforth1 ,carlo ,crivelli1 ,london1 #aijj4 ,footnote #gc3 ,andrea ,mantegna4 ,the standard work is by ,paul ,kristeller1 ,andrea ,mantegna1 ,london and ,new ,york1 #aija4 ,maud ,crutwell's short biography1 ,andrea ,mantegna1 ,london1 #aija1 is excellent4 ,mr4 ,berenson's subtle analysis in ,north ,italian ,painters of the ,renaissance perhaps overstresses ,andrea's defects4 ,mantegna's complete works are reproduced in ,klassiker der ,kunst1 ,no4 ,,xvi1 ,stuttgart1 #aiaj4 ,footnote #gd3 ,antonello da ,messina4 ,see ,l4 ,venturi1 ,le ,origini1 and ,a4 ,venturi1 ,storia1 ,,vii1 pt4 #d4 ,recent attributions1 ,bernard ,berenson1 ,study and ,criticism of ,italian ,art1 #crd ,series1 ,london1 #aiaf1 p4 #gi ff4 ,footnote #ge3 ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,nothing notable in ,english except casual criticism by ,ruskin and ,roger ,e4 ,fry's admirable little book1 ,giovanni ,bellini1 ,london1 #ahii1 which is unfortunately out of print4 ,for such as read ,german--,georg ,gronau1 ,die ,knstler-familie ,bellini1 ,leipzig1 #aijg1 with abundant illustrations4 ,recently discovered pictures and a better chronology1 in ,bernard ,berenson3 ,venetian ,painting in ,america1 ,new ,york1 #aiaf4 ,footnote #gf3 ,vettor ,carpaccio4 ,ludwig and ,molmenti's ,the ,life and ,works of ,victor ,carpaccio1 ,london1 #aijg1 gives1 aside from its main topic1 a vivid picture of the cultural condition of ,venice about #aejj4 ,see my essay review of it in ,the ,nation1 ,vol4 #hf1 7#aijh7 pp4 #cae ff4 ,john ,ruskin's delightful comments on ,carpaccio are mostly in the ,guide to the ,academy at ,venice and in ,st4 ,mark's ,rest1 chapter ,the ,shrine of the ,slaves1 ,library ed4 ,vol4 ,,xxiv4 ,footnote #gg3 ,giorgione4 ,for the smallest list ,l4 ,venturi1 ,giorgione e il ,giorgionismo1 ,milan1 #aiac2 for the longest list ,herbert ,cook1 ,giorgione2 for a middle view ,l4 ,justi1 ,giorgione1 #b vols41 ,berlin1 #aijh1 most useful plates4 ,the general conditions of the problem are clearly stated by the late ,richard ,norton in ,bernini and other ,studies1 ,new ,york1 #aiad4 ,l4 ,hourticq1 in ,la ,jeunesse de ,titien1 ,paris1 #aiai1 has lately worked over the pictures which lie between ,titian and ,giorgione in an interesting but highly subjective fashion4 ,kenyon ,cox1 ,art in ,america1 ,vol4 ,i1 pp4 #aae ff41 makes the plausible suggestion that the several portraits signed ,v or ,,vv are by ,titian1 the letters meaning ,vecellius ,venetus4 ,this would make the ,berlin portrait a ,titian4 ,walter ,pater's essay on ,the ,school of ,giorgione1 in ,the ,renaissance is as masterly for insight as it is for verbal beauty4 ,i hesitate to add one more to the varying opinions concerning ,giorgione's paintings4 ,at least ,i may introduce a novelty by classing them according to probability1 or rather according to the completeness of my own conviction4 ,in the whole matter we are largely in the field of taste and opinion4 ,e means early4 ,paintings1 m4 j4 surely by ,giorgione #a4 ,the ,shepherds finding the ,infant ,paris 7repainted fragment1 ,e7 ,budapest #b4 8,the ,soldier and the ,gipsy0 ,e4 ,prince ,giovanelli #c4 ,madonna with ,st4 ,francis and ,st4 ,george 7#aejd7 ,castelfranco #d4 ,the ,three ,philosophers 7finished by ,sebastiano del ,piombo7 ,vienna #e4 ,orpheus and ,eurydice 7cassone panel7 ,bergamo #f4 ,the ,sleeping ,venus 7landscape by ,titian7 ,dresden #g4 ,fresco of ,nude ,woman1 nearly effaced 7#aejh71 represented by ,zanetti's print ,fondaco de' ,tedeschi #h4 ,judith 7cut down at sides7 ,petrograd #i4 ,his own ,portrait 7much cut down and damaged7 ,brunswick #aj4 ,christ with his ,cross ,church of ,s4 ,rocco #aa4 ,the ,concert 7finished by ,titian8 or repainted in his manner87 ,florence ,paintings probably by ,giorgione4 ,i accept these1 but do not think the evidence demonstrative4 #ab-ac4 ,stories of the ,infant ,paris 7two cassone panels1 ,e47 ,sir ,martin ,conway1 ,allington ,castle1 ,maidstone1 ,england #ad4 ,the ,fire ,ordeal of ,moses 7door panel1 ,e47 ,florence #ae4 ,the ,judgment of ,solomon 7door panel1 ,e47 ,florence #af4 ,christ bearing his ,cross1 ,e4 ,fenway ,court1 ,boston4 #ag4 ,homage to a ,poet1 ,e4 ,london #ah4 ,portrait of a ,young ,man 7possibly an early ,titian7 ,berlin #ai4 ,boy ,with an ,arrow 7old copy87 ,vienna #bj4 ,shepherd with a ,flute ,hampton ,court #ba4 ,david with ,goliath's ,head 7copy8 or ruined original87 ,vienna #bb4 ,altar-piece of ,st4 ,john ,chrysostom 7mostly executed by ,sebastiano del ,piombo7 ,s4 ,giovanni ,crisostomo #bc4 ,the ,pastoral ,symphony 7radically repainted in recent times47 ,paris #bd4 ,portrait of a ,man ,new ,york ,this list might still be extended by half a dozen numbers by including pictures which may represent lost originals by ,giorgione1 but here we are in a field too subjective for profitable discussion in a handbook4 ,pictures generally ascribed to ,giorgione1 ,i think erroneously4 ,the ,knight of ,malta 7probably a ,titian about #aeae7 ,florence ,portrait of ,broccardo ,budapest ,storm ,calmed by ,st4 ,mark 7probably a ,palma7 ,venice ,judgment of ,solomon 7,hourticq plausibly regards as copy of lost fresco by ,titian7 ,banks ,coll41 ,kingston ,lacy ,madonna with ,st4 ,antony and ,st4 ,roch 7probably a ,titian7 ,madrid ,portrait of a ,woman ,casino ,borghese1 ,rome ,the reason for excluding such works is their over-pathetic or over-dramatic quality4 ,the argument applies especially to the ,adulteress before ,christ at ,glasgow4 ,corroborative technical evidence against this group may be found in ,l4 ,venturi's excellent monograph4 ,,chapter ,,viii4--,,titian ,,and ,,the ,,venetian ,,renaissance ,on the ,venetian ,renaissance in general we have the works cited at the head of ,notes for ,chapter ,,vii and for biographies and lists ,d4 ,v4 ,hadeln1 new ed4 ,ridolfi1 ,le ,maraviglie dell' ,arte1 ,berlin1 #aiad4 ,a brief survey by the late ,kenyon ,cox1 in ,concerning ,painting1 ,new ,york1 #aiag1 pp4 #ih-acb1 is valuable4 ,footnote #gh3 ,titian4 ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle's ,the ,life and ,times of ,titian1 in #b vols41 ,london1 #ahha1 is still the fullest repository of information4 ,georg ,gronau's popular but carefully done ,titian1 ,london and ,new ,york1 #aijd1 takes account of later documentary discoveries4 ,as a painter's analysis of technical aims ,charles ,rickett's ,titian1 ,london1 #aiaj1 is noteworthy4 ,nearly all of ,titian's works are published in ,klassiker der ,kunst1 ,no4 ,,iii1 ,stuttgart1 #aijf4 ,several newly discovered pictures are reproduced in the recent volumes1 #aiah-bb1 of the ,burlington ,magazine1 ,art in ,america1 and ,zeitschrift fr bildende ,kunst4 ,footnote #gi3 ,titian's ,age4 ,all the available material on this disputed matter is offered by ,mr4 ,herbert ,cook and ,dr4 ,george ,gronau in a controversy printed as appendices to ,cook's ,giorgione1 ,london1 #aijg4 ,the early evidence is very conflicting4 ,writing in #aeeg ,dolce implies ,titian was born about #adhi #aeff-g ,vasari #adhi #aefd ,a ,spanish ,envoy #adgd #aefg ,a ,spanish ,consul #adhb #aega ,titian himself #adgg #aehd ,borghini #adgh-i ,writing in #aede and #aedh ,titian refers to his old age and disabilities 7,cook1 p4 #ada note71 expressions more natural if he was sixty-eight and seventy-one than they would be if he were only fifty-six and fifty-nine4 ,mr4 ,cook's theory that ,titian and his ,spanish official friends grossly exaggerated his age to secure prompter remittances from the ,emperor seems to me gratuitous and flimsy4 ,dr4 ,gronau convinces me that neither ,dolce nor ,vasari can be regarded as serious witnesses4 ,l4 ,hourticq in ,la ,jeunesse de ,titien1 ,paris1 #aiai1 adds next to nothing to ,cook in maintaining the later date for ,titian's birth4 ,the whole weight of evidence points to the fact that ,titian told the broad truth about his age1 perhaps1 indulging in a round number4 ,i am sure he was well over ninety when he described himself as ninety-five in the letter of #aega1 and that he died all but a centenarian4 ,footnote #hj3 ,pietro d',achiardi1 ,sebastiano de ,piombo1 ,roma1 #aijh4 ,footnote #ha3 ,max von ,boehn1 ,giorgione und ,palma ,vecchio1 ,leipzig1 #aijh4 ,footnote #hb3 ,bernard ,berenson1 ,lorenzo ,lotto1 ,london1 #aije4 ,comprises also careful studies of ,alvise ,vivarini1 ,cima1 ,montagna and other ,venetic painters4 ,in ,the ,study and ,criticism of ,italian ,art1 #crd series1 ,london1 #aiaf1 the superb ,saint ,justine of the ,valsecchi ,collection is rightly restored to ,giovanni ,bellini1 l4c4 p4 #ch ff4 ,footnote #hc3 ,correggio4 ,the standard work1 ,c4 ,ricci1 ,antonio ,allegri da ,coreggio1 ,new ,york1 #ahif4 ,a delightful critical study1 ,t4 ,sturge ,moore1 ,correggio1 ,london and ,new ,york1 #aijf4 ,the complete works in ,klassiker der ,kunst1 ,no4 ,,xvii1 ,stuttgart4 ,a new and convincing view of ,correggio's date of birth and early development in ,venturi1 ,storia1 ,vol4 ,,vii1 pt4 iii1 pp4 #aaeb ff4 ,footnote #hd3 ,evelyn ,march ,phillipps1 ,tintoretto1 ,london1 #aiaa4 ,many of the extraordinary tempera sketches are reproduced in the ,burlington ,magazine for ,january and ,february1 #aiaj4 ,h4 ,thode1 ,tintoretto1 ,leipzig1 #aija4 ,many eloquent criticisms by ,ruskin in ,modern ,painters and ,stones of ,venice 7see indices7 and in the ,guide to the ,academy at ,venice1 ,library ed4 ,vol4 ,,xxiv4 ,footnote #he3 ,paolo ,veronese4 ,see ,kenyon ,cox's masterly essay in ,old ,masters and ,new1 ,new ,york4 ,footnote #hf3 ,g4 ,b4 ,tiepolo4 ,the standard work is by ,pompeo ,molmenti4 ,g4 ,b4 ,tiepolo1 ,milan1 #aiji4 ,footnote #hg3 ,g4 ,a4 ,simonson4 ,francesco ,guardi1 ,london1 #aije4 ,numerous additions by the same author in the ,burlington ,magazine for succeeding years4 ,,chapter ,,ix4--,,the ,,realists ,,and ,,eclectics ,on this period there is little available literature in ,english1 but there are excellent sketches of most of the artists treated in this chapter in ,c4 ,ricci1 ,art in ,northern ,italy1 ,new ,york1 #aiaa4 ,a4 ,prat in ,a4 ,michel1 ,histoire de l',art1 ,vol4 ,v1 gives a fuller summary4 ,footnote #hh3 ,caravaggio4 ,w4 ,kallab1 ,austrian ,jahrbuch1 ,vol4 ,,xxvi 7#aijf71 p4 #bgb ff41 brief illustrated essay4 ,felix ,witting1 ,michelangelo da ,caravaggio1 ,strassburg1 #aiaf4 ,footnote #hi3 ,salvator ,rosa4 ,lady ,morgan1 ,the ,life and ,times of ,salvator ,rosa1 in two vols41 ,paris1 #ahbd4 ,leandro ,ozzola1 ,vita e opere di ,salvator ,rosa1 ,strassburg1 #aijh4 ,the passages translated in the text are from ,bottari1 ,raccolta di lettere sulla ,pittura c41 ,vol4 ,i1 pp4 #ddg1 #dej f41 ,milan1 #ahbb4 ,footnote #ij3 ,the ,carracci4 ,the fundamental source is ,carlo ,cesare ,malvasia's highly contentious and anecdotal work ,felsina ,pittrice2 ,i have used the two volume edition1 ,milan1 #ahda4 ,gabriel ,rouchs1 ,la ,peinture ,bolonaise la ,fin du ,,xvie ,sicle1 ,paris1 #aiac1 is the standard work on the ,eclectic ,school4 ,on the landscape of this school1 which is highly important as preparatory to ,claude and ,poussin1 ,rouchs has two remarkable essays in ,gazette des ,beaux ,arts1 #e;e priode ,tome1 ,,iii4 7,jan4 and ,feb4 nos4 #aiba7 pp4 #g ff41 and #aai ff4 ,hans ,tietze1 in ,austrian ,jahrbuch1 ,vol4 ,,xxvi 7#aijf7 p4 #ea ff41 ,annibale ,carracci's ,galerie im ,palazzo ,farnese und seine ,rmische ,werksttte--a very thorough and richly illustrated monograph on the ,carracci1 including such scholars as ,francesco ,albani1 and ,domenichino4 ,footnote #ia3 ,guido ,reni4 ,max von ,boehn1 ,guido ,reni1 ,leipzig1 #aiaj1 fully illustrated4 ,footnote #ib3 ,domenichino4 ,luigi ,serra1 ,domenico ,zampieri detto ,domenichino1 ,rome1 #aiji4 ,also ,tietze's article1 above1 note #c4 ,,hints ,,for ,,reading ,,comprehensive ,,histories ,,of ,,italian ,,painting4 ,for ,english speaking readers the greatest resource for reference is ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle1 ,a ,new ,history of ,painting in ,italy1 which covers the ,central ,italian field up to about #aejj4 ,i prefer the three volume edition by ,edward ,hutton1 published by ,j4 ,m4 ,dent and ,co41 ,london2 and ,e4 ,p4 ,dutton1 ,new ,york1 7#aijh-i7 to the fuller six-volume edition annotated by ,langton ,douglas and published conjointly by the ,murrays of ,london and the ,scribners of ,new ,york4 ,for the ,north ,italian field ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle's ,history of ,painting in ,northern ,italy1 re-edited in three volumes by ,tancred ,borenius1 ,john ,murray-,charles ,scribner's ,sons1 #aiab1 is indispensable4 ,both works are ordinarily cited as 8,c4 ,c40 ,the ,italian articles in ,a4 ,michel's ,histoire de l',art1 ,paris1 are excellent4 ,,manuals4 ,bernard ,berenson's four ,handbooks1 ,venetian ,painters of the ,renaissance1 ,florentine ,painters of the ,renaissance1 ,central ,italian ,painters of the ,renaissance1 and ,northern ,italian ,painters of the ,renaissance1 ,new ,york and ,london1 ,g4 ,p4 ,putnam and ,sons1 are uniquely useful4 ,each contains a thorough critical discussion and lists of the works of the more important painters4 ,the latest editions should be used4 ,a ,short ,history of ,italian ,painting1 by ,alice van ,vechten ,brown and ,william ,rankin1 ,dent-,dutton1 #aiad1 offers brilliant1 if uneven1 characterizations and able summaries of contested points4 ,,technique4 ,consult the delightful ,the ,book of ,art by ,cennino ,cennini1 edited by ,christiana ,j4 ,herringham1 ,london3 ,george ,allen1 #aibb1 for methods of painting in tempera and fresco4 ,,biography4 ,giorgio ,vasari's picturesque ,lives of the ,painters may most profitably be read in the translation of ,gaston ,du,c4 de ,vere1 in ten volumes1 ,london3 ,philip ,lee ,warner2 ,new ,york3 ,the ,macmillan ,company4 ,there are many color-prints4 ,the matter is available inexpensively in the handy 8,everyman's ,library40 ,mrs4 ,ady1 8,julia ,cartwright10 has epitomized the chief lives agreeably1 with necessary corrections1 in ,the ,painters of ,florence1 ,e4 ,p4 ,dutton and ,company1 #aiaf4 ,,periodicals4 ,the reader may most profitably cultivate the habit of paging over the files of ,the ,burlington ,magazine and ,art in ,america1 ,rassegna d',arte and ,l',arte1 which contain good reproductions of many fine ,italian pictures in private collections4 ,,historical ,,background4 ,excellent the many ,italian ,chapters in ,henry ,osborn ,taylor's ,the ,mediaeval ,mind1 in two volumes1 ,the ,macmillan ,company1 #aiaa4 ,for ,florentine conditions consult ,guido ,biagi1 ,men and ,manners of ,old ,florence1 ,chicago1 ,a4 ,c4 ,mc,clurg and ,company1 #aiji1 and ,the ,builders of ,florence1 by ,j4 ,wood ,brown1 ,london1 ,methuen and ,company1 #aijg4 ,,photographs1 etc4 ,the ideal way to use a handbook would be to skim it before visiting a great ,european gallery and to reread it carefully while the impression of the pictures themselves was still vivid4 ,but the student must also depend much on photographic reproductions4 ,for ,italy those of ,messrs4 ,alinari at ,florence and of ,dominick ,anderson at ,rome are comprehensive1 finely made1 and remarkably cheap4 ,alinari has most of the ,italian paintings of the ,louvre and ,dresden ,gallery2 ,anderson1 those of the ,prado1 ,madrid1 and ,national ,gallery1 ,london4 ,the collections of ,hanfstaengl and of ,bruckmann1 ,munich1 cover most of the galleries of ,northern and ,central ,europe4 ,photographs of the ,italian pictures in the ,metropolitan ,museum1 ,new ,york2 the ,museum of ,fine ,arts1 ,boston2 the ,fogg ,museum1 ,cambridge1 ,mass41 and the ,jarves ,collection1 ,yale ,university1 ,new ,haven1 ,conn41 may be purchased from those museums4 ,besides these four main collections of ,italian pictures in ,america1 that of the ,new ,york ,historical ,society1 ,new ,york1 and of ,mrs4 ,john ,l4 ,gardner1 ,fenway ,court1 ,boston1 occasionally open to the public1 are noteworthy4 ,the art museums of ,worcester1 ,mass41 ,providence1 ,r4 ,i41 ,cleveland1 ,o41 ,indianapolis1 ,detroit1 ,chicago and ,minneapolis have ,italian pictures of quality4 ,there is something in the ,wilstach ,gallery1 ,philadelphia1 and whenever the ,john ,g4 ,johnson ,collection shall be worthily exhibited1 ,philadelphia will be rich indeed in ,italian art4 ,the student should not fail to utilize such local resources1 however slight they may seem1 for one minor original thoroughly enjoyed is worth days of poring over reproductions4 ,for students who cannot afford a considerable number of photographs the ,university ,prints1 ,newton1 ,mass41 afford a tolerable substitute4 ,for quick reference the numerous cuts in ,venturi's monumental ,storia dell' ,arte ,italiana1 ,milan1 ,ulrico ,hoepli1 are very useful4 ,the halftones in the 8,knstler ,monografien10 ,leipzig1 ,velhagen and ,klasing1 and the larger prints in the 8,klassiker der ,kunst10 ,stuttgart and ,leipzig1 serve a similar purpose4 ,details may be had from any importing bookseller4 ,,index ,where an artist has a family name1 that is the indexed word1 e4g41 ,bellini1 ,giovanni4 ,where there is no surname1 the ,christian name is used1 e4g41 ,nardo di ,cione1 ,andrea da ,bologna4 ,so is the ,christian name the index word when an apparent surname is really only descriptive of birthplace or civil estate1 e4g41 ,domenico ,veneziano1 ,lorenzo ,monaco4 ,in the case of well-known artists1 the most familiar name is employed1 e4g41 ,angelico1 ,fra2 ,giorgione1 ,titian1 ,perugino1 ,raphael1 ,andrea del ,sarto1 ,pontormo1 ,botticelli1 ,michelangelo1 etc4 ,academic1 light and shade1 ,leonardo1 #bbf2 theory of generalization1 ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds1 #cah2 of selection and ,belle ,nature1 ,leonardo1 #beh2 ,l4 ,dolce1 #dde ,altar1 as shrine and tomb1 influence on subjects of painting1 #g ,alunno 7,niccol ,liberatore71 #bgc ,andrea da ,bologna1 #bga ,andrea del ,castagno1 #adf-adg1 #bja ,andrea del ,sarto1 #bdh-bec ,angelico of ,fiesole1 ,fra1 #aab1 #aad-abb1 #bfg ,antonello da ,messina1 #cde-cdh1 #cee1 #cfj ,antonio da ,negroponte1 #cce ,ariosto1 list of greatest painters1 #che ,baldovinetti1 ,alesso1 #adh2 an official appraisal of his frescoes1 #aec ,barna of ,siena1 #hh1 #hi ,bartolo di ,fredi1 #hf ,baroque decorative painting1 derives from ,mantegna1 #ccg1 #cdj-cda2 ,correggio1 #cdj1 #dae-daf2 ,tiepolo1 #ddb2 ,influence of ,catholic ,reaction on mood of1 #dei ,bartolommeo1 ,fra 7,baccio della ,porta71 #bdf1 #bdg-bdh1 #bhb1 #bij ,bartolommeo della ,gatta1 ,don1 #agg ,bellini1 ,gentile1 #cdh-ceb1 #cfd ,bellini1 ,giovanni1 #cbd1 #ceb-cfb1 #cfi ,bellini1 ,jacopo1 #ccj-ccc1 #ccd ,bembo1 ,pietro1 #cgc ,benvenuto di ,giovanni1 #ii ,birth salvers 7deschi da parto71 #ii1 #abh1 #aha ,bologna ,school and ,eclecticism1 passim1 #deh-dfe1 #dga ,bonfigli1 ,benedetto1 #bga ,botticelli1 ,sandro 7,alessandro di ,mariano ,filipepi71 #abb1 #afc1 #age1 #ahd1 #bjb-bbj1 #bee ,brancacci ,chapel1 problem of the frescoes1 #aca-ada ,byzantine manner1 #aj-ab2 in ,venetia1 #cbd1 #cbf1 #cbg ,bartolommeo di ,giovanni1 #ahc ,bassano1 ,jacopo and ,leandro1 #dbd ,bonauiti1 ,andrea1 decorator of the ,spanish ,chapel1 #ea-ec ,bronzino1 ,agnolo1 #bea ,brunellesco1 investigator of perspective1 #aaj ,canale1 ,antonio1 #ddb ,caravaggio 7,michelangelo ,amerighi71 #dec-def1 #dgj ,carpaccio1 ,victor1 #cfd-cgj ,carracci1 their academy at ,bologna1 #dfa42 ,carlo ,malvasia on the ,eclecticism of the ,c41 #dga ,carracci1 ,annibale1 #dec1 #dei-dfe2 sonnet ascribed to1 #dga ,cassone painters1 before #adej1 #abg-acj2 after #adej1 #ahj-ahc ,castiglione1 ,baldassare1 #bff1 #bih2 list of greatest artists1 #cae ,cavallini1 ,pietro1 #af-ah ,cimabue1 #ab1 #ad-ae1 #bj ,classic ,spirit1 ,kenyon ,cox on1 #cai ,correggio 7,antonio ,allegri71 #cdj1 #dae-dag2 ,initiator of the ,baroque ,manner1 #daf ,cox1 ,kenyon1 on the ,classic ,spirit1 #cai ,crivelli1 ,carlo1 #bfg1 #bga1 #ccd-cce ,dante1 #c1 #h2 ,giotto's portrait of1 #dj2 ,botticelli's drawings for1 #bae ,domenico di ,bartolo1 #hi ,domenico ,veneziano1 #adg-adh1 #afh1 #bja1 #bfg1 #bga ,domenichino 7,domenico ,zampieri71 #dfe1 #dfg-dfi ,donatello1 #aaj1 #ccc ,duccio di ,buoninsegna1 #ab1 #ac1 #fj1 #fc-gb2 ,procession on installation of his great ,madonna1 #ajf ,florence1 about #acjj described1 #b-d1 #ee2 the new looser manners after the plague of #acdh1 #aaj1 #aaa2 ,renaissance pageantry in1 #aie-aif2 ,savonarola's revolution1 #aic1 #bae1 #cjb2 ,end of liberty in and demoralization1 #cbj ,folgore da ,san ,gemignano1 ,sienese sonnet quoted1 #ajd ,francesco di ,giorgio1 #ajj ,francis of ,assisi1 ,st41 initiator of the new emotionalism in painting1 #g1 #h ,fresco1 method of painting in1 #f ,gaddi1 ,agnolo1 #df ,gaddi1 ,gaddo1 possibly to be identified with the 8,isaac ,master10 #ah ,gaddi1 ,taddeo1 #dj1 #de1 #df ,gentile da ,fabriano1 #bfg-bgj1 #cbh1 #ccj ,ghiberti1 ,lorenzo1 ,sienese anecdote by1 #ajd2 his studies1 #aji ,ghirlandaio 7,domenico ,bigordi71 #abb1 #adb1 #adc1 #agg1 #ahd-aid ,giorgione1 #cgj-chc2 problem of1 #cgj2 early works1 #cga1 #cgb2 his ,arcadianism related to pastoral poetry1 #cgc-cgd2 his dreamy and indeterminate mood1 #cgd-cgg2 ,castelfranco ,madonna1 and other later works1 #cgh-chj2 pastoral symphony1 #chj-chb2 ,the ,concert1 its problems1 #cha-chb2 ,summary1 #chc2 ,suggestion of ,g's subjects in ,leonardo's 8,trattato10 #che-chf ,giottino1 #df ,giotto's pupils1 8,master of the ,right ,transept10 #dc-de2 ,taddeo ,gaddi1 #de1 #df2 ,buffalmacco1 #df2 ,bernardo ,daddi1 #df2 ,giottino1 #df1 #dg ,giotto di ,bondone1 #ah2 early work at ,assisi1 #bj-bb2 at ,rome1 #bc2 at ,padua1 #bc-bi2 later work1 the ,allegories at ,assisi1 #ca-cd2 at ,santa ,croce1 #cd-ci2 ,the ,campanile and last phase1 #dj1 #da2 general characterization1 #db1 #dc2 poem by1 #ef2 mentioned1 #acf1 #bfg ,giovanni di ,paolo1 #ic-ie ,girolamo di ,benvenuto1 #ii ,giulio ,romano1 #bid1 #big1 #deb-dec ,gozzoli1 ,benozzo1 #adb1 #adc1 #afe-aff1 #bfg1 #bga ,grand style defined1 #bfe-bff2 ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds on1 #cah-cai2 ,l4 ,dolce on1 in ,titian1 #dde ,guariento of ,padua1 #cbd ,goya1 ,francisco1 quoted1 #aca ,guardi1 ,francesco1 #ddc ,guido of ,siena1 #ab 8,isaac ,master10 perhaps ,gaddo ,gaddi1 #ah ,isabella d',este1 ,marchioness of ,mantua1 relations with ,mantegna1 #cdc2 ,opinion of him1 #chd ,landscape1 new sense of the picturesque in1 and ,salvator ,rosa1 #def-deg ,le,brun1 ,charles1 dependence as decorator on ,a4 ,carracci1 #dfe ,leonardo da ,vinci1 #a2 on ,masaccio1 #aea1 #bjb1 #bbc-bce1 #bfj2 ,his new principles1 #bbd2 ,early ,florentine period1 #bbe-bcg2 ,adoration of the ,magi1 #bcc-bcf2 ,madonna of the ,rocks1 #bcf2 ,first ,milanese period1 #bch-bdj2 ,last ,supper1 #bci-bdj2 ,second ,florentine ,period2 ,mona ,lisa1 ,anghiari1 #bci-bda2 ,second ,milanese ,period2 ,st4 ,ann1 ,second ,madonna of the ,rocks1 #bdc-bdd2 ,roma and ,france1 #bdd-bde2 ,his ,influence1 #bde-bdf2 ,tractate on ,painting1 #beg-bfj1 #bhe1 #bhf1 #bhg1 #bij1 #bib1 #cjj1 #cga1 #chc1 #che ,lomazzo1 ,paolo1 ,great ,italian painters compared with the poets1 #che ,longhi1 ,pietro1 #ddd ,lorenzetti1 ,ambrogio1 #dj1 #db-de1 #gb1 #gf1 #gi1 #hd ,lorenzetti1 ,pietro1 #gf-gh2 ,followers of1 at ,assisi1 #gi2 ,contract for ,arezzo altar-piece1 #aje-ajf ,lorenzetti followers1 ,triumph of ,death1 ,pisa1 #hh1 #hi ,lorenzettian1 panoramic style1 #hf1 #abf1 #agb ,lotto1 ,lorenzo1 #daa-dac ,lorenzo de' ,medici1 his birth salver1 #aha-ahd ,lorenzo ,monaco1 ,don1 #aab ,lorenzo da ,san ,severino1 #bgb ,lorenzo ,veneziano1 #cbf1 #cbg ,mantegna1 ,andrea1 #ccc1 #ccg-cde1 #cdh1 #ceb1 #cee1 #cef42 ,titian on1 #cbd ,marcovaldo1 ,coppo di1 #fb ,masaccio 7,tommaso di ,ser ,giovanni di ,tommaso ,guidi71 #ej1 #acj-adb1 #aea1 #bja ,masolino da ,panicale1 #abb-abg ,matteo di ,giovanni1 of ,siena1 #ig-ii ,melozzo da ,forl1 #bgc-bgd ,michelangelo ,buonarotti1 #ai1 #aic1 #bfc2 perturbing influence on ,raphael1 #bhh1 #bid1 #bie2 ,early works2 ,doni ,madonna1 ,the ,bathers1 #cja-cjc2 ,the ,sistine ,ceiling1 #cjd-cac2 ,the ,last ,judgment1 #cac-cad2 ,defects of his followers1 #cae2 ,advice on posture1 #cag1 on the unity of painting and sculpture1 #cag1 #cah1 #djg1 #dbi ,michelozzo1 #aae ,modern sensibility1 in ,pontormo1 #bec2 ,moretto1 ,lotto1 ,correggio1 ,tintoretto1 #daa ,moretto of ,brescia1 #dab-dac ,moroni1 ,giambattista1 #dbc ,nardo di ,cione1 #dh ,neroccio di ,landi1 #ajj ,oil ,painting1 introduced at ,florence by ,domenico ,veneziano1 #adg12 practiced in ,lombardy by ,antonello da ,messina1 #cde ,orcagna 7,andrea di ,cione71 #dg-ej2 ,contract for ,strozzi altar-piece1 #ef ,ottaviano ,nelli1 #bga ,palma ,giovine1 on ,titian's technique1 #cij ,palma ,vecchio1 #djg1 #daa ,paolo ,veronese 7,caliari71 #dcf-ddj ,pastoral poetry as background of ,giorgione's inventions1 #cgj-cgd ,perspective1 discovery by ,brunellesco1 #aaj12 ,uccello's experiments in1 #add1 #aeb2 ,piero della ,francesca's book on1 #afi2 ,mantegna's illusionistic1 #ccg1 #cci-cdj2 further developed by ,correggio1 #cdj1 #dae-daf ,perugino 7,pietro ,vannucci71 #aag1 #agh1 #bbc1 #bfe1 #bfi1 #bgf-bhj1 #bhc1 #bhh1 #big1 #bfg1 #bga1 #bgc1 #bgh-bhb1 #bhe1 #bij1 #bii ,pesellino1 ,francesco1 #aha ,piero della ,francesca1 #afi-agb1 #bja1 #bgc ,pollaiuolo1 ,antonio1 #aeh1 #aff-afi1 #bja1 #bje ,piero di ,cosimo1 #agg1 #bjb1 #bba-bbc1 #bdf ,pintorricchio1 #aja1 #agd ,pisanello 7,antonio ,pisano71 #cbh ,plague banners1 ,umbrian1 #bfc1 #cac ,poliziano1 ,angelo1 his poetry as an inspiration for ,botticelli1 ,raphael1 ,titian1 #bee-bef ,pontormo 7,jacopo ,carrucci71 #bec ,poussin1 ,nicholas1 derives from ,raphael and the ,eclectics1 #deh ,raphael ,sanzio1 #ai1 #bef1 #bfc2 ,his ,umbrian beginnings1 #bhb-bhc4 ,at ,florence1 #bhc-bhh4 ,at ,rome1 ,the ,segnatura1 #bhi-bic2 ,stanze of ,heliodorus and of the ,incendio1 #bid-bif4 ,realists1 ,early ,florentine1 enumerated1 #adc ,reni1 ,guido1 #dfe-dff ,reynolds1 ,sir ,joshua1 on the ,grand style1 #cah-cai ,rodin1 ,auguste1 on ,michelangelo1 #cac ,roman revival before #acjj1 #af ,rosa1 ,salvator1 #def-deg ,rosselli1 ,cosimo1 #agb1 #bba ,rubens1 ,peter ,paul1 his praise of ,leonardo1 #beh1 derives from ,titian1 #dfh ,sannazaro1 ,jacopo1 #cgc1 #cgd ,sassetta 7,stefano di ,giovanni71 #gb1 #ij-ib ,sebastiano del ,piombo1 #bie1 #djh-dji ,signorelli1 ,luca1 #agf1 #bgc-bgh ,sistine ,chapel1 early frescoes analyzed1 #agc-agi ,savonarola1 ,fra ,girolamo1 #aic1 #bae1 #bag1 #cjb ,st4 ,dominic1 #h1 #eb ,siena1 the ,sienese temperament illustrated1 #ei-fa2 its artistic conservation1 #fa ,simone ,martini1 #gb-gf1 #bfg ,sodoma 7,antonio ,bazzi71 #ajb1 #dga ,squarcione1 ,francesco1 ,school of1 #ccd ,starnina1 ,gherardo1 #ej ,tempera1 painting in1 #e1 #f ,tiepolo1 ,giovanni ,battista1 #ddj-ddb1 #ddd ,tintoretto 7,jacopo ,robusti71 #dbd-dce ,titian of ,cadore 7,tiziano ,vecellio71 #bef1 #chi-djh1 #dah-dbc4 ,his calculating character and technique1 #chi-cij2 his four periods1 #cij-cia2 ,early1 ,giorgionesque period1 #cib-cih2 7#aeae-aecc71 #cif-djd2 7#aecc-aedh71 #djd-djg2 7#aedh-aegg71 subjective and impressionistic phase1 #dah-dbc4 ,lodovico ,dolce on ,t's impressionism in landscape1 #ddf2 ,g4 ,f4 ,watt on ,t's classical quality1 #ddf ,tomm1 ,luca1 #hf ,torriti 7,jacopo71 #ab ,uccello1 ,paolo1 #adc-add1 #aeb1 #bja1 #ccd ,umbria1 its characteristics1 #bff-bfg2 foreign painters in1 #bfg ,vasari1 ,giorgio1 on ,masaccio1 #aea2 on ,paolo ,uccello1 #aeb2 on a ,trick to get a chapel1 #aif-aig2 on the 8,modern style10 #caf1 #cag2 boasts of his own dexterity1 #dea4 ,velasquez1 draws from ,caravaggio and the ,italian ,tenebrists1 #def1 #dgj ,venice1 its colorful aspect1 and nature of its civilization1 #cbc-cbf ,veronese1 see ,paolo ,veronese ,veronese1 early panoramic manner1 #cbh-ccj1 #cca ,verrocchio1 ,andrea1 #aeh1 #bja1 #bjc1 #bbg-bcj ,villani1 ,giovanni1 summary of ,florence1 #i1 #ed-ef ,villani1 ,matteo1 on the relaxation of ,florentine morals after the plague of #acdh1 #aaj-aaa ,vivarini1 ,antonio1 #ccj1 #cfc ,vivarini1 ,bartolommeo1 #cfb1 #cfc ,vivarini1 ,alvise1 #cfc ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,books on ,italians or on ,rome ,,croce',s ,,ariosto1 ,,shakespeare ,,and ,,corneille #b4ej ,j4 ,e4 ,spingarn3 8,i regard this book as the most important body of criticism that has ever been translated into ,english from a modern tongue40 ,,the ,,poetry ,,of ,,dante #b4jj ,keith ,preston1 in ,chicago ,news3 8,his design is to scrape off the barnacles from his poet and present the essential poetry--free from historical philosophical and allegorical incumbrances 444 at the same time he reviews the canons of art with vigor and sanity40 ,,tenney ,,frank ,,virgil3 ,a ,biography #b4jj ,the ,new ,republic3 8,you will find a new force drawing you to ,virgil1 and discover at what a heavy cost to you instruction in ,latin has been entrusted to grammarians1 instead of ,tenney ,franks40 ,a ,,history ,,of ,,rome ,new ,york ,times3 8,from beginning to end1 a narrative of vital interest whose dramatic developments every now and then become profoundly fascinating40 ,american ,historical ,series3 ,library ,edition1 #hvo41 #fac pp41 #d4ej ,j4 ,b4 ,,fletcher ,,dante ,a brief book on his personal confessions1 teaching and art4 ,home ,university ,library #ij cents ,w4 ,w4 ,,fowler ,,rome ,the ,spectator3 8,a masterly sketch of ,roman character and what it did for the world40 ,home ,university ,library #ij cents ,,henry ,,holt ,,and ,,company ,,publishers 7,,vi4 '#bc7 ,,new ,,york ,books on ,art ,,frank ,,jewett ,,mather1 ,,jr4',s ,,history ,,of ,,italian ,,painting #c4ej ,in the ,renaissance4 ,with over #cbe illustrations4 ,,estimates ,,in ,,art #b4jj ,with #aj illustrations ,,symonds' ,,short ,,history ,,of ,,the ,,renaissance #b4jj ,,taine',s ,,lectures ,,on ,,art3 ,first ,series #b4ej ,a4 ,w4 ,m4 ,,stirling',s ,,william ,de ,,morgan ,,and ,,his ,,wife #f4jj ,with illustrations of their art works4 ,in the ,home ,university ,library ,each1 #ij cents ,,sir ,f4 ,,wedmore',s ,,painters ,,and ,,paintings ,with #af full page illustrations4 ,w4 ,r4 ,,lethaby',s ,,architecture ,an ,introduction to ,its ,history and ,theory4 ,with line drawings4 ,a4 ,c4 ,,brock',s ,,william ,,morris3 ,his ,work and ,influence ,the story of how ,morris turned from making works of art to remaking society4 ,art ,books for the ,young ,,john ,d4 ,,champlin',s ,,young ,,folks ,,cyclopaedia3 ,,literature ,,and ,,art #c4jj ,with numerous illustrations4 ,,anna ,,curtis ,,chandler',s ,,magic ,,pictures ,,of ,,the ,,long ,,ago #a4dj ,illustrated from those in the ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art1 ,new ,york4 ,,more ,,magic ,,pictures ,,of ,,long ,,ago #a4dj ,similarly illustrated4 ,,maude ,i4 ,g4 ,,oliver',s ,,first ,,steps ,,in ,,the ,,enjoyment ,,of ,,pictures ,illustrated4 ,,henry ,,holt ,,and ,,company ,,publishers 7,,vi '#bc7 ,,new ,,york ,revised and ,enlarged1 ,fifth ,edition ,,the ,,home ,,book ,,of ,,verse ,,compiled ,,by ,,burton ,e4 ,,stevenson 7,american and ,english #aehj-aibj7 ,the third edition was revised from end to end--#eij poems added1 pages renumbered1 author1 title1 and first line indices1 and the biographical matter corrected1 etc41 etc4 ,in the two editions since there has been little change beyond the noting of some dates of deaths1 etc4 ,the hundreds of letters from readers and poets suggesting additions or corrections as well as the columns of reviews of the first edition have been considered4 ,poets who were chary of lending their support to an unknown venture have now generously permitted the use of their work4 ,this edition includes the 8new0 poets such as ,,masefield1 ,,chesterton1 ,,frost1 ,,rupert ,,brooke1 ,,de ,,la ,,mare1 ,,ralph ,,hodgson1 etc4 8,a collection so complete and distinguished that it is difficult to find any other approaching it sufficiently for comparison40--,new ,york ,times ,book ,review on the first edition4 ,india ,paper1 #djif pages4 ,gilt-edged4 ,boxed4 ,cloth1 one volume1 #ae4jj net4 ,cloth1 two volumes1 #ah4ej net4 ,morocco1 one volume1 #bj4jj net4 ,,henry ,,holt ,,and ,,company ,,publishers ,,new ,,york ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,transcriber',s ,,notes #a4 ,silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in spelling4 #b4 ,retained archaic1 non-standard1 and uncertain spellings as printed4 #c4 ,re-indexed footnotes using numbers4 #d4 ,enclosed italics font in underscores4 #e4 ,enclosed bold font in equals4 #f4 ,denoted superscripts by a caret before a single superscript character1 e4g4 ,mr4