Chapter D: G. ROSSETTI: The Blessed Damozel

There are many charming single figures; note, for instance, two angels in the lower tier in the centre; and all are characteristic of the new type of angels which Botticelli introduced--forsaking entirely the conventional idealism of earlier religious art, and substituting the waving garments and flowing hair (suggestive of atmosphere and swiftness of motion) which we see in Perugino and Raphael.

Finally, the picture is of topographical interest for the beautiful view of Florence and the Val d' Arno in the background--

The valley beneath where, white and wide
And washed by the morning water-gold,
Florence lay out on the mountain-side.

BROWNING: _Old Pictures in Florence_.

The precise point of view has been identified by Miss Margaret Stokes in her _Six Months in the Apennines_, pp. 261-264. Turning off the high road, on the descent from the hill of Fiesole--

"I got among the lanes on Monte Rinaldi near La Lastra, on the
Via Bolognese, and soon found myself among the ruined terraces
of an ancient garden, where cactus and aloe grew side by side
with brambles, periwinkles, and ivy. Having reached an open in
the thicket into which I had strayed, I was startled to see
the very scene represented by Botticelli about the year 1455
lying at my feet--the wide horizon reaching from San Domenico,
and the Apennines beyond Monte Moro, Scala, and Monte Maggio,
round the whole Val d' Arno, to San Lorenzo and the northern
boundary of Florence. Seated on the same mountain side, where
the great painter must have sat four hundred and thirty years
ago, and holding my little copy of his landscape in my hand, it
was intensely interesting to trace the objects still remaining
on which his eye had rested, and which his conscientious pencil
had outlined, and to note the changes wrought by time in the
aspect of the scene."

Miss Stokes prints side by side with her copy of Botticelli's background a topographical plan of the present scene. The house on the hill above the Mugnone beyond the bridge is the Villa Palmieri, where Queen Victoria stayed in 1888. Boccaccio selected it for one of the homes of his fair storytellers in the _Decameron_. Matteo Palmieri bought it in 1450. There, no doubt, Botticelli was often a guest, and there the two friends may have planned this great altar-piece. "It is perfectly in keeping with the poetic instincts of sacred painters of the time that this great vision of Heaven should be represented as bursting on the poet in his own very home. Gazing upwards from his cypress groves into the unfathomable blue above, it is as if the sky had slowly opened, and the interior of a vast dome were revealed, rising above three iridescent bands of light, peopled with nine successive zones of sacred forms, all gazing in absorbed ecstasy on the figure of the Divine Mother, lowliest of women, kneeling at the feet of the Redeemer" (pp. 261-264).

1127. THE LAST SUPPER.

_Ercole Roberti de' Grandi_ (Ferrarese: 1450-1496).

This Ercole is not to be confused with the younger painter
of the same family (see 1119). Ercole Roberti was the son of
Antonio Grandi, also a painter. A drawing attributed to him
in the Louvre, representing the Massacre of the Innocents,
in which he nearly approaches the grandeur of conception and
masterly execution of Mantegna, seems to show that he had
either studied under that great painter, or had experienced his
influence. Mantua, where Mantegna lived after 1468, is at no
great distance from Ferrara. Ercole was employed at the latter
place by the dukes, from whom he received a regular salary.
Pictures by him are rare, and none is authenticated by his
genuine signature. In the Dresden Gallery are two compartments
of a predella by him, another being in the Royal Institution at
Liverpool. In these and a few other works, including those in
our Gallery, Ercole reveals himself as a thorough Ferrarese,
in his energetic rendering of life and character, and in his
careful study of details (Layard's edition of "Kugler," ii.
351, and Morelli's _German Galleries_, pp. 109-113).

A very dainty little work. Notice especially the painting of the bas-reliefs and of the decanters. The attitudes of the disciples betoken respect or veneration, except that of the nearest figure, Judas, who turns away his head.

1128. THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST.

_Luca Signorelli_ (Cortona: 1441-1523).

Signorelli was born at Cortona, on the boundary of Umbria and
Tuscany. By early teaching he is an Umbrian, but in style a
Florentine. Indeed, his position in the history of art is that
of forerunner of Michael Angelo. He was a pupil of Piero della
Francesca, with whom, no doubt, he acquired a knowledge of the
figure from anatomical study of the nude. His chief works,
the frescoes in the cathedral of Orvieto,[219]--executed by
the artist after his sixtieth year,--were ten years earlier
than the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel by Michael Angelo, who
was largely influenced by Signorelli's example. Like Michael
Angelo, Signorelli is intensely dramatic, and in pictures which
do not allow of the violent action to be found in his frescoes,
his figures seem to be instinct with suppressed action. "To
no other contemporary painter," says Morelli, "was it given
to endow the human frame with the like degree of passion,
vehemence, and strength" (_Roman Galleries_, p. 92). "To this
we may add," says another critic, "that no other painter has
ever conceived humanity with the same stately grandeur and
in the same broad spirit. The confident strength of youth,
the stern austerity of middle life, the resolute solemnity
of old age--these are his themes. Signorelli is, before all,
the painter of the dignity of human life" (Maud Cruttwell,
_Luca Signorelli_, p. 31.) He is a representative also of the
literary and classical Renaissance. He is fond of architectural
adornments in the style of his time--as in the present picture,
where the ceremony takes place in a hall or porch enriched with
bas-reliefs in circular panels and paved with square slabs of
coloured marbles. He painted the usual religious pictures, but
did not adhere to the traditional modes, and often introduced
a classical element (see 1133). It is interesting to note
that in his picture of some nude Greek gods (at Berlin) the
composition is the same as in his regulation church pictures
of the Madonna and Saints. Of Signorelli's personal life there
is a pleasant account in Vasari, whose kinsman he was. He
was a person of consequence in his native city, going hither
and thither to paint commissions, and then returning to the
discharge of his civic duties. "He lived splendidly, in the
manner," says Vasari, "rather of a noble and a gentleman than
in that of a painter." Not that he despised his profession,
for he expressly advised that his little kinsman should "by
all means learn to draw, that he may not degenerate, for even
though he should hereafter devote himself to learning, yet
the knowledge of design, if not profitable, cannot fail to be
honourable and advantageous." Of Signorelli's own devotion
to his art Vasari tells another story, which has thus been
versified--

Vasari tells that Luca Signorelli,
The morning star of Michael Angelo,
Had but one son, a youth of seventeen summers,
Who died....
Still Luca spoke and groaned not; but he raised
The wonderful dead youth, and smoothed his hair,
Washed his red wounds, and laid him on a bed....
Naked and beautiful....
Then Luca seized his palette: hour by hour
Silence was in the room; none durst approach:
Morn wore to noon, and noon to eve, when shyly
A little maid peeped in and saw the painter
Painting his dead son with unerring hand-stroke,
Firm and dry-eyed before the lordly canvas.

SYMONDS, _Renaissance_, iii. 281.

Our picture is thus described by Vasari,--for the fact that he calls it a fresco is no argument against the identification, since he often makes such mistakes: "In the church of San Francesco, in Volterra, this master painted a fresco, representing the Circumcision of Christ. This also is considered a wonderfully beautiful picture, but the Child having been injured by the damp, was repaired by Sodoma, whereby the beauty was much diminished. And, of a truth, it would often be much better to retain the works of excellent masters, though half-spoiled, than suffer them to be retouched by less capable artists." Vasari, however, seems to have been "anxious to place Sodoma in a bad light whenever he could. Damp was in all probability not the cause of the restoration of the infant Christ. It was very likely repainted because the public of Volterra disliked the realism with which Signorelli seems to have treated the subject" (Richter, p. 48). Signorelli's children are curiously ugly: it seems as if he had no sympathy except in the painting of figures of powerful maturity. Of the fact of the repainting recorded by Vasari there is no doubt; for the position of the legs has been altered, their original action being distinctly shown by the incised outline still visible through the deep blue colour of the Virgin's robe. The painting of the other figures is "bold and resolute, the draperies sweep in broad folds round them. The attitude of the standing woman to the right is grand, and the earnest concentration of the faces on the ceremony, and the absence of any connecting link between them and us, give dramatic reality to the scene" (Cruttwell, p. 40). It is interesting to note that the figure of the operator is like the portrait of himself which Signorelli introduced into his frescoes of the Preaching of Anti-Christ at Orvieto: the figure is, moreover, clothed in the dress of the period and of the rich materials in which, Vasari says, the artist took much pleasure in dressing himself. Behind the central group is the aged Simeon, who blessed God and said, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word."

1129. KING PHILIP IV. OF SPAIN.

_Velazquez_ (Spanish: 1599-1660). _See 197._

The king is younger here than in 745; hanging from his chain is the order of the Golden Fleece. Notice also that the head is not so minutely painted here as in 745; that being a bust portrait would be seen near, this being a full-length would naturally be placed above the level of the eye. The smaller picture might be called, in the art-slang of to-day, "a harmony in black and gold"; this, from the shimmer on its lace and the flashing on the rapier hilt, "a harmony in black and silver."

"Strange lot," exclaims a biographer of Velazquez, with reference to the painter's portraits of the king, "to be the Apelles of this inactive Alexander. For thirty-seven long years always painting the same effigy! For throughout all these years Philip's features preserved a marvellous, a startling uniformity. In the black silk court dress, in the hunting suit, in the military uniform, in the white satin robe of state, in the gilded steel armour, in the festive religious attire--kneeling, standing, mounted--the same stereotyped head is still there with its everlasting steadfast gaze. It may change from lean to full, from the fresh smooth features of youth and those of manhood, marked by the lines of passion, to the leaden, swollen, and rigid lineaments of age; but even at a distance it is still instantly recognised. Who can mistake the long oval, with its pale whitish complexion, and cold phlegmatic glance of the great blue eyes under the high forehead, and light stiffly-curled hair, strong flat lips and massive chin, the whole overcast with an expression of pride that repels all advances and suppresses all outward show of feeling? He is said to have laughed but thrice in his life; and although the statement might be questioned, it was still good enough to point a sally in one of Calderon's plays" (Justi's _Velazquez and his Times_, pp. 107, 108).

1130. CHRIST WASHING HIS DISCIPLES' FEET.

_Tintoretto_ (Venetian: 1518-1584). _See 16._

Some remarks made by Ruskin on another version by Tintoret of the same subject are not inappropriate to this dark and probably faded picture.[220] "One circumstance is noticeable as in a considerable degree detracting from the interest of most of Tintoret's representations of our Saviour with his disciples. He never loses sight of the fact that all were poor, and the latter ignorant; and while he never paints a senator or a saint, once thoroughly canonised, except as a gentleman, he is very careful to paint the Apostles in their living intercourse with the Saviour in such a manner that the spectator may see in an instant, as the Pharisee did of old, that they were unlearned and ignorant men; and, whenever we find them in a room, it is always such a one as would be inhabited by the lower classes.... We are quickly reminded that the guests' chamber or upper room ready prepared was not likely to have been in a palace, by the humble furniture upon the floor" (_Stones of Venice_, Venetian Index, under "Moisé, Church of St.") In front is St. Peter, placing his foot in a brazen basin and bending forward with a deprecating action--in contrast to which is the look of cheerful and almost amused alacrity on the part of Him who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. Behind are other disciples pressing forward with reverent curiosity. Another, in the right-hand corner of the foreground, has raised his foot on a bench and is drying it with a cloth. To the left a female attendant holds a taper, whilst in the background are other figures, one of whom reclines before a fire.

1131. JOSEPH AND HIS KINDRED IN EGYPT.

_Jacopo Carucci da Pontormo_ (Florentine: 1494-1557).

Jacopo Carucci, commonly called Pontormo, from his birthplace
of that name (a town on the road from Pisa to Florence), was
a scholar of Andrea del Sarto, and was employed with his
master in decorating the outer court of the SS. Annunziata at
Florence. His fresco there of the "Visitation" is, for the
grandeur of the figures and beauty of the colouring, worthy
of Andrea himself. Pontormo was one of the most original
"characters" among those described by Vasari. His pictures were
much sought after, but "he would never work but at such moments
as he pleased, and for such persons as chanced to be agreeable
to him, insomuch that he was frequently sought by gentlemen
who desired to possess some work from his hand, but for whom
he would do nothing; yet at that very time he would probably
be employing himself zealously for some inferior and plebeian
person. One of the Medici had been greatly pleased with a
picture by Pontormo, and said that in reward for it he might
ask whatever he pleased and should have his wish granted. But
such was, I know not whether to say the timidity, or the too
great respect and modesty of this man, that he asked nothing
better than just so much money as would enable him to redeem
a cloak which he had hastily pledged." Many other interesting
tales of Pontormo will be found in Vasari--of his love of
secrecy, his curious manner of life, and the dead bodies he
kept in troughs of water, so to paint more realistically the
victims of the Deluge. This last tale is characteristic of
Pontormo's place in the history of art, which for the most part
was that of an exaggerated mannerist after Michael Angelo. In
the National Gallery we see him at his best. His portraits are
uniformly excellent, and his "Joseph in Egypt" is mentioned by
Vasari as his most successful work--"whether as regards the
power of invention displayed, the grouping of the figures,
the animation of the heads, or the variety and beauty of the
attitudes."

This crowded and fantastic composition contains a drama in five acts describing incidents in the life of Joseph in Egypt (see Genesis xlvii. 1-6, 13-26; xlviii. 1-14). (1) On the left Pharaoh, in a white turban, and surrounded by attendants, is met by Joseph and his brethren, who stand before him in attitudes of supplication. The youth sitting on the steps with a basket in his hand is a portrait (Vasari tells us) of the painter's pupil, Bronzino. (2) On the right of the foreground Joseph, seated on a triumphal car drawn by naked children, stoops forward towards a man who kneels and presents a petition. (3) In the middle distance there is an animated group of men ("Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land?"). (4) On the steps leading up to the circular building on the right, Joseph is leading one of his sons to see the dying Jacob; he is followed by the "steward of the house," a conspicuous figure in a long crimson robe. The other boy appears at the top of the steps and is embraced by his mother. (5) Inside the room Jacob is represented as giving his blessing to the two boys, Ephraim and Manasseh, who are presented to him by their father. The antique statues which adorn the building were often given by mediæval artists as characteristic of Egypt, from which the art of Greece was believed to have been derived (see Richter's _Italian Art in the National Gallery_, pp. 36-40).

The removal of this picture has been blasted by a woman's curse. It was painted for a Florentine noble, named Borgherini; and when he was exiled, the civic authorities sent to his house to buy up all its works of art, which were to be sent as a present to the King of France. But Borgherini's wife received the official with "reproaches of intolerable bitterness," says Vasari, "such as had never before been hurled at living man: 'How then! Dost thou, vile broker of frippery, miserable huckster of twopences, dost thou presume to come hither with intent to lay thy fingers on the ornaments which belong to the chambers of gentlemen? despoiling, as thou hast long done, and as thou art for ever doing, this our city of her fairest ornaments to embellish strange lands therewith? Depart from this house, thou and thy myrmidons.'" The lady's anger preserved the picture--only to be afterwards seduced away, by English gold, into the Duke of Hamilton's Collection, from which it was bought for the National Gallery in 1882. Borgherini's commission for the works in question is thus described by Vasari:--

"It chanced that Pier Francesco Borgherini had at that time
caused rich carvings in wood to be executed by Baccio d'
Agnolo for the decoration of coffers, backs of chairs, seats
of different forms, with a bedstead in walnut wood, all of
great beauty, and intended for the furnishing forth of an
apartment. He therefore desired that the paintings thereof
should be equal to the rest of the ornaments. To that end he
commissioned Andrea del Sarto to paint the history of Joseph in
figures of no great size, and these our artist was to execute
in competition with other artists,"--Ubertino and Pontormo
among the number (_Vasari_, iii. 201, iv. 353).

Ubertino's paintings for this sumptuous bedroom as well as that of Pontormo have now found their way into our Gallery (see 1218, 1219).

1132. THE VESTIBULE OF A LIBRARY.

_Hendrick Steenwyck, the younger_ (Flemish: 1580-1649).

The elder painter of this name was one of the first to give us
those architectural interiors, which later became a specialty
among various painters (see Havard's _Dutch School_, p. 53).
His son, the younger Steenwyck, adopted the same line of
art. He came to London before 1629, and was much employed in
supplying architectural backgrounds to the royal portraits by
Van Dyck and to other pictures. He died in London after 1649.

A picture for architects to look at. It is the interior of a vestibule giving access to a library, and is full of inventiveness. Notice, too, how beautifully the accessories--the tablecloth, the vase of flowers, etc., are painted.

1133. THE NATIVITY.

_Luca Signorelli_ (Cortona: 1441-1523). _See 1128._

A dramatic representation in one canvas of the Gospel story told in Luke ii. 1-17. _Scene 1._ "And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus, that all the world should be enrolled." This is represented by the Roman portico behind the central group, under which, at a long table, is seated a row of scribes, who are entering the names of the people. _Scene 2._ "And Joseph went up ... to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife ... and she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in the manger." This is the subject of the central scene. But the artist, no longer bound by conventional rules, treats his text freely. There is no manger, but the stable is suggested by the heads of the ox and the ass at the side; and instead of the Babe being found "wrapped in swaddling clothes," it is naked. Joseph, in orange and crimson robes, is full of benevolence. The shepherds on the left are in deep reverence. The Virgin is robed in deep blue and green, typical of the depth and mystery of her divine love. In the interstices of the central group are three angels with golden hair and rainbow-hued wings--"calm shining sons of morn." _Scene 3._ On the left is a group of shepherds: "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night." The angel of the Lord is appearing unto them from heaven, and they are sore afraid, shielding their eyes from the heavenly light. _Scene 4._ On the right of the spectator, and seen through an arch of natural rock, is a shepherd playing on the pipe. This figure suggests the antique; he is crowned with ivy leaves and might almost be Orpheus. Thus, instead of representing the "Glory to God in the highest" being sung by "a multitude of the heavenly host," Signorelli gives us a Greek singer--a variation thoroughly characteristic of the classical revival of his time.

The landscape is also thoroughly characteristic of the mediæval mind, which loved the fields but dreaded the mountains. See here, for instance, how lovingly the flowers in the foreground are painted, and note the trailing ivy in the centre of the picture, as well as the flowers and ferns; whereas the rocks upon which these latter grow are altogether impossible in form and position (see _Modern Painters_, vol. iii. pt. iv. chs. xiv. and xv., where the landscape of Dante, of whom Signorelli was a close student, is analysed). The artist's signature is inscribed on the frieze of the portico. Some, however, have questioned its authenticity and declare the picture to be a weak imitation of the master.

1134. MADONNA AND CHILD.

_Liberale da Verona_ (Veronese: 1451-1535).

Liberale di Giacomo, of Verona, was brought up as a
miniaturist, and his works in that sort, executed before he
was out of his teens, are much admired for their fancy and
sumptuous colour. The choral books which he executed for Monte
Oliveto are now in the cathedral of Chiusi. Returning to
Verona, Liberale took to painting on a large scale, and became
one of the most esteemed artists of the Veronese School. "One
of his best works is the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian in the
Brera, in which he has introduced an interesting architectural
background with Venetian palaces on a canal, designed with much
spirit and minuteness. In consequence of his bold and vigorous
style his works are occasionally attributed to Mantegna"
(Kugler). Many of his pictures are still at Verona.

One of "the small spiritless Madonna pictures which he produced carelessly and hastily in his old age, and supplied for niggardly pay to the citizens of Verona. They served as wedding presents, and Liberale has only himself to thank if this degenerate practice should have spoilt his reputation" (Dr. Richter in the _Art Journal_, Feb. 1895).

1135, 1136. THE CLEMENCY OF TRAJAN.

_Unknown_ (Veronese School: 15th century).

These two panels, which clearly formed two sides of an ornamental box, represent a favourite subject with Italian painters of the period. The story is that an ancient widow of Rome stopped the Emperor Trajan as he was about to proceed on one of his foreign expeditions, and asked for justice against the murderers of her son, who is here seen lying dead on the roadway. Trajan suggested that she should wait till his return. She replied that the emperor might be killed in battle. "Then," said Trajan, "my successor will attend to the business." "But why," she urged, "not decide the case at once?" The emperor on second thoughts did so, and the second panel shows him on the judgment seat. He called the culprits before him, spared their lives, but made them pay heavy damages to the widow. This incident was engraved, together with the record of his victories, on Trajan's column.

1137. PORTRAIT OF A BOY.

_Jacob van Oost the Elder_ (Flemish: 1600-1671).

This painter was born at Bruges, and his pictures are very
numerous in his native town. He painted principally religious
subjects in the style of the Carracci, whose works he had
studied in Italy. Of his portraits, this work--signed with his
monogram,[221] and dated 1650--is the best.

A boy of eleven--so the inscription on the right-hand corner states--Mr. Pater's Sebastian van Storck, it might be.

"It was a winter scene, by Adrian van de Velde, or by Isaac van Ostade.... Sebastian van Storck, confessedly the most graceful performer in all the skating multitude moving in endless maze over the vast surface of the frozen water-meadow, liked best this season of the year for its expression of a perfect impassivity, or at least of a perfect repose. The earth was, or seemed to be, at rest, with a breathlessness of slumber which suited the young man's peculiar temper.... Yet with all his appreciation of the national winter, Sebastian was not altogether a Hollander. His mother, of Spanish descent and Catholic, had given a richness of tone and form to the healthy freshness of the Dutch physiognomy, apt to preserve its youthfulness of aspect far beyond the period of life usual with other peoples. This mixed expression charmed the eyes of Isaac van Ostade, who had painted his portrait at one of those skating parties, with his plume and squirrel's tail and fur muff, in all the modest pleasantness of boyhood" (_Imaginary Portraits_, p. 92).

1138. THE CRUCIFIXION.

_Andrea del Castagno_ (Florentine: 1390-1457).

There is a rough vigour in this picture which agrees well
with what we know of the painter. His father was a labouring
man. Left an orphan in his boyhood, Andrea herded the cattle
of an uncle at the hamlet of Castagno (whence the painter's
name). He was first stimulated to study art by chancing to come
across an itinerant painter at work on a rustic tabernacle. He
began to draw upon the walls with charcoal or his knife, and
showed therein so much ability that he attracted the notice
of Benedetto de' Medici, who took the youth to Florence and
placed him under proper tuition. Such is Vasari's story. But
Benedetto's patronage did not save Andrea from a hard struggle
with adversity. At the age of forty he is found declaring that
he had neither bed, board, nor lodging in Florence, and was
so poor that in illness he had to take shelter in a public
hospital. These declarations were made, however, in a taxing
return. Subsequently Andrea received various commissions in the
palaces and churches of Florence, and from the Government. For
the latter he painted on the wall of the palace of the Podestà
the gibbeted bodies of those who were declared rebels on the
recall from banishment of Cosimo de' Medici. Most of Andrea's
works have perished; the few that remain in Florence display
"a rude and coarse energy and an independent and original
spirit, but are seldom attractive, either in form or colour"
(Kugler). He is said to have painted in oil, but no work by him
in that medium exists. Vasari's story in this connection, that
he assassinated Domenico Veneziano, is demonstrably false (see
under 766).

This picture is impressive in its solemn gloom. The impenitent thief writhes in agony, the suffering Christ casts his last glance at his mother, who, with St. John the beloved disciple, stands below in speechless grief. "The most beautiful in colour of all early works" (Ford Madox Brown in _Magazine of Art_, 1890, p. 134). Andrea's treatment of the subject, as also Antonello's (1166), is remarkable for simplicity and realism. In most representations of the Crucifixion the central tragedy is partially lost in the large groups of bystanders (_e.g._ 718, 1048, 1088), and various symbolical figures are introduced--as, for instance, flying angels around the cross. Even in Giotto's fresco at Padua this feature is introduced. Indeed "in all the pictures of the Crucifixion by the great masters, with the single exception perhaps of that by Tintoret in the church of San Cassiano at Venice, there is a tendency to treat the painting as a symmetrical image, or collective symbol of sacred mysteries, rather than as a dramatic representation" (Ruskin's _Giotto_, p. 149). For an example of a symbolic representation, in contrast to the severe simplicity of the picture before us, see No. 1478.

1139. THE ANNUNCIATION.

_Duccio_ (Sienese: about 1260-1340). _See 566._

This picture shows us the side of Duccio on which the early School of Siena still adhered to the traditions of Byzantine art. For instance, the Greek method of symbolising light on drapery is seen in the gold lines of Mary's dress, a decorative method which Duccio was the last to use. So, too, in the gold background, which was universal in Byzantine mosaics. This survival may be seen in all the early Sienese pictures in the Gallery. In 1188, for instance, all the landscape background is gold; so in 1140 are all the spaces between the houses; whilst 1113 resembles a brilliant mosaic with gold for its groundwork.

We have here the earliest representation in our Gallery of one of the most frequent subjects in mediæval art, and a few remarks on its development may be interesting. The subjects which artists had at their disposal in those days were prescribed to them by religious uses and religious conventions. Not in novelty of subject, but in individuality of treatment, was scope for the artist's ingenuity to be found. Hence a comparison of pictures of the same subject by different artists and different schools affords a suggestive study in the evolution of art. One may trace by such comparisons something of the same process of "descent with modification" that Darwin has exhibited in the case of fish and insect, fern and flower.[222] Thus we may compare the present picture--the earliest and simplest "Annunciation" in our Gallery--with Crivelli's (739), which is the most ornate, and which was painted 200 years later. Two pictures of the same subject could hardly be more unlike. Duccio's is severe and simple; Crivelli's, florid and picturesque. The one is rigidly confined to the main matter in hand; the other is crowded from corner to corner with dainty detail and lively incident. Halfway, as it were, between the two stands Lippi's "Annunciation" (666); there also there is much lovely detail, but we see in a moment that "in the Florentine, the detail is there for the sake of the picture; in the Venetian, the picture is there for the sake of the detail." Crivelli's picture shows us the furthest point of departure from the original type. Yet observe how much of the original survives. First, and this point is absolutely fixed in all mediæval representations of the subject, the angel Gabriel occupies the left-hand side, and the Blessed Virgin the right-hand side of the picture. Often (as in Giotto's frescoes in the Arena at Padua) the subject is divided into two halves by the intervention of the choir arch. In Italy, the Annunciation was always the subject employed for the decoration of the main entrance of church. For this purpose, the convenient architectural arrangement was to place a relief of the angel on one side, a relief of the Madonna on the other, and the doorway between them.[223] Similarly inside, the Annunciation was constantly employed to decorate the blank space beside an archway, and hence arose the custom of dividing the treatment. We may see examples in our Gallery in the wings (interior side) of the "Coronation" by Justus of Padua (701), and in the terminal panels of Landini's altar-piece (580A). To this peculiarity is perhaps due the wall, barrier, or column which so often marks off the figure of the Virgin from that of the angel. We find it here in the Duccio; also in Fra Angelico's picture (1406), and again in Crivelli's. Sometimes, however, there is no such division. See, for instance, Lippi's picture (666), and Manni's (1104). There is a reason for this difference. Lippi's, no doubt, was painted to fill the space over a doorway; Manni's was the apex of an altar-piece. The decorative function of the pictures governed their composition. Returning to the Duccio, we may notice as a third and nearly constant element, the angel's lilies--Annunciation lilies, as the Italians call them. Sometimes they are in a vase as here; sometimes (as in the Crivelli), the angel bears a lily in his hand. Next, it is noticeable that the action almost invariably takes place in a loggia--an arcade or cloister. The lectern or _prie-dieu_, which in Crivelli's picture and in very many others of the subject stands beside the Madonna, is a refinement on the earliest type as seen in Duccio and Fra Angelico. But whether with lectern or without, the Virgin is always represented with a book engaged in her devotions. Visitors who desire to trace the evolution of this subject should conclude their studies at the Tate Gallery, where, in Rossetti's "Ecce Ancilla Domini" and Mr. Hacker's "Annunciation," modern versions of the old subject are given. Rossetti's is one of the most imaginative in the whole range of art (see Ruskin's analysis cited in vol. ii. of this handbook, No. 1210).

1140. CHRIST HEALING THE BLIND.

_Duccio_ (Sienese: about 1260-1340). _See 566._

The departure from conventional forms, which was characteristic of Duccio, is conspicuous in this picture. Each of the disciples has an individual character, the entire group representing not conventional forms but living types of men. There is a piece of symbolism in the blind man who has already been healed which should not escape notice. Duccio is not content to represent the bare act of healing, but insists further upon the efficacy of the touch of Him who was the Light of the World, by making the blind man drop the staff of which he has no longer need. There is another piece of symbolism in the gradated scale by which he draws attention to the respective dignities of his characters--Christ being the tallest in the picture, the blind man the shortest (A. H. Macmurdo in _Century Guild Hobby Horse_, 1886, p. 119).

1141. SUPPOSED PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST.

_Antonello da Messina_ (Venetian: 1444-1493). _See 673._

A portrait in Antonello's second or Venetian manner. The portrait is the more interesting from the probability that it is of the painter himself. The inscription which so stated is said to have been sawn off by a former owner to fit the picture into a frame.[224] "It is the likeness of a man who is entirely self-possessed, nowise an idealist, yet one who would never be prompted to impetuous action. He has plenty of intelligence; nothing would escape those clear gray eyes;--scarcely, however, do they seem as if they would penetrate below the outward show of things. Considered from a technical point of view, the same subdued feeling is apparent. In the Louvre masterpiece (which this picture at once recalls), Antonello evidently braced himself for a supreme effort; in the National Gallery portrait we have an excellent example of his powers at his best period" (_Times_, May 31, 1883).

1143. THE PROCESSION TO CALVARY.

_Ridolfo Ghirlandajo_ (Florentine: 1483-1561).

Ridolfo Bigordi, called Ghirlandajo, was the son of Domenico
Ghirlandajo (see 1230), who gave him his first instruction in
art. On the death of Domenico, Ridolfo was taken charge of by
his uncle David, and perhaps received instruction also from
Domenico's favourite pupil, Granacci. In 1503 Leonardo da
Vinci came to Florence, and seems to have exercised a strong
influence on the young Ridolfo. To this Leonardine period of
our artist, the present picture, executed in 1505, belongs:
some of the heads (which are of great force and beauty) seem to
have been copied or imitated from Leonardo. To the same period
and influence Morelli ascribes the "Annunciation," No. 1288
in the Uffizi, there attributed to Leonardo himself, and the
"Portrait of a Goldsmith," similarly attributed in the Pitti.
In Ridolfo's works after 1506 the influence of Raphael is
discernible. Raphael was his fellow-student and contemporary,
and between the two congenial youths an ardent friendship,
Vasari tells us, sprang up. Raphael employed Ridolfo to fill
in part of the blue drapery of the "Belle Jardinière", and
invited him to Rome; but Ridolfo, "who had never, as the saying
is, 'lost sight of the cupola' (of the Duomo), and could in
no wise resolve on living out of Florence, would accept no
proposal which might compel him to abandon his abode in his
native place." At Florence Ridolfo found ample and congenial
employment, not only in the production of pictures, but in
artistic catering for the pageants of the Republic, and in
the service of the Medici. He did not disdain, says Vasari,
"to paint banners, standards, and matters of similar kind. He
was an exceedingly prompt and rapid painter in many kinds of
work, more particularly in the preparations for festivals; when
the Emperor Charles V. arrived in Florence, he constructed
a triumphal arch in ten days, and another arch at the gate
of Prato was erected by this artist in a very short space of
time, this work being constructed for the marriage of the most
Illustrious Lady the Duchess Leonora." Among his pictures,
the "St. Zenobio restoring a boy to life" and the burial
of the same saint, in the Uffizi, are considered Ridolfo's
masterpieces; they are remarkable for force of colour, and fine
modelling in the heads. Ridolfo employed a number of young
painters, and from this workshop issued many pictures which
were sold to England, Germany, and Spain. He lived to be nearly
eighty years old; and "though heavily afflicted with the gout,
he still bore much love," says Vasari, "to all connected with
art, and liked to hear of, and when he could to see, whatever
was most commended in the way of buildings, pictures, and other
works." He was buried with his forefathers in S. Maria Novella.

One of the pictures in the Gallery which are additionally interesting from being mentioned and praised by Vasari--who, by the way, was himself a friend of Ridolfo:

"In the Church of S. Gallo he depicted our Saviour Christ,
bearing his Cross and accompanied by a large body of soldiers;
the Madonna and the other Maries, weeping in bitter grief, are
also represented, with San Giovanni and Santa Veronica, who
presents the handkerchief to our Saviour; all these figures are
delineated with infinite force and animation.[225] This work,
in which there are many beautiful portraits from the life, and
which is executed with much love and care, caused Ridolfo to
acquire a great name; the portrait of his father is among the
heads, as are those of certain among his disciples, and of some
of his friends--Poggino, Scheggia, and Nunziata, for example,
the head of the latter being one of extraordinary beauty" (v.
5).

It is interesting in this connection to notice that the procession to Calvary was one of the regulation subjects with mediæval painters (see for a picture of it, some two hundred years earlier, 1189), and familiarity bred contempt for the pathos of the scene; it became a mere opportunity for variegated compositions, and curiously enough two of the brightest pictures in the Gallery (this and 806) are of this subject. For the story of St. Veronica see 687.

1144. MADONNA AND CHILD.

_Bazzi_, called _Il Sodoma_ (Lombard: 1477-1549).

The confusion in the use of the word "school" is illustrated
in the case of Giovanni Antonio Bazzi (sometimes wrongly given
as Razzi), called also Il Sodoma. He spent most of his life
at Siena, and is often grouped therefore with the Sienese
School. But he was born at Vercelli, in Piedmont--being the
son of a shoemaker--and "ripened into an artist during the two
years he spent at Milan with Leonardo da Vinci" (1498-1500).
Sodoma is therefore, says Morelli (_German Galleries_, p.
428), to be reckoned as one of the Milanese-Lombard School.
"Nay, I believe I should not be far wrong were I to maintain
that the majority of the better works ascribed to Leonardo in
private collections are by him.... Young Bazzi while at Milan
seems to have taken Leonardo for his model, not only in art,
but even in personal appearance and fancies. All his life he
loved to play the cavalier, and, like Leonardo, always kept
saddle-horses in his stable, and all kinds of queer animals
in his house."[226] Vasari gives an amusing, though probably
apocryphal, account of his excesses, and represents him as a
lewd fellow of the baser sort, with whom no respectable person
would have anything to do. But Raphael so respected Bazzi and
his work that he introduced his portrait (erroneously called
Perugino's) by the side of his own in his celebrated fresco of
the "School of Athens." But at any rate Sodoma was a careless,
jovial fellow--dividing his time between the studio and the
stable; and when cash ran short or a horse ran wrong, he would
meet his liabilities with a hastily dashed-off picture. This
very Madonna may perhaps have paid off a racing debt.

"Sodoma," says a distinguished German critic, "had a poetic
soul, full of glowing and deep feeling, a richly endowed
creative mind, but no inclination for severe earnest work"
(Jansen). His execution is unequal, but at his best he is one
of the most attractive of all the Italian painters. No one
will deny this who recalls the fresco, in the upper floor
of the Farnesina Palace, of "The Marriage of Alexander and
Roxana"--"one of the most enchanting pictures of the whole
Renaissance," or who has studied the painter's work in the
churches, the Gallery, and the Palazzo Publico of Siena. The
figure of "St. Ansano" in the latter place may be taken as an
example of the dignity which Sodoma was capable of imparting
to his types. The "Christ bound to the Column" in the Siena
gallery is a fine example of his power as a colourist and his
command of pathetic expression; while in the figure of Eve in
the "Limbo" in the same gallery, and in more than one Holy
Family, we may see his innate sense of feminine beauty and
grace. It is supposed that Sodoma went as a young man to Milan
and there imbibed the influence of Leonardo da Vinci, but this
theory (maintained by Morelli) of a close connection between
Leonardo and Sodoma is not accepted by all critics. In 1501 he
went to Siena, where, in the stagnation of the local school, he
found ample openings for his abilities. To this period belong
the series of frescoes representing the history of St. Benedict
in the Convent of Monte Oliveto. In 1507 Sodoma was taken by
the Sienese merchant, Agostino Chigi, to Rome. He began to
decorate the Camera della Segnatura in the Vatican, but the
Pope transferred the commission to Raphael. Sodoma was again in
Rome in 1514, when he painted for Chigi the frescoes already
referred to. In the interval he had returned to Siena, where he
married the daughter of an innkeeper. From 1515 onwards he made
Siena his headquarters. Copies of some of the works mentioned
above may be seen in the Arundel Society's Collection.

This picture, which is hardly a satisfactory example of the painter, is one of those supposed by some critics to have been painted in the years 1518-20, during which he is believed to have revisited Milan. Others place it later in the artist's career. "Probably one of his late 'pot-boilers.' It was originally in the Rossini Collection at Pisa, and may have been painted there during the last years of the artist's life, while he was working at the choir decorations in the cathedral" (_Sodoma_, by the Contessa Priuli Bon, 1900, p. 92).

1145. SAMSON AND DELILAH.

_Andrea Mantegna_ (Paduan: 1431-1506). _See 274._

Samson, whose giant's strength lay in his hair, fell into the toils of Delilah (Judges xvi.), who delivered him to his enemies by cutting off his hair as he lay asleep. On the trunk of the olive tree behind, Mantegna has carved the moral he drew from the tale: "Foemina diabolo tribus assibus est mala peior" (woman is a worse evil than the devil by the three pennies which bind you to her).[227] But though Mantegna has taken his subject from the Bible, his treatment of it is in the classical spirit. "Apart from the fact that her attention is directed to the mechanical operation, Delilah's expression is one of absolute and entire unconcern. Look of cunning, or of deceit, or of triumph there is none. Mantegna was not the man to shirk expression when he deemed the subject required it; probably, therefore, he left the features impassive in obedience to the formula of a certain school of antique sculpture, that all violent emotion should be avoided" (see _Times_, June 18, 1883).

1147. HEADS OF NUNS.

_Ambrogio Lorenzetti_ (Sienese: died about 1348).

Ambrogio, the younger brother of Pietro Lorenzetti (see 1113),
was the greatest of the early Sienese painters. His series
of frescoes in the Sala della Pace in the Palazzo Publico of
Siena, typifying good and bad government, are known to every
traveller. They are full both of artistic beauty and historical
interest (see the description by Symonds in his _Sketches and
Studies_, iii. 43). The heads of many of Ambrogio's allegorical
figures are of great beauty and grandeur--especially that of
Peace, which is of classical dignity and may possibly have been
modelled on the lines of some antique sculpture.

The work before us is a mere shattered fragment of fresco (from a church in Siena), but it is enough to show the artist's feeling for the true portraiture that identifies character with likeness. The nuns' faces are typical of the strong yet tender qualities developed in a life of seclusion and self-sacrifice.

1148. CHRIST AT THE COLUMN.

_Velazquez_ (Spanish; 1599-1660). _See 197._

An intensely dramatic rendering of the central lesson of Christianity. The scene depicted is an episode from the Passion between the scourging and the crowning with thorns--a scene not given in the Gospels, and invented to produce a more vivid effect than representations of familiar scenes. The absence of all decorative accessories concentrates the attention at once on the figure of the Divine sufferer--bound by the wrists to the column. His hands are swollen and blackened by the cords; the blood has trickled down the shoulder--so terrible was the punishment--and the scourges and rod have been flung contemptuously at his feet. Yet abnegation of self and Divine compassion are stamped indelibly on his countenance, as he turns his head to the child who is kneeling in adoration. The guardian angel behind bids the child approach the Redeemer in prayer (hence the alternative title that has been given to the picture, "The Institution of Prayer"). From the wise and prudent the lessons of Christianity are often hidden, but Christ himself here reveals them unto babes. "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." A thin white line, a ray, reaches from the position of the heart to the Saviour's ear--

To see sad sights moves more than hear them told,
For then the _heart_ interprets to the _ear_
The heavy motion that it doth behold.

The angel is a portrait (a preparatory study from a model is included amongst the collection of drawings made by Cean Bermudez). The downcast eye, the slightly pouting lips, as if about to weep, betray the harrowing expression of the moment. This expression shows fine invention, for it might have been more natural for the eye to follow the hand directing the child's attention to the figure. But the angel fears himself to look, lest he be overcome with grief. The tone of the picture is in keeping with its theme. There probably exists no other painting executed in such a decidedly gray, blackish-gray tone, although it is by no means colourless, as seen in the orange-brown and dull crimson of the angel's costume, which are peculiar to Velazquez. It is as if, after the terrible event that has here taken place, mourning Nature had strewn the scene with a fine shower of ashes, as after some tremendous volcanic outburst (Justi's _Velazquez and his Times_, pp. 241-248).

1149. MADONNA AND CHILD.

_Marco d'Oggionno_ (Lombard: about 1470-1530).

Marco, called Oggionno from the village near Milan in which he
was born, was one of the pupils and imitators of Leonardo. He
made several copies of the master's "Last Supper," one of which
is in the collection of the Royal Academy. His best original
work on a large scale is the "Triumph of the Three Archangels
over Satan," in the Brera. Among his smaller works, the
"Infant Christ caressing St. John," at Hampton Court, is more
successful than most. His works, says M. Müntz, "are wanting
in vivacity of feeling and purity of drawing, and intensity of
colour does duty for intensity of sentiment."

This is a characteristic example of the painter's work. He succeeded in catching a little of Leonardo's smile, "chilled as it were on the way" (Logan). The study in chalk for the Virgin's head is in the Dyce Collection in the South Kensington Museum.

1150. PORTRAIT OF A MAN.

_Ascribed to Pontormo_ (Florentine: 1494-1557). _See 1131._

1151. THE ENTOMBMENT.

_Unknown_ (German: 15th Century).

A copy, in colour, of an engraving by Martin Schongauer (see 658).

1152. ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST.

_Martino Piazza_ (Lombard: early 16th Century).

Martino and his brother Albertino were painters at Lodi,
where they worked both together and separately; there are
many altar-pieces in the churches of that place by them.
This picture is a signed work of Martino alone. The brothers
belonged to the school which was established in Milan and its
neighbourhood before the arrival of Leonardo; but in many of
Martino's work the new influence is discernible. "The curly
hair, his high finish and chiaroscuro, derived from a study of
Leonardo, are distinctive traits" (Catalogue of the Burlington
Fine Arts Club's Exhibition, 1898, p. lxxvi.).

Compare the type of countenance and form of the rocks with those in Leonardo's picture, 1093. For the subject of this picture see under 25.

1154. GIRL WITH A LAMB.

_Greuze_ (French: 1725-1805). _See 206._

An unfinished study--characteristic of the touch of affectation often visible in Greuze's pictures of simplicity. Children fondling pet lambs are a favourite motive in art, but its treatment is seldom free from affectation. See, for instance, Murillo's St. John, 176.

1155. THE ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN.

_Matteo di Giovanni_ (Sienese: 1435-1495).

Matteo, the son of Giovanni di Bartolo (a mercer),--called also
Matteo di Siena--was the best Sienese painter of his time, and
in this picture, which is perhaps his masterpiece, we have an
epitome of all the most characteristic qualities of the earlier
Sienese school--"its warm, delicate, and transparent colouring,
its graceful outline, its religious sentiment, and its somewhat
miniature-like execution. Matteo was the last of the series
of painters who developed the art of Duccio, adhering to the
traditions of the school of which that great master was the
founder" (Layard). In the expression of passion and dramatic
action that school was never successful, struggling to
disguise weakness by overstraining expression. This weakness
is conspicuous in Matteo's pictures of the "Massacre of the
Innocents" (in S. Agostino and S. Maria de' Servi in Siena),
and is not absent from his "Ecce Homo" and "St. Stephen" in
this Gallery (247 and 1461). His best pictures at Siena are
the "Madonna della Neve" in the chapel of that name, and the
"Coronation of S. Barbara" in S. Domenico. He also designed one
of the Sibyls (the Samian) on the marble pavement of the Duomo.

A picture in which the artist concentrates all he could command of gaiety and joyousness in colour, expression, action, and sentiment; and thus typical of the personal feeling, approximating to that of a lover to his mistress, which entered into Madonna worship. These pictures of coronations and assumptions of the Virgin are not merely tributes of devotion to the mother of God, but are poetic renderings of the recognition of women's queenship, of her rule not by force of law but by tenderness and sacrifice--

For lo! thy law is pass'd
That this my love should manifestly be
To serve and honour thee:
And so I do: and my delight is full,
Accepted for the servant of thy rule.

One may read the same spirit, perhaps, in the legend of St. Thomas and the Madonna, introduced in this picture--of St. Thomas, who ever doubted, but whose faith was confirmed by a woman's girdle. For the story is that the Virgin, taking pity on his unbelief, threw down to him her girdle, which he is here raising his hands to catch, as it falls from her throne, in order that this tangible proof remaining with him might remove all doubts for ever from his mind--

Lady, since I conceived
Thy pleasurable aspect in my heart,
My life has been apart
In shining brightness and the place of truth;
Which till that time, good sooth,
Groped among shadows in a darken'd place.