Chapter VII: English, Eighteenth Century 329–428 (1)

_ILLUSTRATIONS_

GIOVANNA TORNABUONI _Domenico Ghirlandaio_ Frontispiece
Mr. J. P. Morgan.

PAGE

ST. FRANCIS AND THE BEGGAR _Sassetta_ 7
Mr. Clarence H. Mackay.

MADONNA AND CHILD WITH
SAINTS AND ANGELS _Matteo di Giovanni_ 11
Mr. Clarence H. Mackay.

ADORATION OF THE MAGI _Benvenuto di Giovanni_ 13
Sir Joseph Duveen, Bart.

MADONNA AND CHILD _Giotto di Bordone_ 27
Mr. Henry Goldman.

THE ANNUNCIATION _Masolino_ 29
Mr. Henry Goldman.

GABRIEL, THE ANNOUNCING ANGEL _Fra Angelico_ 33
Mr. Edsel B. Ford.

THE VIRGIN RECEIVING THE DIVINE MESSAGE _Fra Angelico_ 35
Mr. Edsel B. Ford.

ST. COSIMAS AND ST. DAMIANUS _Fra Angelico_ 41
Mr. Albert Keller.

MADONNA DELLA STELLA _Fra Filippo Lippi_ 43
Mr. Carl W. Hamilton.

MADONNA AND CHILD _Alesso Baldovinetti_ 49
Mr. Clarence H. Mackay.

PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG LADY _Piero Pollaiuolo_ 53
Mr. Nils B. Hersloff.

GIULIANO DE’ MEDICI _Sandro Botticelli_ 57
Mr. and Mrs. Otto H. Kahn.

PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG MAN _Sandro Botticelli_ 63
Mr. Clarence H. Mackay.

MADONNA AND CHILD _Sandro Botticelli_ 65
Mr. Max Epstein.

GIOVANNA TORNABUONI _Domenico Ghirlandaio_ 67
Mr. J. P. Morgan.

FRANCESCO SASSETTI AND
HIS SON TEODORO _Domenico Ghirlandaio_ 71
Mr. Jules S. Bache.

MADONNA AND CHILD _Gentile da Fabriano_ 75
Mr. Henry Goldman.

MADONNA AND CHILD WITH ANGELS _Benedetto Bonfigli_ 79
Mr. and Mrs. Otto H. Kahn.

MADONNA AND CHILD _Perugino_ 81
Mr. Clarence H. Mackay.

THE NICCOLINI MADONNA _Raphael_ 85
Sir Joseph Duveen, Bart.

THE SMALL COWPER MADONNA _Raphael_ 87
Mr. Joseph E. Widener.

AGONY IN THE GARDEN _Raphael_ 91
Mr. Clarence H. Mackay.

PORTRAIT OF A LADY _Pisanello_ 101
Mr. Clarence H. Mackay.

ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS _Andrea Mantegna_ 105
Mr. Clarence H. Mackay.

VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH THE
INFANT ST. JOHN AND ANGEL _Francia_ 109
Mr. Clarence H. Mackay.

PORTRAIT OF A LADY _Luini_ 111
The Hon. Andrew W. Mellon.

TITIAN’S SCHOOLMASTER _Moroni_ 113
Mr. Joseph E. Widener.

MADONNA AND CHILD _Antonello da Messina_ 123
Mr. Clarence H. Mackay.

MADONNA AND CHILD _Crivelli_ 127
Mr. A. W. Erickson.

MADONNA AND CHILD _Crivelli_ 129
Mr. Philip Lehman.

THE VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH ST. LUCY,
ST. CATHERINE, ST. PETER AND
ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST _Giovanni Bellini_ 131
Mr. Jules S. Bache.

THE VIRGIN AND CHILD _Giovanni Bellini_ 133
Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas F. Brady.

MADONNA AND CHILD _Giovanni Bellini_ 135
Mr. Philip Lehman.

FEAST OF THE GODS _Giovanni Bellini_ 139
Mr. Joseph E. Widener.

THE VIRGIN AND CHILD _Titian_ 141
Mr. Jules S. Bache.

CATERINA CORNARO, QUEEN OF CYPRUS _Titian_ 145
Mr. John Ringling.

GIORGIO CORNARO WITH FALCON _Titian_ 147
Mr. A. W. Erickson.

MAXIMILIAN SFORZA _Bartolommeo Veneto_ 149
Mr. Henry Goldman.

A SCENE ALONG THE ADRIATIC COAST _Francesco Guardi_ 153
Mrs. Charles B. Alexander.

PORTRAIT OF A LADY _Roger van der Weyden_ 167
The Hon. Andrew W. Mellon.

PORTRAIT OF A CARTHUSIAN MONK _Petrus Christus_ 171
Mr. Jules S. Bache.

MADONNA AND CHILD WITH ANGELS _Hans Memling_ 173
The Hon. Andrew W. Mellon.

PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG GENTLEMAN _Hans Memling_ 175
Mrs. John N. Willys.

LOUIS XIII, KING OF FRANCE _Peter Paul Rubens_ 177
Sir Joseph Duveen, Bart.

RINALDO AND ARMIDA _Sir Anthony Van Dyck_ 183
Mr. Jacob Epstein.

DÆDALUS AND ICARUS _Sir Anthony Van Dyck_ 185
Mr. Frank P. Wood.

ROBERT RICH, EARL OF WARWICK _Sir Anthony Van Dyck_ 189
Mr. Jules S. Bache.

QUEEN HENRIETTA MARIA WITH
JEFFREY HUDSON AND A MONKEY _Sir Anthony Van Dyck_ 193
Mr. William Randolph Hearst.

THE STANDARD-BEARER _Rembrandt van Rijn_ 205
Mr. Jules S. Bache.

PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG OFFICER _Rembrandt van Rijn_ 209
Mr. A. W. Erickson.

AN OLD LADY SEATED IN AN ARMCHAIR _Rembrandt van Rijn_ 211
The Hon. Andrew W. Mellon.

SIMEON AND MARY PRESENTING THE
INFANT CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE. _Rembrandt van Rijn_ 213
Mr. Nils B. Hersloff.

PORTRAIT OF AN OFFICER _Frans Hals_ 221
Mr. Henry Goldman.

THE LAUGHING MANDOLIN PLAYER _Frans Hals_ 223
Mr. John R. Thompson.

A MUSIC PARTY _Pieter de Hoogh_ 225
Mrs. John N. Willys.

THE LACE-MAKER _Jan Vermeer_ 229
The Hon. Andrew W. Mellon.

PORTRAIT OF A MAN _Albrecht Dürer_ 239
The Hon. Andrew W. Mellon.

PRINCE EDWARD OF ENGLAND _Hans Holbein the Younger_ 241
The Hon. Andrew W. Mellon.

SIR THOMAS MORE _Hans Holbein the Younger_ 245
The late Mr. Henry Clay Frick.

DIRK BERCK OF COLOGNE _Hans Holbein the Younger_ 247
The Hon. Andrew W. Mellon.

JEAN DE DINTEVILLE _Hans Holbein the Younger_ 249
Mr. Henry Goldman.

CARDINAL ALBRECHT AS
SAINT HIERONYMUS _Lucas Cranach the Elder_ 253
Mr. John Ringling.

CARDINAL QUIROGA _El Greco_ 261
The late Mr. Henry Clay Frick.

THE VIRGIN APPEARING TO ST. DOMINIC _El Greco_ 263
Mr. J. Horace Harding.

MARIANNE OF AUSTRIA _Velasquez_ 265
Mr. Philip Lehman.

PHILIP IV OF SPAIN _Velasquez_ 267
The late Mr. Henry Clay Frick.

GENERAL NICOLAS GUYE _Goya_ 269
Mr. J. Horace Harding.

PEPITO COSTA Y BONELLA _Goya_ 271
Mrs. William Hayward.

JUPITER AND CALISTO _Nicolas Poussin_ 279
Mr. Carroll Tyson.

LA DANSE _Antoine Watteau_ 283
Mr. Charles A. Wimpfheimer.

MADAME BONIER DE LA MOSSON _Jean Marc Nattier_ 287
Mr. Edward J. Berwind.

LA MARQUISE DE BAGLION _Jean Marc Nattier_ 289
Mr. A. W. Erickson.

LA CAMARGO _Nicolas Lancret_ 293
The Hon. Andrew W. Mellon.

LE DUO _Nicolas Lancret_ 295
Mr. and Mrs. Emil J. Stehli.

UNE FÊTE CHAMPÊTRE _Jean Baptiste Joseph Pater_ 297
Mr. Jules S. Bache.

UNE FÊTE GALANTE _Jean Baptiste Joseph Pater_ 299
Mr. Edward J. Berwind.

LA SERINETTE _Jean Baptiste Siméon Chardin_ 301
The late Mr. Henry Clay Frick.

LES DEUX CONFIDENTES _François Boucher_ 305
Mrs. William R. Timken.

A YOUNG GIRL READING A LETTER _Jean Baptiste Greuze_ 307
Mr. John McCormack.

YOUNG GIRL _Jean Baptiste Greuze_ 309
Mr. William Randolph Hearst.

LA MARQUISE DE BESONS
TUNING A GUITAR _Jean Baptiste Greuze_ 311
Dr. and Mrs. Henry Barton Jacobs.

LA MARQUISE DE VILLEMOMBLE _François Hubert Drouais_ 313
Mr. Jules S. Bache.

MADEMOISELLE HELVETIUS _François Hubert Drouais_ 315
Mr. Mortimer L. Schiff.

L’INVOCATION À L’AMOUR _Jean Honoré Fragonard_ 317
Mr. Mortimer L. Schiff.

LE BILLET-DOUX _Jean Honoré Fragonard_ 319
Mr. Jules S. Bache.

LA MARQUISE DE LA FARE _Jean Honoré Fragonard_ 321
Mrs. James B. Haggin.

THE FOUNTAIN IN THE PARK _Hubert Robert_ 323
Dr. and Mrs. Henry Barton Jacobs.

MADAME LABILLE-GUIARD
AND TWO PUPILS _Madame Labille-Guiard_ 325
Mr. Edward J. Berwind.

LADY BETTY DELMÉ _Sir Joshua Reynolds_ 339
Mr. and Mrs. Herbert L. Satterlee.

THE STRAWBERRY GIRL _Sir Joshua Reynolds_ 343
Mrs. Francis F. Prentiss.

DIANA, VISCOUNTESS CROSBIE _Sir Joshua Reynolds_ 345
The late Mr. Henry E. Huntington.

MRS. SIDDONS AS THE TRAGIC MUSE _Sir Joshua Reynolds_ 349
The late Mr. Henry E. Huntington.

GEORGIANA, DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE _Sir Joshua Reynolds_ 355
The late Mr. Henry E. Huntington.

THE COTTAGE DOOR _Thomas Gainsborough_ 359
The late Mr. Henry E. Huntington.

THE MALL _Thomas Gainsborough_ 365
The late Mr. Henry Clay Frick.

MARIA WALPOLE, DUCHESS
OF GLOUCESTER _Thomas Gainsborough_ 367
Mr. and Mrs. Charles P. Taft.

GEORGIANA, DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE _Thomas Gainsborough_ 373
Mr. and Mrs. Herbert L. Satterlee.

THE BLUE BOY _Thomas Gainsborough_ 379
The late Mr. Henry E. Huntington.

GENERAL PHILIP HONYWOOD _Thomas Gainsborough_ 387
Mr. John Ringling.

THE HARVEST WAGGON _Thomas Gainsborough_ 391
Sir Joseph Duveen, Bart.

JOHN WALTER TEMPEST _George Romney_ 393
Mr. and Mrs. Marshall Field.

THE HON. MRS. DAVENPORT _George Romney_ 399
The Hon. Andrew W. Mellon.

LADY DERBY _George Romney_ 401
Mr. Jules S. Bache.

EMMA, LADY HAMILTON _George Romney_ 405
The late Mr. Henry E. Huntington.

ANNE, LADY DE LA POLE _George Romney_ 409
The Hon. Alvan T. Fuller.

THE HON. MRS. GRANT OF KILGRASTON _Sir Henry Raeburn_ 413
Mr. C. Fisher.

QUINTON MCADAM _Sir Henry Raeburn_ 415
Mr. A. W. Erickson.

MARY HORNECK, “THE JESSAMY BRIDE” _John Hoppner_ 417
Mr. and Mrs. Charles P. Taft.

ELIZA FARREN, COUNTESS OF DERBY _Sir Thomas Lawrence_ 421
Mr. J. P. Morgan.

PINKIE _Sir Thomas Lawrence_ 427
The late Mr. Henry E. Huntington.

ITALIAN

Sienese
Florentine
Umbrian
North Italian
Venetian

_SIENESE_

There are no beginnings of art in Italy. The old civilizations of Etruria, Rome, and Byzantium never perished entirely; and upon their surviving traditions “Christian Art” was built. Old pictorial ideas and old decorative motives were absorbed, rearranged, and worked over again and again in conjunction with theological dogma until in the Thirteenth Century, largely owing to the beautiful character, ideals, and influence of St. Francis, to the intellectual teachings of Dante, and to the fervor aroused by the Crusades, “Christian Art” became a living movement, which inspired, among other important things, the creation of magnificent Cathedrals. When the architects, the carvers of wood and stone, and the makers of the jewel-like windows had finished their work, the best painters of the day were called on to produce altar-pieces that would stimulate religious devotion, charm the worshippers by beauty, and instruct the people (unaccustomed to books) by representation of saintly lives and scriptural stories.

Italian Painting in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries thus shows many of the old Byzantine traditions still lingering in the new “Christian,” or “Gothic Art.”

Siena and Florence were the chief early Italian Schools. Siena was at first the more important of the two and greatly influenced Florentine and also French Painting. The leading early artists of Siena were Guido da Siena, Duccio di Buoninsegna, Ugolino da Siena, Segna di Bonaventura, Simone Martini, Lippo Memmi, Pietro Lorenzetti, Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Lippo Vanni, Andrea Vanni, Bartolo di Fredi, Taddeo di Bartolo, and Stefano di Giovanni (Sassetta).

The next group includes Domenico di Bartolo, Lorenzo Vecchietta, Neroccio di Landi, Benvenuto di Giovanni, Girolamo di Benvenuto, and Matteo di Giovanni.

“To understand and appreciate the painting of Siena one should think of it as the culmination of the art of the Middle Ages rather than as a promise of anything modern. Therein lies the difference which caused so great a gulf between the art of Siena and that of contemporary Florence only forty miles away. Sienese Art may be regarded as the most perfect expression of the Byzantine ideal. It was hieratic and mystic. While Giotto was forecasting the development of modern art by studying nature and making his figures act like the real people whom he saw about him, Duccio and Simone Martini were sounding the Byzantine creed that the Christian saints were not _human_ but _divine_, not _vulgar_ but _regal_, not _approachable_ but _aloof_. To the early Sienese, as to the Byzantine, the Raphaelesque conception of the Madonna as the most tender possible human mother would have been blasphemous bad taste.

“Although Sienese Art was founded on Byzantine and was in a sense the culmination of Byzantine, it was, nevertheless, a Gothic art. In other words it belonged to its period, but it selected certain elements of Gothic style for emphasis.

“In Florence Giotto was inspired by the plasticity of Gothic Art and its naturalism. In Siena Duccio and his followers developed the Gothic living line; and, later, the emotionalism of Gothic spirit. Thus both Florentines and Sienese were Gothic, but in a different way.

“Technically as well as spiritually, the Sienese approached the artistic abstractions of China and Japan. The analogies between Sienese and Oriental Art have been observed by practically every writer on the Sienese School. They have been tacitly attributed however, to accidental similarities in ideals and modes in Siena and the East. As yet no one has been bold enough to suggest an influence derived from actual contact with Eastern Art, but such contact is not beyond the bounds of possibility. In the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries overland communication with the Near East and with China was common and secure. Merchants like the Polos, prelates like John of Monte Corsino, Andrew of Perugia and Friar Odoric of Friuli readily found the way to Cathay, as China was then called. Peking was made a Roman Catholic diocese and Pegolotti of the Bardi banking-house in Florence was moved to write a traveller’s itinerary, remarkably like a modern Baedeker, giving the most minute instructions as to inns, food, servants, and so forth, on the route from Constantinople to Peking. Moslems like Ibn Batuta travelled as widely as Christians, and Oriental travellers visited the Occident. Thus Bar Sauma, a Nestorian of Peking, visited the Pope in 1287 and passed through Tuscany on his way to Paris and Bordeaux two years after Duccio painted the _Rucellai Madonna_. Not only the Near East and China, but India, was opened to the European and we hear of the martyrdom of one Brother Peter of Siena at a place near Bombay. It was not until the end of the Fourteenth and the beginning of the Fifteenth Century that the conversion of the western Tartars to Islam, the advance of the Seljuk Turks, and the overthrow of the broad-minded hospitable Mongol dynasty in China closed the overland trade-routes. During the next hundred and fifty years while the sea-routes were being discovered Europe seems largely to have forgotten the existence of the Orient. Wild as the theory may sound, therefore, it is possible that actual contact with Oriental Art may account not only for the occasional Mongolian types and bits of Oriental armor to be observed in Sienese Art, but even for something of the spirit of the style.”--_Mediæval and Renaissance Paintings_ (Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 1927).

ST. FRANCIS AND THE BEGGAR.

_Sassetta_
(_1392–1450_).

_Collection of
Mr. Clarence H. Mackay._

On September 5, 1437, the Minorites of Siena ordered an altar-piece for the Church of San Francesco at Borgo San Sepolcro from Stefano di Giovanni, better known as Sassetta. The artist promised “to paint it with fine gold, ultramarine, and other good colors, to employ all the subtleties of his art, and to make it as beautiful as he could.” Also he promised to complete it in four years. Sassetta, however, made a wrong calculation; for the work occupied him seven, instead of four, years. It was finished on June 5, 1444, and placed above the high altar at Borgo San Sepolcro, where it remained until 1752, when the panels were dispersed. From contemporary documents nine panels were proved in recent years to have been among the decorations of this famous altar-piece; and these panels were shown at the Retrospective Exhibition of Sienese Art held in Siena in 1904.

Seven of these nine panels are now in the Collection of Mr. Clarence H. Mackay: _St. Francis and the Poor Knight_; _St. Francis Renounces his Heritage_; _St. Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio_; _St. Francis before the Soldan_; _St. Francis before Pope Honorius III_; _St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata_; and _The Burial of St. Francis_.

Another panel, _The Marriage of St. Francis to Poverty_, is in the Chantilly Museum and the central panel of the altar-piece, representing _The Glory of St. Francis_, is in the Collection of Mr. Bernard Berenson.

The panel representing _St. Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio_ was long in possession of the Comte de Martel at the Château de Beaumont, near Blois, and the other six panels came from the Collection of the late M. Georges Chalandon, Paris.

It was obvious that for a church dedicated to St. Francis the story of his life should be told in paintings.

It is a little hard to realize that the frescoes by Giotto and his companions depicting the _Life of St. Francis_ had been admired and worshipped for a hundred odd years before Sassetta was called upon by the Sienese Minorites to tell the story again. Sassetta produced an entirely new version with regard to composition, color, and spiritual interpretation.

_Collection of Mr. Clarence H. Mackay_

ST. FRANCIS AND THE BEGGAR

--_Sassetta_]

There is much to attract an artist in the story of St. Francis, for although his life is not one of much variety, it is full of striking episodes, which afford splendid pictorial opportunities. St. Francis, founder of the great Order of Friars Minor, or Franciscans, and called “the Poor Man of Assisi,” was born in Assisi in 1182, and died there in 1226. He was the son of a rich merchant, who, furious because his son lavished money on the starving poor of the vicinity, demanded that he should renounce his inheritance. This he did with a joyful spirit in public and before the Bishop of Assisi, thereafter devoting himself to the service of the poor. Disciples flocked to his little chapel, called the Portiuncula; and when the New Order celebrated its General Chapter in 1219, five thousand friars assembled there. The Order was approved by Pope Innocent III and by his successor, Pope Honorius III. Poverty was the leading characteristic of the Franciscans, or Begging Friars; individually and collectively they refused to own anything whatsoever.

St. Francis journeyed about doing good. His wanderings took him as far as Egypt and Palestine; and it was in the year 1224, on the desolate Mount Alvernia, that he received the Stigmata, or Impression on the flesh of Our Lord’s Five Sacred Wounds, in memory of which the Church instituted a special festival. St. Francis was canonized in 1228, two years after his death.

_St. Francis and the Beggar_, shown here, tells two episodes of the story. On the left and in the immediate foreground the young St. Francis, having dismounted from his horse, whose head (very finely drawn) appears above his shoulder, is in the act of giving his cloak to a poor beggar; and the latter, very dramatically expresses his delight, surprise, and gratitude. Beyond these figures a winding road, bordered with cypress trees, leads to a handsome villa, presumably the home of St. Francis, beyond which little hills appear on the horizon. The sky, very expansive, is silvery above these hills and grows gradually bluer and bluer until it reaches the top of the picture, or dome of the sky, where a strange castle is seen with banners of the Holy Cross floating from its battlements and turrets. This castle really belongs to the second episode represented on the right, which shows St. Francis sleeping in a little room. This heavenly castle is the vision he has in his dreams. It would appear that the Angel, standing over St. Francis and pointing to the mystical castle in the clouds, is inspiring this mystical dream. It is interesting to note here that Giotto made at Assisi two pictures of _St. Francis and the Beggar_ and _The Dream of St. Francis_. Sassetta combined the two episodes into one picture.

“Even without documents,” says Berenson, “we should know that this Borgo San Sepulcro polyptych was painted by a contemporary of Masolino, Pisanello, Jacopo Bellini, and Antonio Vivarini. And that the master was a Sienese we should know not only from his pure, flat color and his devotion to line, but in other ways as well. At all events it is he, Stefano Sassetta, who has left us the most adequate rendering of the Franciscan soul that we possess in the entire range of painting.

“Sassetta was not only one of the few masters in Europe of imaginative design, but the most important painter at Siena during the second quarter of the Fifteenth Century, the channel through which Sienese Trecento traditions passed and became transformed into those of the Quattrocento, for nearly all the later painters of Siena were his offspring.”

Stefano di Giovanni was born at Siena in 1392. He was a pupil of Paolo di Giovanni Fei and was deeply influenced by the earlier Sienese painters, Duccio, Simone Martini, and the Lorenzetti brothers. In 1427 he was asked to furnish a design for the font in the Siena Baptistery and he painted the altar-piece of the _Madonna Enthroned with Saints_ in the church, since known as the Osservanza, built for St. Bernardine on the site of his hermitage. Sassetta’s work for the Borgo San Sepulcro did much to popularize Sienese ideas in Umbria. Sassetta made many paintings in Siena and at Cortona, where he was influenced by Fra Angelico. In 1447 he was commissioned to complete the frescoes on the Porta Romana at Siena, begun by Taddeo di Bartolo; and he died in 1450 from exposure while working on this gate. Fifteen years later the frescoes were finished by Sano di Pietro, one of Sassetta’s many pupils and followers.

For a long time Sassetta was forgotten; but of late years there has been much interest in his works, which are of great pecuniary as well as artistic value.

MADONNA AND CHILD WITH SAINTS AND ANGELS.

_Matteo di Giovanni_
(_1430?–1495_).

_Collection of
Mr. Clarence H. Mackay._

Among the most important pupils of the famous Sassetta was the painter and sculptor, Lorenzo Vecchietta, who in turn was the principal master of Matteo di Giovanni, the most celebrated Sienese painter of his time. Therefore we have direct artistic ancestry for Matteo di Giovanni through Vecchietta to Sassetta and to Duccio.

Matteo di Giovanni, also called Matteo da Siena, was the son of a tradesman who came from Siena to Borgo San Sepulcro, where Matteo was born about 1430. His first master is supposed to have been the Umbrian, Piero della Francesca (or Pier dei Franceschi). Removing to Siena, Matteo spent the rest of his days there. His life was uneventful, for he gave all his time to painting. His domestic life must have been somewhat exciting for he was twice married--the second time to a countess--and he had a large family. Matteo was particularly famous for his Madonnas, tender and wistful, with very decorative accessories.

The lovely _Madonna and Child with Saints and Angels_, represented here, shows this decorative quality of Matteo in its highest expression. The Sienese love for Oriental fabrics[1] appears in the rich attire of the Virgin. Here is no peasant woman in simple robe and mantle, but a lady of high degree, wearing a gown of handsome brocade with the significant pattern of the pomegranate. A white veil, soft and transparent, lightly covers her forehead and her mantle is gracefully drawn up over her head to form a hood. The Holy Child rests comfortably upon her left arm while her right hand, large and firm, gives Him additional support. A light drapery passes around the body of the Holy Child--the Sienese were Oriental enough in their discriminating taste to avoid uninteresting nudity and they also knew how to manage both heavy and light materials--who grasps the Virgin’s tunic with His right hand and has placed his left hand over that of His mother. The golden _nimbus_ of the Virgin is inscribed “_Ave (Maria) Gratia Plena_.”

_Collection of Mr. Clarence H. Mackay_

MADONNA AND CHILD WITH SAINTS AND ANGELS

--_Matteo di Giovanni_]

St. Catherine of Siena stands on the right, also wearing a handsome brocade gown and a white veil. She is holding a missal and a fragment of her wheel of torture. On the left we see St. Anthony, in monk’s habit, writing in a book. Behind this group two Angels are singing loudly and joyfully. The background and all the _nimbi_ crowning the heads of the figures are of gold, made the richer by burnished ornamentation.

This picture, painted in tempera on a panel 29 × 20 inches, came from the Collection of Lord Ashburnham, Ashburnham Place, Battle, Surrey, England. Of it Berenson says: “It is not only his (Matteo di Giovanni) most typical and his most characteristic, but also his most impressive and beautiful work; it has every advantage of ivory flesh, golden tone, and gorgeous brocade; and with all these decorative qualities it possesses real humility.”

Among Matteo di Giovanni’s other important paintings are: the _Madonna Enthroned_ (1470) in the Accademia; the _Madonna della Neve_ (1477) and the _Coronation of St. Barbara_ in St. Domenico, Siena; the _Assumption of the Virgin_ in the National Gallery, London; and _St. Jerome in his Cell_, in the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

ADORATION OF THE MAGI.

_Benvenuto di Giovanni _Collection of
(1436–1518)._ Sir Joseph Duveen, Bart._

We have here a charming Sienese version of the ever-popular subject--the _Adoration of the Magi_. Everything about this picture is radiant, charming, and decorative. The groups in pyramidal form with masses at the base, made rich and beautiful by means of the wise lighting and graceful arrangement of draperies, balanced with lively animals on the right and left, rise higher and higher with more and more delicacy of treatment that suggests the technique of old ivory carving or the miniature painting of Mediæval manuscripts, until the peak is reached in the charming presentation of a lovely walled town with spires lifted heavenward.

_Collection of Sir Joseph Duveen, Bart._

ADORATION OF THE MAGI

--_Benvenuto di Giovanni_]

The picture is full of movement, life, joy, and expression. The Holy Child is appreciative (which is an unusual feature) and the animals, too, are taking an enthusiastic part in the ceremony.

The tender and gentle Virgin, seated on a stone bench directly in front and wearing a red robe and a blue mantle, has the Holy Child comfortably placed on her knee. On her left hand she is holding one of the presents. The Holy Child, according to the Sienese fashion, is draped and the linen folded around Him is embroidered in gold. His expression is animated and very sweet and He is raising His little hand in blessing. The eldest of the Magi,[2] Melchior with white hair (what there is left of it) and white flowing beard, is kneeling before the Holy Child and kissing His right foot, wearing a rich golden mantle with a damask pattern in _raised_ gold relief, held by a jewelled girdle. The second Magus, on the left, Balthasar, is clothed in a red brocade mantle embroidered in gold. He has a dark complexion and is removing his crown from his thick black hair and holds in his right hand a piece of gold plate. The third King, Caspar, on the right, is the most attractive figure in the picture,--a typical young prince and dandy of the period dressed in a pale tunic, cut with point in front showing a rich brocade undergarment, and plaited and slashed and bordered according to the latest Fifteenth Century fashions. The sleeves are slashed and ornamented with puffs and a rich girdle holds the dagger with hilt of gold. Lilac trunk-hose, red shoes, and a golden crown complete the costume. His face is delicate and charming and his wavy hair is blonde. He, too, is bringing a piece of gold plate. This radiant figure looks as if he might have stepped from the pages of the _Romaunt of the Rose_. St. Joseph, behind Balthasar, leans his head on his hand as if he were puzzled. Each one of these six important figures has a flat golden _nimbus_. Behind St. Joseph, on the left, the ox and the ass, by the intelligent gleam in their eyes, allow us to believe in the legend that animals are endowed with the power of speech on Christmas Eve. Over the roof of their open shed sparkles and scintillates the Star of the East and under the Star we note a bush laden with fruit,--a real Christmas tree! On the right, the group is that of the retinue of the three Kings--people on foot, wide-eyed and curious, and knights on horseback. A beautiful white horse arches his head majestically and surveys the scene; behind him are a very superior horse and a very superior camel, who gaze downward somewhat haughtily, while a third horse looks backward at these companions to see what they are thinking of it all!

As in many ancient paintings, the scene is enacted for us in two episodes. If we look ardently we see the three Magi on their approach to the shrine. We can identify Balthasar on the left; Caspar in the centre; and Melchior on the left of Caspar, followed by their retinue defiling through the gateway of the machicolated wall, behind which the town, with its towers and turrets, domes and roofs, stands out clearly and poetically from its golden horizon.

This painting, tempera on panel (70 × 53 inches), came from the Collection of Sir William Neville Abdy, Bart., Dorking, Surrey, and was exhibited in Paris at the Salle des Etats, Musée du Louvre, in 1885.

Benvenuto di Giovanni di Meo del Guata, also known as Benvenuto da Siena, was, like Matteo di Giovanni, a pupil of Vecchietta. He was born in Siena, September 13, 1436, the son of a mason. In 1453 he was painting in the Baptistery in Siena. He painted in Siena all his life and aided in designing the inlaid marble pavement in the Cathedral and he also decorated the cupola. Benvenuto di Giovanni cared little about the scientific experiments the contemporary Florentine painters were essaying, content to paint in the decorative and charming traditional Sienese manner, of flat and ornamental designs beautifully enriched with gold. It is very interesting to compare this painting with the pageants of Benozzo Gozzoli and Gentile da Fabriano. It holds its own, thereby, for its high decorative quality and peculiar charm.

_FLORENTINE_

It is not strange when Sienese Painting was at its height that its influence should have been felt in Florence, which is only about forty miles distant. The fame of Cimabue (1240?–1301), the founder of the Florentine School, indeed, rests chiefly on the _Madonna_ in the Rucellai Chapel of S. Maria Novella, which modern criticism attributes to Duccio of Siena. Vasari was responsible for accrediting the _Rucellai Madonna_ to Cimabue; and Vasari’s story that when finished “it was carried in solemn procession with the sound of trumpets and other festal demonstrations from Cimabue’s house to the church, Cimabue being highly rewarded and honored for it,” reads like an echo of the triumphal procession of Duccio’s great altar-piece--the _Majestas_--from the house of that painter to the Cathedral of Siena.

Cimabue, whose name was Cenni dei Pepe, transitional from Byzantine to Gothic, is particularly famed for being the discoverer and teacher of Giotto.

Giotto di Bordone (1276–1336), sculptor and architect as well as painter, is the dominating personality in Trecento Art, and the first Gothic painter of Florence. Giotto’s influence lasted for a hundred years or more (see page 25).

One of Giotto’s associates and followers was Bernardo Daddi, son of Daddo di Simone, a Florentine. The date of his birth is supposed to have been 1280. He died in 1348. About 1317 he was admitted to the Arte de Medici e Speziale, the Guild of Doctors and Apothecaries, from whom the painters obtained their pigments. According to the laws of the period no painter could pursue his art unless he took his degree in that confraternity. The early painters became independent of the Guild of Doctors and Apothecaries after the Guild of St. Luke[3] was formed--the special brotherhood of all painters, which spread to every country and to every town--and there is a tradition that Daddi was one of the founders of this Compagnia di San Luca, which would show that this Florentine Guild of St. Luke was organized as early as 1348.

Daddi painted the fresco over the San Giorgio Gate of Florence about 1330 and he also painted the frescoes of the Martyrdom of St. Stephen and St. Lawrence in Santa Croce. Daddi comes very close to Giotto (1276–1336), in dates and in style, although he shows great sympathy with the Sienese painters.

Giotto’s followers--the Giotteschi--worked from about 1330 to 1430 and include: Taddeo Gaddi, Andrea di Cione (better known as Orcagna), Giovanni da Milano, Agnolo Gaddi, Cennino Cennini, Andrea di Firenze, Antonio Veneziano, Spinello Aretino, and Lorenzo Monaco.

These painters prepared the way for greater changes by studying perspective and the human form and by gradually introducing Classic Architecture into their pictures in place of Gothic decoration.

In studying Fifteenth Century Art in Florence we are struck by the great number of goldsmiths and other workers in metal who became painters. There is a reason for this. The most important work in Florence for twenty-two years was the making of the four bronze doors for the Baptistery, the competition for which was won by Ghiberti in 1401. The undertaking was so vast that Ghiberti engaged, at one time or another, nearly all the most talented artists and artisans of Florence. Many painters and sculptors who acquired fame afterwards, such as Masaccio and Donatello for instance, received their early training under Ghiberti.

Of the last-mentioned painter Leonardo da Vinci wrote:

“After the days of Giotto, painting declined again, because everyone imitated the pictures that were already in existence; and this went on until Tommaso of Florence, nicknamed Masaccio, showed, by his perfect works, how artists who would take any teacher but Nature--the mistress of all masters--labor in vain.”

Tommaso Masaccio (1401–1429?) and Tommaso Masolino (1383–1447) worked together in the Brancacci Chapel. Masaccio was the son of a notary in the parish of Castel S. Giovanni in Val d’Arno, learned to draw and paint, joined the Guild of St. Luke in 1424, and became Masolino’s assistant for painting the frescoes in the new Chapel built by Felice Brancacci in the Carmine. When Masolino went to Hungary, Masaccio worked there alone.

Masaccio’s frescoes made an epoch in art, although the painter was little appreciated in his day. He left his work suddenly and went to Rome. Nothing more was ever heard of him. He is thought to have died in Rome in 1429. Almost immediately Masaccio’s work began to be valued and all the Florentines of the Fifteenth Century flocked to study these Brancacci frescoes. Masolino (1383–1447) was appointed in 1423 to paint frescoes in the new Brancacci Chapel in the Carmine and two years later went to Hungary. Returning home after several years, he painted frescoes in various cities (see page 28).

Gerardo, better known as “Starnina” (1354–1408), a pupil of Antonio Veneziano, spent nine years in Spain and on his return to Florence, achieved great fame by his frescoes in the Carmine. The name was taken from that of his father, Jacopo Starna. It is said that “Starnina” was the master of Masolino and Fra Angelico.

Fra Angelico (1387–1455), brings us to another transitional period,--this time from the Gothic to the Renaissance. Fra Angelico, or Fra Giovanni da Fiesole, the angelic and mystical painter and the most beloved of all the early artists, spent his life painting frescoes and altar-pieces for churches and cloisters. He was frequently called by the Pope to Rome, where he died (see page 32).

To this period belong Andrea del Castagno (1390?–1457), a vigorous and austere painter, and Paolo Uccello (1397–1475), named Paolo di Dono, but called Uccello because he kept in his house and painted so many birds. Uccello began life as a goldsmith and assistant to Ghiberti.

No survey of painting in Florence in the Fifteenth Century, however slight, would be complete without reference to the Medici. Art, like all other branches of learning, owed its splendid development to their intelligent sympathy and generous patronage. The Medici began this patronage early. Giovanni de Bicci (1360–1428), the founder of the family, was one of the judges who selected Ghiberti to make the Baptistery doors and Cosimo, “the Father of his Country” (1389–1464), was so liberal a patron of Fra Angelico, Fra Filippo Lippi, Benozzo Gozzoli, Paolo Uccello, Domenico Veneziano, and many others, that we may safely say the great flowering of Florentine Art is almost entirely due to his taste and encouragement.

The Florentine artists, too, were greatly stirred by the meeting of the Council of the Eastern and Western Churches, which was one of the most important gatherings ever held anywhere in the history of the world. This Council was invited by Cosimo to Florence and all the dignitaries and their suites were his personal guests, entertained by him in his various palaces and villas. Picturesque and bizarre these dignitaries were; and the painters had full opportunity to see them when they sat in the Duomo under Brunelleschi’s newly completed dome (then the Eighth Wonder of the World), or when they moved about the streets with their suites.

In his delightful book, _The Medici_, Col. G. F. Young has called particular attention to the importance of this great Council; how it led Cosimo to found the Platonic Academy; and how the Fall of Constantinople, fourteen years later, changed the world so utterly that no such meeting could ever take place again. In part he says:

“This great gathering of 1439 in Florence had its effect also on Art. We are often inclined to wonder where such painters as Fra Angelico, Benozzo Gozzoli, and Gentile da Fabriano got the idea of the gorgeous robes and strange-looking head-dresses which we see in their pictures of Eastern subjects. It was all taken direct from the life of Florence of this year. During that summer the inhabitants of Florence saw a perpetual succession of grand processions and imposing functions in which these visitors from the East appeared in every kind of magnificent and strange costume. Vespasiano da Bisticci and other writers of the time dilate upon their rich silken robes, heavy with gold, and their fantastic-looking head-dresses, regarded with deep interest by the learned on account of their ancient character. And the painters reproduce these before us in pictorial records, which are valuable to us on that very account, and because this was the last occasion on which these costumes were destined to appear.”

Piero il Gottoso (1416–1469), Cosimo’s son, “carried on” the traditions of the Medici, encouraging Art to such an extent that practically every great work produced in Florence in his time was made for, or inspired by, him. Piero il Gottoso and his cultured wife, Lucrezia Tornabuoni, recognizing Botticelli’s genius, took him into their home and made him one of the family. All of Botticelli’s early works, therefore, belong to the period he spent under the patronage of Piero de’ Medici. Yet, of course, Botticelli is recognized as the particular painter of Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449–1492), son of Piero, and a friend and boyhood companion.

“As had been the case with his father, Piero, the leading artists of the day did most of their work for him, and nearly every work of eminence in painting or sculpture belonging to Lorenzo’s time remaining in Florence, was commissioned by him. Verrocchio did almost all his work for him; that sculptor’s graceful tomb in San Lorenzo over Lorenzo’s father and uncle, his bronze _David_, and his fountain of _The Boy with a Dolphin_ were all executed for Lorenzo. Botticelli he made his family painter as well as friend and all the pictures of Botticelli’s second period were painted for him. It was Lorenzo who caused Ghirlandaio’s frescoes in Sta. Maria Novella and Santa Trinità to be painted; and it was he who selected and sent Leonardo da Vinci to Milan to become ‘Il Moro’s’ great painter. Among others he also gave commissions to Filippino Lippi, Signorelli, Baldovinetti, Benedetto da Majano, Andrea del Castagno and the Pollaiuoli. The Medici Palace became, Symonds says, ‘a museum at that period unique in Europe, considering the number and value of its art-treasures;’ and these he made available to all young artists for purposes of study. There being at that time no school for sculpture, Lorenzo formed one in his garden near San Marco, collected there casts from many antique statues, placed the school in charge of Donatello’s pupil, Bertoldo, and invited all young sculptors to study there. Among those who did so were Lorenzo di Credi, Michelangelo, and many others afterwards famous.”--COL. G. F. YOUNG, _The Medici_ (London, 1909).

The roll-call is large and marvellous; and when we think of the troubles of the time,--the quarrels, the conspiracies, the dangers of murder, and the constant visitations of the Plague, we almost comprehend refuge in the cloister rather than such extraordinary activity in Art and Learning. Let us look at the greatest names.

Domenico Veneziano (1400–1461), a native of Venice, as his name plainly shows, but employed by Piero il Gottoso, classed in his day with Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi, a delightful musician, playing on the lute and singing well, and said by Vasari, to have introduced into Florence the Flemish method of using oils. Veneziano taught Piero della Francesca, the Umbrian painter. Then there is Fra Angelico, already mentioned, and there is Fra Filippo Lippi (1406?–1469), a monk, but not a saint like Fra Angelico,--wild and adventurous yet a superlative painter, whose reputation continues to increase and whose Madonnas, usually with the face of Lucrezia Buti, are justly admired (see page 42).

Francesco Pesellino (1422–1457), whose real name was Francesco di Stefano, pupil of his grandfather, Giuliano, and a follower of Fra Filippo Lippi, famous for his decorative qualities and his animals, rare and valued to-day. Another painter of decorative taste, charming and refined, is Alesso Baldovinetti (1425–1499), a follower of Domenico Veneziano and teacher of Ghirlandaio (see page 48).

Then come the famous brothers, workers in gold, silver, and bronze, painters of heroic frescoes, and celebrated as draughtsmen--Antonio Pollaiuolo (1432–1498) and Piero Pollaiuolo (1443–1496), sons, too, of a goldsmith, all three busy, at various times, on the Ghiberti doors (see page 51).

Then there is Pier Francesco Fiorentino, an Umbrian, born in Borgo San Sepolcro about 1430, pupil of Domenico Veneziano, and said to have assisted Ghirlandaio at S. Giminiano in 1475. Next comes Andrea Verrocchio (1435–1488), goldsmith and sculptor, pupil and assistant to Donatello. Andrea di Cione’s nickname of “Verrocchio” (true eye) is self-explanatory. Verrocchio was also an accomplished musician. He was employed by the Medici all his life; and he trained in his workshop, Leonardo da Vinci, Perugino, and Lorenzo di Credi. Verrocchio also planned many of the splendid pageants, for which Florence was so famous, and designed the artistic helmets worn by young Lorenzo and Giuliano at their tournaments. When Lorenzo became head of the Medici he continued the family patronage to Verrocchio. Cosimo Rosselli (1439–1507), followed Paolo Uccello and Alesso Baldovinetti.

Sandro Botticelli (1444–1510), who belongs to both Piero and Lorenzo de’ Medici, was a pupil of Fra Filippo Lippi and was influenced by Antonio Pollaiuolo before he blossomed forth in his full individuality. For many centuries Botticelli has charmed the world, his _prestige_ ever growing greater (see page 55).

Botticelli leads us into another group. Here is Domenico del Ghirlandaio (1449–1494), “the garland-maker,” first a goldsmith, then a pupil of Alesso Baldovinetti and much influenced by Botticelli and Verrocchio. Into his decorative scenes this painter introduced portraits of distinguished Florentines (see page 70).

Then we have one of the world’s greatest geniuses, Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), painter, sculptor, architect, decorator, designer of pageants and masques, musician, and engineer, and, moreover, a personage of charm and many social gifts. Leonardo was apprenticed to Verrocchio and patronized by Lorenzo de’ Medici, who sent him in 1482 to Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan (see page 93).

Filippino Lippi (1457–1504), son of Fra Filippo Lippi and the nun, Lucrezia Buti (see page 44), a pupil of Botticelli, achieved a fine reputation as a painter and as a man. Lorenzo di Credi (1457–1537), fellow-pupil with Perugino and Leonardo da Vinci in Verrocchio’s studio, esteemed for his execution and careful finish, was an especial favorite with Verrocchio.

Piero di Cosimo, or Piero di Lorenzo (1462–1521?), called Cosimo after his master, Cosimo Rosselli, assisted the latter in decorating the Sistine Chapel in 1480. Piero di Cosimo is famed for his mythological pictures and for a portrait of Simonetta Vespucci (see page 59), now in the Chantilly Museum.

Fra Bartolommeo (1472–1517), whose name was Baccio della Porta, an apprentice of Cosimo Rosselli, became an ardent follower of Savonarola. It was, therefore, a natural step for him to become a Dominican monk in 1500; but he continued to paint and had for a partner Mariotto Albertinelli (1474–1515), a pupil of Cosimo Rosselli and Piero di Cosimo.

Michelangelo (1475–1564), painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and military engineer, was born at Castel Caprese, where his father, Ludovico Buonarroti, was governor of the Castle. Apprenticed to Ghirlandaio, he also worked in the Medici Gardens and became a favorite with Lorenzo. After Lorenzo’s death in 1492, he worked for his son, Piero. Michelangelo’s commanding work, however, was done in Rome, where he went in 1508 to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. In 1547 Michelangelo succeeded Antonio di San Gallo as architect of St. Peter’s.

Raphael Santi (1484–1520) has to be included among the Florentine painters for he worked in Florence during 1504–1508, when he fell under the influence of Leonardo da Vinci and Fra Bartolommeo and painted several important pictures, including the _Madonna del Gran Duca_ (now in the Pitti) and the _Madonna del Cardellino_ (now in the Uffizi). (See page 86.)

Leonardo da Vinci, Fra Bartolommeo, and Michelangelo influenced Andrea del Sarto (1486–1531), pupil of Piero di Cosimo. His real name was Andrea d’Agnolo and because of his facile technique was called “_Andrea senza errori_”. Francis I had Andrea come to Fontainebleau in 1518; but he soon went home to Florence and died of the Plague.

Franciabigio (1482–1525), son of Christoforo Bigio, partner of Andrea del Sarto and pupil of Albertinelli and Piero di Cosimo, noted for his religious pictures and portraits, and Bronzino (1502–1572), poet and painter (whose name was Angelo Allori), pupil of Jacopo da Pontormo, and famous for his portraits of the Medici family, bring us to the last quarter of the Sixteenth Century.

The great days of painting were over; and they had been great days!

MADONNA AND CHILD.

_Giotto di Bordone_
(_1276–1336_).

_Collection of
Mr. Henry Goldman._

Framed by a slightly pointed arch, not sufficiently removed from the old Romanesque curves to be full Gothic, and projected upon a background of gold, appears this graceful Madonna, so unusual in type and of such amazing beauty. Her face, with its almond-shaped eyes (not set obliquely however) and its sweet flower-like mouth, has a Chinese quality that bestows a great charm. On the face there is also an Oriental radiation of gentleness, resignation, and spiritual experience. While looking at us this lovely Madonna--who might answer as well for the Chinese goddess Kuan Yin--seems to be trying to draw us into a contemplation of the Infinite. The dress, too, is unusual. All that we see is a blue mantle lined with silk, shaded in green, white, and pink, decorated by a gold border with an Arabic inscription. This mantle is carried over the head to form a hood and one end is very gracefully thrown across the left arm. On the right shoulder a conventionalized flower is embroidered in gold, reminding us of the star that the Sienese Madonnas usually carry. A white drapery, also having an Arabic border, is folded around the Holy Child, who grasps His mother’s forefinger with His left hand, while with His right He tries to take from her a white rose[4] that she is holding upward. Each head is encircled by a _nimbus_: that of the Virgin is very large and very decorative with an interlaced pattern of Oriental design; and that of the Holy Child has a foliage design reminiscent of Byzantine ornament. On both sides of the Virgin’s face a pink veil is visible.

This picture, painted on a panel (34 × 25 inches), came from the Collection of M. Eugène Max of Paris.

Many legends have gathered around the name of the great Florentine, doubly famed as painter of marvellous frescoes and as the architect of the Campanile in Florence that is still called by his name. The story of how Giotto, the little shepherd boy tending his father’s flocks on the Apennines, was discovered drawing a sheep on a rock by Cimabue and taken by him to Florence and trained, ultimately becoming the greatest painter of his time and founder of a School, was told by Ghiberti and Leonardo da Vinci many years before Vasari’s day.

Giotto di Bordone is supposed to have been born at Colle di Vespignano, about twenty miles from Florence, in 1266 and he died in Florence in 1337. He was a pupil of Cimabue but surpassed him. About 1300 he was in Rome making the mosaics in the portico of St. Peter’s, a polyptych, and some frescoes in the choir. In 1303–1306 Giotto painted the frescoes in the Arena Chapel in Padua; at Assisi he painted the scenes from the _Life of St. Francis_ in the Upper Church and also some of the frescoes in the Magdalen Chapel in the Lower Church. After 1316 he decorated the Bardi and the Peruzzi Chapels in S. Croce in Florence.

_Collection of Mr. Henry Goldman_

MADONNA AND CHILD

--_Giotto di Bordone_]

“From the first,” says Mrs. Cartwright, “Giotto adopted a clear, pale tone of coloring, which forms a marked contrast to the dark and heavy tints in use among Byzantine artists, and produces the effects of water-color, while that of the older painters more nearly resembles oils. The technique which he used, both for tempera and fresco-painting, and which remained in use among Florentine artists for the next hundred and fifty years, was in reality founded on the old Greek method which had been practiced during many centuries, although the improvements which he introduced were sufficient to justify the Giottesque artist, Cennino Cennini, in saying that Giotto changed painting from the Greek to the Latin manner and brought in modern art. Yet more striking were the innovations which he introduced in his types, the almond-shaped eyes, long noses, and oval countenances with square, heavy jaws which he substituted for the staring eyes and round faces of Byzantine artists. The few and simple lines of his draperies give a majestic effect to his figures and at the same time sufficiently indicate the structure of the human form beneath; so that in spite of his ignorance of anatomy and modelling, the result is remarkably good.”

Giotto was working in Naples for King Robert in 1333 when he was sent for by the Signoria of Florence and appointed Chief Architect of the State and Master of the Cathedral Works, succeeding Arnolfo del Cambio, who had died in 1310. All work had stopped since that date; but now the authorities had decided to erect a bell-tower and they announced: “For this purpose we have chosen Giotto di Bordone, painter, the great and dear master, since neither in the city, nor in the whole world, is there any other to be found as well fitted for this and similar tasks.” The whole achievement of Giotto’s life was summed up more than a hundred years later when Lorenzo the Magnificent commanded Angelo Poliziano to write a Latin inscription for a bust of Giotto he was placing on Giotto’s tomb in the Duomo:

“Lo, I am he by whom dead Painting was restored to life, to whose right hand all was possible, by whom Art became one with Nature. No one ever painted more or better. Do you wonder at yon fair Tower which holds the sacred bells? Know it was I who bade her first rise towards the stars. For I am Giotto--what need is there to tell of my work? Long as verse lives, my name shall endure!”

THE ANNUNCIATION.

_Masolino_
(_1383–1447_).

_Collection of
Mr. Henry Goldman_

We have here a very interesting and important example of interior decoration. The Renaissance has arrived as well as the Announcing Gabriel! The round arch of grey stone (the spandrels of which contain rosettes) frames a sumptuous room divided by a slender Corinthian column. The walls and the _cassette_ ceiling are inlaid with mosaic of different colors and the archway leading into another room--the Virgin’s bedroom--has a blue sky sprinkled with gold stars. In the centre of the background richly decorated doors lead into the adjoining room. The general hues of the wall and ceiling are grey, green, and red. The Virgin is seated on the right upon a tall and not very comfortable Italian settee. She has on a light blue mantle which falls around her in graceful folds. Her parted light hair is surrounded by a golden _nimbus_ of decorative design. She holds an open prayer-book with one hand and with the other makes a gesture of submission and humility as she listens to the message of the Angel. Whether she _sees_ Gabriel or not, she evidently _hears_ what he has to tell her. The Angel, too, expresses reverence with hands crossed upon his breast. He wears a rich claret-colored, velvet brocade embossed with gold flowers and above his fair hair, which is tightly curled, shines a golden _nimbus_ decorated with flower-like rosettes. His wings seem not to have quite quieted down from the flight from Heaven to earth.[5] Of this picture (painted on a panel 58¼ × 45¼ inches), which came from the Collection of Lord Wemyss at Gosford House, Longniddry, Haddingtonshire, Scotland, Berenson says:

“The decorative effect is so strong and so enchanting that like the rest of Masolino’s art it scarcely finds precedence in Florence or even in Italy. The suavity, the grace, the splendor, although paralleled in Gentile da Fabriano and in Sassetta, would seem inspired rather by the ecstatic mood of Parisian painting toward 1400 with its figures of angelic candor and skies of heavenly radiance than by Tuscan models.”

_Collection of Mr. Henry Goldman_

THE ANNUNCIATION

--_Masolino_]

Masolino, the son of a house painter, was born in Panicale in 1383. His real name was Tommaso di Cristoforo di Fino, and he was familiarly called Masolino da Panicale. According to Vasari he was a pupil of “Starnina” and worked under Ghiberti. He was admitted into the Florentine Guild of Painters in 1423. In that year he was commissioned to paint the frescoes in the new chapel of the Carmine, built by Felice Brancacci, and he took for his assistant, Masaccio, who went on with the work when Masolino was sent to Hungary in 1425 to decorate a church at Stuhlweissenburg.