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diff --git a/41834-8.txt b/41834-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 3e7dc15..0000000 --- a/41834-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1345 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Fra Angelico, by James Mason - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Fra Angelico - Masterpieces in Colour Series - -Author: James Mason - -Editor: T. Leman Hare - -Release Date: January 13, 2013 [EBook #41834] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRA ANGELICO *** - - - - -Produced by sp1nd, Charlie Howard, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - MASTERPIECES - IN COLOUR - EDITED BY - T. LEMAN HARE - - FRA ANGELICO - 1387-1455 - - - - -"MASTERPIECES IN COLOUR" SERIES - - - ARTIST. AUTHOR. - - VELAZQUEZ. S. L. BENSUSAN. - REYNOLDS. S. L. BENSUSAN. - TURNER. C. LEWIS HIND. - ROMNEY. C. LEWIS HIND. - GREUZE. ALYS EYRE MACKLIN. - BOTTICELLI. HENRY B. BINNS. - ROSSETTI. LUCIEN PISSARRO. - BELLINI. GEORGE HAY. - FRA ANGELICO. JAMES MASON. - REMBRANDT. JOSEF ISRAELS. - LEIGHTON. A. LYS BALDRY. - RAPHAEL. PAUL G. KONODY. - HOLMAN HUNT. MARY E. COLERIDGE. - TITIAN. S. L. BENSUSAN. - MILLAIS. A. LYS BALDRY. - CARLO DOLCI. GEORGE HAY. - GAINSBOROUGH. MAX ROTHSCHILD. - TINTORETTO. S. L. BENSUSAN. - LUINI. JAMES MASON. - FRANZ HALS. EDGCUMBE STALEY. - VAN DYCK. PERCY M. TURNER. - LEONARDO DA VINCI. M. W. BROCKWELL. - RUBENS. S. L. BENSUSAN. - WHISTLER. T. MARTIN WOOD. - HOLBEIN. S. L. BENSUSAN. - BURNE-JONES. A. LYS BALDRY. - VIGÉE LE BRUN. C. HALDANE MACFALL. - CHARDIN. PAUL G. KONODY. - FRAGONARD. C. HALDANE MACFALL. - MEMLINC. W. H. J. & J. C. WEALE. - CONSTABLE. C. LEWIS HIND. - RAEBURN. JAMES L. CAW. - JOHN S. SARGENT. T. MARTIN WOOD. - LAWRENCE. S. L. BENSUSAN. - DÜRER. H. E. A. FURST. - MILLET. PERCY M. TURNER. - WATTEAU. C. LEWIS HIND. - HOGARTH. C. LEWIS HIND. - MURILLO. S. L. BENSUSAN. - WATTS. W. LOFTUS HARE. - INGRES. A. J. FINBERG. - COROT. SIDNEY ALLNUTT. - DELACROIX. PAUL G. KONODY. - -_Others in Preparation._ - - -[Illustration: PLATE I.--A GROUP OF ANGELS. (Frontispiece) - -This panel from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence is an example of Fra -Angelico's most popular work. It is painted in his earliest manner and -the figures are stiff and conventional, but the simplicity and beauty -that can be found in the group connect it with the paintings of the -primitives who were in a sense Angelico's forebears.] - - - - - Fra ANGELICO - - BY JAMES MASON - - ILLUSTRATED WITH EIGHT - REPRODUCTIONS IN COLOUR - - [Illustration: IN - SEMPITERNUM.] - - LONDON: T. C. & E. C. JACK - NEW YORK: FREDERICK A. STOKES CO. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - Page - I. Introduction 11 - - II. The Painter's Early Days 21 - - III. In San Marco 45 - - IV. Later Years 58 - - V. A Retrospect 71 - - VI. Conclusion 78 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - Plate - I. A Group Of Angels Frontispiece - In the Uffizi Gallery, Florence - - Page - II. A Figure of Christ 14 - In the San Marco Convent, Florence - - III. Two Angels with Trumpets 24 - In the Uffizi Gallery, Florence - - IV. Christ as a Pilgrim met by Two Dominicans 34 - In the San Marco Convent, Florence - - V. The Coronation of the Virgin 40 - In the San Marco Convent, Florence - - VI. Detail from the Coronation of the Virgin 50 - In the Uffizi Gallery, Florence - - VII. The Infant Christ 60 - In the San Marco Convent, Florence - - VIII. St. Peter the Martyr 70 - In the San Marco Convent, Florence - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -I - -INTRODUCTION - - -Round the peaceful life and delicately imaginative work of Guido da -Vicchio, the Florentine artist who is known to the world at large as Fra -Angelico, critics and laymen continue to wage a fierce controversy. -While few are heard to deny the merit of the artist's exquisite -achievement, it is hard to find, even among those who are interested in -early Florentine religion and art, men who can agree about Fra -Angelico's positions between the monastery and the studio. "He was a man -with a beautiful mind," says one; "a light of the Church, a saint by -temperament, and he chanced to be a painter." "You are entirely wrong," -says the supporter of the opposing theory; "he was a Heaven-sent artist -who chanced to take the vows." - -So the schools of art and theology rage furiously together, after the -fashion of the two men who approached a statue from opposite sides and -quarrelled because one said that the shield carried by the bronze figure -was made of gold, and the other said it was made of silver. Incensed by -each other's obstinacy they drew swords and fought until they both -fell helpless to the ground, only to be assured by a third traveller, -who chanced to pass by, that the shield had gold on one side and silver -on the other. - -[Illustration: PLATE II.--A FIGURE OF CHRIST - -Detail from San Marco's Convent in Florence. This striking example of -the master's mature art reveals in most favourable light his exquisite -conception of Christ. Although this is no more than part of a picture, -it has been reproduced here in order that the details of the handling -may be appreciated.] - -Standing well apart from the enthusiasts of both sides, the average man -sees that Fra Angelico was an artist of remarkable attainments and at -the same time a devout, God-fearing friar, who seems to have deserved a -great part at least of the praise he received from the honeyed pen of -Giorgio Vasari. Naturally enough the modern artist finds in Fra -Angelico, or "Beato" Angelico as he is sometimes called, one of the most -interesting painters of the fifteenth century, and he does not bother -about the fact that his hero chanced to be a Dominican brother. Very -devout Catholics, on the other hand, will approach Fra Angelico's work -on the literary side, and will be profoundly conscious of the fact that -he was the first great artist of Italy who, realising the maternity of -the Madonna, represented her as a mother full of human affection, and -the Holy Child as a beautiful baby boy. It is the painter's abiding -claim to our regard that he brought life to his walls and panels, that -they present the living, palpitating sentiment of men and women and -children, that he painted for us the flowers that blossomed round him -and the countryside through which he wandered in his hours of ease. The -technical achievement, the gradual but steady improvement in dealing -with composition and masses of colour, the extraordinary change from the -stiff early figures to the supple ones of the later years, the splendid -growth of the artistic sense, from all these things the devotee turns -aside. He is not unconscious of the change, for the results achieved by -the painter account for the spectator's riper and fuller appreciation, -but he cannot analyse it. Of far more moment to him is the thought that -all Fra Angelico's life and art were given to the service of the Church, -that he laboured without ceasing to present the Gospel stories in the -most attractive form, despising the material rewards that awaited such -achievements as his. Ease, luxury and the praise of the world at large -the Dominican dismissed with fine indifference, believing that his -reward would come when his task was ended, and the work of his hands -should praise him in the gates. "Here," his orthodox latter-day admirers -say, "is the man of noble convictions and pure life, who stood for all -that was best in religion. As he chanced to have the gifts of a -painter, he used those gifts to develop his mission. Painting with him -was no more than a means to an end, and that end was the glorification -of God." The dispute must needs be endless; for we cannot see through -the four centuries that separate us from the artist, and every man takes -from a picture some echo of what he brought to it. - -In sober truth the matter is of far less importance than the makers of -controversy imagine. It should suffice both parties to agree that Fra -Angelico was a great painter and a great man, that his association with -the Church afforded him the opportunity of leaving behind him work that -has a spiritual as well as artistic quality. His altar-pieces and -frescoes seem to breathe the serene atmosphere of an age of faith; they -tell of a quiet retired life amid surroundings that remain unrivalled -to-day, even though our horizon is widened and we know the New World as -well as the Old. - -There are examples of the painter's art in the National Gallery and in -the Louvre, in Rome and in Perugia; but Florence holds by far the -greatest number. In Florence we find the series painted to decorate the -"Silver Press" of the Annunziata, and more than a dozen other works of -importance. The Uffizi guards the famous "Madonna dei Linajuoli" and the -"Coronation of the Virgin" from Santa Maria Nuova. The Convent of San -Marco, to which the Brotherhood of San Dominico went in 1346 from -Fiesole, holds the famous frescoes in cloister, chapter-house, and -cells, and offers an illuminating guide to the painter's ideals and -intentions, in work that is the ripe product of middle age. So it is to -Florence that one must go to study the painter, though there are one or -two works from his hands in Fiesole across the valley, while the -collection in Perugia is not to be overlooked, and Rome holds some of -the best work of the artist's hand, painted in the closing years. For -all the surging waves of tourists that break upon Florence, month in, -month out, filling streets and galleries with discordant noises, and -giving them an air of unrest strangely out of keeping with their -traditional aspect, the city preserves sufficient of its old-time -character to enable the student to study Fra Angelico's pictures in an -atmosphere that would not have been altogether repugnant to the artist -himself. Save in seasons when the city is full to overflowing the -Convent of San Marco receives few visitors, while in the Academy and at -the Uffizi there are so many expressions of a more flamboyant art that -there is seldom any lack of space round the panels Angelico painted. - -There are some days when San Marco is altogether free from visitors, and -then the frescoed cells, through which the great white glare of the day -steals softly and subdued, seem to be waiting for the devotees who will -return no more, and one looks anxiously to cloisters, and garden and -chapter-house for some signs of the life that rose so far above the -varied emptiness of our own. - - - - -II - -THE PAINTER'S EARLY DAYS - - -When Guido da Vicchio was born in the little fortified town from which -he takes his name, the town that looks out upon the Apennines on the -North and West, and towards Monte Giovo on the South, the Medici family -was just beginning to raise its head in Florence. Salvestro di Medici -had originated the "Tumult of the Ciompi"; the era of democratic -government in the city was drawing to a close. Beyond the boundaries of -Florence the various states into which Italy was divided were -quarrelling violently among themselves. The throne of St. Peter was rent -by schism, Pope and anti-Pope were striving one against the other in -fashion that was amazing and calculated to bring the Papal power into -permanent disrepute. It was a period of uncertainty and unrest, prolific -in saints and sinners, voluptuaries and ascetics. No student of history -will need to be reminded that it is to periods such as this that the -world has learned to look for its remarkable men. - -[Illustration: PLATE III.--TWO ANGELS WITH TRUMPETS - -These panels from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence are very popular -examples of the master's early work, and although they do not compare -favourably with his later efforts, they have achieved an extraordinary -measure of popularity in Italy, and are to be seen on picture postcards -in every Italian city from Genoa to Naples. (See p. 32.)] - -Doubtless some echo of the surrounding strife penetrated beyond the -walls of Vicchio when Guido was a little boy, for he lived in a -fortified town built for purposes of war. It is not unreasonable to -suppose that he may have seen enough of the stress and strife peculiar -to the age to have turned his thoughts to other things. If a lad, born -with a peaceable and affectionate disposition, be brought into contact -with violence at an early age, his peaceful tendencies will be -strengthened, he will avoid all sources and scenes of strife. We know -nothing of the painter's boyhood, but, looking round at the conditions -prevailing in Florence, it seems more than likely that the years were -not quite restful. - -In the absence of authentic information one may do no more than suggest -that, when the lad was newly in his teens, he served in the studio of -some local painter and discovered his own talent. Attempts have been -made to give the teacher a name and a history, but these efforts, for -all that they are interesting, lack authenticity. Far away in Florence -the first faint light of the Revival of Learning was shining upon the -more intelligent partisans of all the jarring factions. The claims of -the religious life were being put forward with extraordinary fervour and -ability by a great teacher and preacher, John the Dominican, who appears -to have reformed the somewhat lax rules of his order. We are told that -he travelled on foot from town to town after the fashion of his time, -calling upon sinners to repent, and summoning to join the brotherhood -all those who regarded life as a dangerous and uncertain road to a -greater and nobler future. Clerics looked askance at the signs of the -times, for although art and literature were coming into favour, -although Florence was becoming the centre of a great humanist movement, -the change was associated with a recrudescence of pagan luxury and vices -that boded ill for the maintenance of moral law. - -Perhaps John the Dominican preached in Vicchio, perhaps Guido and his -younger brother Benedetto heard him elsewhere, but wherever the message -was delivered it went home, for it is recorded that in the year 1407, -when Fra Angelico would have been just twenty years old, he and -Benedetto travelled to the Dominican Convent on the hillside at Fiesole -and applied for admission to the order. The brothers were welcomed and -sent to serve their novitiate at Cortona, where some of Fra Angelico's -earliest known work was painted. They returned to Fiesole in the -following year, but the Dominican establishment there was soon broken -up because the Florentines had acknowledged Alexander V. as Pope, and -the Dominican Brotherhood supported his opponent, Gregory XI. Foligno -and Cortona were visited in turn. In the former city the Church of the -Dominicans remains to-day; and so the brethren sought peace beyond -Fiesole, until in 1418 the Council of Constance healed the wounds of -Mother Church. Then Pope Martin V. came to live in Florence, where John -XXIII. paid him obeisance, and the Dominican friars returned to their -hillside home beyond the city, that was then, according to the historian -Bisticci, "in a most blissful state, abounding in excellent men in every -faculty, and full of admirable citizens." - -And now Fra Angelico, as he must be called in future, settled down to -his first important work. He had learned as much as his associates -could teach him, and had gathered sufficient strength of purpose, -intelligence and judgment, to enable him to deal with the problems of -his art as he thought best. It may be said that Fra Angelico built the -bridge by which mediæval art travelled into the country of the -Renaissance. Indeed, he did more than this, for having built the bridge, -he boldly passed over it in the last years of his life. We can see in -his work the unmistakable marks of the years of his labour. He started -out equipped with the heavy burden of all the conventions of -mediævalism. Against that drawback he could set independence of thought, -and a goodly measure of that Florentine restlessness that led men to -express themselves in every art-form known to the world. No Florentine -artist of the Quattrocento held that painting was enough if he could -add sculpture to it, or that sculpture would serve if architecture could -be added to that. Had there been any other form of art-expression to -their hands, the Florentines would have used it, because they were as -men who seek to speak in many languages. This restlessness, this -prodigality of effort, was to find its final expression in Leonardo da -Vinci, who entered the world as the Dominican friar was leaving it. - -In the early days Fra Angelico must have been a miniaturist. Vasari -speaks of him as being pre-eminent as painter, miniaturist, and -religious man, and the painting of miniatures cramped the painter's -style in fashion that detracts from the merits of the earlier pictures, -but of course Fra Angelico is by no means the only artist to whom -miniature painting has been a pitfall. - -Professor Langton Douglas has pointed out, in his admirable and -exhaustive work on Fra Angelico, that the artist was profoundly -influenced by the great painters and architects of his time, and has -even used this undisputed fact as an aid to ascertain the approximate -date of certain pictures. We can hardly wonder that the influence should -be felt by a sensitive artist, who responded readily to outside forces, -when we consider the quality of the work that sculpture and architecture -were giving to the world in those early days of the Quattrocento. Men of -genius dominated every path in life and Florence held far more than a -fair share of them. - -Among the works belonging to the years before Fra Angelico went to San -Marco, and painted the frescoes that stand for his middle period at its -best, are the Altar-piece at Cortona, "The Annunciation" and "The Last -Judgment," in the Academy of Florence, and the famous "Madonna da -Linajuoli," with its twelve angels playing divers musical instruments on -the frame round the central panel. These angels have made the Madonna of -the Flax-workers the best known of all the painter's works. So long the -delight of the public eye they are very harshly criticised to-day, and -not without reason, for doubtless they are flat and stiff productions -enough. But they have a certain naïve beauty of their own, and because -they have done more than work of far greater merit to spread the fame of -Fra Angelico, because they have been the source of great delight to -countless people despised and rejected of art critics, it has seemed -reasonable to present some of them in this little volume, side by side -with those more important works of the master to which so many -artists of the Renaissance are indebted. We may rest assured that to the -painter the angels were very real angels indeed, the best that his art -and devotion could express. - -[Illustration: PLATE IV.--CHRIST AS A PILGRIM MET BY TWO DOMINICANS - -This is a fresco in the cloister of San Marco at Florence. It will be -seen that Christ holds a pilgrim's staff which cuts the picture in half, -and the right hand of the foremost Dominican and the left hand of -Christ, extended across the staff, form a cross.] - -Other important works of this first period, which may be taken to range -from 1407 to 1435, are the altar-pieces known as the Madonna of Cortona, -the Madonna of Perugia, and the Madonna of the Annelena, the last-named -being in the Academy at Florence. Critics and artists can divide the -painter's life into four or more divisions expressed to them by changes -in his style; but a simpler division suffices here. - -Looking at Fra Angelico with eyes that the nineteenth century has -trained, we speak of this early work as of less importance than what -followed, but in so doing it is quite easy to speak or write as several -of his critics have done in very unreasonable fashion. Certainly the -artist, who in the last years of his life painted the picture of St. -Lorenzo distributing alms, and the scenes in the life of St. Stephen, -has travelled very far from the painter of the "Last Judgment" that may -be seen in Florence; but, even in the early days of Cortona, Fra -Angelico was a modern of the moderns. He was a man who worked and -thought far in advance of his times, who had the wide outlook that we -have learned to associate with all the Florentine artists of the -Quattrocento, and he left the boundaries of the painter's art far wider -than he found them. Doubtless many of his contemporaries found his work -daring and even immoral in so far as it departed from the traditions -that had satisfied his predecessors. He had an individuality that -expressed itself in fashion unmistakable before he was thirty years of -age, and developed steadily down to the last year of his life. Divorced -by his calling from the cares and joys of other men, he responded with -delight to the larger and more general aspects of life. Fra Angelico had -a keen and eager eye for natural beauty; he seems to have gone to the -countryside for all the inspiration that remained to seek when the -sacred writings were laid aside. The maternal aspect with which he -endowed the Madonna, who had hitherto been as stiff and formless as -though carved out of wood, testifies to the artist's recognition of -maternity as he saw it among the simple peasants his order served. He -restored humanity to Mother and Child. The child-like Christ, no longer -a doll but a real _bambino_, tells us how deeply the painter entered -into the spirit of a life that the rules of his order forbade him to -share. Just as some women who do not marry seem to keep for the world at -large the measure of loving sympathy that would have been concentrated -upon their children; so this painter monk, who had paid his vows to -poverty, chastity, and obedience, could express upon his canvas the -affection and the sentiment that would have been bestowed under other -circumstances upon a chosen helpmate. Lacking the joys of healthy -domesticity he turned to Nature with a loving eye and an intelligence -that cannot be over-estimated and, if he knew hours wherein, manlike, he -mourned for the life forbidden, the consolation was at hand. The Earth -Mother consoled him. In his earliest canvases he expresses his love of -flowers, the love of a child for the sights that make the earliest -appeal to our sense of beauty. His angels are set in flowering -fields, they carry blossoms that bloom in the fields beyond Cortona, and -upon the hillside of Fiesole. Clearly the painter saw Paradise around -him. Roses and pinks seem to be his favourite flowers, he paints them -with a loving care, knowing them in bud and in full leaf and, just as he -went to Nature for the decorative side of his art, so in a way he may be -said to have gone to Nature in her brightest and most joyous moods for -his colours. His palette seems to have borrowed its glory from the -rainbow--the gold, the green, the blue, and the red are surely as bright -and clear in his pictures as they are in the great and gleaming arch -that Easterns call in their own picturesque fashion "The Bride of the -Rain." - -[Illustration: PLATE V.--THE CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN - -This is a detail of a famous picture in San Marco. It is a fresco in a -cell of the South Corridor. Christ is seen crowning the Virgin, the -clouds surrounding them are rainbow tinted, and below the rainbow six -saints are ranged in a semi-circle.] - -In all his work Fra Angelico showed himself an innovator, a man who, in -thinking for himself, would not allow his own clear vision to be -obscured by the conventions that bound men of smaller mentality and less -significant achievement. At the same time he was very observant of the -progress of his peers, particularly in architecture, and students of -this branch of art cannot fail to notice his response to the -developments brought about by Michelozzo and Brunelleschi. Even in the -first period of his art he would have seemed a daring innovator to his -contemporaries for, all unconsciously he was taking his share in shaping -the great Renaissance movement that left so many timid souls outside the -radius of its illumination. - -In the early days he approached the human body with some diffidence, and -though a greater courage in this regard is the keynote of Renaissance -painting, the earlier timidity is hardly to be wondered at when we -consider the attitude of the religious houses towards humanity in its -physical aspect, and how necessary it was to avoid anything approaching -sensuous imagery throughout that anxious period of transition. As he -grew older and more confident of his powers, Fra Angelico seems to have -freed himself from some of the restrictions that beset an artist who is -also a religious. He, too, learned to glorify the human form. - -His love for Nature remained constant throughout all the years of his -life; he was sufficiently daring to introduce real landscape into his -pictures, and by so doing, to become one of the fathers of landscape -painting. His angels have a setting in the Italy he knew best, the -flowers that strew their paths are those he may have gathered in the -convent garden; for even his vivid and exalted imagination could not -create aught more beautiful than those that grew so freely and wild by -the wayside, or were tended by his brethren in San Marco. - -We find throughout the pictures a suggestion that the life of the artist -was a serene and tranquil one that, while he was actively concerned with -things of art throughout the district he knew best, he was sheltered by -the house of the brotherhood from the tumult and turmoil that beset -Fiesole, Cortona, and Foligno in the days of his youth. When he went to -San Marco in Florence, where his most enduring memorial remains to this -day, Fra Angelico was a man of experience and an independence so far in -advance of his time, that some of the work he had accomplished comes to -us to-day with a suggestion of absolute modernity in thought if not in -treatment. No beauty that our more sophisticated age can reveal to us -had passed him by, he paints Nature as Milton painted it when he wrote -the "Masque of Comus" and "l'Allegro." And this manner of painting, so -different from that of men who mix themselves with the world and -surrender to its fascinations, is the painting that endures. - - - - -III - -IN SAN MARCO - - -It was in 1435, and Fra Angelico was approaching his fiftieth year, when -the brotherhood of San Dominico quitted their convent in Fiesole and -went to find a new home in Florence. With the turn of the year they left -a temporary resting-place in San Giorgio Oltr' Arno and went into the -ruined monastery of San Marco. This house appears to have belonged to -the brotherhood of San Silvestro whose behaviour had been quite fitted -to the fifteenth century in Florence, but was not altogether creditable -to a religious house. Pope Eugenius IV., anxious to purify all the -religious houses, gave San Marco to the Dominicans with the consent of -Cosimo di Medici, and a very poor gift it was at the time, for the -dormitory had been destroyed by fire, and hastily-made wooden cabins -could not keep out the rain and cold wind. There was a great mortality -among the brethren. Once again the Pope Eugenius interceded with the -powerful ruler of Florence, and Cosimo sent for his well-beloved -architect Michelozzo and commissioned him to rebuild the monastery. -Naturally enough Fra Angelico, whose feeling for architecture was finely -developed, came under the influence of the architect, and when the -building was complete he was commissioned to adorn the walls with -frescoes that should keep before the brethren the actualities of the -religious life, and enable them to feel that the Spiritual Presence was -in their midst. - -Cosimo's munificence had not stopped with the presentation of the -building to the brotherhood. He equipped the monastery with a famous -library, provided all the service books that were necessary, and gave -the brethren for librarian a man who was destined to ascend the -Fisherman's Throne and keep the keys of Heaven. The books were -illuminated by Fra Angelico's brother Benedetto, who had taken the vows -with him, indeed some critics are of opinion that Fra Angelico himself -assisted in the work, but for this belief there appears to be but a -very small foundation. - -The Pope Eugenius, compelled by the quarrels of the great houses in Rome -to leave the Eternal City, came to Florence and saw Fra Angelico's work -there, and this visit paved the way for the painter's sojourn in Rome in -the last years of his life. Like so many of his contemporaries, Eugenius -could find time amid the distractions of a stormy and difficult -existence to keep a well-trained eye upon the artistic developments -going on around him, and he did but wait for peace and opportunity to -show himself as keen a patron of art as that "terrible pontiff," Julius -della Rovere, for whom Michelangelo was to work in the Sistine Chapel. - -[Illustration: PLATE VI.--DETAIL FROM THE CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN - -This is a detail from one of the pictures that have excited a great deal -of criticism. Professor Douglas calls the work "the last and greatest of -Fra Angelico's glorified miniatures." In the work as it stands in the -Uffizi to-day, Christ is seen placing a jewel in the Virgin's crown. -Right and left stretches the Angelic choir, below there is a great -gathering of saints.] - -To realise the life that the painter saw around him in the days when the -Dominican brotherhood first went to San Marco, it is necessary to -turn to some historian of Florence in an endeavour to recall the -splendour and stateliness of the city's life. The limits of space forbid -any attempt, however modest, to picture Florence in detail as it was in -those days, though the subject could scarcely be more tempting to the -pen. The pomp and circumstance of life were not passed over by the -painter, whose extraordinary receptivity found so much more in Florence -than in Fiesole for its exercise. Some echo, however, subdued to convent -walls, lingers in the city to-day where San Marco preserves its great -painter's reputation, and tells us that he was not indifferent to the -sights and sounds beyond its gates. - -A few of the frescoes have lost a little of their pristine beauty and -yet, for all the ravages of time, the most faded among them can suggest -much of the charm they possessed when they were painted. It is in the -open cloisters, of course, that the greatest damage has been done, and -the great "Crucifixion" in the chapter-house has not escaped lightly; -but in the cells where the work is more protected, time has dealt -lightly with the frescoes and the two or three little panels that help -to make the friar's lasting monument. Good judges have pointed out that -the great "Crucifixion" in the chapter-house, the largest work of the -painter, was never completed, and that the red background was intended -to serve as a bed for the blue that was never put on. Nobody can say why -this fine work was abandoned, and reproduction in colour is impossible. -Even a detail would be unsatisfactory, but one of the lunettes from the -cloister is given here. It represents Christ as a pilgrim meeting two -Dominican brothers, and gives an excellent suggestion of Fra Angelico at -his best, revealing the deep feeling of the religious man, and the skill -of the artist blended together in happiest and most inspired union. To -have seen the picture in his mind, the artist must have been a deeply -religious man; to have expressed the vision as he has expressed it in -terms of line and colour, the devotee must have been a great artist. - -From one of the cells in San Marco the chief part of another picture has -been reproduced in these pages. It represents the "Coronation of the -Virgin." Christ seated upon a white cloud is placing a crown upon the -Virgin's head; there is a rainbow border with six saints. In order that -the beauty of the central figures may be seen, no more than a part of -the picture is given here. It is the more important part, for the saints -are conventional figures, each with the hands uplifted in adoration, -each with a halo round his head. The beauty of the stories that Fra -Angelico sets before us was as true to him as the beauty of the flowers -he painted, and the landscape that met his eyes whenever he walked -abroad. The modern world, whether it doubt or believe, cannot but -recognise that the artist of San Marco has succeeded as much by his -faith as by his art. The other frescoes of the Dominican House must be -left for the fortunate minority who can visit them, but these two will -be found to represent well and truthfully both the religious idea and -the artistic achievement. To realise their merits to the full one must -not fail to bear in mind the development of painting at the time when -they were painted. For the men who came after Angelico the task was -easier; he had paved the way for them. In the days when San Marco was -decorated, the painter had very little to add to his technical -knowledge, and nothing at all to his feeling for the beauty of the -Gospel stories, and few artists of the fifteenth century have been so -fortunate as to collect their best work in one place where it could -remain undisturbed throughout the ages. - -Naturally enough it must pass--cloisters and chapter-house show signs of -the times all too clearly. "The Crucifixion" is faded not so badly as -Leonardo's "Last Supper" in the Santa Maria della Grazie of Milan, but -still seriously, nor can all the _lire_ of faithful but hurried tourists -restore its charm. It is in the cells that the work of Fra Angelico will -linger longest, and it is pleasant to speculate upon the debt that -devout monks must have owed to their artist brother, who could give them -such exquisite embodiments of the truth as he saw it to brighten their -hard lives and assure them, even in hours of doubt and mental trouble, -of the joys that would be associated with the latter end. - -San Marco, then, may be regarded as an exquisite and enduring memorial -of the middle period of Fra Angelico's life. The saint that was in him -dreamed dreams and saw visions, the artist that was in him expressed -them in fashion that calls for admiration even in these days when the -work done is nearly four hundred years old, and the thought that gave it -birth is no longer held in such universal esteem. The devotion that -inspired the themes, the simplicity of his handling, the beauty of his -colour, the love of Nature that was expressed as often as the picture -would permit, the reverential feeling in treatment that was bound to -communicate itself to the spectator, all these qualities make the work -remarkable, and help us to see how strong was the faith that inspired -and kept the artist happy in the cloisters when, had he wished to turn -his talent to other purposes, he might have had riches and honour. -Leading rulers of men were building palaces in every great city, -conquerors and statesmen were seeking to excel one another in tasteful -and costly display. Of those who could have commanded wealth, honour, -and comfort, the Dominican friar was among the first. But it sufficed -Fra Angelico to serve neither kings nor princes, but to choose for his -worship the King of kings "Who made the heavens and the earth and all -that is therein." - - - - -IV - -LATER YEARS - - -There is a great temptation to linger awhile in San Marco with the -friar, for even to-day the place has not lost its appeal, and there are -sufficient landmarks in the surrounding city to enable us to trace the -influence of men who were at once the contemporaries and inspirers of -his genius. Only the limits of space intervene to forbid too long a stay -in Florence, and as the painter's later years were spent in Rome we must -follow him there. For those who wish to linger in the monastery there -are books in plenty, some dealing with the Quattrocento, others dealing -with the Popes, others with Fra Angelico himself. This outline of a -painter's life seeks to do no more than introduce him to those who -may be interested; it is not intended for those who wish to follow -him beyond the limits of a modest appreciation. Vasari, Crowe, and -Cavalcaselle, Professor Langton Douglas, Bernhard Berenson and others -will supply the more complete and detailed accounts of the painter's -life and works, and the careful reader will find sufficient references -to other writers to direct him to every side issue. - -[Illustration: PLATE VII.--THE INFANT CHRIST - -From the Convent of San Marco. This picture gives a fair idea of the -exquisite sweetness and delicacy with which the painter handled the -subject of the child Christ. He does not treat this subject very often, -but when he does the result is in every way delightful.] - -Pope Eugenius IV., who visited Florence when he was exiled from Rome, -had settled for a while in Bologna until the anti-Pope Felix V. fell -from power, and had then hastened back to Rome, and settled down to -beautify the Vatican. Like all the great men of his generation he felt -the spirit of the Renaissance in the air, and desired no more than -leisure in order to respond to it. He remembered the clever artist, -whose work had charmed him in the days of his Florentine exile, and sent -an invitation to Fra Angelico to come to Rome and decorate one of the -chapels in the Vatican. In those days one travelled in Italy, even more -slowly than one does to-day by the Italian express trains--strange as -the statement may seem to moderns who know the country well--and by the -time that the friar had received the summons and had responded to it, -Eugenius IV. would appear to have relinquished the keys to his -successor. Happily the new Pope Nicholas V. was a scholar, a gentleman, -and a statesman, as responsive to the new ideas as his predecessor in -office. He gathered the best men of his time to the Vatican, which he -proposed to rebuild, and he entered upon a programme that could scarcely -have been carried out had he enjoyed a much longer lease of life than -Providence granted. Unfortunately he had no more than eight years to -rule at St. Peter's, and that did not serve for much more than a -beginning of his great scheme. He was succeeded by Tomaso Parentucelli, -that ardent scholar whom Cosimo di Medici had appointed custodian of the -collection of MSS. that he gave to San Marco in Florence when the -Dominicans took possession. As it happened Parentucelli himself was in -the last year of his life when he ascended the throne of St. Peter, and -his schemes, whether for the aid and development of scholarship or art, -saw no fruition. But for all that Nicholas V. ruled for no more than -eight years in Rome, he did much for Fra Angelico, who painted the -frescoes in the Pope's private studio, and decorated a chapel in St. -Peter's that was afterwards destroyed. This loss is of course a very -serious one, and suggests that those who ruled in the Vatican were -not always as careful as they might have been of works that would -have outlived them so long had they been fairly treated. It is -very unfortunate that art should suffer from the caprices of the -unintelligent. When Savonarola, also a Dominican monk, roused the -Florentines to a sense of their lapses from grace a few years after Fra -Angelico's death, they made a bonfire in the streets of Florence of art -work that was considered immoral. To sacrifice great work in the name of -morality is bad enough, to destroy it for the sake of building -operations is quite unpardonable. - -In Rome the summer heat is well-nigh unbearable. Even to-day the -voluntary prisoner of the Vatican retires to a villa in the far end of -his gardens towards the end of June, and none who can leave the city -cares to remain in it when May has gone, and the Tiber becomes a thread, -and fever haunts its banks. Fra Angelico felt the burden of the summer -and wished to suspend his work for a while. It so happened that he -received an invitation from Orvieto to decorate the Duomo there during -the months of June, July, and August. The first arrangement was that he -should go there every summer to escape the dog-days in Rome, but for -reasons not known to us the visit did not extend beyond one year, and -the frescoes that he had painted were seriously injured by rain, and -were not completed until Luca Signorelli took them in hand half a -century later. The little work that is attributed to the painter's brush -to-day in Orvieto need not detain us here. - -The frescoes in Rome represent the summit of Fra Angelico's achievement, -but they have not escaped the somewhat destructive hand of -nineteenth-century German criticism; one eminent authority having -declared that they are not by Fra Angelico at all, but have been painted -by pupils, Benozzo Gozzoli receiving special mention in this connection. -It is not necessary to take this criticism too seriously. The hands may -be the hands of Esau, but "the voice is Jacob's voice." The artist may -have received some assistance from pupils, the backgrounds may owe -something to another hand; there was no feeling, ethical or artistic, to -keep assistants from coming to the aid of their master, but the whole -composition and the whole feeling of the frescoes proclaim the friar. -The subjects are incidents in the life of St. Stephen and St. Lorenzo, -ending, of course, after the inevitable fashion of the time, with a -representation of the martyrdom. For once these martyrdoms have a -suggestion of reality. In the early days of Fra Angelico's work his -representations of martyrdoms and suffering were so naïve that they -could hardly do more than provoke a smile. His idea of hell was very -simple, and when he wished to be very bitter indeed--to express his -anger at its fullest--he peopled the nether world with brothers of the -great rival order of St. Francis. For the founder of that order, -Angelico had the greatest love and admiration; who indeed could refuse -to pay such tribute even to-day? But all the brethren did not live up to -the rule of their founder, and the Dominican painter's rebuke seems very -quaint in our eyes, though doubtless it made a great sensation when it -was administered. - -[Illustration: PLATE VIII.--ST. PETER THE MARTYR - -This is a fresco from the Cloisters of San Marco and represents St. -Peter, a saint whose appeal to the artist was very great The fact that -the saint has his finger to his lips may be taken as the artist's method -of emphasising the rule of silence of his Order. In fact the St. Peter -Martyr is generally called the "Silenzio," and like so many of -the artist's pictures must be taken to have a special spiritual -significance.] - -In Rome the painter's feeling for natural beauty reaches the height of -its expression, indeed one feels that every department of his work is at -its best and highest there. After his departure from the Eternal City, -the frescoes finished, and himself on the shady side of his sixtieth -year, the intervening centuries descend like a cloud, blotting out the -greater part of the record. The cloud lifts for a moment to show us -"Beato" Angelico, Prior of the Dominican Monastery at Fiesole, to which -more than forty years ago he had claimed admission as a novice, and then -he is back again in Rome in the chief convent of his order, Santa Maria -Sopra Minerva. There the light that had burned so brilliantly for nearly -half a century, illuminating the most alluring aspects of the Christian -faith, paled and went out. The body was laid to rest in the convent -Church, near the tomb of St. Catherine, and it is said that the epitaph -was composed by the Pope. Thereafter the order of St. Dominic produced -no great personality until it gave to the world a man of very different -stamp in Fra Girolamo Savonarola. - - - - -V - -A RETROSPECT - - -In art as in music and literature the path of the innovator is beset by -difficulties, and if, among all the movements that claim our attention -to-day, that of the Renaissance in fifteenth-century Italy is the most -fascinating, it is because the difficulties were conquered so -brilliantly. The century seemed to breed a race of men that enjoyed the -inestimable advantage of knowing what they wanted, and were determined -to succeed. It did not matter that the paths they trod were new. Each -man had mapped out a line of development for himself and went -strenuously along his chosen road, quite certain that he would find the -goal of his ambition at the journey's end. Curiously enough when the -paths were those of conquest there was always a road leading from them -to patronage of the arts. This may be because art in those days was -largely devoted to the service of the Church, and when a man had -acquired all that theft or conquest could give him, and realised that he -could not hope to wage successful war upon time, he began to think of -his latter days. Few men of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries could -approach death with confidence, and they sought to put something to -their credit against the Day of Judgment. To beautify religious houses, -to build houses for Holy Brotherhoods, these were the simplest and most -obvious ways of placating the Recording Angel, and to the uneasiness of -rich and unscrupulous men the Church owes not a few of her most -remarkable monuments. Moreover, even the tyrants wished to have some -enduring memorial. Cosimo di Medici, who gave San Lorenzo and San Marco -to Florence, remarked to his historian Bisticci, "Fifty years will not -pass before we are driven out of Florence, but these buildings will -remain." After all we can forget and forgive the superstition and -self-glorification that gave so much enduring wealth to the great cities -of Italy. - -Doubtless there were many failures among the Renaissance artists; it is -hardly an exaggeration to say that in painting alone there are scores of -men belonging to the Quattrocento who have left us nothing but their -names. Victory was to the fittest; they alone survived and left the -impress of their genius upon their own and succeeding generations. If we -look for a moment to Fra Angelico's contemporaries we see at once that -it was an age of great men. Filippo Brunelleschi was born ten years -before Angelico, and lived until the year 1446. He designed the dome of -the Cathedral of Florence, the Cloisters of San Lorenzo, the Sagrestia -Vecchia, the Church of St. Lawrence, and other works too numerous to -mention. Donatello, whose work to this hour is "all a wonder and a great -desire;" Ghiberti, to whom Florence owes the gates of the Baptistery; -Michelozzo, who built the Medici Palace and the Convent of San Marco, -and was associated with Luca della Robbia in making the bronze gates of -the Sacristy of the Duomo, belong to the same period, and were -intimately associated with Brunelleschi in much of the work that makes -Florence one of the show-places of the world to-day. Luca della Robbia -was born when Fra Angelico was no more than twelve years old. Masolino, -Masaccio, and Fra Filippo Lippi were among the painters of Fra -Angelico's own time, while, when he was approaching middle age, Gian -Bellini and Andrea Mantegna were growing up, and when Fra Angelico died, -Florence was full of great artists who were destined to carry on his -work. Of course, the literary activity was as great as the activity of -the artists; one recalls with a thrill of emotion that Petrarch and -Boccaccio were only just numbered among the dead--their work held all -its earliest freshness. If at first sight these matters seem to be -outside the scope of a brief consideration of Fra Angelico's life and -work, second thought will justify the inclusion even in these narrow -limits. - -Every artist is in a sense an echo of his environment and, although Fra -Angelico must have passed the greater part of his life within monastery -walls, yet the evidence of his pictures must convince all who look with -discerning eyes, that he was profoundly influenced by the life that went -on around him. The artistic and literary movements of the time affected -him deeply and, in his own modest way he was constantly striving to -enlarge the boundaries of his art, to develop its achievements in a -manner that must have made even his early pictures appear as dangerous -as the works of artists like Manet and Degas seemed to their -contemporaries. Had he lived in other times, had his lines been cast in -some quiet city to which no echo of the new movement in art and letters -could penetrate, Fra Angelico might still have painted interesting -pictures; but he would not have got beyond his earliest manner, indeed -he might not have attained to what is best in that. It would have been -so very easy for a narrow-minded superior to say that the innovations -were wrong, that the human figure in all its beauty must not be -expressed by a painter when presenting Virgin and Child, that the old -formal way was the right one. There could have been no appeal against -such a judgment. Doubtless many a budding genius has been nipped in this -fashion by short-sighted authority. How happy then was the friar with -time and place united in his service. - - - - -VI - -CONCLUSION - - -Fra Angelico has placed artists and laymen in his debt, and as far as -the latter are concerned the cause is obvious enough. A certain -conviction of the truth of every story he had to tell shines like a -bright light through all his pictures; they are a force for the -development and strengthening of belief. Even to-day one finds among the -crowd of tourists that "does" San Marco in half-an-hour or more, a few -visitors whose interest is of another kind, while there is no lack of -admirers for the work to be seen in the Uffizi, though much of it -belongs to the earliest part of the artist's life. So it happens that -the pictures have a well-defined literary and spiritual value, and it -is not surprising to think that the Church has granted posthumous -honours to the man whose work has brought so much honour in its train. -Artists acknowledge a great debt to the friar, but a debt of another -kind. As Professor Langton Douglas has pointed out in his admirable and -exhaustive work upon Fra Angelico, the friar, with his contemporaries, -Hubert and Jan Van Eyck, are the fathers of modern landscape. The new -movement was continued and developed by Verrocchio and Da Vinci on the -one side, and by Perugino and Raphael on the other. Then again Fra -Angelico made a definite movement towards portrait painting, by giving -the likeness of some of his friends and patrons to saints and martyrs. -This was yet another of the daring innovations that marked the opening -of the Quattrocento and, to realise how much it stood for we must -consider for a moment the comparative barrenness of modern art, which in -the hands of its most popular artists has little or nothing that is new -to say to us. Indeed it may be remarked with regret that great praise -often attaches to the man who goes back to the fifteenth and sixteenth -century, although a little reflection would enable every thoughtful -person to see that an art, forced to fall back upon traditions of the -past, is far from being in a flourishing condition. - - - The plates are printed by BEMROSE & SONS, LTD., Derby and London - The text at the BALLANTYNE PRESS, Edinburgh - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Fra Angelico, by James Mason - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRA ANGELICO *** - -***** This file should be named 41834-8.txt or 41834-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/8/3/41834/ - -Produced by sp1nd, Charlie Howard, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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