Christ with outstretched arms and noble features is one of Fra
Angelico's best works, but the attitudes of the Apostles are
conventional; the kneeling figure on the left with hands upraised to
express confusion and surprise at the resurrection, is too mannered,
and by its pose and action disturbs the serene harmony of the picture.
[Illustration: THE INSTITUTION OF THE HOLY SACRAMENT.]
[Illustration: THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE.]
In the "Institution of the Holy Sacrament," Fra Angelico, in true
Giottesque style, represented the Apostles at the mystic feast, and
Christ giving them the consecrated wafer, while He holds the chalice
in His left hand. Here the figures of the disciples admirably express
varied feelings of devotion and joy in receiving the divine food from
the hand of the Master. But the fresco which surpasses all, in
nobility of line and simple grandeur of conception, is the "Coronation
of the Virgin." Christ and the Virgin are seated in glory above the
light clouds, the Son places the celestial crown on the head of the
Mother who humbly bows her whole form towards Him, with hands crossed
on her bosom. Her face is irradiated by an ineffable and heavenly
smile, the supreme expression of happiness; the drapery of both is
white and delicate, enveloping the limbs with well defined folds. The
figures without being ineffectual, indeed they are even forcible, yet
appear aerial apparitions, and veritable visions of divinity. Six
saints in ecstasy assist at the triumph, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Paul,
St. Dominic, St. Francis, St. Peter Martyr and St. Benedict, three on
the right and three on the left, in a semicircular composition, all in
attitudes of contemplative ecstasy.
[Illustration: CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN.]
[Illustration: THE PRAYER IN THE GARDEN.]
The frescoes of the Maries at the Sepulchre, may also be considered
one of our artist's masterpieces. The risen Christ emerges to half
His figure from the clouds which envelop Him, while the holy women
contemplate the empty sepulchre, and the angel seated in it points out
the miracle which has happened. Other scenes worthy of notice are the
"Presentation in the Temple," "Christ in Hades," and the "Buffeting of
the Saviour," and "The Prayer in the Garden."
[Illustration: ADORATION OF THE MAGI.]
[Illustration: THE CRUCIFIXION.]
In one of the last cells, the "Crucifixion" is reproduced in a new
manner, which represents Christ having ascended the ladder and
offering Himself to death: His Mother faints at his feet in the arms
of Mary Magdalene. Marchese asserts that this composition was inspired
by a legend of St. Mary Magdalene in the language of the 14th century.
"And I thought that Messer Gesù, ascended the cross by a ladder
voluntarily, offering His hands and feet. A centurion who was
afterwards saved saw the deed, and like a wise man he said within
himself, oh, what a marvel is here! that this prophet appears to
willingly place himself on the Cross, neither murmuring nor resisting!
And while he stood admiring, Messer Gesù had ascended sufficiently
high, and turning on the ladder opened His kingly arms, and extended
His hands to those who were waiting to nail them."[46]
[Illustration: THE VIRGIN ENTHRONED AMIDST SAINTS.]
Lastly in the room which Cosimo de' Medici had prepared for his own
use in the convent and where he often talked with the Prior Fra
Antonino, Fra Angelico painted an "Adoration of the Magi." As Pope
Eugene IV. slept in this room when he came to Florence in 1442 to
assist at the consecration of the church, it is probable that this
Adoration allusive to the Epiphany, at which time the consecration
took place, was painted at that epoch.
The fresco, rich in figures and beauty, is executed with real
mastery. The personages of the royal cortège vary in type and
character, in expression and sentiment, showing the great pains our
artist had taken in the painting of this important work, which now,
unhappily restored and injured, only allows us to guess at the
wonderful beauty with which it was once filled.
We see his own hand more completely in the fresco in the corridor
representing the Virgin enthroned, with the child seated on her knee
and several saints at the sides. On the right are St. Paul, St. Thomas
Aquinas, St. Laurence, and St. Peter Martyr; on the left St. Mark, St.
Cosmo and St. Damian, and St. Dominic, holding an open book where it
is written: _Caritatem habete; humilitatem servate; paupertatem
voluntariam possidete. Maledictionem Dei et meam imprecor possessiones
inducenti in meo Ordine_.
This painting, one of the most perfect in the convent, is one of
Angelico's best, and shows what a high degree of ability he had
reached. The gentle head of the Virgin bends down to look at her Son
with the golden curls, whose face with sparkling eyes breathes an
infantile grace. The execution is accurate, the figures well designed,
full of character, nobility and life; the delicacy of tone, just
balance of composition and freshness of colouring, are mingled with
the most profound sentiment and intimate knowledge of truth.
Rio thinks this fresco was done while Fra Angelico was in Tuscany
after 1450; his adieu, as it were, to his brethren; a last legacy to
that devout household with whom he had shared joys and sorrows, and
from which he was about to be separated. There is nothing to refute
this; but it appears to us that he who had painted the great
Crucifixion of the chapter-house might well have done at the same time
this fresco. It is a compendium of all his technical qualities and
feeling, and demonstrates how little by little he succeeded, while
still preserving his own spirit, in reaching the real in art, and
giving it life in a manner all his own. But in comparing the pictures
of the chapel of Pope Nicholas V. in Rome, with this fresco, we cannot
avoid noticing in those a greater freedom of composition and grouping
of the figures, a greater majesty of design, a truth and depth of
observation, not recognisable in any of his earlier works, nor even in
the large Crucifixion, which is justly considered one of the pious
monk's best works.
[Illustration]
IN THE GALLERY
OF ANCIENT AND MODERN ART.
[Illustration: ANCIENT AND MODERN GALLERY--FLORENCE THE DESCENT FROM
THE CROSS.]
[Illustration]
The enthusiasm aroused by Fra Angelico's pictures, caused a vivid
desire amongst the various religious orders of the city, to possess
some work of his; Dominicans, Vallombrosians, Chartreuse monks, and
the Camaldolese of Santa Maria degli Angeli, vied with each other, and
all in turn obtained some of his admirable creations.
Among the panels painted by Fra Giovanni for the Florentine churches
and convents, the one which excels all for intensity of sentiment and
sincerity of expression is the "Deposition from the Cross," once in
the Sacristy of Santa Trinità, and now in the Ancient and Modern
Gallery, a panel "in which," writes Vasari, "he put so much care that
we may class it among the best things he ever did."
The disciples with loving reverence let down from the Cross, which
occupies the centre of the composition, the body of the Saviour. His
face, drooping on the left shoulder, breathes a sorrowful calm, and
divine serenity which death itself could not destroy. The nude is
intelligently rendered, in nobility of form, softness of line, and
transparency and morbidity of colouring. On the left stands a group of
women; St. Mary Magdalene kisses the feet of Christ; the Virgin
contemplates Him in a trance of sadness; on the right the disciples
discuss the melancholy drama among themselves, while below, a
kneeling saint holds his right hand to his breast and extends the left
in a sorrowful wonder. In the background is a hilly landscape with the
Holy City on the left, and Mount Calvary which the artist "with poetic
and devout conceit," writes Marchese, "has drawn adorned with grass
and flowers, as though to denote that at the touch of the feet and
precious blood of Jesus Christ, the bare heights were reclad in rich
and verdant beauty. Although marred by restoration--for the eye is
offended by the inharmonious contrast of tints, the effect of
unskilful retouching,--we may consider this painting as one of the
most beautiful works which Fra Angelico has left us. Grandeur and
simplicity are marvellously blended with freshness of colour, and
correctness of design with most intense expression and pure sentiment."
The landscape in the background shows the usual defects of
perspective, but the mountains shade off delicately against the
distant blue of the sky, the plain is illuminated with infinite
flowerets, and a rich verdure clothes the summit of the sacred hill.
In the pilasters of the frame are small figures of Saints, some of the
best and finest that Fra Angelico ever painted, and in the gables
above the three arches Lorenzo Monaco has represented the "Noli me
tangere," the "Resurrection," and the "Maries at the Sepulchre."
Here the question naturally arises: Why should Lorenzo Monaco have
limited his work solely to the three little scenes in the gables of
the frame, while Fra Angelico has given us the beautiful little
figures of the pilasters which show all his peculiar grace and
refinement? Why did an artist capable of producing those admirable
saints, leave to Fra Lorenzo Monaco the office (all the worse if he
had been, as some say, his master) of finishing the work with only
those three insignificant little scenes? And can we suppose that Fra
Lorenzo Monaco, already at the apex of his fame, should accept, and,
still more strange, be content with a secondary part in Fra Giovanni's
work?
The answer is more simple than it at first appears. There is no doubt
that the scenes in the Gothic gables are the work of the Camaldolese
monk, and as we cannot logically infer that they were specially
painted by him for Fra Angelico's picture, we must suppose, and indeed
firmly believe them to have been added at a later time. In fact, the
form of the foliated Gothic decoration lacks character and does not
harmonize with the pilasters which clearly show, too, a subsequent
adaptation of the frame. The finials of the pilasters do not match the
style of the gables, in fact it is clear that the Gothic
ornamentation, taken from some painting by Lorenzo Monaco, was at a
more recent date adapted to Fra Angelico's altar-piece.
Fra Giovanni painted a panel picture of the "Dead Christ" for the
"Compagnia del Tempio" in Florence; this is now in the Ancient and
Modern Gallery, having been placed there in 1786, after the
suppression of that Company.
[Illustration: THE DEAD CHRIST.]
Rio supposes that the enthusiasm aroused by the great Deposition in
Santa Trinità, tempted the Company to covet the possession of a
similar one.[47]
Only two figures, however, are common to the two paintings: one is the
St. Simeon kneeling in the left corner who, in this second picture, is
represented as a younger man than in the first; the other is a figure
a little behind him, which is a reproduction of that one in the large
Deposition with a hood on his head, who is speaking to the disciple
below him, as he entrust to him the body of the Saviour;--a figure
which Milanesi believes to be a portrait of the architect Michelozzo.
If this be indeed Fra Angelico's friend the Florentine architect, we
may admit Cartier's assertion that this panel is a sequel of the
larger Descent from the Cross, and may have been painted at the same
time.[48] But these are things which we dare not affirm with any
certainty, as we entertain doubts regarding the greater or less
authenticity of writers on the subject of Michelozzo's portrait.
Besides many figures of saints, the painter has introduced those of
St. Dominic and the Beata Villana, because the Company of the Temple
had ancient rights over the relics of this good woman which are
preserved in the Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella. The other
figures, though expressing divers feelings of sorrow and lively
sympathy, have nothing in common with the famous Deposition either in
character or technique and the picture does not reach the usual
perfection.
Even the type of the Christ differs remarkably in the two paintings,
so much so that no comparison can be instituted, or resemblance found
between them; moreover, the panel of the Temple Company is badly
spoilt by restoration, and the colouring is so altered that it is
almost black in some parts.
"In the Chapel of the SS. Annunziata at Florence which Piero di Cosimo
de' Medici caused to be built, Fra Angelico painted the doors of the
presses where the silver plate is kept, with little figures executed
with great diligence."[49] They represent the life and death of Christ
in 35 small scenes, which are now in the Ancient and Modern Gallery.
Padre Marchese writes: "I believe it was in Fiesole that he painted
many of those little panels, which may now be seen in the Gallery of
the Florentine Academy of Design, and perhaps also the doors of the
presses for the silver vessels in the chapel of the SS. Annunziata at
Florence. In his first edition Vasari had enumerated them among his
early works, which may have seemed probable, as Fra Angelico's first
steps in art were in illuminating and painting small stories."[50]
But as it was only in 1448 that Piero de' Medici, to show his devotion
to the Virgin of the Annunciation, obtained from the monks the
patronage of that altar with the intention of adorning it with a
splendour worthy of the dignity of Her to whom it was dedicated,[51]
we cannot suppose that Fra Angelico painted the door of its treasure
presses before that time.
Rio also dates at the epoch of the monk's sojourn in Tuscany towards
1450, the great unfinished painting now in the Academy of the Belle
Arti, which has been regarded as one of Fra Angelico's first works. We
know as a fact that in 1450 he was prior of the convent at Fiesole,
and may believe that he stayed some time in Tuscany, before returning
to Rome to finish the chapel of Pope Nicholas V.[52] But Rio adds that
"besides the date of the building of the chapel, the fact that the
portrait of Michelozzo represents him as older in this work than in
the Deposition," suggests for this cyclic composition an approximative
date, very far from that assigned to it previously.[53]
We must not forget, however, that several doubts arise as to the
identity of the person representing Michelozzo.
Vasari recognises him in that old Nicodemus with a hood, who lowers
the Christ from the cross in the Deposition, while Milanesi, asserting
that Nicodemus has a saint's aureole not a cowl, holds that the
portrait of Michelozzo is to be seen in the figure with a black hood
who speaks with the disciple beneath him as he gives the body of the
Lord into his hands. Certainly Milanesi has good reason to doubt
Vasari's assertion, as Nicodemus has no hood: moreover Vasari himself
in his second edition of the Lives (1568) assigns as the architect's
likeness that very figure with a cowl who is speaking to the disciple.
Therefore we must admit that the Aretian Historian was mistaken either
in his indication of the figure, or in the reproduction of it as a
headpiece to his Life of Michelozzo.
In any case, a similar figure to that in the "Deposition," and with
the same head-gear, again appears a little older in the fresco of the
convent of San Marco representing the "Adoration of the Magi"; also in
another picture of the "Presentation in the Temple"; and in the little
square with a "Flight into Egypt", on one of the doors of SS.
Annunziata.
[Illustration: FLIGHT INTO EGYPT.]
If Michelozzo be really portrayed here, we must conclude that the
Deposition was painted long before 1442, and the press doors about the
same time, or a little later; but the student must take into account
the curious fact that in the "Deposition" the disciple who talks to
the man with a cowl above him, has also a certain resemblance to the
supposed Michelozzo, and that Nicodemus reappears as St. John Baptist
on the left of the large altar-piece painted for the church of San
Marco, as well as in the picture of the dead Christ, and also as the
kneeling King who kisses the feet of the Babe in the fresco of the
"Adoration of the Magi."
Therefore, without giving great importance to the question of the true
portrait of Michelozzo, we find that these heads, whether of Nicodemus
or the hooded disciple, are represented in various pictures by our
artist, modified by age, so that from them we may establish the
succession of the different works, i. e. first the "Dead Christ" of
the Company of the Temple, next the picture at San Marco (1438), then
the "Deposition," and lastly the fresco in San Marco, and the little
"Annunciation." Thus all these works would certainly date during Fra
Angelico's stay in Florence.
But to return to the doors of the presses in the SS. Annunziata, it is
true, as Rio writes, that instead of being a series of subjects for
future frescoes or altar-pieces, the "stories" seem a hasty resumé,
often too hasty, of works already painted in the convent of San Marco
or other places. Some of them are noticeable for firmness of design
and vigour of colouring, others instead are unworthy of the master and
evidently show another hand.
[Illustration: CHRIST BETRAYED BY JUDAS.]
[Illustration: THE RESURRECTION OF LAZARUS.]
To give this great work its due appreciation we must take it as a
whole, as the profound genius of Fra Angelico had conceived it.
Wishing to give it the unity of a dramatic poem, he placed at the
beginning and at the end, like a prologue and an epilogue, two
symbolic figures, in the last of which the seven branched candlestick
serves as a support to the Old and New Testaments.[54]
We may enumerate among the best scenes the "Flight into Egypt," the
"Slaughter of the Innocents," the "Betrayal of Judas," the "Dead
Christ," and the "Resurrection of Lazarus," all composed in Giottesque
style: but, when we think of the progress of Fra Angelico in art as
shown in the frescoes in San Marco, and his best panel paintings, we
cannot avoid noticing a certain want of vigour in these presses.
[Illustration: THE SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS.]
[Illustration: ENTOMBMENT OF CHRIST.]
Having become accustomed to the grander methods of fresco painting, in
which his talent and ability found greater scope for expression,--even
though not attaining to the ease and force of some of his
contemporaries and followers,--Fra Angelico must have now found
himself at the disadvantage, natural to one who, after moving free in
wider space, is suddenly cramped into narrower confines. This explains
why we find in some of these small panels, greater conventionality in
the representation of scenes and action, and less ease and correctness
of execution. We might add also, that many of them, where these
defects are especially evident, may be ascribed to other hands, less
clever than his own, those of his assistants who were called in to
expedite the work and assist the artist.
[Illustration: CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN.]
Rio believes that two of Angelico's paintings, one of which was once
in the Dominican monastery of San Vincenzo d' Annalena, and the other
in that of the Frati dell'Osservanza in Mugello, but now both at the
Belle Arti, were executed later than the frescoes in the Vatican, to
which they offer an extraordinary resemblance, not perceivable in the
artist's earlier works.[55]
[Illustration: THE SYMBOLIC WHEEL.]
We cannot, however, accept the assertion of the French critic. These
two pictures, though utterly different in character and type, too
forcibly recall his previous works. And as according to the same
author the altar-piece of the monks [55] of the Mugello resembles the
other in colouring, technique, the freer style of drapery, the type of
the Virgin and character of the figures, we might reasonably conclude
that both paintings belong to the period of his residence at Fiesole
or Florence, i. e. previous to his departure for Rome in 1445.
[Illustration: THE MADONNA AND CHILD WITH SAINTS.
(Annalena Convent.)]
[Illustration: THE MADONNA AND CHILD WITH ANGELS AND SAINTS.
(From the Convent of the Osservanza.)]
We are even less inclined to endorse the opinion of Rio in regard to
the date of the painting from the Annalena Convent. The internal
organization of the convent was only regulated by a bull of Pope
Nicholas V. after 1450, so there is probably no connection between the
internal establishment of the convent and the Commission for the
picture.
The convent (it is well to remember) was founded in 1453, but the
religious intentions of Anna Elena Malatesta met with no slight
resistance, and it was not till 1455, that Pope Calixtus III. conceded
her permission to "build in her house a public oratory in which mass
should be celebrated and the divine Offices performed." We cannot then
admit that the picture was specially painted for the convent named[56]
after that saintly lady. When one reflects that Anna Elena Malatesta,
foundress of the monastery, was educated in the house of Attilio di
Vieri de' Medici, and was by Cosimo Pater Patriæ married to Baldaccio
of Anghiari, it is not unlikely that the picture had been a commission
from Cosimo, and that when Annalena was left a widow, and took the
vows in 1441, it was offered by him to the convent, to which the sad
widow had consecrated all her care. It is the more probable, that it
was painted for the Medici, because the two patron saints of their
house are represented in it.
SS. Cosmo and Damian only appear in the pictures painted by Fra
Angelico in Florence, probably in recognition of the benefits bestowed
by Cosimo on the monks of San Marco; moreover, we do not think the
work could have been done at Fiesole after the first visit to Rome in
1452, because the figures, weak in chiaroscuro, are still treated as
if they were enlarged miniatures, and do not show the character of his
later works. On the other hand the picture of the Osservanza in
Mugello displays the whole power of the artist, and may be compared,
as Rio says, to the panel at San Marco both in the character of the
figures and the larger style of treatment.
Vasari cites other works which have unfortunately been dispersed or
destroyed, among which were an altar-piece in the Certosa at Florence,
representing the "Virgin and Child," with some angels below, and at
the sides St. Laurence, St. Zenobi, and St. Benedict; the "Coronation
of the Madonna," once in the lunette of the Acciajoli chapel: another
with the "Virgin and two saints," painted "con azzurri oltramarini
bellissimi," (with beautiful ultramarine blues): and the pictures in
the dividing wall of Santa Maria Novella opposite the choir. The
"Annunciation," which according to Vasari was in the church of San
Francesco at San Miniato, and which Milanesi believes to be in the
Museum of Madrid, is instead now in the National Gallery at London. It
is a diptych, in one panel the archangel Gabriel, with golden wings
outspread, crossing his hands on his breast bows before the Virgin,
who in the other panel leans forward to listen to his blessed word.
The scene is in a cloister, from the arches of which a field of
flowers is seen, and in the distant horizon the outlines of the
Apennine mountains. A great lily blossoms beside the Virgin, the two
capitals of the columns of the cloister have the Albizzi arms carved
on them.
"This good Father painted so many pictures for the houses of the
citizens of Florence, that one wonders how one man could so perfectly
execute even in many years all that he has done." So writes Vasari,
and indeed a complete list of his paintings still existing in Italy
and elsewhere would be too long; those we have illustrated will,
however, suffice to give a good idea of his artistic genius, and the
sentiment with which this gentle artist could represent the marvellous
visions of a soul in love with heaven!
[Illustration: THE LAST SUPPER.]
IV.
FRA ANGELICO
AT ROME AND ORVIETO.
[1445-1455.]
[Illustration: CHRIST IN JUDGMENT. (Orvieto, Cathedral.)]