THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
Commencement of the History of modern Art.--Causes of the Barrenness
of this Century in female Artists.--The Decline of Chivalry
unfavorable to their mental Development.--Passing away of the Ideal
and Supernatural Element in Art.--New Feeling for Nature.--New Life
and Action in Painting.--Portrayal of Feelings of the Heart.--Release
of Painting from her Trammels.--Severer Studies necessary for
Artists.--Woman excluded from the Pursuit.--Patronage sought.--One
female Artist representing each prominent School.--Margaretta
von Eyck.--Her Miniatures.--Extensive Fame.--Her Decoration
of Manuscripts.--Work in Aid of her Brothers.--“The gifted
Minerva.”--Single Blessedness.--Another Margaretta.--Copies and
illuminates MSS. in the Carthusian Convent.--Eight folio Volumes
filled.--Caterina Vigri.--Her Miniature Paintings.--Founds a
Convent.--“The Saint of Bologna.”--Miraculous Painting.--The warrior
Maiden Onorata.--Decorates the Palace at Cremona.--Insult offered
her.--She kills the Insulter.--Flight in male Attire.--Soldier
Life.--Delivers Castelleone.--The mortal Wound.
The fifteenth century, with which the history of modern art may be
properly commenced, is barren in female artists. This is, doubtless,
owing in part to a change in the social condition of woman, consequent
on the decline of chivalry, that “poetical lie,” as Rahel terms it.
During the two centuries preceding this period, the fair sex had been
regarded with a kind of adoration. Beauty was the minstrel’s theme and
the soldier’s inspiration, and the courts of love, by giving power to
the intellectual among women, stimulated them to the cultivation of
their minds as well as the adornment of their persons. The descent from
their poetic elevation was unfavorable to mental development; and it
was not till the opening of the sixteenth century that there appeared
symptoms of recovery from the reaction.
Moreover, art in the fifteenth century had assumed a character unsuited
to the peculiar gifts of woman. It had parted with the ideal and
supernatural element which formed at once the charm and the weakness
of the Middle Ages, and which, as in the case of Sabina von Steinbach,
had fostered and developed female talent. A new feeling for nature
was born; a new world of life and action was waiting to be added to
the domain of art; while severe study and restless energy were in
requisition for more extended conquests. More correct exhibitions of
human individuality, action, and passion began to take the place of
forms that had before been merely conventional or architectural; and
the portrayal of feeling, in which the human heart could sympathize,
superseded the calm religious creations of an earlier age. Painting
finally threw off the rigid trammels she had worn.
The difficulties in the way of elaborating these new conceptions, and
the studies of anatomy necessary for the attainment of excellence
in delineating the form, excluded women in a great measure from the
pursuit. Gervinus remarks that women are fond of realizing new ideas;
but they are those, for the most part, which are readily brought into
use in common life, and which require no persevering study to reduce
them to practice. Even the triumphs of literary talent in that toilsome
age owed much to the patronage of the great. We find many ladies of
high rank seeking the muses’ favor by the royal road to eminence.
Notwithstanding the paucity of women artists, we discover at least one
representing each prominent school of painting--Flemish, Italian, and
German.
MARGARETTA VON EYCK.
First among these, Margaretta von Eyck deserves mention. She was the
sister of Hubert and John von Eyck, who were distinguished not only for
enlarged apprehensions of art, but for the discovery and introduction
of oil-painting.
While these men were, by their works, preparing the way for an
important revolution in the method of painting, Margaretta occupied
herself chiefly in painting miniatures. She worked under the patronage
of the magnificent and liberal court of Burgundy, and her fame extended
even to the countries of the romantic south. It is an interesting
sight, this modest woman-work beside the more important enterprises
of the gifted brothers, making itself appreciated so as to furnish an
example for all time. Sometimes the sister worked with the brother
in the decoration of costly manuscripts. One of the finest monuments
of their united skill was the breviary--now in the imperial library
at Paris--of that Duke of Bedford who, in 1423, married the sister
of Philip the Good. Margaretta’s miniatures were preserved also in
manuscript romances of the period. One of the earliest historians of
Flemish art, Carl von Mander, calls her a “gifted Minerva,” and informs
us that she spurned the acquaintance of “Hymen and Lucina,” and lived
out her days in single blessedness.
ANOTHER MARGARETTA.
As in Margaretta von Eyck the grand efforts of Flemish art found
expression modified by a feminine nature, so had those of the school
in Nuremberg through the labors of another Margaretta--a nun from 1459
to 1470 in the Carthusian Convent, where she copied and illuminated
religious works. Eight folio volumes were filled by her indefatigable
hands with Gothic letters and pictures in miniature, presenting a
curious specimen of the blending of the art of the scribe with that of
the painter, so common in the Middle Ages.
CATERINA VIGRI.
A third female artist of this period belonged to Italy. Caterina
Vigri, a pupil of the Bolognese school, combined with a high degree
of talent a quiet gentleness and dignified manner that gained her
general esteem. She was born of a noble family in Ferrara in 1413,
and exercised her skill chiefly in miniature painting, though several
large works are recognized as hers. One of St. Ursula, infolding in her
robe her kneeling companions, is exhibited among other fair martyrs
in the Pinacothek of Bologna, and, with the pure, calm expression,
peculiar to the productions of a preceding age, combines a delicacy,
grace, correctness of drawing, and freedom with firmness of touch,
not often found at that time. One of her pictures is preserved in the
Sala Palladiana of the Venetian Academy. Educated in the most exalted
mysticism, she was the founder of the convent of “Corpo di Cristo,”
which is yet in existence, and shelters the grave of Caterina as
well as many of her works. She poured into these all her religious
enthusiasm. Her master was Maestro Vitale. She died in the odor of
sanctity, and was spoken of as “the Saint of Bologna.” In 1712 the
Catholic Church inscribed her name in the second category of saints,
with the title of “Beata,” in virtue of which she is honored to this
day as the patron saint of the fine arts. Tradition relates a story of
one of her paintings on wood--an infant Jesus--having the power to heal
diseases in those who touched the lips of the picture.
THE WARRIOR MAIDEN.
Beside this saintly personage stands one who joined the prowess of
the soldier to the genius of the painter. Onorata Rodiana was born at
Castelleone in Cremona, in the early part of the fifteenth century,
and, while yet young, obtained so high a reputation as a painter, that
the Marquis Gabrino Fondolo, the tyrant of Cremona, appointed her to
the task of decorating his palace.
The maiden, in the prime of her youth and beauty, was engaged in
this work when an accidental occurrence changed the whole course of
her life. A courtier of libertine character, who chanced to see her
occupied in painting the walls of a room in the palace, entered, and
dared to offer an insulting freedom. The young artist repulsed him;
but, unable to escape his violence without a desperate struggle, the
spirited girl at length drew a dagger and stabbed him to the heart. She
then rushed from the palace, disguised herself in man’s clothes, and
quitted the city, declaring that she would rather die in obscure exile
than accept a luxurious home as the price of dishonor.
The Marquis Gabrino was at first furious at her escape, and commanded
a hot pursuit by his soldiers; but soon afterward relenting, he
proclaimed her full pardon, and summoned her to return and complete her
labors, which no one else could finish. Onorata, however, had, in the
mean while, learned the warrior’s business in Oldrado Lampugnano’s band
of Condottieri, and her spirit and courage soon elevated her to a post
of command. She loved the soldier’s life, and continued in it, painting
the while, for thirty years.
When her native town, Castelleone, was besieged by the Venetians, she
hastened with her company to its relief. Victory crowned her in the
contest, but she fell mortally wounded. She died in 1472, perhaps the
only example the world’s history affords of a woman who wielded at the
same time the pencil and the sword.