"Since we are teachers to unlearned men, who know not how to
read, of the marvels done by the power and strength of holy
religion, ... and since no undertaking, however small, can
have a beginning or an end without these three things,--that
is, without the power to do, without knowledge, and without
true love of the work; and since in God every perfection is
eminently united; now, to the end that in this our calling,
however unworthy it may be, we may have a good beginning and
a good ending in all our works and deeds, we will earnestly
ask the aid of the Divine grace, and commence by a dedication
to the honour of the Name, and in the Name of the most Holy
Trinity" (_Extract from the Statutes of the Painters' Guild of
Siena_, 1355).
The school of Siena, though in the main closely resembling that of
Florence, has yet an independent origin and a distinct character. There
is a "Madonna" at Siena, painted in 1281, which is decidedly superior
to such work as Margaritone's (564). But the start which Siena obtained
at first was soon lost; and at a time when Florentine art was finding
new directions, that at Siena was running still in the old grooves.
This was owing to the markedly religious character of its painting,
shown in the tone of the statutes above quoted. Such religious fervour
seems at first sight inconsistent with the character of a people who
were famed for factious quarrels and delicate living.[20] But "the
contradiction is more apparent than real. The people of Siena were
highly impressible and emotional, quick to obey the promptings of their
passion, whether it took the form of hatred or of love, of spiritual
fervour or of carnal violence. The religious feeling was a passion
with them, on a par with all the other movements of their quick and
mobile temperament."[21] Sienese art reflects this spirit; it is like
the religion of their St. Catherine, rapt and ecstatic. The early
Florentine pictures are not very dissimilar; but in Siena the same kind
of art lasted much longer. In the work, for instance, of Matteo di
Giovanni (see 1155), there is still the same expression of religious
ecstasy, and the same prodigal use of gold in the background, as marked
the works of the preceding century; yet he was contemporary with the
Florentine Botticelli, who introduced many new motives into art. Matteo
was the best Sienese painter of the fifteenth century, and with him the
independent school of Siena comes to an end. Girolamo del Pacchia (246)
betrays the influence of Florence; whilst Il Sodoma (1144), who settled
at Siena and had many pupils, was not a native, and shows in his style
no affinity with the true Sienese School. Peruzzi (218), on the other
hand, was a native of Siena, but belongs in his artistic development to
the Roman School.
[Illustration]