wherein he surpassed himself and gave supreme proof of his talent and of
his knowledge of art, was a panel that is beside the door of the same
church, on the left hand as one enters, wherein Jesus Christ is crowning
Our Lady in the midst of a choir of angels and among an infinite
multitude of saints, both male and female, so many in number, so well
wrought, and with such variety in the attitudes and in the expressions
of the heads, that incredible pleasure and sweetness are felt in gazing
at them; nay, one is persuaded that those blessed spirits cannot look
otherwise in Heaven, or, to speak more exactly, could not if they had
bodies; for not only are all these saints, both male and female, full of
life and sweet and delicate in expression, but the whole colouring of
that work appears to be by the hand of a saint or an angel like
themselves; wherefore it was with very good reason that this excellent
monk was ever called Fra Giovanni Angelico. Moreover, the stories of the
Madonna and of S. Dominic in the predella are divine in their own kind;
and I, for one, can declare with truth that I never see this work
without thinking it something new, and that I never leave it sated.
In the Chapel of the Nunziata in Florence which Piero di Cosimo de'
Medici caused to be built, he painted the doors of the press (in which
the silver is kept) with little figures executed with much diligence.
This father painted so many pictures, now to be found in the houses of
Florentine citizens, "that I sometimes stand marvelling how one single
man could execute so much work to such perfection, even in the space of
many years. The Very Reverend Don Vincenzio Borghini, Director of the
Hospital of the Innocenti, has a very beautiful little Madonna by the
hand of this father; and Bartolommeo Gondi, as devoted a lover of these
arts as any gentleman that one could think of, has a large picture, a
small one, and a Crucifix, all by the same hand. The pictures that
are in the arch over the door of S. Domenico are also by the same
man; and in the Sacristy of S. Trinita there is a panel containing a
Deposition from the Cross, into which he put so great diligence, that it
can be numbered among the best works that he ever made. In S. Francesco,
without the Porta a S. Miniato, there is an Annunciation; and in S.
Maria Novella, besides the works already named, he painted with little
scenes the Paschal candle and some Reliquaries which are placed on the
altar in the most solemn ceremonies.
[Illustration: THE TRANSFIGURATION
(_After the fresco by =Fra Giovanni da Fiesole= [Fra Angelico]. Florence:
S. Marco_)
_Anderson_]
Over a door of the cloister of the Badia in the same city he painted a
S. Benedict, who is making a sign enjoining silence. For the
Linen-manufacturers he painted a panel that is in the Office of their
Guild; and in Cortona he painted a little arch over the door of the
church of his Order, and likewise the panel of the high-altar. At
Orvieto, on a part of the vaulting of the Chapel of the Madonna in the
Duomo, he began certain prophets, which were finished afterwards by Luca
da Cortona. For the Company of the Temple in Florence he painted a Dead
Christ on a panel; and in the Church of the Monks of the Angeli he made
a Paradise and a Hell with little figures, wherein he showed fine
judgment by making the blessed very beautiful and full of jubilation and
celestial gladness, and the damned all ready for the pains of Hell, in
various most woeful attitudes, and bearing the stamp of their sins and
unworthiness on their faces. The blessed are seen entering the gate of
Paradise in celestial dance, and the damned are being dragged by demons
to the eternal pains of Hell. This work is in the aforesaid church, on
the right hand as one goes towards the high-altar, where the priest sits
when Mass is sung. For the Nuns of S. Piero Martire--who now live in the
Monastery of S. Felice in Piazza, which used to belong to the Order of
Camaldoli--he painted a panel with Our Lady, S. John the Baptist, S.
Dominic, S. Thomas, and S. Peter Martyr, and a number of little figures.
And in the tramezzo[7] of S. Maria Nuova there may also be seen a panel
by his hand.
These many labours having made the name of Fra Giovanni illustrious
throughout all Italy, Pope Nicholas V sent for him and caused him to
adorn that chapel of his Palace in Rome wherein the Pope hears Mass with
a Deposition from the Cross and some very beautiful stories of S.
Laurence, and also to illuminate some books, which are most beautiful.
In the Minerva he painted the panel of the high-altar, and an
Annunciation that is now set up against a wall beside the principal
chapel. He also painted for the said Pope in the Palace the Chapel of
the Sacrament, which was afterwards destroyed by Paul III in the making
of a staircase through it. In that work, which was an excellent example
of his manner, he had wrought in fresco some scenes from the life of
Jesus Christ, and he had made therein many portraits from life of
distinguished persons of those times, which would probably now be lost
if Giovio had not caused the following among them to be preserved for
his museum--namely, Pope Nicholas V; the Emperor Frederick, who came to
Italy at that time; Frate Antonino, who was afterwards Archbishop of
Florence; Biondo da Forli; and Ferrante of Arragon. Now Fra Giovanni
appeared to the Pope to be, as indeed he was, a person of most holy
life, peaceful and modest; and, since the Archbishopric of Florence was
at that time vacant, the Pope had judged him worthy of that rank; but
the said friar, hearing this, implored His Holiness to find another man,
for the reason that he did not feel himself fitted for ruling others,
whereas his Order contained a brother most learned and well able to
govern, a Godfearing man and a friend of the poor, on whom that dignity
would be conferred much more fittingly than on himself. The Pope,
hearing this and remembering that what he said was true, granted him the
favour willingly; and thus the Archbishopric of Florence was given to
Frate Antonino of the Order of Preaching Friars, a man truly very famous
both for sanctity and for learning, and of such a character, in short,
that he was deservedly canonized in our own day by Adrian VI.
[Illustration: S. STEPHEN PREACHING
(_After the fresco by =Fra Giovanni da Fiesole= [Fra Angelico] Rome: The
Vatican, Chapel of Nicholas V_)
_Anderson_]
Great excellence was that of Fra Giovanni, and a thing truly very rare,
to resign a dignity and honour and charge so important, offered to
himself by a Supreme Pontiff, in favour of the man whom he, with his
singleness of eye and sincerity of heart, judged to be much more
worthy of it than himself. Let the churchmen of our own times learn
from this holy man not to take upon themselves charges that they cannot
worthily carry out, and to yield them to those who are most worthy of
them. Would to God, to return to Fra Giovanni (and may this be said
without offence to the upright among them), that all churchmen would
spend their time as did this truly angelic father, seeing that he spent
every minute of his life in the service of God and in benefiting both
the world and his neighbour. And what can or ought to be desired more
than to gain the kingdom of Heaven by living a life of holiness, and to
win eternal fame in the world by labouring virtuously? And in truth a
talent so extraordinary and so supreme as that of Fra Giovanni could not
and should not descend on any save a man of most holy life, for the
reason that those who work at religious and holy subjects should be
religious and holy men; for it is seen, when such works are executed by
persons of little faith who have little esteem for religion, that they
often arouse in men's minds evil appetites and licentious desires;
whence there comes blame for the evil in their works, with praise for
the art and ability that they show. Now I would not have any man deceive
himself by considering the rude and inept as holy, and the beautiful and
excellent as licentious; as some do, who, seeing figures of women or of
youths adorned with loveliness and beauty beyond the ordinary,
straightway censure them and judge them licentious, not perceiving that
they are very wrong to condemn the good judgment of the painter, who
holds the Saints, both male and female, who are celestial, to be as much
more beautiful than mortal man as Heaven is superior to earthly beauty
and to the works of human hands; and, what is worse, they reveal the
unsoundness and corruption of their own minds by drawing evil and impure
desires out of works from which, if they were lovers of purity, as they
seek by their misguided zeal to prove themselves to be, they would gain
a desire to attain to Heaven and to make themselves acceptable to the
Creator of all things, in whom, as most perfect and most beautiful, all
perfection and beauty have their source. What would such men do if they
found themselves, or rather, what are we to believe that they do when
they actually find themselves, in places containing living beauty,
accompanied by licentious ways, honey-sweet words, movements full of
grace, and eyes that ravish all but the stoutest of hearts, if the very
image of beauty, nay, its mere shadow, moves them so profoundly?
However, I would not have any believe that I approve of those figures
that are painted in churches in a state of almost complete nudity, for
in these cases it is seen that the painter has not shown the
consideration that was due to the place; because, even although a man
has to show how much he knows, he should proceed with due regard for
circumstances and pay respect to persons, times, and places.
Fra Giovanni was a man of great simplicity, and most holy in his ways;
and his goodness may be perceived from this, that, Pope Nicholas V
wishing one morning to entertain him at table, he had scruples of
conscience about eating meat without leave from his Prior, forgetting
about the authority of the Pontiff. He shunned the affairs of the world;
and, living a pure and holy life, he was as much the friend of the poor
as I believe his soul to be now the friend of Heaven. He was continually
labouring at his painting, and he would never paint anything save
Saints. He might have been rich, but to this he gave no thought; nay, he
used to say that true riches consist only in being content with little.
He might have ruled many, but he would not, saying that it was less
fatiguing and less misleading to obey others. He had the option of
obtaining dignities both among the friars and in the world, but he
despised them, declaring that he sought no other dignity save that of
seeking to avoid Hell and draw near to Paradise. And what dignity, in
truth, can be compared to that which all churchmen, nay, all men, should
seek, and which is to be found only in God and in a life of virtue? He
was most kindly and temperate; and he lived chastely and withdrew
himself from the snares of the world, being wont very often to say that
he who pursued such an art had need of quiet and of a life free from
cares, and that he whose work is connected with Christ must ever live
with Christ. He was never seen in anger among his fellow-friars, which
is a very notable thing, and almost impossible, it seems to me, to
believe; and it was his custom to admonish his friends with a simple
smile. With incredible sweetness, if any sought for works from him, he
would say that they had only to gain the consent of the Prior, and
that then he would not fail them. In short, this never to be
sufficiently extolled father was most humble and modest in all his works
and his discourse, and facile and devout in his pictures; and the Saints
that he painted have more the air and likeness of Saints than those of
any other man. It was his custom never to retouch or improve any of his
pictures, but to leave them ever in the state to which he had first
brought them; believing, so he used to say, that this was the will of
God. Some say that Fra Giovanni would never have taken his brushes in
his hand without first offering a prayer. He never painted a Crucifix
without the tears streaming down his cheeks; wherefore in the
countenances and attitudes of his figures one can recognize the
goodness, nobility, and sincerity of his mind towards the Christian
religion.
[Illustration: FRA GIOVANNI DA FIESOLE (FRA ANGELICO): THE ANNUNCIATION
(_Cortona: Gesu Gallery. Panel_)]
He died in 1455 at the age of sixty-eight, and left disciples in
Benozzo, a Florentine, who ever imitated his manner, and Zanobi Strozzi,
who painted pictures and panels throughout all Florence for the houses
of citizens, and particularly a panel that is now in the tramezzo[8] of
S. Maria Novella, beside that by Fra Giovanni, and one in S. Benedetto,
a monastery of the Monks of Camaldoli without the Porta a Pinti, now in
ruins. The latter panel is at present in the little Church of S. Michele
in the Monastery of the Angeli, before one enters the principal church,
set up against the wall on the right as one approaches the altar. There
is also a panel in the Chapel of the Nasi in S. Lucia, and another in S.
Romeo; and in the guardaroba of the Duke there is the portrait of
Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, with that of Bartolommeo Valori, in one
and the same picture by the hand of the same man. Another disciple of
Fra Giovanni was Gentile da Fabriano, as was also Domenico di Michelino,
who painted the panel for the altar of S. Zanobi in S. Apollinare at
Florence, and many other pictures.
Fra Giovanni was buried by his fellow-friars in the Minerva in Rome,
near the lateral door beside the sacristy, in a round tomb of marble,
with himself, portrayed from nature, lying thereon. The following
epitaph may be read, carved in the marble:
NON MIHI SIT LAUDI, QUOD ERAM VELUT ALTER APELLES,
SED QUOD LUCRA TUIS OMNIA, CHRISTE, DABAM;
ALTERA NAM TERRIS OPERA EXTANT, ALTERA C[OE]LO.
URBS ME JOANNEM FLOS TULIT ETRURIAE.
In S. Maria del Fiore are two very large books illuminated divinely well
by the hand of Fra Giovanni, which are held in great veneration and
richly adorned, nor are they ever seen save on days of the highest
solemnity.
A celebrated and famous illuminator at the same time as Fra Giovanni was
one Attavante, a Florentine, of whom I know no other name. This man,
among many other works, illuminated a Silius Italicus, which is now in
S. Giovanni e Polo in Venice; of which work I will not withhold certain
particulars, both because they are worthy of the attention of craftsmen,
and because, to my knowledge, no other work by this master is to be
found; nor should I know even of this one, had it not been for the
affection borne to these noble arts by the Very Reverend Maestro Cosimo
Bartoli, a gentleman of Florence, who gave me information about it, to
the end that the talent of Attavante might not remain, as it were,
buried out of sight.
In the said book, then, the figure of Silius has on the head a helmet
with a crest of gold and a chaplet of laurel; he is wearing a blue
cuirass picked out with gold in the ancient manner, while he is holding
a book in his right hand, and the left he has on a short sword. Over the
cuirass he has a red chlamys, fastened in front with a knot, and fringed
with gold, which hangs down from his shoulders. The inside of this
chlamys is seen to be of changing colours and embroidered with gold. His
buskins are yellow, and he is standing on his right foot in a niche. The
next figure in this work represents Scipio Africanus. He is wearing a
yellow cuirass, and his sword-belt and sleeves, which are blue in
colour, are all embroidered with gold. On his head he has a helmet with
two little wings and a fish by way of crest. The young man's countenance
is fair and very beautiful; and he is raising his right arm proudly,
holding in that hand a naked sword, while in the left hand he has the
scabbard, which is red and embroidered with gold. The hose are green in
colour and plain; and the chlamys, which is blue, has a red lining with
a fringe of gold all round, and it is fastened at the throat, leaving
the front quite open, and falling behind with beautiful grace. This
young man, who stands in a niche of mixed green and grey marble, with
blue buskins embroidered with gold, is looking with indescribable
fierceness at Hannibal, who faces him on the opposite page of the book.
This figure of Hannibal is that of a man about thirty-six years of age;
he is frowning, with two furrows in his brow expressive of impatience
and anger, and he, too, is looking fixedly at Scipio. On his head he has
a yellow helmet, with a green and yellow dragon for crest and a serpent
for chaplet. He is standing on his left foot and raising his right arm,
with which he holds the shaft of an ancient javelin, or rather, of a
little partisan. His cuirass is blue, his sword-belt partly blue and
partly yellow, his sleeves of changing blue and red, and his buskins
yellow. His chlamys, of changing red and yellow, is fastened on the
right shoulder and lined with green; and, holding his left hand on his
sword, he is standing in a niche of varicoloured marbles, yellow, white,
and changing. On another page is Pope Nicholas V, portrayed from the
life, with a mantle of changing purple and red and all embroidered with
gold. He is without a beard and in full profile, and he is looking
towards the beginning of the book, which is opposite to him; and he is
pointing to it with his right hand, as though in a marvel. The niche is
green, white, and red. Then in the border there are certain little
half-length figures in an ornament composed of ovals and circles, and
other things of that kind, together with an infinite number of little
birds and children, so well wrought that nothing more could be desired.
Close to this, in like manner, are Hanno the Carthaginian, Hasdrubal,
Laelius, Massinissa, C. Salinator, Nero, Sempronius, M. Marcellus, Q.
Fabius, the other Scipio, and Vibius. At the end of the book there is
seen a Mars in an antique chariot drawn by two reddish horses. On his
head he has a helmet of red and gold, with two little wings; on his left
arm he has an antique shield, which he holds before him, and in his
right hand a naked sword. He is standing on his left foot only, holding
the other in the air. He has a cuirass in the antique manner, all red
and gold, as are his hose and his buskins. His chlamys is blue without,
and within all green and embroidered with gold. The chariot is covered
with red cloth embroidered with gold, with a border of ermine all round;
and it stands in a verdant and flowery champaign country, surrounded by
cliffs and rocks; while landscapes and cities are seen in the distance,
with a sky of a most marvellous blue. On the opposite page is a young
Neptune, whose clothing is in the shape of a long shirt, embroidered all
round with the colour formed from terretta verde. The flesh-colour is
very pale. In his right hand he is holding a little trident, and with
his left he is raising his dress. He is standing with both feet on the
chariot, which has a covering of red, embroidered with gold and fringed
all round with sable. This chariot has four wheels, like that of Mars,
but it is drawn by four dolphins, and accompanied by three sea-nymphs,
two boys, and a great number of fishes, all wrought with a water-colour
similar to the terretta, and very beautiful in expression. After these
is seen Carthage in despair, in the form of a woman standing upright
with dishevelled hair. Her upper garment is green, and it is open from
the waist downwards, being lined with red cloth embroidered in gold; and
through this opening there may be seen another garment, delicate and of
changing purple and white colour. The sleeves are red and gold, with
certain puffs and floating folds made by the upper garment, and she is
stretching out her left hand towards Rome, who is opposite to her, as
though saying, "What is thy wish? I have my answer ready;" and in her
right hand she holds a naked sword, with an air of frenzy. Her buskins
are blue, and she is standing on a rock in the middle of the sea,
surrounded by a very beautiful sky. Rome is a maiden as beautiful as it
is possible for man to imagine, with dishevelled hair and certain
tresses wrought with infinite grace. Her clothing is pure red, with only
an embroidered border at the foot; the lining of her robe is yellow, and
the garment beneath, which is seen through the opening, is of changing
purple and white. Her buskins are green; in her right hand she has a
sceptre, in her left a globe; and she, too, is standing on a rock, in
the midst of a sky that could not be more beautiful than it is. Now,
although I have striven to the best of my power to show with what great
art these figures were wrought by Attavante, let no one believe that I
have said more than a very small part of what might be said about their
beauty, seeing that, considering the time, there are no better examples
of illumination to be seen, nor any work wrought with more invention,
judgment, and design; and the colours, above all, could not be more
beautiful or laid in their places more delicately, so perfect is their
grace.
FOOTNOTES:
[5] See note on p. 57, Vol. I.
[6] This seems to be a mistake for Benedict XI.
[7] See note on p. 57, Vol. I.
[8] See note on p. 57, Vol. I.
LEON BATISTA ALBERTI
LIFE OF LEON BATISTA ALBERTI
ARCHITECT OF FLORENCE
Very great is the advantage bestowed by learning, without exception, on
all those craftsmen who take delight in it, but particularly on
sculptors, painters, and architects, for it opens up the way to
invention in all the works that are made; not to mention that a man
cannot have a perfect judgment, be his natural gifts what they may, if
he is deprived of the complemental advantage of being assisted by
learning. For who does not know that it is necessary, in choosing sites
for buildings, to show enlightenment in the avoidance of danger from
pestiferous winds, insalubrious air, and the smells and vapours of
impure and unwholesome waters? Who is ignorant that a man must be able,
in whatever work he is seeking to carry out, to reject or adopt
everything for himself after mature consideration, without having to
depend on help from another man's theory? For theory, when separated
from practice, is generally of very little use; but when the two chance
to come together, there is nothing that is more helpful to our life,
both because art becomes much richer and more perfect by the aid of
science, and because the counsels and the writings of learned craftsmen
have in themselves greater efficacy and greater credit than the words or
works of those who know nothing but mere practice, whether they do it
well or ill. And that all this is true is seen manifestly in Leon
Batista Alberti, who, having studied the Latin tongue, and having given
attention to architecture, to perspective, and to painting, left behind
him books written in such a manner, that, since not one of our modern
craftsmen has been able to expound these matters in writing, although
very many of them in his own country have excelled him in working, it is
generally believed--such is the influence of his writings over the pens
and speech of the learned--that he was superior to all those who were
actually superior to him in work. Wherefore, with regard to name and
fame, it is seen from experience that writings have greater power and
longer life than anything else; for books go everywhere with ease, and
everywhere they command belief, if only they be truthful and not full of
lies. It is no marvel, then, if the famous Leon Batista is known more
for his writings than for the work of his hands.