ORVIETO
There seems to be a moment in the life of every great man in which he
touches the height of his possibilities, and reaches the limits of his
powers of expression. To Signorelli it came late, at an age when most
men begin to feel at least their physical powers on the wane. The two
last frescoes of the Monte Oliveto series indicate that an immense force
lay in reserve, waiting an opportunity for some wider and freer field of
action, than had hitherto presented itself. That opportunity now came,
when, at the age of fifty-nine, he was called upon to undertake the vast
work of these Orvieto frescoes. With the exception of the Sistine
Chapel, no such task has been achieved at so sustained a pitch of
imaginative power and technical excellence. Whether the subject stirred
his dramatic spirit, or whether the great spaces to be filled gave an
expanded sense of liberty to his genius, or whether his powers,
intellectual and physical, really were at the zenith of their strength;
whatever was the cause, he succeeded in executing a work which ranks
among the greatest monuments of the Renaissance, perhaps should even
rank as the very greatest.
Morelli writes: "These masterpieces appear to me unequalled in the art
of the fifteenth century; for to no other contemporary painter was it
given to endow the human frame with a like degree of passion, vehemence,
and strength."[60] And beside the dignity with which he has in these
frescoes elevated the body to an almost superhuman grandeur, his
conception of supernatural things is proportionately solemn and
impressive. It is impossible to look at the scenes without emotion, and
the mood evoked is due in a great measure to the earnest conviction with
which they are conceived. Signorelli, always a religious painter, in the
wider meaning of the word, seems here to assume an almost prophetic
attitude of warning, embodied, one might almost think, in the portrait
of himself, stern and menacing, standing sentinel-like over the work.
Vasari thus speaks of the frescoes: "In the principal church of
Orvieto--that of the Madonna--he completed with his own hand the chapel
which had been begun there by Fra Giovane da Fiesole; in which he
painted all the history of the end of the world, with strange fantastic
invention: Angels, demons, ruins, earthquakes, fires, miracles of
Antichrist, and many other of the like things; besides which, nudes,
foreshortened figures, and many beautiful designs; having pictured to
himself the terror which will be in that latest tremendous day. By means
of this he roused the spirit of all those who came after him in such a
way that since, they have found the difficulty of that manner easy.
Wherefore it does not surprise me that the works of Luca should have
always been most highly praised by Michelagnolo, nor that certain things
of his divine Judgement which he painted in the chapel were in part
courteously taken from the invention of Luca; as are the Angels, Demons,
the heavenly orders, and other things in which Michelagnolo imitated the
style of Luca, as everyone may see. Luca portrayed in the
above-mentioned work himself and many of his friends; Niccolo, Paulo and
Vitellozzo Vitelli; Giovan, Paulo and Orazio Baglioni, and others whose
names are unknown."[61]
[Illustration: [_Cathedral, Orvieto_
PORTRAITS OF SIGNORELLI AND FRA ANGELICO
(DETAIL FROM ANTICHRIST)]
Fifty-two years before, in 1447, Fra Angelico had spent three months and
a half in this Cathedral of Orvieto, painting the spandrels in the roof
of the Cappella Nuova, as it was then called.[62] He had time to
complete only two frescoes, being either recalled to Rome by Nicholas
V., or to the convent of S. Domenico, near Fiesole (of which, in 1450,
he was made Prior). These two works are among the best and strongest of
his paintings. In the principal space, that over the altar, he painted
Christ in glory, surrounded by a _mandorla_, with angels on either side;
and in the spandrel on the right, a group of sixteen prophets, seated
pyramidally against a blaze of gold background. It is probable that he
had thought out the general scheme of the frescoes, and that Signorelli
only carried out his intention in working the paintings into one great
whole--Christ in Heaven, surrounded by Angels, Apostles, Martyrs,
Virgins, Patriarchs and Fathers of the Church, witnessing from on high
the execution of divine justice below. However that may be, it is
certain that Signorelli, in his painting of the roof, kept most
scrupulously to the older master's arrangement, and in one of the
spandrels actually seems to have worked over his design.
After the withdrawal of Fra Angelico, the chapel remained untouched for
more than fifty years. In 1449 his pupil, Benozzo Gozzoli, who had
probably been his assistant in the painting, demanded permission to
continue the work; but the authorities were not content to grant it, and
it was only in 1499, after some futile negotiations with Perugino, who
appears to have refused the commission, that they finally resolved to
place the decoration in the hands of Signorelli. Perhaps decided to this
step by the success of the Monte Oliveto frescoes, they were yet so
cautious and so determined to have only the very best work in their
chapel, that at first they only entrusted to him the painting of the
vaulting, already begun. They were wise to be careful in their choice,
for they were probably conscious of the extreme beauty of their
cathedral, and, in particular, of the exquisite architecture of this
chapel. Orvieto Cathedral is one of the finest and most impressive of
the Italian churches, and from its foundation in 1290, the authorities
had been notoriously lavish in their expenditure for its building, and
fastidious in their choice of architects, sculptors, and painters.[63]
From the point of view merely of decoration, they could have given the
work to no better artist than Signorelli, and the first impression, on
passing into the chapel from the austere and spacious nave, is of the
harmonious plan, both of colour and design, with which the original
beauty of the architecture has been enhanced, and its graceful
characteristics accentuated.
The roof is of very perfect shape, and the spaces well adapted for
painting. It is divided in the middle by an arch, thus having two
complete vaultings, each with four spandrels. The walls are high and
spacious, also divided in two parts, in each of which, on either side,
is a large fresco. Signorelli has separated the lower part of the wall
by a painted frieze of delicate gold and ivory, and in the lower half
executed a series of portraits, each surrounded by medallions in
_grisaille_, containing small subject-pictures, the rest of the space
being filled with an intricate pattern of grotesques. The south wall, in
which are three small windows, has been unfortunately disfigured by a
_baroque_ seventeenth-century altar, whose projections hide a part of
the frescoes. Opposite is the entrance, a magnificently-proportioned
portal, with a rounded arch, most delicately decorated in colour. Every
inch of the walls is covered, and for the most part by the work of
Signorelli himself, the above-mentioned grotesques, the merely
ornamental painting, and a few of the medallions alone being by his
assistants.
In describing the frescoes I intend to begin with those of the vaulting,
and then to work gradually round the walls from the left of the
entrance, where the first of the series of larger paintings begins with
"The Preaching and Fall of Antichrist."
In the spandrel opposite the Christ of Fra Angelico, Signorelli has
painted eight angels holding the symbols of the Passion, while two
others, not unlike the great Archangels of the "Resurrection," blow
trumpets to announce the impending Judgment.
Left of the altar, opposite Fra Angelico's "Prophets," and arranged in
exactly the same pyramidal form, is a magnificent group, representing
the "Apostles," the Virgin being seated on the lowest tier with S. Peter
and S. Paul. Very noble, impressive figures, powerfully and solidly
painted, with broadly-draped, heavy-folded robes, they sit like rocks
upon clouds as solid as hills.
These, with the two frescoes of Fra Angelico, complete the paintings of
the first vaulting.
Those on the other side of the arch are executed entirely by Signorelli,
and, with the exception of one, from his own designs. This one is the
weakest of his roof-paintings in execution, and the composition and
actual drawing of the central figures, are the work of Fra Angelico. It
represents the "Choir of Martyrs," a group of seven figures. In the
centre are seated three Deacons in full canonicals, with Bishops on
either side, and below two Saints in plain robes. These last have all
Signorelli's characteristics of drawing, and sit with wide-spread knees
and broadly-painted draperies, a striking contrast to the weak attitudes
and niggling robes of the central group. Signorelli has indeed hardly
altered the childish chubby features of the Deacon in the middle, nor
the benevolent vacuity of the two Bishops, so different to his own
austere types.
Opposite to this, over the portal, is a group of eight "Virgins,"
broadly and vigorously treated, in Signorelli's boldest manner. To the
right is another of the pyramidal groups, fifteen "Doctors of the
Church," some of whom are represented disputing and discussing points of
theology.
The last of the roof-paintings is a powerful group of "Patriarchs,"
ranking, with that of the "Apostles," among the most impressive of the
frescoes. Here appear many of his well-known types of face; the
melancholy features of Pan are repeated in the turbaned youth in the top
row, intended perhaps to be Solomon; the Christ of the Uffizi "Holy
Family" is in the second tier to the left; the powerful Zacharias from
the Berlin _Tondo_ in the lowest.
Luzi, in his minute description of the paintings,[64] has bestowed names
on all these figures, without much advantage, since they are for the
most part doubtful. Few of them bear symbols, but the different groups
are sufficiently described in large letters, by the painters
themselves--GLORIOSVS APOSTOLORVM CHOIR--MARTIRVM CANDIDATVS
EXERCITVS--etc. etc.
The figures, with the exception of those by Fra Angelico, and the design
for the "Martyrs," are entirely the work of Signorelli himself. The
decorations between the spaces seem to be in part by the assistant of
Fra Angelico--perhaps Benozzo Gozzoli. In the first border heads are
painted, in lozenges, at regular intervals, a few of which are in the
older master's style, while many show the manner of Signorelli. The
rounded projecting rib is painted with foliage of cypress-green, with
here and there rich red and golden flowers gleaming out, and on either
side a border of conventionalised water-lilies. It is difficult to say
which of the masters designed this exceedingly beautiful decoration, but
it is most effective, and well-calculated to accentuate the life of the
fine curves in the vaulting.
[Illustration: [_Cathedral, Orvieto_
PATRIARCHS]
These groups of Signorelli's are noble and impressive paintings, in
technique strong and vigorous. The draperies are treated with simplicity
and breadth of fold, and the gold background gives richness and beauty
to the colour. No wonder that the authorities, jealous though they were
at the beauty of their chapel, should have hesitated no longer to hand
over the great spaces of the walls to the brush of the painter who had
so well executed their first commission.
In the April of the following year, 1500, the new task was given. The
payment for the roof was to have been 205 ducats; for the walls they
offered 575. Besides this, the painter was to be furnished with
ultramarine, a certain quantity of food and wine, and a free lodging,
with two beds, as the lengthy documents of commission minutely tell.[65]
The paintings begin with "The Preaching and Fall of Antichrist." Here
the foreground is filled with groups of the followers of the false
prophet, who, with the features of Christ, stands on a little raised
dais, listening with an evil expression, as the Devil behind him, unseen
by the crowd, whispers into his ear what he shall say. Before the dais
are scattered gold vessels, bars and coins, with which he tempts the
audience. Farther back to the right, different groups represent the
false teaching and miracles of Antichrist, and in the background is his
Temple, with armed men going in and out of its open portico. The left of
the frescoes is devoted to the fall of the false prophet, and the
destruction of his followers. Above we see him precipitated
head-downwards from heaven by an angel surrounded by fiery rays, which
strike death to the army beneath.
[Illustration: [_Cathedral, Orvieto_
THE PREACHING AND FALL OF ANTICHRIST]
In sombre black, and standing outside the scene, Signorelli has painted
the portrait of himself, with fingers interlaced and firmly-planted
feet, and behind, the milder, but still gloomy figure of Fra Angelico.
There is something sinister in the saturnine melancholy on the faces of
the crowd, unrelieved by any lightness, and culminating in the evil
expression of Antichrist himself. The peace of the gold-flecked
landscape only accentuates the horror of the scene of the downfall in
the background. The picture is a fit prologue to the terrible Judgment
to come.
In composition the fresco is very fine, the values of distance are well
kept, and the meaning of the scene is obvious and significant, and
dramatically rendered. The foreground group is very strongly painted,
natural in attitude and gesture, and the figure of a man in striped hose
is magnificently modelled. I do not care to touch on so hypothetical a
thing as the supposed portraiture in this group, but it is interesting
to note, in the old man right of Antichrist, the features familiar to us
in the drawings of Leonardo, possibly painted from a study of the same
model. Behind is a profile head, obviously intended for Dante. The
terrible force of the angel, with its hawk-like swoop, the unresisting
heavy fall of the body through the air, are rendered with extraordinary
power. The foreshortening is admirable, and so is the fine perspective
of the beautiful architecture of the Temple.
The figures of the soldiers on the steps recall Perugino in the manner
of treatment--dark against light, and well detached from the background.
The capitals of the pillars, the buttons on the clothes, and the rays of
the angel are embossed with gilded gesso, as also are the distant hills.
This form of ornamentation, so much used by Signorelli in these
frescoes, adds greatly to their decorative beauty.
Under this painting is a square-shaped portrait, half cut away by a
recess, in which stands a modern altar. It is supposed by Luzi to
represent Homer, and is the first of a series which run all round the
walls, much repainted, but all of them the work of the master himself.
They are surrounded by four medallions, painted in _grisaille_, also for
the most part by Signorelli, but in this case only two, and a fragment
of the third, remain, the enlarging of the recess having almost entirely
cut that and the fourth away. In the top medallion are five nude
figures, a powerful female and four males, all wildly hastening as if
from some impending destruction. In that on the left a man stands on a
dais, surrounded by soldiers who hold a prisoner bound before him. In
the lower fragment, only one figure remains. These all represent,
according to Luzi, scenes from Homer. The groups are well composed and
full of vigorous energy, the nudes are splendidly modelled in broad,
bold strokes, so sharply drawn on the wet plaster that the outlines
are deeply incised. Where, as here, these _grisaille_ pictures are the
work of Signorelli himself, they are worthy of more attention than is
usually given to them, being as fine as any of his best work. To realise
fully their vigour and excellence, one need only compare these powerful
nudes with those painted in the pilasters close by, the work of
assistants. The medallions in every case are surrounded by a broadly
painted coloured pattern of grotesques, also by assistants, but probably
to a large extent designed by Signorelli, for they are extremely
characteristic of his preoccupation with the human form and with
movement. Arabesques have but little attraction for him, and it will be
noticed that in all his ornamental work where it is possible, he paints
figures. These decorations are almost entirely composed of fantastic
creatures, fauns, tiny satyrs, horses, birds, etc., who blending their
shapes and borrowing each other's limbs, frisk all over the walls, and
by their gambols and contortions form a pattern of curves and lines,
which is a maze of animated life, retaining at the same time the broad
and harmonious effect of an arabesque.
[Illustration: [_Cathedral, Orvieto_
THE CROWNING OF THE ELECT]
The next large painting represents "The Crowning of the Elect." A crowd
of men and women, many draped round the loins, some quite naked, gaze
upwards ecstatically, or kneel reverently to receive the gold crowns
which angels are placing on their heads. Above, seated on clouds, are
nine other angels, draped in many-folded robes, who play musical
instruments. To the right two figures (in one of whom the Echo of the
"Pan" is repeated) seem to walk out of the scene, thus connecting this
fresco with the next, in which the elect and crowned souls prepare to
ascend to Heaven.
The background is entirely of gold, thickly studded with bosses of
gilded gesso. The figures are finely modelled and posed. The
flesh-painting, as in all the frescoes, is perhaps somewhat heavy in
colour, but the whole effect is rich and harmonious. The chief defects
in the work are the overcrowding of the composition, and the bad values
of distance, caused in a great measure by the gold background.
Signorelli's treatment is too realistic, his figures are too solid and
too true to life, to bear the decorative background so suitable to the
flat, half-symbolic painting of the Sienese school. They need space and
air behind them, and lacking that, one feels a disagreeable sensation of
oppression and overcrowding. Keeping the eye upon the ground, which is
treated naturally, this feeling goes; the long shadows distinctly
marked, send the figures to their different planes, and the confused
composition becomes clear.
Underneath are the usual decorations, two square portraits surrounded
each by four medallions. We do not need the help of Luzi to recognise
Dante in the first, injured though it is, and much repainted, especially
about the mouth, which gives the face a somewhat grotesque expression.
[Illustration: [_Cathedral, Orvieto_
SUBJECTS FROM DANTE]
The _grisaille_ paintings represent stories from the "Purgatorio," but
although fine in design, are not executed by Signorelli himself. They
have none of the breadth and grandeur of the first series, and the
effect is meagre and niggling, equal importance being given to the rocks
and to the figures.
The other portrait is probably intended for Virgil, who, with upturned
face and melodramatic expression, seems to seek for inspiration. This
expression is exaggerated, but the painting is vigorous and strong.
Around, the medallions again represent subjects from the "Purgatorio,"
and are apparently by the same hand as the last, with the exception of
the lower one, which seems to have some of Signorelli's own work in the
nude figures.
The south wall is pierced by three lancet windows, the central one over
the altar, dividing the two principal frescoes of "Heaven" and "Hell."
The former is, as I have said, a continuation of the last scene, and
represents angels preceding the elect souls, and showing them the way to
Heaven. In the sky, heavily embossed with gold like the last, float
angels with musical instruments, one of whom, with face downward,
blowing a pipe, is not so successfully foreshortened as is usual with
Signorelli.
[Illustration: [_Cathedral, Orvieto_
HEAVEN]
In the thickness of the small window which cuts into this fresco, are
painted two coloured medallions, one of an angel vanquishing a devil,
the other of S. Michael, with the balances, weighing souls--both by the
master himself. Below are two series of small pictures in _grisaille_,
with scenes from the "Purgatorio." The lowest is unfortunately hidden by
the altar. All of them are by Signorelli himself, exceedingly good, and
worthy of careful study, one being especially beautiful--the top picture
of the first series, in which Dante and Virgil stand before the Angel,
with the gold-plumed Eagle in the foreground--a most nobly conceived
illustration to the ninth canto of the "Purgatorio."
[Illustration: [_Cathedral, Orvieto_
HELL]
On the opposite side of the altar is the Judgment of Minos, and the
driving of the lost souls to Hell under the superintendence of the two
Archangels, who stand in the sky with drawn swords, sorrowfully watching
the fulfilment of divine justice. Signorelli here has followed very
closely the text of the "Inferno." In the foreground "Minos standeth
horribly and gnasheth," condemning the miserable souls before him each
to his different circle, his tail wound twice about his middle. Farther
back, the Pistoiese, Vanno Fucci, with blasphemous gesture, yells out
his challenge to God; Charon plies his boat; and in the background
despairing souls follow a mocking demon who runs before them with a
banner.
The two medallions on the sides of the window contain, one the Archangel
Gabriel with the lily of the Annunciation, the other a very beautiful
group of Raphael and Tobias, both by Signorelli himself. Below, the
decorations correspond to those on the opposite side, the _grisaille_
pictures, representing, according to Luzi, scenes from the
"Metamorphoses" of Ovid, all, with the exception, perhaps, of the
medallion just below the window, being also the work of the master, and
very powerfully painted.
Leaving the window wall, we now come to the finest of all the frescoes,
the magnificent scene of the "Damnation." So vivid is the realisation,
so life-like the movements and gestures, that the writhing mass appears
really alive, and one can almost hear the horrible clamour of the
devils, and the despairing yells of the victims. The general effect
is of one simultaneous convulsed movement, one seething turmoil. In
detail, the horror is most dramatically rendered. The malignancy of the
devils, their brutal fury as they claw their prey, tear at their
throats, and wrench back their heads; the utter horror and anguish of
the victims, the confusion, the uproar, are given with a convincing
realistic force, which makes the scene ghastly and terrible. In most
representations of Hell, and especially of Devils, human imagination
fails in conveying any sense of real horror, even the earnest Duerer and
Botticelli treating them with a grotesqueness which shows how far they
were from any conviction of their reality. Signorelli is the only
painter of the Renaissance I can recall who has succeeded in giving a
savage sternness, a formidable brutishness to his fiends, which is very
far from grotesque, but is really appalling. These ferocious creatures
are of all colours, slate-blue, crude purple, heavy green, livid
mauve--sometimes of all these poisonous-looking colours fading one into
the other. Strong and malevolent, they triumph in their work of torture,
with a gloomy malignancy very different from the trifling malice of the
fiends he painted at Monte Oliveto. Above stand the three Archangels, in
armour, with half-drawn swords, menacing those who try to fly upward
instead of toward the flames of Hell. Two, in their hurry to escape
chastisement, let fall their prey; another, with great bat-wings which
cut the air like scythes, swoops down again into the chaos below.
[Illustration: [_Cathedral, Orvieto_
THE DAMNATION]
I suppose a mass of convulsed limbs has never been rendered in so
masterly a manner. The effect is so natural that one is inclined to
forget the difficulties Signorelli has so superbly overcome. But if one
considers in detail the different attitudes, the violent action of the
arms and legs, the contorted positions of the bodies--every muscle
either on the stretch or relaxed into a flaccid limpness,--the
foreshortened limbs twisted into every kind of unnatural posture, and
the complicated interweaving of the whole, one realises that it is
indeed his masterpiece, not only for the mood of terror and awe it
induces by its imaginative power, but for its marvellous rendering of
tumultuous movement, and the ease with which enormous technical
difficulties have been surmounted.
The portraits below are, according to Luzi, of Ovid and Horace, the four
medallions round the former seeming, in their energy and furious life,
to carry out the tumult of the great fresco above. They represent scenes
from "The Metamorphoses," and deal chiefly with Hades and the infernal
Deities. Above stand four female figures with fluttering draperies,
among whom we can distinguish Diana with the bow, and Pallas with the
lance and shield. Below, Pluto stands in a chariot drawn by dragons.
This painting is very much injured, as is much of this lower part of the
wall, especially the grotesques. On the right Pluto bears away
Persephone in his arms in a chariot drawn by two fantastic horses, which
an attendant urges furiously forward with a caduceus. On the left Ceres,
with wildly-floating hair, leaps into a tearing chariot drawn by two
winged serpents, which Cupid goads onward with a flaming torch. These
are all by Signorelli himself, and, for the rendering of violent
movement, worthy of their position under the great painting.
Round the other portrait are subjects also connected with the infernal
regions. Over it, AEneas stands before the Cumoean Sybil, a very
injured painting. Below, Orpheus in Hades plays before Pluto and
Persephone to win back Eurydice, who lies bound before them. On the
right Hercules rescues Theseus from Hades, and slays Cerberus, and on
the left, Eurydice, following Orpheus, looks back, and is re-seized by
the demons. These are all exceedingly good and dramatic paintings, and
are by Signorelli himself.
The next large space, after the fresco of "The Damnation," is filled
with "The Resurrection." Above, the two mighty Archangels sound their
trumpets, and the dead wake, and break through the crust of the grey
earth below. They stand about embracing each other, or helping each
other to rise, or gazing with rapture up at the Archangels, who, with
fluttering draperies and ribbons, and great spread wings of purple and
peacock-green, stand, surrounded by little shadowy cherubs, in the
gold-embossed sky. Most of the figures are of Signorelli's usual
powerful build, one, however, is an emaciated youth with little on his
bones but skin, many are skeletons. To these last he has given a
pathetic look of ecstasy, which is wonderfully expressive, considering
it is obtained only by means of eyeless sockets and grinning jaw-bones.
[Illustration: [_Cathedral, Orvieto_
THE RESURRECTION]
The fresco has suffered much, particularly from the painting, in later
times, of draperies round the loins, some of which have been worn or
rubbed half off. Almost in the centre is a large stain, outlining the
shape of a window, which Signorelli caused to be filled up, and which
can still be seen on the outside of the Cathedral. The damp, oozing
through the new plaster round the framework, partly destroyed the
painting, but the centre is remarkably well preserved.
It is interesting to note in studying this fresco, that, student of
anatomy though he was, the skeleton seems to have had little attraction
for Signorelli. The placing of the bones is, of course, correct, but the
delicacy of their curves, their relative proportions and thicknesses,
their beauty of detail, are not given at all. For example, in the
skeleton in the foreground, the pelvis has scarcely the shape, and none
of the variety of line, of the bone itself, but is merely a
coarsely-drawn girdle. Compared to the extreme delicacy with which he
models flesh, and his minute appreciation of every gradation of curve in
the muscles, this carelessness in the treatment of the skeleton is
noteworthy.
Under this, the last of the larger frescoes, is a recess, in which was
formerly the sarcophagus containing the bones of Pietro Parens, the
patron saint of Orvieto. In this recess, under the brackets on which the
sarcophagus stood, Signorelli has painted one of his most beautiful
"Pietas." Unfortunately, half hidden by a marble group, sculptured in
1574 by Ippolito Scalza, it is difficult to see, and impossible to
photograph, and is therefore not so well known and appreciated as it
deserves to be. The Christ is an exact repetition of the figure in the
"Deposition," of the Cortona Cathedral, and was probably painted about
the same time--1502. The position only is reversed. The other two
figures are also repeated from that altar-piece, with only very slight
variations. Behind is painted the Tomb, on which is a relief in
_grisaille_ of four naked figures bearing the dead body of the Saviour.
This formed the lower part of the now removed sarcophagus, the three
stone supports of which still project from the wall. On the right of the
"Pieta," is painted the martyr Pietro Parens himself. The saint gazes
down with tender reverence at the scene at his feet, standing in
fur-trimmed robes and cap, one hand on his breast, the other holding the
palm of martyrdom. Over his head is the hammer, the instrument of his
death. The face is of extreme beauty, with gentle expression, the robes
are finely draped, the attitude most natural, and the whole figure is
one of the noblest and most sympathetic of all Signorelli's works, and
deserves to be better known. On the other side, and also as supporter of
the "Pieta," stands Faustinus, another patron saint of the city, also a
very beautiful figure, with features which recall the type generally
used by Signorelli for S. John. At his feet lies the millstone with
which he was drowned. On either side, in the thickness of the wall, is a
medallion in _grisaille_, containing the scenes of their deaths, very
powerfully painted.
This recess occupies more than one half of the space below "The
Resurrection," allowing room for only one portrait and two medallions.
The former Luzi has decided to be Lucan, and represents a beautiful
youth, with a mass of loose curling hair crowned with oak-leaves and
acorns. The scenes of the medallions are supposed to be from "The
Phaisalia." In that above three nude men fight with fists, one binds his
prostrate foe, and another bears off a slain body. In that on the right
four men fight with clubs and swords. All are powerful figures, painted
by Signorelli in his most characteristic manner. Below the portrait of
the poet is an inscription of 1667, honouring the memory of Signorelli,
and of Ippolito Scalza, the sculptor of the marble "Pieta."
The frescoes round the beautifully-proportioned entrance portal, being
on an inside wall, are in a state of better preservation than the rest,
and the colours brighter. They represent "The Signs of the Destruction
of the World." For imaginative power they can be compared only with the
woodcuts of Albrecht Duerer's "Apocalypse." To our right on entering, the
"Rain of Fire" shoots in heavy lines from the hands and bodies of demons
with outspread wings. The distraction of the people on whom it falls is
well rendered. In the foreground armed men on horse and foot seek wildly
to escape the shafts, which have already precipitated some to the
ground. In the middle distance the flames pursue a flying mob of
terrified women clutching their infants, and men trying to protect them;
while in the foreground old men, youths, and children, are struck down
in heaps, stopping their ears, and gazing up in panic at the unearthly
apparition.
On the opposite side the sun and moon are eclipsed, and a dark rain of
blood falls from the gloomy sky. An earthquake has shaken the city, and
its buildings totter and fall in fragments on the people. In the
foreground is a group, perhaps intended for the Prophets of the
Destruction, who gaze up, less terrified, but with fear and solemn awe.
[Illustration: [_Cathedral, Orvieto_
SIGNS OF DESTRUCTION]
Next to "The Damnation," these are perhaps the finest of the series, and
show most imagination and dramatic feeling. The foreshortening of some
of the figures is admirable, the composition in the restricted space is
good, and there is superb drawing and modelling in the foreground figure
among the Prophets in the last fresco.
In the centre, over the arch, Signorelli has painted a group of winged
children, who hold a tablet by a bunch of ribbons, in one of whom are
repeated the features of the Christ-child of the Uffizi "Holy Family."
In the space under "The Rain of Fire" has been painted a portrait, but
not a fragment of the face remains, an obelisk-shaped monument having in
later times been placed against the wall, completely destroying it.
Cavalcaselle, for what reason is not clear to me, supposes that it
represented Niccolo Franceschi, the treasurer of the works. On the
opposite side of the doorway is a coloured medallion, representing a man
with a turban, who, leaning his back over the frame as though it were a
window, seems to be gazing up at the painting above. This, Cavalcaselle
suggests, is a portrait of the painter himself; Luzi, however, considers
it to be Empedocles. Over it in the decorations are two small tablets
bearing the master's initials, L. and S.
We began by considering the general impression of the frescoes upon the
mind, their great imaginative qualities, and the solemn mood they
induce. We will conclude by summing up the technical excellences, which
distinguish them from all his previous work by extra power and ability.
The beauty of the compositions, the filling of the spaces and the
effectiveness of the scheme of decoration are as much above the work of
three years before--the Mount Oliveto series--as is the freedom and
dramatic power with which the scenes are rendered.
What chiefly strikes one is the homogeneousness of the whole design,
each part of the work keeping its due place in the great scheme. We are
never unconscious, even while carried away by the emotions of each
separate scene, of the solemn presence of the Judges above, who preside
over the final justice. Considered as subject-pictures, the intense
dramatic feeling makes them extremely powerful in their different
effects, so that it is impossible to look at them unmoved. Finally, the
facility and freedom with which his anatomical knowledge has allowed
Signorelli to render all the possibilities of movement and gesture, is
as much in advance of his age, as is his modern and natural
visualisation, and the impressionistic breadth of his brushwork. In that
respect, indeed, it is impossible to go farther. Later painters have
erred as much in exaggerating violent action and over-developing
muscles, as the earlier master fell short in dry and laborious
stiffness. Signorelli, while retaining the earnest sincerity and
thoughtfulness of the earlier workers, has been able at the same time to
render with modern facility every movement of the human frame, and the
result is an achievement which no later skill has surpassed, which is
perhaps the last word in the treatment of the nude in action.
Before closing these remarks, I must not omit to record the gratitude
due to the two German painters, Bothe and Pfannenschmidt of Wuertemburg,
who, in 1845, at their own cost, cleaned and carefully restored the
frescoes, a work done on the whole with great discretion.
Two other paintings of the master, now in the Opera del Duomo, are so
closely connected with the chapel, that the description would be
incomplete without mention of them here--the altar-piece of the
Magdalen, and the portraits of himself and the treasurer of the
Cathedral, Niccolo Franceschi.
The former, painted originally for the Cathedral, is a life-sized, very
broadly painted figure, somewhat coarse in execution, but exceedingly
powerful. She wears a gorgeous gold garment, elaborately embroidered,
and over it a brownish-red mantle lined with green. There is a stately
dignity in the picture itself which the photograph unfortunately does
not reproduce. It is dated 1504, and on the old frame is the following
Inscription:
CECCARELLEVS . DE . APVIDVTIS--ET . RVFINVS .
ANTONII . --
CONSERVAT . PA . PACIS . CONSERVATRICI . EX . SE .
CONSVLTO . M.D.IIII.
The double portrait, painted in 1503,[66] is a work of the greatest
importance, both by reason of the interest attached to the portraiture,
and also that it remains to us absolutely untouched, every stroke being
in the original state as the master left it. The heads are full of
character and life, powerfully and rapidly painted in black and red, on
a brick or tile, thickly overlaid with gesso. The brush-strokes are bold
and firm, and the outline slightly incised in the plaster. Under each
head Signorelli has painted the names LVCA and NICOLAVS, and on the back
is a most interesting inscription, apparently painted by himself,
although the words are most probably the composition of the Treasurer.
The following is a translation: "Luca Signorelli, an Italian by race,
citizen of Cortona, renowned for his skill as a painter, comparable to
Apelles for attainment, has, under the rule and in the pay of Niccolo
Franceschi, of the same race, but a citizen of Orvieto, Treasurer of the
vestry of its Cathedral, painted with clear meaning this chapel,
dedicated to the Virgin, with figures of the Last Judgment; and, eager
for immortal fame, on the back of this inscription, has painted the
effigy of both, life-like, and with wonderful art. In the reign of Pope
Alexander VI. and of the Emperor Maximilian IV. in the year of grace
M.CCCCC. in the third Kalends of January."
FOOTNOTES:
[60] "Italian Painters," i. 92.
[61] Vasari, iii. 690.
[62] It was not till the seventeenth century that the chapel was
dedicated to the Madonna di San Brizio, on account of a Byzantine
miraculous picture of the Virgin, still on the altar.
[63] For an account of the Cathedral, see the Padre della Valle's
"Storia del Duomo di Orvieto."
[64] "Il Duomo di Orvieto." Ludovico Luzi. Firenze. Le Monnier, 1866.
[65] Preserved among the Archives of the Cathedral. Transcribed by
Vischer, p. 349, etc.
[66] The head of Luca is reproduced, divided from the other, as the
frontispiece.