LATER PAINTINGS
We have seen that during the four years and a half in which Signorelli
was engaged on the great work of the Orvieto frescoes, he yet spent some
part of the time in his native city, and there, in 1502, he painted the
signed and dated "Deposition" with its _predelle_ for the church of
Santa Margherita, now removed to the Cathedral. Vasari thus speaks of
it: "In Santa Margherita of Cortona, his native town, belonging to the
Frati del Zoccolo, he painted a dead Christ; one of his most excellent
works."[67] This dead Christ is the figure which by its realism and
pathos gave rise to the legend, already quoted,[68] that it was painted
from the body of his own son. It is an exact counterpart of the "Pieta"
in the Orvieto frescoes, except that it is here reversed. It is a work
of great beauty and feeling, painted with sincere emotion, and has none
of the academic dryness with which he treated the same subject in Borgo
San Sepolcro. The fine grouping, the restraint with which the sorrow is
rendered, the real pathos of the scene, give the picture dignity and
solemnity, and the glow of colour, obtained by the lavish use of gold
in the embroideries, add to its richness and decorative beauty. The
Virgin is nearly the same figure as in the Orvieto fresco, and in
feature recalls the San Sepolcro "Crucifixion," and the Magdalen is
almost identical with the altar-piece of the Opera del Duomo, just
considered, although here painted with more refinement and grace. In the
background is one of those vivid scenes of crowded movement, which occur
so often at this period of the master's development--a group of excited
soldiers pressing round the Cross, with fluttering pennons and prancing
steeds. The _predella_ hung just below, contains four subjects--"Christ
in Gethsemane," "The Last Supper," "The Betrayal," and "The
Flagellation." Unfortunately, both pictures are so badly lighted that it
is almost impossible except on a very bright day to appreciate the
colour. The scenes in this _predella_ are nearly the same as in that of
the Florence Academy, which hangs as part of the altar-piece, No. 164,
although it does not seem really to have belonged to it. The two
_predelle_ must certainly have been painted within a very short time of
one another. In both the composition of "The Last Supper" is precisely
the same, as well as "The Flagellation." In the "Betrayal" there is the
same violent crowd with spears and pennons, surging round the Christ. In
the Florence picture, however, there are only three divisions, "The
Betrayal" and "The Way to Calvary" forming the background to "The Agony
in the Garden," where Christ kneels before a little brook, with the
Apostles sleeping in rows behind Him. The broad impressionistic manner
in which they are painted is the same; and, coarse as is the brushwork,
dark and heavy as is the colour, especially in the flesh tints, they are
yet exceedingly fine examples of Signorelli's bold style and quick
resolute workmanship, and well illustrate his power of rendering violent
combined movement, in the crowds which throng round the betrayed Christ,
and march tumultuously on the way to Calvary.
The "Madonna and Saints" above this last _predella_ (No. 164) although
according to Signor Milanesi, not its altar-piece,[69] must certainly
have been painted somewhere about the same time, for the broad style,
tending rather to coarseness, of the work of this period is very
noticeable. It was executed for the church of Santa Trinita in Cortona,
and Milanesi suggests that it might be the altar-piece ordered in 1521
by the authorities of that church,[70] but the description given by the
document of commission is very different, and the picture itself seems
to bear evidence of an earlier date. Like so many of the works in this
Gallery, the painting has been so thickly daubed over by modern
restorers, that it is next to impossible to form a just idea of the
original colour; in its present state it is disagreeably crude and
heavy, and in any case the overcrowding of the composition would prevent
its being considered a successful example of the master's work, although
it has his usual stately dignity and impressive qualities in the
individual figures. The Virgin sits with the Child on her knee, clad in
red robes, over which is a garment, now smeared over with black paint,
but which formerly was covered with gold embroideries. Over her head is
a Trinity, in a _mandorla_ surrounded by cherubs. On the left stands the
Archangel Michael, in Roman armour, holding the balances, in which are
little nude figures representing the souls of the dead; on the right
stands Gabriel with the lily and scroll containing the Message of the
Annunciation. Below, seated at the foot of the throne, are Saint
Augustine and Saint Anastasio, the latter the same burly Bishop with
wide-spread knees of the Loreto Cupola, and the Volterra altar-piece.
These two Saints are fine, stately figures, painted with broad sweeping
lines. The green robe of S. Anastasio was originally covered with a
gorgeous pattern, probably of yellow or gold, but this has been effaced
by the thick smear of repaint. The gentle humility in the face of the
Virgin recalls the "Madonna," of the Brera Gallery, Milan (No. 197
_bis_) with which the picture has, besides, much in common, the Child,
as well as the hands of the Virgin, being exactly the same, although in
a reversed position. We shall not probably be far wrong in placing the
Florence altar-piece about the same time as this "Madonna," of the
Brera, which is dated 1508, and was painted for the church of S.
Francesco in Arcevia (a town famous for its possession of one of
Signorelli's most important works, which we shall presently consider).
Very much repainted, the Madonna still retains great charm and beauty,
but the composition is geometrical, and the figures of the Saints
uninteresting and empty. In these, especially the standing figure on the
left, I feel the hand of an assistant. With all Signorelli's
mannerisms, it lacks his resolute touch and powerful presentation. It is
probable that the great inequalities in many of his paintings,
especially at this later time, are due to his leaving much of the
execution to assistants. Whatever faults are in the work of the master
himself, he is never, up to the last, guilty of any feebleness or
insipidity, such, for instance, as in the painting of this unsolid
figure.
[Illustration: [_Brera, Milan_
MADONNA AND SAINTS]
I have been led from one picture to another by reason of similarities of
form, and have omitted to speak of a beautiful and important painting,
evidently executed soon after the Orvieto frescoes, with which it has
much in common. This is the altar-piece in the church of S. Niccolo,
Cortona, on one side of which is a "Madonna and Saints," on the other a
"Dead Christ upheld by Angels." It is as far as I know, original in
idea--this dead Christ supported by the Archangel, while others show the
symbols of the Passion to the group of kneeling Saints. The four Angels
are very noble figures, and resemble those of the "Hell" and
"Resurrection," of Orvieto. The "S. Jerome" is sincerely painted, and
without any of the senile sentimentality with which Signorelli
occasionally represents this Saint. The one false note in the work is
the stunted figure of the dead Christ, which seems all the more
insignificant by contrast with the grand Archangel who supports it. This
poetic figure with its great wings and its tender beauty is perhaps the
greatest of all the master's renderings of the "Divine Birds." The
colour scheme is much lighter than usual, the flesh-tints being
especially fair, and the painting is another instance of those seeming
efforts to adopt a less heavy palette, to which I have drawn attention
in speaking of the Uffizi _Tondo_.
[Illustration: [_S. Niccolo, Cortona_
DEAD CHRIST UPHELD BY ANGELS]
Vischer considers the "Madonna and Saints" on the reverse of the panel
to have been painted at a different date.[71] It is an exceedingly fine
picture, with all the great qualities of majestic beauty. The Virgin
sits enthroned between SS. Peter and Paul, robed in red, and wearing a
blue mantle lined with green. The Child, half lying on her knee, has his
hand raised in act to bless. It is well modelled, and of a more pleasing
type than usual.
In 1507 was painted another very important work--the altar-piece in the
church of S. Medardo in Arcevia, a splendid _Ancona_, still in its
original Gothic frame. The Virgin is of the same tender type as in the
Brera and Florence Academy pictures, but with an added stateliness and
gravity. In the centre panel she sits enthroned, with the Child on her
knee, clad in an embroidered robe, on the breast of which are two naked
cherubs. On the left stand S. Medardo and S. Sebastian, on the right S.
Andrew and S. Rock, each figure separated, as in the old polyptychs, by
the pilasters of the frame. Above is God the Father, with two Saints on
either side, left S. Paul and S. John the Baptist, right S. Peter and S.
James of Camerino. Each of the side pilasters of the frame is divided
into seven small spaces, each containing the half figure of a saint, the
work of assistants. The effect of the whole painting is of great
splendour, the colours are of glowing depth, and the richness enhanced
by the low relief in gilded gesso of some of the brocades. But with
all its state and dignity, perhaps the most important part of the
altar-piece is the _predella_ with its five beautiful pictures, flanked
on either side by the arms of Arcevia. As colour these are remarkably
fine and are treated with more care and less rapidity than Signorelli
usually gave to _predella_ work, while retaining the same breadth and
freedom of general effect. "The Annunciation," with its beautiful
perspective, is one of his best compositions of this subject, in which
he is always so successful. "The Nativity" recalls that of the Uffizi
_predella_; "The Adoration of the Magi" is a fine rendering of the
scene, but the two last are the most interesting as well as being the
best in workmanship. In "The Flight into Egypt" the painter has
evidently been influenced by the engravings of Albrecht Duerer, and has
painted the little fortified town of the background very much in his
manner. "The Murder of the Innocents" contains two figures in splendid
action, the executioners, one with his dagger raised in act to strike,
the other holding the child up by the leg--both magnificent studies of
the nude, and worthy of the painter of the Orvieto frescoes.
[Illustration:
[_In possession of Mr Jarvis,
New Haven, U.S.A._
THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI]
Very inferior is the altar-piece of "The Baptism," in the same church of
S. Medardo. The existence of the contract of commission, dated June 5,
1508,[72] shows that Signorelli bound himself to paint the figures of
Christ, of the Baptist, and of God the Father, with his own hand,
leaving the rest of the work to his best pupils. These figures are,
however, so different from any of the master's own work, that it is
difficult to believe that they are entirely by him. The picture had
evidently to be finished in great haste, since the receipt for payment
in Luca's hand is dated the 24th of the same month of June, thus leaving
only nineteen days between commission and completion, a very short time
for so large a work. The Baptist stands in a rich red mantle pouring the
water on the head of the Herculean Christ, who wears the Pollaiuolesque
striped loin-cloth. The coarseness and exaggeration of the muscular
development have not the characteristics of Signorelli's own errors in
over-realism, but bear the same relation to his style that the work of
Bandinelli bears to that of Michelangelo. Above is a feeble figure of
God the Father, and in the middle distance a man pulls off his shirt,
reminding one, both in form and treatment, of the figures in Pier dei
Franceschi's "Baptism," of the National Gallery. Another sits by the
river putting on a sandal, not unlike, although very inferior to, the
athlete of the Munich _Tondo_. The composition is grand, and in the
importance given by it to the two principal figures we certainly see the
work of Signorelli. The picture is an example of one of those mysterious
conflicts of documentary and internal evidence, which the study of Art
occasionally furnishes. It still remains in its beautiful original
frame, in the gables of which is painted an "Annunciation," and below,
on each side, three half figures of Saints by some assistant, who was
not even a pupil of Signorelli, but obviously a follower of Niccolo da
Foligno. The _predella_ contains five scenes. "The Birth of the
Baptist," "The Preaching in the Desert," "The Denouncing of Herod and
Herodias" (a _Tondo_), "The Feast of Herod," and--rather out of its due
course, since the head is offered in the charger in the fourth
scene--"The Decapitation in Prison."
There is a very beautiful fragment of an unknown _predella_ in the
possession of Mr Jarvis of New Haven, U.S.A., which belongs
approximately to this period. It has all the impressive dignity and
breadth of treatment of Signorelli's best work. The subject is conceived
with special feeling for its stateliness, Joseph standing by the side of
the Virgin to receive the gifts, as a Chamberlain might stand beside the
throne, while the earnest reverence of the kneeling King, who has cast
his crown at the feet of the Child, is most nobly rendered. The gold in
the brocaded robes is here slightly in relief. The face of the kneeling
King recalls that of the aged Apostle in "The Institution of the
Eucharist," Cortona, a painting dated 1512; a beautiful picture,
executed for the high altar of the Gesu, but which has now been removed
to the Cathedral. Like the other works in this choir it is very badly
lighted, and the photograph is also indistinct. Vasari writes of it: "In
the Compagnia del Gesu, in the same city (Cortona), he painted three
pictures, of which the one over the high altar is marvellous, where
Christ communicates the Apostles, and Judas puts the wafer in his
satchel."[73] At the end of a shallow hall, in the usual good
perspective, His head accentuated against the sky, as in Leonardo's
"Last Supper," Christ stands, and puts the sacred wafer in the mouth of
a kneeling Apostle. In the foreground Judas, with a crafty look, opens
his satchel. The composition is exceedingly fine, the twelve Apostles
making a stately frame for the central figure of Christ. The attitudes
and gestures are natural and dramatic, and the faces have individual
character.
The two other pictures of which Vasari speaks as having also been
painted for the Gesu, now the Baptistery, are--"The Nativity" (a coarse
and badly-painted school picture, having affinities with that of the
National Gallery, London, No. 1133), and a "Madonna and Saints," which
still remains in the Baptistery. Here the Virgin sits, with a Bishop on
either side, and two monks below. Dry and precise in composition, like
that of the Brera, and apparently painted with the assistance of pupils,
the Madonna herself is still very characteristic of the master, and not
unlike those of the Brera and the Florence Academy. The picture is in an
exceedingly ruined state, and the gabled top in which is painted God the
Father, though not without merit, does not belong to the original
painting, but is of a later date.
Lastly, we may place in this group, the broadly-painted _predella_,
which hangs now, badly lighted, in the sacristy of the Arezzo Cathedral.
It is unknown to what altar-piece it belonged, and the pictures are now
divided and separately framed. The first represents "The Birth of the
Virgin," the second "The Presentation," and the last "The Marriage."
"The Presentation" is the finest in composition and general effect, and
contains very stately figures of Joachim and Anna, with splendidly
draped robes, and behind them a fine austere landscape. All three
pictures are broadly painted and swept in in the usual impressionistic
manner.
FOOTNOTES:
[67] Vasari, iii. 686.
[68] See p. 10.
[69] Vasari, iii. 70. Commentario.
[70] See Chronological Table, p. 127.
[71] Vischer, p. 259.
[72] For these notices see Anselmi's monograph, "A proposito della
classificazione dei monumenti nazionali nella provincia d'Ancona."
(Foligno, 1888), p. 35. Also quoted by Cavalcaselle e Crowe, viii. p.
480.
[73] Vasari, iii, 686.