Part 5 (2/2)
And now, the time is come for you to look at Giotto's St Louis, who is the type of a Christian king
You would, I suppose, never have seen it at all, unless I had dragged you here on purpose It was enough in the dark originally--is trebly darkened by the lass--and dismissed to its oblivion contentedly by Mr Murray's ”Four saints, all much restored and repainted,” and Messrs Crowe and Cavalcasella's serene ”The St Louis is quite new”
Now, I am the last person to call any restoration whatever, judicious
Of all destructive htfullest and foolishest Nevertheless, what good, in its , the poor art scholar must now apply his coreat work has been restored, in now passing it by altogether, not even looking for what instruction we still ible, if the restorer has had any conscience at all, to the ordinary spectator, than it would have been in the faded work When, indeed, Mr Murray's Guide tells you that a _building_ has been ' by in resigned despair; for _that_ means that every bit of the old sculpture has been destroyed, and ar copies put up in its place But a restored picture or fresco will often be, to _you_, more useful than a pure one; and in all probability--if an important piece of art--it will have been spared in many places, cautiously completed in others, and still assert itself in a h every phase of reproduction [Footnote: For a test of your feeling in thelooked well at these ter frescos in this chapel, walk round into the next, and examine the lower one on your left hand as you enter that You will find in your Murray that the frescos in this chapel ”were also till lately, (1862) covered ash”; but I happen to have a long critique of this particular picture written in the year 1845, and I see no change in it since then Mr Murray's critic also tells you to observe in it that ”the daughter of Herodias playing on a violin is not unlike Perugino's treatment of similar subjects” By which Mr Murray's criticon a violin, who either at his dress, or at the rest of the fresco, he took for the daughter of Herodias, has a broad face Allowing you the full benefit of this criticism--there is still a point or two round in which Giotto's work is untouched, at least, by the modern restorer So felicitously safe it is, that you ood fresco painting is--how quiet--how delicately clear--how little coarsely or vulgarly attractive--how capable of the ht and shade, and of thecolour
In this latter respect, this fresco stands al the works of Giotto; the striped curtain behind the table being wrought with a variety and fantasy of playing colour which Paul Veronese could not better at his best
You will find, without difficulty, in spite of the faint tints, the daughter of Herodias in the , to the violinon a lyre In the farther corner of the picture, she gives St John's head to her mother; the face of Herodias is aluarantee to you of the safety of the rest The subject of the Apocalypse, highest on the right, is one of themythic pictures in Florence; nor do I know any other so co of the scene between the woon enemy But it cannot be seen fro its beauty in words]
But I can assure you, in the first place, that St Louis is by no ether new I have been up at it, and found most lovely and true colour left in s at the Spanish chapel, is of importance, nearly untouched; the lines of the features and hair, though all more or less reproduced, still of definite and notable character; and the junction throughout of added colour so careful, that the harmony of the whole, if not delicate with its old tenderness, is at least, in its coarser way, soleure remains, it still possesses extreme beauty--profoundest interest And, as you can see it frolass, it leaves little to be desired, and may be dwelt upon with more profit than nine out of ten of the renowned pictures of the Tribune or the Pitti You will enter into the spirit of it better if I first translate for you a little piece fro of France, went personally in the guise of a pilgriia, to visit the holy Brother Giles_--St Louis, King of France, went on pilgri the reat fa the first companions of St Francis, put it in his heart, and determined assuredly that he would visit hiia, where was then staying the said brother And coate of the place of the Brothers, with few coreat earnestness for Brother Giles, telling nothing to the porter who he was that asked The porter, therefore, goes to Brother Giles, and says that there is a pilgriate And by God it was inspired in hi of France; whereupon quickly with great fervour he left his cell and ran to the gate, and without any question asked, or ever having seen each other before, kneeling down together with greatest devotion, they embraced and kissed each other with as reat friendshi+p; but all the while neither the one nor the other spoke, but stayed, so ens of charitable love, in silence And so having rereat while, they parted from one another, and St Louis went on his way, and Brother Giles returned to his cell And the King being gone, one of the brethren asked of his co of France Of which the other brothers being told, were in the greatest melancholy because Brother Giles had never said a word to hi at it, they said, 'Oh, Brother Giles, wherefore hadst thou so country , who had coood word, thou hast spoken nothing?'
”Answered Brother Giles: 'Dearest brothers, wonder not ye at this, that neither I to him, nor he to me, could speak a word; for so soon as we had eht of the divine wisdom revealed and manifested, to me, his heart, and to him, mine; and so by divine operation we looked each in the other's heart on ould have said to one another, and knew it better far than if we had spoken with the mouth, and with ue, which cannot clearly express the secrets of God, and would have been for disco parted from me marvellously content, and comforted in his mind'”
Of all which story, not a word, of course, is credible by any rational person
Certainly not: the spirit, nevertheless, which created the story, is an entirely indisputable fact in the history of Italy and of mankind
Whether St Louis and Brother Giles ever knelt together in the street of Perugiaand a poor hts of each other which no words could speak; and that indeed the King's tenderness and humility made such a tale credible to the people,--this is what you have to meditate on here
Nor is there any better spot in the world,--whencesoever your pilgrim feet may have journeyed to it, wherein to , concerning the nature of Kinghood and Princedoeries and mockeries of both which are too often manifested in their roo are better painted here by Giotto than elsewhere by any one, so as to give you the best attainable conception of the Christian and Heathen pohich have both received, in the book which Christians profess to reverence, the sa of the Jews Himself; anointed, or Christos:--and as the hood was exhibited in the life, partly real, partly traditional, of St Louis, so the hood was exemplified in the life, partly real, partly traditional, of Cyrus of Persia, and in the laws for huovernment and education which had chief force in his dynasty And before the is I think therefore it will be well that you should read the charge to Cyrus, written by Isaiah The second clause of it, if not all, will here beco, as it does, the very i, on which Giotto founds his Triu sentences continuously; what I omit is only their amplification, which you can easily refer to at home
(Isaiah xliv 24, to xlv 13)
”Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb I the Lord that maketh all; that stretcheth forth the heavens, alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth, alone; _that turneth wise e, foolish; that confirmeth the word of his Servant, and fulfilleth the counsel of his ers_: that saith of Cyrus, He isto Jerusalem, 'thou shalt be built,' and to the temple, 'thy foundations shall be laid”
”Thus saith the Lord to his Christ;--to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before hio before thee, and ates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron; and I will give _thee_ the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel
”For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy nah thou hast not known me
”I am the Lord, and there is none else; there is no God beside h thou hast not knownof the sun_, and from the west, that there is none beside ht_, and create darkness; I s
”I have raised hihteousness, and will direct all his ways; he shall build o my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the Lord of Nations”
To this last verse, add the ordinance of Cyrus in fulfilling it, that you”raised up in Righteousness,” and notice, with respect to the picture under which you stand, the Persian King's thought of the Jewish ten of Cyrus, [Footnote: 1st Esdras vi 24]
King Cyrus commanded that the house of the Lord at Jerusaleain, _where they do service with perpetual fire_; (the italicized sentence is Darius's, quoting Cyrus's decree--the decree itself worded thus), Thus saith Cyrus, King of Persia: [Footnote: Ezra i 3, and 2nd Esdras ii 3] The Lord God of heaven hath given ed me to build hi you of all his people?--his God be with hio up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and let the old, and with goods and with beasts”
Bethich ”bringing the prisoners out of captivity” and modern liberty, free trade, and anti-slavery eloquence, there is no shood, then, the boy has reached, since the day he was drawing the lamb on the stone, as Cimabue passed by You will not find two other such, that I know of, in the west of Europe; and yet there has been e III and Queen Charlotte, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, are very fine, no doubt Also your black--haired and white-handed ones; and Rubens' riders--in those handsome boots Pass such shadows of them as you can summon, rapidly before your entle, resolute, glacial-pure, thin-cheeked; so sharp at the chin that the entire head is alht's shi+eld--the hair short on the forehead, falling on each side in the old Greek-Etruscan curves of simplest line, to the neck; I don't know if you can see without being nearer, the difference in the arrangeht shoulder bending inwards, while that on the left falls straight It is one of the pretty changes which a modern workman would never dream of--and which assures htly
He wears a crown fores: and walled round, above the broith a vertical fortress-parapet, as it were, rising into sharp pointed spines at the angles: it is chasing of gold with pearl--beautiful in the reeneral forth, and royal economy We shall see farther symbolism of this kind, soon, by Simon Memmi, in the Spanish chapel