Part 4 (2/2)

[Illustration: FIG 32--AN ANGEL _In the Uffizi, Florence By Fra Angelico_]

When his final illness was upon him, the brethren of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, where he resided, gathered about hiina_ He died on the 18th of February, 1455, when sixty-seven years old His tombstone is in the church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, in Roure of a Dominican monk in marble Pope Nicholas V

wrote his epitaph in Latin The following translation is by Professor Norton:

”Not ave all ains to thine, O Christ!

One work is for the earth, another for heaven

The city, the Flower of Tuscany, bore me--John”

In the Convent of San Marco in Florence there are twenty-five pictures by this master; in the Academy of Florence there are about sixty; there are eleven in the chapel of Nicholas V, and still others in the Vatican gallery The Church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence, the Cathedral of Orvieto, the Church of St Doia, and that of Cortona, are all rich in his works Besides these a few exist in soalleries; but I love best to see them in San Marco, where he painted them for his brethren, and where they seem elico is the sweet and tender expression of the faces of his angels and saints, or any beings who are holy and good; he never succeeded in painting evil and sin in such a way as to terrify one; his gentle nature did not permit him to represent that which it could not comprehend, and the very spirit of purity seeh every picture

Two other Florentine artists of the saelico were MASOLINO, whose real name was PANICALE, and TOMMASO GUIDI, called MASACCIO on account of his want of neatness The style of these two reater that little is said of Masolino The principal works of Masaccio are a series of frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel in Florence They represent ”The Expulsion fro,” ”Peter Curing the Blind and Laus,” and the ”Resuscitation of the King's Son” There is a fresob Masolino in the sa of Peter” Masaccio was in fact a remarkable painter

Some one has said that he seemed to hold Giotto by one hand, and reach forward to Raphael with the other; and considering the pictures which were painted before his time, his works are as wonderful as Raphael's are beautiful He died in 1429

PAOLO UCCELLO (1396-1479) and FILIPPO LIPPI (1412-1469) were also good painters, and SANDRO BOTTICELLI (1447-1515), a pupil of Filippo, was called the best Florentine painter of his time FILLIPINO LIPPI (1460-1505) was a pupil of Botticelli and a very important artist ANDREA VERROCCHIO, LORENZO DI CREDI, and ANTONIO POLLAJUOLO were all good painters of the Florentine school of the last half of the fifteenth century

Of the same period was DOMENICO GHIRLANDAJO (1449-1494), who ranks very high on account of his skill in the composition of his works and as a colorist Healso to those of his own ti portraits of certain citizens of Florence into pictures which he painted in the Church of Santa Maria Novella and other public places in the city He did not usually make them actors in the scene he represented, but placed the at the picture themselves While his scenes were laid in the streets known to us, and his architecture was familiar, he did not run into the fantastic or lose the picturesque effect which is always pleasing Without being one of the greatest of the Italian masters Ghirlandajo was a very ireat Michael Angelo

Other prominent Florentine painters of the close of the fifteenth century were FRANCISCO GRANACCI (1477-1543), LUCA SIGNORELLI (1441-1521), BENOZZO GOZZOLI (1424-1485), and COSIMO ROSSELLI (1439-1506)

Soood painters worked in Venice froin to speak of the Venetian school with some account of the Bellini The father of this family was JACOPO BELLINI (1395-1470), and his sons were GENTILE BELLINI (1421-1507) and GIOVANNI BELLINI (1426-1516)

The sketch-book of the father is one of the treasures of the British Museues, 17 by 13 inches in size, and contains sketches of al--still and aniures, stories of the Scriptures, of y, and of the lives of the saints are all illustrated in its sketches, as well as hawking parties, village scenes, apes, eagles, dogs, and cats In this book the excellence of his drawing is seen; but so few of his works ree of him as a colorist It is certain that he laid the foundation of the excellence of the Venetian school, which his son Giovanni and the great titian carried to perfection

The elder son, Gentile, was a good artist, and gained such a reputation by his pictures in the great council-chamber of Venice, that when, in 1479, Sultan Meheood painter, the Doge sent to hiave hi to the State In Constantinople Gentile was much honored, and he painted the portraits of th it happened that when he had finished a picture of the head of John the Baptist in a charger, and showed it to the Sultan, that ruler said that the neck was not well painted, and when he saw that Gentile did not agree with him he called a slave and had his head instantly struck off, to prove to the artist ould be the true action of the muscles under such circu to remain near the Sultan, and after a year in his service he returned hoed him to ask for whatever would best please hie and Signoria of Venice After his return to Venice he worked much in company with his brother It is said that titian studied with Gentile: it is certain that he was always occupied with important commissions, and worked until the day of his death, when he was hty years old

[Illustration: FIG 33--CHRIST _By Gio Bellini_]

But Giovanni Bellini was the greatest of his fa His works may be divided into two periods, those that were done before, and those after he learned the use of oil colors His masterpieces, which can still be seen in the Academy and the churches of Venice, were painted after he was sixty-five years old The works of Giovanni Bellini are nualleries of Europe He did not paint a great variety of subjects, neither was his iination very poetical, but there was a ures; he seems to have made humanity as elevated as it can be, and to have stopped just on the line which separates earthly excellence froure of Christ, of which Lubke says: ”By grand nobleness of expression, soleenity which has rarely been surpassed” Near the close of his life he painted a few subjects which represent gay and festive scenes, and are more youthful in spirit than the works of his earlier years The two brothers were buried side by side, in the Church of SS Giovanni e Paolo, in Venice

There were also good painters in Padua, Ferrara, and Verona in the fifteenth century

ANDREA MANTEGNA, of Padua (1430-1506), was a very important artist He spent the best part of his life in the service of the Duke of Mantua; but his influence was felt in all Italy, for his ht hiht by various sovereigns, whose offers he refused until Pope Innocent VIII summoned him to Rome to paint a chapel in the Vatican

After two years there he returned to Mantua, where he died His pictures are in all large collections; his finest works are madonnas at the Louvre, Paris, and in the Church of St Zeno at Verona Mantegna was a fine engraver also, and his plates are now very valuable

In the Uino (1446-1524) was a notable painter; he was important on account of his oork, and because he was the reat Raphael His pictures were simple and devout in their spirit, and brilliant in color; in fact, he is considered as the founder of the style which Raphael perfected His works are in the principal galleries of Europe, and he had many followers of e have not space to speak

FRANCISCO FRANCIA (1450-1518) was the founder of the school of Bologna

His true naoldsmith of repute before he was a painter He was also lio and to Pope Julius II at Bologna It is not possible to say when he began to paint; but his earliest knoork is dated 1490 or 1494, and is in the Gallery of Bologna His pictures reseino and Raphael, and it is said that he died of sorrow because he felt hireat painter of Urbino Raphael sent his St Cecilia to Francia, and asked hi in its place; he did so, but did not live long after this It is well known that these two ood friends and corresponded, but it is not certain that they ever met Francia's pictures are numerous; his portraits are excellent Many of his works are still in Bologna

[Illustration: FIG 34--MADONNA _By Perugino In the Pitti Gallery, Florence_]