Fra Angelico | Page 2

and faith!
"We know from him how the pious imagination of the men of his time
pictured the Kingdom of Heaven, with the angels, saints, and blessed
ones, and on this account alone his pictures would have been of
extraordinary importance in the history of religion. Not to love Fra
Angelico would mean to lack the true sentiment of ancient art, for
though we recognize the pious naïveté of the monk, there is in the

heavenly beauty of his figures, and the joy of youthful faith which
animates the artist, a charm unequalled in the whole history of Art!"[2]
Whether Fra Angelico ever actually had a master, it is impossible to
ascertain. There are critics who affirm that if anyone initiated him in art,
imbuing him with his own sentiment and style, it might have been the
Camaldolese monk Lorenzo Monaco; but Cavalcaselle justly observes
that between Angelico and Lorenzo Monaco there only exists that
affinity which in coetaneous artists results from community of thought,
social conditions, and religious sentiments. Two monks like the
Camaldolese and the Dominican might well show the same ideas,
without implying a relation of master and scholar between them.[3]
Both critics and historians, however, agree in the assertion that he
began his career in art by illuminating codices and choral books.
Baldinucci and Rosini judge that his master in painting was the
Florentine Gherardo Starnina, whom Lanzi designates as "a painter of
life-like style." But Padre Marchese refuting this opinion observes that
"not to mention Vasari's silence on the matter, the fact is very doubtful,
because Gherardo passed many years in Spain, and returning to his
native land died in 1403, when little Guido of Mugello[4] was only 16
years old, an age which scarcely admits of the first steps in Art."[5] But
the date of Starnina's death is now corrected and proved to have been in
1408, so, taking into account the character of our artist's works, nothing
need now be opposed to the theory that Fra Giovanni may have profited
by the teaching of that master, while living in Florence after his return
from Spain; besides it is not proved whether that journey to Spain was
ever really taken. Historians, it is true, tell us that Starnina, being
obliged to leave Florence after the Ciompi riots (1378), took refuge in
Spain, where he lived several years; but it is certain that in 1387 his
name was inscribed in the Guild of Florentine painters.[6]
Vasari does not doubt that Fra Angelico, like other artists from
Masaccio onwards, acquired his skill by studying the frescoes of the
Brancacci Chapel;[7] but besides the fact that the style of those pictures
is diametrically opposed to Fra Angelico's, the latter could not possibly
have been in Masaccio's school, for as he was born in 1387, he was

fifteen years older than Masaccio and already a proved master, when
the Carmine frescoes were being painted. Fra Angelico's style is so
individual and characteristic, that it might rather be considered as
springing from his own disposition, developed under the influence of
his time. Studying the works left in Florence by his great predecessors,
leading a retired life, and purifying every idea, every inspiration in the
fire of religion, Angelico was enabled, by meditation, to perfect the
models of the best artists of the "trecento", among whom we should
opine that the influence of Orcagna in his frescoes in the Strozzi Chapel
of S. M. Novella, was greater even than that of Giotto. Indeed it is
evident that what Orcagna began, is carried to the highest development
in Fra Angelico, who combined softness and refinement with severity
of form, grace of expression with nobility of attitude.
The figure of the Virgin in the fresco of the Judgment in the Strozzi
Chapel, so grand and majestic in its simplicity, is again recognisable in
the panels of Fra Angelico, imitated with his own especial character
and spiritual feeling, full of grace and humility, the soft lines breathing
beauty and lightness. The saints who appear to be actually in celestial
repose, have also inspired Fra Giovanni; the same gentle and
contemplative expression which irradiates the features of the elect is
again visible in our painter's figures. In the colouring of both, vivacity
is combined with softness, and vigour of chiaro-scuro goes together
with transparency of tint.
Nevertheless it is true that in certain respects, Fra Angelico might be
said to belong to the same school as Masolino. They are, however, at
the antipodes from each other in sentiment and artistic interpretation,
for while the saintly Giovanni endeavoured to idealize the human
figure and render it divine, Masolino, like most of his contemporaries,
followed a style distinctly realistic; yet it may be proved that in
technique, both followed the same rules, and worked on similar
principles. In