Fra Angelico | Page 6

1418.
When Guidolino entered the convent and took the name of Giovanni,
he must have been already expert in art; for the vicissitudes which
followed could certainly not have facilitated the study of painting. In
fact his works which remain at Cortona are in so youthful a style, and
bear the imprint of such freshness as to remove all doubt on this
generally accepted assertion.
While staying at Foligno, the Fiesolan refugees propagated that severe
form of life and strict observance which Giovanni Dominici had taught
in his convent at Fiesole, and brother Giovanni again began his artistic
work, for painting was to him like prayer, i. e. his usual way of raising
his mind and heart to God. Unfortunately few of these first works have
been preserved, but from those few we are assured that he studied in
Florence, from which school alone he could have appropriated the
noble manner impressed on all his works; and that those who perceive
an Umbrian influence in his art, are very far from the truth.
There may be some elements common to both the Umbrian art and that
of Angelico; this, however, does not depend so much on the teaching of
the school, as on technical affinity; insomuch as Umbrian painting in its
lucidity, charm and accuracy of colour, is in some measure derived
from the art of illumination, and most probably Fra Angelico took his
style from the same source, as even in his most perfect works, he
always preserved a remembrance of it.
In fact, his patient diligence and study of detail render his pictures so
many miniatures, done in larger proportions; the lucidity of tint, the
grace of the ornamental motives, the almost exaggerated minuteness of
execution, are decided proofs of the artistic education of Fra Angelico.
It is pleasant to imagine him, during his sojourn at Foligno and Cortona,
making pilgrimages to Assisi, to draw inspiration from the works of the

great masters in the splendid church of San Francesco. There he found
his old friends, and might at a glance admire together Giotto, Simone
Martini, and Lorenzetto. We should say he admired Simone and
Lorenzetto more than Giotto, for the grace of their figures, refinement
of execution, and greater richness of the accessories, robes and
ornamentation, together with the pleasing brilliance of colouring, all
approached more nearly to Fra Giovanni's own artistic sentiment than
the style of Giotto.
And even less than the Umbrian painters or miniaturists (if indeed there
were any worthy to influence the artistic spirit of our artist) did the
landscape of verdant Umbria stir his soul, which even the sweet slopes
of Fiesole could not touch.
Doubtless from the heights of the convent at Cortona, which dominates
one of the finest views in Italy, the young monk admired the beautiful
horizon, and enjoyed the splendour of the verdant plain, and the blue
mountains, "enwrapt in mists of purple and gold", as he had often at
sunrise and sunset, enjoyed from his Fiesole convent the gentle fields
and dales "peopled with houses and olives"; but, after all, these beauties
of nature so often displayed before him, were dumb to an artist who
was wholly absorbed in visions beyond this world.
The study of the verdant country never occupied his mind; in his
paintings, landscape is either an insignificant accessory, or if it
occupies a large space in the picture as in the "Deposition from the
Cross" in the Florentine Gallery, it shows plainly that it is not the result
of special study, of personal impressions, or of love of the place itself.
In fact it does not attract or interest the observer at all.
Nor could this be otherwise; the inner life of the spirit, which he lived
so intensely, and so vividly transfused in the figures of his Saints, must
necessarily have abstracted his mind from his surroundings, to which
he therefore gave little attention. In this he was faithful to the
Giottesque principle of not enriching the background, except by just
what was necessary to render the subject intelligible, and this without
pretension, or new research.

His trees rose straight on their trunks, the leaves and branches
spreading in conventional style; his rocks have the usual gradations
which we find in the old school; the views of distant cities are
absolutely fantastic and infantile creations; only the green plain is often
illumined, in an unusual manner, by tiny flowerets of many hues, while
mystic roses crown the angels' locks, adorn overflowing baskets, or rise
on long stalks at the foot of the Virgin's throne in transparent vases.
Such are the characteristics, the spirit and the sentiment that appear in
the works of Fra Angelico, who might be considered as the last
representative of that school of which Giotto was master; and at the
same