Fra Angelico | Page 9

with profound emotion, the third prepares himself to
render the required homage. All around are elegant little figures of
pages and servants, in life-like and natural attitudes.
[Illustration: ADORATION OF THE MAGI.]
The last story represents the Assumption of the Virgin, at which,
according to ancient tradition, Christ is present and carries in his arms
the soul of His mother in the form of a little child.
[Illustration: ADORATION OF THE MAGI. (Uffizi Gallery.)]
Padre Marchese wrote that both the Adoration and this Assumption are
in every respect similar, or replicas of those in the Uffizi. If anything,
the pretty little panels of the Uffizi might be replicas of the Cortona
ones; but in Florence the only painting with the scene of the Adoration
of the Magi is that in the predella of the tabernacle of the Linen
Weavers' Guild. Now, while the Adoration in the Cortona predella is
naturally and simply pourtrayed, that of Florence is conventional and
stiff, the vacuity of some figures and their actions is very
evident--therefore this similitude also reduces itself to mere identity of
subject. The Assumption of the Virgin also offers very notable
differences. The predella at Cortona is more intense and severe, more
simple and hence more grand; while the little panel in the Uffizi shows
that the effort to embellish the scene has been too much for the artist,
and the intensity of sentiment is greatly lessened, being injured by
useless accessories. In that of Cortona, on the contrary, the figures of
the Apostles who hold the sheet on which the Virgin reposes are full of
expression and natural in action, the steep and mountainous
background has severe and grand lines, as if to emphasize the sadness
of the scene. Here the artist felt and created, there he merely repeated

himself.
[Illustration: THE DEATH OF THE VIRGIN. (Cortona.)]
[Illustration: THE DEATH OF THE VIRGIN. (Uffizi Gallery.)]
The triptych, once on the great altar of the church of San Domenico,
now at a side altar on the right, has the Virgin seated in the centre with
the Holy Child upright on her knee, his right hand is raised in act of
benediction, and with his left he holds a rose. Around the throne are
four angels, one of which carries a basket of flowers. In the side panels
are St. Matthew, St. John Baptist, St. John the Evangelist and Mary
Magdalene. Above in the central compartment of the triptych, is the
Crucifixion and the two rounds on the sides represent the
Annunciation.
In the Chapel of Sant' Orsola in San Domenico at Perugia there was
formerly a panel picture now divided into many parts and much
damaged. This was painted by Fra Giovanni for the Chapel of San
Niccolò de' Guidalotti, and may now be seen in the Vannucci gallery at
Perugia.
[Illustration: VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH SAINTS. (Church of St.
Domenico, Cortona.)]
The Virgin is enthroned with her Son on her knees, His right hand in
act of benediction, His left holding a half open pomegranate. At the
foot of the throne four angels are standing back, the two first lift up a
basket full of white and red roses, the others peep from behind the
throne of the Virgin who turns lovingly to her little Son, who is entirely
nude, and as rosy as the angels' flowers, and those in three vases at the
foot of the throne. On the right of the Virgin are St. John Baptist and St.
Catherine; on the left St. Dominic and St. Nicholas. On the predella,
which is divided into three parts, were once various scenes from the life
of St. Nicholas of Bari, two of these are now to be found in the Vatican
Gallery. In a complex composition, they represent the birth of the Saint;
his listening to the preaching of a bishop to a congregation of women
seated in a flowery field; the Saint saving from dishonour the daughters

of a poor gentleman; and the miracle of causing a hundred measures of
wheat to rain down and relieve the famine in the city of Nuri. On the
upper portion the Saint appears from behind a rock, having been
invoked by some devotees to calm a tempest which threatened to wreck
their bark.
[Illustration: MADONNA AND CHILD. (Pinacoteca, Perugia.)]
The portion at Perugia represents the miraculous salvation of three
innocent youths, sons of Roman princes; and the death and funeral of
the Saint. In the lower part of the picture he is extended on the bier
surrounded by monks, women and poor people who weep his loss,
while above, his soul is being led to heaven by four angels. The frame
of the painting is now divided into twelve fragments, each one
containing a small figure of a Saint: they are St. Romuald, St.