The Madonna in Art | Page 5

the people
shouted so joyously that the street was thereafter named the Borgo dei
Allegri; and how the great picture was finally borne in triumphal
procession to the church of Santa Maria Novella,--all these are the
scenes in the pretty drama. The late Sir Frederick Leighton has
preserved for future centuries this story, already six hundred years old,
in a charming pageant picture: "Cimabue's Madonna carried through
the streets of Florence." This was the first work ever exhibited by the

English artist, and was an important step in the career which ended in
the presidency of the Royal Academy.
Cimabue's Madonna still hangs in Santa Maria Novella, over the altar
of the Ruccellai chapel, and thither many a pilgrim takes his way to
honor the memory of the father of modern painting. The throne is a sort
of carved armchair, very simple in form, but richly overlaid with gold;
the surrounding background is filled with adoring angels. Here sits the
Madonna, in stiff solemnity, holding her child on her lap. If we find it
hard to admire her beauty, we must note the superiority of the picture to
its predecessors.
For the enthroned Madonna in a really attractive and beautiful form, we
must pass at once to the period of full art development. In the interval,
many variations upon the theme have been invented. The throne may
be of any size, shape, or material; the composition may consist of any
number of figures. The Madonna, seated or standing, is now the centre
of an assembly of personages symmetrically grouped about her. There
is little or no unity of action among them; each one is an independent
figure. The guard of honor may be composed of saints, as in
Montagna's Madonna, of the Brera, Milan; or again it is a company of
angels, as in the Berlin Madonna, attributed to Botticelli, similar to
which is the picture by Ghirlandajo in the Uffizi Gallery. Where saints
are represented, each one is marked by some special emblem, the
identification of which makes, in itself, an interesting study. St. Peter's
key, St. Paul's sword, St. Catherine's wheel, and St. Barbara's tower
soon become familiar symbols to those fond of this kind of lore.
Among the idealized presences about the Virgin's throne may
sometimes be seen the prosaic figure of the donor, whose munificence
has made the picture possible. This is well illustrated in the famous
Madonna of Victory in the Louvre, painted in commemoration of the
Battle of Fornovo, where Mantegna represents Francesco Gonzaga,
commander of the Venetian forces, kneeling at the Virgin's feet.
A charming feature in many enthroned Madonnas is the group of
cherubs below,--one, two, or the mystic three. They are not the
exclusive possession of any single school of art; Bartolommeo and

Andrea del Sarto of the Florentines, Francia of the Bolognese, and
Bellini and Cima of the Venetians were particularly partial to them.
The treatment in Northern Italy gives them a more definite purpose in
the composition than does that of Florence, for here they are always
musicians, playing on all sorts of instruments,--the violin, the mandolin,
or the pipe.
Bartolommeo was specially successful in the subject of the enthroned
Madonna, having fine gifts of composition united with profound
religious earnestness. The great picture in the Pitti gallery at Florence
may serve as a typical example. Andrea del Sarto's
_chef-d'oeuvre_--the Madonna di San Francesco (Uffizi)--may also be
assigned to this class, although the arrangement is entirely novel. The
Virgin, holding the babe in her arms, stands on a sort of pedestal,
carved at the corners with a design of harpies, from which the picture is
often known as the Madonna of the Harpies. The pedestal throne is also
seen in two of Correggio's Dresden pictures, but here the Virgin is
seated, with the child on her lap. An exceedingly simple throne
Madonna is that of Luini, in the Brera at Milan, where the Virgin sits
on a plain coping not at all high.
[Illustration: PERUGINO.--MADONNA AND SAINTS. (DETAIL.)]
A beautiful Madonna enthroned is by Perugino, in the Vatican Gallery
at Rome; one of the artist's best works in power and vivacity of color.
The throne is an architectural structure of elegant simplicity of design,
apparently of carved and inlaid marble. The Virgin sits in quiet dignity,
her face bent towards the bishops at her right, St. Costantius and St.
Herculanus. On the other side stand the youthful St. Laurence and St.
Louis of Toulouse. Although Perugino was an exceedingly prolific
artist, he did not often choose this particular subject. On this account
the picture is especially interesting, and also because it is the original
model of well known works by two of the Umbrian painter's most
illustrious pupils.
Many, indeed, were the apprentices trained in the famous bottega at
Perugia, but,