The Madonna in Art | Page 7

Estelle M. Hurll
subject of
two, one in the Madrid Gallery, and another at Castel-Franco. They
create an entirely distinct Madonna ideal,--a poetic being, who sits,
with drooping head and dreamy eyes, as if seeing unspeakable visions.
The Castel-Franco picture expresses the finest elements in Venetian
character. Every other composition seems elaborate and artificial when
compared with the simplicity of this. Other Madonnas seem almost
coarse beside such delicacy. The Virgin's throne is of an unusual
height,--a double plinth,--the upper step of which is somewhat above
the heads of the attendant saints, Liberale and Francis. This simple,
compositional device emphasizes the effect of her pensive expression.
It is as if her high meditations set her apart from human companionship.
There is, indeed, something almost pathetic in her isolation, but for the
strength of character in her face. The color scheme is as simple and
beautiful as the underlying conception. The Virgin's tunic is of green,
and the mantle, falling from the right shoulder and lying across her lap,
is red, with deep shadows in its large folds. The back of the seat is
covered with a strip of red and gold embroidery.
The later period of Venetian art is marked by a new ideal of the Virgin.
She is now a magnificent creature of flesh and blood. Her face is proud
and handsome; her figure large, well-proportioned, and somewhat
voluptuous. No Bethlehem stable ever sheltered this haughty beauty;
her home is in kings' palaces; she belongs distinctly to the realm of
wealth and worldliness. She has never known sorrow, anxiety, or
poverty; life has brought her nothing but pleasure and luxury. Her
throne stands no longer in the sacred place of some inner sanctuary,
where angel choristers make music. It is an elevated platform, at one

side of the composition, as in Titian's Pesaro altar-piece, and
Veronese's Madonna in the Venice Academy. This gives an opportunity
for a display of elaborate draperies, such as we may see in Veronese's
picture.
The peculiar qualities of art in Verona and Venice are blended in Paolo
Veronese. No artist ever enjoyed more the splendors of color, or
combined them in more enchanting harmonies. Such gifts transform the
commonest materials, and, though his Virgin is a very ordinary woman,
she has undeniable charms. An oft-copied figure, in this picture, is that
of the little St. John, a universal favorite among child lovers.
[Illustration: VERONESE.--MADONNA AND SAINTS.]
The reader must have remarked that, though the fundamental idea of
the enthroned Madonna is that of queenship, the Virgin wears no crown
in any of the pictures thus far cited; the crowned Madonna is not
characteristic of Italian art. It is found occasionally in mosaics from the
eighth to the eleventh centuries, and in some of the early votive
pictures, but does not appear in the later period except in a few
Venetian pictures by Giovanni da Murano and Carlo Crivelli. The same
idea was often carried out by placing two hovering angels over the
Virgin's head, holding the crown between them. Botticelli's Madonna
of the Inkhorn is treated in this way.
The crown is essentially Teutonic in origin and character. Turning to
the representative art of Germany and Belgium, we find the Virgin
almost invariably wearing a crown, whether she sits on a throne, or in a
pastoral environment. No better example could be named than the
celebrated Holbein Madonna, of Darmstadt, known chiefly through the
copy in the Dresden Gallery. Here the imposing height of the Virgin is
rendered still more impressive by a high, golden crown, richly
embossed and edged with pearls. Beneath this her blond hair falls
loosely over her beautiful neck, and gleams on the blue garment
hanging over her shoulders. Strong and tender, this noble figure sums
up the finest elements in the Madonna art of the North.
A simple and lovely form for the Madonna's crown is the narrow

golden fillet set with pearls, singly or in clusters. This is placed over
the Virgin's brow just at the edge of the hair, which is otherwise
unconfined. This is seen on Madonnas by Van Eyck (Frankfort), Dürer
(woodcut of 1513), Memling (Bruges), Schongauer (Munich).
[Illustration: QUENTIN MASSYS.--MADONNA AND CHILD.]
In the enthroned Madonna by Quentin Massys, in the Berlin Gallery,
we have many typical characteristics of Northern art. The throne itself
is exceedingly rich, ornamented with agate pillars with embossed
capitals of gold. The Virgin has the fine features and earnest, tender
expression which recalls earlier Flemish painters. Her dress falls in rich,
heavy folds upon the marble pavement. But, as with Van Eyck and
Memling, Holbein and Schongauer, fine clothes do not conceal her
girlish simplicity or her loving heart. A low table, spread with food,
stands at the left,--a curious domestic element to introduce, and
thoroughly Northern in realism.
Considered as a symbol of
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