deemed the subject required it; probably, therefore, he left the features impassive in obedience to the formula of a certain school of antique sculpture, that all violent emotion should be avoided" (see Times, June 18, 1883). 668. THE BEATO FERRETTI. Carlo Crivelli (Venetian: painted 1468-1495). See under 602, p. 180. The Beato Ferretti (to whose family the late Pope Pius IX. belonged) kneels in adoration, and as he prays a vision of the Virgin and Child (surrounded by the "Vesica" glory, see IV. 564, p. 76) appears to him. In the upper part of the picture is the festoon of fruit, which was nearly always introduced in this painter's works. 807. MADONNA AND CHILD ENTHRONED. Carlo Crivelli (Venetian painted 1468-1495). This picture (like 724) is signed by "Sir Charles": it is dated 1491. It bears the painter's sign-manual also in the fruits and the vase of flowers. The giver of the picture (which was dedicated to the Virgin, and which, as recorded in a Latin inscription below, cost no inconsiderable sum) is kneeling, in the habit of a Dominican nun, at the foot of the throne. On the Madonna's left is St. Sebastian, pierced with arrows and tied to a pillar, but with the happy look of "sorrow ended” on his face. On her right is St. Francis. Near his feet are some flowers and a snail-typical of the kindness and humbleness of the saint, of whom it is recorded that "he spoke never to bird nor to cicala, nor even to wolf and beast of prey, but as his brother," and who thus taught the lesson "Never to blend our pleasure, or our pride, With sorrow of the meanest thing that feels" (Wordsworth). 274. VIRGIN AND CHILD. Andrea Mantegna (Paduan: 1431-1506). "One of the choicest pictures in the National Gallery," exquisite alike in painting and in sentiment. "Being in an admirable state of preservation, it enables us to become acquainted with all the characteristics of Mantegna's style, and above all to enjoy the refinement in his rendering of the human forms, the accuracy in his drawing, the conscientiousness in the rendering of the smallest details" (Richter, p. 66). For the latter point notice especially the herbage in the foreground. Mantegna, says Mr. Ruskin, is "the greatest leaf-painter of Lombardy," and the "exquisite outlines" here show "the symmetry and precision of his design" (Catalogue of Educational Series, p. 52). Very sweet is the expression of mingled humility and tenderness in the mother of the Divine Child. On her right stands St. John the Baptist, the great preacher of repentance; on her left Mary Magdalen, the woman who repented. The Baptist bears a cross, and on the scroll attached to it are written the words (in Latin), "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world." The Magdalen carries the vase of ointment-the symbol at once of her conversion and her love (“She brought an alabaster box of ointment, and began to wash his feet with tears. . . . And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven "). 804. MADONNA AND CHILD ENTHRONED. Marco Marziale (Venetian: painted 1492-1507). See under 803, p. 186. This picture was painted seven years later (1507) than 803, which it resembles in the bright mosaics of the vault and the interesting design on the robe of the bishop on the left. Notice the little angel playing the mandolin on the steps of the throne, characteristic of the earlier Venetian painters. 902. "THE TRIUMPH OF SCIPIO." Andrea Mantegna (Paduan: 1431-1506). One of the grisailles, or pictures in gray and brown, of which Mantegna in his later years painted very many, and to multiply which he took to engraving. In its subject the picture is a piece of ancient Rome, and shows "that sincere passion for the ancient world which was the dominating intellectual impulse of his age." No other works of the time, it has been said, are so full of antique feeling as Mantegna's. Botticelli played with the art of the ancients and modernised it; Mantegna actually lived and moved in it (Woltmann and Woermann: History of Painting, translated by Clara Bell, ii. 378). Mantegna's classical scholarship, too, is abundantly shown in the details of this picture, which is full of allusions to Latin authors and history. The Triumph of Scipio, it may be briefly explained, consisted in his being selected by the Senate as "the worthiest man in Rome," by whom alone-so the oracle decreed-must Cybele, the Phrygian mother of the gods, be received. It was "an honour," says Livy, with the fine patriotism of Rome, more to be coveted than any other which the Senate or people could bestow." On the left, the image of the goddess is being borne on a litter, and with it the sacred stone alleged to have fallen from heaven. It was an unusual fall of meteoric stones that had caused the Romans to consult the oracle in B.C. 204, during Hannibal's occupation of Italy, and the oracle had answered that the Phrygian mother must be brought to Rome. This goddess, worshipped under different forms in many parts of the world, was a personification of the passive generative power in nature, and from this time forward she was included among the recognised divinities of the Roman State. In the centre of the picture Scipio and his retinue are receiving her; whilst Claudia, a Roman lady, has thrown herself before the image. Some slur had attached to her reputation, but she had proved her innocence by invoking the goddess and then drawing off from a shoal in the harbour of Ostia, with the aid of only a slight rope, the vessel which bore the sacred image. 749. THE GIUSTI FAMILY OF VERONA. Niccolo Giolfino (Veronese: painted 1486-1518). Two groups of family portraits, originally in two pictures, which formed the predella of an altar-piece: hence the upward look of some of the faces. 739. THE ANNUNCIATION. Carlo Crivelli (Venetian: painted 1468-1495). Mary is kneeling in her chamber; the angel of the Annunciation (beside him Emidius, the patron saint of Ascoli, with a model of the city in his hand) is outside in the court, but she cannot see him, for a wall stands between them-" a treatment of the subject which may be intended to suggest that the angel appeared to her in a dream." The rest of the picture is very characteristic, in two features, of medieval art. First, it was never antiquarian: it did not attempt to give a correct historical setting (cf. under VII. 294, p. 165). Nomediæval painter made the Virgin a Jewess; they nationalised her, as it were, and painted her in the likeness of their own maidens. So too their scenery was the likeness of their own homes and their own country. Here for instance is a "perfectly true representation of what the architecture of Italy was in her glorious time; trim, dainty, -red and white like the blossom of a carnation,-touched with gold like a peacock's plumes, and frescoed, even to its chimney-pots, with fairest arabesques,—its inhabitants, and it together, one harmony of work and life" (Guide to the Venetian Academy, p. 21). And secondly, the picture shows the pleasure the painters took in their accessories, and the frank humour-free at once from irreverence and from gloom -with which the Venetians especially approached what was to them a religion of daily life. Notice especially the little girl at the top of the steps on the left, looking round the corner. 904. MADONNA AND CHILD. Gregorio Schiavone (Paduan: painted about 1470). See in the Octagon Room, under 630, p. 193. Bartolommeo Vivarini (Venetian: painted 1450-1499). One of the earliest Venetian pictures in the Gallery. Of Bartolommeo Vivarini (the brother of Antonio, see Octagon, 768, p. 193) it is recorded that he painted (in 1473) the first oil picture that was exhibited in Venice. This one, however, is in tempera. "The figures in Bartolommeo's pictures are still hard in outline,—thin (except the Madonna's throat, which always, in Venice, is strong as a pillar), and much marked in sinew and bone (studied from life, mind you, not by dissection); exquisitely delicate and careful in pure colour;—in character, portraits of holy men and women, such as then were. There is no idealism here whatever. Monks and nuns had indeed faces and mien like these saints, when they desired to have the saints painted for them" (Guide to the Venetian Academy, p. 6). 906. THE MADONNA IN ECSTASY. Carlo Crivelli (Venetian: painted 1468-1495). The latest of Crivelli's dated pictures in the Gallery (1492), and remarkable for the deep colours which mark the artist's highest powers. Notice the usual hanging fruit and the pot of roses and carnations-the flower most often seen in Venice to this day. 724, OUR LADY OF THE SWALLOW. Carlo Crivelli (Venetian painted 1468-1495). Full of the dainty detail which characterises the Venetian pictures of this time. Notice the fruit placed everywhere about the Virgin's throne; and above, the swallow-hence the name of the picture, "Madonna della Rondine," and the vase of flowers. Notice also the beautiful dress pattern. accompanying saints are St. Jerome and St. Sebastian. The Carlo Crivelli (Venetian: painted 1468-1495). His This is the earliest of the eight pictures by Crivelli in the National Gallery—the date 1476 being conspicuously written on the border underneath the Madonna's feet. One of the painter's weaknesses his dislocation of the hands — is noticeable in the Madonna. So too is his affectation, which, however, is redeemed by its effect of unconsciousness. fancy for fruit, also, may be noticed on the throne in this central compartment. The order of the other subjects (from the spectator's left to right) is as follows:-Top row: St. Peter Martyr, St. Lucy, the archangel Michael and St. Jerome; Second row: St. Francis, St. Andrew, St. Stephen, St. Thomas Aquinas; Lower row: St. John Baptist, St. Peter, St. Catherine, St. Dominic. 803. THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST. Marco Marziale (Venetian: painted 1492-1507). An example which shows what wealth of interest there is in the National Collection. It is only by a second-rate painter of the Venetian School-Marco was one of the assistants engaged to work under Giovanni Bellini in the decoration of the Ducal Palace, and whilst Bellini received sixty ducats a year, Marco received only twenty-four; but no picture in the Gallery is richer than this in decorative design. Note first the varied and beautifully-designed patterns in the mosaics of the church -recalling one of the domes of St. Mark's. Then the lectern, covered with a cloth, and the delicately-embroidered border, wrought in sampler stitch, deserve close examination. The |