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Outside this "Vesica" (or "fish glory"), in the four corners, are four Jewish symbols (Ezekiel i. 10), adopted as emblems of the four Evangelists-the Angel (St. Matthew), the Ox (St. Luke), the Lion (St. Mark) and the Eagle (St. John). So again, in the scenes on either side of the central piece, we see the same gloomy theology, in which the world is thought of solely as a place made hideous with evils, where saints are boiled by pagans; women slain by seducers; children devoured by dragons. By help of such pictured deeds of hell, men were taught by the early church to "loathe this base world and think of heaven's bliss." The first subject (on the spectator's left) represents the birth of Christ in a cattle-shed; the second St. John the Evangelist, calm midst the cauldron of seething oil, the martyr's uplifted hand expressing the precept, "Pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you." The third subject depicts in a rude symbolic way incidents in the life of St. Catherine (see p. 106)—her beheading, her soul's reception by angels, and the burial of her body by two angels on Mount Sinai. The fourth subject shows St. Nicolas appearing suddenly to some sailors, whom he exhorts to throw overboard a vase given by the devil. In the fifth is St. John resuscitating the body of Drusiana, a matron who had lived in his house previous to his departure, and whose bier he had chanced to meet on his return to Ephesus. In the next subject St. Benedict, founder of the Benedictine Order, is shown in the fact of throwing himself into a thicket of briars and nettles, as he rushes from his cave to rid himself of the recollection of a beautiful woman he had once met in Rome, and whose image now tempts him to leave his chosen solitude. In the seventh, St Nicolas liberates three innocent men; and in the eighth is represented St. Margaret, patron saint of women in childbirth whom the devil in the form of a dragon confronts to terrify into abnegation of her Christian faith. Unable to persuade her, he devours her, but bursts in the midst, and by power of the Cross she emerges unhurt. It is interesting to observe that the two consecutive acts are here shown as co-existent a thing frequently done, as we have seen, in early art.

Finally, another characteristic feature is the introduction of the "grotesque" in the animals that support the throne as a relief from the strained seriousness of the rest of the picture (A. H. Macmurdo in Century Guild Hobby Horse, į. 21-28).

570. THE TRINITY.

571, 572. ANGELS ADORING.

Orcagna (about 1308-1368). See under 569, p. 70. Parts of the altar-piece, 569. One may notice here one of Orcagna's limitations. "He was unable to draw the nude. On this inability followed a coldness to the value of flowing lines, and to the power of unity in composition; neither could he indicate motion or buoyancy in flying or floating figures." Compare especially the flying angels in the two little pictures 571 and 572, with such figures as those by Botticelli (III. 1034, p. 56), and it will be seen at once how inferior Orcagna's knowledge was.

580.

THE ASCENSION OF ST. JOHN THE

EVANGELIST.

Jacopo Landini, or da Casentino (about 1310-1390). Another of the altar-pieces (cf. 579, p. 74) which aimed at giving the whole story of some subject, and thus recall the time when sacred pictures were (as it has been put) a kind of "Scripture Graphic." This picture was originally in the church of St. John at Prato Vecchio in the Casentino, where the painter was born, and whence his common designation, Jacopo da Casentino. In the predella pictures are, on the left, (1) St. John distributing alms and baptizing, (2) his vision of Revelation in the island of Patmos, (3) his escape from the cauldron of boiling oil; and then, as the subject of the principal picture, his ascension to heaven, for, "according to the Greek legend, St. John died without pain or change, and immediately rose again in bodily form and ascended into heaven to rejoin Christ and the Virgin.” In the other small pictures and in the pilasters are various saints, and immediately over the central picture are (1) the gates of hell cast down, (2) Christ risen from the dead, (3) the donor of the picture and his family, being presented by the two St. Johns.

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"ONE may almost apply to the School of Ferrara the proud boast of its ducal House of Este

Whoe'er in Italy is known to fame,

This lordly house as frequent guest can claim."

Guidebook.

THE Schools of Ferrara and Bologna, which, as will be seen, are substantially one and the same, are interesting both for themselves and for their influence on others. Two of the greatest of all Italian painters-Correggio and Raphael-may be claimed as "guests," as it were, of "this lordly" school. Correggio's master was Francesco Bianchi of Ferrara, a scholar of Cosimo Tura, and may possibly have afterwards studied under Francia at Bologna ;1 whilst as for Raphael, his master, Timoteo Viti, was also a pupil of Francia. The important influence of this school is natural enough, for the Ferrarese appear to have had much innate genius for art, and there is a note of unmistakable originality in their work. Of the first or Giottesque period of the school no pictures survive, and the founder of the school, so far as we can now study it, is Cosimo Tura, who occupies the same place in the art of Ferrara as Piero

1 See for Correggio's connection with the Ferrarese-Bolognese School, Morelli, pp. 120-124.

della Francesca occupied in that of Umbria, or Mantegna in that of Padua. Look at his picture (772, p. 81): one sees at once that here is something different from other pictures, one feels that one would certainly be able to recognise that "rugged, gnarled, and angular" but vigorous style again. Doubtless there was some Flemish influence upon the school (see p. 81); and doubtless also the Ferrarese were influenced by the neighbouring school of Squarcione at Padua (see Room VIII.) But the pictures of Tura are enough to show how large an original element of native genius there was. The later developments of this genius are well illustrated in this room, with the important exception that Dosso Dossi, the greatest colourist amongst the Ferrarese masters, is very incompletely represented. His best works are to be seen at Ferrara, Dresden, Florence, and the Borghese Palace. He has been called "the Titian of the Ferrarese School," just as Lorenzo Costa has been called its Perugino and Garofalo its Raphael. Such phrases are useful as helping the student to compare corresponding pictures in different schools, and thus to appreciate their characteristics.

The early Bolognese School (not to be confused with the later "Eclectic School," Room XIII.) does not really exist except as an offshoot of the Ferrarese. Marco Zoppo (597, p. 82) was no better," says Morelli, p. 243, "than a caricature of his master, Squarcione, and besides, he spent the greater part of his life at Venice;" whilst Lippo Dalmasio (752, p. 91) was very inferior to contemporary artists elsewhere. The so-called earlier Bolognese School was really founded by the Ferrarese Francesco Cossa and Lorenzo Costa, who moved to Bologna about 1480, and the latter of whom "set up shop" with Francia in that town (see p. 86). 905 THE MADONNA IN PRAYER.

Cosimo Tura (Ferrarese: about 1420-1498).
See under 772, p. 81.

773. ST. JEROME IN THE DESERT.

Cosimo Tura (Ferrarese: about 1420-1498).

Jerome knocking at his poor old breast

With his great round stone to subdue the flesh

and schooling himself into renunciation of the world, the flesh, and the devil. In contrast to the wildness of the surroundings, the painter introduces quite a company of birds and beasts—an owl sits in sedate wisdom above the saint, his familiar lion is walking to the stream for water, and in the crannies and ledges are other animals to keep him company. For it was his union of gentleness and refinement with noble continence, his love and imagination winning even savage beasts into domestic friends, that distinguished St. Jerome and formed the true monastic ideal (see II. 227, p. 41).

772. MADONNA AND CHILD ENTHRONED.

Cosimo Tura (Ferrarese: about 1420-1498). Cosimo Tura (pronounced Cosmè in Ferrarese) is the first painter of the Ferrarese School whose works have come down to us. He was a well-to-do citizen, and, like Titian after him, dealt in timber. As an artist he was in the service of Duke Borso of Ferrara, whose portrait is introduced in the background of the preceding picture, and other members of the princely house of Este. The Court of Ferrara was then one of the most learned of Italy. A curious instance occurs in this picture, where, on either side of the Virgin's throne, are inscribed the Commandments, in Hebrew characters. Such inscriptions are common in Ferrarese pictures, and point to the presence of some Hebrew scholar or scholars. It was at this court that Cosimo came under the influence of Flemish art as described below, for the house of Este (which was of Lombard origin, and thus had a natural affinity perhaps for northern art) had invited Roger van der Weyden to Ferrara.

A picture interesting chiefly for its decorative detail, suggestive of Flemish influence. Compare, for instance, the ornament of the pilasters here with that of the pilasters in Crivelli's "Annunciation" (VIII. 739, p. 184), which was painted about the same time. "Crivelli follows the traditional lines common to all such features from later Roman times downwards, while Tura's accessories are full of inventiveness and are evidently designed for this especial picture. Thus the cup, balls, and wing-like appendages in the pilaster are quite original. Notice, too, the charming little 'regal,' or portable organ, on which one angel is playing at the foot of the picture, while the other blows the bellows, with its ivory gallery of turned work and its whorl of pipes, curiously resembling the arrangement of reeds in the 'sho,' or modern Japanese mouthThe general scheme of colour in the picture, also,

organ.

G

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