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PAINTING. 137
Florence. The picture is a triptych of Gothic form, painted on a gold ground.
In the centre is a ‘Coronation of the Virgin,’ with angels and_ saints
around. In the lunette above are the “Trinity ’’ and an ‘“ Annunciation”? in
two parts. The predella has six miniatures of scenes from the life of St.
Bernard, and a ‘“ Nativity’’ and ‘“‘ Adoration.’’ This picture is so beautiful that
it is well worth a visit to Cerreto to study.
Another of his altar-pieces, now in the sacristy of the Convent of
Monte Oliveto, near Florence, had, till 1846, been hidden in a subterranean
church there. This also is a triptych—a Madonna and Child in the midst,
with angels behind the throne; in the other compartments are St. John
the Baptist, St. Bartholomew, St. Thaddeus, and St. Benedict; it is dated
1410. At this very time discoveries are being made of his frescoes in the
Bartolini Chapel in Santa Trinita, which are being brought forth from beneath
a coat of whitewash.
It is not known who was the master of Don Lorenzo ,nor are any famous
scholars of his recorded. His manner partook of the style of the Gaddi, but
his monastic training refined it. In colouring: he assimilates to Fra Angelico, but
is more vivid if less delicate; he has more force and severity of sentiment, more
human earnestness than the saintly Dominican artist, but is not so ethereally
spiritual in feeling. . .
Gentile da Fabriano" has been named as a scholar of Fra Angelico; if so, he
must have begun to study very late in life, as he was much older than his
master. This may be possible, for he did not matriculate as a painter in
Florence till 1422, and the work which won his fame—the frescoed Madonna
in the Cathedral of Orvieto—was not painted till 1423. The Brera at Milan
possesses a fine panel picture, the ‘Coronation of the Virgin,”’ painted by Gentile
for the hermits of Valle Romita, near Fabriano; but his masterpiece, the
“‘Adoration,’’? dated 1423, is in the Belle Arti at Florence, whither it was
removed from the Sacristy of Santa Trinita.
These two works reveal all the best qualities of an artist whom Michel-
angelo worthily criticised by an epigram on his own name. ‘ Gentile,’’ in
Italian, stands for that polished suavity and graceful nobility for which we
have no single term. His colouring is extremely like Fra Angelico’s, but
his feeling entirely different. We imagine that Fra Angelico trained his
mind entirely on saintly legends and gospel truths; Don Lorenzo, though
a monk, had a human interest in his fellow-men; Taddeo Gaddi read
books of philosophy and jurisconsults, and produced a rationalistic un-
emotional style; whereas Gentile Fabriano’s imagination seems to have been
fed on romances, on Troubadours’ songs, and tales of Charlemagne’s knights:
(1) Gentile, son of Niccolé Massi, of Fabriano; born 1370, died 1450,
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