THE J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM LIBRARY Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/benozzogozzoliflOOunse MASTERS IN ART ^m^jffllu9tratEd-iIipnojarapl)3 Among the artists to be considered during the current, 1905, Volume may be mentioned Fra Filippo Lippi, Sir Henry Rae- burn, Claude Lorrain, Memlinc, and Verrocchio. The num- bers of 4 Masters in Art 1 which have already appeared in 1905 are : WATTS . PALMA VECCHIO Part 61, JANUARY Part 62, FEBRUARY Part 63, MARCH Part 64, APRIL Part 65, MAY Part 66, JUNE . MADAME VIGEE LE BRUN MANTEGNA . CHARDIN . BENOZZO GOZZOLI PART 67 , THE ISSUE FOR fuly WILL TREAT OF 3lan g>tcrn NUMBERS ISSUED IN PREVIOUS VOLUMES OF ‘MASTERS IN ART’ VOL. 1. VOL. 2. 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FLANDERS, GENERAL PASSENGER AND TICKET AGENT In answering advertisements, please mention Masters in Art 1$rnof?o 45o^olt FLORENTINE SCHOOL MASTERS Ilf ART PRATE II PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDERSON [ 215 ] BE^OZZO GOZZOEI THE PROCESSION OE THE MAGI [ II ETA IE ] CHAPEE OE TIIE RICCARDI PALACE, EEORENCE MASTEES IIST AHT ELATE III PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDERSON [ 217 ] EEA’OZZO GOZZOLT EAHADISE CHAEKL OF THE EICCAELI PALACE, ELOHENCE . - MASTEPS IN APT PI, ATE IV BENOZZO GOZZOLt photograph by alinari ST. J'HANCIS EXPELLING DEVILS FKOM AKE/.ZO [210] CHUHCU OE SAX EPANCESCO, MOXTEEA LCO MASTERS IN ART PLATE V PHOTOGRAPH BY ALINARI [ 221 ] BENOZZO GOZZOBI CEREBRATION OF THE NATIVITY AT GRECCrO CHURCH OP' SAN FRANCESCO, MONTEP’ALCO Cfi <5 S iTEIiS IN AKT PLATE VI BENOZZO GOZZOLI photograph by alinari ENTBANCE OE ST. AUGUSTINE INTO THE GBAMMAE-SCHOOL [223] GHUBCH OE SANT’ AGOSTINO, SAN GIMIGNANO UENOZZO GOZZOUI ST. AUGUSTINE VISITS THE MONKS OE MONTE PISANO CHUKCH OF SANT’ AGOSTINO, SAN GIMIGNANO MASTEHS IN AKT ELATE IX HENOZZO GOZZOLI PHOTOGRAPH BY BRAUN, CLEMENT & CIE THE HAPE OK HELEN [ 2-29 ] NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON MASTEHS IJST AKT PLATE X BENOZZO GOZZOEI photograph by alinari THE VINTAGE [ DETAIL I'BOM THE DBUNKENNESS OE NOAh] POET.H A IT OF BEAOZZO GOZZOLI BY HIMSELF CHAPEL OB' THE BICCAKDI PALACE, FLOHEJXCE In the procession of horsemen in the suite of the Magian kings, painted by Benozzo Gozzoli on the walls of the Chapel of the Riccardi Palace, Florence (see plate i j, the artist has introduced the portrait of himself here reproduced. He wears a red jacket trimmed with white fur, and a red cap bearing in gilt letters an inscrip- tion which states that he is the author of the work. As the frescos in the chapel were painted between 1456 and 1460, this portrait shows him at the age of from thirtv-six to forty years. [232] MASTERS IN ART 25eno330 Di liege tii c&anDro CALLED t$etto^o (Ho^olt BORN 1420 : DIED 1498 FLORENTINE SCHOOL JULIA CARTWRIGHT ‘THE PAINTERS OF FLORENCE’ B ENOZZO DI LESE DI SANDRO, called Benozzo Gozzoli 1 — Ben- ozzo the thick-throated — was the son of a small Florentine trades- man — literally a waistcoat-maker, named Lese di Sandro. He was born in 1420, and, like many of his contemporaries, learned the trade of both painter and goldsmith in his boyhood. From 1444 to 1447 he worked with Lorenzo Ghiberti on the second of his gates for the Baptistery of Florence, and acquired from him that taste for landscape and architecture, and love of pleasant details and accessories, which marked his future work. In 1447 Fra Angelico, under whom Benozzo may have studied as a boy, took the young artist with him to Rome, and employed him both in the Vatican Chapel there and at Orvieto, where Benozzo’s hand can be clearly traced in the pyramidal groups of saints and prophets on the roof of San Brizio’s Chapel in the cathe- dral of the town. When Fra Angelico returned to Florence his assistant offered to complete the work which he had left unfinished at Orvieto, but the Direc- tors of the Cathedral Works declined his proposal, and the decoration of the chapel walls was only carried out fifty years later by Luca Signorelli. The frescos of the Cesarini Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, Rome, which Benozzo next undertook, have all perished, excepting one figure, which is exactly imitated from Fra Angelico, and represents St. Anthony of Padua with a flame in one hand and a book in the other. In 1450 Benozzo was invited to Montefalco, one of the hill-set cities of Umbria, and painted the altar-piece of ‘The Assumption,’ nowin the Lateran Museum, Rome, as well as several frescos in the Church of San Fortunato, and twelve scenes from the life of St. Francis in the choir of the Church of San Francesco. The old stories which Giotto had painted one hundred and fifty 1 Pronounced Ben-ot/zo Goe'zo-le. [ 233 ] 24 MASTERS IN ART years before, in the neighboring town of Assisi, are here repeated by Fra An- gelico’s pupil in his master’s style, with the addition of groups of men and women in contemporary costumes, and many homely incidents of his own invention. The portraits of Dante, Giotto, and Petrarch are introduced among the medallions of Franciscan saints under the windows, each with an appro- priate Latin inscription, which reminds us of the humanist tendencies of the age. Dante is described as ‘‘a theologian, ignorant of no learning,” Petrarch as “the laureate, monarch of all virtues,” while Giotto is called “the founda- tion and light of painting.” A side-chapel in the same church contains a graphic representation by Ben- ozzo’s hand of St. Jerome pulling out the thorn from the lion’s foot, in the presence of a band of terrified friars, while in 1453 he executed another series of frescos on the life of Santa Rosa of Lima in a Franciscan convent at Viterbo,, which were still in existence in the seventeenth century. On his way back to Florence Benozzo visited Perugia and painted the picture of ‘The Madonna and Saints/ which is now in the town gallery, and bears the date of 1456. Both this altar-piece and the Montefalco fres- cos were destined to have a marked influence on the development of the Umbrian school. The poetic naturalism and love of ornament, together with that tender devotional feeling which Benozzo inherited from his master, ap- pealed in an especial manner to the dwellers in these Umbrian valleys, and a Foligno artist, named Pier Antonio, who had worked with Benozzo Gozzoli at Montefalco, handed on these traditions to Bonfigli and his companions at Perugia. Meanwhile Benozzo returned to Florence, where the Medici welcomed him with open arms. Andrea del Castagno and Francesco Pesellino had died lately, Fra Angelico was no more, and Fra Filippo Lippi had gone to Prato in disgrace. The moment was a fortunate one, and Benozzo Gozzoli soon found himself intrusted with the important task of decorating the Chapel of the Medici Palace, now the Riccardi. The subject chosen by his patrons was ‘The Adoration of the Magi,’ that favorite theme of Florentine painters, and which Benozzo now set forth in one great fresco on the walls of this little ora- tory. All the festive pomp and splendor of court pageants which the Medici had brought into the simple life of old Florence, all the beauty and the glamour of fairy romance, are gathered up in this triumphal procession of the three kings, journeying over hill and vale on their way to the manger at Bethlehem. Following in their steps is a brilliant train of courtiers, winding their way over the rocky Apennines and down the green slopes, where tall bell-towers and white villas and chapels peep out among the oliveand cypress groves, and nar- row paths lead down into fruitful valleys watered by clear streams. . . . From the pomp and glory of earthly splendor we turn to the cradle of Bethlehem, and are given a glimpse of the unseen. This Benozzo has painted for us on the east wall of the chapel. Here cypresses and pines grow tall and straight, roses and pomegranates hang in clusters from the boughs, while choirs of angels chant the Gloria in Excelsis , or kneel in silent adoration around the manger throne. [234 ] BENOZZO GOZZOLI 25 Such was the vision which Fra Angelico’s scholar painted in the hot sum- mer months when the Medici were enjoying rest and the pleasures of rural life in their favorite country houses. Three letters which Benozzo addressed to Piero de’ Medici, who was entertaining illustrious guests at his villa of Careggi, show how entirely his heart was in his work and how anxious he was to perfect every detail of his frescos. In the first, written on the tenth of July, he ac- knowledges a letter from Piero, who had, it appears, taken objection to certain small cherubs in the corner of the fresco, and explains that they cannot inter- fere with the rest of the picture, since only the tips of their wings are allowed to be seen. But since Piero desires it, he will paint two white clouds in the sky and cause the offending seraphs to disappear. He would come to Careggi him- self and see Piero on the subject if it were not for the great heat, which will, he fears, spoil the azure which he has begun to lay on. But he hopes Piero will come to see the work before this part of the scaffolding is removed. In the meantime two florins will suffice for his present needs. “I am working with all my might,” he adds, “and if I fail, it will be from lack of knowledge, not from want of zeal. God knows I have no other thought in my heart but how best to perfect my work and satisfy your wishes.” On the eleventh of September Benozzo writes another letter to Piero, whom he calls his dearest friend — amico mio singularissimo — reminding him that he had not sent him the forty florins for which the painter had asked in order that he might be able to buy corn and provisions while they were still cheap. “I had,” he adds, “a great thought, which was not to ask you for any money until you had seen the work, but necessity compels me to make this request, so forgive me, for, God knows, I only seek to please you. And I must remind you once more to send to Venice for some azure, because this wall will be finished this week, and I shall need the blue color for the brocades and other parts of the figures.” On the twenty-fifth he writes a third letter, telling Piero of a Genoese mer- chant who has fifteen hundred pieces of fine gold for sale, some of which he will require for his work, and begging for ten more florins to pay for the azure which he had bought at two florins the ounce from the prior of the Gesuati, whose ultramarine was famous throughout Italy. I had meant to come and see you last Sunday, but the bad weather frightened me. Now I am at work on the other wall, and hope to finish the fresco in another week. And it seems to me a thousand years until your Magnificence shall be here to see for yourself if you are satisfied with the work! May Christ keep you in his favor! Your Benozzo, Painter in Florence. The pains which Benozzo bestowed upon his task were not thrown away, and we find no trace of the haste and carelessness of drawing which too often marred his work. The subject was admirably suited to his powers, and none of his later frescos are so entirely successful as these in the Chapel of the Ric- cardi Palace. His position as the best fresco-painter of the day was now established, and new commissions poured in upon him from all sides. About this time he mar- ried a girl named Mona Lena, who was twenty years younger than himself [ 235 ] 26 MASTERS IN ART and bore him a family of seven children. In the same year he bought a house in the Via del Cocomero, Florence, as well as lands outside the city walls, and was in prosperous circumstances during the rest of his life, being, as Vasari remarks, both indefatigable in his industry and irreproachable in his conduct. In 1463 he went to the mountain city of San Gimignano, and there, in Dante’s “town of the beautiful towers,” he painted another great cycle of frescos on the life of St. Augustine. This time his patron was Domenico Strambi, a learned Augustinian friar, who had lectured in philosophy at Oxford and Paris, and went by the name of Doctor Parisinus, from his long residence in the French capital. The seventeen subjects with which the painter adorned the choir of the Augustinian church were, no doubt, chosen by the learned doctor, whose portrait appears in another large fresco of St. Sebastian pro- tecting the people of San Gimignano from the plague; but the charming fancy and lively humor of the different stories are all Benozzo’s own. . . . Unfortunately the artist too often traded on his reputation, and the numer- ous altar-pieces which he painted for neighboring churches and convents dur- ing the three years that he spent at San Gimignano are executed with a haste and carelessness that are quite unworthy of him. No doubt he was largely assisted by inferior painters, and the resemblance which many of his figures bear, both in type and stature, to those of Fra Filippo Lippi is expla ned by the fact that one of that artist’s former assistants, Giusto di Andrea, worked under him at San Gimignano. It was to intercede for Giusto’s brother, who had been caught in the act of stealing the monks’ bedclothes at Certaldo, that Benozzo wrote a letter to young Lorenzo de’ Medici, whom he addresses as “Most dear to me in Christ,” lamenting the scandal which his apprentice had caused, and explaining that up till this time he had always borne an ex- cellent character. “ But, perhaps,” he adds, “God has allowed this to happen for some good end.” In the meantime he thanks Lorenzo — who had already, it appears, intervened in the matter — for his good offices with the vicar of Certaldo, and ends with renewed protestations of devotion to himself and his house, praying that Christ may be with him in eternity. This letter is dated July 4, 1467, when Benozzo Gozzoli was still busily en- gaged on his works at San Gimignano. By the end of the year, however, he had left for Pisa, where a new and gigantic task was awaiting him. This was the decoration of the north wall of the Campo Santo, which had been left un- finished ever since Puccio da Orvieto had painted his three subjects of ‘The Creation,’ ‘The Death of Abel,’ and ‘The Flood,’ eighty years before. On the ninth of January, 1468, he signed a contract with the magistrates of Pisa, by which he agreed to cover the remainder of the north wall with frescos, at the price of sixty-six florins for each subject, “a task,” says Vasari, “immense enough to discourage a whole legion of painters.” But Benozzo was not the man to shrink from any work, however arduous, and the twenty-four large frescos which he painted during the next sixteen years, on the wall of the Campo Santo, show that, whatever the limitations of his art might be, his in- vention was as fertile, his fancy as fresh and bright, as ever. . . . The final payment which Benozzo received for the last fresco of the series, [ 236 ] BENOZZO GOZZOLI 27 ‘The Visit of the Queen of Sheba,’ bears the date of May n, 1484. During the sixteen years that he worked at the Campo Santo he had found time to execute frescos at Volterra and Castel Fiorentino, as well as altar-pieces for the churches and convents of Pisa and the neighborhood, the best of which is ‘The Triumph of St. Thomas Aquinas,’ now in the Louvre, Paris. The painter had taken his family with him to Pisa, where he bought a house of his own in the Via Santa Maria, and brought his old father, Lese di Sandro, to spend his last days under his roof. But he still owned a house in Florence, and paid occasional visits to his native city. In the income-tax return of 1480 he describes himself as sixty, and his wife as forty, and gives the ages of his seven children as ranging from eighteen to one year. His eldest son, a youth of eighteen, is described as still going to school; the second boy, of thirteen, is studying mathematics; while the dowry of his eldest daughter, Bartolommea, a girl of fifteen, who married a Florentine burgher, is fixed at 350 florins, and that of his youngest, the infant Maria, has not yet been determined. The last mention we find of Benozzo Goz.zoli is in January, 1497, when, together with Perugino, Filippo Lippi, and Cosimo Rosselli, he valued Alessio Baldovinetti’s frescos in the Church of Santa Trinita, Florence. Early in the next year he died, and was buried in the Campo Santo, Pisa, immediately un- der his fresco of the history of Joseph, in a tomb which the citizens of Pisa had given him twenty years before as a reward for his labors. Above his grave is a Latin epigram, which expresses the admiration of his contemporaries for the art which had made birds and beasts and fishes, the green woods and the blue vault of heaven, youths and children, fathers and mothers, all live again on these walls as no other master had ever done before him. Such was the high meed of praise which Benozzo Gozzoli won in his lifetime, and we who judge his merits with more critical eyes may yet own in him a master whose heart beat with quick response for the fair and pleasant things of life, and ten- der interests of hearth and home, and across whose vision there sometimes dawned gleams of a higher truth and of a more perfect beauty. Cfie &rt of Beno^o tflo^olt EUGENE MUNTZ ‘HISTOIRE DE L ’ ART PENDANT LA RENAISSANCE’ I N studying the paintings or sculptures of the middle ages and of the early Renaissance, we are obliged to admit that there is a certain sameness, at least as to the subjects. Virgins in Glory, scenes from the Passion, Crucifixions, Entombments, or martyrdoms are alone portrayed. No note is struck save the serious, the lofty, and, oftener still, the lugubrious; there is no place accorded to the expression of sentiments less religious but more cheerful and pleasing, and allowing a freer range for the imagination. In a word, we should some- times prefer a more varied, more familiar art, and, let us frankly acknowledge, an art that is more modern. [23 7 1 28 MASTERS IN ART The glory of having restored to an honorable position in art the episodic element, too often sacrificed in the fifteenth century to the contemplative ele- ment; the glory of having been the first to turn his attention to an essentially idyllic and picturesque interpretation of the Old Testament — the only por- tion of the Scriptures adapted to such a treatment — this glory is due to a Florentine artist who, in my opinion, has never received his just meed of ap- preciation — to Benozzo Gozzoli, the painter of the Campo Santo of Pisa. Benozzo Gozzoli was born in Florence in 1420; when twenty-four years old he was one of Ghiberti’s collaborators, learning, like most of the Florentine artists of his day, to model as well as to paint. Later he entered the studio of Fra Angelico, whose favorite pupil he became. Such a combination is some- what surprising, for the mystic tendencies, the lofty seriousness, the asceticism, of the Dominican painter are in marked contrast to the joyous nature of his pupil, to his lively imagination, his exuberant fancy, his love of nature. No one, indeed, was less disposed than Benozzo Gozzoli to look on the dark side of things, or to take life tragically. Among others of Fra Angelico’s works in Rome, his pupil helped him with the frescos of the Chapel of Nicholas v. in the Vatican, where more than one picturesque motive betrays Benozzo’s hand. A painting of ‘The As- sumption,’ executed by him in 1450 for the Church of San Fortunato, just outside the town of Montefalco, and now in the Lateran Museum, Rome, shows the continued influence of his master. Its coloring is somewhat crude, as in the works of Fra Angelico, who found it hard to free himself from the methods of the miniaturists, especially in regard to their fondness for vivid colors. This picture is dated 1450, but a year before that Benozzo had al- ready left his master. First he offered his services to the Directors of the Cathedral Works at Orvieto, but after subjecting him to an examination that body declined his services. Perhaps this should be looked upon merely as a temporary refusal, for we know that just then the cathedral funds were low. If, however, this was not the reason for their rejection of his work, what an absurd mockery it was that an artist like Benozzo Gozzoli should have been discarded by a jury on the ground of incapacity! From 1450 to 1452 Benozzo was settled in the little Umbrian town of Monte- falco. There he devoted himself chiefly to the decoration of the Church of San Francesco. Upon his return to his native city all his powers were concentrated upon the adornment of the Chapel of the Palace of the Medici (now the Ric- cardi Palace), where he was still at work in 1458. . . . Picture to yourself a musician evolving from a given theme endlessly bril- liant variations — a symphony constructed on a single idea, but developed ad infinitum, under every conceivable aspect and without the least repetition — and you will be able to form some idea of the frescos in the Chapel of the Riccardi Palace. ‘The Adoration of the Magi’ — that was the theme given to Benozzo, and from that seemingly restricted theme he evolved motives innumerable, each more interesting than the last. Under his brush the procession of the Magian kings becomes a long-drawn-out epic unfolding itself before our eyes on three [ 238 ] BENOZZO GOZZOLI 29 of the walls of the chapel. All the aristocracy of Florence are depicted there; first the artist’s patrons, the Medici, then their kinsmen, friends, and clients, and Benozzo has taken good care that he himself should not be forgotten. His portrait shows us a somewhat surly face, almost with the look of a bulldog — not at all in keeping with the opinion one would naturally form of this charming painter. As to the other portraits introduced, they are apparently imaginary; that is to say, the artist is in no way concerned with archaeological problems. Fortunately for us, he does not know how to clothe his personages in antique garb; and accordingly we see passing before us grave old men clad in brocade jackets, or wearing the long and imposing Florentine robe, spirited horsemen, well-trained archers, and elegant young pages with blond curls crowned with flowers. Some of these individuals advance sedately, while others in the background — for example the huntsman in pursuit of a deer — are amusing themselves on the route; but, after all, the goal is a long way oflP, and on such a journey one may surely be excused for indulging in a little diversion. . . . Quite as important as the men in this procession are the four-footed beasts and the winged creatures; we are shown mules loaded with precious gifts, camels, hunting-leopards, greyhounds, falcons — in short, a regular caravan on its march. The landscape is varied, the country hilly, like that in the en- virons of Florence; bare rocks alternate with wooded knolls; villas, castles, and hamlets nestle in the tiny valleys, and at intervals, stationed like beacons, are cedars, cypresses, palms, and orange-trees with glossy trunks and no branches, but a tuft of leaves crowning their summits. Do not, however, suppose that Benozzo Gozzoli cared only for descriptive poetry; he could also strike more tender chords, and we find groups of angels of a grace and loveliness scarcely equaled by the greatest masters completing this radiant and poetic picture, and imparting such depth of feeling to the whole as to prove that Benozzo’s imagination was not exercised to the detri- ment of the emotions of his heart and soul. In this respect he shows himself the true disciple of Fra Angelico. At San Gimignano, which next claimed the artist’s services, he was com- missioned to illustrate in a series of monumental frescos the life of St. Augus- tine. This subject was admirably adapted to his tastes, for Benozzo was ut- terly unable to represent scenes of martyrdom, or, indeed, to portray any pain- ful spectacle. The seventeen compositions of this series are not of equal interest. The artist has succeeded no better than his predecessors or his successors in over- coming the really insurmountable obstacles to a picturesque treatment which are presented by the monastic garb. The enforced portrayal of the religious uniform, inelegant in cut and hopelessly monotonous in color, being either black or white, seems to have had a somewhat paralyzing effect upon his im- agination, and only when some lay costumes, or, strictly speaking, costumes of secular priests, can be mingled with the monkish gowns is he more at his ease. Rarely did Benozzo Gozzoli attempt to paint easel-pictures. They cramped the play of his fancy. There is a painting by him in the Louvre, more curious [ 239 ] 30 MASTERS IN ART by reason of the ideas expressed than interesting because of its technique, rep- resenting the glorification of St. Thomas Aquinas. The heads are very care- fully executed, but the artist evidently felt himself handicapped by the sub- ject prescribed for him. Dogmatic painting was not the forte of this sponta- neous and independent genius. In 1468 the Pisans intrusted him with the completion of the frescos of their great cemetery — the Campo Santo — where for a century and a half the most skilful painters and sculptors, chiefs of the schools of Pisa, of Florence, and of Siena, had established their reputations. The wall assigned to Benozzo is opposite the entrance. No artist of the Renaissance, it may be truly said, had ever received a like commission. Here was a perfectly smooth, flat surface, without any breaks, with an excellent light, and ample space for the works to be seen from a proper distance. Even Raphael was not so favored, for in the Stanze and the Loggie of the Vatican he was obliged to take into consideration the cross-lights, the construction of the ceilings, and the windows, cut as they were directly in the middle of the walls he had to decorate; as, for example, in his frescos ‘ The Mass of Bolsena ’ and ‘ The Deliverance of St. Peter.’ F urther- more, to crown Benozzo’s good fortune, he was charged with the task of illus- trating stories which of all others were best suited to appeal to his imagination — stories from the Old Testament, which seem as if they had been created expressly for a display of his particular talent. Epic and idyllic scenes alter- nate. Here is no need to compromise with the exigencies of religious faith; no necessity of being tragic; no reason why he should seek to make converts; it was only asked of him that he should narrate, amuse, and charm. The imagination, the life and spirit displayed by the artist in this great cycle, indisputably the most extensive executed by any painter of the fifteenth century, defies all analysis. In the first place, Benozzo has not troubled him- self with religious symbolism, and so far from conforming to any traditional portrayal of the scenes, has exercised the utmost freedom in drawing from the immense storehouse of subjects offered by the Old Testament. Warlike ex- ploits, peaceful scenes, the pleasures of pastoral life — each in turn attracts him. The deep, mystical, and prophetic meaning of the acts of the patriarchs is of minor interest to him; the human side, the anecdotic, the worldly, touch- ing and homely episodes, verdant landscapes— these are what inspire him. In the whole history of fifteenth-century Italian painting there is not a page that is more brilliant, more varied, more interesting. Not the least trace of effort is discernible, but from one end to the other of this colossal fresco evidence is shown of a fancy that was indeed inexhaustible. . . . Benozzo Gozzoli is a magician through and through. He is not content with depicting the most brilliant assemblages and the most expressive faces; the magnificence of the decoration must correspond to the nobility of the actors, and the richness of their costumes. No painter of the Renaissance so well un- derstood how to fill the backgrounds of his compositions with sumptuous buildings, or could render so realistically the picture of a civilization steeped in luxury. The cities called into being by his magic wand on the wall of the Campo Santo of Pisa or in the Church of Sant’ Agostino at San Gimignano [ 240 ] BENOZZO GOZZOLI 31 are a combination of the splendors of Constantinople, of Rome, of Jerusalem, and of Babylon. What endless variety in those minarets, those obelisks, those triumphal columns, those palace-like fortresses, those churches built like tem- ples, where battlements and machicolations are raised aloft on colonnades and cupolas! Benozzo Gozzoli left almost no direct pupils. After all, what could he have taught them ? No rule, no theory, guided the creation of his brilliant historic visions. “Be a poet like me” — that is all he could have told them, and that would hardly have sufficed for the formation of a school! And yet his sojourn in Umbria did nevertheless exercise considerable influence over Niccolo da Foligno, Melanzio, Bonfigli, and Fiorenzo di Lorenzo. But if in this respect he is not so important as men like Masaccio, Filippo Lippi, and Ghirlandajo, how much more varied and more charming is his work! Surely posterity can- not withhold its admiration and its gratitude from this magician who has be- queathed it such vivid pictures of the society of his own day, and has created so many charming figures formed for the perpetual enjoyment of all lovers of the beautiful. — abridged from the french B ENOZZO GOZZOLI is happy in a many-colored world of inexhaustible delight, in which his fancy draws its inspiration, and his indefatigable in- dustry its object; he can seldom touch the level of the great ones in Italian painting, but yet in his own limits he is often entirely delicious. — selwyn brinton GEORGESLAFENESTRE eal We have made a special study of picture-iight- ing, and are prepared to give you the best re- sults attainable. Galleries, individual collec- tions or paintings successfully lighted. Inves- tigation invited. «L I. P. FRINK, 551 Pearl Street, New York City. 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