Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/621

 OHISLAIN

547

GHOST

aforesaid " Life of St. Francis" may be recognized the banker Sassetti, Lorenzo de' Medici, Agnolo Acciajuoli, Paolo Strozzi; in the Sistine Chapel fresco the scholar Argyropoulos, etc.

Behind these living persons it is Florence itself which forms the background of the scene, that admira- ble city of the end of the fifteenth century in which Botticelli, Leonardo, Angelo Poliziano, and the young Michelangelo were then living. In the "Life of St. Francis" are depicted the square of the Trinita with the old bridge of Taddeo Gaddi, the facades of the Spini and Gianfigliazzi palaces, the Signoria, with the Marzocco and the Loggia of Orcagna. In the " Visita- tion" the view of Florence is that seen from the ter- race of San Miniato (background of the picture of the " Virgin of the Donor" by H. Van Eyck at the Louvre) with the dome of Brunelleschi, the campanile of Giot- to, and the tower of the Signoria. Profusely scattered through these pictures are Renaissance ornaments, decorated pilasters, the "pretti" friezes like those of the famous tribune of Donatello — " Nativity of the Virgin", — terra-cottas of della Robbia, antique bas- reliefs — " Apparition of the Angel to Zachary ' ', — quite a museum of the artistic fancies of Florence. In the " Preaching of St. John the Baptist ' ', the figure of the saint is borrowed from Donatello, while in the audi- ence the naked chUd seated among the hearers in the foreground is the reproduction of a celebrated anticjue, "the Child with the Goose". But he is most admir- able in his power of creating new "antiques", i. e. of grasping at once their counterparts in actual life. Italian art possesses nothing more beautiful, more Attic, than certain of his "canephores" or young girls of the people, e. g. who form the retinue in the "Mar- riage of the Virgin", or the exquisite figure filling a bronze water-basin in the "Nativity". In fact all this ideal summary of Florentine life breathes the pride and joy expressed, in the '' Zachary and the Angel", by the inscription; " The year 1490, when the city beautiful among the beautiful, illustrious for her wealth, victories, arts and monuments, w'as sweetly enjoying abvmdance, health and peace."

Ghirlandajo executed several altar-pieces, e. g. the charming "Madonna Ingesnati" (Uffizi), the "Adora- tion of the Shepherds" (1485, Accademia), the "Ad- oration of the Magi" (1488, Hospital of the Innocents) and the "Visitation" of the Louvre (1491). His por- traits, however, are the most thoroughly characteris- tic of his genius. The most exquisite of these, that of Giovanna degli Albizzi (1488, Paris, former Kann col- lection) has no equal in Florentine portraiture of the fifteenth century, and is far superior to Botticelli's famous "Bella Simonetta"; indeed, it can scarcely be compared with any other than that of PoUaiuolo at Chantilly. Finally, the "Old Man and the Child" at the Louvre is a work of incomparable ingenuity, dis- playing a cordiality perhaps unique in Italian art. The picture is one of those which most forcibly recall Flemish good nature ; its tenderness and grace of senti- ment compel us to overlook the ugliness of the model. About 1480 Ghirlandajo married Costanza di Bartol- ommeo Nucci (d. 1485). By her he had two sons, Bar- tolommeo, b. 1481, who entered the Camaldolese Order; and Ridolfo, b. 5 Feb., 148.'J, who was, like his father, a painter. In 1488 the artist took as his second wife Antonia di ser Paolo di Simone Paoli. He died, almost suddenly, of a malignant fever, at the age of forty-five years. His serenity and his joy in life are typical of the Florentine genius prior to the mystical crisis and the deep emotions of that Counter- Renaissance, which was to let loose the wrath of Sa- vonarola, and interfered so profoundly with the artistic vocation of a Botticelli and a Fra Bartolommeo. Ghirlandajo was a joyous soul, amiable, productive, somewhat impersonal, and had the rare good fortune to represent perfectly the Florentine spirit in its golden prime. Like Carpaccio at Venice he is perhaps

the most national of the Italian masters. He was the instructor of Michelangelo.

Vasari, ed. MiLANEsi, in (Florence, 1879); Morblli, Le opere del maestri italiani nelle gallerie di Monaco, Dresda e Ber- lino (Bologna, 1886); Berenson, The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance, 2nd ed. (London, 1904); Steinmann, Die Six- linische Kapelle. I (Munich, 1902); Idem, Ghirlandajo (Biele- feld, 1897); LouDi. Alessio Baldovinetti (Florence, 1907); Hah- TBTTE, Ghirlandajo (Paris, 1908).

Louis GiLLET.

Ghislain, S.unt, confessor and anchorite in Bel- gium; b. in the first half of the seventh century; d. at Saint-Ghislain (Ursidongus), 9 October, c. 680. He was probably of German origin. Cihislain lived in the province of Hainault (Belgium) in the time of St. Amand (d. 679) and Saints Waudru, Aldegonde, and Madelberte. With two unknown disciples he made a clearing in the vicinity of Castrilocus (now Mons, in Hainault), taking up later his abode at a place called Ursiflongus, where he built an oratory or chapel dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul. Aubert, Bishop of Cambrai, summoned him to the episcopal presence in order to sound the intentions of this almost unknown hermit, but he afterwards accorded him efficient protection. During his visit to Cambrai Ghislain spent some time in the villa of Roisin and received as a gift the estates of Celles and Hornu. He soon entered into relations with St. Waudru, who was induced by him to build a monastery at Castrilo- cus, his former place of refuge. It is probable that Ghislain influenced the religious vocation of St. Alde- gonde, Abbess of Maubeuge, also of St. Madelberte and St. Aldetrude, of whom the first was the sister and the last two the daughters of St. Waudru. One day Aldegonde, in her monastery of Maubeuge, had a vis- ion in which, according to her biographer, the death of St. Amand, Bishop of Tongres, was revealed to her. Ghislain visited the saint in her villa of Mairieu, near Maubeuge, and explained to her that the vision was an announcement of her own approaching death. The intercourse between Ghislain and Aldegonde brought about a perfect understanding between Maubeuge and the monastery founded at Ursidongus under Ghis- lain's direction. St. Waudru rewarded her coun- sellor with a portion of the villa of Frameries and of the oratory of St-Quentin, comprised within the boundaries of the vUla of Quaregnou. Ghislain died at Ursidongus, and the monastery which he had founded took his name. The relics of the saint were first disinterred c. 929. They were transferred to Grandlieu, near Quaregnon, about the end of the tenth century or the beginning of the eleventh, and in 1025 Gerard I, Bishop of Camljrai, removed them to Cateau- Cambresis. They were visited several times in the course of the Middle Ages by the Bishops of Cambrai. In 1647 they were removed to St-Ghislain, of which place our saint is patron. His feast is celebrated 9 Octoljer, and his intercession is sought to ward off convulsions from children. In iconography he is fre- quently represented with a bear or bear's cub beside him. This is an allusion to the popular legend which relates that a bear, pursued in the clia.se by King Dag- obert, sought refuge with Ghislain and later showed him the place where he should establish a monastery. Moreover, the site of the .saint's cella was called Ursi- dongus. "bear's den".

Afin N.,...'. r.,,., i;,-!^;;, IV. 375-384; Analecta BoUandiana, V, 211* -' '': ! ' ' ! I KT, De Vita S. Gislciii a Rainero Monacho c,mscr:i>!' II I '<t BoUandiana, VI. 209-255; Analecta

Botluii'h.n,.,, \\ J.r 2S9; Acta Sanctorum, Oct., IV, 1035- 1037; (iiiLsui. lii.i,. De Sanclo Gvsleno confcssore commentarius praivius in Acta 6anctorum Belgii, IV, 337-375; Van der EssE.s, Etude critique el litteraire sur les Vita des saints Meroi'in- giens de I'ancienne Belgique, 249-259 (Louvain, 1907); see also Cahier, Caracteristigues des saints dans Vart populaire, II (Paris, 1867), 593.

L. Van der Essen.

Ghost Dance, the principal ceremonial rite of a peculiar Indian religion which originated about 1887