Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/457

Rh SCHOOLS OF PAINTING 435 naturalistic school, which, appears to have been inaugurated by Masolino and Masaccio. Some few painters, such as Fra Angelico (see fig. 4) and his pupil Benozzo Gozzoli, produced more purely sacred and decorative work, follow- ing the lead of Orcagna. As Baron Rumohr has pointed out, the main bulk of the Florentine 15th-century painters may be divided into three groups with different character- istics. The first, including Masolino, Masaccio, Lippo Lippi, Botticelli, Filippino Lippi, and their pupils, aimed especially at strong action, dramatic force, and passionate expression (see figs. 5 and 6). The second, including Baldovinetti, Ros- selli, Ghirlandaio, and his pupils, are remarkable for real- istic truth and vigor- ous individuality (see tig. 7). To the third belong Ghiberti, who began life as a painter, Pollaiuolo, 1 Verroc- chio, and his pupils Leonardo da Vinci and Lorenzo di Credi, a group largely in- fluenced by the prac- tice of the arts of the goldsmith and the sculptor. Signorelli, whose chief works are at Orvieto and Monte Oliveto near Siena, was remark- FIG. 10. Baptism of Christ, by Piero della able for his know- Franceses (National Gallery.) ledge and masterly treatment of the nude (see fig. 8), and had much influence on the early development of Michelangelo, whose gigantic genius in later life produced the most original and powerful works that the modern world has seen (see fig. 9). Andrea del Sarto was one of the last artists of the golden age of painting in Florence ; the soft beauty of his works is, however, often marred by a monotonous mannerism. To him are wrongly attributed many paintings by Puligo and other scholars, FIG. 11. The Adoration of the Shepherds, by Fiorenzo di Lorenzo. (Gallery at Perugia. ) who imitated his style with various degrees of closeness. The 16th century in Florence was a period of the most rapid decline and was for long chiefly remarkable for its feeble caricatures of Michelangelo's inimitable style. Between the end of the 14th and the beginning of the 1 It is interesting to note how Ant. Pollaiuolo's fine figure of St Sebastian in the National Gallery (London) resembles the statue of the same saint in Lucca cathedral by Matteo Civitale. 16th century the Umbrian school produced many painters of great importance grouped around a number of different centres, such as Gub- bio, where Ottaviano Nelli lived; San Se- verino, with its two Lorenzos ; Fabriano, famed for its able masters Allegretto Nuzi and Gentile da Fabriano ; Foligno, whence Niccolo took his name; and above all Borgo San Sepol- cro, where Piero della Francesca was born. Piero was one of the most charming of all painters for his deli- cate modelling, ten- der colour, and beauty j of expression (see fig. 10). His masterpiece, a large altar-painting of the Madonna en- throned, with stand- ing saints at the side and in front a kneeling portrait of Duke Fed- FlG> 2. Centre of triptych, by Perugino, erigo da Montefeltro, painted for the Certosa near Pavia. (Na in the Brera gallery, tional Gallery.) FIG. 13. The Madonna between St John Baptist and St Mary Mag- dalene, by Andrea Mantegna, on canvas. (National Gallery.) is, strange to say, attributed to his pupil Fra Carnovale. 2 2 The attribution of this magnificent picture to Fra Caruovale rests wholly on a^ statement, evidently erroneous, of Pungileoui ; and hence many other* works by Piero, such as the St Michael in the National Gallery, are wrongly given to Carnovale. It is doubtful whether any genuine picture by the latter is now known ; if the Brera picture were really by him he would not only be greater than his master Piero, but would be one of the chief painters of the 15th century.