Page:The painters of Florence from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century (1915).djvu/135

1455] and in the words of the Franciscan poet, Jacopone da Todi: "Tutti danzan per amore."

Yet more famous is the Tabernacle which Angelico painted in 1433, for the Guild of Linen Merchants. The colossal Virgin and Child in the central panel were ill-suited to his style of art, and lack the inspired grandeur of Giotto or Orcagna, but the twelve seraphs playing lute and viol, or sounding trumpets and cymbals on the wings, are among his most popular creations. Even here, however, he is less at home than in his smaller works, such as the reliquaries with Madonnas and Annunciations which he painted for Santa Maria Novella, and which are now preserved in San Marco. The same charming fancy and jewel-like finish mark the predellas which he executed, such as the Sposalizio and Death of the Virgin, in the Uffizi, or the Christ in Glory of the National Gallery. Even when the theme is one of death and bloodshed, he tells the tale with such naïve sincerity and rare beauty of expression, that we forget the horror of the scene, and only realise the martyr's triumph. In his Death of St. Mark, in the Accademia, or Beheading of Cosimo and Damiano, in the Louvre, he enlivens the subject with picturesque details of costume or architecture, and introduces tall cypresses and castellated walls on the green hillside behind the executioner, in the act of swinging his sword to strike off the Saint's head. In his lovely picture of the Meeting of Francis and Dominic, at Berlin, Angelico has, by a happy inspiration, placed the scene in front of the church of Assisi, and introduced the fair Tiber valley and steep ridge of Monte Subasio in the distance. No