Page:The painters of Florence from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century (1915).djvu/164

134 perspective, all prove how attentively Domenico had studied the works of Masaccio and the Naturalist painters. The figures cannot be said to attain Paolo Uccello's perfection of structure and balance, nor are the heads as full of individual character as those of Andrea del Castagno, but the colouring is bright and attractive, and in the delicate profile of Santa Lucia, in the simple pose of the Virgin and natural attitude of the Child, standing on his Mother's knee and turning round to look at the Baptist, we recognise something of Fra Angelico's charm. The whole work is one of great interest, revealing, as it does, a tenderness of feeling and a grace that go far to explain the high degree of reputation which Domenico enjoyed in Florence. The predella of this picture, described by Lanzi, and representing the Martyrdom of S. Lucia, with a king who appears to direct the execution from a balcony above, is now at Berlin.

Another characteristic work is the fresco which this artist painted for a Tabernacle at the corner of two streets leading to S. Maria Novella, and which, after being removed from the wall and transferred to canvas in 1851, is now in the National Gallery. Here the fair-haired Virgin, seated on a throne in a flowery meadow, with the Child on her knee lifting his hand in blessing, and God the Father and the Dove of the Holy Ghost above, resembles the Madonna of S. Lucia in type and feature, while the keen, thoughtful heads of the Dominican friars below are full of character. Closely related to these is the fresco of the Baptist and St. Francis, in Santa Croce, two noble types of ascetic holiness and fervent devotion. A