Page:The painters of Florence from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century (1915).djvu/27

1302] style. Three of the Madonnas ascribed to him by Vasari still remain: the altar-piece which he painted for the monks of the Vallombrosan Order in the Church of the Trinita, now in the Accademia of Florence; the picture in the Louvre, which he executed for the Franciscans of Pisa—a work which Vasari tells us "brought him high praise and large rewards," and the Rucellai Madonna, in Santa Maria Novella. All three of these pictures are painted on a gold ground, and follow the laws of Byzantine tradition. In all three Virgins we see the same long, curved nose, the same droop of the head, the same elliptic iris, oval-shaped eyes, and small mouth drawn on one side. Again, in all three pictures we see the same stiff, triangular folds of drapery, the same action of the attendant angels, who clasp the throne as if supporting it, and the same shaped throne, which, in each case, is not of stone, as in Duccio's altar-pieces, but of carved wood. The Rucellai Madonna is evidently of later date than Cimabue's other altar-pieces, and bears marks of a distinct advance in his artistic development; but the general features remain the same, and the strong likeness of the Virgin's type of face to that of an angel in his Academy picture, seems to prove that both works are by the hand of the same master. A critic of authority. Dr. Richter, has, indeed, lately ascribed this Madonna to Duccio, on the strength of a document which shows that the Sienese master received a commission to paint an altar-piece for Santa Maria Novella in 1285; but we have no proof that this order was ever executed, and it is far more probable that it was finally given to the Florentine Cimabue. The general inferiority of the