EARLY FLORENTINE ART.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 507, 14 May 1909, Page 3

EARLY FLORENTINE ART.

j LECTURE BY MISS HODGKIN. i A lecture on-, "Early Florentine Art," il- ' Instrated. by lantern slides,. was given by i Miss Hodgkill : before tho j?riends' Confer-. 1 once . on r Wednesday ,- ovening, .: In .- open- ' ■ ingi . tho /- lecturer.. . said ' that -. sho!; nad I no - intention of going . into • scientific • dot-ails :or theories '. about > 'art, ' but , - only to draw attention -to - the . beauties of (' the earliest painters; ' Lookina back to the •; thirteenth century, the ; mina , was' struck by the likeness to the present-restless time.. Christianity in Its earliest time did not al- ■ low the j representation., of pagan gods, and 1 art wfls driven, during the times of persecui tion,- into tho Catacombs, where rough de- ■ signs still were to bo seen.-The ninth century' i saw. art;, at its lowest. ebb.;;. the. thirteenth •- saw. it.' rising, from" its" long.: sleep)':wheh'.:St; • Francis of Assisi, touched religion into life. Then Dante was born, and Giotto-was given [ unto the world. When Cimabuo was born in ' Florence the first great painter .saw the'light. '. Then came Giotto, whose "Virgin," "Christ Enthroned,", and heads of two "Apostles" ' showed the wonderful power and beauty of [ his work. -The craftsmanship of this great ' painter was shown in his picture of the "Tribiite Money;".:. The • lecturer next spoke of ;• Fra 'Ahgehca,-.: whose" great; fresco, of tho ' "Annunciation" was the marvel of the ages; Sho passed .on to FraLippo Lippi, more.;maii than''monk,- and' mighty artist, ' who'se joyous figures next described and 1 illustrated on tho screen., The': wbrlts "of | minor painters _were also shown, and the lec- . turer closed with a description' of Botticelli '. of'the Renaissance and. a .short reference to : 'the work-of Michael Angelo, both in paint-. ing .and sculpture." . The lecturer said r that. : liad/.a message for'our'days'in their.'power .to make :visible the unseen realities of the. spiritual life.