THE ITALIAN PAINTERS.

Shannon News, 23 April 1929, Page 3

THE ITALIAN PAINTERS.

A STUDY OF RENAISSANCE INFLUENCES.

GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT OF

TECHNIQUE.

The second lecture to the Levin branch of the W.E.A. in the series on “The History of Painting in Europe,” was given by the tutor, Miss Cadcll, 8.A., on Tuesday evening. The subject matter treated in a lucid manner, claimed the close attention of a fair-sized gathering in St. Mary’s Hall, and the lecturer’s remarks were enhanced by illustrations bearing on the works of various artists. CIMABUE AND THE BYZANTINES The lectuier isaid students of the Italian Renaissance were greatly indebted to Vasari for his biographies of Florentine artists of his time. Himself a very mediocre painter, who lived in the 16th century, his accounts of his predecessors and contemporaries are racy and vivid, and even if not scrupulously accurate in detail are true in essentials. He relates that “by the will of God in the year 1240 Giovanni Cimabue, of the noble family of that name, was born in the city of Florence to give the first light to the art of painting.” Sent to Santa Maria Novella to study letters, Cimabue spent ‘whole days drawing on his books and papers, an occupation to which he felt himself impelled by nature. Certain Byzantine artists had been invited, to Florence for the purpose of restoring the art of painting, which had not merely degenerated, but had been altogether lost.- Escaping from the schools, Cimabue watched these masters at work, and being allowed to ■study under them ho soon greatly surpassed the Byzantines, both in design and colouring. He began to observe from life instead of to follow formulas and was one of the first to depart from the hard lines and sharp angles which the Byzantines had adopted. Unfortunately there wais scarcely any worlV existing which was undoubtedly his. “The Enthroned Madonna” which was borne in procession from the studio to the church of Santa Maria Novella, so. greatly to the delight of beholders that a. street through which it passed was . called in consequence the Street of Joy, is now attributed to Duccio, of Siena. However, the story serves’to illustrate the fervent ■enthusiasm which painting aroused in the people of the period. GIOTTO REVIEWS DESIGNS.

The true herald of the Renaissance was Giotto, who effectually recalled to life the art of design of which, liis contemporary liad little knowledge. l-lis figures were drawn from life, but landscape was substituted for plain gold background.' The. sou of a husbandman, he tended sheep for his father and one day was surprised by Cimabue as he was drawing upon a smooth piece of rock with a sharp slate. Regular employment in painting in Florence followed. Gifted with : a vigorous and comprehensive intellect, capable of sustained labour, and devoted with the zeal of a good craftsman to his art, Giotto, in the course of a long career filled that with work that taught succeeding generations of painters. It was a most happy chance that brought to this vital and fertile genius unique scope for, his remarkable qualities. STIMULUS OF RELIGION.

The birth of Italian painting is closely connected Avith .the ’ religious life of the people. The building of the Church of St. Francis at Assisi gave art its first great impulse and it Avas to the piety aroused by the saint throughout that it owed its animating spirit in the fourteenth century. The Avails of the great double church at Assisi are covered Avith fresco, and it was there that Giotto in his youth learnt lioav to give semblance of reality to Christian thought. The Creation, the Fall, the Redemption of the World, Judgement and the Final State of Bliss or of Misery Avere all quickened by him into beautiful, breathing sjuipe. A noble opportunity Avas there for him to seize. The whole belief of Christendom, grasped by his own faith and firmly rooted in the faith of the people round him, its simplicity, as yet unimpaired by influences of classic culture, had to be set forth for the first time in art. His Avork was a Bible, a compendium of divine uavc and of human history, a book embracing all the things needful for the spiritual and civil life of man. lle spolce to men Avho could not read, for Avhom there Avere no printed pages, but AA v ho?e hearts Aver,e reached through the skill of the artist’s hand. Painting Avas not then- a decorative accessory of existence, but prut of the essential fibre of life.

PORTRAYAL OF ESSENTIALS

Giotto Avas not cniy a talented painter, but a man of clear and powerful understanding. Finding out .directly the heart of an incident, he composed the elements of which it was made up with such insight and such economy, with such careful emphasis upon the centre of interest, through the elimination of all inessential detail, that he created masterpieces of dramatic lucidity. In technique he Avas not as accomplished as some of his successors, but in lii3 case the means were always in harmony Avith the end, and he started the movement toAvards natural representation ■ which Avas to dominate the Florentine school. He Avas successful in giving the illusion of three dimensions in painting. He made little use of light and shade, but his fresh colour, and particularly his vigorous line, gave to his work its enduring vitality.

FRA ANGELICO AND LIPPI. In the Florentine paintings of 15th century the impulse towards naturalism first given by Giotto, branched out in two' directions. The expression of emotion AA r as the aim of one school; the other stro\ r e for correctness of representation and the mastery of all problems of technique, which led to the study of perspective and anatomj r

and to the careful observation of details. Two friars of very different character represented the former tendency. The first was Fra Giovanni do Fiesole, who joined the Dominican Order of preaching friars, and was known as Fra Angelico because of the saintliness of hi.; nature and because of the radiant visions his brush created. He never retouched cr improved his work, but left all as it was done the first time, believing that such was the will of God. lie always prayed before taking up his blushes, and in the countenance and attitude r-f his figures were mirrored his own sincerity and piety. Whereas Giotto sought to interest the mind by his vivid and compelling narrative power, Fra Angelico’s art was akin to lyric poetry with its ethereal colour and mystic, oestacy. Ihe other painter, Fra Lippo .Lippi, was the antithsis of Fra Angelico in character and taste, except that both were lovers of beauty. Fra Lippi had no vocation for monastic life, but as a child of eight- he was placed in the eare of •the Carmelites, since he had no kindred willing to look after hinu ■ His childish hardships helped to quicken hiis faculties of observation. He appreciated the good food, warm clothing- and leisure of monastic life too much to leave it, and when the friars found that his lesson books were full of drawings, they encouraged his bent. He won a considerable reputation and received many orders for pictures. He enjoyed to the full the various pleasures of the world, and translated the result of his experience and observation with easy skill into paint. Circumstances demanded that lie should depict sacred subjects, but his Holy Families wore pleasant domestic pictures of contemporary Florence. His work was enriched- with oea,uty of line, 'freshness'of colour, and variety of' composition. liis great technical skill was the result of a keen and sensitive eye that rejoiced in all the aspects of life about him, rather than of careful study of problems of draughtsmanship. FORE-RUNNERS OF THE MASTERS The two friars showed respectively in their work mystic imagination and kyen enjoyment’of earthly pleasures. These faculties, combined with natural talent, brought' to their art almost unconscious progress. It was, however, among the painters of the opposite school that the Renaissance characteristics of curiosity and determination to master problems manifested themselves. Masa’ccio was the foremost of those pioneers whose science-and. toil was to prepare the way for the achievements of the great masters of the Renaissance. Vasari rVrote that Masaccio was the first to give his figures beautiful attitudes, natural movement,, vivacity of expression and a relief similar t-o reality. He understood perspective so well that he could apply it to every variety of view. Although in 27 yeans of life Masaccio could not produce a great deal, the quality of his work and the progress he. made in the art of painting won for him recognition from his famous successors. During the'first half of the 15th century, several artists of less power followed Masaccio in that they deliberately set themselves the task of working 'out the fundamental principles of their craft. Ueello represented the scientific interest present m the Florence of Cosimode Masaccio, where not only artists but mathematicians, anatomists and great scholars were congregated. He was intensely absorbed in tlie problems of perspective and foreshortening, and had also earned distinction as the originator of battle pictures as a subject for painting. About the middle of the 15th century a very important workshop was that of Baldovinetti, for not only was he .the teacher of some of the great artists of the latter half of the century, but he carried, on valuable experiments in media, especially oil. Some of. his work had more scientific than aitistic interest, but a Madonna in the Louvre appealed in spite of defective modelling, because of its design and the charm of the Virgin. The last of (the ardent students of technique to be mentioned was Antonio Pollaijule (1429-98). In youth he was apprenticed to his father as a goldsmith and was engaged in modelling some of the ornaments of Ghiberti’s famous Baptistry gates. The fact that he turned to painting further emphasised the renown of that, art. He excelled in the rendering of the figure, especially in action. One critic described him as, “One of the greatest masters of movement, and one of the ablest interpreters of the human body as a vehicle of energy turn power. ’ ’ COURSE OF DEVELOPMENT.

In conclusion, the lecturer said that, in the first' half of the 15th century, artists Avere devoting themselves to the mastery 'of technique. Masaccio conquered the difficulties of aerial perspcctive; Uecllo was absorbed in problems of fore-shortening; and Pollaijulo assiduously studied anatomy, Avith a special regard to tlic appearance of the human figure in violent action.