Sandra Mantegna a number of painters felt to a greater or less degree the influence of the Renaissance. This was eminently the case toward the close of the fifteenth century with Sandro Bottieelli not only was he the great prophet of the pre-Ra phaelites, but he was also a lover of ancient art, and even painted subjects taken from the sphere of Greek mythology. One of his paintings (p. 30, fig. 5) represents the Birth of Aphrodite. The Goddess of Love has risen from the sea, and is being wafted to the shore in a shell blown by the breath of two Zephyrs, who scatter flowers around her. On the shore, under shady trees, a maiden awaits the goddess and offers her a robe, her long and flowing locks having thus far been her only covering.
The Religious glanced at the greatest representatives of the realistic and classical ideals, it is time to turn to the school of religious art, which, though no longer sole possessor of the field, as formerly, still held a large part of it and could boast of valiant champions. It is not to be supposed that religious painting did not undergo a develop ment which placed it more in harmony with the spirit of the age than the art of Giotto, Orcagna, or Simone di Martino would have been.
Fra Angelico da Fiesole (1387-1455), whose angelic character corre so well with his name, stands foremost among toe religious painters. Living in the Convent of San Marco at Florence, he never accepted any remuneration for his art-productions, which were devoted entirely to the cause of religion. IIis invariable custom was to pray for divine help before beginning his work. his creations are far more ethereal than human, and no other painter has succeeded so in giving bodily shape to the life and joys of paradise. His figures are entirely wanting in artificial striving after effect and are full of religious life and fervor. Though free from naturalism, Fra Angelico's creations have all the good qualities xvhich result from a mastery over technical artistic difficulties, and show none of that contrast between spiritual beauty and material imperfection which is apparent in the majority of the works of medieval art.
Fra Angelico excelled also in the art of composition, whether simple or complex, and this is nowhere better shown than in his favorite subject, The Last judgment, in which the several hundred figures introduced within a narrow space are grouped and subordinated so symmetrically as to avoid any approach to confusion. In the Entombment of Christ (pl. 3r, 2) we have an example of his simple compositions, so many of which adorn the walls of the Monastery of San Marco and form its principal attraction. The Coronation of Me I 3) shows Fra
Angelico as lie appears in most of his tempera paintings, and is an instance of his complicated but symmetrical compositions. The figure of the Virgin is the embodiment of grace and innocence. She kneels in utter submission before the Divine Figure that is crowning her; on either side, fading away into the dim distance, is the choir of angels, while in the foreground are groups of saints, standing or kneeling in adoration. The serenity of Fra Angelico's figures is never disturbed by earthly passions; they dwell in regions from which all these are banished.
Filippo prominent painters belong to this religious school, but none approach Fra Angelico. The greatest of these is his contemporary, Fra Filippo Lippi (1406-1469), who, though his art is not so pure as that of Fra Angelico, has sometimes more power and impress iveness. At the same time, the school of Siena and its dependant the Umbrian school adhered strictly to the religious type without taking part in the naturalistic and classical movements of the rest of Italy.
We have glanced at the works of the prime movers of the various schools of painting that arose in the dawn of the Renaissance: we must now follow the vicissitudes of these schools through the latter half of the fifteenth century. The most striking change we have observed has been the disappearance of a general type and the establishment of each artist as an independent factor, following no direction but his own. lience the painting, of the fifteenth century is the most complicated web that an historian ever undertook to unravel, and the task is not made easier by the fact that several artists in their development embodied the different tendencies of the period.
Realists: Go=oli (142o-149S) executed on one of the walls of the Campo Santo at Pisa a series of paintings whose subjects are taken from the book of Genesis; he clothed the patriarchs in the costume of his own time and surrounded them with familiar Italian scenery and contem porary architecture. To these and similar series we are, in fact, largely indebted for our acquaintance with the Italian life of this centurv—the costumes, games and sports, domestic habits, and other characteristic features. Singularly enough, with all their love for the real life of the day, painters rarely depicted incidents in contemporary history. Through out Gozzoli's works there is the most naturalistic, and sometimes vulgar, treatment, with the introduction of incidents of common life. Idealism is absolutely wanting, and we do not even perceive a refined treatment of the subject.