In the first of the two at Florence, the saints have cut off the leg
of a sick man, and placed that of a negro in its stead. In the second
is represented their burial together with the brethren. In those at
Munich the scenes are:--the saints constrained by the judge Lisia to
sacrifice to idols; the saints thrown into the sea and saved by
angels, while the judge is liberated from two demons by their prayers;
and lastly their crucifixion, while stones and arrows are aimed
against them, but rebound on the executioners.[43]
Other similar subjects are represented in six "stories" divided into
two panels (No. 234, Catalogue of 1893) in the Belle Arti. In the
first the saints are seen exercising the healing art without receiving
payment; they cure Palladia, who in her gratitude prays St. Damian in
the name of God to accept a gift, her brother being wrathful not
knowing the cause. In the second the judge Lisia obliges the saints
and their three brethren to sacrifice to idols; in the third the
angels save them from drowning; in the fourth they are condemned to be
burnt alive, and sing psalms in the midst of the flames; in the fifth
is the stoning; and lastly the decapitation.
These works, however, do not always show equal execution, therefore we
might judge that the artist sometimes availed himself of the hand of
an assistant.
From the records remaining to us, it does not appear that Fra Giovanni
worked at any other pictures for his church, so it is probable he gave
all his attention to adorning the convent, which on account of the
works he has left there, may fairly be considered one of the finest
monuments of Italian art.
It was not the first time that Fra Angelico had painted large mural
frescoes. As he had already shown at Fiesole his mastery in that more
minute style, which was to find more complete expression in the Roman
pictures, so the convent of San Marco gave him scope to prove his
genius also in this freer branch of art. In the cloisters, the
corridors, the cells, and the rooms in which the monks met together,
we find specimens of his artistic work, and in these various pictures
all his favourite personages reappear one by one in larger
proportions, but without losing that original grace and sentiment with
which his smaller works are imbued. Indeed these show that he had
studied from the life with independence and sincerity of purpose, and
could render it with greater facility and decision.
A very noteworthy change in the character of Fra Angelico's art may be
observed in these mural paintings. He must have perceived, after
painting the tabernacle for the Linen Weavers' Guild, that a deeper
study of the real was necessary to give life to his figures,
especially when these should assume larger proportions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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