The figure of the Virgin in the fresco of the Judgment in the Strozzi
Chapel, so grand and majestic in its simplicity, is again recognisable
in the panels of Fra Angelico, imitated with his own especial
character and spiritual feeling, full of grace and humility, the soft
lines breathing beauty and lightness. The saints who appear to be
actually in celestial repose, have also inspired Fra Giovanni; the
same gentle and contemplative expression which irradiates the features
of the elect is again visible in our painter's figures. In the
colouring of both, vivacity is combined with softness, and vigour of
chiaro-scuro goes together with transparency of tint.
Nevertheless it is true that in certain respects, Fra Angelico might
be said to belong to the same school as Masolino. They are, however,
at the antipodes from each other in sentiment and artistic
interpretation, for while the saintly Giovanni endeavoured to idealize
the human figure and render it divine, Masolino, like most of his
contemporaries, followed a style distinctly realistic; yet it may be
proved that in technique, both followed the same rules, and worked on
similar principles. In fact the similitude between the two painters
noticeable in their composition, softness of outline, lightness of
figures, and clear harmonious colouring, tends to confirm the great
artistic affinity which we have indicated. Both of them used rosy
tints in the flesh, with greenish and yellowish shadows, both recall
the older artists of the "trecento" in the perspective, which is often
incorrect, and out of proportion. But how far superior is Fra Angelico
when the work of both in its full aspect is compared!
Fra Angelico has, it is true, conventional forms, and there is a
certain sameness in his heads with their large oval countenances; the
small eyes, outlined round the upper arch of the eyebrow, and with a
black spot for pupils, sometimes lack expression, or have a too
monotonous one, and the iris is often lost in the white of the cornea;
his mouths are always drawn small with a thickening of the lips in
the centre, and the corners strongly accentuated; the colour of his
faces is either too pink or too yellow; the folds of the robes (often
independent of the figure, especially in the lower part) fall
straight, and in the representations of the seated Virgin expand on
the ground, as if to form the foot of a chalice. But in his frescoes
these faults of conventional manner almost entirely disappear, giving
place to freer drawing, more life-like expression, and a character of
greater power.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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