Vasari recognises him in that old Nicodemus with a hood, who lowers
the Christ from the cross in the Deposition, while Milanesi, asserting
that Nicodemus has a saint's aureole not a cowl, holds that the
portrait of Michelozzo is to be seen in the figure with a black hood
who speaks with the disciple beneath him as he gives the body of the
Lord into his hands. Certainly Milanesi has good reason to doubt
Vasari's assertion, as Nicodemus has no hood: moreover Vasari himself
in his second edition of the Lives (1568) assigns as the architect's
likeness that very figure with a cowl who is speaking to the disciple.
Therefore we must admit that the Aretian Historian was mistaken either
in his indication of the figure, or in the reproduction of it as a
headpiece to his Life of Michelozzo.
In any case, a similar figure to that in the "Deposition," and with
the same head-gear, again appears a little older in the fresco of the
convent of San Marco representing the "Adoration of the Magi"; also in
another picture of the "Presentation in the Temple"; and in the little
square with a "Flight into Egypt", on one of the doors of SS.
Annunziata.
[Illustration: FLIGHT INTO EGYPT.]
If Michelozzo be really portrayed here, we must conclude that the
Deposition was painted long before 1442, and the press doors about the
same time, or a little later; but the student must take into account
the curious fact that in the "Deposition" the disciple who talks to
the man with a cowl above him, has also a certain resemblance to the
supposed Michelozzo, and that Nicodemus reappears as St. John Baptist
on the left of the large altar-piece painted for the church of San
Marco, as well as in the picture of the dead Christ, and also as the
kneeling King who kisses the feet of the Babe in the fresco of the
"Adoration of the Magi."
Therefore, without giving great importance to the question of the true
portrait of Michelozzo, we find that these heads, whether of Nicodemus
or the hooded disciple, are represented in various pictures by our
artist, modified by age, so that from them we may establish the
succession of the different works, i. e. first the "Dead Christ" of
the Company of the Temple, next the picture at San Marco (1438), then
the "Deposition," and lastly the fresco in San Marco, and the little
"Annunciation." Thus all these works would certainly date during Fra
Angelico's stay in Florence.
But to return to the doors of the presses in the SS. Annunziata, it is
true, as Rio writes, that instead of being a series of subjects for
future frescoes or altar-pieces, the "stories" seem a hasty resume,
often too hasty, of works already painted in the convent of San Marco
or other places. Some of them are noticeable for firmness of design
and vigour of colouring, others instead are unworthy of the master and
evidently show another hand.
[Illustration: CHRIST BETRAYED BY JUDAS.]
[Illustration: THE RESURRECTION OF LAZARUS.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account