Knights of Art: Stories of the Italian Painters — John Shaqi
Knights of Art: Stories of the Italian PaintersSteedman, Amy
General
Knights of Art: Stories of the Italian Painters
Steedman, Amy
Art -- Juvenile literature; Painters -- Italy
As Perugino noted this, he grew angry and determined to punish the
prior's meanness. The next time therefore that there was a blue sky to
be painted, he put at his side a large bowl of fresh water, and then
called on the prior to put out a small quantity of the blue colour in a
little vase. Each time he dipped his brush into the vase, Perugino
washed it out with a swirl in the bowl at his side, so that most of the
colour was left in the water, and very little was put on to the picture.
'I pray thee fill the vase again with blue,' he said carelessly when
the colour was all gone. The prior groaned aloud, and turned grudgingly
to his little bag.
'Oh what a quantity of blue is swallowed up by this plaster!' he said,
as he gazed at the white wall, which scarcely showed a trace of the
precious colour.
'Yes,' said Perugino cheerfully, 'thou canst see thyself how it goes.'
Then afterwards, when the prior had sadly gone off with his little
empty bag, Perugino carefully poured the water from the bowl and
gathered together the grains of colour which had sunk to the bottom.
'Here is something that belongs to thee,' he said sternly to the
astonished prior. 'I would have thee learn to trust honest men and not
treat them as thieves. For with all thy suspicious care, it was easy to
rob thee if I had had a mind.'
During all these years in which Perugino had worked so diligently, the
art of painting had been growing rapidly. Many of the new artists shook
off the old rules and ideas, and began to paint in quite a new way.
There was one man especially, called Michelangelo, whose story you will
hear later on, who arose like a giant, and with his new way and greater
knowledge swept everything before him.
Perugino was jealous of all these new ideas, and clung more closely
than ever to his old ideals, his quiet, dignified saints, and spacious
landscapes. He talked openly of his dislike of the new style, and once
he had a serious quarrel with the great Michelangelo.
There was a gathering of painters in Perugino's studio that day.
Filippino Lippi, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, and Leonardo were there, and
in the background the pupil Raphael was listening to the talk.
'What dost thou think of this new style of painting?' asked Botticelli.
'To me it seems but strange and unpleasing. Music and motion are
delightful, but this violent twisting of limbs to show the muscles
offends my taste.'
'Yet it is most marvellously skilful,' said the young Leonardo
thoughtfully.
'But totally unfit for the proper picturing of saints and the blessed
Madonna,' said Filippino, shaking his curly head.
'I never trouble myself about it,' said Ghirlandaio. 'Life is too short
to attend to other men's work. It takes all my care and attention to
look after mine own. But see, here comes the great Michelangelo himself
to listen to our criticism.'
The curious, rugged face of the great artist looked good-naturedly on
the company, but his strong knotted hands waved aside their greetings.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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