Paris: Grant Allen's Historical GuidesAllen, Grant
History
Paris: Grant Allen's Historical Guides
Allen, Grant
Paris (France) -- Description and travel; Paris (France) -- Guidebooks
199. _Benozzo Gozzoli._ Glory of St. Thomas Aquinas, the great
=Dominican= teacher. This is an apotheosis of scholasticism, in the
person of its chief representative. R and L stand Aristotle and Plato,
the heathen philosophers, in deferential attitudes, recognising their
master. Beneath his feet is Guillaume de St. Amour, a vanquished
heretic. Below, the entire Church—pope, cardinals, doctors—receiving
instruction from St. Thomas. Above, the Eternal Father signifying His
approval in a Latin inscription, surrounded by the Evangelists with
their symbols—angel, winged lion, bull, eagle. The inscription imports,
“Thomas has well spoken of Me.” The style is archaic: the council is
supposed to be that of Agnani, presided over by Pope Alexander IV. Among
the celestial personages, notice St. Paul, Moses, and others. Pictures
of this double sort, embracing scenes in heaven and on earth, are common
in Italy.
Beneath it (287), part 2. _Pesello._ St. Cosmo and St. Damian affixing
the leg of a dead Moor to a wounded Christian, on whom they have been
compelled to practise amputation. The costumes are the conventional ones
for these saints. Remember them. This astounding miracle is often
represented at Florence: the dead man’s leg grew on the living one.
=**=182. _Fra Angelico._ A Coronation of the Virgin, painted for a
=Dominican= church at Fiesole. In the foreground, St. Louis of France,
with a crown of fleur-de-lis; St. Zenobius, Bishop of Florence, with the
lamb of the Baptist on his crosier (indicating his see); St. Mary
Magdalen, in red, with long yellow hair (so almost always), and (her
symbol) the box of ointment; St. Catherine with her wheel; St. Agnes
with her lamb, and others. Above St. Louis stands St. Dominic, founder
of Fra Angelico’s order, recognisable by his robes, with his red star
and white lily (the usual attributes); beneath him, a little to the R,
St. Thomas Aquinas, with a book sending forth rays of light, to signify
his teaching function. Near him, St. Francis. Other Saints, such as St.
Lawrence with his gridiron, and St. Peter Martyr, the Dominican, with
his wounded head, must be left to the spectator. In the background,
choirs of angels. Beneath, in the =predella=, the history of =St.
Dominic= (marked by a red star); Pope Innocent in a dream sees him
sustaining the falling Church (a Dominican variant of the story of St.
Francis in the Giotto, at the end): he receives his commission from St.
Peter and St. Paul; he restores to life the young man Napoleon, killed
by a fall from a horse (seen to left); he converts heretics and burns
their books; he is fed with his brethren by angels in his convent at
Rome; and his death and apotheosis. This picture deserves most careful
study—say two hours. It is one of Fra Angelico’s finest easel paintings
(his best are frescoes), and it is full of interest for its
glorification of the Dominicans. Compare the St. Thomas Aquinas with
Benozzo Gozzoli’s: and remember in studying the predella that St.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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