Sacred and legendary art, volume 1 (of 2): Containing legends of the angels and archangels, the evangelists, the Apostles, the doctors of the church, and St. Mary magdalene, as represented in the fine arts.Jameson, Mrs. (Anna)
Religion
Sacred and legendary art, volume 1 (of 2): Containing legends of the angels and archangels, the evangelists, the Apostles, the doctors of the church, and St. Mary magdalene, as represented in the fine arts.
Jameson, Mrs. (Anna)
Christian art and symbolism; Christian saints in art
1. A. Busati. He is seated on a throne; an open book in one hand,
bearing inscribed the Venetian motto (‘_la Leggenda de’ Veneti_‘) PAX
TIBI, MARCE, EVANGELISTA MEUS; the other hand blessing: behind him a
fig-tree, with leaves and no fruit; probably in allusion to the text,
ch. xi. 13, which is peculiar to St. Mark. On his right stands St.
Andrew bearing a cross; on the left St. Bernardino of Siena; behind him
the apple-tree which ‘brought death into the world and all our woe.’
This votive picture, from its mystical accessories and the introduction
of St. Bernardino, was probably painted for the Franciscans (_i Frari_)
of Venice: it is now in the Academy there.
2. St. Mark on a lofty throne holds his gospel in his hand; at his feet
the four saints who are protectors against sickness and pestilence, St.
Sebastian, St. Roch, St. Cosmo, and St. Damian: a splendid picture,
in Titian’s early manner.[109] 3. St. Mark plants the standard of
Venice, by Bonifazio. And 4. ‘San Marco che assista all’ coscrizione
maritima;’ (i.e. the enlisting of the mariners for the service of the
State) by G. del Moro, both curious instances of the manner in which
the Venetians mixed up their patron saint with all their political and
military transactions. 5. St. Mark presents the Doge Leonardo Dona to
the Virgin; the most remarkable of a numerous class of votive pictures
common in the Venetian school, in which St. Mark introduces either the
Doge or some general or magnifico to the Virgin.[110]
Among the devotional pictures of St. Mark, one of the most famous is
that of Fra Bartolomeo, in the Palazzo Pitti. He is represented as a
man in the prime of life, with bushy hair and a short reddish beard,
throned in a niche, and holding in one hand the gospel, in the other a
pen; the lion is omitted. The Frate painted this picture for his own
convent of San Marco at Florence. It is much lauded and celebrated,
but the attitude appeared to me rather forced, and the features rather
commonplace.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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