THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BEQUEST OF lfrs» Marian Hooker C^ yV^^^^u^t.^ ^5u, ■•^^ S H c-i i^ > OO U) CP M MD cr\ O ^ w llBooto bg 2pr0* ^nna 31ame0otu THE CHARACTERISTICS OF WOMEN: Moral, Po- etical, AND Historical. THE DIARY OF AN ENNUYEE. MEMOIRS OF THE LOVES OF THE POETS. Bio- graphical Sketches of Women celebrated in Ancient and Mod- em Poetry. STUDIES, STORIES, AND MEMOIRS. SKETCHES OF ART, LITERATURE, AND CHAR- ACTER. With a Steel Engraving of Raphael's Madonna del San Sisto. MEMOIRS OF THE EARLY ITALIAN PAINTERS (Cimabue to Bassano). LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA as represented in ihe Fine Arts. SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART. In two volumes. LEGENDS OF THE MONASTIC ORDERS as repre- sented in the Fine Arts. Forming the Second Seriet j£ Sacred and Legendary Art. Each volume, z6mo, $1.25 ; the ten volumes, in box, ^12.50; half calf, $25.00; tree calf, ^^35.00. HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO., Publishers, Boston and New York. LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA ,^ AS REPRESENTED IN THE FINE ARTS BY MRS. JAMESON Corrected and Enlarged Edition BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 1897 ^5^35S7 lOAN STACr 6iFr 1897 CONTENTS. PUFAC^... • XTi IHTBODUCTioN — Origin of the Worship of the Ma- donna. Earliest artistic Representations. Ori- gin of the Group of the Virgin and Child in the Fifth Oentnry. The First Council at Ephesus. The Iconoclasts. First Appearance of the Effigy of the Virgin on Coins. Period of Charlemagne. Period of the Crusades. Revival of Art in the Thirteenth Century. The Fourteenth Century. Influence of Dante. The Fifteenth Century. The Council of Constance and the Hussite Wars. The Sixteenth Century. The Luxury of Church Pic- tures. The Influence of Classical Literature on the Representations of the Virgin. The Seven- teenth Century. Theological Art. Spanish Art. Influence of Jesuitism on Art. Authorities fol- lowed by Painters in the earliest Times. Legend of St. Luke. Character of the Virgin Mary as drawn in the Gospels. Early Descriptions of her Person; how far attended to by the Painters. Poetical Extracts descriptive of the Virgin Mary II Btmbolb and Attribxjtes of the Vikgin. Prop- er Costume and Colours 53 DxYOTiONAL Subjects and Historical Subjects. Altar-pieces The Life of the Virgin Mary at 954 IV CONTENTS. treated in a Series. The Seven Joys and Seven Sorrows as a Series. Titles of the Virgin, aa ex- pressed in Pictures and Effigies. Chorches dedi- cated to her. Conclusion M BcrPLEMEKTABY NOTES ^ ..... . M DEVOTIONAL SUBJECTS. Pabt L THE VIRGIN WITHOUT THE CHILD. La Vebgine Gloriosa. Earliest Figures. The Mo- saics. The Virgin of San Venanzio. The Virgin of Spoleto 9t The Enthroned Virgin without the Child, as type of heavenly Wisdom. Various Examples 101 L* Incoronata, the Type of the Church triumphant. The Virgin crowned by her Son. Examples from the old Mosaics. Examples of the Coronation of the Virgin from various Painters 106 The VmoiN of Merct, as she is represented in tne Last Judgment 128 The Vfrgin, as Dispenser of Mercy on Earth. Various Examples 126 The Mater Dolorosa seated and standing, with the Seven Swords 181 rhe Stahat Mater, the Ideal Pietk. The Votive Pie- tk, by Guido 181 Our Ladt op the Immaculate Conception Or- igin of the Subject. History of the Theological Dispute. The First Papal Decree touching the Immaculate Conception. The Bull of Paul V. CONTENTS. V The Popularity of the Subject in Spain., Pic- tures by Guide, by Roelas, Velasquez, Mu- riUo 18'' •he Predestination of the Virgin. Curious Picture by Cotignola 151 Pabt n. THE VIRGIN AND CHILD. fHE Virgin and Child enthroned. Virgo Dt- ipcvra. The Virgin in her Maternal Character. Origin of the Group of the Mother and Child. Nestorian Controversy IM The Enthroned Virgin in the old Mosaics. In early Italian Art. The Virgin standing as Regina Call 161 La Madre Pia enthroned. Mater Sapientm with the Book 170 The Virgin and Child enthroned with attendant Fig- ures; with Angels; with Prophets; with Apos- tles 17« With Saints: John the Baptist; St. Anna; St. Joa- chim; St. Joseph 181 With Martyrs and Patron Saints 187 Various Examples of Arrangement. With the Fa- thers of the Church; with St. Jerome and St. Catherine; with the Marriage of St. Catherine. The Virgin and Child between St. Catherine and St. Barbara; with Mary Magdalene; with St. Lucia 187 fhe Virgin and Child between St. George and St. Nicholas; with St. Christopher; with St Leon- •rd. The Vkgin of Charity IM VI CONTENTS. Pagt The Madonnas of Florence; of Siena; of Venice and Lombardj. How attended , 200 rhe Virgin attended by the Monastic Saints, ^jcam- ples from various Painters IMtt Votive Madonnas. For Mercies accorded: for Vic- tory; for Deliverance from Pestilence; against Flood and Fire 204 Family Votive Madonnas. Examples. The Madonna of the Bentivoglio Family. The Madonna of the Sforza Family. The Madonna of the Meyer Fam- ily. The Madonna di Foligno. German Votive Madonna at Rouen. Madonna of R^nd, Duke of Anjou ; of the Pesaro Family at Venice 218 Half-length Enthroned Madonnas; first introduced by the Venetians. Various Examples 225 The Mateb Amabilis. Early Greek Examples. The infinite Variety given to this Subject 229 Virgin and Child with St. John. He takes the Cross 234 The Madrb Pia ; the Virgin adores her Son 236 Pastoral Madonnas of the Venetian School 238 Conclusion of the Devotional Subjects 244 HISTORICAL SUBJECTS. Paet I. THE LIFE OF THE VIRGIN FROM HER BIRT0 TO HER MARRIAGE WITH JOSEPH. The Legend of Joachim and Anna 246 foacmm rejected from the Temole. Joachim herding his Sheep on the Mountain. The Altercation between Anna and her Maid Judith. The Meet- mgattheGoldec Gate 259 CONTENTS. YII? Pagi The NATivr^T of the Virgin. The Importance and Beauty of the Subject. How treated 258 rH» PRESEin'ATiON OF THE ViRGiN. A Subject of great Importance. General Arrangement and Treatment. Various Examples from celebrated Painters 261 The Virgm in the Temple 260 The Marbiaob op the Virgin. The Legend as followed by the Painters 260 Various Examples of the Marriage of the Virgin, as treated by Perugino, Raphael, and others 274 Part II. the life of the virgin mary from thb ANNUNCIATION TO THE RETURN FROM EGYPT. The Annunciation. Its Beauty as a Subject Treated as a Mystery and as an Event. As a Mystery; not earlier than the Eleventh Century. Its proper Place in architectural Decoration. On Altar-pieces. As an Allegory. The Annuncia- tion as expressing the Incarnation. Ideally treated with Saints and Votaries. Examples by Simone Memmi, Fra Bartolomeo, Angelico, and others 279 The Annimciati>n as an Event. The appropriate Circumstances. The Time, the Locality, the Ac- cessories. The Descent of the Angel ; proper Cos- tume ; with the Lily, the Palm, the Olive 29 J pjroper Attitude and Occupation of Mary; Expression and Deportment. The Dove. Mistakes. Ex- amples from various Painters 2W Vm CONTENTS. P^ Thb Visitation. Character of EHzabetn. The Lo- cality and Circumstances. Proper Accessories. Examples from various Painters 868 The Dream op Joseph. He entreats Forgiveness of Maiy Sll The Nativity. The Prophecy of the Sibyl. La Madonna del Parto, The Nativity as a Mystery; with poetical Accessories; with Saints and Vota- ries 314 The Nativity as an Event. The Time; the Place: the proper Accessories and Circumstances; the angelic Choristers ; Signification of the Ox and the Ass 829 The Adobation of the Shepherds 329 The Adoration of the Magi; they are supposed to have been Kings. Prophecy of Balaam. The Appearance of the Star. The Legend of the three Kings of Cologne. Proper Accessories. Exam- ples from various Painters. The Land Surveyors, by Giorgione 881 The Purification of the Virgin. The Prophecy of Simeon. Greek Legend of the Nvnc Dimittis, Various Examples 848 Ihb Flight into Egypt. The Massacre of the In- nocents. The Preparation for the Journey. The Circumstances. The Legend of the Robbers; of thePahn 8M The Repose of the Holy Family. The Sub- ject often mistaken. Proper Treatment of the Group. The Repose at Matarea. The Ministry of Angels 864 Thb Legend OF the Gypsy 870 Thb Ketubn from Egypt 871 C017TEKT8 Part m. TBK IJFE OP THE VIKGIN FROM THE SOJOUBK IN EGYPT TO THE CRUCIFIXION OF CUB LORD. Fagt The Holy Family. Proper Treatment of the Do- mestic Group as distinguished from the Devotion- al. The simplest Form that of the Mother and Child. The Child fed from his Mother's Bosom. The Infant sleeps 877 Holy Family of three Figures; with the little St. John; with St. Joseph; with St. Anna 387 Holy Family of four Figures ; with St. Elizabeth and others 392 The Holy Family of Five and Six Figures 393 The Family of the Virgin grouped together 393 Examples of Holy Family as treated by various Ar- tists 396 The Carpenter's Shop 401 The Infant Christ learning to read 405 The Dispute in the Temple. The Virgin seeks her Son 406 The Death of Joseph 410 The Mabbiaoe at Cana. Proper Treatment of the Virgin in this Subject; as treated by Luini and by Paul Veronese 41t The Virgin attends on the Ministry of Christ. Mys- tical Treatment by Fra Angelico 417 U) Spasimo. Christ takes leave of his Mother. Women who are introduced into Scenes of the Passion of our Lord 420 the Procession to Calvary Lo Spasiinc di jSicilia, . 42S » CONTENTS. Fhb Crucifixion. Proper Treatment of the Virgin in this Subject. The impropriety of placing her npon the Ground. Her Fortitude. Christ rec- ommends his Mother to St. John 420 The Descent from the Cross. Proper Place and Action of the Virgin in this Subject 430 The Deposition. Proper Treatment of this Form of the Mater Dolorosa, Persons introduced. Vari- ous Examples 4t9 The Entombment. Treated as an historical Scene. As one of the Sorrows of the Hosary; attended by Saints 485 rhe Maier Dohrosa attended by St. Peter. Attended by St. John and Mary Magdalene 438 pabt nr. THE LIFE OF THE VIRGIN MARY FROM THl RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD TO THE AS- SUMPTION. The Apparition of Christ to his Mother. Beauty and Sentiment of the old Legend; how represented by the Artists 4^ The Ascension of our Lord. The proper Place of the Virgin Mary 446 The Descent of the Holy Ghost; Mary being one of the principal Persons 44€ The Apostles take leave of the Virgin 449 The Death and Assumption of the Virgin. The old Greek Legend 460 r^e Angel announces to Mary her approaching Death 4M CONTENTS. XI Pa|« The Death of the Virgin, an ancient and important Subject. As treated in the Greek School; in ear- ly German Art; in Italian Art. Various Exam- ples 451 The Apostles cany the Body of the Virgin to the Tomb 464 The Entombment 465 The Assumption. Distinction between the Assump- tion of the Body and the Assumption of the Soul of the Virgin. The Assumption as a Mystery; as an Event 465 La Madonna della Cintola. The Legend of the Girdle; as painted in the Cathedral at Prato. . . . 468 Examples of the Assumption as represented by yari- ous Artists 474 The Cobonation as distinguished from the Incoro- ncUa ; how troated as an historical Subject Con- clusion 4M HOTB. Turn dece&ie of Mrs. Jameson, the accomplished i and popular writer, at an advanced period of life, too* place in March, 1860, after a brief illness. But the firame hadkng been worn out by past years of anxiety, and the fatigues of laborious literary occupation conscientiously un- dertaken and carried out. Having entered certain fields of research and enterprise, perhaps at first accidentally, Mrs. Jameson could not satisfy herself by anything less than the utmost that minute collection and progressive study could do to sustain her popularity. Distant and exhausting journeys, diligent examination of far-scattered examples of Art, voluminous and various reading, became seemingly more and more necessary to her; and at the very time of life when rest and slackened effort would have been natural, — not merely because her labours were in aid of others, bat to satisfy her own high sense of what is demanded by Art and Literature, — did her hand and brain work more and more perseveringly and thoughtfully, till at last she sank under her weariness; and passed away. The father of Miss Murphy was a miniature-painter of repute, attached, we believe, tc the household of the Prin- cess Charlotte. His daughter Anna was naturally taught by him the principles of his own art ; but she had instincts for all, — taste for music, — a feeling for poetry, — and a delicate appreciation of the drama. These gifts — in ?ier fouth rarer in combination than thev are now (when the oonnection of the arts is becoming underst< ;>d, and tht love of all increasingly diffused) — we.^e, enuring part of Mrs. Jameson's life, turned to the service of education.— It was not till after her marriage, that a foreign tour led her into authorship, by the publication of '* The Diary of an Ennuy^e," somewhere about the year 1826. — It was impossible to avoid detecting in that record the presenci* of taste, thought, and feeling, brought in an original fash- ion to bear on Art, Society, Morals. — The reception of th« book was decisive. — It was followed, at intervals, by " The Loves of the Poets," "Memoirs of Italian Painters," "The Lives of Female Sovereigns," " Characteristics of Women " (a series of Shakspeare studies ; possibly its writer's most popular book). After this, the Germanism so prevalent five-and-twenty years ago, and now somewhat gone by, possessed itself of the authoress, and she published her reminiscences of Munich, the imitative art of which was new, and esteemed as almost a revelation. To the list of Mrs. Jameson's books may be added her translation of the easy, if not vigorous Dramas by the Princess Amelia of Saxony, and her " Winter Studies and Sum- mer Rambles " — recollections of a visit to Canada. This included the account of her strange and solitary canoe voyage, and her residence among a tribe of Indians. From this time forward, social questions — especially those concerning the position of women in life and action — en- grossed a large share of Mrs. Jameson's attention ; and she wrote on them occasionally, always in a large and en- lightened spirit, rarely without touches of delicacy and sentiment. — Even when we are unable to accei t all Mrs. Jameson's conclusions, or to join her in the hero or hero- toe worship of this or the other favourite example, we nave seldom a complaint to make of the manner of the authoress. It was always earnest, eloquent, and poet- ical. Besides a volume or two of collected essays, thoughtj^ note'^ on books, and on subjects of Art, we have left to men ion the elaborate volumes on " Sacred and Legendary Art," as the greatest literary labour of a busy life. Mrs Jameson was putting the last finish to the concluding por- tion of her work, when she was bidden to cease forever. There is little more to be told, — save that, in the course of her indefatigable literary career, Mrs. Jameson drew round herself a large circle of steady friends — these among the highest illustrators of Literature and Art in France, Germany, and Italy; and that, latterly, a pension from Government was added to her slender earnings. These, it may be said without indelicacy, were liberally apportioned to the aid of others, — Mrs. Jameson being, for herseh, simple, self-relying, and self-denying; — holding that high view of the duties belonging to pursuits of imagination which rendered meanness, or servility, or dishonourable dealing, or license glossed over with some convenient name, impossible to her. — She was a faithftd friend, a devoted relative, a graceftilly-cultivated, and honest liter- »iy worker, whose mind was set on " the best and hon- onrablest things.'* AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. In presenting to my friends and to the public this Serlei ol the Sacred and Legendary Art, few preparatory words will be required. If in the former volumes I felt diffident of my own powers to do any justice to my subject, I have yet been encouraged by the lympathy and approbation of those who have kindly accepted of what has been done, and yet more kindly excused deficiencies, errors, and oversights, which the wide range of subjects rendered almost unavoidable. With f&T more of doubt and diffidence, yet not less trust in th« benevolence and candour of my critics, do I present this volume to the public. I hope it will be distinctly understood, that the general plan of the work is merely artistic ; that it really aima at nothing more than to render the various subjects intelligible. For this reason it has been thought advisable to set aside, in a great measure, individual preferences, and all predilections for particular schools and particular periods of Art, — to take, in short, the widest possible range as regards examples, — and then to leave the reader, when thus guided to the meaning of what he sees, to select, compare, admire, according to his own discrimina- tion, taste, and requirements. The great difficulty has been to keep within reasonable limits. Though the subject has a unity not found in the other volumes, it is reaUy boundless as regards variety and complexity. I may have been superficial from mere ■uperabundance of materials ; sometimes mistaken as to fsMta ftnd dates ; the tastes, the feelings, and the faith of my readem feiaiy not always go along with me ; but if attention and Intexeat KVm PREFACE. have been excited— if the sphere of eiyoyment in works of Arl have been enlarged and enlightened, I have done all I eve* wished — all I ever hoped, to do. With regard to a point of infinitely greater importance, I maj be allowed to plead, — that it has been impossible to treat of the representations of the Blessed Vii^n without touching on doc- trines such as constitute the principal differences between the creeds of Christendom. I have had to ascend most perilous heights, to dive into terribly obscure depths. Not for worlds would I be guilty of a scoffing allusion to any belief or any ob- ject held sacred by sincere and earnest hearts ; but neither ha« it been possible for me to write in a tone of acquiescence, whers I altogether differ in feeling and opinion. On this point I shall need, and feel sure that I shall obtain, the generous i Mmi of readfin of all pezraasioiui INTRODUCTIOIS. L OBIGIK AND HISTORY OF THE EFFIGIES 09 THE MADONNA. Through all the most beautiful and precious pro- ductions of human genius and human skill which tbii middle ages and the renaissance have bequeathed to us, we trace, more or less developed, more or less apparent, present in shape before us, or sug- gested through inevitable associations, one prevail- ing idea : it is that of an impersonation in the fem- inine character of beneficence, purity, and power, standing between an offended Deity and poor, sin- ning, suffering humanity, and clothed in the visible form of Mary, the Mother of our Lord. To the Roman Catholics this idea remains an indisputable religious truth of the highest import. Those of a different creed may think fit to dispose of the whole subject of the Madonna either as a form of superstition or a form of Art. But merely as a form of Art, we cannot in these days confine ourselves to empty conventional criticism. We are obliged to look further and deeper ; and in this de- partment of Legendary Art, as in the others, we must take the higher ground, perilous though it be. We must seek to comprehend the dominant idea lying behind and beyond the mere representation For, after all, some consideration is due to facti which we must necessarily accept, whether we dea.' 20 INTRODUCTION. Tntli antiquarian theology or artistic criticism; namely, that the worship of the Madonna did pre- vail through all the Christian and civilized world for nearly a thousand years ; that, in spite of errors, exaggerations, abuses, this worship did comprehend certain great elemental truths interwoven with our human nature, and to be evolved perhaps with our future destinies. Therefore did it work itself into the life and soul of man ; therefore has it been worked out in the manifestations of his genius ; and therefore the multiform imagery in which it haf been clothed, from the rudest imitations of life, to the most exquisite creations of mind, may be Pfr- solved, as a whole, into one subject, and becomei one great monument in the history of progressive thought and faith, as well as in the history of pra gressive art. Of the pictures in our galleries, public or pri- vate, — of the architectural adornments of tho« majestic edifices which sprung up in the middlt ages (where they have not been despoiled or dese- crated by a zeal as fervent as that which reared them), the largest and most beautiful portion have '^ference to the Madonna, — her character, her person, her history. It was a theme which neve« tired her votaries, — whether, as in the hands ol great and sincere artists, it became one of th - noblest and loveUest, or, as in the hands of super- ficial, unbelieving, time-serving artists, one of th« most degraded. AH that human genius. Inspired by faith, could achieve of best, all that fanaticism, sensualism, atheism, could perpetrate of worst, do we find in the cycle of those representations which have been dedicated to the glory of the Virgin. And indeed the ethics of the Madonna worship, aa evolved in art, might be not unaptly likened to the ethics of human love : so long as the object of sense remained in subjection to the moral idea — 10 long as tho appeal was to the best of our facul INTRODUCTION. %i fies and affections — so long was the image grana or refinM, and the influences to be ranked with those which have helped to humanize and civilize our race ; but so soon as the object became a mere idol, then worship and worshippers, art and artista, were together degraded. It is not my intention to enter here on that dis- puted point, the origin of the worship of the Ma- donna. Our present theme lies within prescribed imits, — wide enough, however, to embrace an imr- mense field of thought: it seeks to trace the pro- gressive influence of that worship on the fine art* for a thousand years or more, and to interpret the forms in which it has been clothed. That the ven- eration paid to Mary in the early Church was a very natural feeling in those who advocated the divinity of her Son, would be granted, I suppose, by all but the most bigoted reformers ; that it led to unwise and wild extremes, confounding the creature with the Creator, would be admitted, I suppose, by all but the most bigoted Roman Catho- lics. How it extended from the East over the na- tions of the West, how it grew and spread, may be read in ecclesiastical histories. Everywhere it seems to have found in the human heart some deep sympathy — deeper far than mere theological doctrine could reach — ready to accept it ; and in every land the ground prepared for it in some already dominant idea of a mother- Goddess, chaste, beautiful, and benign. As, in the oldest Hebrew ites and Pagan superstitions, men traced the prom- se of a coming Messiah, — as the deliverers and Kings of the Old Testament, and even the demi- gods of heathendom, became accepted types of th€ person of Christ, — so the Eve of the Mosaic his. tory, the Astarte of the Assyrians — " The mooned Ashtaroth, queen and mother both," — the Isis nursing Horus of the Egyptians, the Demft f2 INTIfcODUCTION. ler and the Aphrodite of the Greeks, the Scytbi^qj Freya, have been considered by some writer* aa types of a divine maternity, foreshadowing the Vir- j^in-mother of Christ. Others will have h that these scattered, dim, mistaken — often gnws and perverted — ideas which were afterwards gathered into the pure, dignified, tender image of the Ma» donna, were but as the voice of a mighty prophecy, Bounded through all the generations of men, even from the beginning of time, of the coming moral regeneration, and complete and harmonious devel- opment of the whole human race, by the establish- ment, on a higher basis, of what has been called the "feminine element" in society. And let me at least speak for myself. In the perpetual itera- tion of that beautiful image of the woman highly blessed — there, where others saw only pictures or statues, I have seen this great hope standing like a spirit beside the visible form : in the fervent wor- ship once universally given to that gracious pres- ence, I have beheld an acknowledgment of a higher as well as gentler power than that of the strong hand and the might that makes the right, — and in every earnest votary one who, as he knelt, was in this sense pious beyond the reach of his own thought, and " devout beyond the meaning of his will." It is curious to observe, as the worship of the Virgin-mother expanded and gathered to itself the relics of many an ancient faith, how the new and the old elements, some of them apparently the most heterogeneous, became amalgamated, and were com- bined into the early forms of art ; — how the Ma- donna, when she assumed the characteristics of the great Diana of Ephesus, at once the type of Fertil- ity, and the Goddess of Chastity, became, as the Impersonation of motherhood, all beauty, bounty and graciousness : and at the same time, by virtue of her perpetual virginity, the patroness of singl« INTRODUCTION. 2S and ascetic life — the example and the excuse for many of the wildest of the early monkish theories. With Christianity, new ideas of the moral and re ligious responsibility of woman entered the world and while these ideas were yet struggling with the Hebrew and classical prejudices concerning the wrhole sex, they seem to have produced some curi- ous perplexity in the minds of the greatest doctori of the faith. Christ, as they assure us, was born of a woman only, and had no earthly father, that nei- ther sex might despair ; '' for had he been born a man (which was necessary), yet not born of woman, the women might have despaired of themselves, recollecting the first offence, the first man having been deceived by a woman. Therefore we are to suppose that, for the exaltation of the male sex, Christ appeared on earth as a man ; and, for the consolation of womankind, he was born of a woman only ; as if it had been said, ' From henceforth no creature shall be base before God, unless perverted by depravity.'" (Augustine, Opera Supt. 238. Serm. 63.) Such is the reasoning of St. Augustine, who, I must observe, had an especial veneration for his mother Monica ; and it is perhaps for her sake that he seems here desirous to prove that through the Virgin Mary all womankind were henceforth elevated in the scale of being. And this was the idea entertained of her subsequently : " Ennobler of thy nature ! " says Dante apostrophizing her, as if her perfections had ennobled not merely her own lez, but the whole human race.* But also with Christianity came the want of a new type of womanly perfection, combining all the attributes of the ancient female divinities with oth- ers altogether new. Christ, as the model-man, united the virtues of the two sexes, till the idea tha Uiere are essentially masculine and feminine vir * ** Ta se' colei che 1' uioana natura Nobilitasti. ' i4. INTKODUCTION. kues intruded itself on the higher Christian concep tion, and seems to have necessitated the female type. The first historical mention of a direct worship paid to the Virgin Mary, occurs in a passage in the works of St. Epiphanius, who died in 403. In enumerating the heresies (eighty-four in number) which had sprung up in the early Church, he men- tions a sect of women, who had emigrated from Thrace into Arabia, with whom it was customary to offer cakes of meal and honey to the Virgin Mary, as if she had been a divinity, transferring to her, in fact, the worship paid to Ceres. The very first instance which occurs in written history of an invo- cation to Mary, is in the life of St. Justina, as re- lated by Gregory Nazianzen. Justina calls on the Virgin-mother to protect her against the seducer and sorcerer, Cyprian ; and does not call in vain. (Sacred and Legendary Art.) These passages, however, do not prove that previously to the fourth century there had been no worship or invocation of the Virgin, but rather the contra- ry. However this may be, it is to the same pe- riod — the fourth century — we refer the most ancient representations of the Virgin in art The earliest figures extant are those on the Christian sarcophagi ; but neither in the early sculpture nor in the mosaics of St. Maria Maggiore do we find any figure of the Virgin standing alone ; she forms part of a group of the Nativity or the Ado- ration of the Magi. There is no attempt at in- dividuality or portraiture. St Augustine saya expressly, that there existed in his time no au- thentic portrait ot the Virgin ; but it is inferred from his account that, authentic or not, such pic tures did then exist, since there were already dig putes concerning their authenticity. There were %t this period received symbols of the person and character of Christ, as the lamb, the vine, the fish fcc., but not, as far as I can learn, any such accepl INTRODUCTION. 2k ed symbols of the Virgin Mary, Further, it is th^ opinion of the learned in ecclesiastical antiquities that, previous to the first Council of Ephesus, it was the custom to represent the figure of the Vir- gin alone without the Child ; but that none of these original effigies remain to us, only supposed copies of a later date. * And this is all I have been able to discover relative to her in connection with the •acred imagery of the first four centuries of our era. The condemnation of Nestorius by the Council of Ephesus, in the year 431, forms a most impor- tant epoch in the history of religious art. I have given further on a sketch of this celebrated schism, and its immediate and progressive results. It may be thus summed up here. The Nestorians main- tained, that in Christ the two natures of God and man remained separate, and that Mary, his human mother, was parent of the man, but not of the God ; consequently the title which, during the previous century, had been popularly applied to her, " The- otokos" (Mother of God), was improper and pro- fane. The party opposed to Nestorius, the Monoph- ysite, maintained that in Christ the divine and hu- man were blended in one incarnate nature, and that consequently Mary was indeed the Mother of God. By the decree of the first Council of Ephesus, Nestorius and his party were condemned as here- tics; and henceforth the representation of that beautiful group, since popularly known as the *' Madonna and Child," became the expression of the orthodox faith. Every one who wished to prove bis hatred of the arch-heretic exhibited the image of the maternal Virgin holding in her arms the In- fant Godhead, either in his house as a picture, or embroidered on his garments, or on his furniture, on his personal ornaments — in short, wherever it could * Vide " MemorU delV Immagine di M. V, deW Ivtpruneta. 71orence, 1714. 86 INTEODUCTIOK. be introduced. It is worth reroarking that CyjiH^ who was so influential in fixing the orthodox group, had passed the greater part of his life in Egypt, and must have been familiar with the Egyptian type of Isis nursing Horus. Nor, as I conceive, is there any irrev-erence in supposing that a time-honoured intelligible symbol should be chosen to embody and formalize a creed. For it must be remembered that the group of the Mother and Child was not at first a representation, but merely a theological sym- bol set up in the orthodox churches, and adopted by the orthodox Christians. It is just after the Council of Ephesus that histo ry first makes mention of a supposed authentic por- trait of the Virgin Mary. The Empress Eudocia, when travelling in the Holy Land, sent home such a picture of the Virgin holding the Child to her sistei^ m-law Pulcheria, who placed it in a church at Con- Btantinople. It was at that time regarded as of very high antiq^uity, and supj)osed to have been painted from the life. It is certain that a picture, tradition- ally said to be the same which Eudocia had sent to Pulcheria, did exist at Constantinople, and was so much venerated by the people as to be regarded as a sort of palladium, and borne in a superb litter or car in the midst of the imperial host, when the em- peror led the army in person. The fate of this relic 18 not certainly known. It is said to have been taken by the Turks in 1453, and dragged through thennire ; but others deny this as utterly derogatory to the majesty of the Queen of Heaven, who never would have suffered such an indignity to have been put on her sacred image. According to the Vene- tian legend, it was this identical effigy which was takan b} the blind old Dandolo, when he besieged and took Constantinople in 1204, and brought in triumph to Venice, where it has ever since beei» preserved in the church of St Mark, and held in wmma venerazione. No mention is made of St INTRODUCTION. 21 Luke in the earliest account of this picture, though like all the antique effigies of uncertain origin, it was in after times attributed to him. The history of the next three hundred years tes- tifies to the triumph of orthodoxy, the extension and popularity of the worship of the Virgin, and the consequent multiplication of her image m every /orm and material, through the whole of Christen- dom. Then followed the schism of the Iconoclasts, which distracted the Church for more than one hundred years, under Leo III., the Isaurian, and his immediate successors. Such were the extrava- gances of superstition to which the image-worship had led the excitable Orientals, that, if Leo had been a wise and temperate reformer, he might have done much good in checking its excesses ; but he was himself an ignorant, merciless barbarian. The persecution by which he sought to exterminate the sacred pictures of the Madonna, and the cruel- ties exercised on her unhappy votaries, produced a general destruction of the most curious and precious remains of antique art. In other re- spects, the immediate result was naturally enough a reaction, which not only reinstated pictures in the veneration of the people, but greatly increased their influence over the imagination; for it is at this time that we first hear of a miraculous picture. Among those who most strongly defended the use of sacred images in the churches, was St. John Damascene, one of the great lights of the Oriental Church. According to the Greek legend, he wag condemned to lose his right hand, which was ac- •jordingly cut off; but he, full of faith, prostrating himself before a picture of the Virgin, stretched out the bleeding stump, and with it touched hei lips, and immediately a new hand sprung forth ** like a branch from a tree." Hence, among the Greek effigies of the Virgin, there is one i;)eculiarl» 28 INTRODUCTION. comnaemorative of this miracle, styled " the Virgin with three hands." (Didron, Manuel, p. 462.) In the west of Europe, where the abuses of the image* worship had never yet reached the wild superstition of the Oriental Christians, the fury of the Icono- clastar excited horror and consternation. The tem- perate and eloquent apology for sacred pictures, addreased by Gregory II. to the Emperor Leo, had the effect of mitigating the persecution in Italy, where the work of destruction could not be carried out to the same extent as in the Byzantine prov- inces. Hence it is in Italy only that any important remains of sacred art anterior to the Iconoclast dynasty have been preserved.* • The second Council of Nice, under the Empress Irene in 787, condemned the Iconoclasts, and re- stored the use of the sacred pictures in the churches. Nevertheless, the controversy still raged till after the death of Theophilus, the last and the most cruel of the Iconoclasts, in 842. His widow Theo- dora achieved the final triumph of the orthodox party, and restored the Virgin to her throne. We must observe, however, that only pictures were al- lowed ; all sculptured imagery was still prohibited, and has never since been allowed in the Greek Church, except in very low relief. The flatter the surface, the more orthodox. It is, I think, about 886, that we first find the effigy of the Virgin on the coins of the Greek em- pire. On a gold coin of Leo VI., the Philosopher, she stands veiled, and draped, with a noble head, no glory, and the arms outspread, just as she ap- pears in the old mosaics. On a coin of Romanua the Younger, she crowns the emperor, having her- • It appears, from one of these letters from Gr^ory 11., thai ft was the custom at that time (725) to employ reli^ous pkturei fts a meanf of instruction in the schools. He says, that if Leo were to enter a school in Italy, and to say that he prohibited pio* tores, the children would infallibly throw their hornbooks ( Tm Mlexxt del alfaheto) at his head. — y. Bosio^ p. 667. INTRODUCTION. 2^ ielf the nimbus ; she is draped and veiled. On a coin of Mcephorus Phocus (who had great preten- sions to piety), the Virgin stands, presenting a cross to the emperor, with the inscription, " Theo- tokos, be propitious." On a gold coin of John Zimisces, 975, we first find the virgin and Child, — the symbol merely : she holds agamst her bosom a circular glory, within which is the head of the In- fant Chnst. In the successive reigns of the next two centuries, she almost constantly appears as crowning the emperor. Returning to the West, we find that in the succeed- ing period, from Charlemagne to the first crusade, the popular devotion to the Virgin, and the multipli- cation of sacred pictures, continued steadily to in- crease ; yet in the tenth and eleventh centuries art was at its lowest ebb. At this time, the subjects relative to the Virgin were principally the Madonna and Child, represented according to the Greek form ; and those scenes from the Gospel in which she is introduced, as the Annunciation, the Nativ- ity, and the Worship of the Magi. Towards the end of the tenth century the cus- tom of adding the angelic salutation, the ^^ Ave Maria" to the Lord's prayer, was first introduced , and by the end of the following century, it had been adopted in the offices of the Church. This was, at first, intended as a perpetual reminder of the mystery of the Incarnation, as announced by the angel. It must have had the effect of keeping the idea of Mary as united with that of her Son, and as the instrument of the Incarnation, con- tinually in the minds of the people. The pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and the cru- sades in the eleventh and the twelfth centuries, had a most striking effect on religious art, though this effect was not fully evolved till a century later More particularly did this returning wave of Ort ental mfluences modify the representations of *h» 3 50 INTRODUCTIOX Virgin. Fragments of the apocryphal gospels and (egendg of l^estine and Egypt were now intro* duced, worked up into ballads, stories, and dramas, and gradually incorporated with the teaching of the Church. A great variety of subjects derived from the Greek artists, and from particular locali- ties and traditions of the East, became naturalized in Western Europe. Among these were the le- gends of Joachim and Anna ; and the death, the assumption, and the coronation of the Virgin. Then came the thirteenth century, an era nota- ble in the history of mind, more especially notable in the history of art. The seed scattered hither and thither, during the stormy and warlike period of the crusades, now sprung up and flourished, bearing diverse fruit. A more contemplative en- thusiasm, a superstition tinged with a morbid mel- ancholy, fermented into life and form. In that general " fit of compunction" which we are told seized all Italy at this time, the passionate devotion for the benign Madonna mingled the poetry of pity with that of pain ; and assuredly this state of feel- ing, with its mental and moral requirements, must have assisted in emancipating art from the rigid formalism of the degenerate Greek school. Men's hearts, throbbing with a more feeling, more pensive life, demanded something more like life, — and produced it. It is curious to trace in the Madon- nas of contemporary, but far distant and uncon- nected schools of painting, the simultaneous dawn- ing of a sympathetic sentiment — for the first time Bomething in the faces of the divine beings respon- sive to the feeling of the worshippers. It was this, perhaps, which caused the enthusiasm excited by Cimabue*s great Madonna, and made the people ihout and dance for joy when it was uncovered before them. Compared with the spectral rigidity, fche hard monotony, of the conventional Byzan^ Anes, the more animated eyes, the little touch c/ INTRODUCTION. 81 iweetness in the still, mild face, must have been like a smile out of heaven. As we trace the same Bofler influence in the earliest Siena and Cologne pictures of about the same period, we may fairly regard it as an impress of the spirit of the time, rather than that of an individual mind. In the succeeding century these elements of poetic art, expanded and animated by an awakened observation of nature, and a sympathy with her external manifestations, were most especially di- rected by the increasing influence of the worship of the Virgin, a worship at once rehgious and chiv- alrous. The title of " Our Lady " * came first into general use in the days of chivalry, for she was the lady " of all hearts," whose colours all were proud to wear. Never had her votaries so abounded. Hundreds upon hundreds had en- rolled themselves in brotherhoods, vowed to her especial service ; f or devoted to acts of charity, to be performed in her name.J Already the great religious communities, which at this time compre- hended all the enthusiasm, learning, and influence of the Church, had placed themselves solemnly and especially under her protection. The Cister- cians wore white in honour of her purity; the Servi wore black in respect to her sorrows ; the Franciscans had enrolled themselves as champions pf the Immaculate Conception ; and the Domini- cans introduced the rosary. All these richly en- dowed communities vied with each other in multi- plying churches, chapels, and pictures, in honour of their patroness, and expressive of her several attributes. The devout painter, kneeUng before his easel, addressed himself to the task of portray- • Pr. Notre Dame. ItcU. La Madonna. Ger. Unser liebt Pratt. t As the Serviti, who -were caUed in France, les esdaves di Marie. t As the order of " Our La&y of Mercy," for the deliverance of Mpttres. — Vx(l4 liCgends of the Monastic Orders. 12 INTRODUCTION. ing those heavenly lineaments which Lad visited him perhaps in dreams. Many of the professed monks arid friars became themselves accomplished artists.* At this time, Jaoopo di Yoragine compiled the ** Grolden Legend," a collection of sacred stories, some already current, some new, or in a new form. This famous book added many themes to those already admitted, and became the authority and storehouse for the early painters in their groups and dramatic compositions. The increasing enthu- siasm for the Virgin naturally caused an increasing demand for the subjects taken from her personal history, and led, consequently, to a more exact study of those natural objects and effects which were required as accessories, to greater skill in grouping the figures, and to a higher development of historic art. But of all the influences on Italian art in that wonderful fourteenth century, Dante was the great- est. He was the intimate friend of Giotto. Through the communion of mind, not less than through his writings, he infused into religious art that mingled theology, poetry, and mysticism, which ruled in the Giottesque school during the following century, and went hand in hand with the development of the power and practice of imitation. Now, the the- ology of Dante was the theology of his age. His ideas respecting the Virgin Mary were precisely those to which the writings of St. Bernard, St. Bonaventura, and St. Thomas Aquinas had already tent all the persuasive power of eloquence, and the Church all the weight of her authority. Dante rendered these doctrines into poetry, and Giotto * A very curious and startling example of the theological char- acter of the Virgin in the thirteenth century is figured in Misf Twining's work, " Tke Symbols of early Christian Art;^^ cer tainly the most complete and useful book of the kind which * Imow of. Here the Madonna and Child are seated side by sidf with the Trinity ; the Holy Spirit resting on her crowned head. INTRODUCTION. 88 IDd Ills followers rendered them Into form. In the Paradiso of Dante, the glorification of Marj' , as the "Mystic Rose " (Rosa Mystica) and Queen of Heaven, — with the attendant angels, circle within circle, floating round her in adoration, and singing the Regina Coeli, and saints and patriarchs stretch- ing forth their hands towards her, — is all a splen- did, but still indefinite vision of dazzling light crossed by shadowy forms. The painters of the fourteenth century, in translating these glories into a definite shape, had to deal with imperfect knowl- edge and imperfect means ; they failed in the power to realize either their own or the poet's conception ; and yet — thanks to the divine poet ! — that early conception of some of the most beautiful of the Madonna subjects — for instance, the Coronation and the Sposalizio — has never, as a religious and poetical conception, been surpassed by later artists, in spite of all the appliances of colour, and mastery of light and shade, and marvellous efficiency of hand since attained. Every reader of Dante will remember the subi ime hymn towards the close of the Paradiso : — " Vergine Madre, figlia del tuo figlio I IJmile ed alta piu che creatura, Termine fisso d' etemo consiglio ; Tu se' colei che P umana natura Nobilitasti si, che '1 suo fattore Non disdegno di farsi sua fattura ; Nel ventre tuo si raccese P amore Per lo cui caldo nelP etema pace Cos\ h germinato questo fiore ; Qui se' a noi meridiana face Di caritade, e giuso intra mortal! Se' di speranza fontana vivace : Donna, se' tanto grande e tanto vali, Che qual vuol grazia e a te non ricorre Sua disianza vuol volar senz' ali ; La tua benignity non pur soccorre A chi dimanda. ma molte fiate Liberamente al dimandar precorre; H INTRODUCTION. In te misericordiaj in te pietate, In te magnificenza, in te s' aduna Quantnnque in creatura h di bontate ! " To render the splendour, the terseness, the har* mony, of this magnificent hymn seems impossible. Gary's translation has, however, the merit of fidel* ity to the sense : — " Oh, Virgin-Mother, daughter of thy Son! Created beings all in lowliness Surpassing, as in height above them all; Term by the eternal counsel preordain' d; Ennobler of thy nature, so ad vane' d In thee, that its great Maker did not scorn To make himself his own creation ; For in thy womb, rekindling, shone the love Reveal' d, whose genial influence makes now This flower to germin in eternal peace : Here thou, to us, of charity and love Art as the noon-day torch ; and art beneath. To mortal men, of hope a living spring. So mighty art thou, Lady, and so great. That he who grace desireth, and comes not To thee for aidance, fain would have desire Fly without wings. Not only him who asks, Tny bounty succours ; but doth freely oft Forerun the asking. Whatsoe'er may be Of excellence in creature, pity mild. Relenting mercy, large munificence, Are all combin'd in thee ! '* It ii interesting to turn to the corresponding itanzas in Chaucer. The invocation to the Virgin with which he commences the story of St. Cecilia 18 rendered almost word for word from Dante : — " Thou Maid and Mother, daughter of thy Son ! " Thou wel of mercy, sinful soules cure ! " The last stanza of the invocation is his own, and as characteristic of the practical Chaucer, as it wouW have been contrary to the genius of Dante : — " And for that faith is dead withouten workis, So for ta worken give me wit and grace ! INTltODDCTION. 85 That I be quit from thence that most dark is ; O thou that art so fair and fiill of grace, Be thou mine advocate in that high place, There, as withouten end is sung Hozanne, Thou Christes mother, daughter dear of Anne I " Btill more beautiful and more his own is the invo- cation in the *' Prioress's Tale." I give the stanzai AS modernized by Wordsworth : — ** Mother Maid ! Maid and Mother free ! O bush unburnt, burning in Moses' sight ! That down didst ravish from the Deity, Through humbleness, the Spirit that did alight Upon thy heart, whence, through that glory's mi^il, Conceived was the Father's sapience. Help me to tell it in thy reverence ! " Lady, thy goodness, thy magnificence, Thy virtue, and thy great humility, Surpass all science and all utterance ; For sometimes, Lady ! ere men pray to thee, Thou go'st before in thy benignity, The light to us vouchsafing of thy prayer, To be our guide unto thy Son so dear. " My knowledge is so weak, O blissful Queen, To tell abroad thy mighty worthiness. That I the weight of it may not sustain; But as a child of twelve months old, or l«^s, That laboureth his language to express, Even so fare I ; and therefore, I thee pray. Guide thou my song, which I of thee shall say." And again, we may turn to Petrarch's hymn to tha Virgin, wherein he prays to be delivered froni tis love and everlasting regrets for Laura ' — * Vergine bella, che di sol vestita, Coronata di stelle, al sommo Sole Piacesti si, che 'n te sua luce ascose. ** Vergine pura, d' ogni parte intera, Del tuo parto gentil figliuola e madrc • " Vergine sola al mondo seiza esempio^ Ch« '1 ciel di tue bell.3zze innamorasti ** 86 INTRODUCTION. The fancy of the theologians of the middle agee played rather dangerously, as it appears to me, foJ the uninitiated and uninstructed, with the perplex- ity of these divine relationships. It is impossible not to feel that in their admiration for the divine beauty of Mary, in borrowing the amatory lan- guage and luxuriant allegories of the GanticleS; which represent her as an object of delight to the Supreme Being, theologians, poets, and artists had wrought themselves up to a wild pitch of enthu- siasm. In such passages as those I have quoted above, and in the grand old Church hymns, we find the best commentary and interpretation of the sa- cred pictures of the fourteenth and fifteenth cen- turies. Yet during the thirteenth century there was a purity in the spirit of the worship which at once inspired and regulated the forms m which it was manifested. The Annunciations and Nativities were still distinguished by a chaste and sacred sim- plicity. The features of the Madonna herself, even where they were not what we call beautiful, had yet a touch of that divine and contemplative grace which the theologians and the poets had associated with the queenly, maternal, and bridal character of Mary. Thus the impulses given in the early part of the fourteenth century continued in progressive devel- opment through the fifteenth ; the spiritual for some time in advance of the material influences ; the moral idea emanating as it were from the soul, and the influences of external nature flowing into it ; the comprehensive power of fancy using more and more the apprehensive power of imitation, and both working together till their " blended might * achieved its full fruition in the works of Raphael. Early in the fifteenth century, the Council of Constance (a. d. 1414), and the condemnation of Hu88, gave a new impulse to the worship of thi INTRODUCTION. 87 Virgin. The Hussite wars, and the sacrilegious indignity with which her sacred images had been treated in the north, filled her orthodox votaries of the south of Europe with a consternation and hor- ror like that excited by the Iconoclasts of the eighth century, and were followed by a similar reaction The Church was called upon to assert more strongly than ever its orthodox veneration for her, and, aa a natural consequence, votive pictures multiplied the works of the excelling artists of the fifteenth century testify to the zeal of the votaries, and the kindred spirit in which the painters worked. Gerson, a celebrated French priest, and chancel- lor of the university of Paris, distinguished himself in the Council of Constance by the eloquence with which he pleaded for the Immaculate Conception, and the enthusiasm with which he preached in favour of instituting a festival in honour of thia mystery, as well as another in honour of Joseph, the husband of the Virgin. In both he was unsuc- cessful during his lifetime ; but for both eventually his writings prepared the way. He also composed a Latin poem of three thousand lines in praise of Joseph, which was among the first works published after the invention of printing. Together with St Joseph, the parents of the Virgin, St. Anna more particularly, became objects of popular veneration, and all were at length exalted to the rank of patron saints, by having festivals instituted in their honour. It is towards the end of the fifteenth century, or rather a little later, that we first meet with that charming domestic group, called the " Holy Fam- ily," afterwards so popular, so widely diffused, and treated with such an infinite variety. Towards the end of this century sprung up a new mfluence, — the revival of classical learning, a pas- sionate enthusiasm for the poetry and mythology of the Greeks, and a taste for the remains of antique 88 INTRODUCTION. art. This influence on the representations of the Virgin, as far as it was merely external, was good. An added dignity and grace, a more free and cor- rect drawing, a truer feeling for harmony of pro- portion and all that constitutes elegance, were grad- ually infused mto the forms and attitudes. But dangerous became the craving for mere beauty, — dangerous the study of the classical and heathen literature. This was the commencement of that thoroughly pagan taste which in the following cen- tury demoralized Christian art. There was now an attempt at varymg the arrangement of the sacred groups which led to irreverence, or at best to a sort of superficial mannered grandeur; and from thii period we date the first introduction of the portrait virgins. An early, and most scandalous example remains to us in one of the frescoes in the Vatican, which represents Giulia Farnese in the character of the Madonna, and Pope Alexander VI. (the infa- mous Borgia) kneeling at her feet in the character of a votary. Under the influence of the Medici the churches of Florence were filled with pictures of the Virgin, in which the only thing aimed at was an allur- ing and even meretricious beauty. Savonarola thun- dered from his pulpit in the garden of San Marco against these impieties. He exclaimed against the profaneness of those who represented the meek mother of Christ in gorgeous apparel, with head un- veiled, and under the features of women too well and publicly known. He emphatically declared that if the painters knew as well as he did the influence of such pictures in perverting simple minds, they would hold their own works in horror and detesta- tion. Savonarola yielded to none in orthodox rev- erence for the Madonna ; but he desired that she should be represented in an orthodox manner. He perished at the stake, but not till after he had made % bonfire in the Piazza at Florence of the offensive •flSgies ; he perished — persecuted to death by tht INTRODUCTION. SS Borgia family. But his influence on the greatest Florentine artists of his time is apparent in the Vir- gins of Botticelli, Lorenzo di Credi, and Fra Bar- tolomeo, all of whom had been his friends, admirers, and disciples: and all, differing from each other, were alike in this, that, whether it be the dignified severity of Botticelli, or the chaste simplicity of Lorenzo di Credi, or the noble tenderness of Fra Bartolomeo, we feel that each of them had aimed to portray worthily the sacred character of the Mother of the Redeemer. And to these, as I think, we might add Raphael himself, who visited Florence but a short time after the horrible execution of Sa- vonarola, and must have learned through his friend Bartolomeo to mourn the fate and revere the mem- ory of that remarkable man, whom he placed after- wards in the grand fresco of the " Theolo^ia,** among the doctors and teachers of the Church. (Rome, Vatican.) Of the numerous Virgins paint- ed by Raphael in after times, not one is supposed to have been a portrait : he says himself, in a letter to Count Castiglione, that he painted from an idea in his own mind, " mi servo d' una certa idea che mi viene in mente ; " while iu the contemporary works of Andrea del Sarto, Ave have the features of his handsome but vulgar wife in every Madonna he painted.* In the beginning of the sixteenth century, the constellation of living genius in every department of art, the riches of the Church, the luxurious hab- its and classical studies of the churchmen, the de- cline of religious conviction, and the ascendency of religious controversy, had combined to multiply church pictures, particularly those of a large and ^Thfc tendency to portraiture, in early Florentine and German »rt, is observable from an early period. The historical sacred subjects of Masaccio, Qhirlandajo, and Van Eyck, are crowded with portraits of living personages. Their introduction into de Totional subjects, in the character of sacred persons, is far leflf excusable . 10 INTR01>U0TI0N. decorative character. But, instead of the reign of faith, we had now the reign of taste. There was an absolute passion for picturesque grouping ; and, as the assembled figures were to be as varied as possi- ble in action and attitude, the artistic treatment, in order to prevent the lines of form and the colouri of the draperies from interfering with each other, required great skill and profound study : some of these scenic groups have become, in the hands of great painters, such as Titian, Paul Veronese, ana Annibale Caracci, so magnificent, that we are in- clined to forgive their splendid errors. The influ- ence of Sanazzaro, and of his famous Latin poem on the Nativity Q'-De Partu Virginis "), on the artisti of the middle of the sixteenth century, and on the choice and treatment of the subjects pertaining tc^ the Madonna, can hardly be calculated ; it was liki/ that of Dante in the fourteenth century, but in i\j nature and result how difierent ! The grand mate^ rialism of Michael Angelo is supposed to have beea allied to the genius of Dante ; but would Dante have acknowledged the group of the Holy Family in the Florentine Gallery, to my feeling, one of the most profane and offensive of the so-called religious pictures, in conception and execution, which ever proceeded from the mind or hand of a great paint- er ? No doubt some of the sculptural Virgins of Michael Angelo are magnificent and stately in atti- tude and expression, but too austere and mannered as religious conceptions : nor can we wonder if the predilection for the treatment of mere form led hia followers and imitators into every species of exag- geration and affectation. In the middle of the sixteenth century, the same artist who painted a Leda, or a Psyche, or a Venus one day, painted for the same patron a Virgin of Mercy, or a *' Mater Purissima " on the morrow. Here, the votary tolA his beads, and recited his JL res, tdfore the blessed Mother of the Redeemei- , CU/<:, i^ was invoked INTRODUCTION. 41 in the pui'est Latin by titles which the classical mythology had far otherwise consecrated. I know nothing more disgusting in art than the long-limbed, studied, inflated Madonnas, looking grand with all their might, of this period ; luckily they have fallen jinto such disrepute that we seldom see them. The " Madonna dell* lungo Collo " of Parmigiano might be cited as a favourable example of this mistaken and wholly artificial grace. (Florence, Pitti Pal.) But in the midst of these paganized and degener- ate influences, the reform in the discipline of the Ro- man Catholic Church was preparing a revolution in religious art. The Council of Trent had severely de- nounced the impropriety of certain pictures admitted into churches : at the same time, in the conflict of creed which now divided Christendom, the agencies of art could not safely be neglected by that Church which had used them with such signal success. Spir- itual art was indeed no more. It was dead : it could never be revived without a return to those modes of thought and belief which had at first inspired it. Instead of religious art, appeared what I must call theological art. Among the events of this age, which had great influence on the worship and the representations of the Madonna, I must place the battle of Lepanto, in 1571, in which the combined fleets of Christendom, led by Don Juan of Austria, achieved a memorable victory over the Turks. Thia victory was attributed by Pope Pius V. to the espe- cial interposition of the Blessed Virgin. A new invocation was now added to her Litany, under the title of Auxilium Christianorum ; a new festival, that of the Rosary, was now added to those already held in her honour ; and all the artistic genius which existed in Italy, and all the piety of ortho- dox Christendom, were now laid under contribution to incase in marble sculpture, to enrich with count- less offerings, that miraculous liOusQ, which the an- gels had borne over land ana i&a^ and set down 12 INTRODUCTION. at Loretto; and that miraculous, bejewelled, ana brocaded Madonna, enshrined within it» In the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Caracci school gave a new impetus to religious, or rather, as it has been styled in contradistinction, pacerdotal or theological art. If these great paint- ers had been remarkable merely for the application of new artistic methods, for the success with which they combined the aims of various schools — " Di Michel Angiol la terribil via E '1 vero natural di Tiziano," the study of the antique with the observation of real life, — their works undoubtedly would never have taken such a hold on the minds of their con- temporaries, nor kept it so long. Everything to live must have an infusion of truth within it, and this " patchwork ideal," as it has been well styled, was held together by such a principle. The foun- ders of the Caracci school, and their immediate fol- lowers, felt the influences of the time, and worked fchem out. They were devout believers in their Church, and most sincere worshippers of the Madon- na. Guido, in particular, was so distinguished by his passionate enthusiasm for her, that he was sup- posed to have been favoured by a particular vision, which enabled him more worthily to represent her divine beauty. It is curious that, hand in hand with this develop- ment of taste and feeUng in the appreciation of nat- ural sentiment and beauty, and this tendency to realism, we find the associations of a peculiar and specific sanctity remaining with the old Byzantine type. This arose from the fact, always to be borne in mind, that the most ancient artistic figure of the Madonna was a purely theological symbol : ap parently the moral type was too nearly allied to the human ani the real to satisfy faith. V is the INTRODUCTION. 4S Igly, (lark-coloured, ancient Greek Madonnas, sucla as tills, which had all along the credit of being mi- raculous ; and " to this day," says Kugler, " th« Neapolitan lemonade-seller will allow no other than a formal Greek Madonna, with olive-green com- plexion and veiled head, to be set up in his booth.* It is the same in Russia. Such pictures, in which there is no attempt at representation, real or ideal, and which merely have a sort of imaginary sanctity and power, are not so much idols as they are mere Fetishes. The most lovely Madonna by Raphael or Titian would not have the same effect. Guide, who himself painted lovely Virgins, went every Sat- urday to pray before the little black Madonna della Guardia, and, as we are assured, held this old East- ern relic in devout veneration. In the pictures of the Madonna, produced by the most eminent painters of the seventeenth century, is embodied the theology of the time. The Virgin Mary is not, like the Madonna di San Sisto, " a single projection of the artist's mind," but, as far as he could put his studies together, she is " a com- pound of every creature's best," sometimes majes- tic, sometimes graceful, often full of sentiment, ele- gance, and refinement, but wanting wholly in the spiritual element. If the Madonna did really sit to Guido in person, (see Malvasia, " Felsina Pittrice,") we fancy she must have revealed her loveliness, but veiled her divinity. Without doubt the finest Madonnas of the seven- ^enth century are those produced by the Spanish ichool ; not because they more realize our spiritual 3onception of the Virgin — quite the contrary : for here the expression of life through sensation and emotion prevails over abstract mind, grandeur, and grace ; — but because the intensely human and lympathetic character given to the Madonna ap- pals most strongly to our human nature. Tha ippeal is to the faith through the feelings, rathei 14 INTRODUCTION. than through the imagination. Morales and Ribera excelled in the Mater Dolorosa ; and who has sur- passed Murillo in the tender exultation of mater- nity ? * There is a freshness and a depth of feeling in the best Madonnas of the late Spanish school which puts to shame the mannerism of the Italians, and the naturalism of the Flemish painters of the same period ; and this because the Spaniards were intense and enthusiastic believers, not mere think- ers, in art as in religion. As in the sixth century, the favourite dogi^na of the time (the union of the divine and human nak- ture in Christ, and the dignity of Mary as parent of both) had been embodied in the group of the Virgin and Child, so now, in the seventeenth, the doctrine of the eternal sanctification and predes- tination of Mary was, after a long controversy, triumphant, and took form in the " Immaculate Conception ; " that beautiful subject in which Guido and Murillo excelled, and which became the darling theme of the later schools of art. It is worthy of remark, that while in the sixth century, and for a thousand years afterwards, the Virgin, in all devo- tional subjects, was associated in some visible man- ner with her divine Son, in this she appears without the Infant in her arms. The maternal character is set aside, and she stands alone, absolute in herself, and complete in her own perfections. This is a very significant characteristic of the prevalent the- ology of the time. I forbear to say much of the productions of a school of art which sprung up simultaneously with that of the Caracci, and in the end overpowered ita higher aspirations. The Naturalistic as they were sailed, imitated nature without selection, and pro- duced some charming painters. But their religious pictures are almost all intolerable, and their Ma» * See in the Handbook to the Private Galleries of Art som« •marks on the tendencies of the Spanish School, p 172 INTRODUCTION. 4i ionnas are almost all portraits. Rubena and Al- bano painted their wives; Allori and Yandyck their mistresses ; Domenichino his daughter. Sal- vator Rosa, in his Satires, exclaims against this general profaneness in terms not less strong thaiv those of Savonarola in his Sermons ; but the cor- ruption was by this time beyond the reach of cure ; the sin could neither be preached nor chided away. Striking effects of light and shade, pecuhar atti- tudes, scenic groups, the perpetual and dramatic introduction of legendary scenes and personages, of visions and miracles of the Madonna vouchsafed to her votaries, characterize the productions of the seventeenth century. As "they who are whole need not a physician, but they who are sick," so in proportion to the decline of faith were the excite- ments to faith, or rather to credulity: just in pro- portion as men were less inclined to believe were the wonders multipHed which they were called on to believe. I have not spoken of the influence of Jesuitism on art. This Order kept alive that devotion for the Madonna which their great founder Loyola had so ardently professed when he chose for the " Lady " of his thoughts, " no princess, no duchess, but one far greater, more peerless." The learning of the Jesuits supplied some themes not hitherto in use, principally of a fanciful and allegorical kind, ind never had the meek Mary been so decked out with earthly ornament as in their church pictures. If the sanctification of simplicity, gentleness, ma- ternal love, and heroic fortitude, were calculated to elevate the popular mind, the sanctification of mere glitter and ornament, embroidered robes, and jewelled crowns, must have tended to degrade it. It is surely an unworthy and a foolish excuse that, m thus desecrating with the vainest and most vul- gar finery the beautiful idaal of the Virgin, an ap- peal was made to the awe and admira Mi of vulgar 4 19 INTHODUCTIOX. and ignorant minds; for this is precisely what, in all rehgious iniagery, should be avoided. As, how* ever, this sacrilegious millinery does not come within Ihe province of the fine arts, I may pass it over here. Among the Jesuit prints of the seventeenth cen- tury, I remember one which represents the Virgin and Child in the centre, and around are the most famous heretics of all ages, lying prostrate, or hang- ing by the neck. Julian the Apostate; Leo the Isaurian ; his son, Constantine Capronymus ; Arius ; Nestori'is ; Manicheus ; Luther ; Calvin : — very characteristic of the age of controversy which had succeeded to the age of faith, when, instead of sol- emn saints and grateful votaries, we have dead or dying heretics surrounding the Mother of Mercy I After this rapid sketch of the influences which modified in a general way the pictures of the Ma- donna, we may array before us, and learn to com- pare, the types which distinguished in a more par- ticular manner the separate schools, caught from some more local or individual impulses. Thus 'ure have the stern, awful quietude of the old Mosaics ; the hard lifelessness of the degenerate Greek ; the pensive sentiment of the Siena, and stately ole- gance of the Florentine Madonnas ; the intellectual Milanese, with their large foreheads and thoughtful eyes ; the tender, refined mysticism of the TJm- brian ; the sumptuous loveliness of the Venetian ; ihe quaint, characteristic simplicity of the early German, so stamped with their nationality, that I never looked round me in a room full of German girls without thinking of Albert Durer's Vir/pns ; the intense life-like feeling of the Spanish ; the prosaic, portrait-like nature of the Flemish schools and so on. But here an obvious question suggesti INTRODUCTION. 47 itself. In Ibe midst of all this diversity, these ever- changing influences, was there no characteristic type universally accepted, suggested by common religious associations, if not defined by ecclesiasti- cal authority, to which the artist was bound to con- form? How is it that the impersonation of the Virgin fluctuated, not only with the fluctuating tendencies of successive ages, but even with the caprices of the individual artist ? This leads us back to reconsider the sources fi'om which the artist drew his inspiration. The legend which represents St. Luke the Evan* gelist as a painter appears to be of Eastern origin, and quite unknown in Western Europe before the first crusade. It crept in then, and was accepted with many other oriental superstitions and tradi- tions. It may have originated in the real existence of a Greek painter named Luca — a saint, too, he may have been ; for the Greeks have a whole cal- endar of canonized artists, — painters, poets, and musicians; and this Greek San Luca may have been a painter of those Madonnas imported from the ateliers of Mount Athos into the West by mer- chants and pilgrims ; and the West, which knew but of one St. Luke, may have easily confounded the painter and the evangelist. But we must also remember, that St. Luke the Evangelist was early regarded as the great author- ity with respect to the few Scripture particulars relating to the character and life of Mary ; so that, in the figurative sense, he may be said to have oainted that portrait of her which has been since received as the perfect type of womanhood; — 1. Her noble, trustful humility, when she receives the Balutation of the angel (Luke i. 38) ; the complete and feminine surrender of her whole being to the higher, holier will — " Be it unto me according to thy word." 2. Then, the decision and prudence af character, shown in her viait to Elizal)eth, her 48 INTRODUCTION. older relative ; her journey in haste over the hills to consult with her cousin, which journey it if otherwise difficult to accord with the oriental cus- toms of the time, unless Mary, young as she was, had possessed unusual promptitude and energy of disposition. (Luke i. 39, 40.) 3. The proof of her intellectual power in the beautiful hymn she has left us, "ik/z/ soul doth magnify the Lord." (Luke i. 46.) The commentators are not agreed as to whether this eflfusion was poured forth by immediate inspiration, or composed and written down, because the same words, " and Mary said,' may be interpreted in either sense ; but we can nj more doubt her being the authoress, than we can doubt of any other particulars recorded in the same Gospel: it proves that she must have been, for her time and country, most rarely gifted in mind, and deeply read in the Scriptures. 4. She was of a contemplative, reflecting, rather silent disposition. " She kept all these sayings, and pon- dered them in her heart." (Luke ii. 51.) She made no boast of that wondrous and most blessed destiny to which she was called ; she thought upon it in silence. It is inferred that as many of these sayings and events could be known to herself alone, St. Luke the Evangelist could have learned them only from her own lips. 5. Next her truly mater- nal devotion to her divine Son, whom she attended humbly through his whole ministry ; * 6. and lastly, the sublime fortitude and faith with which she fol- lowed her Son to the death scene, stood beside the cross till all was finished, and then went home, and * Milton places in the mouth of our Saviour an allusion to thi bflnence of his Mother in early life : — " These growing thoughts my mother soon perceiying By words at times cast forth, inly rejoiced, And said to me apart, * High are thy thoughts, O Son ; but nourish them, and let them soar To what height sacred virtue and true worth Can raise them, though above example high.' " INTRODUCTION. 45 Uved (I a woman could endure, as welJ %a all that a woman could be and act out in her earthly life. (John xix. 25.) Such was the char- acter of Mary ; such the portrait really painted by St. Luke ; and, as it seems to me, these scattered, artless, unintentional notices of conduct and char- acter converge into the most perfect moral type of the intellectual, tender, simple, and heroic woman that ever was placed before us for our edification and example. But in the Church traditions and enactments, another character was, from the fifth century, as- signed to her, out of which grew the theological type, very beautiful and exalted, but absorbing to a great degree the scriptural and moral type, and substituting for the merely human attributes others borrowed from her relation to the great scheme of redemption; for it was contended that, as the mother of the Divine, she could not be herself less than divine; consequently above the angels, and first of all created beings. According to the doc- trine of the Immaculate Conception, her tender woman's wisdom became supernatural gifts ; the beautiful humility was changed into a knowledge of her own predestined glory; and, being raised bodily into immortality, and placed beside her Son, in all " the sacred splendour of beneficence," she came to be regarded as our intercessor before that divine Son, who could refuse nothing to his mother. The relative position of the Mother and Son being spiritual and indestructible was continued in heav- en ; and thus step by step the woman was trans- muted into the divinity. But, like her Son, Mary had walked in human form upon earth, and in form must have resembled her Son ; for, as it is argued, Christ had no earthly fether, therefore could only have derived his human lineaments from his mother. Ail the old legends 50 INTRODUCTION. assume Lhat tlie resemblance between the Son and the Mother must have been perfect. Dante alludet to this belief: " Riguarda ormai nella faccia ch' a Christo Piti s' assomiglia." " Now raise thy view Unto the visage most resembUng Christ." The accepted type of the head of Christ was to be taken as a model in its mild, intellectual majesty, for that of the Virgin-mother, as far as difference of sex would allow. In the ecclesiastical history of Nicephorus Callix* tus, he has inserted a description of the person of Mary, which he declares to have been given by Epiphanius, who lived in the fourth century, and by him derived from a more ancient source. It must be confessed, that the type of person here assigned to the Virgin is more energetic for a woman than that which has been assigned to our Saviour as a man. " She was of middle stature ; her face oval ; her eyes brilliant, and of an olive tint ; her eyebrows arched and black ; her hair was of a pale brown ; her complexion fair as wheat She spoke little, but she spoke freely and affably ; she was not troubled in her speech, but grave, courteous, tranquil. Her dress was without orna- ment, and in her deportment was nothing lax or feeble." To this ancient description of her person and manners, we are to add the scriptural and popular portrait of her mind ; the gentleness, the purity, the intellect, power, and fortitude ; the gifts of the poetess and prophetess ; the humility in which she exceeded all womankind. Lastly, we are to engraft on these personal and moral quali- ties, the theological attributes which the Church, from early times, had assigned to her, the super- natural endowments which lifted her above angeli ind men: — all these were to be comhined int# INTRODUCTION. 51 one glorious type of perfection. Where ?hall w« §eek this highest, holiest impersonation ! Where has it been attained, or even approached ? Not, . certainly, in the mere woman, nor yet in the mere idol; not in those lovely creations which awaken a sympathetic throb of tenderness; nor in those stern, motionless types, which embody a dogma; not in the classic features of marble goddesses, borrowed as models; nor in the painted imagei which stare upon us from tawdry altars in flaxen wigs and embroidered petticoats. But where ? Of course we each form to ourselves some notion of what we require ; and these requirements will be as diverse as our natures and our habits of thought. For myself, I have seen my own ideal once, and only once, attained: there, where Ra- phael — inspired if ever painter was inspired — projected on the space before him that wonderful creation which we style the Madonna di San Sisto (Dresden Gal.) ; for there she stands — the trans- figured woman, at once completely human and completely divine, an abstraction of power, purity, and love, poised on the empurpled air, and requir- ing no other support ; looking out, with her melan- choly, loving mouth, her slightly dilated, sibyUine eyes, quite through the universe, to the end and consummation of all things ; — sad, as if she beheld afar off the visionary sword that was to reach her heart through Him, now resting as enthroned on that heart ; yet already exalted through the homage of the redeemed generations who were to salute her as Blessed. Six times have I visited the city made glorious by the possession of this treasure, and as often, when again at a distance, with recol- lections disturbed by feeble copies and prints, I have begun to think, " Is it so indeed ? is she in- deed so divine ? or does not rather the imagination tncircle her with a halo of religion and poetry, *nd lend a grace which is not really there ? '* and 53 INTRODUCTION. as often, when returned, I have stood before it and confessed that there is more in that form and face than I had ever yet conceived. I cannot here talk the language of critics, and speak of this pic- ture merely as a picture, for to me it was a revela- tion. In the same gallery is the lovely Madonna of the Meyer family; inexpressibly touching and perfect in its way, but conveying only one of the attributes of Mary, her benign pity ; while the Ma- donna di San Sisto is an abstract of all.* The poets are ever the best commentators on the painters. I have already given from the great " singers of high poems " in the fourteenth century their exposition of the theological type of the Ma- donna. Now, in some striking passages of our modern poets, we may find a most beautiful com- mentary on what I have termed the moral type. The first is from Wordsworth, and may be recited before the Madonna di San Sisto : — " Mother ! whose virgin bosom was iincrost With the least shade of thought to sin allied I "Woman! above all women glorified ; Out tainted nature's solitary boast; Purer than foam on central ocean tost; Brighter than eastern skies at davbreak strewn With fancied roses, than the unblemish'd moon Before her wane begins on heaven's blue coast, Thy Image falls to earth. Yet some I ween, Not unforgiven, the suppliant knee might bend, As to a visible Power, in which did blend All that was mix'd and reconcil'd in thee, Of mother's love with maiden purity. Of high with low, celestial virith terrene." The next, from Shelley, reads like a hymn \\ Ikdnour of the Immaculate Conception : — * Expression is the great and characteristic excellence of Raphael iiore especially in his Madonnas. It is precisely this which al eopies and engravings render at best most imperfectly : and i» point of expression the most successful engraving of the Mk iDnna di San Sisto is certainly that of Steinla. INTRODUCTION. If* Seraph of Heaven ! too gentle to be human, Veiling beneath that radiant form of woman All that is insupportable in thee Of light, and love, and immortality ! Sweet Benediction in the eternal curse ! Veil'd Glory of this lampless Universe! Thou Moon beyond the clouds ! Thou living Form Among the Dead ! Thou Star above the storm ! Thou Wonder, and thou Beauty, and thou Terroi I Thou Harmony of Nature's art ! Thou Mirror In whom, as in the splendour of the Sun, All shapes look glorious which thou gazest on I " ** See where she. stands ! a mortal shape endued With love, and life, and light, and deity ; The motion which may change but cannot die, An image of some bright eternity ; A shadow of some golden dream ; a splendour Leaving the third sphere pilotless." I do not know whether intentionally or not, but wa have here assembled some of the favourite symbols of the Virgin — the moon, the star, the " terribUis ut castrorum acies" (Cant. vi. 10), and the mirror. The third is a passage from Kobert Browning, which appears to me to sum up the moral ideal : — " There is a vision in the heart of each, Of justice, mercyj wisdom, tenderness To wrong and pam, and knowledge of their cure; And these embodied in a woman's form That best transmits them pure as first received From Grod above her to mankind below ! " n. SYMBOLS AND ATTRIBUTES OF THE VIRGIN That which the genius of the greatest of painters only once expressed, we must not look to find in hii predecessors, who saw only partial glimpses of the union of the divine and human in the feminine form; still less in his degenerate successors, whc never beheld it at all. The difficulty of fully expressing this complei H INTRODUCTION. Ideal, and the allegorical spirit of the time, first sugt gested the expedient of placing round the figure of the glorified Virgin certain accessory symbols, which should assist the artist to express, and the observer to comprehend, what seemed beyond the power of art to portray ; — a language of metaphor then understood, and which we also must understand if we would seize the complete theological idea in* tended to be conveyed. I shall begin with those symbols which are boiv rowed from the Litanies of the Virgin, and from certain texts of the Canticles, in all ages of the Church applied to her ; symbols which, in the fif- teenth and sixteenth centuries, frequently accom- pany those representations which set forth her Glori- fication or Predestination ; and, in the seventeenth, are introduced into the " Immaculate Conception." 1. The Sun and the Moon. — "Electa ut Sol, pulchra ut Luna," is one of the texts of the Can- ticles applied to Mary ; and also in a passage of the Revelation, "^ woman clothed with the sun, having the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars." Hence the radiance of the sun above her head, and the crescent moon beneath her feet. From inevitable association the crescent moon suggests the idea of her perpetual chastity ; but in this sense it would be a pagan rather than a Christian attribute. 2. The Star. — This attribute, often embroid- ered in front of the veil of the Virgin or on the right shoulder of her blue mantle, has become al- most as a badge from which several well-known pictures derive their title, " La Madonna della Stella." It is in the first place an attribute allud- ing to the most beautiful and expressive of,hei many titles : — " Stella Maris" Star of the Sea,* which is one interpretation of her Jewish name • "Ave Maris Stella Itei Mater alma !"fte INTRODUCTION Sh Miriam : but she is also " Stella Jacobiy** the Stai of Jacob; ^^ Stella Matutina" the Morning Star^ " Stella non Erratica,'' the Fixed Star. When, in- •tead of the single star on her veil or mantle, she has the crown of twelve stars, the allusion is to the text of the Apocalypse already quoted, and the number of stars is in allusion to the number of the Apostles.* 3. The Lily. — " 7 aw the rose of Sharon, and Uly of the valleys" (Cant. ii. 1, 2.) As the gen- eral emblem of purity, the lily is introduced into the Annunciation, where it ought to be without stamens : and in the enthroned Madonnas it is fre- quently placed in the hands of attendant angels, more particularly in the Florentine Madonnas ; the lily, as the emblem of their patroness, being chosen by the citizens as the device of the city. For the same reason it became that of the French monar- chy. Thorns are sometimes interlaced with the lily, to express the " Lilium inter Spinas" (Cant. ii. 2.) 4. The Rose. — She is the rose of Sharon, as well as the lily of the valley ; and as an emblem of love and beauty, the rose is especially dedicated to her. The plantation or garden of roses f is often introduced ; sometimes it forms the background of the picture. There is a most beautiful example in a Madonna by Cesare di Sesto (Milan, Brera) ; and another, " the Madonna of the Rose Bush," by Martin Schoen. (Cathedral, Colmar.) 5. The Enclosed Garden (Hortus conclusus) IS an image borrowed, like many others, from the Song of Solomon. (Cant. iv. 12.) I have seen this enclosed garden very significantly placed in the background of the Annunciation, and in pic* tures of the Immaculate Conception. Sometime! the enclosure is formed of a treillage or hedge of *"Iii capite inquit ejus corona stellaram dnodecim; qniditf Soronent sidera quam sol vestit? " — St. Bernard. t Quaai plantatio rosse in Jericbf 56 INTllODUCTION. roses, as in a beautiful Virgin by Francia.* Some* times it is merely formed of stakes or palisades, ai in some of the prints by Albert Durer. The Well always full ; the Fountain forevef eealed; the Tower of David; the Temple of Sol- omon; the City of David (Civitas sancta), (Cant iv. 4, 12, 15) ; all these are attributes borrowed from the Canticles, and are introduced into picturei and stained glass. 6. The Porta Clausa, the Closed Gate, is an- other metaphor, taken from the prophecy of Eze- kiel (xliv. 4). 7. The Cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus exaltata, *♦ exalted as a cedar in Lebanon "), because of its height, its incorruptible substance, its perfume, and the healing virtues attributed to it in the East, ex- presses the greatness, the beauty, the goodness of Mary. The victorious Palm, the Plantain " far spread- ing," and the Cypress pointing to heaven, are also emblems of the Virgin. The Olive, as a sign of peace, hope, and abun- dance, is also a fitting emblem of the graces of Mary.f 8. The Stem of Jesse (Isa. xi. 1), figured as a green branch entwined with flowers, is also very significant. 9. The Mirror (^Specula sine macula) is a met- aphor borrowed from the Book of Wisdom (viL 25). We meet with it in some of the late picturei of the Immaculate Conception. 10. The Sealed Book is also a symbol often placed in the hands of the Virgin in a mystical An- nunciation, and sufficiently significant. The allu* won is to the text, " In that book were all my memo * Manioh Gal. ; another by Antonio ;la Negroponte In the Sat Francesco dellaVigna at Venice, is alsc an instance of tliis eignif ^nt background. t Quasi oliva speciosa in campia INTRODUCTION. 57 bers written ;** and also to the text in Isaiah (xxix. 11, 12), in which he describes the vision of the Dook that was sealed, and could be read neither by the learned nor the unlearned. 11. " The Bush which burned and was not con- sumed," is introduced, with a mystical significance, into an Annunciation by Titian. Besides these symbols, which have a mystic and ■aored significance, and are applicable to the Virgin only, certain attriljutes and accessories are intro- duced into pictures of the Madonna and Child, which are capable of a more general interpretation. 1. The Globe, as the emblem of sovereignty, was very early placed in the hand of the divine Child. When the globe is under the feet of the Madonna and encircled by a serpent, as in some later pictures, it figures our Redemption ; her tri- umph over a fallen world — fallen through sin. 2. The Serpent is the general emblem of Sin or Satan ; but under the feet of the Virgin it has a pe- cuUar significance. She has generally her foot on the head of the reptile. "She shall bruise thy head," as it is interpreted in the Roman Catholic Church.* 3. The Apple, which of all the attributes is the most common, signifies the fall of man, which made Redemption necessary. It is sometimes placed in thv3 hands of the Child; but when in the hand ijf the Mother, she is then designated as the second Eve-t 4. The Pomegranate, with the seeds displayed, was the ancient emblem of hope, and more particu- larly of religious hope. It is often placed in the hands of the Child, who sometimes presents it ta his Mother. Other fruits and flowers, always beautiful acces* ♦ Ipsa conteret caput tuum. t Mors per Eyam yita per Mariam, M INTRODUCTION. lories, are frequently introduced according to the fcaste of the artist. But fruits in a general sense signified "the fruits of the Spirit — joy, peace, love ; " and flowers were consecrated to the Vir- gin : hence we yet see them placed before her as offerings. 5. Ears of Wheat in the hand of the Infant (as in a lovely little Madonna by Ludovico Ca- racci)* figured the bread in the Eucharist, and Grapes the wine. 6. The Book. — In the hand of the Infant Christ, the book is the Gospel in a general sense, or it is the Book of Wisdom. In the hand of the Madonna, it may have one of two meanings. When open, or when she has her finger between the leaves, or when the Child is turning over the pages, then it is the Book of Wisdom, and is always supposed to be open at the seventh chapter. When the book is clasped or sealed, it is a mystical symbol of the Virgin herself, as I have already explained. 7. The Dove, as the received emblem of the Holy Splnt, is properly placed above, as hovering over the Virgin. There is an exception to this rule in a very interesting picture in the Louvre, where the Holy Dove (with the nimbus) is placed at the feet of the Child.f This is so unusual, and so con- trary to all the received proprieties of religious art, that I think the nimbus may have been added after- wards. The seven doves round the head of the Virgin signify the seven gifts of the Spirit. These char- acterize her as personified Wisdom — the Matei Sapientias. Doves placed near Mary when she is reading, oi at work in the temple, are expressive of her gen. tleness and tenderness. • Lansdowne Collection. There was another exactly similw m the collection of Mr. Rogers. The Virgin has the air of a gipsy. (Louvre, 515.) INTRODUCTION. 5J 8. BiKBS. — The bird in the Egyptian hiero- glyphics signified the soul of man. In the very ancient pictures there can be no doubt, I think, that the bird in the hand of Christ figured the soul, or the spiritual as opposed to the material. But, in the later pictures, the original meaning being lost, birds became mere ornamental accessories, or play- things. Sometimes it is a parrot from the East, sometimes a partridge (the partridge is frequent in the Venetian pictures) : sometimes a goldfinch, aa in Raphael's Madonna del Cardellino. In a Ma- donna by Guercino, the Mother holds a bird perched on her hand, and the Child, with a most naive in- fantine expression, shrinks back from it.* In a picture by Baroccio, he holds it up before a cat (Nat. Gal. 29), so completely were the original symbolism and all the religious proprieties of art at this time set aside. Other animals are occasionally introduced. Ex- tremely offensive are the apes when admitted into devotional pictures. We have associations with the animal as a mockery of the human, which ren- der it a very disagreeable accessory. It appears that, in the sixteenth century, it became the fashion to keep apes as pets, and every reader of Vasari will remember the frequent mention of these ani- mals as pets and favourites of the artists. Thus only can I account for the introduction of the ape, par- ticularly in the Ferrarese pictures. Bassano's dog, ^aroccio's cat, are often introduced. In a famous picture by Titian, " La Vierge au Lapin," we have the rabbit (Louvre.) The introduction of these and other animals marks the decline of religioui art. Certain women of the Old Testament are re- garded as especial types of the Virgin. Eve. Mary is regarded as the second Eve, be* * It was in the collection of Mr. Bc^n. 10 INTRODUCTION. cause, through her, came the promised Redemption^ She bruised the head of the Serpent The Tree of Life, the Fall, or Eve holding the Apple, are constantly introduced allusively in the Madonna pictures, as ornaments of her throne, or on the pre- aella of an altar-piece representing the Annuncia- tion, the Nativity, or the Coronation. Rachel figures as the ideal of contemplative life. Ruth, as the ancestress of David. Abishag, as "the Virgin who was brought to the King." (1 Kings i. 1.) Bathsheba, because she sat upon a throne on the right hand of her Son. Judith and Esther, as having redeemed their Ceople, and brought deliverance to Israel. It is ecause of their typical character, as emblems of the Virgin, that these Jewish heroines so often fig-, nre in the religious pictures.* In his " Paradiso " (c. xxxii.), Dante represents Eve, Rachel, Sara, Ruth, Judith, as seated at the feet of the Virgin Mary, beneath her throne in heaven; and next to Rachel, by a refinement of spiritual and poetical gallantry, he has placed his Beatrice. In the beautiful frescoes of the church of St. Apollinaris at Remagen, these Hebrew women stand together in a group below the throne of the Virgin. Of the Prophets and the Sibyls who attend on Christ in his character of the Messiah or Redeemer, I shall have much to say, when describing the ar- tistic treatment of the history and character of Our Lord. Those of the prophets who are supposed to refer more particularly to the Incarnation, pi*op- erly attend on the Virgin and Child ; but in the iLncient altar-pieces, they are not placed within the * The artistic treatment of these characters as types of tbt ¥irgia, will be found in the four'h series of " Legendary Art." INTBODUCTIOX. 61 •ame frame, nor are they grouped immediately round her throne, but form the outer accessories, of are treated separately as symbolical First, Moses, because he beheld the burning bush, " which burned and was not consumed." He is generally In the act of removing his sandals. Aaron, because his rod blossomed miraculously. Gideon, on whose fleece descended the dew of heaven, while all was dry around. Daniel, who beheld the stone which was cut out without hands, and became a great mountain, filling the earth, (ch. ii. 45.) David, as prophet and ancestor. " Listen, O daughter, and incline thine ear." Isaiah. "Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son." Ezekiel. " This gate shall be shut." (ch. xliv. 2.) Certain of these personages, Moses, Aaron, Gid- eon, Daniel, Ezekiel, are not merely accessories and attendant figures, but in a manner attributes, as expressing the character of the Virgin. Thus in many instances, we find the prophetical person- ages altogether omitted, and we have simply the attribute figuring the prophecy itself, the burning bush, the rod, the dewy fleece, &c. The Sibyls are sometimes introduced alternately wiih the Prophets. In general, if there be only two, they are the Tiburtina, who showed the vision to Augustus, and the Cumean Sibyl who foretold the birth of our Saviour., The Sibyls were much the fashion in the classic times of the sixteenth cen- tury; Michael Angelo and Raphael have left ua consummate examples. But I must repeat that the full consideration of the Prophets and Sibyls as accessories belongs tc another department of sacred art, and they will Itnd their place there. The Evanscehsts frequently, and sometimes one S2 INTRODUCTIOir. or more of the Twelve Apostles, appear as accesso ries which assist the theological conception. When other figures are introduced, they are generally either the protecting saints of the country or locality, or the saints of the Religious Order to whom the edifice belongs ; or, where the picture or window is an ex-votOy we find the patron saints of the confra- ternity, or of the donor or votary who has dedi- cated it. Angels seated at the feet of the Madonna and playing on musical instruments, are most lovely and appropriate accessories, for the choral angels are always around her in heaven, and on earth she i? the especial patroness of music and minstrelsy.* Her delegate Ceciha patronized sacred music ; but all music and musicians, all minstrels, and all who plied the "gaye science," were under the protec- tion of Mary. When the angels are singing from their music books, and others are accompanying them with lutes and viols, the song is not always supposed to be the same. In a Nativity they sing the " Gloria in excelsis Deo ;" in a Coronation, the " Regina Cceli ; " in an enthroned Madonna with votaries, the " Salve Regina, Mater Misericor* diae ! *' in a pastoral Madonna and Child it may be the " Alma Mater Redemptoris." In all the most ancient devotional efligies (those in the catacombs and the old mosaics), the Virgin appears as a majestic woman of mature age. In those subjects taken from her history which precede UCTI0N. 65 sweet and gracious aspect. When Michael Angelo was reproached with representing his Mater Dolo- rosa much too young, he replied that the perfect virtue and serenity of the character of Mary would have preserved her beauty and youthful appear- ance long beyond the usual period.* Because some of the Greek pictures and carved images had become black through extreme age, it was argued by certain devout writers, that the Vir- gin herself must have been of a very dark com- plexion ; and in favour of this idea they quoted this text from the Canticles, " I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem." But others say that her complexion had become black only during her sojourn in Egypt. At all events, though the black- ness of these antique images was suppose4 to en- hance their sanctity, it has never been imitated in the fine arts, and it is quite contrary to the de- scription of Nicephorus, which is the most ancient authority, and that which is followed in the Greek school. The proper dress of the Virgin is a close red tunic, with long sleeves ; f and over this a blue robe or mantle. In the early pictures, the colours are pale and delicate. Her head ought to be veiled. The fathers of the primeval Church, particularly TertuUian, attach great importance to the decent veil worn by Christian maidens ; and in all the early pictures the Virgin is veiled. The enthroned Virgin, unveiled, with long tresses falling down on tither side, was an innovation introduced about the end of the fifteenth century ; commencing, I think, with the Milanese, and thence adopted in the Ge]> * The group in St. Peter's, Rome. t In a famous Piet& by Raphael, engraved by Maro Antonio, the Virgin, standing by the dead form Df her Son, has the right Mm apparently bare; in the repetition of the subject it is clothed with a full sleeve, the impropriety being corrected. The Irst ia, however, the most perfitjct and most precious as a work tf art. - Bartsch, xiv. 34, 35. S4 INTRODUCTION. flaan schools and those of Northern Italy. Th€ German Madonnas of Albert Durer's time have often magnificent and luxuriant hair, curling in ringlets, or descending to the waist in rich waves, and always fair. Dark-haired Madonnas appeal first in the Spanish and later ItaUan schools. In the historical pictures, her dress is very sim- ple ; but in tho^ devotional figures whicn represent her as queen of heaven, she wears a splendid crown, sometimes of jewels interwoven with liliea and roses. The crown is often the sovereign crowa of the country in which the picture is placed : thus, in the Papal States, she often wears the triple tiara ; in Austria, the imperial diadem. Her blue tunic is richly embroidered with gold and gems, or lined with ermine, or stuff of various colours, in ac- cordance with a text of Scripture : " The King's daughter is all glorious within ; her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the King in a vesture of needlework." (Ps. xlv. 13.) In the Immaculate Conception, and in the Assump- tion, her tunic should be plain white, or white spangled with golden stars. In the subjects relat- ing to the Passion, and after the Crucifixion, the dress of the Virgin should be violet or gray. These proprieties, however, are not always attended to. In the early pictures which represent her as nurs- ing the divine Infant (the subject called the Ver- cine Lattante), the utmost care is taken to veil the bust as much as possible. In the Spanish school the most vigilant censorship was exercised over all sacred pictures, and, with regard to the figures of ihe Virgin, the utmost decorum was required. " What," says Pacheco, '' can be more foreign to the respect which we owe to our Lady the Virgin, than to paint her sitting down with one of her knee« placed over the other, and often with her sacred feet uncovered and naked ? Let thanks be give» INTRODUCTION. 65 to the Holy Inquisition, which commands that this liberty should be corrected." For this reason, per- haps, we seldom see the feet of the Virgin in Span- ish pictures.* Carducho speaks more particularly on the impropriety of painting the Virgin unshod, " since it is manifest that our Lady was in the habit of wearing shoes, as is proved by the much venerated relic of one of them from her divine feel at Burgos." The Child in her arms is always, in the Greek and early pictures, clothed in a little tunic, gener- ally white. In the fifteenth century he first ap- pears partly, and then wholly, und raped. Joseph, as the earthly sposo^ wears the saffron-coloured man- tle over a gray tunic. In the later schools of art these significant colours are often varied, and some- times wholly dispensed with. in. DEVOTIONAL AND HISTORICAL REPRESEN- TATIONS. In this volume, as in the former ones, I have ad- hered to the distinction between the devotional and the historical representations. I class as devotional, all those which express a dogma merely ; all the enthroned Madonnas, alone or surrounded by significant accessories or attend- ant saints ; all the Mystical Coronations and Im- maculate Conceptions ; all the Holy Families with saints, and those completely ideal and votive groups, in which the appeal is made to the faith * Or in any of the old pictures till the seventeenth century, •' Tandis que Dieu est toujours montre pieds nus, lui qui est de Kcendu k terre et a pris notre humanity, Marie au contraire est constamment representee les pieds perdus dans les plis trainants, dombreux et legers de sa robe virginale ; elle, qui est elevee au tessus de la terre et rapprochee de Dieu par sa puret6. Dieu montre par ses pieds nus qu'il a pris le corps de I'homme; filarie fait comprendre en les cachant qu'elle participe de la tpiritualite de Dieu." S6 INTRODUCTION. and piety of the observer. I shall give the char, acteristic details, in particular instances, further on. The altar-pieces in a Roman Catholic church are always either strictly devotional subjects, or, it may be, historical subjects (such as the Nativity) treated in a devotional sense. They are sometimes in several pieces or compartments. A Diptych is an altar-piece composed of two divisions or leaveSi which are united by hinges, and close like a book. Portable altar-pieces of a small size are generally in this form ; and among the most valuable and curious remains of early religious art are the Greek and Byzantine Diptychs, sometimes painted, some- times carved in ivory. * A Triptych is an altar- piece in three parts ; the two outer iivisions or wings often closing as shutters over the central compartment. On the outside of the shutters or doors the An- nunciation was generally painted, as the mystery which opened the gates of salvation ; occasionally, also, the portraits of the votaries or donors. Complete examples of devotional representation occur in the complex and elaborate altar-piecea and windows of stained glass, which often com- prehend a very significant scheme of theology.f I give here plans of two of these old altar-pieces, which will assist the reader in elucidating the meaning of others. The first is the altar-piece in the Rinuccini Chapel in the church of the Santa Croco of Florence. It is necessary to premise that the ehapel was founded in honour of the Virgin and * Among the " Casts from Ancient Ivory Carvings," published y the Arundel Society, will be found some interesting and illus« trative examples, particularly Clsiss III. Biptych 6, Class VII Diptych e and Triptych /, Class IX. Triptych k. t Still more important examples occur in the porches and ex lerior decoration of the old cathedrals, French and English Irhich have escaped mutilation. These will be found explained %t lenj(th in the Fourth Series of Sacred and Legendary Art. INTRODUCTION. 64 Maiy Magdalene ; while the church is dedicated to the Holy Cross, and belongs to the Franciscans. The compartments are separated by wood-work most richly carved and gilt in the Gothic style, with twisted columns, pinnacles, and scrolls. The subjects are thus distributed. A. The Virgin and Child enthroned. She has the sun on her breast, the moon under her feet, the twelve stars over her head, and is attended by an- gels bearing the attributes of the cardinal virtues. B. St. John the Baptist. C. St. Francis. D. St. John Evangelist. E. Mary Magdalene. 1. The Crucifixion, with the Virgin and St. John. 2, 3, 4, 5. The four Evangelists with their books : half length. 6, 7. St. Peter and St. Paul: half^ length. 8, 9, 10, 11. St. Thomas, St. Philip, St. James, and St. Andrew : half length. PP. The Predella. 12. The Nativity and Adora- ton of Magi. 13. St. Francis receives the Stig mata. 14. Baptism of Christ. 15. The Vision of St John in Patmos. 16. Mary Magdalene borne up by angels. Between the altar-piece and the predella runs the inscription in Gothic letters, AvB Delicissimis Virgo Maria, succurre nobis ^ATER Pi A. MCCCLXXVIII. The second example is sketched from an altai> S8 rnXKODUCTION. piece painted for the suppressed convent of Santa Uhiara, at Venice. It is six feet high, and eigli^< feet wide, and the ornamental carving in which the subjects are enclosed particularly splendid and elab- orate. A. The Coronation of the Virgin, treated as a religious mystery, with choral angels. B. The Na- tivity of our Lord. C. The Baptism. D. The Last Supper. E. The Betrayal of Christ. F. The Pro- cession to Calvary, in which the Virgin is rudely pushed aside by the soldiers. G. The Crucifixion, as an event : John sustains the Virgin at the foot of the cross. H. The Resurrection and the Noli me tangere, I. Ascension. 1. Half-figure of Christ, with the hand extended in benediction : in the other hand the Gospel. 2. David. 3. Isaiah. 4, 5, 6, 7. The four Evangelists standing. 8, 9, 11, 12. Scenes from the Life of St. Francis and St. Clara 10. The Descent of the Holy Ghost. 13 The Last Judgment. It is to be regretted that so many of these altai> pieces have been broken up, and the detatched parts sold as separate pictures ; so that we may find >ne compartment of an altar in a church at Kome, and another hanging in a drawing-room in London vhe upper part at Ghent, th6 lower half at Paris INTRODUCTION 69 #ne wing At Berlin, another at Florence. But where they exist as a whole, how solemn, signifi- cant, and instructive the arrangement! It may be read as we read a poem. Compare these with the groups round the enthroned Virgin in the later altar-pieces, where the saints elbow each other in attitudes, where mortal men sit with unseemly familiarity close to personages recognized as di- vine. As I have remarked further on, it is one of the most interesting speculations connected with the study of art, to trace this decline from reverence to irreverence, from the most rigid formula to the most fantastic caprice. The gradual disappearance of the personages of the Old Testament, the increas- ing importance given to the family of the Blessed Virgin, the multiplication of legendary subjects, and all the variety of adventitious, unmeaning, or mere- ly ornamental accessories, strike us just in propor- tion as a learned theology replaced the unreflect- ing, undoubting piety of an earlier age. The historical subjects comprise the events from the Life of the Virgin, when treated in a dramatic form ; and all those groups which exhibit her in her merely domestic relations, occupied by cares for her divine Child, and surrounded by her parents and kindred, subjects which assume a pastoral and poetical rather than an historical form. All •these may be divided into Scriptural and Legendary representations. The Scriptural scenes in which the Virgin Mary is a chief or important personage, are the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, the Purification, the Adoration of the Magi, the Flight into Egypt, the Marriage at Cana, the Procession to Calvary, the Crucifixion (as related by St. John), and the Descent of the Holy Ghost. The Traditional and Legendary scenes are those taken from the apocryphal Scriptures, some of which have existed from the third century. The Legend of Joa- '0 INTJBODUCIION. chim and Anna, the parents of the Virgin, with the account of her early life, and her Marriage with Jo Beph, down to the Massacre of the Innocents, are taken from the Gospel of Mary and the Protevan* gelion. The scenes of the Flight into Egypt, th3 Repose on the Journey, and the Sojourn of the Holy Family at Hieropolis or Matarea, are taken from the Gospel of Infancy. The various scenes at- tending the Death and Assumption of the Virgin are derived from a Greek legendary poem, once attiib- uted to St. John the EvangeUst, but the work, as it is supposed, of a certain Greek, named Meliton, who lived in the ninth century, and who has merely dressed up in a more fanciful form ancient tradi- tions of the Church. Many of these historical scenes have been treated in a devotional style, ex- pressing not the action, but the event, taken in the light of a religious mystery ; a distinction which 1 have fully explained in the following pages, where I have given in detail the legends on which these scenes are founded, and the religious significance eonveyed by the treatment. A complete series of the History of the Virgin begins with the rejection of her father Joachim fix)m the temple, and ends with the assumption and coronation, including most of the events in the His- tory of our Lord (as for example, the series painted by Giotto, in the chapel of the Arena, at Padua) ; but there are many instances in which certain im- portant events relating to the Virgin only, as the principal person, are treated as a devotional series ; and such are generally found in the chapels and or- atories especially dedicated to her. A beautiful in- stance is that of the Death of the Virgin, treated in a succession of scenes, as an event apart, and painted by Taddeo Bartolo, in the Chapel of the ^alazao Publico, at Siena. This small chapel was dedicated to the Virgin soon after the terrible plague of 1348 had ceased, as it was beUeved, bi INTKODUCTION. 7| her intercession ; so that this municipal chapel was dt once an expression of thanksgiving, and a memorial of death, of suffering, of bereavement, and of hope in the resurrection. The frescoes cover one wall of the chapel, and are arranged in four scenes. 1. Mary is reclining in her last sickness, and around her are the Apostles, who, according to the beautiful legend, were miraculously assembled to witness her departure. To express this, one of them is floating in as if borne on the air. St. John kneels at her feet, and she takes, with an expres- sion exquisitely tender and maternal, his two hands in hers. This action is pecuHar to the Siena school.* 2. She lies extended on her couch, surrounded by the weeping Apostles, and Christ behind re- ceives the parting soul, — the usual representation, but treated with the utmost sentiment. 3. She is borne to the grave by the Apostles ; in the background, the walls of the city of Jerusalem. Here the Greek legend of St. Michael protecting her remains from the sacrilegious Jew is omitted, and a peculiar sentiment of solemnity pervades the whole scene. 4. The resurrection of the Virgin, when she rises * On each side of the principal door of the Cathedral at Siena, which is dedicated to " Beata Virgine Assunta," and just within the entrance, is a magnificent pilaster, of white marble, complete- ly covered from the base to the capital with the most luxuriant carving, arabesques, foliage, &c.,.in an admirable and finished Ityle. On the bases of these two pilasters are subjects from the life of the Virgin, three on each side, and arranged, each subject on one side having its pendant on the other. 1. The meeting of Joachim and Anna. 2. The Nativity of Mary. 3. Her sickness and last farewell to the Apostles; bend- ing towards St. John, she takes his hands in hers with the same tender expression as in the fresco by Taddeo Bartola. 4. She lief dead on her couch. 5. The Assumption. 6. The Coronation. The figures are about a foot in neight, delicately carved, full o Chat sentiment which is especially Sienese, and treated with jruly sculptura simplicity. 12 INTRODUCTION. from the tomb sustained by hovering angels, and is received by Christ. When I first saw these beautiful frescoes, in 1847, whey were in a very ruined state ; they have since been restored in a very good style, and with a rev- erent attention to the details and expression. In general, however, the cycle commences either with the legend of Joachim and Anna, or with the Nativity of the Virgin, and ends with the assump- tion and coronation. A most interesting early ex- ample is the series painted in fresco by Taddeo Gaddi, in the Baroncelli Chapel at Florence. The subjects are arranged on two walls. The first on the right hand, and the second, opposite to us as we enter. 1. Joachim is rejected from the Temple. 2. He is consoled by the Angel. 3. The meeting of Joachim and Anna. 4. The Birth of the Virgin. 5. The Presentation of the Virgin. She is here a child of about five years old ; and having ascend- ed five steps (of the fifteen) she turns as if to bid farewell to her parents and companions, who stand below; while on the summit the High Priest, Anna the prophetess, and the maidens of the Temple come forward to receive her. 6. The Marriage to Joseph, and the rage and disappointment of the other suitors. The second wall is divided by a large window of the richest stained glass, on each side of which the BUDjects are arranged. 7. The Annunciation. This is peculiar. Mary not throned or standing, but seated on the ground, with her hands clasped, and an expression beauti- ful for devotion and humility, looks upwards to tbf descending angel. '8. The Meeting of Mary and Elizabeth. 9. The Annunciation to the Shepherds. 10. The Nativity. INTRODUCTION. 71 11. The WiMe Men behold the Star in the Form •fa Child. 12. They approach to Worship. Under the window is the altar, no longer used as such; and behind it a small but beautiful triptych of the Coro- nation of the Virgin, by Giotto, containing at least a hundred heads oi saints, angels, &c. ; and on the wall opposite is the large fresco of the Assump- tion, by Mainardi, in which St. Thomas receives the girdle, the other Apostles being omitted. This is of much later date, being painted about 1495. The series of five subjects in the Rinuccini Chap- el (in the sacristy of the same church) has been generally attributed to Taddeo Gaddi, but I agree with those who gave it to a different painter of the same period. The subjects are thus arranged: — 1. The Re- jection of Joachim, which fills the whole arch at the top, and is rather peculiarly treated. On the right of the altar advances a company of grave- looking Elders, each with his offering. On the left, a procession of the matrons and widows " who had been fruitful in Israel," each with her lamb. In the centre, Joachim, with his lamb in his arms and an affrighted look, is hurrying down the steps. 2. The Lamentation of Joachim on the Mountain, and the Meeting of Joachim and Anna. 3. The Birth of the Virgin. 4. The Presentation in the Temple. 5. The Sposalizio of the Virgin, with which the series concludes ; every event referring to her di- vine Son, even the Annunciation, being omitted. On comparing these frescoes with those in the neigh- bouring chapel of the Baroncelli, the difference in feeling will be immediately felt ; but they are very naive and elegant. About a hundred ^vears later than these two ex- amples we have the celebrated series painted by Ghirlandajo, in the choir of S. Maria Novella at Florence. T'jiere are three walls. On the princi- U INTRODUCTION. pal wall, facing us as we enter, is the window ; and around it the Annunciation (as a mystery), then the principal saints of the Order to whom the church belongs, — St. Dominic and St. Peter Mar- tyr, and the protecting saints of Florence. On the left hand (i. e. the right as we face the high altar) is the History of the Virgin ; on the op- posite side, the History of St. John the Baptifet The various cycles relating to St. John as patron of Florence will be fully treated in the last volume of Legendary Art ; at present I shall confine myself to the beautiful set of subjects which relate the his- tory of the Virgin, and which the engravings of Lasinio (see the "Ancient Florentine Masters ") have rendered well known to the lovers of art. They cover the whole wall, and are thus arranged, beginning from the lowest on the left hand. 1. Joachim is driven from the Temple. 2. The Birth of the Virgin. 3. The Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple. 4. The Marriage of Joseph and Mary. 5. The Adoration of the Magi (this is very much ruined). 6. The Massacre of the Innocents. (This also is much ruined.) Vasari says it was the finest of all. It is very unusual to make this terrible and pathetic scene part of the life of the Virgin. 7. In the highest and largest compartment, the Death and Assumption of the Virgin. Nearly contemporary with this fine series is that by Pinturicchio in the Church of S. Maria del Po- polo, at Rome (in the third chapel on the right). It is comprised in five lunettes round the ceiling, beginning with the Birth of the Virgin, and is re- markable for its elegance. About forty years after this series was completed fche people of Siena, who had always been remark able for their devotion to the Virgin, dedicated tc ^er honour the beautiful little chapel called the INTRODUCTION. 75 Oratory of San Bernardino (v. Legends of the Monastic Orders), near the church of San Fran- cesco, and belonging to the same Order, the Fran- ciscans. This chapel is an exact parallelogram and the frescoes which cover the four walls are thus ar- ranged above the wainscot, which rises about eight feet from the ground. 1. Opposite the door as we enter, the Birth of the Virgin. The usual visitor to St. Anna is here a grand female figure, in voluminous drapery. The delight and exultation of those who minister to the new-born infant are expressed with the most graceful naivete. This beautiful composition should be compared with those of Ghirlandajo and Andrea del Sarto in the Annunziata at Florence;* it yields to neither as a conception and is wholly dif- ferent. It is the work of a Sienese painter little known — GIrolamo del Pacchio. 2. The Presentation in the Temple, by G. A. Razzi. The principal scene isjplaced in the back- ground, and the little Madonna, as she ascends the steps, is received by the High Priest and Anna the prophetess. Her father and mother and groups of spectators fill the foreground ; here, too, is a very noble female figure on the right; but the whole composition is mannered, and wants repose and re- ligious feeling. 3. The Sposalizio, by Beccafuml. The ceremo- ny takes place after the manner of the Jews, out- ■ide the Temple. In a mannered, artificial style. 4. 5. On one side of the altar, the Angel Ga- briel floating in — very majestic and angelic ; on the other side the Virgin Annunziata, with that at- titude and expression so characteristic of the Siena School, as if shrinking from the apparition. These * This series, painted by Andrea and his scholars and com- panions, Franciabigio and Pontormo, is very remarkable as a work of art, but presents nothing new in regard to the cholc* Uid treatment of the subjects. T6 INTRODUCTION. also are by Girolamo del Pacchio, and extrcmelj fine. 6. The enthroned Virgin and Child, by Bec- eafumi. The Virgin is very fine and majestic; around her throne stand* and kneel the guardian saints of Siena and the Franciscan Order: St. Francis, St. Antony of Padua, St. Bernardino, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Ansano, St. John B., St. liOuis. (St. Catherine, as patroness of Siena, takes here the place usually given to St. Clara in the Franciscan pictures.) 7. The Visitation. Very fine and rather pecu- liar ; for here Elizabeth bends over Mary as wel- coming her, while the other inclines her head as accepting hospitality. By Razzi. 8. The Death of the Virgin. Fourteen figures, among which are four females lamenting, and St. John bearing the palm. The attitude and expres- sion of Mary, composed in death, are very fine; and Christ, instea^ of standing, as usual, by the couch, with her parting soul in his arms, comes rushing down from above with arms outspread to receive it. 9. The Assumption. Mary, attired all in white, rises majestically. The tomb is seen beneath, out of which grow two tall lilies amid white roses ; the Apostles surround it, and St. Thomas receives the girdle. This is one of the finest works of Razzi, and one of the purest in point of sentiment. 10. The Coronation, covering the whole wall which faces the altar, is by Razzi ; it is very pecu- liar and characteristic. The Virgin, all in white, and extremely fine, bending gracefully, receives her crown ; the other figures have that vulgarity of expression which belonged to the artist, and is often so oddly mingled with the sentiment and grandeur of his school and time. On the right of the princi pal group stands St. John B. ; on the left, Adanj ind Eve ; and behind the Virgin, her mother, St INTRODUCTION. 7T Anna, which is quite peculiar, and the only in- itance I can remember. It appears therefore that the Life of the Virgin Mary, whether treated as a devotional or historical Berie3, forms a kind of pictured drama in successive scenes ; sometimes comprising only six or eight of the principal events of her individual life, as her birth, dedication, marriage, death, and assumption : gometimes extending to forty or fifty subjects, and combining her history with that of her divine Son. I may now direct the attention of the reader to a few other instances remarkable for their beauty and celebrity. Giotto, 1320. In the chapel at Padua styled la Capella dell ' Arena. One of the finest and most complete examples extant, combining the Life of the Virgin with that of her Son. This series is of the highest value, a number of scenes and situations Biiggested by the Scriptures being here either ex- pressed for the first time, or in a form unknown in the Greek school.* Angiolo Gaddi, 1380. The series in the cathe- dral at Prato. These comprise the history of the Holy Girdle. Andrea Orcagna, 1373. The beautiful series of bas-reliefs on the shrine in Or-San-Michele, at Florence. !Nicol6 da Modena, 1450. Perhaps the earliest engraved example: very remarkable for the ele- gance of the motifs and the imperfect execution, engraving on copper being then a new art. Albert Durer. The beautiful and well-known * Vide Kugler's Handbook, p. 129. He observes, that " th« Introduction of the maid-servant spinning, in the story of St. Anna, oversteps the hmits of the higher ecclesiastical style." For an explanation I must refer to ohe story as I ha-^'e given it al p. 249. See, for the distribution of the subjects in this chapel, liOrd Lindsay's " Christian Art," vol. ii. A set of the subject! W since been published by the Arundel Society. f8 INTRODUCTION. «et of twenty-fivo wood-cuts, published in 1510. A perfect example of the German treatment. Bernardino Luini, 1515. A series of frescoes of the highest beauty, painted for the monastery Delia Pace. Unhappily we have only the fragments which are preserved in the Brera. The series of bas-reliefs on the outer shrine of the Casa di Loretto, by Sansovino, and others of the greatest sculptors of the beginning of the six- teenth century. The series of bas-reliefs round the choir at Milan : seventeen subjects. We often find the Seven Joys and the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin treated as a series. The Seven Joys are, the Annunciation, the Visi- tation, the Nativity, the Adoration of the Magi, the Presentation in the Temple, Christ found by his Mother, the Assumption and Coronation. The Seven Sorrows are, the Prophecy of Simeon, the Flight into Egypt, Christ lost by his Mother, the Betrayal of Christ, the Crucifixion (with St. John and the Virgin only present), the Deposition from the Cross, the Ascension when the Virgin is left on earth. The Seven Joys and Sorrows are frequently found in altar-pieces and religious prints, arranged in separate compartments, round the Madonna in the centre. Or they are combined in various groups into one large composition, as in a famous picture by Hans Hemling, wonderful for the poetry, ex- pression, and finished execution.* Another cycle of subjects consists of the fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary. The five Joyful Mysteries, are the Annunciation, * Altogether, on a careful consideration of this picture, I do not consider the title by which it is generally known as appro- priate. It contains many groups which would not enter inti the mystic joys or sorrows ; for instance, the Massacre of the In nocents, Christ at Emmaus, the Noli me tangere, and ethers INTRODUCTION. 7S fhe Visitation, the Nativity, the Purification, and Chiist found in the Temple. The five Dolorous or Sorrowful Mysteries are^ our Lord in the Garden of Olives, the Flagellation, Christ crowned with Thorns, the Procession to Cal- vary, the Crucifixion. The five Glorious Mysteries are, the Resurreo don, the Ascension, the Descent of the Holy Ghos^ the Assumption, the Coronation. A series of subjects thus arranged cannot b# called strictly historical, but partakes of the mys- tical and devotional character. The purpose being to excite devout meditation, requires a particulai sentiment, frequently distinguished from the merely dramatic and historical trc jtment in being accom- panied by saints, votaries, and circumstances purely ideal ; as where the Wise Men bring their offerings, while St. Luke sits in a corner painting the portrait of the Virgin, and St. Dominick kneels in adora- tion of the Mystery (Mabuse, Munich Gal.); — and in a hundred other examples. IV. TITLES OF THE VIRGIN MARY. . Of the various titles given to the Virgin Mary, and thence to certain effigies and pictures of her, some appear to me very touching, as expressive of the wants, the aspirations, the infirmities and sor- rows, which are common to poor suffering human- ity, or of those divine attributes from which they hoped to find aid and consolation. Thus we have — Santa Maria " del buon Consilio." Our Lady of good Couns(^.l. S. M. "del Soccorso." Out Lady of Succour. Our Lady of the Forsaken. S M. " del buon Core." Our Lady of good Heart 80 LNTRODUCTION. S. M. « della Grazia." Our Lady of Grace. S. M. " di Misericordia." Our Lady of Mercy. S. M. " Auxilium Afflictorum." Help of the Af* flicted. S. M. " Refugium Peccatorum." Refuge of Sin- ners. S. M. " del Pianto," " del Dolore." Our Lady of Lamentation, or Sorrow. S. M. " Consolatrice," " della Consolazione," or ** del Conforto." Our Lady of Consolation. S. M. " della Speranza." Our Lady of Hope. Under these and similar titles she is invoked by the afflicted, and often represented with her ample robe outspread and upheld by angels, with votaries and suppliants congregated beneath its folds. In Spain, Nuestra Senora de la Merced is the patron- ess of the Order of Mercy ; and in this character she often holds in her hand small tablets bearing the badge of the Order. (Legends of the Monastic Orders, 2d edit.) S. M. " della Liberta," or " Liberatrice," Our Lady of Liberty ; and S. M. " della Catena," Our Lady of Fetters. In this character she is invoked by prisoners and captives. S. M. » del Parto," Our Lady of Good Delivery, invoked by women in ti;ivail.* S. M. " del Popolo." Our Lady of the People. S. M. " della Vittoria." Our Lady of Victory. S. M. " della Pace." Our Lady of Peace. S. M. " della Sapienza," Our Lady of Wisdom ; ' Wid S. M. " della Perseveranza," Our Lady of Perseverance. (Sometimes placed in colleges with a book in her hand, as patroness of stih ients.) S. M. " della Salute." Our Lady of Health (H • Dante alludes to her in this character : — ** E per Tentura udi ' Dolce Maria ! ' Dinanzi a noi chiamar cosl nel pianto Gome fa donna che 'n partorir sia."— Fiirg. c. 20s INTRODUCTIOK. 81 Salvation. Under this title pictures and churches have been dedicated after the cessatiofi of a plague, or any other public calamity.* Other titles are derived from particular circum- ifcances and accessories, as — S. M. " del Fresepio," Our Lady of the Cradle ; generally a Nativity, or when she is adoring her Child. S. M. " della Scodella " — with the cup or per* ringer, where she is taking water from a fountain generally a Riposo. S. M. " deir Libro," where she holds the Book of Wisdom. S. M. " della Cintola," Our Lady of the Girdle , where she is either giving the Girdle to St. Thomas, 3r where the Child holds it in his hand. S. M. " della Lettera." Our Lady of the Letter. This is the title given to Our Lady as protectress of the city of Messina. According to the Sicilian legend, she honoured the people of Messina by writing a letter to them, dated from Jerusalem, " in the year of her Son, 42." In the effigies of the '■* Madonna della Lettera," she holds this letter in her hand. S. M. " della Rosa." Our Lady of the Rose. A title given to several pictures, in which the rose, which is consecrated to her, is placed either in her hand, or in that of the Child. S. M. "della Stella." Our Lady of the Star, She wears the star as one of her attributes em- broidered on her mantle. S. M. " del Fiore." Our Lady of the Flower. She has this title especially as protectress of Floiv ence. S. M. " della Spina." She holds in her hand the crown of thorns, and under this title is the protec- tress of Pisa. * There is also somewhere in France a ahapel dedicated to fhtre Dame de la Hain« B2 INTRODUCTION. S. M. " del Rosario." Our Lady of the Rosary, Vrith the mystic string of beads. I do not remem- ber any instance of the Rosary placed in the hand of the Virgin or the Child till after the battle of Lepanto (1571), and the institution of the Festival of the Rosary, as an act of thanksgiving. After this time pictures of the Madonna " del Rosario " abound, and may generally be found in the Domin- ican churches. There is a famous example by Guido in the Bologna Gallery, and a very beau- tiful one by Murillo in the Dulwich Gallery. S. M. "del Carmine." Our Lady of Mount Carmel. She is protectress of the Order of the Carmelites, and is often represented holding in her hand small tablets, on which is the ef^gy of herself with the Child. S. M. " de Belem." Our Lady of Bethlehem. Under this title she is the patroness of the Jerony- mites, principally in Spain and Portugal. S. M. " della Neve." Our Lady of the Snow. In Spain, S. Maria la Blanca. To this legend of the snow the magnificent church of S. M. Maggiore at Rome is said to owe its origin. A certain Roman patrician, whose name was John (Giovanni Patri- cio), being childless, prayed of the Virgin to direct liim how best to bestow his worldly wealth. She appeared to him in a dream on the night of the fifth of August, 352, and commanded him to build a church in her honour, on a spot where snow would be found the next morning. The same vision having appeared to his wife and the reign- ing pope, Liberius, they repaired in procession the Dext morning to the summit of Mount Esquiline, where, notwithstanding the heat of the weather, a large patch of ground was miraculously covered with snow, and on it Liberius traced out with his crosier the plan of the church. This story has Deen often represented in art, and is easily rec- ^nized ; but it is curious that the two mos* INTRODUCTION. 81 beautiful pictures consecrated to the honour of kbe Madonna della Neve are Spanish and not BiOman, and were painted by Murillo about the time that Philip IV. of Spain sent rich offerings to the church of S. M. Maggiore, thus giving a kind of popularity to, the legend. The picture represents the patrician John and his wife asleep, and the Vision of the Virgin (one of the lovelies*, ever painted by Murillo) breaking upon them in splendour through the darkness of the night ; while in the dim distance is seen the Esquiline (or what is meant for it) covered with snow. In the second picture, John and his wife are kneeling before the pope, " a grand old ecclesiastic, like one of Titian's pontiffs.*' These pictures, after being carried off Dy the French from the little church of S. M. la Blanca at Seville, are now in the royal gallery at Madrid. S. Maria " di Loretto." Our Lady of Loretto. The origin of this title is the famous legend of the Santa Casa, the house at Nazareth, which was the birthplace of the Virgin, and the scene of the An- nunciation. During the incursions of the Saracens, the Santa Casa being threatened with profanation, if not destruction, was taken up by the angels and conveyed over land and sea till it was set down on the coast of Dalmatia ; but not being safe there, the angels again took it up, and, bearing it over the Adriatic, set it down In a grove near Loretto. But certain wicked brigands having disturbed its eacred quietude by strife and murder, the house again changed its place, and was at length set down on the spot where it now stands. The date ttf this miracle is placed in 1295. The Madonna di Loretto is usually represented as seated with the divine Child on the roof of a bouse, which is sustained at the corners by four 'ingels, and thus borne over sea and land. From cue celebrity of Loretto as a place of pilgrimage 84 INTRODUCTION. this representation became popular, and is ofte« found in chapels dedicated to our Lady of Loretto Another ef^gy of our Lady of Loretto is merely a copy of a very old Greek " Virgin and Child " which is enshrined in the Santa Casa. ' S. M. " del Pillar," Our J.ady of the Pillar, ia protectress of Saragossa. According to the Legend^ she descended from heaven standing on an alabas- ter pillar, and thus appeared to St. James (San- tiago) when he was preaching the gospel in Spain. The miraculous pillar is preserved in the cathedral of Saragossa, and the legend appears frequently iu Spanish art. Also in a very inferior picture bj Nicolo Poussin, now in the Louvre. Some celebrated pictures are individually diatin guished by titles derived from some particular ob jcct in the composition, as Raphael's Madonna d6» Impannata, so called from the window in the back- ground being partly shaded with a piece of linen (in the Pitti Pal., Florence) ; Correggio's Viergs au Panier^ so called from the work-basket which stands beside her (in our Nat. Gal.) ; Murillo*s Virgen de la Servilleta, the Virgin of the Napkin, in allusion to the dinner napkin on which it was painted.* Others are denominated from certain localities, as the Madonna di Foligno (now in the Vatican) ; others from the names of families to whom tjjey have belonged, as La Madonna delta Famiglia Staffa, at Perugia. Those visions and miracles with which the Vir- gin Mary favoured many of the saints, as St. Luke [who was her secretary and painter), St. Cathe- rine, St. Francis, St. Herman, and others, hav^ • There is a beautiful engraving in Stirling's ** Annals of thf Artists of Spain." INTRODUCTION. 85 ilready be^n related in the former volumes, and need not be repeated here. With regard to the churches dedicated to the Virgin, I shall not attempt to enumerate even the most remarkable, as almost every town in Christian Europe contains one or more bearing her name. The most ancient of which tradition speaks, was a chapel beyond the Tiber, at Rome, which is said to have been founded in 217, on the site where S. Maria in Trastevcre now stands. But there are one or two which carry their pretensions much higher; for the cathedral at Toledo and the cathe- dral at Chartres both claim the honour of having been dedicated to the Virgin while she was yet alive.* Brief and inadequate as are these introductory notices, they will, I hope, facilitate the comprehen- sion of the critical details into which it has been necessary to enter in the following pages, and lend Bome new interest to the subjects described. I have heard the artistic treatment of the Madonna styled a monotonous theme ; and to those who see only the perpetual iteration of the same groups on the walls of churches and galleries, varied as they may suppose only by the fancy of the painter, it may seem so. But beyond the visible forms, there lies much that is suggestive to a thinking mind — to the lover of Art a higher significance, a deeper beauty, t* more various interest, than could at first be imag- ined. In fact, the greatest mistakes in point of taste arise in general from not knowing what we ought ^o demand of the artist, not only in regard to the lubject expressed, but with reference to the times * In England we have 2,120 churches dedicated in her hon- mr ; and one of the largest and most important of ^he Londoa Ifikrishes bears her name — ' St. Marie-la-bont;o '' 86 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES. in which he lived, and his own individuahty. An axiom which I have heard confidently set forth, that a picture is worth nothing unless "he who runa may read," has inundated the world with frivoloua and pedantic criticism. A picture or any other work of Art, is worth nothing except in so far as it has emanated from mind, and is addressed to mind. It should, indeed, be read like a book. Pictures, as it has been well said, are the books of the unlet- tered, but then we must at least understand the language in which they are written. And further, — if, in the old times, it was a species of idolatry to regard these beautiful representations as endued with a specific sanctity and power ; so, in these days, it is a sort of atheism to look upon them reck- less of their significance, regardless of the influ- ences through which they were produced, without acknowledgment of the mind which called them into being, without reference to the intention of the artist in his own creation. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES TO THE SEC- OND EDITION. In the first edition of this work, only a passing allusion was made to those female effigies, by some styled " la donna orante " (the Praymg Woman) and by others supposed to represent Mary the Mother of our Lord, of which so many examples exist in the Catacombs and in the sculptured groups on the ancient Christian sarcophagi. I know it has long been a disputed, or at least an unsettled and doubtful point, as to whether certain female figures existing on the earhest Chrlsiiair SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES. 87 jnonuments were or were not intended to represent the Virgin Mary. The Protestants, on the one hand, as if still inspired by that superstition against superstition which led to the violent and vulgar de- struction of so many beautiful works of art, and the Catholics on the other, jealous to maintain the authenticity of these figures as a testimony to the ancient worship of the Virgin, both appear to me to have taken an exaggerated and prejudiced view of a subject which ought to be considered dispas- sionately on purely antiquarian and critical grounds. Having had the opportunity, during a late resi- dence in Italy, of reconsidering and comparing a great number of these antique representations, and having heard the opinions of antiquarians, theolo- gians, and artists, who had given their attention to the subject, and who occasionally differed from each other as to the weight of evidence, I have arrived at the conviction, that some of these effigies represent the Virgin Mary, and others do not. I confess I do not believe .n any authentic represen- tation of the Virgin holding the Divine Child older than the sixth century, except when introduced into the groups of the Nativity and the Worship of the Magi. Previous to the Nestorian contro- versy, these maternal effigies, as objects of devo- tion, were, I still beheve, unknown, but I cannot understand why there should exist among Protes- tants, so strong a disposition to discredit every rep- resentation of Mary the Mother of our Lord to which a high antiquity had been assigned by the Roman Catholics. We know that as early as the second century, not only symbolical figures of our Lord, but figures of certain personages of holy life, as St. Peter and St. Paul, Agnes the Roman, and Euphemia the Greek, martyr, did certainly exist. The critical and historical testimony I have given elsewhere. (Sacred and Legendary Art.) Why therefore should there not have existed effigies oi 88 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES. • the Mother of Christ, of the " Woman highly blessed," the subject of so many prophecies, and naturally the object of a tender and just venera* tlon among the early Christians ? It seems to me that nothing could be more Hkely, and that such representations ought to have a deep interest for all Christians, no matter of what denomination — for a/Z, in truth, who believe that the Saviour of the world had a good Mother, His only earthly parent, who brought Him forth, nurtured and loved Him. That it should be considered a point of faith with Protestants to treat such memorials with incredulity and even derision, appears to me most inconsistent and unaccountable, though I confess that between these simple primitive memorials and the sumptuous tasteless column and image recently erected at Rome there is a very wide margin of disputable ground, of which I shall say no more in this place. But to return to the antique concep- tion of the "Donna orante" or so-called Virgin Mother, I will mention here only the most remark- able examples ; for to enter fully into the subject would occupy a volume in itself There is a figure often met with in the Cata- combs and on the sarcophagi of a majestic woman standing with outspread arms (the ancient attitude of prayerV or holding a book or scroll in her hand. When this figure stands alone and unaccompanied by any attribute, 1 think the signification doubtful : but in the Catacomb of St. Ciriaco there is a painted figure of a woman, with arms outspread and sustained on each side by figures, evidently St Peter and St. Paul; on the sarcophagi the same figure frequently occurs ; and there are other ex- amples certainly not later than the third and fourth century. That these represent Mary the Mother of Christ I have not the least doubt ; I think it haa ^een fully demonstrated that no other Christian wcMnan could have been so represented, consider SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES. 8B mg the manners and habits of the Christian com- munity at that period. Then the attitude and type are precisely similar to those of the ancient Byzan- tine Madonnas and the Italian mosaics of Eastern workmanship, proving, as I think, that there ex- isted a common traditional original for this figure, the idea of which has been preserved and trans- mitted in these early copies. Further: — there exist in the Roman museums many fragments of ancient glass found in the Christian tombs, on which are rudely pictured in colours figures exactly similar, and having the name MARIA inscribed above them. On one of these fragments I found the same female figure between two male figures, with the names inscribed over them, MARIA. PETRVS. PAVLVS., generally in the rudest and most imperfect style, as if issuing from some coarse manufacture; but showing that they have had a common origin with those far superior figures in the Catacombs and on the sar- cophagi, while the inscribed names leave no doubt as to the significance. On the other hand, there are similar fragments of coarse glass found in the Catacombs — either lamps or small vases, bearing the same female in the attitude of prayer, and superscribed in rude letters, Dulcis anima pie Zeses vivas. (Zeses instead of Jesus.) Such may, possibly, represent, not the Virgin Mary, but the Christian matron or martyr buried in the tomb; at least, I consider them as doubtful. The Cavaliere Rossi, whose celebrity as an anti- quarian is not merely Italian, but European, and whose impartiality can hardly be doubted, told me that a Christian sarcophagus had lately been dis- covered at Saint-Maxime, in the south of France, on which there is the same group of the female figure praying, and over it the name MARIA. I ought to add, that on one of these sarcophagi^ M SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES- bearing the oft repeated subject of the good Shep* herd feeding His sheep, I found, as the companion group, a female figure in the act of feeding birds which are fluttering to her feet. It is not doubted that the good Shepherd is the symbol of the benefi- cent Christ; whether the female figure represent the Virgin-mother, or is to be regarded merely as a general symbol of female beneficence, placed on B par with that of Christ (in His human character), I will not pretend to decide. It is equally toucn- ing and beautiful in either significance. Three examples of these figures occur to me. The first is from a Christian sarcophagus of early date, and in a good style of art, probably of the third century — it is a noble figure, in the attitude of prayer, and separated from the other groups by a palm-tree on each side — at her feet is a bird (perhaps a dove, the ancient symbol of the released soul), and scrolls which represent the gospel. I regard this figure as doubtful ; it may possibly be the effigy of a Christian matron, who was interred in the sarcophagus. The second example is also from a sarcophagus. It is a figure holding a scroll of the gospel, and standing between St. Peter and St. Paul ; on each side (in the original) there are groups expressing the beneficent miracles of our Lord. This figure, I belisve, represents the Virgin Mary. In the third example, the conspicuous female figure is combined with the series of groups on each side. She stands with hands outspread, in the attitude of prayer, between the two apostles, v^ho seem to sustain her arms. On one side is the .tiiracle of the water changed into wine ; on the other side, Christ healing the woman who touched His garment ; both of perpetual recurrence in these Bculptures. Of these groups of the miracles and actions of Christ on the early Christian sarcophagi, I shall give a full account in the " History of oui SUPPLEMENTARY IvOTES. 9" Lord, as illustrated in the fine arts ; " at present I confinvs myself to the female figure which takes this conspicuous place, while other female figures are prostrate, or of a diminutive size, to express their humility or inferiority ; and I have no doubt that thus situated it is intended to represent the woman who was highly honoured as well as highly blessed — the Mother of our Saviour. I have come therefore to the conclusion, that while many of these figures have a certain signifi- cance, others are uncertain. Where the figure ia isolated, or placed within a frame or border, like the memorial busts and effigies on the Pagan sar- cophagi, I think it may be regarded as probably commemorating the Christian martyr or matron entombed in the sarcophagus; but when there is no division, where the figure forms part of a contin- uous series of groups, expressing the character and miracles of Christ, I beheve that it represents His mother. n. The BoRGHESE Chapel, in the church of St. Maria Maggiore at Rome, was dedicated to the honour of the Virgin Mary by Paul V. (Borghese), in 1611 — the same Pope who in 1615 promulgated the famous Bull relative to the Immaculate Con- ception. The scheme of decoration in this gor- geous chapel is very remarkable, as testifying to the development which the theological idea of the Vir- gin, as the Sposa or personified Church, had at* tained at this period, and because it is not, as in dther examples, either historical or devotional, but purely doctrinal. As we enter, the profusion of ornament, the splendour of colour, marbles, gilding, from the pave- ment under our fe^t to the summit of the lofty dome, are really dazzling. First, and elevated ibove all, we have the "Madonna della Conce 92 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES. fcione," Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, in a glory of light, sustained and surrounded by angels, having the crescent under her feet, accord- ing to the approved treatment. Beneath, round the dome, we read in conspicious letters the text from the Revelations: — Signum. magnum, ap- PARAVIT. IN C(ELO. MULIER. AmICTA. SoLE. ET. Luna. sub. pedibus. ejus. et. in capite. ejus. CORONA, stellarum. Duodecim. (Rev. xii. 1.) Lower down is a second inscription, expressing the dedication. Mari^. Christi. matrj. semper. viRGiNi. Paulus. Quintus. P.M. The decora- tions beneath the cornice consist of eighteen large frescoes, and six statues in marble, above life size. Beginning with the frescoes, we have the subjects arranged in the following order : — 1. The four great prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Eeekiel, and Daniel, in their usual place in the four pendentives of the dome. (v. The Introduction. ) 2. Two large frescoes. In the first, the Vision of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus,* and Heretics bitten by Serpents. In the second, St. John Damascene and St. Ildefonso miraculously rewarded for de- fending the Majesty of the Virgin. (Sacred and Legendary Art.) 3. A large fresco, representing the four Doctors of the Church who had especially written in honour ©f the Virgin : viz. Ireneus and Cyprian, Ignatius and Theophilus, grouped two and two. 4. St. Luke, who painted the Virgin, and whose gospel contains the best account of her. 5. As spiritual conquerors in the name of the Virgin, St. Dominic and St. Francis, each attended Dy two companions of his Order. 6. As military conquerors in the name of the * St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, Bishop of Pontus in the third eentury, was favoured by a vision of the Trinity, which enabled him to confute and utterly subdue the Sabelliau heretics — tb« Vni Marians of his time. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES. 9^ Va^i, t^e Emperor Heracllus, and Narscs. the general against the Ariaifs. 7. A group of three female figures, i-epresentlng \he three famous saintly princesses who in marriage preserved their virginity, Pulcheria, Edeltruda (our lamous queen Ethelreda), and Cunegunda. (For the legends of Cunegunda and Ethelreda, see Le- gends of the Monastic Orders. 8. A group of three learned Bishops, who had 'jspecially defended the immaculate purity of the Virgin, St. Cyril, St. Anselm, and St. Denis (?). 9. The miserable ends of those who were op- posed to the honour of the Virgin. 1. The death of Julian the Apostate, very oddly represented; he lies on an altar, transfixed by an arrow, as a victim ; St. Mercurius in the air. (For this legend see Sacred and Legendary Art.) 2. The death of Leo IV., who destroyed 'the effigies of the Vir- gin. 3. The death of Constantine IV., also a femous iconoclast. The statues which are placed in niches are — 1, 2. St. Joseph, as the nominal husband, and St. John the Evangelist, as the nominal son of the Virgin ; the latter, also, as prophet and poet, with reference to the passage in the Revelation, c. xii, 1. 3, 4. Aaron, as priestly ancestor (because his wand blossomed), and David, as kingly ancestor of the Virgin. 5, 6. St. Dionysius the Areopagite, who was present at the death of the Virgin, and St. Ber- nard, who composed the famous " Salve Regina " in her honour. Such is this grand systematic scheme of decora- tion, which, to those who regard it cursorily, is merely .a sumptuous confusion of colours and forms, or at best, " a fine example of the Guido school and Bernino." It is altogether a very complete and magnificent specimen of the prevalent style of %rt, and a very comprehensive and suggestive ix 7 •4 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES. preseion of the prevalent tendency of tliouglit, in the Roman Catholic Charch from the beginning of ihe seventeenth century. In no description of th'^ chapel have I ever seen the names and subjects accurately given : the style of art belongs to the decadence^ and the taste being worse than question- able, the pervading doctrinal idea has been negf- lected, or never understood. m. Those pictures which represent the Virgin Mary kneeling before the celestial throne, while the Padre Eterno or the Messiah extends his hand or his sceptre towards her, are generally mis- understood. They do not represent the Assump- tion, nor yet the reception of Mary in Heaven, as is usually supposed ; but the election or predestina- tion of Mary as the immaculate vehicle or taber- nacle of human redemption — the earthly parent" of the divine Saviour. I have described such a picture by Dosso Dossi, and another by Cottignola. A third example may be cited in a yet more beau- tiful and celebrated picture by Francia, now in the Church at San Frediano at Lucca. Above, in the glory of Heaven, the Virgin kneels before the throne of the Creator; she is clad in regal attire of purple and crimson and gold ; and she bends hei fair crowned head, and folds her hands upon her bosom with an expression of meek yet digni- fied resignation — '''•Behold the handmaid of the Lord ! " — accepting, as woman, that highest glory, as mother, that extremest giief, to which the Divine will, as spoken by the prophets of old, had called her. Below, on the earth and to the right hand, stand David and Solomon, as prophets and kingly ancestors : on the left hand, St. Augustine and St. Anselm in their episcopal robes. (I have men lioned, with regard to the office in honour of the SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES. 95 Immaculate Conception, that the idea is said to have originated in England. I should also have added, that Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, was its strenuous advocate.) Each of these per- sonages holds a scroll. On that of David the reference is to the 4th and 5th verses of Psalm xxvii. — "/n the secret of his tabernacle he shall hide me** On that of Solomon is the text from his Song, ch. iv. 7. On that of St. Augustine, a quo- tation, I presume, from his works, but difficult to make out; it seems to be, "in coelo qualis est Pater J talis est Filius; qualis est Filius, talis est Mater" On that of St. Anselm the same inscrip- tion which is on the picture of Cottignola quoted before, " non puto vere esse" &c., which is, I sup- pose, taken from his works. In the centre, St Anthony of Padua kneels beside the sepulchre full of lilies and roses ; showing the picture to have been painted for, or under the influence of, the Franciscan Order ; and, like other pictures of the same class, "an attempt to express in a visible form the idea or promise of the redemption of the human race, as existing in the Sovereign Eternal Mind before the beginning of the world." This altar-piece has no date, but appears to have been Sainted about the same time as the picture in our rational Gallery (No. 179.), which came from the same church. As a work of art it is most wonder- fully beautiful. The editors of the last excellent edition of Vasari speak of it with just enthusiasm as " Opera veramente stupenda in ogni parte!" The predella beneath, painted in chiaro-oscuro, is also of exquisite beauty ; and let us hope that we ihall never see it separated from the great subject, like a page or a paragraph torn out of a book b? '^norant and childish collectors. 16 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTF.8. IV. Althougli the Nativity of the Virgin Mary is one of the great festivals of the Roman Catholic ChurcL, I have seldom seen it treated as a separate subject and an altar-piece. There is, however, a very re- markable example in the Belle Arti at Siena. It is a triptych enclosed in a framework elaborately carved and gilt, in the Gothic style. In the centre compartment, St. Anna lies on a rich couch covered with crimson drapery ; a graceful female presents an embroidered napkin, others enter, bringing re- freshments, as usual. In front, three attendants minister to the Infant : one of them is in an atti- tude of admiration ; on the right, Joachim seated, with white hair and beard, receives the congratu- lations of a young man who seems to envy his pa- ternity. In the compartment on the right stand St. James Major and St. Catherine; on the left, St. Bartholomew and St. Elizabeth of Hungary (?). This picture is in the hard primitive style of the fourteenth century, by an unknown painter, who must have lived before Giovanni di Paolo, but viv- idly coloured, exquisitely finished, and fiill of senti- ment and dramatic feeling. DEVOTIONAL SUBJECTS. PART I. THE VIRGIN WITHOUT THE CHILD. 1. LA VERGINE GLORIOSA. 2. L* INCORONATA. 3. LA MADONNA DI MI8ERIC0RDIA. 4. LA MA- DRE DOLOROSA. 6. LA CONCEZIONE. THE VIRGIN MART. Lot 1. Virgo Gloriosa. 2. Virgo Sponsa Dei. 3. Virgo Potens 4. Virgo Veneranda. 5. Virgo Praedicanda. 6. Virgo Cle- mens. 7. Virgo Sapientissima. 8. Sancta Virgo Virginum. [tal. La Vergine Gloriosa. La Gran Vergine dalle Vergini. Fr. La Grande Vierge. There are representations of the Virgin, and among them some of the earliest in existence, wnich place her before us as an object of religious veneration, but in which the predominant idea is not that of her maternity, No doubt it was as the mother of the Saviour Christ that she was origi- nally venerated ; but in the most ancient monu- ments of the Christian faith, the sarcophagi, the rude paintings in the catacombs, and the mosaics executed before the seventh century, she appears limply as a veiled female figure, not in any respect 98 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. characterized. She stands, in a subordinate posi* don, on one side of Christ ; St. Peter or St. John the Baptist on the other. When the worship of the Virgin came to vm from the East, with it came the Greek type — and for ages we had no other — the Greek classical type, with something of the Oriental or Egyptian character. When thus she stands before us with- out her Son, and the apostles or saints on each side taking the subordinate position, then we are to regard her not only as the mother of Christ, but as the second Eve, the mother of all suffering human- ity ; The Woman of the primeval prophecy whose issue was to bruise the head of the Serpent ; the Virgin predestined from the beginning of the world who was to bring forth the Redeemer of the world ; the mystical Spouse of the Canticles ; the glorified Bride of a celestial Bridegroom ; the re- ceived Type of the Church of Christ, afflicted on earth, triumphant and crowned in heaven ; the most glorious, most pure, most pious, Eftost clement, most sacred Queen and Mother, Virgin of Virgins. The form under which we find this grand and mysterious idea of glorified womanhood originally embodied, is wonderfully majestic and simple. A female figure of colossal dimensions, far exceeding in proportion all the attendant personages and ac- cessories, stands immediately beneath some figure or emblem representing almighty power : either it ta the omnipotent hand stretched out above her holding the crown of immortality ; or it is the my* LA VERGINE GLORIOSA. 98 he dove which hovers over her ; or it is the half- forpi of Christ, in the act of benediction. She stands with arms raised and extended wide, the ancient attitude of prayer ; or with hands mere- ly stretched forth, expressing admiration, humility, and devout love. She is attired in an ample tu- nic of blue or white, with a white veil over her head, thrown a little back, and displaying an ovai face with regular features, mild, dignified — some- times, in the figures of the ruder ages, rather stem and melancholy, from the inability of the artist to express beauty ; but when least beautiful, and most formal and motionless, always retaining something of the original conception, and often expressibly striking and majestic. The earliest figure of this character to which I can refer is the mosaic in the oratory of San Ve- nanzio, in the Lateran, the work of Greek artists un der the popes John IV. and Theodorus, both Greeks by birth, and who presided over the Church from 640 to 649. In the vault of the tribune, over the altar, we have first, at the summit, a figure of Christ half-length, with his hand extended in benediction ; on each side, a worshipping angel ; below, in the cen- tre, the figure of the Virgin according to the an- cient type, standing with extended arms, in a vio- let or rather dark-blue tunic and white veil, with a small cross pendant on her bosom. On her right hand stands St. Paul, on her left St. Peter ; beyond St. Peter and St. Paul, St. John the Baptist hold- ing a cross, and St. John the Evangelist holding a iOO LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. hook; and beyond these again, St. Domnio and St Venantius, two martyred saints, who perished in Dalmatia, and whose relics were brought out of that country by the founder of the chapel, John IV., himself a Dalmatian by birth. At the ex- tremities of this group, or rather line of figures, stand the two popes, John IV. and Theodorus, un- der whom the chapel was founded and dedicated. Although this ancient mosaic has been many times restored, the original composition remains. Similar, but of later date, is the ef^gy of the Virgin over the altar of the archiepiscopal chapel at Ravenna. This mosaic, with others of Greek work, was brought from the old tribune of the ca- thedral, when it was altered and repaired, and the ancient decorations removed or destroyed. Another instance, also, at Ravenna, is the basso- relievo in Greek marble, and evidently of Greek workmanship, which is said to have existed from the earliest ages, in the church of S. Maria-in-Porto- Fuori, and is now preserved in the S. Maria-in- Porto, where I saw it in 1847. It is probably as old as the sixth or seventh century. In St. Mark's at Venice, in the grand old basil- ica at Torcello, in San Donato at Murano, at Monreale, near Palermo, and in most of the old churches in the East of Europe, we find similar figures, either Byzantine in origin, or in imitation of the Byzantine style. But about the middle of the thirteenth century, ind contemporary with Cimabue, we find tie firs* LA VE1.GINE GLORIOSA. lOl mdicatiou of a depai-ture, even in the mosaics, from the lifeless, formal type of Byzantine art. The earliest example of a more animated treatment is, perhaps, the figure in the apsis of St. John Lat eran. (Rome.) In the centre is an immense cross, emblem of salvation ; the four rivers of Paradise (the four Gospels) flow from its base; and the faithful, figured by the hart and the sheep, drink from these streams. Below the cross is represented, of a small size, the New Jerusalem guarded by an archangel. On the right stands the Virgin, of colossal dimensions. She places one hand on the head of a diminutive kneeling figure. Pope Nicholas IV.,* by whom the mosaic was dedicated about 1290; the other hand, stretched forth, ■eems to recommend the votary to the mercy of Christ. Full-length effigies of the Virgin seated on a throne, or glorified as queen of heiven, or queen of angels, without her divine Infant in her arms, Are exceedingly rare in every age ; now and then to De met vsdth in the early pictures and illumina- tions, but never, that I know of, in the later schoola of art. A signal example is the fine enthroned Madonna in the Campo Santo, who receives St. Kanieri when presented by St. Peter and St. Paul On the Dalmatica (or Deacon's robe) preserved in the sacristy of St. Peter's at Rome (which Lord Lindsay well describes as a perfect example * For a minute reduction of the whole composition , bw Kug •r's Handbook, p. 113. L02 LEGENDS pF THE MADONNA. * of the highest style of Byzantine art) (Christian Art, i. 136), the embroidery on the front represents Christ in a golden circle or glory, robed in white, with the youthful and beardless face, his eyes look- ing into yours. He sits on the rainbow ; his left hand holds an open book, inscribed, " Come, ye blessed of my Father I " while the right is raised in benediction. The Virgin stands on the right en- tirely witliin the glory ; " she is sweet in feature and graceful in attitude, in her long white robe.'* The Baptist stands on the left outside the glory. In pictures representing the glory of heaven, Paradise, or the Last Judgment, we have this idea constantly repeated — of the Virgin on the right hand of her Son, but not on the same throne with him, unless it be a " Coronation," which is a subject apart. In the great altar-piece of the brothers Van Eyck, the upper part contains three compartments;* in the centre is Christ, wearing the triple tiara, and carrying the globe, as King, as Priest, as Judge • on each side, as usual, but in separate compart- ments, the Virgin and St. John the Baptist. The Virgin, a noble queenly figure, full of serene dig- nity and grace, is seated on a throne, and wears a Buperb crown, formed of lilies, roses, and gems, over her long fair hair. She is reading intently in a book — The Book of Wisdom. She is here the * It is well known tlyit the different parts of this great work hftTe been dispersed. The three compartments mentioned hen ire at Berlin. LA VERGINE GL0RI08A. 108 Sponsa Dei, and the Virgo Sapientissima, the most mse Virgin. This is the only example I can rec- ollect of the Virgin seated on the right hand of her Son in glory, and holding a book. In every Dther instance she is standing or seated with her nands joined or crossed over her bosom, and her eyes turned towards him. Among innumerable examples, I will cite only one, perhaps the most celebrated of all, and famil- iar, it may be presumed, to most of my readers, though perhaps they may not have regarded it with reference to the character and position given to the Virgin. It is one of the four great frescoes of the Camera della Segnatura, in the Vatican, ex- hibiting the four highest objects of mental culture — Theology, Poetry, Philosophy, and Jurispru- dence. In the first of these, commonly, but er- roneously, called La Disputa dell' Sacramento^ Raphael has combined into one great scene the whole system of theology, as set forth by the Catholic Church ; it is a sort of concordance be- tween heaven and earth — between the celestial and terrestrial witnesses of the truth. The cen- tral group above shows us the Redeemer of the world, seated with extended arms, having on the light the Virgin in her usual place, and on the left, also in his accustomed place, St. John the Baptist ; both seated, and nearly on a level with Christ. The Baptist is here in his character of the Pre- cursor "sent to bear witness to the light, that Ihrough him all men might believe." (John i. 7 ^ 104 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. The Virgin is exhibited, not merely as the Mother, ihe Sposa, the Church, but as Heavenly Wis- dom, for in this character the Catholic Church haa applied to her the magnificent passage in Proverbs : " The Lord possessed me in the beginning of Hia way, before His works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was." " Then I was by Him as one brought up with Him, and I was daily His delight, rejoicing alway before Him." (Prov. viii. 12-36, and Ec-^ cles. xxiv. 15, 16.) Nothing can be more beautiful than the serene grace and the mingled majesty and humility in the figure of the Virgin, and in her countenance, as she looks up adoring to the Fountain of all light, all wisdom, and all goodness. Above the principal group, is the emblematical image of the Father ; below is the holy Dove, in the act of descending to the earth.* The Virgin alone, separate from her Son, stand- ing or enthroned before us, simply as the Vergine Dea or Regina Coeli, is rarely met with in modern art, either in sculpture or painting. I will give, however, one signal example. In an altar-piece painted by Cosimo Rosselli, for the Serviti at Florence, she stands alone, and in a majestic attitude, on a raised pedestal. She holds ♦ For a detailed description of this fresco, see Passayant'f Raphael, 1. 140, and Eugler's Handbook, 2d edit., where • minute and beautiful reduction of the whole composition wiF fire an idea of the general design. LA VERGINE GLORIOSA. 105 i book, and looks upward, to the Holy Dove. hovering over her head; she is here again the Virgo Sapientice. (Fl. Gal.) On one side is St. John the Evangelist and St. Antonino of Florence (see Legends of the Monastic Orders) ; on the other, St. Peter and St. Philip Benozzi ; in front kneel St. Margaret and St. Catherine : all appear to contemplate with rapturous devotion the vision of the Madonna. The heads and attitudes in this picture have that character of elegance which dis- tinguished the Florentine school at this period, without any of those extravagances and pecuUari- ties into which Piero often fell; for the man had evidently a touch of madness, and was as eccentric in his works as in his life and conversation. The order of the Serviti, for whom he painted this pic- ture, was instituted in honour of the Virgin, and for her particular service, which will account for the unusual treatment. The numerous — often most beautiful — heads and half-length figures which represent the Virgin alone, looking up with a devout or tender expres- gion, or with the head declined, and the hands joined in prayer, or crossed over the bosom with virginal humility and modesty, belong to this class of representations. In the ancient heads, most of which are imitations of the old Greek effigies ascribed to St. Luke, ther« is often great simplicity End beauty. When she wears the crown over her veil, or bears a sceptre in hei hand, she figures as i06 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. the queen of heaven (Regina Cceli). When sucfr effigies are attended by adoring angels, she is the queen of angels (Regina Angelorum). When she is weeping or holding the crown of thorns, she is Our Lady of Sorrow, the Mater Dolorosa. When she is merely veiled, with folded hands, and in her features all the beauty, maiden purity, and sweetr ness which the artist could render, she is simply the Blessed Virgin, the Madonna, the Santa Maria ^^ergine. Such heads are very rare in the earlier schools of art, which seldom represented the Vir- gin without her Child, but became favourite studies of the later painters, and were multiplied and varied to infinitude from the beginning of the seventeenth century. From these every trace of the mystical and solemn conception of antiquity gradually disappeared; till, for the majestic ideal of womanhood, we have merely inane prettiness, or rustic, or even meretricious grace, the borrowed charms of some earthly model. V INCORONATA. rhe Coronation of the Virgin. Lat. Coronatio BeatsB Maria Virginis. Ital. Maria coronata dal diyin sue Figlio. Fr. Le Couronneinent de la Sainte Yierge. Ger. Die Eronung Mari^ The usual type of the Church triumphant is the Coronation of the Virgin properly so called, Christ in the act of crowning his Mother; one of ttie most popular, significant, and beautiful subject! ID the whole range of mediaeval art tJ incoronata. 107 When in a series of subjects from the life of the Virgin, so often met with in religious prints and in the Roman Catholic churches, we find her death and her assumption followed by her coronation; when the bier or sarcophagus and the twelve apo» ties appear below, while heaven opens upon us above ; then the representation assumes a kind of dramatic character : it is the last and most glorious event of her history. The Mother, dying on earth- is received into glory by her Son who had gone before her, and who thus celebrates the consum- mation of his victory and hers. But when the scene is treated apart as a single subject ; when, instead of the apostles gazing up to heaven, or looking with amazement into the tomb from which she had risen, we find the lower part of the composition occupied by votaries, patron saints, or choral angels ; then the subject must be regarded as absolutely devotional and typical. It is not a scene or an action ; it is a great mystery. It is consecrated to the honour of the Virgin as a type of the spiritual Church. The Espoused is re- ceived into glory and crowned with the crown of everlasting life, exalted above angels, spirits, and men. In this sense we must understand the sub- ject when we find it in ecclesiastical sculpture, over the doors of places of worship, in the decora- tive carving of church utensils, in stained glass. In many of the Italian churches there is a chapel especially dedicated to the Virgin in this character, ailed la Capella dell* Incoronata: and both in 108 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. Germany and Italy it is a frequent subject as an altar-piece. In all the most ancient examples, it is Christ only who places the crown on the head of his •Mother, seated on the same throne and placed at his right hand. Sometimes we have the two figures only; sometimes the Padre Eterno looka down, and the Holy Spirit in the form of the dove hovers above or between them. In some later ex- amples the Virgin is seated between the Father and the Son, both in human form : they place the crown on her head each holding it with one hand, the Holy Spirit hovering above. In other repre- sentations the Virgin kneels at the feet of Christ, and he places the crown on her head, while two or more rejoicing and adoring angels make heavenly music, or all Paradise opens to the view; and there are examples where not only the choir of attendant angels, but a vast assembly of patriarchs, saints, martyrs, fathers of the Church — the whole company of the blessed spirits — assist at this great ceremony. 1 will now give some celebrated examples of the various styles of treatment. There is a group in mosaic, which I believe to be singular in its kind, where the Virgin is en- throned with Christ. She is seated at his right hand, at the same elevation, and altogether as hia equal. His right arm embraces her, and his hand rests on her shoulder. She wears a gorgeous erown, which her Son has placed on her brow l' incoronata. 109 Christ has 9nly the cruciform nimbus; in his left hand is an open book, on which is inscribed, '* Veni, Electa mea" &c. " Come, my chosen one, and I will place thee upon my throne." The Vir- gin holds a tablet, on which are the words " His right hand should be under my head, and his left hand should embrace me." (Cant. viii. 3.) Tho omnipotent Hand is stretched forth in benediction above. Here the Virgin is the type of the Church ^a-iumphant and glorified, having overcome the «rorld ; and the solemn significance of the whole representation is to be found in the Book of Rev- elations : " To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also over- came and am set down with my Father in hia throne." (Rev. iii. 21.) This mosaic, in which, be it observed, the Vir- gin is enthroned with Christ, and emhracedy not crowned, by him, is, I believe, unique either as a picture or a church decoration. It is not older than the twelfth century, is very ill executed, but is curious from the peculiarity of the treatment (Rome. S. Maria in Trastevere.) In the mosaic in the tribune of S. Maria-li giore at Rome, perhaps the earliest example ex- tant of the Coronation, properly so called, the subject is treated with a grand and solemn sim- plicity. Christ and the Virgin, colossal figures, are seated on the same regal throne within a circu- lar glory. The background is blue studded witb 8 tlO LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. golden stars. He places the crown on hor head with his right hand ; in the left he holds an open book, with the usual text, "Fen/, Electa mea^ ei ponam te in thronum meum" &c. She benda slightly forward, and her hands are lifted in ado- ration. Above and around the circular glory the emblematical vine twines in arabesque form among the branches and leaves sit peacocks ^and other birds ; the peacock being the old emblem of immortality, as birds in general are emblems of spirituality. On each side of the glory are nine adoring angels, representing the nine choirs of the heavenly hierarchy ; beyond these on the right stand St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Francis ; on the left, St. John the Baptist, St. John the Evangelist, and St. Antony of Padua ; all these figures being very small in proportion to those of Christ and the Vir- gin. Smaller still, and quite diminutive in com- parison, are the kneeling figures of Pope Nicholas IV. and Cardinal Giacomo Colonna, under whose auspices the mosaic was executed by Jacopo della Turrita, a Franciscan friar, about 1288. In front flows the river Jordan, symbol of baptism and re- generation; on its shore stands the hart, the em- blem of religious aspiration. TJnderneath the cen^ fcpal group is the inscription, — Maria Ymao assumpta ad etherium Thalamum In quo Rex Begum stellato sedet solio. The whole of this vast and poetical composition if admirably executed, and it is the more curious ai L INCORNATA. Ill hiiingy perhaps, one of the earliest examples of the glorification of St. Francis and St. Antony of Pad- ua (Monastic Orders), who were canonized about thirty or forty years before. The mosaic, by Gaddo Gaddi (Florence, A.I>. 1330), over the great door in the cathedral at Flor- ence, is somewhat diiferent. Christ, while placing the crown on the head of his Mother with his left hand, blesses her with his right hand, and he appears to have laid aside his own crown, which lies near him. The attitude of the Virgin is also peculiar.* In a small altar-piece by Giotto (Florence, S. Croce), Christ and the Virgin are seated together on a throne. He places the jewelled crown on her head with both hands, while she bends forward with her hands crossed in her lap, and the softest ex- pression in her beautiful face, as if she as meekly resigned herself to this honour, as heretofore to the angelic salutation which pronounced her "Blessed:** angels kneel before the throne with censers and offerings. In another, by Giotto, Christ wearing a coronet of gems is seated on a throne : the Virgin kneels before him with hands joined: twenty an- gels with musical instruments attend around. In a "Coronation," by Piero Laurati, the figures of Christ and the Virgin, seated together, resemble in sentiment and expression those of Giotto. The ♦ In the same cathedral (which is dedicated to the Virgin Mary) the circular window of the choir opposite to the moeaif exhibits the Coronation. The design, by Donatello, is eminent \f fine and classical. 112 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. angels are arranged in a glory around, and the treatment is wholly typical. One of the most beautiful and celebrated of the pictures of Angelico da Fiesole is the " Coronation** now in the Louvre ; formerly it stood over the high altar of the Church of St. Dominick at Fiesole, where Angelico had been nurtured, and made hi? profession as monk. The composition is conceived as a grand regal ceremony, but the beings who figure in it are touched with a truly celestial grace. The Redeemer, crowned himself, and wearing the ermine mantle of an earthly monarch, is seated on a magnificent throne, under a Gothic canopy, to which there is an ascent of nine steps. He holds the crown, which he is in the act of placing, with both hands, on the head of the Virgin, who kneels before him, with features of the softest and most delicate beauty, and an expression of divine hu- mility. Her face, seen in profile, is partly shaded by a long transparent veil, flowing over her ample robe of a delicate crimson, beneath which is a blue tunic. On each side a choir of lovely angels, clothed from head to foot in spangled tunics of ftzure and rose-colour, with shining wings, make celestial music, while they gaze with looks of joy and adoration towards the principal group. Lower down on the right of the throne are eighteen, and on the left twenty-two, of the principal patriarchs, apostles, saints, and martyrs • among whom the worthies of Angelico*s own community, St Domi- nick and St Peter Martyr, are of course conspicu l' incoronata. lis ous. At the foot of the throne kneel on one side St Augustine, St. Benedict, St. Charlemagne, the royal saint ; St. Nicholas ; and St. Thomas Aquinas holding a pen (the great literary saint of the Do minican order, and author of the Office of the Vir- gin) ; on the left we have a group of virgins, St. Agnes, St. Catherine with her wheel, St. Catherine of Siena, her habit spangled with stars ; St. Cecili'i crowned with her roses, and Mary Magdalene, w,ch her long golden hair.* Beneath this great coi ^po- eition runs a border or predella, in seven cottipart- ments, containing in the centre a Pietk, and on each side three small subjects from the history of St. Domlnick, to whom the church, whence it was taken, is dedicated. The spiritual beauty of the heads, the delicate tints of the colouring, an ineffa- ble charm of mingled brightness and repose shed over the whole, give to this lovely picture an effect like that of a church hymn, sung at some high fes- tival by voices tuned in harmony — " blest voices, uttering joy ! " In strong contrast with the graceful Italian concep- tion, is the German " Coronation,'* now in the Wal- lerstein collection. (Kensington Pal.) It is sup- posed to have been painted for Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, either by Hans Hemling, oi a painter not inferior to him. Here the Virgin is crowned by the Trinity. She kneels, with an air >f majestic humility, and hands meekly folded on * See " Legends of the Monastic Orders," and " Sacred and Ugendary Art," for an account of all these personages. 114 LEGENDS OF THE MAl>ONNA. her bosom, attired in simple blue drapery, before a semicircular throne, on which are seated the Father and the Son, between them, with outspread wings, touching their mouths, the Holy Dove. The Father a venerable figure, wears the triple tiara, and holds the sceptre ; Christ, with an expression of suffering, holds in his left hand a crystal cross ; and they sus- tain between them a crown which they are about to place on the head of the Virgin. Their golden throne is adorned with gems, and over it is a glory of seraphim, with hair, faces, and plumage, all of a glowing red. The lower part of this picture and the compartments on each side are filled with a vast assemblage of saints, and martyrs, and holy confessors; conspicuous among them we find the saints most popular in Flanders and Burgundy — St. Adrian, St. George, St. Sebastian, St. Maurice, clad in coats of mail and crowned with laurel, with other kingly and warhke personages; St. Philip, the patron of Philip the Good ; St. Andrew, in whose honour he instituted the order of the Golden Fleece : and a figure in a blue mantle with a ducal crown, one of the three kings of Cologne, is sup- posed to represent Duke Philip himself. It is im- possible by any description to do justice to this wonderful picture, as remarkable for its elaborate workmanship, the mysticism of the conception, the quaint elegance of the details, and portrait-like re- ality of the faces, as that of Angelico for its spirit tal, tender, imaginative grace. There is a "Coronation** by VWarini (Aca l' incoronata. lU Venice), which may be said to comprise in itself a nrhole system of theology. It is one vast composi- don, not divided by compartments. In the centre IS a magnificent carved throne sustained by six pillars, which stand on a lofty richly ornamented pedestal. On the throne are seated Christ and the Virgin ; he is crowned, and places with both hands A crown on her head. Between them hovers the celestial Dove, and above them is seen the Heavenly Father in likeness of " the Ancient of Days," who paternally lays a hand on the shoulder of each. Around his head and over the throne, are the nine choirs of angels, in separate groups. First and nearest, hover the glowing seraphim and cheru- bim, winged, but otherwise formless. Above these, the Thrones, holding the globe of sovereignty ; to the right, the Dominations, Virtues, and Powers; to the left, the Princedoms, Archangels, and Angels. Below these, on each side of the throne, the proph- ets and patriarchs of the Old Testament, holding each a scroll. Below these the apostles on twelve thrones, six on each side, each holding the Gospel. Below these, on each side, the saints and martyrs. Below these, again, the virgins and holy women. Under the throne, in the space formed by the pil- lars, is seen a group of beautiful children (not an- gels), xepresenting, I think, the martyred Inno- cents. They bear the instruments of Christ's passion — the cross, nails, spear, crown of thorns, &c. On the step below the pedestal, and immedi- fctely in front, are seated the Evangelists and doc 116 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. tors of the Church ; on the right St. Matthew and St. Luke, and behind them St. Ambrose and St. Augustine ; on the left St. Mark and St. John, and behind them St. Jerome and St. Gregory. (See " Sacred and Legendary Art.") Every part of this curious picture is painted with the utmost care and delicacy : the children are exquisite, and the heads, of which there are at least seventy without counting the angels, are finished like miniatures. This simple, and altogether typical representation of the Virgin crowned by the Trinity in human form, is in a French carving of the fifteenth cen- tury, and though ill drawn, there is considerable naivete in the treatment. The Eternal Father wears, as is usual, the triple tiara, the Son has the cross and the crown of thorns, and the Holy Ghost is distinguished by the dove on his hand. All three Bustain the crown over the head of the kneeling Virgin, whose train is supported by two angels. In a bas-relief over a door of the cathedral at Treves, the subject is very simply treated ; both Christ and the Virgin are standing, which is un- usual, and behind each is an angel, also standing and holding a crown. Where not more than five or six saints are intro- duced as attendants and accessories, they are usually the patron saints of the locality or community, which may be readily distinguished. Thus, 1. In a " Coronation" by Sandro Botticelli, we find below, St John the Evangelist, St. Augustine. St. John Gualberto, St. Bernardo Cardinale. li L INCORONATA. 117 was painted for the Vallombrosian monks. (FL Gal.) 2. In a very fine example by Ghirlandajo, St Dominick and St. Peter Martyr are conspicuous : painted, of course, for the Dominicans. (Paris, Louvre.) 3. In another, by Pinturicchio, St. Francis is a principal figure, with St. Bouaventura and St. Louis of Toulouse; painted for the Franciscans, or at least for a Franciscan pope, Sixtus IV. (Rome, Vatican.) 4. In another, by Guido, the treatment differs from the early style. The coronation above is small and seen as a vision ; the saints below, St. Bernard and St. Catherine, are life-size. It was painted for a community of Bemardines, the monks of Monte Oliveto. (Bologna, Gal.) 5. In a beautiful little altar-piece by Lorenzo di Credi,* the Virgin is kneeling above, while Christ, seated, places the crown on her head, A glory of red seraphim surround the two figures. Below are the famous patron saints of Central Italy, St. Nicholas of Bari and St. Julian of Rimini, St. Barbara and St. Christina. The St. Francis and St. Antony, m the predella, show it to have been painted for a Franciscan church or chapel, probably for the same church at Cestello for which Lorenzo painted the St. Julian and St. Nicholas now in the Louvre. The " Coronation of the Virgm " by Annibalf ♦ Once in the collection of Mr. Rogers ; «. " Sacred and Lt fendary Art." 118 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. Carracci is in a spirit altogether different, magnifi- ijently studied.* On high, upon a lofty throne which extends across the whole picture from side to side, the Virgin, a noble majestic creature, in the true Carracci style, is seated in the midst as the principal figure, her hands folded on her bosom. On the right hand sits the Father, on the left the Son ; they hold a heavenly crown surmounted by stars above her head. The locality is the EmpjTe- um. The audience consists of angels only, who, circle within circle, filling the whole space, and melting into an abyss of light, chant hymns of re- joicing and touch celestial instruments of music. This picture shows how deeply Annibale Carracci had studied Correggio, in the magical chiaro-oscuro, and the lofty but somewhat mannered grace of the figures. One of the latest examples I can point to is also one of the most simple and grand in conception. (Madrid Gal.) It is that by Velasquez, the finest perhaps of the very few devotional subjects painted by him. We have here the three figures only, as large as life, filling the region of glory, without angels, witnesses, or accessories of any kind, ex- cept the small cherubim beneath ; and the sypamet- rical treatment gives to the whole a sort of sublime effect But the heads have the air of portraits : Christ has a dark, earnest, altogether Spanish physiognomy; the Virgin has dark hair; and the Padre Eterno, with a long beard, has a bald head This was also in the collection of M? "'oc^rs. L mCORONATA. 119 — a gross faalt in taste and propriety; because > though the loose beard and flowing white hair may lerve to typify the "Ancient of Days," baldness expresses not merely age, but the infirmity of age. Rubens, also, painted a " Coronation " with all his own lavish magnificence of style for the Jesuits at Brussels. After the time of Velasquez and Rubens, the " Immaculate Conception " superseded the "Coronation.*' To enter further into the endless variations of this charming and complex subject would lead U8 through all the schools of art from Giotto to Guido. I have said enough to render it intelligible and in- teresting, and must content myself with one or two closing memoranda. 1. The dress of the Virgin in a " Coronation " is generally splendid, too like the coronation robes of an earthly queen, — it is a " raiment of needle- work," — "a vesture of gold wrought about with divers colours " — generally blue, crimson, and white, adorned with gold, gems, and even ermine. In the " Coronation" by Filippo Lippi, at Spoleto, she wears a white robe embroidered with golden Buns, In a beautiful little " Coronation " in the Wallerstein collection (Kensington Pal.) she wears a white robe embroidered with suns and moons, the former red with golden rays, the latter blue with coloured rays, — perhaps in allusion to the text so often applied in reference to her, " a woman clothe L* INCOBONATA. 121 lecrated wafer of the sacrament is deposited), and he decorated it with a representation of the Coro- nation in presence of saints and angels, in all about thirty figures, minutely and exquisitely engraved on the silver face. Whether Finiguerra was the first worker in niello to whom it occurred to fill up the lines cut in the silver with a black fluid, and then by laying on it a piece of damp paper, and forcibly rubbing it, take off the fac-simile of his design and try its effect before the final process, — this we can not ascertain; we only know that the impression of his " Coronation " is the earliest specimen known to exist, and gave rise to the practice of cutting designs on plates of copper (instead of silver), for the purpose of multiplying impressions of them. The pix finished by Maso in 1452 is now in the Flor cnce Gallery in the " Salle des Bronzes." The in- valuable print, first of its species, exists in the National Library at Paris. There is a very exact fac-simile of it in Otley's " History of Engraving," Christ and the Virgin are here seated together on a lofty architectural throne : her hands are crossed on her bosom, and she bends her meek veiled head to receive the crown, which her Son, who wears a triple tiara, places on her brow. The saints most conspicuous are St. John the Baptist, patron of Florence and of the church for which the pix was executed, and a female saint, I believe St. Repara- la, both standing ; kneeling in front are St. Cosmo ind St. Damian, the patrons of the Medici family, 122 LEGENDS OF THE MADOXNA. Ihen paramount at Florence. (Sacred and Legen dary Art.) 4. In an illuminated " Office of the Virgin," 1 found a version of this subject which must be rare, and probably confined to miniatures. Christ is seat- ed on a throne and the Virgin kneels before him he bends forwards, and tenderly takes her clasped hands in both his own. An empty throne is at the right hand of Christ, over which hovers an angel bearing a crown. This is the moment which pre- cedes the Coronation, as the group already described in the S. Maria-in-Trastevere exhibits the moment which follows the Coronation. 5. Finally, we must bear in mind that those e^ figies in which the Madonna is holding her Child, while angels place a crown upon her head, do not represent the coronation properly so called, but merely the Virgin honoured as Mother of Christ and Queen of Heaven (Mater Christie Re-* gina Coeli) ; and that those representations of the Coronation which conclude a series of the life of the Virgin, and surmount her death-bed or her tomb, are historical and dramatic rather than devo- tional and typical. Of this historical treatment there are beautiful examples from Cimabue down to Raphael, which will be noticed hereafter in theil proper place. THE VIRGIN OF MERCY. 123 THE VIRGIN OF MERCY. CKir Lady of Succour. Ital. La Madonna di Misericordift. IV Ndtre Dame de Mis6ricorde. Ger. Maria Mutter des Erbar* mens. Sp. Nuestra SeSora de Qrazia. When once the Virgin had been exalted and glorified in the celestial paradise, the next and the most natural result was, that she should be re- garded as being in heaven the most powerful of in- tercessors, and on earth a most benign and ever- present protectress. In the mediaeval idea of Christ, there was often something stern ; the Lamb of God who died for the sins of the world, is also the inexorable Judge of the quick and the dead. When he shows his wounds, it is as if a vindictive feeling was supposed to exist ; as if he were called upon to remember in judgment the agonies and the degradation to which he had been exposed below for the sake of wicked ungrateful men. In a Greek " Day of Judgment," cited by Didron, Moses holds up a scroll, on which is written, "Behold Him whom ye crucified," while the Jews are dragged in- to everlasting fire Everywhere is the sentiment of vengeance ; Christ himself is less a judge than an avenger. Not so the Virgin ; she is represented as all mercy, sympathy, and benignity. In some of the old pictures of the Day of Judgment, she is seated by the side of Christ, on an equality with Uim, and often in an attitade (f deprecation, as if 1 24 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. adjuring him to relent ; or her eyes are turned on the redeemed souls, and she looks away from the condemned as if unable to endure the sight of their doom. In other pictures she is lower than Christ, but always on his right hand, and generally seated ; while St. John the Baptist, who is usually placed opposite to her on the left of Christ, invari- ably standi or kneels. Instead of the Baptist, it ia Bometimes, but rarely, John the Evangelist, who is the pendant of the Virgin. In the Greek representations of the Last Judg» ment, a river of fire flows from under the throne of Christ to devour and burn up the wicked.* In western art the idea is less formidable, — Christ is not at once judge and executioner ; but the senti- ment is always sufficiently terrible ; " the angels and all the powers of heaven tremble before him." In the midst of these terrors, the Virgin, whether kneeling, or seated, or standing, always appears as a gentle mediator, a supplicant for mercy. In the " Day of Judgment," as represented in the " Hor- tus Deliciarum," f we read inscribed under her fig- ' ore the words " Maria Filio suo pro Ecclesia sup* plicat." In a very fine picture by Martin Schoen (Schleissheim Gal.), it is the Father, who, with a Bword and three javelins in his hand, sits as the * Didron, " Iconographie Chr^tienne ; " and in fhe mosido •« the Last Judgment, executed bj Byzantine artists, in the oathe* Aral at Torccllo. t A celebrated illuminated MS. (date about 1159 to 1176), pr» Mrred in the Library at Strasburg. THE VIRGIN OF MERCY. 125 avenging judge ; near him Christ ; while the Vir- gin stands in the foreground, looking up to her Son with an expression of tender supplication, and mterceding, as it appears, for the sinners kneeling found her, and whose imploring looks are directed Jo her. In the well-known fresco by Andrea Or- ^agna (Pisa, Campo Santo), Christ and the Vir- gin sit throned above, each in a separate aureole, but equally glorified. Christ, pointing with one hand to the wound in his side, raises the other in a threatening attitude, and his attention is directed to the wicked, whom he hurls into perdition. The Virgin, with one hand pressed to her bosom, looks to him with an air of supplication. Both figures are regally attired, and wear radiant crowns ; and the twelve apostles attend them, seated on each side. In the centre group of Michael Angelo's " Last Judgment," we have the same leading motif, but treated in a very different feeling. Christ stands before us in figure and mien like a half-naked ath- lete ; his left hand rejects, his right hand threatens, and his whole attitude is as utterly devoid of dignity as of grace. I have often wondered as I have looked at this grand and celebrated work, what could be Michael Angelo's idea of Christ. He who was so good, so religious, so pure-minded, and so high-minded, was deficient in humility and sym- pathy ; if his morals escaped, his imagination was corrupted by the profane and pagan influences of \us time. His conception of Christ is here most 9 126 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. unchristian, and his conception of the Virgin is not much better. She is grand in form, but the ex- pression is too passive. She looks down and seems to shrink ; but the significance of the attitude, — the hand pressed to the maternal bosom, - - given to her by the old painters, is lost. In a " Last Judgment " by Rubens, painted for the Jesuits of Brussels (Brussels ; Musde), the Virgin extends her robe over the world, as if to shield mankind from the wrath of her Son ; point- ing, at the same time, significantly to her bosom, whence He derived his earthly life. The daring bad taste, and the dramatic power of this represen- tation, are characteristic alike of the painter, the time, and the community for which the picture was painted. More beautiful and more acceptable to our feel- ings are those graceful representations of the Virgin as dispenser of mercy on earth ; as protectress and patroness either of all Christendom, or of some par- ticular locality, country, or community. In such pic- tures she stands with outstretched arms, crowned with a diadem, or in some instances simply veiled , her ample robe, extended on each side, is held up by angels, while under its protecting folds are gathered worshippers and votaries of all ranks and ages — • men, women, children, — kings, nobles, ecclesias- tics, — the poor, the lame, the sick. Oi if the pic- lure bo less universal in its significance, dedicated THE VIRGIN OF MERCY. 127 perhaps by some religious order or charitable broth erhood, we see beneath her robe an assemblage of monks and nuns, or a troop of young orphans or redeemed prisoners. Such a representation is styled a Misericordia, In a picture by Fra Filippo Lippi (Berlin Gal.), the Madonna of Mercy extends her protecting mantle over thirty-five kneeling figures, the facea like portraits, none elevated or beautiful, but the whole picture as an example of the subject most striking. A very beautiful and singular representation of the Virgin of Mercy without the Child, I found in the collection of Herr v. Quandt, of Dresden. She stands with hands folded over her bosom, and wrapped in ample white drapery, without ornament of any kind ; over her head, a veil of transparent gauze of a brown colour, such as, from various por- traits of the time, appears to have been then a fash- ion. The expression of the face is tender and contemplative, almost sad; and the whole figure, which is life-size, is inexpressibly refined and digni- fied. The following inscription is on the dark back- ground to the right of the Virgin : — Imago Beat^ Mari^ Virginis QUiK Mens. August. Mioxxxm. Appakuit MiRACuiiOR. Operationk CoNCURsu Pop. CeIiEBERRIM. 1 28 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. This beautiful picture was brought from Brescia to Vienna by a picture-dealer, and purchased by Herr v. Quandt. It was painted by Moretto of Brescia, of whom Lanzi truly says that his sacred subjects express la compunzione, la piethy la ca- rita istessa ; and this picture is an instance. But by whom dedicated, for what especial mercy, or in what church, I could not ascertain.* It is seldom that the Madonna di Misericordia appears without the Child in her arms ; her mater- nity is supposed to be one element in her sympathy with suffering humanity. I will add, however, to the examples already given, one very celebrated mstance. The picture entitled the " Misericordia di Lucca ** is famous in the history of art. (Lucca. S. Ro- mano.) It is the most important work of Fra Bar- tolomeo, and is dated 1515, two years before his death. The Virgin, a grand and beautiful figure, stands alone on a raised platform, with her arms extended, and looking up to heaven. The ample folds of her robe are held open by two angels. Beneath and round her feet are various groups in attitudes of supplication, who look up to her, as she looks up to heaven. On one side the donor of the picture is presented by St. Dominick. Above, * I possess a charming drawing of the head by Fraulein Lou. be Seidler of Weimar, whose feeling for early religious art if ihcwn in her own works, as well as in the beautiftil copies shf tM made of others. THE VIRGIN OF MERCY. 129 IB a glory, is the figure of Christ surrounded by ungels, and seeming to bend towards his mother The expression in the heads, the dignified benefi- cence of the Virgin, the dramatic feeling in the groups, particularly the women and children, justify the fame of this picture as one of the greatest of the productions of mind.* There is yet another version of this subject, which deserves notice from the fantastic grace of the con- ception. As in early Christian Art, our vSaviour was frequently portrayed as the Good Shepherd, BO, among the later Spanish fancies, we find his Mother represented as the Divine Shepherdess, In a picture painted by Alonzo Miguel de Tobar (Madrid Gal. 226), about the beginning of the eighteenth century, we find the Virgin Mary seated under a tree, in guise of an Arcadian pastorella, wearing a broad-brimmed hat, encircled by a glory, a crook in her hand, while she feeds her flock with the mystical roses. The beauty of expression in the head of the Virgin is such as almost to redeem the quaintness of the religious conceit ; the whole picture is described as worthy of Murillo. It was * According to the account in Murray's " Handbook," this future was dedicated by the noble family of Montecanini, anci represents the Virgin interceding for the Lucchesi during th« wars with Florence. But I confess I am doubtful of this inter- pretation, and rather think it refers to the pestilence, which, %bout 1512, desolated the whole of the north of Italy. "Wilkie, who saw this picture in 1825, speaks of the workmanship with the enthusiasm of a workman. 130 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. painted for a Franciscan church at Madrid, and the idea became so popular, that we find it multiplied and varied in French and German prints of the last century; the original picture remains un- equalled for its pensive poetical grace ; but it must be allowed that the idea, which at first view strikes from its singularity, is worse than questionable in point of taste, and will hardly bear repetition. There are some ex-voto pictures of the Madonna of Mercy, which record individual acts of gratitude. One, for instance, by Nicold Alunno (Rome, Pal. Colonna), in which the Virgin, a benign and digni- fied creature, stretches forth her sceptre from above, and rebukes the ugly fiend of Sin, about to seize a boy. The mother kneels on one side, with eyes up- lifted, in faith and trembling supplication. The same idea I have seen repeated in a picture by Lanfranco. The innumerable votive pictures which represent the Madonna di Misericordia with the Child in her arms, I shall notice hereafter. They are in Catho- lic countries the usual ornaments of charitable in- stitutions and convents of the Order of Mercy; and have, as I cannot but think, a very touching lignificance. THE MATER DOLOROSA. 131 THE MATER DOLOROSA. Bal- La Madre di Dolore. L'Addolorata. J?V. Ndtre Dame dl Piti^. IJa Vierge de Doiileur. Sp. Nuestra SeSora de Dolores Oer. Die Schmerzhafte Mutter. One of the most important of these devotional iubjects proper to the Madonna is the " Mourning Mother," the Mater Dolorosa, in which her charac- ter is that of the mother of the crucified Redeem- er ; the mother of the atoning Sacrifice ; the queen of martyrs ; the woman whose bosom was pierced with a sharp sword; through whose sorrow the world was saved, whose anguish was our joy, and to whom the Roman Catholic Christians address their prayers as consoler of the afflicted, because she had herself tasted of the bitterest of all earthly sorrow, the pang of the agonized mother for the loss of her child. In this character we have three distinct repre- sentations of the Madonna. Mater Dolorosa. In the first she appears alone, a seated or standing figure, often the head or half length only ; the hands clasped, the head bowed in sorrow, tears streaming from the heavy eyes, and the whole expression intensely mournful. The feat- ures are properly those of a woman in middle age ; out in later times the sentiment of beauty prp.domi- uated over tnat of the mother's agony ; and I have keen the sublime Mater Dolorosa transformed into l62 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. i merely beautiful and youthful maiden, nvith sucli an air of sentimental grief as might serve for the OSS of a sparrow. Not so with the older heads ; even those of the Carracci and the Spanish school have often a won* derful depth of feeling. It is common in such representations to repre- sent the Virgin with a sword in her bosom, and even with seven swords in allusion to the seven sor- rows. This very material and palpable version of the allegorical prophecy (Luke ii. 35) has been found extremely effective as an appeal to the pop- ular feelings, so that there are few Roman Catholic churches without such a painful and literal inter- pretation of the text. It occurs perpetually in prints, and there is a fine example after Vandyck ; sometimes the swords are placed round her head ; but there is no instance of such a figure from the best period of religious art, and it must be con- sidered as anything but artistic : in this case, the more materialized and the more matter of fact, the more unreal. Stabat Mater. A second representation of the Madre di Dolore is that figure of the Virgin which, from the very earliest times, was placed on the right of the Crucifix, St. John the Evangelist being invariably on the left. I am speaking here of the crucifix as a wholly ideal and mystical emblem of our faith in a crucified Saviour ; not of the cru^ tifixion as an event, in which the Virgin is an acto» THE MATER DOLOROSA. 133 and spectator, and is usually fainting in the arms of her attendants. In the ideal subject she is merelj- an ideal figure, at once the mother of Christ, ana the personified Church. This, I think, is evident from those very ancient carvings, and examples in Btained glass, in which the Virgin, as the Church, stands on one side of the cross, trampling on a female figure which personifies Judaism or the syn- agogue. Even when the allegory is less palpable, we feel that the treatment is wholly religious and poetical. The usual attitude of the Mater Dolorosa by the crucifix is that of intense but resigned sorrow ; the hands clasped, the head declined and shaded by a veil, the figure closely wrapped in a dark blue or violet mantle. In some instances a more generally religious and ideal cast is given to the figure ; she stands with outspread arms, and looking up; not weeping, but in her still beautiful face a mingled expression of faith and anguish. This is the true conception of the sublime hymn, " Stabat Mater Dolorosa Juxta crucem lachiymoea Dum pendebat filius." La PietA.. The third, and it is the most unpor- twit and most beautiful of all as far as the Virgin is concerned, is the group called the PietA, which, when strictly devotional, consists only of the Virgin with her dead Son in her arms, or on her lap, or tying at her feet ; in some instances with lamenting 134 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. angels, but no other personages. This group has been varied in a thousand ways ; no doubt the two most perfect conceptions are those of Michael Angelo and Raphael ; the first excelling in sub- limity, the latter in pathos. The celebrated marble group by Michael Angelo stands in the Vatican in a chapel to the right as we enter. The Virgin is seated ; the dead Saviour lies across the knees of his mother ; she looks down on him in mingled sor- row and resignation, but the majestic resignation predominates. The composition of Raphael exists only as a print ; but the flimsy paper, consecrated through its unspeakable beauty, is likely to be as lasting as the marble. It represents the Virgin standing with outstretched arms, and looking up with an appealing agonized expression towards heaven ; before her, on the earth, lies extended the form of the Saviour. In tenderness, dignity, simplicity, and tragic pathos, nothing can exceed this production ; the head of the Virgin in particu- lar is regarded as a masterpiece, so far exceeding in delicacy of execution every other work of Marc Antonio, that some have thought that Raphael him- self took the burin from his hand, and touched himself that face of quiet woe. Another example of wonderful beauty is the Pietk by Francia, in our National Gallery. The form of Christ lies extended before his mother ; a lamenting angel sustains the head, another is at th« feet; the Vir^n, with eyes red and heavy with weeping, looks out of the picture. There needs nt THE MATER DOLOROSA ^ 13Si nsible sword in her bosom to tell what anguish has pierced that maternal heart. There is another Piet^, by Michael Angelo, quite a different conception. The Virgin sits at the foot of the cross ; before her, and half-sustained by her knees, lies the form of the dead Saviour, seen in front ; his arms are held up by two angels (un« winged, as is usual with Michael Angelo). The Virgin looks up to heaven with an appealing ex- pression ; and in one engraving of this composi- tion the cross is inscribed with the words, " Tu non pensi quanto sangue costa." There is no painting by Michael Angelo himself, but many cop- ies and engravings of the drawing. A beautiful small copy, by Marcello Venusti, is in the Queen's Gallery. There is yet another version of the Pietk, quite mystical and devotional in its significance, — but, to my feeling, more painful and material than poeti- cal. It is variously treated ; for example : — 1. The dead Redeemer is seen half-length within the tomb ; his hands are extended to show his wounds ; his eyes are closed, his head declined, his bleeding brow encircled by thorns. On one side is the Vir- gin, on the other St. John the Evangelist, in atti- tudes of profound grief and commiseration. 2. The dead form, half emerging from the tomb, is sus- tained in the arms of the Mater Dolorosa. St. John the Evangelist on the other side. ' There are •ometimes angels. Thr3 Pietk thus conceived as a purely religioui 186 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. and ideal impersonation of the atoning Sacrifice is commonly placed over the altar of the sacrament and in many altar-pieces it forms the centre of the predella, just in front where the mass is celebrated, or on the door of the tabernacle, where the Host la deposited. When, with the Mater Dolorosa and St. John, Mary Magdalene is introduced with her dishevelled hair, the group ceases to be properly a Pietk, and becomes a representation rather than a symbol. There are also exsimples of a yet more complex but still perfectly ideal and devotional treatment, in which the Mourning Mother is attended by saints. A most celebrated instance of this treatment ia the Pieta by Guido. (Bologna Gal.) In the upper part of the composition, the figure of the dead Re- deemer lies extended on a white shroud ; behind Lim stands the Virgin-mother, with her eyes raised to heaven, and sad appealing face, touched with so divine a sorrow — so much of dignity in the midst of infinite anguish, that I know nothing finer in its way. Her hands are resignedly folded in each other, not raised, not clasped, but languidly droop- ing. An angel stands at the feet of Christ looking on with a tender adoring commiseration ; another, at his head, turns away weeping. A kind of cur- tain divides this group from the lower part of the picture, where, assembled on a platform, stand ot kneel the guardian saints of Bologna : iu the ceo* THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 13? Ire, the benevolent St. Charles Borromeo, who just about that time had been canonized and added to the list of the patrons of Bologna by a decree of the senate ; on the right, St. Dominick and St. Petronius ; on the left, St. Proculus and St. Fran- cis. These sainted personages look up as if adjur- ing the Virgin, even by her own deep anguish, to intercede for the city; she is here at once our Lady of Pity, of Succour, and of Sorrow. This wonderful picture was dedicated, as an act of pen- ance and piety, by the magistrates of Bologna, in 1616, and placed in their chapel in the church of the " Mendicanti," otherwise S. Maria-della-PietJu It hung there for two centuries, for the consolation of the afflicted ; it is now placed in the Academy of Bologna for the admiration of connoisseurs. OUR LADY OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEP- TION. Ral. La Madonna Purissima. Lat. Regina sine labe original! ooncepta. S^a. Nuestra Senora sin peccado concepida. La Concepcion. Fr. La Conception de la Vierge Marie. Ger. Das Geheimnlss der unbefleckten Emp^Uigniss Mari'd. Bee. S. The last and the latest subject in which the Vir- gin appears alone without the Child, is that en titled the " Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin ; " and sometimes merely " The Concep- tion.** There is no instance of its treatment in - parently restored to her country, dedicated this picture, at once a memorial of her gratitude and of her faith. It remained over the high-altar of the Church of the Serviti, at Pesaro, till acquired by Mr. Solly, from whom it was purchased by Mr. Bromley, f * Lanzi calls this child Costanzo II., prince of Pesaro. Very Interesting memoirs of all the personages here referred to may be found in Mr. Dennistoun's " Dukes of Urbino." t Girolamo Marchesi da Cotignola was a painter of the Frin- cia school, whose works date from about 1506 to 1550. Those %t his pictures which I have seen are of very unequal merit, and, with much feeling and expression in the heads, are often man- nered and fantastic as compositions. This agrees with what Vasari says, that his excellence lay in portraiture, for which rea- son he was summoned, after the battle of Ravenna, to paint the portrait of Gaston de Foix, as he lay dead. (See Vasari, Vita di Bagnacavallo ; and in the English trans., vol. iii. 331.) The picture above described, which has a sort of historical interest, Is perhaps the same mentioned in Murray's Handbook (Centra. Italy, p. 110.) as an enthroned Madonna, dated 1513, and as b» big in 1843 in its original place over the altar in the Senriti al FMwro ; If so, it is there no longer. DEVOTIONAL SUBJECTS. PART 11. THE VIRGIN AND CHILD. 1. LA YERGINE MADRE DI DIO. 2. LA M A« DRE AMABILE. THE VIRGIN AND CHILD ENTHRONED. Lat. Sancta Dei Qenitrix. Virgo Deipara. Ital. La Santissima Vei^e, Madre di Dio. JFV. La Sainte Vierge, M6re de Weu. Ger. Die Heilige Mutter Gottes. The Virgin in her maternal character opens upon us so wide a field of illustration, that I scarce know where to begin or how to find my way, amid the crowd of associations which press upon me. A mother holding her child in her arms is no very complex subject ; but like a very simple air con- structed on a few expressive notes, which, when harmonized, is susceptible of a thousand modula- tions, and variations, and accompaniments, while the original motif never loses its power to speak to the heart ; so it is with the Madonna and Child ; — a subject so consecrated by its anftquity, so hal- lowed by its profound significance, so endeared by Its associations with the softest and deepest of our human sympathies, that the mind has never wearied 156 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. of its repetition, nor the eye become satiated with its beauty. Those who refuse to give it the honour due to a reli^ous representation, yet regard it with a tender half-unwilling homage ; and when the glorified type of what is purest, loftiest, holiest in womanhood, stands before us, arrayed in all the majesty and beauty that accomplished Art, inspired by faith and love, could lend her, and bearing her divine Son, rather enthroned than sustained on her maternal bosom, " we look, and the heart is in heaven ! " and it is difficult, very difficult, to refrain from an Ora pro Nobis. But before we attempt to classify these lovely and popular effigies, in all their infinite variety, from the enthroned grandeur of the Queen of Heaven, the Sancta Dei Genitrix, down to the peasant mother, swaddling or suckling her infant, or to interpret the innumerable shades of significance conveyed by the attendant accesso- ries, we must endeavour to trace the representation itself to its origin. This is difficult. There exists no proof, I believe, that the effigies of the Virgin with the infant Christ in her arms, which existed before the end of the fifth century, were placed before Christian worship- pers as objects of veneration. They appear to have been merely groups representing a particular incident of the New Testament, namely, the ado- ration of the Magi ; for I find no other in which the mother is seated with the infant Christ, and thii is an historical subject of which we shall have to speak hereafter. From the beginning of -the fourtk THE NESTORIAN CONTROVERSY. 157 century, that Is, from the time of Constantino and fche condemnation of Arius, the popular reverence for the Virgin, the Mother of Christ, had been gaining ground ; and at the same time the intro- duction of images and pictures into the places of worship and into the houses of Christians, as orna- ments on glass vessels and even embroidered on garments and curtains, became more and more diffused, (v. Neander's Church History.) The earliest effigies of the Virgin and Child may De traced to Alexandria, and to Egyptian influ- ences ; and it is as easily conceivable that the time- consecrated Egyptian myth of Isis and Horus may have suggested the original type, the outward form and the arrangement of the maternal group, as that the classical Greek types of the Orpheus and Apollo should have furnished the early symbols of the Redeemer as the Good Shepherd ; a fact which does not rest upon supposition, but of which the proofs remain to us in the antique Christian sculp- tures and the paintings in the catacombs. The most ancient Greek figures of the Virgin and Child have perished ; but, as far as I can learn, there is no evidence that these effigies were recog- nized by the Church as sacred before the begin- ning of the sixth century. It was the Nestorian schism which first gave to the group of the Mother bearing her divine Son that religious importance and significance which it has ever since retained tti Catholic countries. The divinity of Christ and his miraculous con- 11 158 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. ceptlon, once established as articles of belief, natu- rally imparted to Mary, his mother, a dignity be- yond that of other mothers : her Son was God ; therefore the title of Mother of God was as- signed to her. When or by whom first brought into use, does not appear ; but about the year 4d0 it became a popular designation. Nestorius, patriarch of Constantinople in 428, had begun by persecuting the Arians ; but while he in- sisted that in Jesus were combined two persons and two natures, he insisted that the Virgin Mary wa8 the mother of Christ considered as man, but not the mother of Christ considered as God; and that, con- sequently, all those who gave her the title of Dei Genitrix, Deipara,* were in error. There were many who adopted these opinions, but by a large portion of the Church they were repudiated with horror, as utterly subverting the doctrine of the mystery of the Incarnation. Cyril of Alexandria opposed Nestorius and his followers, and defended with zealous enthusiasm the claims of the Virgin to all the reverence and worship due to her ; for, as he argued, the two natures being one and indivisi- ble from the moment of the miraculous conception, it followed that Mary did indeed bring forth Grod, — was, in fact, the mother of God ; and all who took away from her this dignity and title were in error and to be condemned as heretics. I hope I shall not be considered irreverent in * The inscription on the Greek and Byzantine picture If usually miP et {UijTTjp Qeov). THE NESTORIAN CONTROVERSY. 159 Ihns plainly and simply stating the grounds of this celebrated schism, with reference to its influence on Art; an influence incalculable, not only at the time, but ever since that time ; of which the mani- fold results, traced from century to century down to the present hour, would remain quite unintelli- ^le, unless we clearly understood the origin and the issue of the controversy. Cyril, who was as enthusiastic and indomitable aa Nestorius, and had the advantage of taking the positive against the negative side of the question, anathematized the doctrines of his opponent, in a synod held at Alexandria in 430, to which Pope Celestine II. gave the sanction of his authority. The emperor Theodosius II. then called a general council at Ephesus in 431, before which Nestoriua refused to appear, and was deposed from his dig- nity of patriarch by the suffrages of 200 bishops. But this did not put an end to the controversy ; the etreets of Ephesus were disturbed by the brawls And the pavement of the cathedral was literally stained with the blood of the contending parties Theodosius arrested both the patriarchs ; but after the lapse of only a few days, Cyril triumphed over his adversary : with him triumphed the cause of the Virgin. Nestorius was deposed and exiled; hi? writings condemned to the flames; but still the opinions he had advocated were adopted by num- bers, who were regarded as heretics by those who Jailed themselves " the Catholic Church." The long continuance of this controversy, th« a60 legends of the madonna. obstinacy of the Nestorians, the passionate zeal ot those who held the opposite doctrines, and theii ultimate triumph when the Western Churches of Rome and Carthage declared in their favour, all tended to multiply and disseminate far and wide throughout Christendom those images of the VirguL which exhibited her as Mother of the GodheaoT At length the ecclesiastical authorities, headed by Pope Gregory the Great, stamped them as ortho- dox : and as the cross had been the primeval sym- bol which distinguished the Christian from the Pagan, so the image of the Virgin Mother with her Child now became the symbol which distin- guished the Catholic Christian from the Nestorian Dissenter. Thus it appears that if the first religious repre- sentations of the Virgin and Child were not a con- sequence of the Nestorian schism, yet the conse- cration of such effigies as the visible form of a theological dogma to the purposes of worship and ecclesiastical decoration must date from the Coun- cil of Ephesus in 431 ; and their popularity and general diffusion throughout the western Churches, from the pontificate of Gregory in the beginning of the seventh century. In the most ancient of these effigies which re- main, we have clearly only a symbol ; a half fig- ure, veiled, with hands outspread, and the half figure of a child placed against her bosom, without any sentiment, without even the action of sustain- bg him. Such was the formal but quite inteUigi- THE VIRGIN AND CHILD ENTHRONED. 161 ■}le sig»; but it soon became more it became a "epresentation. As it was in the East that the 3ause of the Virgin first triumphed, we might nat- urally expect to find the earliest examples in the old Greek churches ; but these must have perished in the furious onslaught made by the Iconoclasts on all the sacred images. The controversy between the image-worshippers and the image-breakers, which distracted the East for more than a century (that is, from 726 to 840), did not, however, ex- tend to the west of Europe. We find the primeval Byzantine type, or at least the exact reproduction of it, in the most ancient western churches, and preserved to us in the mosaics of Kome, Ravenna, and Capua. These remains are nearly all of the same date, much later than the single figures of Christ as Redeemer, and belonging unfortunately to a lower period and style of art. The true sig- nificance of the representation is not, however, left doubtful ; for all the earliest traditions and inscrip- tions are in this agreed, that such effigies were in- tended as a confession of faith ; an acknowledg- ment of the dignity of the Virgin Mary, as the ** Sancta Dei Genitrix ; " as a visible refutation of " the infamous, iniquitous, and sacrilegious doc- trines of Nestorius the Heresiarch." * As these ancient mosaic figures of the Virgin, • Mostrando quod ipsa Deipara esset contra impiam Nesteru ^eresium quam talent esse iste nefandus Heresiarco negabat Tld« Oiampini, and Munter's '' Sinnbilder." .62 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. enthroned with her infant Son, were the precursors and models of all that was afterwards conceived and executed in art, we must examine them in de tail before proceeding further. The mosaic of the cathedral of Capua represents in the highest place the half figure of Christ in the act of benediction. In one of the spandrels, to the right, is the prophet Isaiah, bearing a scroll, on which is inscribed, Ecce Dominus in fortitudine veniet, et brachium ejus dominibaiur^ — " The Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him." (Isaiah, ch. xl. v. 10.) On the left stands Jeremiah, also with a scroll and the words, Fortisdme^ magne, et potens Dominus exercituum no- men tibiy — " The great, the mighty God, the Lord of hosts is his name." (Jeremiah, ch. xxxii. v. 18.) In the centre of the vault beneath, the Virgin is seated on a rich throne, a footstool under her feet ; she wears a crown over her veil. Christ, seated on her knee, and clothed, holds a cross in his left hand ; the right is raised in benediction. On one side of the throne stand St. Peter and St. Stephen ; on the other St. Paul and St. Agatha, to whom the church is dedicated. The Greek monogram of the Virgin is inscribed below the throne. The next in date which remains visible, is the group in the apsis of S. Maria-della-Navicella (Rome), ex- ecuted about 820, in the time of Paschal I., a pon- tiflf who was very remarkable for the zeal with which he rebuilt and adorned the then half-ruined •liurches of Rome. The Virgin, of colossal size, if THE VIRGIN AND CHILD ENTHRONED. 163 leated on a throne ; her robe and veil are blue the infant Christ, in a gold-coloured vest, is seated m her lap, and raises his hand to bless the worship- pers. On each side of the Virgin is a group of adoring angels ; at her feet kneels the diminutive figure of Pope Paschal. In the Santa Maria-Nova (called also, " Santa Francesca," Rome), the Virgin is seated on a throne wearing a rich crown, cis queen of heaven. The infant Christ stands upon her knee ; she has one hand on her bosom and sustains him with the other. On the fa9ade of the portico of the S. Maria-in- Trastevere at Rome, the Virgin is enthroned, and crowned, and giving her breast to the Child. This mosaic is of later date than that in the apsis, but is one of the oldest examples of a representation which was evidently directed against the heretical doubts of the Nestorians : " How," said they, plead- ing before the council of Ephesus, "can we call him God who is only two or three months old ; oi fuppose the Logos to have been suckled and to in- crease in wisdom ? " The Virgin in the act of Buckling her (yhild, is a motif often since repeated when the original significance was forgotten. In the chapel of San Zeno (Rome), the Virgin 18 enthroned ; the Child is seated on her knee. He holds a scroll, on which are the words Ego sum lux mundi, " I am the light of the world " the right hand is raised in benediction. A'Dove is the mono* gram M-P 0Y> Mama Mater Dei. 1 64 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. In the niosalcs, from the eighth to the eleventb century, we find Art at a very low ebb. The back ground is flat gold, not a blue heaven with its gold- en stars, as in the early mosaics of the fifth and sixth centuries. The figures are ill-proportioned * the faces consist of lines without any attempt al form or expression. The draperies, however, have a certain amplitude ; " and the character of a few accessories, for example, the crown on the Virgm'f head, instead of the invariable Byzantine veil, be- trays," says Kugler, "a northern and probably a Fraiikish influence." The attendant saints, gen- erally St. Peter and St. Paul, stand stifi* and up- right on each side. But with all their faults, these grand, formal, sig- nificant groups ^- or rather not groups, for there waa as yet no attempt either at grouping or variety of ac- tion, for that would have been considered irreverent — but these rows of figures, were the models of the early Italian painters and mosaic- workers in their large architectural mosaics and altar-pieces set up in the churches during the revival of Art, from the period of Cimabue and Andrea Tafi down to the latter half of the thirteenth century : all partook of this lifeless, motionless character, and were, at the same time, touched with the same solemn religious %eling. And long afterwards, when the arrange- ment became less formal and conventional, their in- fluence may still be traced in those noble enthrone(f Madonnas, which represent the Virgin as queen oi keaven and of angels, either alone, or with attend THE V^IRGIN AND CHILD ENTHRONED. 165 Wit saints, and martyrs, and venerable confessors w^aiting round her state. The general disposition of the two figures varies but little in the earliest examples which exist for us in painting, and which are, in fact, very much alike. The Madonna seated on a throne, wearing a red tunic and a blue mantle, part of which is drawn as a veil over her head, holds the infant Christ, clothed in a red or blue tunic. She looks straight out of the picture with her head a Uttle de- clined to one side. Christ has the right hand raised m benediction, and the other extended. Such were the simple, majestic, and decorous effigies, the legit- imate successors of the old architectural mosaics, and usually placed over the high altar of a church or chapel. The earliest examples which have been preserved are for that reason celebrated in the history of Art. The first is the enthroned Virgin of Guido da Siena, who preceded Cimabue by twenty or thirty years. In this picture, the Byzantine conception and style of execution are adhered to, yet with a Boftened sentiment, a touch of more naturEil, life- like feeling, particularly in the head of the Child. The expression in the face of the Virgin struck me as very gentle and attractive; but it has been, 1 am afraid, retouched, so that we cannot be quite Bure that we have the original features. Fortu- nately Guido has placed a date on his work, mccxxi., and also inscribed on it a distich, which ihows that he felt, with some consciousness and 166 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. ielf-complacency, his superiority to his Byzantine models : — '*Me Guido de Senis diebos depinxit amGenis Quern Christies lenis nullis velit angere pcenis.** • Next we may refer to the two colossal Madonnas by Cimabue, preserved at Florence. The first, which was painted for the Vallombrosian monks of the S. Trinity, is now in the gallery of the acad« emy. It has all the stiffness and coldness of the Byzantine manner. There are three adoring angels on each side, disposed one above another, and four prophets are placed below in separate niches, half figures, holding in their hands their prophetic scrolls, as in the old mosaic at Capua, al- ready described. The second is preserved in the Ruccellai chapel, in the S. Maria Novella, in its original place. In spite of its colossal size, and formal attitude, and severe style, the face of this Madonna is very striking, and has been well de- scribed as " sweet and unearthly, reminding you of a sibyl." The infant Christ is also very fine. There are three angels on each side, who seem to sustain the carved chair or throne on which the Madonna is seated ; and the prophets, instead of being below, are painted in small circular medalKons down each side of the frame. The throne and the background \re covered with gold. Vasari gives a very graphic • The meai^g, for it is not easy to translate literally, la^^Mt JkUhpainteij in pleasant days, Guido af Siena^ XJpon whose som may Christ ieign to have mercy! " THE VIRGIN AND CHILD ENTHRONED. 167 ind animated account of the estimation in which this picture was held when first executed. Its co- lossal dimensions, though familiar in the great mo- Baics, were hitherto unknown in painting ; and not less astonishing appeared the deviation, though slight, from ugliness and lifelessness into grace and nature. " And thus," he says, " it happened that this work was an object of so much admiration to the people of that day, they having never seen anything better, that it was carried in solemn pro- cession, with the sound of trumpets and other festal demonstrations, from the house of Cimabue to the church, he himself being highly rewarded and hon- oured for it. It is further reported, and may be read in certain records of old painters, that, whilst Cimabue was painting this picture, in a garden near the gate of San Pietro, King Charles the Elder, of Anjou, passed through Florence, and the authorities of the city, among other marks of re- spect, conducted him to see the picture of Cimabuft. When this work was thus shown to the King it had not before been seen by any one ; wherefore all the men and women of Florence hastened in crowds to admire it, making all possible demonstrations of delight. The inhabitants of the neighbourhood, re- joicing in this occurrence, ever afterwards called that place Borgo Allegri ; and tnis name it has ever wnce retained, although in process of time it be- came enclosed within the walls of the city.** In the strictly devotional representations of thf ^68 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. Virgin and Child, she is invariably seated, tiL the end of the thirteenth century ; and for the next hundred years the innovation of a standing figure was confined to sculpture. An early ex- ample is the beautiful statue by Mccold Pisano, in the Capella della Spina at Pisa ; and others will be found in Cicognara's work (Storia della Scul- tura Moderna). The Gothic cathedrals, of the thirteenth century, also exhibit some most graceful examples of the Madonna in sculpture, standing on a pedestal, crowned or veiled, sustaining on her left arm the divine Child, while in her right she holds a sceptre or perhaps a flower. Such crowned or Bceptred effigies of the Virgin were placed on the central pillar which usually divided the great door of a church into two equal parts ; in reference to the text, *' I am the door ; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved." In Roman Catholic coun- tries we find such effigies set up at the corners of streets, over the doors of houses, and the gates of gardens, sometimes rude and coarse, sometimes ex- ceedingly graceful, according to the period of art and skill of the local artist. Here the Virgin ap- pears in her character of Protectress — our Lady of Grace, or our Lady of Succour. In pictures, we rarely find the Virgin standing, before the end of the fourteenth century. An al- most singular example is to be found in an old Greek Madonna, venerated as miraculous, in the Cathedral of Orvleto, under the title of ia Madonna THE VIRGIN AND CHILD ENTHRONED. 169 a San Brizio, and to which is attributed a fabulous mtiquity. I may be mistaken, but my impression, on seeing it, was, that it could not be older than the end of the thirteenth century. The crowns worn by the Virgin and Christ are even more mod- ern, and out of character with the rest of the paint- ing. In Italy the pupils of Giotto first began to represent the Virgin standing on a raised dais. There is an example by Puccio Capanna, engraved in d*Agincourt's work ; but such figures are very uncommon. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centu- ries they occur more frequently in the northern than in the Italian schools. In the simple enthroned Madonna, variations of attitude and sentiment were gradually introduced. The Virgin, instead of supporting her Son with both hands, embraces him with one hand, and with the other points to him ; or raises her right hand to bless the worshipper. Then the Child caresses bis mother, — a charming and natural idea, but a deviation from the solemnity of the purely religious significance ; better imagined, however, to convey the relation between the mother and child, than liie Virgin suckUng her infant, to which I have already alluded in its early religious, or rather con- troversial meaning. It is not often that the en- throned Virgin is thus occupied. Mr. Rogers had in his collection an exquisite example where the Virgin, seated in state on a magnificent throne "•nder a Gothic canopy and crowned as queen of Veaven, offers her breast to the divine Infant 170 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. Then the Mother adores her Child. This it properly the Madre Pia afterwards so beautifully varied. He lies extended on her knee, and she looks down upon him with hands folded in prayer or she places her hand under his foot, an attitude which originally implied her acknowledgment of his sovereignty and superiority, but was continued as a natural motif when the figurative and relig- ious meaning was no longer considered. Some- times the Child looks up in his mother's face with his finger on his lip, expressing the Verbum sum, " I am the Word." Sometimes the Child, bending for- wards from his mother's knee, looks down benignly on the worshippers, who are supposed to be kneel- ing at the foot of the altar. Sometimes, but very rarely he sleeps ; never in the earhest examples ; for to exhibit the young Redeemer asleep, where he is an object of worship, was then a species of solecism. When the enthroned Virgin is represented hold- ing a book, or reading, while the infant Christ, perhaps, lays his hand upon it — a variation in the first simple treatment not earlier than the end of the fourteenth centviry, and very significant — she is then the Virgo Sapientissima, the most Wise Virgin ; or the Mother of Wisdom, Mater Sapi* entice ; and the book she holds is the Book of Wis- dom.* This is the proper interpretation where *L'Abb6 Crosnier, " Iconographle Chr6tlenne;" but thf kook as an attribute had another meaning, for which, see tfai Introduction. THE VIRGIN AND CHILD ENTHRONED. 171 tne Virgin is seated on her throne. In a most beautiful picture by Granacci (Berlin Gal.), she is thus enthroned, and reading intently ; while John the Baptist and St. Michael stand on each side. With regard to costume, the colours in which the enthroned Virgin-Mother was arrayed scarcely ever varied from the established rule : her tunic was to be red, her mantle blue ; red, the colour of love, and religious aspiration ; blue, the colour of constancy and heavenly purity. In the pictures of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and down to the early part of the fifteenth, these colours are of a soft and delicate tint, — rose and pale azure ; but afterwards, when powerful effects of colour became a study, we have the intense crimson, and the dark blue verging on purple. Sometimes the blue man- tle is brought over her head, sometimes she wears a white veil, in other instances the queenly crown. Sometimes (but very rarely when she is throned as the Regina Coeli) she has no covering or ornament on her head ; and her fair hair parted on her brow, flows down on either side in long luxuriant tresses. In the Venetian and German pictures, she ia often most gorgeously arrayed ; her crown studded with jewels, her robe covered with embroidery, or Dordered with gold and pearls. The ornamental parts of her dress and throne were sometimes, to mcrease the magnificence of the effect, raised in relief and gilt. To the early German painters, we might too often apply the sarcasm of Apelles, who 172 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. laid of his rival, that, " not being able to make Venus beautiful he had made her fine ; " but some of the Venetian Madonnas are lovely as well as splendid. Gold was often used, and in great pro- fusion, in some of the Lombard pictures even of a late date ; for instance, by Carlo Crivelli : befoie the middle of the sixteenth century, this was con- sidered barbaric. The best Italian painters gave the Virgin ample, well disposed drapery, but dis- pensed with ornament. The star embroidered on her shoulder, so often retained when all other orna- ment was banished, expresses her title " Stella Maris." I have seen some old pictures, in which she wears a ring on the third finger. This ex- presses her dignity as the Sposa as well as the Mother. With regard to the divine Infant, he is, in the early pictures, invariably draped, and it is not till the beginning of the fifteenth century that we find him first partially and then wholly undraped. In the old representations, he wears a long tunic with full sleeves, fastened with a girdle. It is sometimes of gold stufi* embroidered, sometimes white, crim- son, or blue. This almost regal robe was after- wards exchanged for a little semi-transparent shirt without sleeves. In pictures of the throned Ma- donna painted expressly for nunneries, the Child «, I believe, always clothed, or the Mother partly infolds him in her own drapery. In the Umbrian pictures of the fifteenth century, the Infant often Wears a coral necklace, then and now worn by THE VIRGIN AND CHILD ENTHRONED. 173 cliildren in that district, as a charm against the evil Eye. In the Venetian pictures he has sometimes a coronal of pearls. In the carved and painted im- ages set up in churches, he wears, like his mother, a rich crown over a curled wig, and is hung round with jewels ; but such images must be considered as out of the pale of legitimate art. Of the various objects placed in the hand of the Child as emblems I have already spoken, and of their sacred significance as such, — the globe, the book, the bird, the flower, &c. In the works of the ignorant secular artists of later times, these symbols of power, or divinity, or wisdom, became mere playthings ; and when they had become fa- miliar, and required by custom, and the old sacred associations utterly forgotten, we find them most profanely applied and misused. To give one ex- ample: — the bird was originally placed in the hand of Christ as the emblem of the soul, or of the spiritual as opposed to the earthly nature ; in a picture by Baroccio, he holds it up before a cat, to be frightened and tormented.* But to proceed. The throne on which the Virgin is seated, is, in very early pictures, merely an embroidered cushion on a sort of stool, or a carved Gothic chair, such as we see in the thrones and stalls of cathedrals. It • In the " History of Our Lord, as illustrated in the Fint Arts," the devotional and characteristic eflSgies of the infant Christ, and the accompanying attributes, Till be treated m ength. 12 174 LLOENDS OF THE MADONNA. IS afterwards converted into a rich arcHtecturaj throne, most elaborately adorned, according to the taste and skill of the artist. Sometimes, as in the early Venetian pictures, it is hung with garlands of fruits and flowers, most fancifully disposed. Some- times the arabesque ornaments are raised in relief and gilt. Sometimes the throne is curiously painted to imitate various marbles, and adorned with me- dallions and bas-reliefs from those subjects of the Old Testament which have a reference to the char- acter of the Virgin and the mission of her divine Child ; the commonest of all being the Fall, which rendered a Redeemer, necessary. Moses striking the rock (the waters of life) — the elevation of the brazen serpent — the gathering of the manna — or Moses holding the broken tablets of the old law, — * all types of redemption, are often thus introduced as ornaments. In the sixteenth century, when the purely religious sentiment had declined, and a classical and profane taste had infected every de- partment of art and literature, we find the throne of the Virgin adorned with classical ornaments and bas-reliefs from the antique remains; as, for in- stance, the hunt of Theseus and Hippolyta. We must then suppose her throned on the ruins of paganism, an idea suggested by the old legends, ■which represent the temples and statues of the hea- then gods as falling into ruin on the approach of the Virgin and her Child ; and a more picturesque application of this idea afterwards became common H other subjects. In Garo'falo's picture the throne THE VIRGIN AND CHILD ENTHRONED. 175 is adorned with Sphinxes — a Vantique. Andrea del Sarto has placed harpies at the corner of th€> pedestal of the throne, in his famous Madonna di San Francesco (Florence Gal.), — a gross fault in that otherwise grand and faultless picture ; one of those desecrations of a religious theme which An drea, as devoid of religious feeling as he was weak and dishonest, was in the habit of committing. But whatever the material or style of the throne, whether simple or gorgeous, it is supposed to be a heavenly throne. It is not of the earth, nor on the earth ; and at first it was alone and unapproach- able. The Virgin-mother, thus seated in her maj- esty, apart from all human beings, and in commun- ion only with the Infant Godhead on her knee, or the living worshippers who come to lay down their cares and sorrows at the foot of her throne and breathe a devout " Salve Regina ! " — is, through its very simplicity and concentrated interest, a eublime conception. The effect of these fig- ures, in their divine quietude and loveliness, can never be appreciated when hung in a gallery or room with other pictures, for admiration, or criti- cism, or comparison. I remember well suddenly discovering such a Madonna, in a retired chapel in S. Francesco della Vigna at Venice, — a picture 1 had never heard of, by a painter then quite un- known to me, Fra Antonio da Negroponte, a Fran* ciscan friar who lived in the fifteenth century. The calm dignity of the attitude, the sweetness, the ttloring love in the face of the queenly mothei A9 76 LEGENDS OP THE MADONNA. mth folded Lands she looked down oh the divine Infant reclining on her knee, so struck upon my heart, that I remained for minutes quite motionless. In this picture, nothing can exceed the gorgeous iplendor of the Virgin's throne and apparel : she wears a jewelled crown ; the Child a coronal of pearls ; while the background is composed entirely of the mystical roses twined in a sort of treillage, I remember, too, a picture by Carlo Crivelli, in which the Virgin is seated on a throne, adorned, in the artist's usual style, with rich festoons of fruit and flowers. She is most sumptuously crowned and apparelled; and the beautiful Child on her knee, grasping her hand as if to support himself, with the most naive and graceful action bends for- ward and looks down benignly on the worshippers supposed to be kneeling below. When human personages were admitted within the same compartment, the throne was generally raised by several steps, or placed on a lofty pedes- tal, and till the middle of the fifteenth century it was always in the centre of the composition front- ing the spectator. It was a Venetian innovation to place the throne at one side of the picture, and ihow the Virgin in profile or in the act of turning round. This more scenic disposition became after- W2^rds, in the passion for variety and effect, too pal- pably artificial, and at length forced and theatricaL The Italians distinguish between the Madonna in Trono and the Madonna in Gloria. When human beings, however sainted and exalted were admitted THE VIRGIN AND CHILD ENTHRONED. 177 >?itliin the margin of the picture, the divine dignity Df the Virgin as Madre di Dio, was often expressed by elevating her wholly above the earth, and plac- ing her " in regions mild of calm and serene air," with the crescent or the rainbow under her feet This is styled a " Madonna in Gloria." It is, in fact, a return to the antique conception of the en- throned Redeemer, seated on a rainbow, sustained by the " curled clouds," and encircled by a glory of cherubim. The aureole of light, within whioh the glorified Madonna and her Child when in a standing position are often placed, is of an oblong form, called from its shape the mandorla, " the al- mond ; " * but in general she is seated above in a sort of ethereal exaltation, while the attendant saints itand on the earth below. This beautiful arrange- ment, though often very sublimely treated, has not the simple austere dignity of the throne of state . and when the Virgin and Child, as in the works of the late Spanish and Flemish painters, are formed out of earth's most coarse and common- place materials, the aerial throne of floating fantas- tic clouds suggests a disagreeable discord, a fear leat the occupants of heaven should fall on the heads of their worshippers below. Not so the Vlr- gins of the old Italians ; for they look so divinely ethereal that they seem uplifted by their own 8pir- Ituallty : not even the air-borne clouds are needed to sustain them. They have no touch of earth or IKiTth's material beyond the human form; their • Or the •'* Vescica Pisces " by Lord Lindsay and others. 178 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. proper place Is the seventh heaven ; and there they repose, a presence and a power — a personification of infinite mercy sublimated by innocence and purity ; and thence they look down on their wor* shippers and attendants, while these gaze upwards ** with looks commercing with the skies/* And now of these angelic and sainted accesso- ries, however placed, we must speak at length ; for much of the sentiment and majesty of the Ma- donna effigies depend on the proper treatment of the attendant figures, and on the meaning they convey to the observer. The Virgin is entitled, by authority of the Church, queen of angels, of prophets, of apostles, of mar- tyrs, of virgins, and of confessors ; and from among these her attendants are selected. Angels were first admitted, waiting immediately round her chair of state. A signal instance is the group of the enthroned Madonna, attended by the four archangels, as we find it in the very ancient mosaic in Sant-Apollinare-Novo, at Aavenna. As the belief in the superior power and sanctity of the Blessed Virgin grew and spread, the angels no longer attended her as princes of the heavenly host, guardians, or councillors; they became, in he early pictures, adoring angels, sustaining her throne on each side, or holding up the embroidered curtain which forms the background. In the Ma- ionna by Cimabue, which, if it be not the earlioirf THE VIRGIN AND CHII D. 179 *fter the revival of art, was one of the first in which the Byzantine manner was softened and Italianized, we have six grand, solemn-looking an gels, three on each side of the throne, arranged perpendicularly one above another. The Virgin herself is of colossal proportions, far exceeding them in size, and looking out of her frame, " large as a goddess of the antique world." In the other Madonna in the gallery of the academy, we have the same arrangement of the angels. Giotto di- versified this arrangement. He placed the angela kneeling at the foot of the throne, making music, and waiting on their divine Mistress as her celestial choristers, — a service the more fitting because she was not only queen of angels, but patroness of music and minstrelsy, in which character she haa St. Cecilia as her deputy and delegate. This ac- companiment of the choral angels was one of the earliest of the accessories, and continued down to the latest times. They are most particularly lovely m the pictures of the fifteenth century. TTiey kneel and strike their golden lutes, or stand and Bound their silver clarions, or sit like beautiful winged children on the steps of the throne, and pipe and sing as if their spirits were overflowing with harmony as well as love and adoration.* In a curious picture of the enthroned Madonna and Child (Berlin Gal.), by Gentil Fabriano, a tree rises on each side of the throne, on which little ♦ As in the picture by Lo Spagna in our Nationa Qallery iro.282. i80 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. red seiaphim are perched like birds, singing and playing on musical instruments. In later times, they play and sing for the solace of the di- vine Infant, not merely adoring, but minister- ing: but these angels ministrant belong to an- other class of pictures. Adoration, not service, was required by the divine Child and his mother, when they were represented simply in their divine character, and placed far beyond earthly wants and earthly associations. There are examples where the angels in attend* ance bear, not harps or lutes, but the attributes of the Cardinal Virtues, as in an altar-piece by Tad- deo Gaddi at Florence. (Santa Croce, Rinucoini Chapel.) The partriarchs, prophets, and sibyls, all the personages, in fact, who lived under the old laWL^ when forming, in a picture or altar-piece, part of the cortege of the throned Virgin, as types, or prophets, or harbingers of the Incarnation, are on the outside of that sacred compartment wherein she is seated with her Child. This was the case with all the human personages down to the end of the thirteenth century ; and after that time, I find the characters of the Old Testament still excluded from the groups immediately round her throne. Their place was elsewhere allotted, at a more re- Bpectful distance. The only exceptions I can re- member, are King David and the patriarch Job and these only in late pictures, where David doea tot appear as prophet, but as the ancestor of thf THE VIRGIN AND CHILD. 18l Redeemer ; and Job, only at Venice, where he is A patron saint. The four evangelists and the twelve apostles are, in their collective character in relation to the Vir- gin, treated like the prophets, and placed around the altar-piece. Where we find one or more of the evangelists introduced into the group of attend- ant " Sanctities " on each side of her throne, it is not in their character of evangelists, but rather aa patron saints. Thus St. Mark appears constantly in the Venetian pictures ; but it is as the patron and protector of Venice. St. John the Evange- list, a favourite attendant on the Virgin, is near her in virtue of his peculiar relation to her and to Christ ; and he is also a popular patron saint. St. Luke and St. Matthew, unless they be patrons of the particular locality, or of the votary who pre- sents the picture, never appear. It is the same with the apostles in their collective character as Buch ; we find them constantly, as statues, ranged on each side of the Virgin, or as separate figures. Thus they stand over the screen of St. Mark's, at Venice, and also on the carved frames of the altar- pieces ; but either from their number, or some other cause, they are seldom grouped round the en- throned Virgin. It is St. John the Baptist who, next to the angels, seems to have been the first admitted to a propinquity with the divine persons. In Greek •rt, he is himself an angel, a messenger, and oflen 182 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. represented with wings. He was especially vener- ated in the Greek Church in his character of pre- cursor of the Kedeemer, and, as such, almost indis^ pensable in every sacred group ; and it is, perhaps, to the early influence of Greek art on the selec- tion and arrangement of the accessory personages, that we owe the preeminence of John the Bap- tist. One of the most graceful, and appropriate, and familiar of all the accessory figures grouped with the Virgin and Child, is that of the young St. John (called in Italian San Giovannino, and in Spanish San Juanito). When first introduced, we find him taking the place of the singing or piping angels in front of the throne. He generally stands, " clad in his raiment of camel's hair, having a gir- dle round his loins," and in his hand a reed cross, round which is bound a scroll with the words " Ecce Agnus Dei " (" Behold the Lamb of God"), while with his finger he points up to the enthroned group above him, expressing the text from St. Luke (c. ii.), "And thou. Child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest," as in Francia's picture in our National Gallery. Sometimes he bears a lamb in his arms, the Ecce Agnus Dei in form instead of words. The introduction of the young St. John becomes more and more usual from the beginning of the BLxteenth century. In later pictures, a touch of the dramatic is thrown into the arrangement : instead of being at the foot of the throne, he is placed it; as where the Virgin is throned on THE VIRGIN AND CHIL1>. 183 lofty pedestal, and she lays one hand on the head of the little St. John, while with the other she itrains her Child to her bosom ; or where the infant Christ and St. John, standing at her knee, embrace each other — a graceful incident in a Holy Fam- ily, but in the enthroned Madonna it impairs the religious conception ; it places St. John too much on a level with the Saviour, who is here in that divine character to which St. John bore witness, but which he did not share. It is very unusual to see John the Baptist in his childish character glori- fied in heaven among the celestial beings; I re- member but one instance, in a beautiful picture by Bonifazio. (Acad. Venice.) The Virgin is seated in glory, with her Infant on her knee, and encircled by cherubim; on one side an angel approaches with a basket of flowers on his head, and she is in act to take these flowers and scatter them on the saints below, — a new and graceful motif: on the other side sits John the Baptist as a boy about twelve years of age. The attendant saints below are St. Peter, St. Andrew, St. Thomas holding the girdle,* St, Francis, and St. Clara, all looking up with ecstatic devotion, except St. Clara, who looks down with a charming modesty. In early pictures, St. Anna, the mother of the Virgin, is very seldom introduced, because in such sublime and mystical representations of the Vergine * St. Thomas Is called in the catalogue, James, king of Ay 184 LEGENDS OF THE MAIONNA. Dea^ whatever connected her with realities, or with her earthly genealogy, is suppressed. But from the middle of the fifteenth century, St. Anna became, from the current legends of the history of the Vir- gin, an important saint, and when introduced into the devotional groups, which, however, is seldom, it Beems to have embarrassed the painters how to dis- pose of her. She could not well be placed below her daughter ; she could not be placed above her. It is a curious proof of the predominance of the feminine element throughout these representations, that while St. Joachim the father and St. Jo- seph the husband of the Virgin, are either omitted altogether, or are admitted only in a subordinate and inferior position, St. Anna, when she does appear, is on an equality with her daughter. There is a beautiful example, and apt for illustra- tion, in the picture by Francia, in our National Gallery, where St. Anna and the Virgin are seated together on the same throne, and the former pre- sents the apple to her divine Grandson. I remem- ber, too, a most graceful instance where St. Anna stands behind and a little above the throne, with her hands placed affectionately on the shoulders of the Virgin, and raises her eyes to heaven as if in thanksgiving to God, who through her had brought salvation into the world. Where the Virgin is seated on the knees of St. Anna, it is a still later innovation. There is such a group in a picture in the Louvre, after a famous cartoon by Leonardo da Vinci, which, in spite of its celebrity, has alwayi THE VIRGIN AND CHILD. 185 uppeared to me very fantastic and irreverent in treatment. There is also a fine print by Carraglio, in which the Virgin and Child are sustained on the knees of St. Anna : under her feet lies the dragon. St. Roch and St. Sebastian on each side, and the dead dragon, show that this is a votive subject, an expression of thanksgiving after the cessation of a plague. The Germans, who were fond of this group, imparted, even to the most religious treat- ment, a domestic sentiment. The earliest instance I can point to of the en- throned Virgin attended by both her parents, is by Vivarini (Acad. Venice) : St. Anna is on the right of the throne ; St. Joachim, in the act of reverently removing his cap, stands on the left ; more in front is a group of Franciscan saints. The introduction of St. Anna into a Holy Fam- ily, as part of the domestic group, is very appro- priate and graceful ; but this of course admits, and indeed requires, a wholly different sentiment. The same remark applies to St. Joseph, who, in the earlier representations of the enthroned Virgin, is carefully excluded ; he appears, I think, first in the Venetian pictures. There is an example in a splendid composition by Paul Veronese. (Acad. Venice.) The Virgin, on a lofty throne, holds the Child ; both !iook down on the worshippers ; St Joseph is partly seen behind leaning on his crutch. Round the throne stand St. John the Baptist, St. Justina, as patroness of Venice, and St. George Bt Jerome is on the other side in deep meditation 186 LEGENDS OF THE MADONXA. A magnificent picture, quite sumptuous in coloui and arrangement, and yet so solemn and so calm ! * The composition by Michael Angelo, styled a " Holy Family," is, though singular in treatment, certainly devotional in character, and an enthroned Virgin. She is seated in the centre, on a raised architectural seat, holding a book ; the infant Christ slumbers, — books can teach him nothing, and to make him reading is unorthodox. In the back- ground on one side, St. Joseph leans over a balus- trade, as if in devout contemplation ; a young St. John the Baptist leans on the other side. The grand, mannered, symmetrical treatment is very remarkable and characteristic. There are many engravings of this celebrated composition. In one of them, the book held by the Virgin bears on one side the text in Latin, ''^Blessed art thou among women, and Messed is C^e fruit of thy womh.'* On the opposite page, " Blessed />/> God, who hqs re- garded the low esta/e of his hand-maiden. For, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed." While the young St. John is admitted into such close companionship with the enthroned Madonna, his mother Elizabeth, so commonly and beautifully introduced into the Holy Families, is almost uni- formly excluded. * There is another example by Paul Veronese, similar It iharacter and treatment, in which St. John and St. Joseph arf 311 the throne with the Virgin and Child, and St. Catherine an4 Bt. Antony below. THE VIRGIN AND CHILD. 187 Next in order, as accessory figures, appear some •ne or two or more of the martyrs, confessors, and virgin patronesses, with their respective attributes, either placed in separate niches and compartments on each side, or, when admitted within the sacred precincts where sits the Queenly Virgin Mother and her divine Son, standing, in the manner of councillors and officers of state on solemn occBr sions, round an earthly sovereign, all reverently calm and still ; till gradually this solemn formality, this isolation of the principal characters, gave way to some sentiment which placed them in nearer relation to each other, and to the divine person- ages. Occasional variations of attitude and action were introduced — at first, a rare innovation ; ere long, a custom, a fashion. For instance; — the doctors turn over the ICrti^es of their great books as if seeking for the written testimonies to the truth of the mysterious Incarnaticrfi made visible in the per- sons of the Mother and Child ; the confessors con- template the radiant group with rapture, and seem ready to burst forth in hymns of praise ; the mar- tyrs kneel in adoration ; the virgins gracefully ofier their victorious palms : and thus the painters of the best periods of art contrived to animate their sacred groups without rendering them too dramatic and too secular. Such, then, was the general arrangement of that religious subject which is technically styled " The Madonna enthroned and attended by Saints." The selection and the relative position of these angelia 188 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. iind saintly accessories were not, as I have already Dbserved, matters of mere taste or caprice ; and an attentive observation of the choice and disposition of the attendant figures will often throw light on the original significance of such pictures, and the circumstances under which they were painted. Shall I attempt a rapid classification and inter- pretation of these infinitely varied groups ? It ia a theme which might well occupy volumes rather dian pages, and which requires far more antiqua- rian learning and historical research than I can pre- tend to ; still by giving the result of my own obser- vations in some few instances, it may be possible so to excite the attention and fancy of the reader, as to lead him further on the same path than I have myself been able to venture. We can trace, in a large class of these pictures, a general religious significance, common to all pe- riods, all localities, all circumstances ; while in another class, the interest is not only particular and local, but sometimes even personal. To the first class belongs the antique and beau- tiful group of the Virgin and Child, enthroned be- tween the two great archangels, St. Michael and St. Gabriel. It is probably the most ancient of these combinations : we find it in the earliest Greek art, in the carved ivory diptychs of the eighth and ninth centuries, in the old Greco-Italian pictures, in the ecclesiastical sculpture and stained glass of from the twelfth to the fifteenth century THE VIRGIN AND CHILD. 189 {n the most ancient examples, the two angels are leen standing on each side of the Madonna, not worshipping, but with their sceptres and attributes, as princes of the heavenly host, attending on her who is queen of angels ; St. Gabriel as the angel of birth and life, St. Michael as the angel of Death, that is, in the Christian sense, of deliverance and immortality. There is an instance of this antique treatment in a small Greek picture in the Waller- Btein collection. (Now at Kensington Palace.) In later pictures, St. Gabriel seldom appears ex- cept as the Angela Annunziatore ; but St. Michael very frequently. Sometimes, as conqueror over sin and representative of the Church militant, he stands with his foot on the dragon with a triumphant air ; or, kneeling, he presents to the infant Christ the scales of eternal justice, as in a famous picture by Leonardo da Vinci. It is not only because of hia popularity as a patron saint, and of the number of churches dedicated to him, that he is so frequently introduced into the Madonna pictures ; according to the legend, he was by Divine appointment the guardian of the Virgin and her Son while they sojourned on earth. The angel Raphael leading Tobias always expresses protection, and especially protection to the young. Tobias with his fish was an early type of baptism. There are many beau- tiful examples. In Raphael's "Madonna dell' Pesce" (Madrid Gal.) he is introduced as the patron saint of the painter, but not without a ref- erence to more sacred meaning, that of the guar* 13 190 -r.^GENDS OF THE MADONNA. dian spirit of all humanity. The warlike figure of St Michael, and the benign St. Raphael, are thus represented as celestial guardians in the beautiful picture by Peruglno now in our National Gallery. (No. 288.) There are instances of the three archangels all standing together below the glorified Virgin: St Michael in the centre with his foot on the prostrate fiend; St. Gabriel on the right presents his lily; and, on the left, the protecting angel presents his human charge, and points up to the source of sal- vation. (In an engraving after Giulio Romano.) The Virgin between St. Peter and St. Paul is also an extremely ancient and significant group. It appears in the old mosaics. As chiefs of the apostles and joint founders of the Church, St. Peter and St. Paul are prominent figures in many groups and combinations, particularly in the altar- pieces of the Roman churches, and those painted for the Benedictine communities. The Virgin, when supported on each side by St. Peter and St. Paul, must be understood to repre- eent the personified Church between her two great founders and defenders ; and this relation is ex- pressed in a very poetical manner, when St. Peter, kneeling, receives the allegorical keys from the hand of the infant Saviour. There are some curi- ous and beautiful instances of this combination of a •ignificant action with the utmost solemnity of treat- ment; for example, in that very extraordinary FraD- THE VIRGIN AND CHILD. 19l eiscan altar-piece, by Carlo Crivelli, lately purchased by Lord Ward, where St. Peter, having deposited his papal tiara at the foot of the throne, kneeling receives the great symbolical keys. And again, in a fine picture by Andrea Meldula, where the Virgin and Child are enthroned, and the infant Christ delivers the keys to Peter, who stands, but with a most reverential air; on the other side of the throne is St. Paul with his book and the sword held upright. There are also two attendant angels. On the border of the mantle of the Virgin is in- Bcribed " Ave Maria gratia plena." * I do not recollect any instance in which the four evangelists as such, or the twelve apostles in their collective character, wait round the throne of the Virgin and Child, though one or more of the evan- gelists and one or more of the apostles perpetually occur. The Virgin between St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, is also a very significant and beautiful combination, and one very frequently met with. Though both these saints were as chil- dren contemporary with the child Christ, and so represented in the Holy Families, in these solemn ideal groups they are always men. The first St John expresses regeneration by the rite of baptism * In the collection of Mr. Bromley, of Wootton. This pic- ture is otherwise remarkable as the only authenticated work of ATery rare painter. It bears his signature, and th^ styl* Indicates the end of the fifteenth century aa the probablt 192 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. the Becond St. John, distinguished as Theologus^ *• the Divine," stands with his sacramental cup, ex- pressing regeneration by faith. The former was the precursor of the Saviour, the first who pro- claimed him to the world as such ; the latter beheld the vision in Patmos, of the Woman in travail pur- sued by the dragon, which is interpreted in refer- ence to the Virgin and her Child. The group thus brought into relation is full of meaning, and, from the variety and contrast of character, full of poetical and artistic capabilities. St. John the Baptist is usually a man about thirty, with wild shaggy hair and meagre form, so draped that his vest of camel*8 hair is always visible ; he holds his reed cross. St. John the Evangelist is generally the young and graceful disciple ; but in some instances he is the venerable seer of Patmos, ** Whose beard descending sweeps his aged breast." There is an example in one of the finest pictures by Perugino. The Virgin is throned above, and surrounded by a glory of seraphim, with many- coloured wings. The Child stands on her knee. In the landscape below are St. Michael, St. Cathe- rine, St. ApoUonia, and St. John the Evangelist as the aged prophet with white flowing beard. (Bo- logna Acad.) The Fathers of the Church, as interpreters and defenders of the mystery of the Incarnation, ar«» rery significantly placed near the thrcne of tht THE VIRGIN AND CHILD. 198 Virgin and Child. In Western art, the Latin doe- tors, St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and St. Gregory, have of course the preeminence. (v Sacred and Legend. Art.) The effect produced by these aged, venerable, bearded dignitaries, with their gorgeous robes and mitres and flowing beards, in contrast with the soft limplicity of the divine Mother and her Infant, is. In the hands of really great artists, wonderfully fine. There is a splendid example, by Vivarini (Venice Acad.) ; the old doctors stand two on each side of the throne, where, under a canopy upborne by an^ gels, sits the Virgin, sumptuously crowned and at- tired, and looking most serene and goddess-like ; while the divine Child, standing on her knee, extends his little hand in the act of benediction. Of this picture I have already given a very detailed descrip- tion. (Sacred and Legend. Art.) Another exam- ple, a grand picture by Moretto, now in the Museum at Frankfort, I have also described. There is here a touch of the dramatic sentiment ; — the Virgin is tenderly caressing her Child, while two of the old doctors, St. Ambrose and St. Augustine, stand rev- erently on each side of her lofty throne ; St. Greg- ory sits on the step below, reading, and St. Jerome bends over and points to a page in his book. The Virgin is not sufficiently dignified; she has too much the air of a portrait ; and the action of the Child is, also, though tender, rather unsuited to the lignificance of the rest of the group ; but the pic- ture is, on the whole, magnificent. There is anoth- iM LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. Br fine example of the four doctors attending on ih€ Virgin, in the Milan Gallery.* Sometimes not four, but two only of these Fa- thers, appear in combination with other figures, and the choice would depend on the locality and other circumstances. But, on the whole, we rarely find a group of personages assembled round the throne of the Virgin which does not include one or more of these venerable pillars of the Church. St. Am- brose appears most frequently in the Milanese pic- tures : St. Augustine and St. Jerome, as patriarchs of monastic orders, are very popular : St. Gregory, I think, is more seldom met with than the others. The Virgin, with St. Jerome and St. Catherine, the patron saints of theological learning, is a fre- quent group in all monasteries, but particularly in the churches and houses of the Jeronimites. A beautiful example is the Madonna, by Francia. (Borghese Palace, Rome.) St. Jerome, with Mary Magdalene, also a frequent combination, expresses *heological learning in union with religious peni- tence and humility. Correggio's famous picture is an example, where St Jerome on one side present* his works in defence of the Church, and his trans* lation of the Scriptures ; while, on the other, Mary Magdalene, bending down devoutly, kisses the feet of the infant Christ. (Parma.) Of all the attendants on the Virgin and Child * In a votive picture of the Milanese School, dedicated by Lv loTioo Sfojrza II Mora. THE VIRGIN AND CniLD. 108 Ihe most popular is, perhaps, St. Catherine ; aiio the " Marriage of St. Catherine,** as a religious mystery, is made to combine with the most solemn and fbrmal arrangement of the other attendant fig- ures. The enthroned Virgin presides over the mystical rite. This was, for intelligible reasons, a favourite subject in nunneries,* In a picture by Garofalo, the Child, bending from his mother's knee, places a golden crown on the head of St. Catherine as Sposa ; on each side stand St. Agnes and St. Jerome. In a picture by Carlo Maratti, the nuptials take place in heaven, the Virgin and Child being throned in clouds. If the kneeling Sposa be St. Catherine of Siena, the nun, and not St. Catherine of Alexandria, or if the two are introduced, then we may be sure fjhat the picture was painted for a nunnery of the Do- minican order.f The great Madonna in Trono by the Dominican Fra Bartolomeo, wherein the queenly St. Cathe- line of Alexandria witnesses the mystical marriage of her sister saint, the nun of Siena, will occur to every one who has been at Florence ; and there is a smaller picture by the same painter in the Louvre ; — a different version of the same subject. * For a detailed account of the legendaiy marriage of St. Cath- irine and examples of treatment, see Sacred and Legendary Art. t See Legends of the Monastic Orders. A fine example of this group " the Spozulizio of St. Catherine of Siena," has lately been idded to our National Qallery ; (Lorenzo di San Sevccdno, No A 96 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. I must content myself with merely referring to these well-known pictures which have been often engraved, and dwell more in detail on another, not BO well known, and, to my feeling, as preeminently beautiful and poetical, but in the early Flemish, not the Italian style — a poem in aianguage less smooth and sonorous, but still a poem. This is the altar-piece painted by Hemmelinck for the charitable sisterhood of St. John*s Hospital at Bruges. The Virgin is seated under a porch, and her throne decorated with rich tapestry; two graceful angels hold a crown over her head. On the right, St. Catherine, superbly arrayed as a princess, kneels at her side, and the beautiful in- fant Christ bends forward and places the bridal ring on her finger. Behind her a charming angel, playing on the organ, celebrates the espousals with hymns of joy ; beyond him stands St. John the Bap- tist with his lamb. On the left of the Virgin kneels St. Barbara, reading intently; behind her an angel with a book; beyond him stands St John the Evangehst, youthful, mild, and pensive. Through the arcades of the porch is seen a land- Bcape background, with incidents picturesquely treati d from the lives of the Baptist and the Evan- gelist. Such is the central composition. The two wings represent — on one side, the beheading of St. John the Baptist ; on the other, St. John tho Evangelist, in Patmos, and the vision of the Apoc- alypse. In this great work there is a unity and harmony of design which blends the whole into av THE VIRGIN AND CHILD. X97 BDiprearfeire poem. The object was to do honour ia the patrons of the hospital, the two St. Johns, and; at the same time, to express the piety of the Chari- table Sisters, who, like St. Catherine (the type of contemplative studious piety), were consecrated and espoused to Christ, and, like St. Barbara (the type of active piety), were dedicated to good works. It is a tradition, that Hemmelinck painted this al" tar-piece as a votive offering in gratitude to the good Sisters, who had taken him in and nursed him when dangerously wounded : and surely if this tra- dition be true, never was charity more magnificent- ly recompensed. In a very beautiful picture by Ambrogio Borgo- gnone (Dresden, collection of M. Grahl) the Vii> gin is seated on a splendid throne ; on the right kneels St. Catherine of Alexandria, on the left St. Catherine of Siena; the Virgin holds a hand of each, which she presents to the divine Child seated on her knee, and to each he presents a ring. The Virgin and Child between St. Catherine and St Barbara is one of the most popular, as well as one of the most beautiful and expressive, of these combinations ; signifying active and contem- plative life, or the two powers between which the social state was divided in the middle ages, namely, the ecclesiastical and the military, learning and arms (Sacred and Legend. Art) ; St. Catherine •eing the patron of the first, and St Barbara of 198 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. fche last. When the original significance had ceased to be understood or appreciated, the group continued to be a favourite one, particularly in Germany ; and examples are infinite. The Virgin between St. Mary Magdalene and St. Barbara, the former as the type of penance, hu- mility, and meditative piety, the latter as the type of fortitude and courage, is also very common. When between St. Mary Magdalene and St. Cath- erine, the idea suggested is learning, with penitence and humility ; this is a most popular group. So is St. Lucia with one of these or both : St. Lucia with her thmp or her eyes, is always expressive of light, the light of divine wisdom. The Vir^n between St. Nicholas and St. George U a very expressive group ; the former as the pa- tron saint of merchants, tradesmen, and seamen, the popular saint of the bourgeoisie ; the latter as the patron of soldiers, the chosen saint of the aristocra- cy. These two saints with St. Catherine are pre- eminent in the Venetian pictures ; for all three, in addition to their poetical significance, were vener- ated as especial protectors of Venice. St. George and St. Christopher both stand by the throne of the Virgin of Succour as protectors and deliverers in danger. The attribute of St Christopher is the little Christ on his shoulder ; and there are instances in which Christ appears on th6 .ap of his mother, and also on the shoulder of tht TflE VIRGIN AND CHILD. ii)9 fcttentlant St Christopher. This blunder, if it may be so called, has been avoided, very cleverly I should think in his own opinion, by a painter who makes St. Christopher kneel, while the Virgin places the little Christ on his shoulders ; a concetto quite inadmissible in a really religious group. In pictures dedicated by charitable communities, we often find St. Nicholas and St. Leonard as the patron saints of prisoners and captives. Where- ever St. Leonard appears he expresses deliverance from captivity. St. Omobuono, St. Martin, St. Eliz- abeth of Hungary, St. Roch, or other beneficent saints, waiting round the Virgin with kneeling beg- gars, or the blind, the lame, the sick, at their feet, always expressed the Virgin as the mother of mercy, the Consolatrix afflictorum. Such pictures were commonly found in hospitals, and the chapels and churches of the Order of Mercy, and other charitable institutions. The examples are numerous. I remem- ber one, a striking picture, by Bartolomeo Montagna, where the Virgin and Child are enthroned in the centre as usual. On her right the good St. Omo- buono, dressed as a burgher, in a red gown and fur cap, gives alms to a poor beggar ; on the left, St. Francis presents a celebrated friar of his Order, Bernardino da Feltri, the first founder of a mont-de- piete, who kneels, holding the emblem of his institu- tion, a little green mountain with a cross at the top. Besides these saints, who have a general religion* 200 LEGENDS 01 THE MADONNA. character and significance, we have the national and local saints, whose presence very often marks the country or school of art which produced the picture. A genuine Florentine Madonna is distinguished by a certain elegance and stateliness, and well be- comes her throne. As patroness of Florence, in her own right, the Virgin bears the title of Santa Maria del Fiore, and in this character she holds a flower, generally a rose, or is in the act of present- ing it to the Child. She is often attended by St John the Baptist, as patron of Florence ; but he is everywhere a saint of such power and importance as an attendant on the divine personages, that hia appearance in a picture does not stamp it as Florentine. St. Cosmo and St. Damian are Flor- entine, as the protectors of the Medici family ; but as patrons of the healing art, they have a signifi- cance which renders them common in the Vene- tian and other pictures. It may, however, be de- termined, that if St. John the Baptist, St. Cosmo and St. Damian, with St. Laurence (the patron of Lorenzo the Magnificent), appear together ic attendance on the Virgin, that picture is of the Florentine school. The presence of St. Zenobio, or of St. Antonino, the patron archbishops of Flor- ence, will set the matter at rest, for these are exclusively Florentine. In a picture by Giotto, angels attend on the Virgin bearing vases of Hlies in their hands. (Lilies are at once the emblem of the Virgin and the device of Florence.) ()■ THE VIRGIN AND CHILD. 201 •ach side kneel St. John the Baptist and St. Z©* nobio.* A Siena Madonna would naturally be attended by St. Bernardino and St. Catherine of Siena ; if they seldom appear together, it is because they be- long to different religious orders. In the Venetian pictures we find a crowd of guardian saints ; first among them, St. Mark, then , St. Catherine, St. George, St. Nicholas^ and St. Justina : wherever these appear together, that pic- ture is surely from the Venetian school. All through Loaabardy and Piedmont, St. Am- brose of Milan and St. Maurice of Savoy are favourite attendants on the Virgin. In Spanish and Flemish art, the usual attendants on the queenly Madonna are monks and nuns, which brings us to the consideration of a large and interesting class of pictures, those dedicated by the various religious orders. When» we remember that the institution of some of the most influential of these communities was coeval with the revi- val of art ; that for three or four centuries, art in all its forms had no more powerful or more munifi- '».ent patrons ; that they counted among their various brotherhoods some of the greatest artists the world Vias seen ; we can easily imagine how the beatified members of these orders have become so*conspicu- • We now possess in our National Gallery a Tery interesting •sample- of a Florentine enthroned Madonna, attended bj St Idin the Baptist and St. Zenobio as patrons of JE'loreuce. 802 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. ous as attendants on the celestial personages. To those who are accustomed to read the significance of a work of art, a single glance is often sufficient to decide for what order it has been executed. St. Paul is a favourite saint of the Benedictine communities; and there are few great pictures painted for them in which he does not appear. When in companionship with St. Benedict, either in the original black habit or the white habit of the reformed orders, with St. Scholastica bearing her dove, with St. Bernard, St. Romualdo, or other worthies of this venerable community, the inter- pretation is easy. Here are some examples by Domenico Puligo The Virgin not seated, but standing on a lofty ped« estal, looks down on her worshippers ; the Child in her arms extends the right hand in benediction; with his left he points to himself, " I am the Resur- rection and the Life." Around are six saints, St. Peter, St. Paulf St. John the Baptist as protector of Florence, St. Matthew, St. Catherine ; and St. Bernard, in his ample white habit, with his keen in- tellectual face, is about to write in a great book, and looking up to the Virgin for inspiration. The picture was originally painted for the Cistercians.* The Virgin and Child enthroned between St. Augustine and his mother St. Monica, as in a fine pictilre by Florigerio (Venice Acad.), would ihow the picture to be painted for one of the nu * It is now in the S Maria-Maddalena de' Paczi at Floranet ■ograyed in the ** Etmiia Pittrice," xxxT. THE VIRGIN AND CHILD. 208 meioiis branches of the Augustine Order. S^. An- tony the abbot is a favourite saint in pictures painted for the Augustine hermits. In the " Madonna del Baldachino " of Raphael, the beardless saint who stands in a white habit on one side of the throne is usually styled St. Bruno; an evident mistake. It is not a Carthusian, but a Cister- cian monk, and I think St. Bernard, the general pa- tron of monastic learning. The other attendant fiaints are St. Peter, St. James, and St. Augustine. The picture was originally painted for the church of San Spirito at Florence, belonging to the Augustines. But St. Augustine is also the patriarch of the Franciscans and Dominicans, and frequently takec' an influential place in their pictures, as the com- panion either of St. Francis or of St. Dominick, as in a picture by Fra Angelico. (Florence Gal.) Among the votive Madonnas of the mendicant orders, I will mention a few conspicuous for beauty and interest, which will serve as a key to others. 1. The Virgin and Child enthroned between Antony of Padua and St. Clara of Assisi, as in a small elegant picture by Pellegrino, must have been dedicated in a church of the Franciscans. (Sutherland Gal.) 2. The Virgin blesses St Francis, who looks up *doring : behind him St. Antony of Padua ; on the other side, John the Baptist as a man, and St. Cath- erine. A celebrated but not an. agreeaole picture^ painted by Correggio for the Franciscan church at Parma. (Dresden Gal.) 804 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. 3. The Virgin is seated In glory; on one side St. Francis, on the other St. Antony of Padaa, both placed in heaven, and almost on an equality with the celestial personages. Around are seven female figures, representing the seven cardinal vir- tues, bearing their respective attributes. Below are seen the worthies of the Franciscan Order; to the right of the Virgin, St. Elizabeth of Hun- gary, St. Louis of France, St. Bonaventura ; to the left, St. Ives of Bretagne, St. Eleazar, and St. Louis of Toulouse.* Painted for the Franciscans by Morone and Paolo Cavazzolo of Verona. This is a picture of wonderful beauty, and quite poeti- cal in the sentiment and arrangement, and the mingling of the celestial, the allegorical, and the real personages, with a certain solemnity and grace- fulness quite indescribable. The virtues, for in- stance, are not so much allegorical persons aa spiritual appearances, and the whole of the upper part of the picture is like a vision. 4. The Virgin, standing on the tree of life, holds the Infant: rays of glory proceed from them on every side. St. Francis, kneeling at the foot of the tree, looks up in an ecstasy of devotion, while a «nake with a wounded and bleeding head is crawl- ing away. This strange picture, painted for the Franciscans, by Carducho, about 1625, is a repre- lentation of an abstract dogma (redemption from original sin), in the most real, most animated form * For these Franciscan saints, v. Legends of the Monaatk THE VIRGIN AND CHILD. 204 — all over life, earthly breathing hfe — and made me start back : in the mingling of mysticism and materialism, it is quite Spanish.* *> The Virgin and Child enthroned. On the right of tlie Virgm, St. John the Baptist and St. Zeno- bio, the two protectors of Florence. The latter wears his episcopal cope richly embroidered with figures. On the left stand St. Peter and St. Domi- nick, protectors of the company for whom the pic- ture was painted. In front kneel St. Jerome and St. Francis. This picture was originally placed in San Marco, a church belonging to the Domini- cans.! 6. When the Virgin or the Child holds the Rosa- ry, it is then a Madonna del Rosario, and painted for the Dominicans. The Madonna by Murillo, in the Dulwich Gallery, is an example. There is an instance in which the Madonna and Child enthroned are distributing rosaries to the worshippers, and at- tended by St. Dominick and St. Peter Martyr, the *Esterhazy Gal., Vienna. Mr. Stirling tells us that the Fran- ciscan friars of Valladolid possessed two pictures of the Virgin by Mateo de Cerezo " in one of which she was represented sitting in % cherry-tree and adored by St. Francis. This unusual throne may perhaps have been introduced by Cerezo as a symbol of hia own devout feelings, his patronymic being the Castilian word for eherry-tree." — Stirling's Artists of Spain^ p. 1033. There are, however, many prints and pictures of the Virgin and Child seat- ed in a tree. It was one of the fantastic conceptions of an un- healthy period of religion and art 1 1 saw and admired this fine and valuable picture in tie Ki- Ifcaccini Palace at Florence in 1847 ; it was purchased for *»iir N»- I Gallerf in 1855. 14 206 LEQENDS OF THE MADONNA. two great saints of the Order. (Caravaggit Belve« dere Gal., Vienna.) 7. Very important in pictures is the Madonna aa more particularly the patroness of the Carmelites, under her well-known title of " Our Lady of Mount Carmel," or La Madonna del Carmine, The mem- bers of this Order received from Pope Honoriui III. the privilege of styling themselves the " Fam- ily of the Blessed Virgin," and their churches are all dedicated to her under the title of S. Maria del Carmine. She is generally represented holding the infant Christ, with her robe outspread, and be- neath its folds the Carmelite brethren and their chief saints.* There is an example in a picture by Pordenone which once belonged to Canova. (Acad. Venice.) The Madonna del Carmine is also por- trayed as distributing to her votaries small tablets on which is a picture of herself. 8. The Virgin, as patroness of the Order of Mer- cy, also distributes tablets, but they bear the badge of the Order, and this distinguishes " Our. Lady of Mercy," so popular in Spanish art, from " Our Lady of Mount Carmel." (v. Monastic Op- ders.) A large class of these Madonna pictures are vo- tive offerings for public or private mercies. They present some most interesting varieties of charactei and arrangement A votive Mater Misericordiae, with the Child i» • ▼. Legends of the Monastic Orders, "The OanneJtee." PUBLIC VOTIVE MADONNAS. 207 Ker arms, is often standing with her wide ample robe extended, and held up on each side by angels. Kneeling at her feet are the votaries who have con- secrated the picture, generally some community or brotherhood instituted for charitable purposes, who, as they kneel, present the objects of their charity — widows, orphans, prisoners, or the sick and infirm. The Child, in her arms, bends forward with the hand raised in benediction. I have already spoken of the Mater MisericordiaB without the Child. The sentiment is yet more beautiful and complete where the Mother of Mercy holds the infant Redeemer, the representative and pledge of God's infinite mer- cy, in her arms. There is a " Virgin of Mercy," by Salvator Rosa, which is singular and rather poetical in the concep- tion. She is seated in heavenly glory ; the infant Christ, on her knee, bends benignly forward. Tu- telary angels are represented as pleading for meiv cy, with eager outstretched arms; other angels, lower down, are liberating the souls of repentant sinners from torment. The expression in some of the heads, the contrast between the angelic pitying spirits and the anxious haggard features of the ** Anime del Purgatorio " are very fine and ani mated. Here Ae Virgin is the " Refuge of Sin- ners," Refugium Peccatorum. Such pictures are commonly met with in chapels dedicated to sei- 9ices for the dead. Another class of votive pi^twres are especial acti !08 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. of thanksgiving : — 1st. For victory, as La Madon na delta Vittoria^ Noire Dame des Victoires, The Virgin, on her throne, is then attended by one oi more of the warrior saints, together with the pa- tron or patroness of the victors. She is then our Lady of Victory. A very perfect example of these victorious Madonnas exists in a celebrated picture by Andrea Mantegna. The Virgin is seated on a lofty throne, embowered by garlands of fruit, leaves, and flowers, and branches of coral, fanci- fully disposed as a sort of canopy over her head. The Child stands on her knee, and raises his hand in the act of benediction. On the right of the Vir- gin appear the warlike saints, St. Michael and St Maurice ; they recommend to her protection the Marquis of Mantua, Giovan Francesco Gonzag^ who kneels in complete armour.* On the left stand St. Andrew and St. Longinus, the guardian saints of Mantua ; on the step of the throne, the young St. John the Baptist, patron of the Marquis ; and more in front, a female figure, seen half-length, which some have supposed to be St. Elizabeth, the mother of the Baptist, and others, with more rea- ion, the wife of the Marquis, the accomplished Isa- bella d'Este.f This picture was dedicated in ele- bration of the victory gained by Gonzaga ovei the * " Qui rend gi^ces du pritendu succ6s obtenu sur Charlef Vm. k la bataille de Fornone," as the French catalogue ex presses it. t Both, however, may be right; for St. Elizabeth was the pa ^n saint of the Marchesana : the head has quite the air of portrait, and may be Isabella in likeness of a saint. PUBLIC VOTIVE MADONNAS. 20$ French, near Fornone, in 1495.* There is some- thing exceedingly grand, and, at the same time, exceedingly fantastic and poetical, in the whole ar- rangement; and besides its beauty and historicaJ importance, it is the most important work of An- drea Mantegna. Gonzaga, who is the hero of the picture, was a poet as well as a soldier. Isabella d'Este shines conspicuously, both for virtue and talent, in the history of the revival of art during the fifteenth century. She was one of the first who collected gems, antiques, pictures, and made them available for the study and improvement of the learned. Altogether, the picture is most interest- ing in every point of view. It was carried ofi* by the French from Milan in 1797 ; and considering the occasion on which it was painted, they must have had a special pleasure in placing it in their Louvre, where it still remains. There is a very curious and much more ancient Madonna of this class preserved at Siena, and styled the " Madonna del Voto." The Sienese being at war with Florence, placed their city under the pro- tection of the Virgin, and made a solemn vow that, if victorious, they would make over their whole ter- ritory to her as a perpetual possession, and hold it from her as her loyal vassals. After the victory of Arbia, which placed Florence itself for a time in * " SI leB soldats ayaient mleux second^ la bravoure de leoc ehef, I'armae de Charles VIII. 6tait perdue sans ressource — Hm ie dispers^rent pour piller et laiss^rent aix Fra^^ais to temps i» vontinuer leur route." 210 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. Buch imminent danger, a picture was dedicated by Siena to the Virgin della Vittoria. She is en- throned and crowned, and the infant Christ, stand- mg on her knee, holds in his hand the deed of gift. 2dly. For deliverance from plague and pesti- lence, those scourges of the middle ages. In sm^h pictures the Virgin is generally attended by St Sebastian, with St. Roch or St. George ; sometimes, also, by St. Cosmo and St. Damian, all of them protectors and healers in time of sickness and ca- lamity. These intercessors are often accompanied by the patrons of the church or locality. There is a remarkable picture of this class by Matteo di Giovanni (Siena Acad.), in which the Virgin and Child are throned between St. Sebas- tian and St. George, while St. Cosmo and St. Damian, dressed as physicians, and holding their palms, kneel before the throne. In a very famous picture by Titian (Rome, Vatican), the Virgin and Child are seated in heavenly glory. She has a smiling and gracious expression, and the Child holds a garland, while angels scatter flowers. Below stand St. Sebastian, St. Nicholas^ St. Catherine, St. Peter, and St. Francis. The picture was an offering to the Virgin, after the cessation of a pestilence at Ven- ice, and consecrated in a church of the Fran' ciscans dedicated to St. Nicholas,'*^ * San Nicolo de' Frari, since destroyed, and th« pictuve bH kwn transferred to the Vatican. PUBLIC VOTIVE MADONNAS. 21 1 Anotbir celebrated votive picture against pesti- lence is Correggio's *' Madonna di San Sebastiano." (Dresden Gal.) She is seated in heavenly glory, with little angels, not so much adoring as sporting and hovering round her ; below are St. Sebastian and St. Roch, the latter asleep. (There would be an impropriety in exhibiting St. Roch sleeping but for the reference to the legend, that, while he slept, an angel healed him, which lends the circumstance a kind of poetical beauty.) St. Sebastian, bound, looks up on the other side. The introduction of St. Geminiano, the patron of Modena, shows the picture to have been painted for that city, which had been desolated by pestilence in 1512. The date of the picture is 1515. We may then take it for granted, that wherever the Virgin and Child appear attended by St. Se- bastian and St. Roch, the picture has been a votive offering against the plague ; and there is Bomething touching in the number of such me- morials which exist in the Italian churches, (v. Sacred and Legendary Art.) The brotherhoods instituted in most of the towns of Italy and Ger- many, for attending the sick and plague-stricken in times of pubhc calamity, were placed under the protection of the Virgin of Mercy, St. Se- bastian, and St. Roch ; and many of these pic- tures were dedicated by such communities, or by the municipal authorities of the city or locality. There is a memorable example in a picture by Quido, paintei, oy command of the Senate of Bo ^12 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. logna, after the cessation of the plague, which tioso* lated the city in 1630. (Acad. Bologna.) The benign Virgin, with her Child, is seated m the Bkies ; the rainbow, symbol of peace and recon- ciliation, is under her feet. The mfant Christ, lovely and gracious, raises his right hand in the act of blessing; in the other he holds a branch of olive : angels scatter flowers around. Below stand the guardian saints, the " Santi Protettori ** of Bologna; — St. Petronius, St. Francis, St. Domi- nick; the warrior-martyrs, St. Proculus and St Florian, in complete armour; with St. Ignatius and St. Francis Xavier. Below these is seen, as if through a dark cloud and diminished, the city of Bologna, where the dead are borne away in carts and on biers. The upper part of this famous pic- ture is most charming for the gracious beauty of the expression, the freshness and dehcacy of the colour. The lower part is less happy, though the head of St. Francis, which is the portrait of Guido'a mtimate friend and executor, Saulo Guidotti, can hardly be exceeded for intense and life-like truth. The other figures are deficient in expression and the execution hurried, so that on the whole it is jttferior to the votive Pietk already described. Guido, it is said, had no time to prepare a canvas or cartoons, and painted the whole on a piece of white silk. It was carried in grand procession, and solemnly dedicated by the Senate, whence b obtained the title by which it is celebrated in tht liistor} of art, " II Pallione del Voto." FAMILY VOTIVE MADONNAS. 213 3dly Against inundations, flood, and fire, St George is the great protector. This saint and St. Barbara, who is patroness against thunder and tempest, express deliverance from such calami- ties, when in companionship. The ". Madonna di San Giorgio " of Correggio (Dresden GaJ.) is a votive altar-piece dedicated on the occasion of a great inundation of the river Secchia. She is seated on her throne, and the Child looks down on the worshippers and votaries. St. George stands in front victorious, his foot on the head of the dragon. The introduction of St. Geminiano tells us that the picture was painted for the city of Modena ; the presence of St. Johu the Baptist and St. Peter Martyr show that it was dedicated by the Dominicans, in their church of St. John. (See Legends of the Monastic Orders.) Not less interesting are those votive Madonnas dedicated by the piety of families and individuals. In the family altar-pieces, the votary is often pre- sented on one side by his patron saint, and his wife by her patron on the other. Not seldom a troop of hopeful sons attend the father, and a train of gentle, demure-looking daughters kneel behind the mother. Such memorials of domestic affection and grateful piety are often very charming; they are pieces of family biography:* we have celebrated examples both in German and Italian art. * Several are engraved, as iUustrations, in Litta's great Hi» vOiy of the Italian Families. B14 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. 1, The " Madonna della Famiglia Bentivoglio " was painted by Lorenzo Costa, for Giovanni 11., lord or tyrant of Bologna from 1462 to 1506. The history of this Giovanni is mixed up in an interesting manner with the revival of art and letters ; he was a great patron of both, and among the painters in his service were Francesco Francia and Lorenzo Costa. The latter painted for him his family chapel in the church of San Giacomo at Bologna; and, while the Bentivogli have long since been chased from their native territory, their family altar still remains untouched, unviolated. The Virgin, as usual, is seated on a lofty throne bearing her divine Child ; she is veiled, no hair seen, and simply draped ; she bends forward with mild benignity. To the right of the throne kneels Giovanni with his four sons ; on the left his wife, attended by six daughters: all are portraits, ad- mirable studies for character and costume. Behind the daughters, the head of an old woman is just -visible, — according to tradition the old nurse of the family. 2. Another most interesting family Madonna is that of Ludovico Sforza il Moro, painted for the church of Sant' Ambrogio at Milan.* The Virgin sits enthroned, richly dressed, with long fair hair hanging down, and no veil or ornament ; two angels hold a crown over her head. The Child lies ex- pended on her knee. Round her throne are tht * By an unknown painter of the school of Lionardo, and nov B the gallery of the Brera. FAMILY VOTIVE MADONNAS. 215 four fathers, St. Ambrose, St. Gregory, St. Jerome, and St. Augustine. In front of the throne kneels Ludovico il Moro, Duke of Milan, in a rich dress and unarmed; Ambrose, as protector of Milan, lays his hand upon his shoulder. At his side kneels a boy about five years old. Opposite to him is the duchess, Beatrice d'Este, also kneeling ; and near her a Uttle baby in swaddling clothes, hold- ing up its tiny hands in supplication, kneels on a cushion. The age of the children shows the pic- ture to havQ been painted about 1496. The fate of Ludovico U Moro is well known : perhaps the blessed Virgin deemed a traitor and an assassin un- worthy of her protection. He died in the frightful prison of Loches after twelve years of captivity; and both his sons, Maximilian and Francesco, were unfortunate. With them the family of Sforza and the independence of Milan were extinguished together in 1535. 3. Another celebrated and most precious picture of this class is the Virgin of the Meyer family, painted by Holbein for the burgomaster Jacob Meyer of Basle.* According to a family tradition, the youngest son of the burgomaster was sick even to death, and, through the merciful intercession of Ihe Virgin, was restored to his parents, who, m gratitude, dedicated this offering. She stands on a pedestal in a richly ornamented niche ; over her long fair hair, which falls down her shoulders to her waist, she wears a superb crown ; and her robe • Dresden Gal. The engraving oy Steinle is justly celebrated i 216 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. of a dark greenish blue is confined by a ciimson girdle. In purity, dignity, humility, and intellect- ual grace, this exquisite Madonna has never been surpassed, not even by Raphael ; the face, once seen, haunts the memory. The Child in her armi is generally supposed to be the infant Christ. I have fancied, as I look on the picture, that it may be the poor sick child recommended to her mercy, for the face is very pathetic, the limbs not merely delicate but attenuated, while, on comparing it with the robust child who stands below, the resemblance and the contrast are both striking. To the right of the Virgin kneels the burgomaster Meyer with two of his sons, one of whom holds the little brother who is restored to health, and seems to present him to the people. On the left kneel four females — the mother, the grandmother, and two daughters. All these are portraits, touched with that homely, vigorous truth, and finished with that consummate delicacy, which characterized Holbein in his hap- piest efibrts; and, with their earnest but rather ugly and earthly faces, contrasting with the di- vinely compassionate and refined being who looks down on them with an air so human, so maternal, and yet so unearthly. Sometimes it is a single votary who kneels before the Madonna. In the old times he expressed hit humility by placing himself in a corner and mak- ing himself so diminutive as to be scarce visible tfterwards, the head of the votary or donor is seen FAMILY VOTIVE MADONNAS. 217 [ife-size, with hands joined in prayer, just above the margin at the foot of the throne ; care being taken to remove him from all juxtaposition with the attendant saints. But, as the religious feeling in art declined, the living votaries are mingled with the spiritual patrons — the " human mortals " with the " human immortals," — with a disregard tc time and place, which, if it be not so lowly in spirit, can be rendered by a great artist strikingly poetical and significant. 1. The renowned " Madonna di Foligno," one of Raphael's masterpieces, is a votive picture of this class. It was dedicated by Sigismund Conti of Fo- ligno, private secretary to Pope Julius 11., and a distinguished man in other respects, a writer and a patron of learning. It appears that Sigismund hav- ing been in great danger from a meteor or thunder- bolt, vowed an ofiering to the blessed Virgin, to "*rhom he attributed his safety, and in fulfilment of his vow consecrated this precious picture In the upper part of the composition sits the Virgin in heavenly glory ; by her side the infant Christ, partly sustained by his mother's veil, which is drawn round his body : both look down benignly on the votary Sigismund Conti, who, kneehng below, gazes up with an expression of the most intense gratitude and devotion. It is a portrait from the life, and certainly one of the finest and most life- ^3 that exists in painting. Behind him stands St. Jerome, who, placing his hand upon the head of the Notary, seems to present him to his celestial proteo 218 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. tress. On the opposite side John the Baptist, the meagre wild-looking prophet cf the desert, point* upward to the Redeemer. More in front kneelj St. Francis, who, while he looks up to heaven with trusting and imploring love, extends his right hano towards the worshippers, supposed to be assembled in the church, recommending them also to the pro- tecting grace of the Virgin. In the centre of the pic- ture, dividing these two groups, stands a lovely an- gel-boy holding in his hand a tablet, one of the most cnarming figures of this kind Raphael ever painted; the head, looking up, has that sublime, yet perfectly childish grace, which strikes us in those awful angel- boys in the " Madonna di San Sisto." The back- ground is a landscape, in which appears the city of Foligno at a distance ; it is overshadowed by a storm-cloud, and a meteor is seen falling ; but above these bends a rainbow, pledge of peace and safety. The whole picture glows throughout with life and beauty, hallowed by that profound religious senti- ment which suggested the offering, and which the sympathetic artist seems to have caught from the grateful donor. It was dedicated in the church of the Ara-Coeli at Rome, which belongs to the Fran- ciscans ; hence St. Francis is one of the principal figures. When I was asked, at Rome, why St. Jerome had been introduced into the picture, I thought it might be thus accounted for: — The patron saint of the donor, St. Sigismund, was a king and a warrior, and Conti might ppssibly think that it did not accord with his profession, as ai FAMILY VOnVE MADONNAS. 219 kumble ecclesiastic, to Introduce him here. The most celebrated convent of the Jeroniniites in Italy IS that of St. Sl^smund near Cremona, placed under the special protection of St. Jerome, who is also in a general sense the patron of all ecclesias- tics ; hence, perhaps, he figures here as the protec- tor of SIgismund Conti. The picture was painted, and placed over the high altar of the Ara-Coeli in 1511, when Raphael was in his twenty-eighth year. Conti died in 1512, and in 1565 his grandniece, Suora Anna Conti, obtained permission to remove it to her convent at Foligno, whence it was carried off by the French in 1792. Since the restoration of the works of art in Italy, in 1815, it has been placed among the treasures of the Vatican. 2. Another perfect specimen of a votive picture of this kind, in a very different style, I saw in the museum at Rouen, attributed there to Van Eyck. It is, probably, a fine work by a later master of the Bohool, perhaps Hemmelinck. In the centre, the Virgin is enthroned; the Child, seated on her knee, holds a bunch of grapes, symbol of the eu- charist. On the right of the Virgin is St. Apol- lonia; then two lovely angels in white raiment, with lutes in their hands ; and then a female head, seen looking from behind, evidently a family por- trait. More in front, St. Agnes, splendidly dressed in green and sable, her lamb at ner feet, tumg with a questioning air to St. Catherine, who, in gueenly garb of crimson and ermine seems to con f20 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. •ult her book. Behind her another member of the family, a man with a very fine face ; and more in front St. Dorothea, with a charming expression of modesty, looks down on her basket of roses. On the left of the Virgin is St. Agatha; then two angels in white with viols; then St. Cecilia; and near her a female head, another family portrait; next St. Barbara wearing a beautiful head-dress, in front of which is worked her tower, framed like an ornamental jewel in gold and pearls; she has a missal in her lap. St Lucia next appears ; then another female portrait. All the heads are about one fourth of the size of life. I stood in admiration before this picture — such miraculous finish in all the details, such life, such spirit, such delicacy in the heads and hands, 5uch brilliant colour in the dra- peries ! Of its history I could learn nothing, nor what family had thus introduced themselves into celestial companionship. The portraits seemed to me to represent a father, a mother, and two daughters. I must mention some other instances of votiv« Madonnas, interesting either from their beauty or their singularity. 3. Rdn^, Duke of Anjou, and King of Sicily and Jerusalem, the father of our Amazonian queen, Margaret of Anjou, dedicated, in the church of the Carmelites, at Aix, the capital of his dominions, a votive picture, which is still to be seen there. It if not only a monument of his piety, but of hie skill FAMILY VOTIVE MADONNAS. '2%\ for, according to the tradition of the country, h« painted it himself. The good King Rene was nu contemptible artist ; but though he may have sug- gested the subject, the hand of a practised and ac- complished painter is too apparent for us to suppose it his own work. This altar-piece in a triptychon, and when the doors are closed it measures twelve feet in height, and seven feet in width. On the outside of the doors is the Annunciation : to the leftj the angel standing on a pedestal, under a Gothic canopy ; to the right, the Virgin standing with her book, under a similar canopy : both graceful figures. On open- ing the doors, the central compartment exhibits the Virgin and her Child enthroned in a burning bush ; the bush which burned with fire, and was not con- sumed, being a favourite type of the immaculate purity of the Virgin. Lower down, in front, Mo- ses appears surrounded by his flocks, and at the command of an angel is about to take off his sandals. The angel is most richly dressed, and on the clasp of his mantle is painted in minature Adam and Eve tempted by the serpent. Underneath this compartment, is the inscription, '* Rubum qiiem viderat Moyses, incombustum, conservatam agnovi- mus tuam la'j.dabilem Virginitatem, Sancta De% Cenitrixr * On the door to the right of the Vir- gin kneels King Ren^ himself before an altar, on which lies an open book and his kingly ciown * For the relation of Moses to the Virgu (aa attribute) v. tht Sntroduction. 15 tZt LEGENIS OF THE MADONNA. He is dressed in a robe trimmed with erm-iie, and wears a black velvet cap. Behind him, Mary Mag- dalene (the patroness of Provence), St Antony and St. Maurice. On the other door, i ^nne de Laval, the second wife of ^ene, kneels before an open book ; she is young and beautiful, and richly attired ; and behind her stand St. John (her patron saint), St. Catherine (very noble and elegant), and St. Nicholas. I saw this curious and interesting picture in* 1846. It is very well preserved, and painted with great finish and delicacy in the man- ner of the early Flemish school. 4. In a beautiful little picture by Van Eyck (Louvre, No. 162. Ecole AUemande), the Vir- gin is seated on a throne, holding in her arms the infant Christ, who has a globe in his left hand, and extends the right in the act of benediction. The Virgin is attired as a queen, in a magnificent rob€ falling in ample folds around her, and trimmed with jewels; an angel, hovering with outspread wings, holds a crown over her head. On the left of the picture, a votary, in the dress of a FlemisL burgomaster, kneels before a Prie-Dieu, on which is an open book, and with clasped hands adores the Mother and her Child. The locality represents a gallery or portico paved with marble, and sustained by pillars in a fantastic Moorish style. The whole Dicture is quite exquisite for the delicacy of colour and execution. In the catalogue of the Louvre» this picture is entitled " St. Joseph adoring the In fant Christ," — an obvious mistake, if we considef FAMILY VOTIVE MADONNAS. 22S khe style of the treatment and the customs of the time. 5. All who have visited the church of the Frari at Venice will remember — for once seen, they never can forget — the ex-voto altar-piece which adorns the chapel of the Pesaro family. The beautiful Virgin is seated on a lofty throne to the right of the pic- ture, and presses to her bosom the Dio Bambinetto. who turns from her to bless the votary presented by St. Peter. The saint stands on the steps of the throne, one hand on a book; and behind him kneels one of the Pesaro family, who was at once bishop of Paphos and commander of the Pope's gal- leys ; he approaches to consecrate to the Madonna the standards taken from the Turks, which are borne by St. George, as patron of Venice. On the other side appear St. Francis and St. Antony of Padua, as patrons of the church in which the picture is dedicated. Lower down, kneeling on one ride of the throne, is a group of various members of the Pesaro family, three of whom are habited in enmson robes, as Cavalieri di San Marco; the other, a youth about fifteen, looks out of the picture, astonishingly alive, and yet sufficiently idealized to harmonize with the rest. This picture is very re- markable for several reasons. It is a piece of fam- ily history, curiously illustrative of the manners of the time. The Pesaro here commemorated was an ecclesiastic, but appointed by Alexander VI. to command the galleys with which he joined th» Venetian forces against the Turks in 1503. It it 824 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. for this reason that St. Peter — as representative here of the Roman pontiff — introduces him to the Madonna, while St. George, as patron of Venice, attends him. The picture is a monument of the Tictory gained by Pesaro, and the gratitude and pride of his family. It is also one of the finest works of Titian ; one of the earliest instances in which a really grand religious composition assumes almost a dramatic and scenic form, yet retains a certain dignity and symmetry worthy of its sol- emn destination.* 6. I will give one more instance. There is in our National Gallery a Venetian picture which is striking from its peculiar and characteristic treat- ment. On one side, the Virgin with her Infant is seated on a throne ; a cavalier, wearing armour and a turban, who looks as if he had just returned from the eastern wars, prostrates himself before her: in the background, a page (said to be the portrait of the painter) holds the horse of the vo- tary. The figures are life-sire, or nearly so, as well as I can remember, and the sentimental dra- matic treatment is quite Venetian. It is supposed to represent a certain Duccio Constanzo of Tre- • We find in the catalogue of pictures which belonged to our Charles I. one which represented "a pope preferring a genera] of his nary to St. Peter." It is Pope Alexander VI. presenting this very Pesaro to St Peter; that is, in plain unpictorial prose, fiving him the appointment of admiral of the galleys of thf Roman states. This interesting picture, after many TicissHudea k now in the Museum at Antwerp. (See the Handbook to tk Ho^ QaUeries, p. 201.) HALF-LENGTH ENTHRONED MADONNAS, 22ft »iso, and was once attributed to Giorgione : it i« certainly of the school of Bellini. (Nat. Gal. Cata- logue, 234.) As these enthroned and votive Virgins multi- plied, as it became more and more a fashion to dedicate them as offerings in churches, want of Bpace, and perhaps, also, regard to expense, sug- gested the idea of representing the figures hal^ length. The Venetians, from early time the best face painters in the world, appear to have been the first to cut off the lower part of the figure, leaving the arrangement otherwise much the same. The Virgin is still a queenly and majestic creature, sit- ting there to be adored. A curtain or part of a carved chair represents her throne. The attend- ant saints are placed to the right and to the left ; or sometimes the throne occupies one side of the pic- ture, and the saints are ranged on the other. From the shape and diminished size of these votive pic- tures the personages, seen half-length, are necessar rily placed very near to each other, and the heads nearly on a level with that of the Virgin, who ia generally seen to the knees, while the Child ia always full-length. In such compositions we miss the grandeur of the entire forms, and the con- sequent diversity of character and attitude; but lometimes the beauty and individuality of the heads intone for all other deficiencies. In the earlier Venetian examples, those of Gian 126 LEGENDS cF THE MADOXNA. Bellini particularly, there is a solemn quiet eleva tion which renders them little inferior, in reli^ouf Bentiment, to the most majestic of the enthroned and enskied Madonnas. There is a sacred group by Bellini, in the po«- lession of Sir Charles Eastlake, which has alwayi appeared to me a very perfect specimen of thJa class of pictures. It is also the earliest I know of. The Virgin, pensive, sedate, and sweet, like all Bellini's Virgins, is seated in the centre, and seen in front. The Child, on her knee, blesses with hia right hand, and the Virgin places hers on the head of a votary, who just appears above the edge of the picture, with hands joined in prayer ; he is a fine young man with an elevated and elegant pro- file. On the right are St. John the Baptist point- ing to the Saviour, and St. Catherine ; on the left, St. George with his banner, and St. Peter holding his book. A similar picture, with Mary Magdalene and St. Jerome on the right, St. Peter and St. Martha on the left, is in the Leuchtenberg Gallery at Munich. Another of exquisite beauty is in the Venice Academy, in which the lovely St. Cathe- inne wears a crown of myrtle. Once introduced, these half-length enthroned Madonnas became very common, spreading from the Venetian states through the north of Italy, and we find innumerable examples from the best schools of art in Italy and Germany, from the mid 41e of the fifteenth to the middle of the sixteentli HALF-LENGTH ENTHRONED MADONNAS 22'> century. I shall particularize a few of these, which will be sufficient to guide the attention of the ob- Berver; and we must carefully discriminate be- tween the sentiment proper to these half-length enthroned Madonnas, and the pastoral or domestic sacred groups and Holy Families, of which I shall have to treat hereafter. Raphael's well-known Madonna della Seggiola and Madonna della Candelabra, are both enthroned Virgins in the grand style, though seen half-length In fact, the air of the head ought, in the higher schools of art, at once to distinguish a Madonna m irono, even where only the head is visible. In a Milanese picture, the Virgin and Child appear between St. Laurence and St. John. The mannered and somewhat affected treatment is contrasted with the quiet, solemn simplicity of a group by Francia, where the Virgin and Child appear as objects of worship between St. Dominick and St. Barbara. The Child, standing or seated on a table or bal- ustrade in front, enabled the painter to vary the attitude, to take the infant Christ out of the arms of the Mother, and to render his figure more prom- ment. It was a favourite arrangement with the Venetians ; and there is an instance in a pretty pic- ture in our National Gallery, attributed to Perugino. Sometimes, even where the throne and the at- fcendant saints and angels show the group to be wholly devotional and exalted, we find the senti- lient varied by a touch of the dramatic, — by the 228 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. introduction of an action; but it must be on« of a wholly religious significance, suggestive of a religious feeling, or the subject ceases tc be prop- erly devotional in character. There is a picture by Botticelli, before which, in walking up the corridor of the Florence Gallery, 1 used, day after day, to make an involuntary pause of admiration. The Virgin, seated in a chair of state, but seen only to the knees, sustains her divine Son with one arm ; four angels are in attendance, one of whom presents an ink horn, another holda before her an open book, and she is in the act of writing the Magnificat, " My soul doth magnify the Lord ! " The head of the figure behind the Virgin is the portrait of Lorenzo de* Medici when a boy. There is absolutely no beauty of feature, either in the Madonna, or the Child, or the angels, yet every face is full of dignity and character. In a beautiful picture by Titian (Bel. Gal., Vi- enna. Louvre, No. 458), the Virgin is enthroned on the left, and on the right appear St. George and St. Laurence as listening, while St. Jerome reads from his great book. A small copy of this picture is at Windsor. The old German and Flemish painters, in treat- ing the enthroned Madonna, sometimes introduced accessories which no painter of the early Italian ichool would have descended to ; and which tinge with a homely sentiment their most exalted con- teptions. Thus, I have seen a German Madonni THE MATER AMABILIS. 229 ieated on a superb throne, and most elaborately and gorgeously arrayed, pressing her Child to hef bosom with a truly maternal air ; while beside her, on a table, is a honeycomb, some butter, a dish of fruit, and a glass of water. (Bel. Gal., Vienna.) It is possible that in this case, as in the Virgin suck- ling her Child, there may be a religious allusion : — ** Butter and honey shall he eat,** &c. THE MATER AMABILIS. IkU. La Madonna col Bambino. La Madonna col celeste auo Figlio. Fr. La Yierge et I'enfant Jesus. Ger. Maria mit dem Kind. There is yet another treatment of the Madonna and Child, in which the Virgin no longer retains the lofty goddess-like exaltation given to her in the old time. She is brought nearer to our sympathies. She is not seated in a chair of state with the ac- companiments of earthly power; she is not en- throned on clouds, nor glorified and star-crowned in heaven; she is no longer so exclusively the Vergine Dea, nor the Virgo Dei Genitrix ; but she is still the Alma Mater Redemptoris, the young, and lovely, and most pure mother of a iivine Christ. She is not sustained in mid-air by ftngeis ; she dwells lowly on earth ; but the angels leave their celestial home to wait upon her. Such gffigies, when conceived in a strictly ideal and de- votional sense, I shall designate as the Mates 4.MABILIS. ^0 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. The fii'st and simplest form of this beautiful and familiar subject, we find in those innumerable half- length figures of the Madonna holding her Child in her arms, painted chiefly for oratories, private of way-side chapels, and for the studies, libraries, and retired chambers of the devout, as an excitement to religious feeling, and a memorial of the mystery of the Incarnation, where large or grander subjeeta, or more expensive pictures, would be misplaced. Though unimportant in comparison with the com- prehensive and magnificent church altar-pieces already described, there is no class of pictures so popular and so attractive, none on which the char- acter of the time and the painter is stamped more clearly and intelligibly, than on these simple repre- sentations. The Virgin is not here the dispenser of mercy ; she is simply the mother of the Redeemer. She is occu- pied only by her divine Son. She caresses him, or she gazes on him fondly. She presents him to the worshipper. She holds him forth with a pensive joy as the predestined ofiering. If the profound religious sentiment of the early masters was after- wards obliterated by the unbelief and convention- alism of later art, still this favourite subject could not be so wholly profaned by degrading sentiments and associations, as the mere portrait heads of the Virgin alone. No matter what the model for the Madonna might have been, — a wife, a mistress, a contadina of Frascati, a Venetian Zitella, a McUl zhen of Nuremberg, a buxom Flemish Ftow^^ THE MATER AMABILIS. 281 ft>T the Child was there ; the baby innocence in her arms consecrated her into that "holiest thing ilive," a mother. The theme, however inadequately treated as regarded Its religious significance, waa sanctified in itself beyond the reach of a profane thought. Miserable beyond the reach of hope, dark below despair, that moral atmosphere which the presence of sinless unconscious infancy cannot for a moment purify or hallow I Among the most ancient and most venerable of the effigies of the Madonna, we find the old Greek pictures of the Mater Amabilis, if that epithet can be properly applied to the dark-coloured, sad- vis- aged Madonnas generally attributed to St. Luke, or transcripts of those said to be painted by him, which exist in so many churches, and are, or were, supposed by the people to possess a peculiar sanc- tity. These are almost all of oriental origin, or painted to imitate the pictures brought from the East in the tenth or twelfth century. There are a few striking and genuine examples of these ancient Greek Madonnas in the Florentine Gallery, and, nearer at hand, in the Wallerstein collection at Kensington Palace. They much resemble each other in the general treatment. The infinite variety which painters have given to this most simple motif, the Mother and the Child only, without accessories or accompaniments of any kind, exceeds all possibility of classification, either AS to attitude or sentiment. Here Raphael shone •upreme : the simplicity, the tenderness, the hal< f82 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. of purity and virginal dignity, which he thren round the Mater Amabilis have never been sur passed — in his best pictures, never equalled. The *' Madonna del Gran-Duca," where the Virgin holdi the Child seated on her arm ; the " Madonna Tem- pi," where she so fondly presses her cheek to his, — are perhaps the most remarkable for simplicity. The Madonna of the Bridge water Gallery, where the Infant lies on her knees, and the Mother and Son look into each other's eyes ; the little " Madon- na Conestabile," where she holds the book, and the infant Christ, with a serious yet perfectly childish grace, bends to turn over the leaf, — are the most remarkable for sentiment. Other Madonnas by Raphael, containing three or more figures, do not belong to this class of pic- tures. They are not strictly devotional, but are properly Holy Families, groups and scenes from the domestic life of the Virgin. With regard to other painters before or since his time, the examples of the Mater Amabilis so abound in public and private galleries, and have been so multiplied in prints, that comparison is within the reach of every observer. I will content myself with noticing a few of the most remarkable for beauty or characteristic treatment. Two paint- ers, who eminently sxcelled in simplicity and puri- ty of sentiment, are Gian Bellini of Venice, and Bernardino Luini of Milan. Squarcione, though often fantastic, has painted one or two of these Madonnas, remarkable for simplicity and dignity THE MATER AMABILISJ. 231 AS also his pupdl Mantegna ; though in both the ityle of execution is somewhat hard and cold. In the one by Fra Bartolomeo, there is such a depth of maternal tenderness in the expression and atti- tude, we wonder where the good monk found hia mcdel. In his own heart ? in his dreams ? A Mater Amabilis by one of the Caracci or by Van- dyck is generally more elegant and dignified than tender. The Madonna, for instance, by Annibal, has something of the majestic sentiment of an en- throned Madonna. Murillo excelled in this subject ; although most of his Virgins have a portrait air of common life, they are redeemed by the expression. In one of these, the Child, looking out of the pic- ture with extended arms and eyes full of divinity, seems about to spring forth to fulfil his mission. In another he folds his little hands, and looks up to Heaven, as if devoting himself to his appointed sufiering, while the Mother looks down upon him with a tender resignation. (Leuchtenberg Gal.) In a noble Madonna by Vandyck (Bridgewater Gal.), it is she herself who devotes him to do hia Father's will; and I still remember a picture of this class, by Carlo Cignani (Belvedere Gal., Vi- enna), which made me start, with the intense ex- pression : the Mother presses to her the Child, who holds a cross in his baby hand ; she looks up to heaven with an appealing look of love and an- guish, — almost of reproach. Guido did not excel eo much in children, as in the Virgin alone. Pons- •in, Carlo Dolce, Sasso Ferrate, and, in general, all 234 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. the painters of the seventeenth century, give us pretty women and pretty children. We may pas« them over. A second version of the Mater Amabilis, repre- senting the Virgin and Child full-length, but with- out accessories, has been also very beautifully treated. She is usually seated in a landscape, and frequently within the mystical enclosure (Hortus clausus)^ which is sometimes in the German pio- tures a mere palisade of stakes or boughs. Andrea Mantegna, though a fantastic painter, had generally some meaning in his fancies. There is a fine picture of his in which the Virgin and Child are seated in a landscape, and in the back- ground is a stone-quarry, where a number of fig- ures are seen busily at work ; perhaps hewing the stone to build the new temple of which our Sav- iour was the corner-stone. (Florence Gal.) In a group by Cristofano Allori, the Child places a wreath of flowers on the brow of his Mother, hold- ing in his other hand his own crown of thorns : one of the fancies of the later schools of art. The introduction of the little St John into the group of the Virgin and Child lends it a charming significance and variety, and is very popular ; we must, however, discriminate between the familiarity of the domestic subject and the purely religious treatment. When the Giovannino adores with 'olded hands, as acknowledging in Chriw a supe- rior power, or kisses his feet humbly, xx •por.ntg to biin exulting, then it is evident that ^re liav **if THE MATER AMABILI8. 235 iwo Children in their spiritual character, the Child, Priest and King, and the Child, Prophet. In a picture by Lionardo da Vinci (Coll. of the Earl of Suffolk), the Madonna, serious and beauti- ful, without either crown or veil, and adorned only by her long fair hair, is seated on a rock. On one Bide, the little Christ, supported in the arms of an angel, raises his hand in benediction ; on the other Bide, the young St. John, presented by the Virgin, kneels in adoration. Where the Children are merely embracing each other, or sporting at the 5ftet of the Virgin, or play- ing with the cross, or with a bird, or with the lamb, or with flowers, we might call the treatment do- mestic or poetical ; but where St. John is taking the cross from the hand of Christ, it is clear, from the perpetual repetition of the theme, that it is intended to express a religious allegory. It is the mission of St. John as Baptist and Prophet. He receives the symbol of faith ere he goes forth to preach and to convert, or as it has been inter- preted, he, in the sense used by our Lord, " takes up the cross of our Lord." The first is, I think, the meaning when the cross is enwreathed with the Ecce Agnus Dei ; the latter, when it is a sim- ple cross. In Raphael's " Madonna della Famiglia Alva," (now in the Imp. Gal., St. Petersburg), and in his Madonna of the Vienna Gallery, Christ gives the Hross to St. John. In a picture of the Lionardo •chool in the Louvre we have the same action ; and 236 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. again in a graceful group by Guido, which, in th« engraving, bears this inscription, " Qui non accipU crucem suam non est me dignus." (Matt. x. 38.) This, of course, fixes the signification. Another, and, as I think, a wholly fanciful inter- pretation, has been given to this favourite group by Tieck and by Monckton Milnes. The Children contend for the cross. The little St. John begs to have it. \jrive me the cross, I pray you, dearest Jesus ! O if you knew how much I wish to have it, You would not hold it in your hand so tightly. Something has told me, something in my breast here, Which I am sure is true, that if you keep it, If you will let no other take it fi:om you. Terrible things I cannot bear to think of Must fall upon you. Show me that you love me: Am I not here to be your httle servant. Follow your steps, and wait upon your wishes? " But Christ refuses to yield the terrible plaything, and claims his privilege to be the elder " in the heritage of pain." In a picture by Carlo Maratti, I think this action IS evident — Christ takes the cross, and St John yields it with reluctance. A beautiful version of the Mater Amabilis is the Madre Pi a, where the Virgin in her divine In- fant acknowledges and adores the Godhead. We must be caieful to distinguish this subject from the Nativity, for it is common, in the scene of the birtV •f the Saviour at Bethlehem, to represent the Vir gin adoring her new-born Child. The presence 0/ LA MADRE PIA. 237 Joseph — the ruined shed or manger — the ox and ass, — these express the event. But in the Madre PiA properly so called, the locaHty, and the acces- sories, if any, are purely ideal and poetical, and have no reference to time or place. The early Florentines, particularly Lorenzo di Credi, excelled in this charming subject. There is a picture by Filippino Lippi, which appears to me eminently beautiful and poetical. Here the mystical garden is formed of a balustrade, beyond which is seen a hedge all in a blush with roses. The Virgin kneels in the midst, and adores her Infant, who has his finger on his lip ( Verhum sum /) ; an angel scatters rose-leaves over him, while the little St. John also kneels, and four an- gels, in attitudes of adoration, complete the group. But a more perfect example is the Madonna by Francia in the Munich Gallery, where the divine Infant lies on the flowery turf; and the mother, standing before him and looking down on him, seems on the point of sinking on her knees in a transport of tenderness and devotion. This, to my feeling, is one of the most perfect pictures in the world ; it leaves nothing to be desired. With all the simplicity of the treatment it is strictly devo- tional. The Mother and her Child are placed within the mystical garden enclosed in a treillage of roses, alone with each other, and apart from all earthly associations, all earthly communion. The beautiful altar-piece by Perugino in our National Gallery is properly a Madre Pia; thu 16 238 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. child seated on a cushion is sustained by an angel the mother kneels before him. The famous Correggio in the Florentine Gallery is also a Madre Pia. It is very tender, sweet, and maternal. The Child lying on part of his moth- er's blue mantle, so arranged that while she kneels and bends over him, she cannot change her atti- tude without disturbing him, is a concetto admired by critics in sentiment and Art ; but it appears to me very inferior and commonplace in comparison to the Francia at Munich. In a group by Botticelli, angels sustain the In- fant, while the mother, seated, with folded hands, adores him ; and in a favourite composition by Guido he sleeps. And, lastly, we have the Mater Amabilis in a more complex and picturesque, though still devo- tional, form. The Virgin, seen at full length, re- clines on a verdant bank, or is seated under a tree. She is not alone with her Child. Holy personages, jxdmitted to a communion with her, attend around her, rather sympathizing than adoring. The love of varied nature, the love of life under all 'ts as- pects, became mingled with the religious concep tion. Instead of carefully avoiding whatever may remind us of her earthly relationship, the members of her family always form a part of her cortege^ This pastoral and dramatic treatment began with the Venetian and Paduan schools, and extended to the early German schools, which were allied U them in feeling, though contrasted with them ii form and execution. PASTORAL MADONNAS. 239 The perpetual introduction of St. Joseph, St Elizabeth, and other relatives of the Virgin (al ways avoided in a Madonna dell Trono), would compose what is called a Holy Family, but that the presence of sainted personages whose existence and history belong to a wholly different era — St. Cath- erine, St. George, St. Francis, or St. Dominick — takes the composition out of the merely domestic and historical, and lifts it at once into the ideal and devotional line of art. Such a group cannot well be styled a Sacra Famiglia; it is a Sacra Conversa^ zione treated in the pastoral and lyrical rather than the lofty epic style. In this subject the Venetians, who first intro- duced it, excel all other painters. There is no ex- ample by Raphael. The German and Flemish painters who adopted this treatment were often coarse and familiar ; the later Italians became flippant and fantastic. The Venetians alone knew how to combine the truest feeling for na- ture with a sort of Elysian grace. I shall give a few examples. 1. In a picture by Titian (Dresden Gal.), the Virgin is seated on a green bank enamelled with flowers. She is simply dressed like a contadina, in a crimson tunic, and a white veil half shading her fair hair. She holds in her arms her lovely Infant, who raises his little hand in benediction. St. Cath- trine kneels before him on one side ; on the other, St Barbara. St. John the Baptist, not as a child. and the contemporary of our Saviour, but in I ke- 240 LEGENDS OP THE MADOimA. ness of an Arcadian shepherd, kneels with his crosf and his lamb — the E<:ce Agnus Dei^ expressed, not in words, but in form. St. George stands by as a guardian warrior. And St Joseph, leaning on his stick behind, contemplates the group with an air of dignified complacency. 2. There is another instance also from Utian. In a most luxuriant landscape thick with embower- ing trees, and the mountains of Cadore in the back- ground, the Virgin is seated on a verdant bank; St. Catherine has thrown herself on her knees, and stretches out her arms to the divine Child in an ecstasy of adoration, in which there is nothing un- seemly or familiar. At a distance St. John the Baptist approaches with his lamb. 3. In another very similar group, the action of St. Catherine is rather too familiar, — it is that of an elder sister or a nurse: the young St John kneels in worship. 4. Wonderfully fine is a picture of this class by Palma, now in the Dresden Gallery. The noble, serious, sumptuous loveliness of the Virgin ; the exquisite Child, so thoughtful, yet so infantine ; the manly beauty of the St John ; the charming humil- ity of the St Catherine as she presents her palm, Jbrm one of the most perfect groups in the world. Childhood, motherhood, maidenhood, manhood, were never, I think, combined in so sweet a spirit of hi> manity.* • When I was at Dresden, In 1850, 1 fbtind Stelnle, so oeW Wftted for his engradngs of the Madonna di San Sisto and Chs PASTORAL MADONNAS. 24i 5. In another picture by Palma, in the same gaU .ery, we have the same picturesque arrangement of the Virgin and Child, while the little St. John adores with folded hands, and St. Catherine sits bv in tender contemplation. This Arcadian sentiment is carried as far as could well be allowed in a picture by Titian (Louvre, 459), known as the Vierge au Lapin. The Virgin holds a white rabbit, towards which the infant Christ, in the arms of St. Catherine, eagerly stretches hig hand. In a picture by Paris Bordone it is carried, I think, too far. The Virgin reclines under a tree with a book in her hand ; opposite to her sits St. Joseph holding an apple ; between them, St. John the Baptist, as a bearded man, holds in his arms the infant Christ, who caressingly puts one arm round his neck, and with the other clings to the rough hairy raiment of his friend. It will be observed, that in these Venetian exam^^ pies St. Catherine, the beloved protectress of Ven 'ce, is seldom omitted. She is not here the learned^ princess who confounded tyrants and converted philosophers, but a bright-haired, full-formed Vene- tian maiden, glowing with love and life, yet touched with a serious grace, inexpressibly charming. St Dorothea is also a favourite saint in these •acre! patorals. There is an instance in which Holbein Madonna, employed on this picture ; and, as far as hii trt could go, transferring to his copper all the fervour and tb« morhid€zza of the origin&\ 1142 LEGENDfe OF THE MADONNA. ihe. is seated by the Virgin with her basket of fruits and flowers ; and St. Jerome, no longer beating his breast in penance, but in likeness of a fond old grandfather, stretches out his arms to the Child. Much finer is a. picture now in the possession of Sif Charles Eastlake. The lovely Virgin is seated under a tree: on one side appears the angel Raphael, presenting Tobit ; on the other, St. Dor- othea, kneeling, holds up her basket of celestial fruit, gathered for her in Paradise.* When St. Ursula, with her standard, appears in these Venetian pastorals, we may suppose the pic- ture to have been painted for the famous brother- hood {Scuola di Sanf Orsola) which bears her name. Thus, in a charming picture by Palma,'she appears before the Virgin, accompanied by St. Mark a protector of Venice. (Vienna, Belvedere Gal.) Ex-voto pictures in this style are very interest- ing, and the votary, without any striking impro- priety, makes one of the Arcadian group. Very appropriate, too, is the marriage of St. Catherine, often treated in this poetical style. In a picture by Titian, the family of the Virgin attend the mysti- cal rite, and St. Anna places the hand of St. Cath- erine in that of the Child. In a group by Signorelli, Christ appears as if teaching St. Catherine; he dictates, and she, the patroness of " divine philosophy," writes down hii w^crds. * See Sacred and Legendary Art, for the beautiful Legend It. Dorothea. PASTORAL MADONNAS. 241 When the later painters in their great altar- pieces imitated this idyllic treatment, the g/aceful Venetian conception became in their hands heavy, mannered, tasteless, — and sometimes worse. The monastic saints or mitred dignitaries, introduced into familiar and irreverent communion with the sacred and ideal personages, in spite of the grand scenery, strike us as at once prosaic and fantastic " we marvel how they got there." Parmigiano, when he fled from the sack of Rome in 1527, painted at Bologna, for the nuns of Santa Mar- gherita, an altar-piece which has been greatly cele- Drated. The Madonna, holding her Child, is seated m a landscape under a tree, and turns her head to the Bishop St. Petronius, protector of Bologna. St. Margaret, kneeling and attended by her great dragon, places one hand, with a free and easy air, on the knee of the Virgin, and with the other seems to be about to chuck the infant Christ under the chin. In a large picture by Giacomo Francia, the Virgin, walking in a flowery meadow with the infant Christ and St. John, and attended by St. Agnes and Mary Magdal6ne, meets St. Francis and St. Dominick, also, apparently, taking a walk. (Berlin Gal. No. 281.) And again; — the Madonna and St. Elizabeth meet with their chil- dren in a landscape, while St. Peter, St. Paul, and St Benedict stand behind in attitudes of atten- tion and admiration. Now, such pictures may be ixcellently well painted, greatly praised by con- noisseurs, and held in " somma venerazicne** bu< 144 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. they are offensive as regards the religious feelings and are, in point of taste, mannered, fantastic, and secular. Here we must end our discourse concerning the Virgin and Child as a devotional subject. Very easily and delightfully to the writer, perhaps not painfully to the reader, we might have gone on to the end of the volume ; but my object was not to exhaust the subject, to point out every interesting variety of treatment, but to lead the lover of art, wandering through a church or gallery, to new sources of pleasure ; to show him what infinite shades of feeling and character may still be traced in a subject which, with all its beauty and attrac- tiveness, might seem to have lost its significant in- terest, and become trite from endless repetition ; to lead the mind to some perception of the intention of the artist in his work, — under what aspect he . had himself contemplated and placed before the worshipper the image of the mother of Christ, — whether crowned and enthroned as the sovereign lady of Christendom; or exalted as the glorious empress of heaven and all the spiritual world ; or bending benignly over us, the impersonation of sympathizing womanhood, the emblem of relenting .ove, the solace of suffering humanity, the maid and mother, dear and undefiled — " Created beings all in lowliness Surpassing, as in height above them all.** PASTORAL MADONNAS. 24& It is time to change the scene, — to contemplate the Virgin, as she has been exhibited to us in the relations of earthly life, as the mere woman, acting and suffering, loving, living, dying, fulfilling the highest destinies in the humblest state, in the meek- est spirit. So we begin her hbtory as the ancient artists have placed it before us, with that mingled naivete and reverence, that vivid dramatic power, which only faiths and love, and genius united, could impart. HISTORICAL SUBJECTS. PART I. THE LIFE 0}} THE VIRGIN MARY FROM HER BIRTH TO HER MARRIAGE WITH JOSEPH. 1. THE LEGEND OP JOACHIM AND ANNA. 2 THE NATIVITY OP THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 8. THE DEDICATION IN THE TEMPLE. 4. THE MARRIAGE WITH JOSEPH. THE LEGEND OF JOACHIM AND ANNA. ilo^. La Leggenda di Sant' Anna Madre della Gloriosa Yergine Maria, e di San Gioacchino. Op the sources whence are derived the popular legends of the life of the Virgin Mary, which, mixed up with the few notices in Scripture, formed one continuous narrative, authorized by the priesthood, and accepted and believed in by the people, I have spoken at length in the Introduction. We have now to consider more particularly the scenes and characters associated with her history; to show how the artists of the Middle Ages, under the guidance and by the authority of the Church treated in detail these favourite themes in eccl© liaiftical decoration. LEGEND OF JOACHIM AND ANNA. 24* In isarly art, that Is, up to the end of the fifteenth eentury, Joachim and Anna, the parents of the Virgin, never appear except in the series of sub- jects from her life. In the devotional groups and ftltar-pieces, they are omitted. St. Bernard, the great theological authority of those times, objects to the invocation of any saints who had lived before the birth of Christ, consequently to their introduc- tion into ecclesiastical edifices in any other light than as historical personages. Hence, perhaps, there were scruples relative to the representations of St. Anna, which, from the thirteenth to the fif- teenth century, placed the artists under certain restrictions. Under the name of Anna, the Church has hon- oured, from remote times, the memory of the mother of the Virgin. The Hebrew name, signi- fying Gracej or the Gracious^ and all the traditions concerning her, came to us from the East, where she was so early venerated as a saint, that a church was dedicated to her by the Emperor Justinian, in 550. Several other churches were subsequently dedicated to her in Constantinople during the sixth and seventh centuries, and her remains are said to have been deposited there in 710. In the West, she first became known in the reign of Charle- magne ; and the Greek apocryphal gospels, or at least stories and extracts from them, began to be circulated about the same period. From these are derived the historic scenes and legendary subjecsta felating to Joachim and Anna which appear in 248 LEGENDS OP THE MADONNA. early art It was about 1500, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, that the increasing venera- tion for the Virgin Mary gave to her parents, mor« especially to St. Anna, increased celebrity as pa- tron saints ; and they became, thenceforward, more frequent characters in the sacred groups. The feast of St. Anna was already general and populai throughout Europe long before it was rendered ob* ligatory in 1584.* The growing enthusiasm for the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception gave, of course, additional splendour and importance to her character. Still, it is only in later times that we find the ef^gy of St. Anna separated from that of the Virgin. There is a curious picture by Cesi (Bologna Gal.), in which St. Anna kneels before a vision of her daughter before she is born — the Vir- gin of the Immaculate Conception. A fine model of a bearded man was now sometimes converted into a St. Joachim reading or meditating, instead of a St. Peter or a St Jerome, as heretofore. In the Munich Gallery are two fine ancient-looking fig- ures of St Joachim the father, and St Joseph the husband, of the Virgin, standing together ; but aU these as separate representations, are very uncom- mon ; and, of those which exhibit St Anna devo- tionally, as enthroned with the Virgin and Child, I have already spoken. Like St Elizabeth, she should be an elderly, but not a vert/ old woman. Joachim, in such pictures, never appears but as ar * In England we have twenty-eight chnrohee dedicated in tlM mme of St. i LEGEND OF JOACHIM AND ANNA. 24\ attendant saint, and then very rarely ; always very old, and sometimes in the dress of a priest, which however, is a mistake on the part of the artist. A complete series of the history of the Blessed Virgin, as imaged forth by the early artists, al- ways begins with the legend of Joachim and An- na, which is thus related. " There was a man of Nazareth, whose name was Joachim, and he had for his wife a woman of Bethlehem, whose name was Anna, and both were of the royal race of David. Their lives were pure and righteous, and they served the Lord with sin- gleness of heart. And being rich, they divided their substance into three portions, one for the service of the temple, one for the poor and the strangers, and the third for their household. On a certain feast day, Joachim brought double offerings to the Lord according to his custom, for he said, * Out of my su- perfluity will I give for the whole people, that I may find favour in the sight of the Lord, and for- giveness for my sins.* And when the children of Israel brought their gifts, Joachim also brought his ; but the high priest Issachar stood over against him and opposed him, saying, * It is not lawful for thee to bring thine offering, seeing that thou hast not begot issue in Israel.' And Joachim was exceeding sorrowful, and went down to his house ; and he searched through all the registers of the twelve \iiheB to discover if he alone had been childlesi 250 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. in Israel. And he found that all the righteoui iren, and the patriarchs who had lived before him, had been the fathers of sons and daughters. And he called to mind his father Abraham, to whom in his old age had been granted a son, even Isaac. " And Joachim was more and more sorrowful , and he would not be seen by his wife, but avoided her, and went away into the pastures where were the shepherds and the sheep-cotes. And he built himself a hut, and fasted forty days and forty nights; for he said * Until the Lord God look upon me mercifully, prayer shall be my meat and my drink.' " But his wife Anna remained lonely in her house, and mourned with a twofold sorrow, for her widowhood and for her barrenness. " Then drew near the last day of the feast of the Lord; and Judith her handmaid said to Anna, * How long wilt thou thus afflict thy soul ? Behold the feast of the Lord is come, and it is not lawful for thee thus to mourn. Take this silken fillet, which was bestowed on me by one of high de- gree whom I formerly served, and bind it round thy head, for it is not fit that I who am thy hand- maid should wear it, but it is fitting for thee, whose brow is as the brow of a crowned queen.* And Anna replied, * Begone ! such things are not for me, for the Lord hath humbled me. As for thii fillet, some wicked person hath given it to thee •nd art thou come to make me a partaker in thy LEGEND OF JoaCHIM AND ANNA. 251 sin ? * And Judith her maid answered, ' What" ftvil shall I wish thee since thou wilt not hearken to my voice ? for worse I cannot wish thee than thai with which the Lord hath afilicted thee, seeing that he hath shut up thy womb, that thou shouldst not be a mother in Israel.' " And Anna hearing these words was sorely troubled. And she laid aside her mourning gaiv ments, and she adorned her head, and put on her bri- dal attire ; and at the ninth hour she went forth into her garden, and sat down under a laurel tree and prayed earnestly. And looking up to heaven, she saw within .the laurel bush a sparrow's nest; and mourning within herself she said, ' Alas I and woe is me ! who hath begotten me ? who hath brought me forth ? that I should be accursed in the sight of Israel, and scorned and shamed before my people, and cast out of the temple of the Lord I Woe is me ! to what shall I be hkened ? I cannot be likened to the fowls of heaven, for the fowls of heaven are fruitful in thy sight, O Lord I Woe is me ! to what shall I be Hkened ? Not to the un- reasoning beasts of the earth, for they are fruitful in thy sight, O Lord ! Woe is me I to what shall I be likened ? Not to these waters, for they are fruit- ful in thy sight, O Lord I Woe is me ! to what shall I be likened ? Not unto the earth, for the earth bringeth forth her fruit. in due season, and praiseth thee, O Lord 1 ' " And behold an angel of the Lord stood by hen uad said, * Anna, thy prayer is heard, thou shal' 15^ LE(JEN3S OF THE MADONNA. bring forth, and thy child shall be blessed through- out the whole world/ And Anna said, * As th« Lord liveth, whatever I shall bring forth, be it a man-child or a maid, I will present it an offering to the Lord.' And behold another angel came and said to her, * See, thy husband Joachim is coming with his shepherds;* for an angel had spoken to him also, and had comforted him with promises. And Anna went forth to meet her husband, and Joachim came fpom the pasture with his herds, and they met at the golden gate ; and Anna ran and embraced her husband, and hung upon his neck, Baying, * Now know I that the Lord hath blessed me. I who was a widow am no longer a widow ; I who was barren shall become a joyful mother.' " And they returned home together. " And when her time was come, Anna brought forth a daughter ; and she said, * This day my soul magnifieth the Lord.* And she laid herself down in her bed ; and she called the name of her child Mary, which in the Hebrew is Miriam." With the scenes of this beautiful pastoral begini the life of the Virgin. 1. We have first Joachim rejected from the tem- ple. He stands on the steps before the altar hold- ing a lamb ; and the high priest opposite to him, • with arm upraised, appears to refuse his offering, Such is the usual motif; but the incident has been variously treated — in the earlier and ruder ex. imples, with a 'ur'icrous w^nt V dignity ; for Jo* LEGEND OF JOACHIM AXD ANNA. 253 chim is almost tumbling down the steps of the temple to avoid the box on the ear which Issachar the priest is in the act of bestowing in a most ener- getic fashion. On the other hand, the group by Taddeo Gaddi (Florence, Baroncelli Chapel, S. Croce), though so early in date, has not since been excelled either in the grace or the dramatic signifi- cance of the treatment. Jcachim turns away, with his lamb in his arms, repulsed, but gently, by the priest. To the right are three personages who bring offerings, one of whom, prostrate on his knees, yet looks up at Joachim with a sneering expression — a fine representation of the pharisaical piety of one of the elect, rejoicing in the humiliation of a brother. On the other side are three persons who appear to be commenting on the scene. In the more elaborate composition by Ghirlandajo (Flor- ence, S. Maria Novella), there is a grand view into the interior of the temple, with arches richly sculp- tured. Joachim is thrust forth by one of the at- tendants, while in the background the high priest accepts the offering of a more favoured votary. On each side are groups looking on, who express the contempt and hatred they feel for one, who, not having children, presumes to approach the altar. All these, according to the custom of Ghirlandajo, are portraits of distinguished persons. The first figure on the right represents the painter Baldovi- netti ; next to him, with his hand on his side, Ghir- landajo himself; the third, with long black hair, is Bastiano Mainardi, who painted the Assumptio» 17 254 LEGENDS OF THE MAD DNWA. in the Baroncelli Chapel, in the Santa Croce ; and the fourth, turning his back, is David Ghirlandajo. These real personages are so managed, that, whilfe they are not themselves actors, they do not interfere with the main action, but rather embellish and illustrate it, like the chorus in a Greek tragedy. Every single figure in this fine fresco is a study for manly character, dignified attitude, and easy grand irapery. In the same scene by Albert Durer,* the high priest, standing behind a table, rejects the offering of the lamb, and his attendant pushes away the doves. Joachim makes a gesture of despair, and several persons who bring offerings look at him with disdain or with sympathy. The same scene by Luini (Milan, Brera) is con- ceived with much pathetic as well as dramatic effbct. But as I have said enough to render the subject easily recognized, we proceed. 2. "Joachim herding his sheep on the moun- tain, and surrounded by his shepherds, receives the message of the angel." This subject may so nearly resemble the Annunciation to the Shepherds in St Luke's Gospel, that we must be careful to distin- guish them, as, indeed, the best of the old painters have done with great taste and feeling. In the fresco by Taddeo Gaddi (in the BaroncelL Chapel), Joachim is seated on a rocky mountain, Ht the base of which his sheep are feeding, anc * In the set of wood-cuts of the Life of the Yirgin. LE3END OF JOACHIM AND ANNA. 26ft •urns round to listen to the voice of the angel. In the fresco by Giotto in the Arena at Padua, the treatment is nearly the same.* Tn the series by Luini, a stream runs down the centre of the pic- ture ; on one side is Joachim listening to the angel, on the other, Anna is walking in her garden. This incident is omitted by Ghirlandajo. In Albert Durer*s composition, Joachim is seen in the fore- ground kneeling, and looking up at an angel, who holds out in both hands a sort of parchment roll looking like a diploma with seals appended, and which we may suppose to contain the message from on high (if it be not rather the emblem of the sealed book, so often introduced, particularly by the Ger- man masters). A companion of Joachim also looks up with amazement, and farther in the distance are sheep and shepherds. The Annunciation to St. Anna may be easily mistaken for the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary ; — we must therefore be careful to discriminate, by an attention to the accessories. Didron observes ;hat in Western art the annunciation to St Anna usually takes place in a chamber. In the East it takes place in a garden, because there " on vit peu dans les maisons et beaucoup en plein air ;" but, according to the legend, the locality ought to be a garden, and under a laurel tree, which is not always attended to. * The subject will be found in th«» pet *>£ wood-cuts | ablishet* l»5 the Aiundel Society. £56 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. 3. The altercation between St. Anna and hei maid Judith I have never met with but once, in the series by Luini, where the disconsolate figure and expression of St. Anna are given with infinite grace and sentiment. (Milan, Brera.) 4. " The meeting of Joachim and Anna before the golden gate." This is one of the most impor- tant subjects. It has been treated by the very early artists with much naivete^ and in the later examples with infinite beauty and sentiment ; and, which is curious, it has been idealized into a devo- tional subject, and treated apart. The action \i in itself extremely simple. The husband and wife afiectionately and joyfully embrace each other. In the background is seen a gate, richly ornamented. Groups of spectators and attendants are sometimes, not always, introduced. In the composition of Albert Durer nothing car be more homely, hearty, and conjugal. A burly fet man, who looks on with a sort of wondering amusement in his face, appears to be a true and animated transcript from nature, as true as Ghir- landajo's attendant figures — but how different < \?hat a contrast between the Florentine citizen and the German burgher I In the simpler composition by Taddeo Gaddi, St. Anna is attended by three women, among whom the maid Judith is conspicu ous, and behind Joachim is one of his shepherds.* * In two compartments of a small altar-piece (which probabl) lipiveented in th<) centre the Nativity of the Virgin), I found oo LEGEND OF JOACHIM AND ANNA. 251 The Franciscans, those enthusiastic defenders of ihe Immaculate Conception, were the authors of a fantastic idea, that the birth of the Virgin was not only immaculate, but altogether miraculous, and 'what she owed her being to the joyful kiss which Joachim gave his wife when they met at the gate. Of course the Church gave no countenance to this strange poetical fiction, but it certainly modified some of the representations ; for example, there is a picture by Vittore Carpaccio, wherein St. Joa- chim and Anna tenderly embrace. On one side stands St. Louis of Toulouse as bishop ; on the other St. Ursula with her standard, whose presence turns the incident into a religious mystery. In an- other picture, painted by Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, we have a still more singular and altogether mystical treatment In the centre St. Joachim and St. An- na embrace ; behind St. Joachim stands St. Joseph with his lily wand and a book ; behind St. Anna, the Virgin Mary (thus represented as existing be- fore she was born *), and beyond her St. Laurence ; in the corner is seen the head of the votary, a Ser- vite monk ; above all, the Padre Eterno holds an open book with the Alpha and Omega. This sin- gular picture was dedicated and placed over the high altar of the Conception in the church of the Servi, who, under the title of Serviti di Maria, toe side the story of St. JoachW, on the other the stery of St Anna. — Collection of Lord Northwich, No. 513, tA lis Cata fOgue. * ProT. viii 22, 28. These texts are applied to the Btadanim B58 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. were dedicated to the especial service of the Vii« gin Mary. (v. Legends of the Monastic Orders.) THE NATIVITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN, Bal. La Nascit^ della B. Yergine. Fr. La Naissance de la S Vierge. Ger. Die Geburt Maria. This is, of course, a very important subject. It is sometimes treated apart as a separate scene ; and a series of pictures dedicated to the honour of the Virgin, and comprising only a few of the most eventful scenes in her history, generally begins with her Nativity. The primitive treatment is Greek, and, though varied in the details and the Bentiment, it has never deviated much from the original motif. St. Anna reclines on a couch covered with dra- pery, and a pillow under her head ; two hand- maids sustain her; a third fans her, or presents refreshments ; more in front a group of women are busied about the new-born child. It has been the custom, I know not on what authority, to introduce neighbours and friends, who come to congratulate the parents. The whole scene thus treated is sure to come home to the bosom of the observer. The most important event in the life of i woman, hei most common and yet most awful experience, is here so treated as to be at once ennobled by its sig- olficance and endeared by its thoroughly domestic iharacter THE BIRTH OF THE VIRGIN. 25S I will give some examples. 1. The first is by an anknown master of the Greco-Italian school, ana referred by d'Agincourt to the thirteenth century, but it is evidently later, and quite in the style of the Gaddi. 2. There is both dignity and simplicity in the fresco by Taddeo Gaddi. (Florence, Baroncelli Chapel.) St. Anna is sitting up in bed ; an at- tendant pours water over her hands. In front, two women are affectionately occupied with the child a lovely infant with a glory round its head. Three other attendants are at the foot of the bed. 3. We have next in date, the elegant composi- tion by Ghirlandajo. As Joachim and Anna were " exceedingly rich," he has surrounded them with all the luxuries of life. The scene is a chamber richly decorated ; a frieze of angelic boys ornaments the alcove ; St. Anna lies on a couch. Vasari says "certain women are ministering to her 5" but in L^sinio's engraving they are not to be found. In front a female attendant pours water into a vase ; two others seated hold the infant. A noble lady, habited in the elegant Florentine costume of the ^fteenth century, enters with four others — all por- traits, and, as is usual with Ghirlandajo, looking on without taking any part in the action. The lady ji front is traditionally said to be Ginevra Benci, telebrated for her beauty. 4. The composition by Albert Durer * gives 'oa %n exact transcript of antique German life, quite • la the set of wood-cuts of tJie " Life of the Virgin Macy**' 260 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. wonderful for the homely truth of the delinea* tion, but equally without the simplicity of a scrip* tural or the dignity of an historical scene. In an old-fashioned German chamber lies St. Anna in an old-fashioned canopied bedstead. Two women bring her a soup and something to drink, while the midwife, tired with her exertions, leans h^r head on the bedside and has sunk to sleep. A crowd of women fill up the foreground, one of whom attends to the new-born child ; others, who appear to have watched through the night, as we may suppose from the nearly extinguished candles, are intent on good cheer; they congrat- ulate each other; they eat, drink, and repose themselves. It would be merely a scene of Ger- man commeragej full of nature and reality, if an angel hovering above, and swinging a censer, did not remind us of the sacred importance of the incident represented. 5. In the strongest possible contrast to the homely but animated conception of Albert Durer, is the grand fresco by Andrea del Sarto, in the church of the Nunziata at Florence. The inci- dents are nearly the same: we have St Anna reclining in her bed and attended by her women ; the nurses waiting on the lovely new-bom child , the visitors who enter to congratulate ; but all, down to the handmaidens who bring refreshments, are noble and dignified, and draped in that mag- nificent taste which distinguished Andrea. Angel i icatter flowers from above and, which Is very wi> THE PRESENTATION OF THE VIRGIN. 26 1 roinmon, Joachim is seen, after the anxious night reposing on a couch. Nothing in fresco can exceed the harmony and brilliancy of the colouring, and the softness of the execution. It appeared to me a masterpiece as a picture. Like Ghirlandajo, An- drea has introduced portraits ; and in the Florentine lady who stands in the foreground we recognize the features of his worthless wife Lucrezia, the original model of so many of his female figures that the igno- ble beauty of her face has become quite familiar. THE PRESENTATION OF THE VIRGIN. Ital. La Presentazione, ore nostra Signora piccioletta sale i gradl del Tempio. Ger. Joachim und Aivna weihen ihre Tocht«r Maria im Tempel. Die Vorstellung der Jungfrau im Tempe Nov. 21. In the interval between the birth of Mary and her consecration in the temple, there is no inci- dent which I can remember as being important or popular as a subject of art. It is recorded with what tenderness her mother Anna watched over her, " how she made of her bedchamber a holy place, allowing nothing that was common or unclean to enter in ; " and called to her " certain daughters of Israel, pure and gen- tle," whom she appointed to attend on her. In Bome of the eaAy miniature illustrations of the Offices of the Virgin, St. Anna thus ministers to ter child ; for instance, in a beautiful Greek MS. m the Vatican, she is tenderly putting hei into a B62 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. little bed or cradle and covering her up. (It if engraved in d'Agincourt.) It is not said anywhere that St. Anna instructed her daughter. It has even been regarded as un- orthodox to suppose that the Virgin, enriched from her birth, and before her birth, with all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, required instruction from any one. Nevertheless, the subject of the " Education of the Virgin ** has been often represented in later times. There is a beautiful example by Murillo ; while Anna teaches her child to read, angels hover over them with wreaths of roses. (Madrid Gal.) An- other by Rubens, in which, as it is said, he repre- sented his young wife, Helena Forman. (Mus^e, Antwerp.) There is also a picture in which St. Anna ministers to her daughter, and is intent on braiding and adorning her long golden hair, while the angels look on with devout admiration. (Vienna, Lichtenstein Gal.) In all these exam- ples Mary is represented as a girl of ten or twelve years old. Now, as the legend expressly relates that she was three years old when she became an inmate of the temple, such representations must be considered as incorrect. The narrative thus proceeds : — " And when the child was three years old^ Joa- chim said, *Let us invite the daughters of Israel, and they shall take each a taper or a lamp, tnd attend on her, that the child may not turn ^ack from the temple of the Lord.' And being THE PKESENTATION OF THE VIRGIN. 265 jome to the temple, they placed her on the first itep, and she ascended alone all the steps to the altar: and the high priest received her there, kissed her, and blessed her, saying, !72 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. ers have erred as mucli on the other side; fcT 1 have seen pictures in which St. Joseph is not onljj? a young man not more than thirty, but bears a strong resemblance to the received heads of our Saviour. It is in the sixteenth century that we first find Joseph advanced to the dignity of a saint in hia own right ; and in the seventeenth he became very popular, especially in Spain, where St. Theresa had chosen him for her patron saint, and had placed her powerful order of the reformed Car- melites under his protection. Hence the number of pictures of that time, which represent Joseph, as the foster-father of Christ, carrying the Infant on his arm and caressing him, while in the other hand he bears a lily, to express the sanctity and purity of his relations with the Virgin. The legend of "the Marriage of Joseph and Mary " is thus given in the Protevangelion and the History of Joseph the Carpenter: — " When Mary was fourteen years old, the priest Zacharias (or Abiathar, as he is elsewhere called) inquired of the Lord concerning her, what was right to be done ; and an angel came to him and laid, * Go forth, and call together all the widowers Among the people, and let each bring his rod (ot wand) in his hand, and he to whom the Lord shall ihow a sign, let him be the husband of Mary. Knd Zacharias did as the angel commanded, and tBL£ MARRIAGE OF THE VIRGIN. 27S made proclamation accordingly. And Joseph the carpenter, a righteous man, throwing down his axe, and taking his staff in his hand, ran out with the rest. When he appeared before the priest, and presented his rod, lo ! a dove issued out of it — a dove dazzling white as the snow, — and zifter set- tling on his head, flew towards heaven. Then the high priest said to him, * Thou art the person chosen bo take the Virgin of the Lord, and to keep her for him.' And Joseph was at first afraid, and drew back, but afterwards he took her home to his house, and said to her, * Behold, I have taken thee from the temple of the Lord, and now T will leave thee m my house, for I must go and follow my trade of building. I will return to thee, and meanwhile the Lord be with thee and watch over thee.* So Joseph left her, and Mary remained in her house." There Is nothing said of any marriage ceremony , some have even affirmed that Mary was only be- trothed to Joseph, but for conclusive reasons it re- mains an article of faith that she was married to him. I must mention here an old tradition cited by St. Jerome, and which has been used as a text by the painters. The various suitors who aspired to the honour of marrying the consecrated " Virgin of the Loitl," among whom was the son of the high-priest, deposited their wands in the temple over night,* * The suitors kneeling with their ^ands before the altar in tht ISemple, is one of the series by Giotto in ke Arena at Padua. £74 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. and noxt morning the rod of Joseph was found, like the rod of Aaron, to have budded forth into leaves and flowers. The other suitors thereupon broke their wands in rage and despair ; and one among them, a youth of noble lineage, whose nam© was Agabus, fled to Mount Carmel, and became an anchorite, that is to say, a Carmelite friar. According to the Abbe Orsini, who gives a long description of the espousals of Mary and Joseph, they returned after the marriage ceremony to Naz- areth, and dwelt in the house of St. Anna. Now, with regard to the representations, we find that many of the early painters, and particularly the Italians, have carefully attended to the fact, that, among the Jews, marriage was a civil contract, not a religious rite The ceremony takes place in the open air, in a garden, or in a landscape, or in front of the temple. Mary, as a meek and beautiful maiden of about fifteen, attended by a train of yirgins, stands on the right ; Joseph, behind whom are seen the disappointed suitors, is on the left. The priest joins their hands, or Joseph is in the act of placing the ring on the finger of the bride. This 18 the traditional arrangement from Giotto down to RaphaeL In the series by Giotto, in the Arena a4 Padua, we have three scenes from the marriage le- gend. 1. St. Joseph and the other suitors present their wands to the high-priest. 2. They kneel be- fore the altar, on which their wands are deposited, iraiting for the promised miracle. 8. The marriagt THE MARRIAGE OF THE VIRGIN. 271 ijeremony. It takes place before an altar, in the interior of the temple. The Virgin, a most grace- ful figure, but rather too old, stands attended by her maidens ; St. Joseph holds his wand with the flowei and the holy Dove resting on it : one of the disap* pointed suitors is about to strike him; another breaks his wand against his knee. Taddeo Gaddi, Angelico, Ghirlandajo, Perugino, all followed thia traditional conception of the subject, except that they omit the altar, and place the locality in the open air, or under a portico. Among the relir^s venerated in the Cathedral of Perugia, is the nup- tial ring of the blessed Virgin ; and for the altar of the sacrament there, Perugino painted the ap- propriate subject of the Marriage of the Virgin.* Here the ceremony takes place under the portico of the temple, and Joseph of course puts the ring on her finger. It is a beautiful composition, which has been imitated more or less by the painters of the Perugino school, and often repeated in the gen- eral arrangement. But in this subject, Raphael, while yet a youth, excelled his master and all who had gone before him. Every one knows the famous " Sposalizio of the Brera." f It was painted by Raphael in his twenty-first year, for the church of S. Francesco, in Cittk di Castello ; and though he has closely fol- lowed the conception of his master, it is modified * It was carried off from the church by the French, aolcl fai Irance, and is now to be seen in the Mus6e at Caen. i At Milan. The fine engraving by Longhi is ^ell known ^76 LEGEN1>S OF THE MADONNA. by that ethereal grace which even then distinguished him. Here Mary and Joseph stand in front of the temple, the high-priest joins their hands, and Jo« Beph places the ring on the finger of the bride he is a man of about thirty, and holds his wand, which has blossomed into a hly, but there is no Dove upon it. Behind Mary is a group of the virgins ol the temple; behind Joseph the group of disap pointed suitors ; one of whom, in the act of break- ing his wand against his knee, a singularly graceful figure, seen more in front and richly dressed, is perhaps the despairing youth mentioned in the legend.* With something of the formality of the elder schools, the figures are noble and dignified ; the countenances of the principal personages have a characteristic refinement and beauty, and a soft, tender, enthusiastic melancholy, which lends a pe- culiar and appropriate charm to the subject. In fact, the whole scene is here ideahzed ; it is like a lyric poem. (Kugler's Handbook, 2d edit.) In Ghirlandajo's composition (Florence, S. Maria Novella), Joseph is an old man with a bald head ; the architecture is splendid ; the accessory figures, as is usual with Ghirlandajo, are numerous and full of grace. In the background are musicians play- ing on the pipe and tabor, an incident which I do not recollect to have seen in other pictures. The Sposalizio by Girolamo da Cotignola (Bo- logna Gal.), painted for the church of St. Joseph, ii * In the series by Giotto at Padua, we hare the youth br»%)i ttg bit wand across his knee. THE MARRIAGE OF THE VIRGIN. 27? Leated quite in a mystical style. Mary and Joseph itand before an altar, on the steps of which are leated, on one side a prophet, on the other a sibyl. By the German painters the scene is represented with a characteristic homely neglect of all historic propriety. The temple is a Gothic church; the altar has a Gothic altar-piece ; Joseph looks like an old burgher arrayed in furs and an embroidered gown ; and the Virgin is richly dressed in the cos- tume of the fifteenth century. The suitors are often knights and cavaliers with spurs and tight hose. It is not said anywhere that St. Anna and St. Joachim were present at the marriage of their daughter ; hence they are supposed to have been dead before it took place. This has not prevented some of the old German artists from introducing them, because, according to their ideas of domestic propriety, they ougJit to have been present. 1 observe that the later painters who treated th^ lubject, Rubens and Poussin for instance, omit the disappointed suitors. After the marriage, or betrothal, Joseph con iucts his wife to his house. The group of the re- turning procession has been beautifully treated in Giotto's series at Padua ; * still more beautifully bi • Oappella dell' Arena, engraved for the Arundel Society. 2>4 LrGE::TDS of 7HE ^ADOlsVA. LuUi in the fragment of fresco now in the Brera at Miljai. Here Joseph and Mary walk together hand in Land. He looks at her, just touching her fingers with an air of tender veneration ; she looks down, Bereneiy modest Thus they return together to their humble home ; and with this scene closes tli6 firirt; part ot ihe lifb of the Virgin Maiy. mSTORICAL SUBJECTS. PART n. THE LIFE OF THE VIRGIN MARY FROM THE ANNUNCIATION TO THE RE- TURN FROM EGYPT. 1. THE ANNUNCIATION. 2. THE SALUTATION OP ELIZABETH. B. THE JOURNEY TO BETHLE* HEM. 4. THE NATIVITY. 6. THE ADORATION OP THE SHEPHERDS. 6. THE ADORATION OP THE MAGL 7. THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE. 8. THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 9. THE RIPOSO. 10. THE RETURN FROM EGYPT. THE ANNUNCIATION. 1M' L' Annxmciazione. La B. Ver^e Annunziata. FV. L^An* nonciation. La Salutation Ang^lique. Ger. Die YerkUndi gang. Der Englische Gniss. March 25. The second part of the life of the Virgin Maiy begins with the Annunciation and ends with the Crucifixion, comprising all those scriptural inci- dents which connect her history with that of her ^Yine Son. But to the scenes narrated in the Gospels the :^ainters did not confine themselves. Not only f80 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. were the simple scripture histories coloured throughout by the predominant and enthusiastic veneration paid to the Virgin — till the life of Christ was absolutely merged in that of Hia mother, and its various incidents became "the Boven joys and the seven sorrows of Mary," — but we find the artistic representations of her life curi- ously embroidered and variegated by the introduc- tion of traditional and apocryphal circumstances, in most cases sanctioned by the Church authorities of the time. However doubtful or repulsive some of these scenes and incidents, we cannot call them absolutely unmeaning or absurd ; on the contrary, what was supposed grew up very naturally, in the vivid and excited imaginations of the people, out of what was recorded ; nor did they distinguish ac- curately between what they were allowed and what they were commanded to believe. Neither can it be denied that the traditional incidents — those at least which we find artistically treated — are often singularly beautiful, poetical, and instructive. In the hands of the great religious artists, who worked in their vocation with faith and simplicity, objects and scenes the most familiar and commonplace became sanctified and glorified by association with what we deem most holy and most venerable. In the hands of the later painters the result was just the reverse — what was most spiritual, most hal- lowed, most elevated, became secularized, material* Ized, and shockingly degraded. No subject has been more profoundly felt and THE ANNUNCIATION. 281 more beautifully handled by the old painters, no* more vilely mishandled by the moderns, than thft Annunciation, of all the scenes in the life of Mary the most important and the most commonly met with. Considered merely as an artistic sub- ject, it is surely eminently beautiful : it places he* fore us the two most graceful forms which the hand of man was ever called on to delineate ; — the winged spirit fresh from paradise ; the woman not less pure, and even more highly blessed — the chosen vessel of redemption, and the personifica- tion of all female loveliness, all female excellence, all wisdom, and all purity. We find the Annunciation, like many other scriptural incidents, treated in two ways — as a mystery, and as an event. Taken in the former sense, it became the expressive symbol of a mo- mentous article of faith. The Incarnation of the Deity. Taken in the latter sense, it represented the announcement of salvation to mankind, through the direct interposition of miraculous power. In one sense or the other, it enters into every scheme of ecclesiastical decoration ; but chiefly it is set be- fore us as a great and awful mystery, of which the fcwo figures of Gabriel, the angel-messenger, and Mary the " highly-favoured," placed in relation to each other, became the universally accepted sym W)l, rather than the representation. E82 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. THE ANNUNCIATION AS A MYSTERY, Considering the importance given to the Annan ciation in its mystical sense, it is strange that w€ do not find it among the very ancient symbolicai subjects adopted in the first ages of Christian art It does not appear on the sarcophagi, nor in the oarly Greek carvings and diptychs, nor in the early mosaics — except once, and then as a part of the history of Christ, not as a symbol ; nor can we trace the mystical treatment of this subject higher than the eleventh century, when it first appears in the Gothic sculpture and stained glass. In the thirteenth, and thenceforward, the Annunciation appears before us, as the expression in form of a theological dogma, everywhere conspicuous. It became a primal element in every combination of sacred representations ; the corner-stone, as it were, of every architectural system of religious decora- tion. It formed a part of every altar-piece, either in sculpture or painting. Sometimes the Virgin stands on one side of the altar, the angel on the other, carved in marble or alabaster, or of wood richly painted and gilt ; or even, as I have seen in lome instances, of solid silver. Not seldom, we find the two figures placed in niches against the pillars, or on pedestals at the entrance of the choir. It was not necessary, when thus symbolically treatedi to j)lace the two figures m proximity to signifjr THE ANNUNCIATION AS A MYSTERY. 28* flieir relation to each other ; they are often divideci by the whole breadth of the chancel. Whatever the subject of the altar-piece — whether the Nativity, or the Enthroned Madon- na, or the Coronation, or the Crucifixion, or the Last Supper, — the Annunciation almost invaria- bly formed part of the decoration, inserted either into the spandrels of the 'arches above, or in the predella below ; or, which is very common, painted or carved on the doors of a tabernacle or tripty- chon. If the figures are full-length, a certain symmetry being required, they are either both standing, or both kneeling ; it is only in later times that the Virgin sits, and the angel kneels. When disposed in cir- cles or semicircles, they are often merely busts, or half-length figures, separated perhaps by a frame- work of tracery, or set on each side of the princi- pal subject, whatever that may be. Hence it is that we so often find in galleries and collections, pictures of the Annunciation in two separate parts, the angel in one frame, the Virgin in another ; and perhaps the two pictures, thus disunited, may have found their way into different countries and differ- ent collections, — the Virgin being in Italy and the angel in England. Sometimes the Annunciation — still as a mysti- cal subject — forms an altar-piece of itself. Id many Roman Catholic churcnes there is a chape) or an altar dedicated expressly to the mystery of the Annunciation, the subject forming of coursa 284 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. the principal decoration. At Florence there is • church — one of the most splendid and interesting of its many beautiful edifices — dedicated to the Annunciation, or rather to the Virgin in her espe- cial character and dignity, as the Instrument of the Incarnation, and thence styled the church della Santissima Nunziata. The fine mosaic of the An- nunciation by Ghirlandajo is placed over the prin- cipal entrance. Of this church, and of the order of the Servi, to whom it belongs, I have already ppoken at length. Here, in the first chapel on the left, as we enter, is to be found the miraculous pic- ture of the Annunciation, formerly held in such veneration, not merely by all Florence, but all Chris- tendom : — found, but not seen — for it is still con- cealed from profane eyes, and exhibited to the devout only on great occasions. The name of the painter is disputed ; but, according to tradi- tion, it is the work of a certain Bartolomeo ; who, while he sat meditating on the various excellences and perfections of our Lady, and most especially on her divine beauty, and thinking, with humility, how inadequate were his own powers to represent her worthily, fell asleep; and on awaking, found the head of the Virgin had been wondrously com- pleted, either by the hand of an angel, or by that of St Luke, who had descended from heaven on purpose. Though this curious relic has been fre- quently restored, no one has presumed to touch the features of the Virgin, which are, I am told — for I have never been blessed with a sight of tht THE ANNUNCIATIUN AS A MYSTERY. 28^ original picture -- marvellously sweet and beaiti- ful. It is concealed by a veil, on which is painted a fine head of the Redeemer, by Andrea del Sar- fco ; and forty-two lamps of silver burn continually round it. There is a copy in the Pitti Palace, by Carlo Dolce. It is evident that the Annunciation, as a mystery, admits of a style of treatment which would not be allowable in the representation of an event. In the former case, the artist is emancipated from all considerations of locality or circumstance. Wheth- er the background be of gold, or of blue, or star- bespangled sky, — a mere curtain, or a temple of gorgeous architecture ; whether the accessories be the most simple or the most elaborate, the most real or the most ideal ; all this is of little moment, and might be left to the imagination of the artist, or might be modified according to the conditions imposed by the purpose of the representation and the material employed, so long as the chief object is fulfilled — the significant expression of an abstract dogma, appealing to the faith, not to the senses or the un- derstanding, of the observer. To this class, then, belong all those church images and pictures of the Annunciation, either confined to the two personages, with just suflicient of attitude and expression to place them in relation to each other, or with such accompaniments as served to carry out the mystical idea, still keeping it as far as possible removed from th« region of »arthly possibilities. 19 184 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA. In the fifteenth century — that age of mysticism *— we find the Annunciation not merely treated aa an abstract religious emblem, but as a sort of di- vine allegory or poem, which in old French and Flemish art is clothed in the quaintest, the most curious forms. I recollect going into a church at Breslau, and finding over one of the altars a most elaborate carving in wood of the Annunciation, Mary is seated within a Gothic porch of open tracery work ; a unicorn takes refuge in her boeh om; outside, a kneeling angel winds a hunting horn ; three or four dogs are crouching near him. I looked and wondered. At first I could make noth- ing of this singular allegory ; but afterwards found the explanation in a learned French work on the " Stalles d' Amiens." I give the original passage, for it will assist the reader to the comprehension of many curious works of art ; but I do not venture to translate it. " On sait qu'au xvi* sifecle, le myst^re de Tin- carnation ^toit souvent represents par une all^gorie ainsi con