DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.63447#0511
ART IN THE SOUTHERN PROVINCES.
495
On each of the lateral sides of this curious group
various episodes from Gospel history are described.
There is the “ Annunciation,” in the usual manner, and
a lovely composition of the Virgin and Child. The latter
stands on a platform, or step, by her side, embracing her
with infantine affection, whilst she bends over Him with
maternal grace and tenderness. Two angels, in separate
compartments, seem to watch this charming group. The
Infant Saviour is dressed in a long tunic, and his feet
are covered with shoes; indeed, the earlier Byzantine
masters opposed and abhorred any uncovered representa-
tions of the human form beyond the mere face and hands,
as recalling the shameful and horrid abominations of
heathen worship.
Another small picture, situated near the last, shows us
St. Joseph as an aged man in adoration of the Infant
Saviour, whilst one of the small barrel flasks of the
country and a wallet hang on a leafless bough, to
signify the flight into Egypt in winter.
The evident effort to represent nature in these paint-
ings and the grace and elevation of their religious senti-
ment are astonishing when we reflect that, if the date
1200 be correct, they were almost a century anterior to
Cimabue, and that the Neapolitan States have never
been alluded to as the birthplace of modern art.1
We have also the evidence of Charles of Anjou, who in
1268, on coming to Naples from Florence, where he had
witnessed the public and enthusiastic triumph of Cimabue,
preferred the works of the Neapolitan brothers di
Stefani to his; and to them accordingly was committed
of a Greek Evangelarion manuscript of the twelfth century, in the
Library of the Vatican. See D’Agincourt, Peintures, Tab.'lix., No.
4, T. B. 11,190.
1 On the right hand of the Cross of the Saviour, the words, “ Marco
Marte fecit,” and “ M. C. C.” are found written in a small irregular
running hand, which in character tallies with the writing of the legends
formerly mentioned, with this difference, that the latter, in St. Angelo
in Formis, have been carefully executed by a professional scribe. On
consulting D’Agincourt, these characters correspond with the style of
writing used during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. See Storia
dell’ Arte, Tav. Ixiv.
495
On each of the lateral sides of this curious group
various episodes from Gospel history are described.
There is the “ Annunciation,” in the usual manner, and
a lovely composition of the Virgin and Child. The latter
stands on a platform, or step, by her side, embracing her
with infantine affection, whilst she bends over Him with
maternal grace and tenderness. Two angels, in separate
compartments, seem to watch this charming group. The
Infant Saviour is dressed in a long tunic, and his feet
are covered with shoes; indeed, the earlier Byzantine
masters opposed and abhorred any uncovered representa-
tions of the human form beyond the mere face and hands,
as recalling the shameful and horrid abominations of
heathen worship.
Another small picture, situated near the last, shows us
St. Joseph as an aged man in adoration of the Infant
Saviour, whilst one of the small barrel flasks of the
country and a wallet hang on a leafless bough, to
signify the flight into Egypt in winter.
The evident effort to represent nature in these paint-
ings and the grace and elevation of their religious senti-
ment are astonishing when we reflect that, if the date
1200 be correct, they were almost a century anterior to
Cimabue, and that the Neapolitan States have never
been alluded to as the birthplace of modern art.1
We have also the evidence of Charles of Anjou, who in
1268, on coming to Naples from Florence, where he had
witnessed the public and enthusiastic triumph of Cimabue,
preferred the works of the Neapolitan brothers di
Stefani to his; and to them accordingly was committed
of a Greek Evangelarion manuscript of the twelfth century, in the
Library of the Vatican. See D’Agincourt, Peintures, Tab.'lix., No.
4, T. B. 11,190.
1 On the right hand of the Cross of the Saviour, the words, “ Marco
Marte fecit,” and “ M. C. C.” are found written in a small irregular
running hand, which in character tallies with the writing of the legends
formerly mentioned, with this difference, that the latter, in St. Angelo
in Formis, have been carefully executed by a professional scribe. On
consulting D’Agincourt, these characters correspond with the style of
writing used during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. See Storia
dell’ Arte, Tav. Ixiv.