DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52600#0041
EARLY PERIOD 9
light; there is a considerable variety of hues and the
total effect is very gay. The slender naked body of
St. Sebastian has much elasticity ; and the intelligent,
confiding faces of him and his companion, furrowed
with sufferings, are highly expressive. The artist has
been less successful in representing the Virgin, who
looks rather homely and commonplace ; the Child
moves well, but is deficiently constructed ; and this
is not the only instance in the picture of Montagna’s
still imperfect command of draughtsmanship. The
landscape is of a thoroughly Vicentine character : a
rich verdant plain with a town by a river ; behind
are green wooded hills, and lastly the blue, jagged
chains of the Alps—“ the craggy peaks above Vicenza ”
of which Ruskin speaks. A little behind the enclosure,
to the right, there rise some bare rocks of fantastic,
angular shape. This is a motive cherished not only
by Montagna but by Italian art of that period generally.
It deserves, however, to be pointed out that the sub-
stance of the stone here, as always with Montagna, looks
very like that of the trachyte which is to be found
in the Monti Berici, the chain of volcanic hills to
the south of Vicenza. We may further notice the
disposition of the finger of the Virgin’s right
hand—the middle finger and the ring-finger being
closely pressed together and separated by large
intervals from the index and the little finger—a
peculiarity to be met with throughout the works of
Montagna.1
1 Bergamo. Galleria Lochis. No. 128. The Virgin, in vermilion
tunic, white hood and dark greenish blue mantle with pale violet lining,
clasps with her right hand the Infant Christ, who sits in her lap to the
left, blessing with His right hand and holding an apple in His left.
Behind the Madonna a bluish grey hanging. St. Sebastian, naked but
for a white loin-cloth, is bound with his arms behind his back to a column.
St. Roch, in green jacket, vermilion hose, short pale violet mantle and
top-boots, is holding a pilgrim’s staff in his left hand and pointing with his
light; there is a considerable variety of hues and the
total effect is very gay. The slender naked body of
St. Sebastian has much elasticity ; and the intelligent,
confiding faces of him and his companion, furrowed
with sufferings, are highly expressive. The artist has
been less successful in representing the Virgin, who
looks rather homely and commonplace ; the Child
moves well, but is deficiently constructed ; and this
is not the only instance in the picture of Montagna’s
still imperfect command of draughtsmanship. The
landscape is of a thoroughly Vicentine character : a
rich verdant plain with a town by a river ; behind
are green wooded hills, and lastly the blue, jagged
chains of the Alps—“ the craggy peaks above Vicenza ”
of which Ruskin speaks. A little behind the enclosure,
to the right, there rise some bare rocks of fantastic,
angular shape. This is a motive cherished not only
by Montagna but by Italian art of that period generally.
It deserves, however, to be pointed out that the sub-
stance of the stone here, as always with Montagna, looks
very like that of the trachyte which is to be found
in the Monti Berici, the chain of volcanic hills to
the south of Vicenza. We may further notice the
disposition of the finger of the Virgin’s right
hand—the middle finger and the ring-finger being
closely pressed together and separated by large
intervals from the index and the little finger—a
peculiarity to be met with throughout the works of
Montagna.1
1 Bergamo. Galleria Lochis. No. 128. The Virgin, in vermilion
tunic, white hood and dark greenish blue mantle with pale violet lining,
clasps with her right hand the Infant Christ, who sits in her lap to the
left, blessing with His right hand and holding an apple in His left.
Behind the Madonna a bluish grey hanging. St. Sebastian, naked but
for a white loin-cloth, is bound with his arms behind his back to a column.
St. Roch, in green jacket, vermilion hose, short pale violet mantle and
top-boots, is holding a pilgrim’s staff in his left hand and pointing with his