DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61542#0116
86
MASOLINO
[1383
out, the armed riders and horses, and the effect of
light on the distant sea recall the style of another
artist, the great Veronese master, Pisanello, whose
recent paintings in the Lateran must have been
familiar to Masolino, and whose rare imaginative
powers made a profound impression on many of
his contemporaries.
Another work which Masolino probably executed
during this visit to Rome, although at an earlier
date than the S. Clemente frescoes, is the altar-piece,
now at Naples, in which the foundation of a church,
the Madonna of the Snows, by Pope Martin V. is
represented, and the Madonna appears above, en-
circled by an almond-shaped glory of angels. Enrico
di Allosio only became Cardinal of S. Clemente in
1446, so that if Masolino painted the frescoes in
the basilica by his order, he was already sixty-three.
His death seems to have taken place soon afterwards,
and it is not unlikely that he is the artist named
Tommaso di Cristofano who was buried in Santa
Maria del Fiore on the 18th of October, 1447.
According to Vasari his chief works were painted
about 1440, a statement which in itself is fairly
correct, although it cannot be said to agree with the
same writer’s assertion that he died at thirty-seven.
But incorrect as is Vasari’s chronology, his remarks
on Masolino’s style are remarkably just, and he gives
this master full credit for his share in the new
movement. “ Masolino,” he writes, “ was a man
of rare intelligence, and his paintings are executed
with great love and diligence. I have often examined
his works, and find his style to be essentially different
from that of those who came before him. He gave
MASOLINO
[1383
out, the armed riders and horses, and the effect of
light on the distant sea recall the style of another
artist, the great Veronese master, Pisanello, whose
recent paintings in the Lateran must have been
familiar to Masolino, and whose rare imaginative
powers made a profound impression on many of
his contemporaries.
Another work which Masolino probably executed
during this visit to Rome, although at an earlier
date than the S. Clemente frescoes, is the altar-piece,
now at Naples, in which the foundation of a church,
the Madonna of the Snows, by Pope Martin V. is
represented, and the Madonna appears above, en-
circled by an almond-shaped glory of angels. Enrico
di Allosio only became Cardinal of S. Clemente in
1446, so that if Masolino painted the frescoes in
the basilica by his order, he was already sixty-three.
His death seems to have taken place soon afterwards,
and it is not unlikely that he is the artist named
Tommaso di Cristofano who was buried in Santa
Maria del Fiore on the 18th of October, 1447.
According to Vasari his chief works were painted
about 1440, a statement which in itself is fairly
correct, although it cannot be said to agree with the
same writer’s assertion that he died at thirty-seven.
But incorrect as is Vasari’s chronology, his remarks
on Masolino’s style are remarkably just, and he gives
this master full credit for his share in the new
movement. “ Masolino,” he writes, “ was a man
of rare intelligence, and his paintings are executed
with great love and diligence. I have often examined
his works, and find his style to be essentially different
from that of those who came before him. He gave