DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61670#0263
CHARACTERISTICS OF ANDREA’S ART 141
such as the Archangel Michael of the Vieweg Collection, the
S. John of the Crucifixion, the S. Thomas of the Assumption,
and the Madonna of the Annunciation, all three in the churches
of La Verna, prove him to be capable of rising to a real height
of genius.1 More inspired figures than these, more beautiful
in face and form have rarely been conceived. They represent
the climax of his artistic career, all belonging as it seems to
about the same period of his life when he was in full maturity.
He appears at this time to have put forth the best of which he
was capable, and to have expressed his utmost of strength and
nobility, but the moment was brief, and his work shows there-
after, with a few exceptions, a steady decline from this high
level.
The most marked characteristics of the spirit of Andrea’s
art are purity, gentleness, and a certain languor not opposed to
the suggestion of emotionalism which lurks even in his most
tranquil figures. These qualities are specially noticeable in his
representation of the Virgin. No other artist of the Renais-
sance has more sympathetically embodied feminine charm and
delicacy. The Madonna of Luca is of stronger fibre, and
combines with her purity and tenderness, self-reliance, fearless-
ness, and strength. She represents a grander, more elemental
type of womanhood—a type better perhaps appreciated by the
Greeks than by fifteenth-century Italians. But of the specific
womanly qualities that appeal to humanity at large, Andrea’s
Madonna is the most perfect embodiment, and hence to a
great extent his popularity, a popularity which in our own
day exceeds, it cannot be denied, even that of Luca himself, in
his representation of the Virgin.
For children Andrea has special sympathy, and represents
them with greater charm than any other artist of the Renais-
sance, standing alone among contemporary sculptors and
painters as the special interpreter of child-life. He never
1 With this group must be mentioned the exquisite head of the Madonna, a
fragment in the possession of Miss Florence Gilbert, London (see p. 176).
such as the Archangel Michael of the Vieweg Collection, the
S. John of the Crucifixion, the S. Thomas of the Assumption,
and the Madonna of the Annunciation, all three in the churches
of La Verna, prove him to be capable of rising to a real height
of genius.1 More inspired figures than these, more beautiful
in face and form have rarely been conceived. They represent
the climax of his artistic career, all belonging as it seems to
about the same period of his life when he was in full maturity.
He appears at this time to have put forth the best of which he
was capable, and to have expressed his utmost of strength and
nobility, but the moment was brief, and his work shows there-
after, with a few exceptions, a steady decline from this high
level.
The most marked characteristics of the spirit of Andrea’s
art are purity, gentleness, and a certain languor not opposed to
the suggestion of emotionalism which lurks even in his most
tranquil figures. These qualities are specially noticeable in his
representation of the Virgin. No other artist of the Renais-
sance has more sympathetically embodied feminine charm and
delicacy. The Madonna of Luca is of stronger fibre, and
combines with her purity and tenderness, self-reliance, fearless-
ness, and strength. She represents a grander, more elemental
type of womanhood—a type better perhaps appreciated by the
Greeks than by fifteenth-century Italians. But of the specific
womanly qualities that appeal to humanity at large, Andrea’s
Madonna is the most perfect embodiment, and hence to a
great extent his popularity, a popularity which in our own
day exceeds, it cannot be denied, even that of Luca himself, in
his representation of the Virgin.
For children Andrea has special sympathy, and represents
them with greater charm than any other artist of the Renais-
sance, standing alone among contemporary sculptors and
painters as the special interpreter of child-life. He never
1 With this group must be mentioned the exquisite head of the Madonna, a
fragment in the possession of Miss Florence Gilbert, London (see p. 176).