DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61668#0164
io8 POLLAIUOLO
the scenes of the first group, and a somewhat Northern
angularity of gesture, verging on the grotesque, in this
and several other of the embroideries, suggests that
they were worked by one of the Flemish craftsmen, who
visualised rather after the manner of his own school
than of the Florentine. So faithfully are the scenes of
the first group rendered, that the character of Antonio’s
work is reproduced exactly, but it is possible that the
inferiority and strange Northern style of some of the
figures in the rest, may be due to the intervening person-
ality of a craftsman less conscientious and less skilful.
This suggestion of Northern art is even more
perceptible in the next—the Baptist preaching to the
Multitude—which, as regards the greater part of the
figures, might have been designed by a Fleming.
Especially Flemish is the man seated in the centre, with
crossed knees and folded arms, and another to the
extreme right. The composition is good, but the
values of distance between the figures has been lost,
giving the scene an overcrowded appearance. The
landscape with its sharp rocks and conventional shrubs,
is treated in the traditional trecento style such as we see
in the early reliefs of the Silver Altar, and can hardly
have been designed by Antonio.
The fifth—the Baptist interrogated by the Messengers
of the High Priest—is comparatively coarsely stitched,
and very much worn. In action and construction the
figures are poor, and the design seems to have been left
chiefly to assistants. It has the same suggestion of
Flemish influence as the above.
the scenes of the first group, and a somewhat Northern
angularity of gesture, verging on the grotesque, in this
and several other of the embroideries, suggests that
they were worked by one of the Flemish craftsmen, who
visualised rather after the manner of his own school
than of the Florentine. So faithfully are the scenes of
the first group rendered, that the character of Antonio’s
work is reproduced exactly, but it is possible that the
inferiority and strange Northern style of some of the
figures in the rest, may be due to the intervening person-
ality of a craftsman less conscientious and less skilful.
This suggestion of Northern art is even more
perceptible in the next—the Baptist preaching to the
Multitude—which, as regards the greater part of the
figures, might have been designed by a Fleming.
Especially Flemish is the man seated in the centre, with
crossed knees and folded arms, and another to the
extreme right. The composition is good, but the
values of distance between the figures has been lost,
giving the scene an overcrowded appearance. The
landscape with its sharp rocks and conventional shrubs,
is treated in the traditional trecento style such as we see
in the early reliefs of the Silver Altar, and can hardly
have been designed by Antonio.
The fifth—the Baptist interrogated by the Messengers
of the High Priest—is comparatively coarsely stitched,
and very much worn. In action and construction the
figures are poor, and the design seems to have been left
chiefly to assistants. It has the same suggestion of
Flemish influence as the above.