DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68073#0060
34
OLD WORLD MASTERS
neck, the calm, deep, unattached gaze of the eye, the refined and
sensitive nose, the pure and lovely mouth, and the graceful, strong,
and very ■psychic hands. This figure perfectly fits Ruskin’s tribute to
Fra Angelico in Modern Painters:
“The art of Fra Angelico, both in drawing and color, is perfect,
and his work may be recognized at any distance by its rainbow play
and brilliancy, like a piece of opal among common marbles. In order
to effect clearer distinction between heavenly beings and those of
this world, he represents the former as clothed in draperies of the
purest color, crowned with glories of burnished gold and entirely
shadowless; the flames on their foreheads waving brighter as they
move; the sparkles streaming from their purple wings like the glitter
of the sun upon the sea; while they listen in the pauses of alternate
song for the prolonging of the trumpet blast and the answering of
psalm and harp and cymbal, throughout the endless deep and from
all the star-shores of Heaven. This mode of treatment, combined
as it is with exquisite choice of gesture and disposition of drapery,
gives perhaps the best idea of spiritual beings which the human mind is
capable of forming.”
THE VIRGIN RECEIVING THE DIVINE MESSAGE.
Fra Angelico Collection of
^I3^7~I455>)- Mr. Edsel B. Ford.
In an attitude of divine submission, devout humility, and serene
grace, the Virgin Mary is listening to the words of the Angel Gabriel.
Her brow is almost as clear and pure as that of Gabriel himself and
her features are beautiful, especially those heavy-lidded eyes. Her
blonde hair is exquisitely arranged, confined by a band of black velvet
and encircled by a nimbus, of which she is apparently unconscious.
Mary wears a crimson robe with bands of gold around the neck and
sleeves, over which is a blue mantle lined with yellow. Her hands
are capable, exquisite, and very high bred; and in the left one she
holds, with rare grace, a red book.
Like the companion panel, Gabriel, the Announcing Angel, the back-
OLD WORLD MASTERS
neck, the calm, deep, unattached gaze of the eye, the refined and
sensitive nose, the pure and lovely mouth, and the graceful, strong,
and very ■psychic hands. This figure perfectly fits Ruskin’s tribute to
Fra Angelico in Modern Painters:
“The art of Fra Angelico, both in drawing and color, is perfect,
and his work may be recognized at any distance by its rainbow play
and brilliancy, like a piece of opal among common marbles. In order
to effect clearer distinction between heavenly beings and those of
this world, he represents the former as clothed in draperies of the
purest color, crowned with glories of burnished gold and entirely
shadowless; the flames on their foreheads waving brighter as they
move; the sparkles streaming from their purple wings like the glitter
of the sun upon the sea; while they listen in the pauses of alternate
song for the prolonging of the trumpet blast and the answering of
psalm and harp and cymbal, throughout the endless deep and from
all the star-shores of Heaven. This mode of treatment, combined
as it is with exquisite choice of gesture and disposition of drapery,
gives perhaps the best idea of spiritual beings which the human mind is
capable of forming.”
THE VIRGIN RECEIVING THE DIVINE MESSAGE.
Fra Angelico Collection of
^I3^7~I455>)- Mr. Edsel B. Ford.
In an attitude of divine submission, devout humility, and serene
grace, the Virgin Mary is listening to the words of the Angel Gabriel.
Her brow is almost as clear and pure as that of Gabriel himself and
her features are beautiful, especially those heavy-lidded eyes. Her
blonde hair is exquisitely arranged, confined by a band of black velvet
and encircled by a nimbus, of which she is apparently unconscious.
Mary wears a crimson robe with bands of gold around the neck and
sleeves, over which is a blue mantle lined with yellow. Her hands
are capable, exquisite, and very high bred; and in the left one she
holds, with rare grace, a red book.
Like the companion panel, Gabriel, the Announcing Angel, the back-