Introduction to Robert Browning [113]
hence! Your hand, sir, and good-bye: no lights, no lights! [390] The street's hushed, and I know my own way back, Don't fear me! There's the gray beginning. Zooks!
-- 17. Cosimo of the Medici: Cosimo, or Cosmo, de' Medici, surnamed the Elder, a celebrated Florentine statesman, and a patron of learning and the arts; b. 1389, d. 1464.
23. pilchards: a kind of fish.
34. John Baptist's head: an imaginary picture.
67. Saint Lawrence: church of San Lorenzo, in Florence, famous for the tombs of the Medici, adorned with Michel Angelo's Day and Night, Morning and Evening, etc. See `Hawthorne's Italian Note-Books'.
88. Old aunt Lapaccia: Mona Lapaccia, his father's sister.
121. the Eight: `gli Otto di guerra', surnamed `i Santi', the Saints; a magistracy composed of Eight citizens, instituted by the Florentines, during their war with the Church, in 1376, for the administration of the city government. Two were chosen from the `Signori', three, from the `Mediocri' (Middle Classes), and three, from the `Bassi' (Lower Classes). For their subsequent history, see `Le Istorie Fiorentine di Niccolo Machiavelli'.
122. How say I?: -- nay, worse than that, which dog bites, etc.
127. remarks: observations.
139. Camaldolese: monks of the celebrated convent of Camaldoli.
143. Thank you!: there's a remark interposed here by one of the men, perhaps "YOU'RE no dauber", to which he replies, "Thank you".
145 et seq. The realistic painter, who disdains nothing, is shown here.
189. Giotto di Bondone (1266-1337): a pupil of Cimabue, and regarded as the principal reviver of art in Italy. He was a personal friend of Dante. See note under `Old Pictures in Florence', St. 2.
223. I'm grown a man no doubt, I've broken bounds: all the editions are so punctuated; but it seems the comma should be after "man", connecting "no doubt" with "I've broken bounds".
235. "Giovanni da Fiesole, better known as Fra Angelico (1387-1455). Angelico was incomparably the greatest of the distinctively mediaeval school, whose `dicta' the Prior in the poem has all at his tongue's end. To `paint the souls of men', to `make them forget there's such a thing as flesh', was the end of his art. And, side by side with Angelico, Masaccio painted. His short life taught him a different lesson -- `the value and significance of flesh'. He would paint by preference the BODIES of men, and would give us NO MORE OF SOUL than the body can reveal. So he `laboured', saith the chronicler, `in nakeds', and his frescoes mark an epoch in art." -- Ernest Bradford (B. S. Illustrations).
"One artist in the seclusion of his cloister, remained true to the traditions and mode of expression of the middle ages, into which, nevertheless, the incomparable beauty and feeling of his nature breathed fresh life. Fra Giovanni Angelico, called da Fiesole from the place of his birth, occupies an entirely exceptional position. He is the late-blooming flower of an almost by-gone time amid the pulsations of a new life. Never, in the whole range of pictorial art, have the inspired fervor of Christian feeling, the angelic beauty and purity of which the soul is capable, been so gloriously interpreted as in his works. The exquisite atmosphere of an almost supernaturally ideal life surrounds his pictures, irradiates the rosy features of his youthful faces, or greets us, like the peace of God, in the dignified figures of his devout old men. His prevailing themes are the humility of soul of those who have joyfully accepted the will of God, and the tranquil Sabbath calm of those who are lovingly consecrated to the service of the Highest. The movement and the changing course of life, the energy of passion and action concern him not." -- `Outlines of the History of Art'. By Dr. Wilh. Luebke.
236. Lorenzo Monaco: a monk of the order of Camaldoli; a conservative artist of the time, who adhered to the manner of Taddeo Gaddi and his disciples, but Fra Angelico appears likewise to have influenced him.
238. Flower o' the pine, etc.:
-- 17. Cosimo of the Medici: Cosimo, or Cosmo, de' Medici, surnamed the Elder, a celebrated Florentine statesman, and a patron of learning and the arts; b. 1389, d. 1464.
23. pilchards: a kind of fish.
34. John Baptist's head: an imaginary picture.
67. Saint Lawrence: church of San Lorenzo, in Florence, famous for the tombs of the Medici, adorned with Michel Angelo's Day and Night, Morning and Evening, etc. See `Hawthorne's Italian Note-Books'.
88. Old aunt Lapaccia: Mona Lapaccia, his father's sister.
121. the Eight: `gli Otto di guerra', surnamed `i Santi', the Saints; a magistracy composed of Eight citizens, instituted by the Florentines, during their war with the Church, in 1376, for the administration of the city government. Two were chosen from the `Signori', three, from the `Mediocri' (Middle Classes), and three, from the `Bassi' (Lower Classes). For their subsequent history, see `Le Istorie Fiorentine di Niccolo Machiavelli'.
122. How say I?: -- nay, worse than that, which dog bites, etc.
127. remarks: observations.
139. Camaldolese: monks of the celebrated convent of Camaldoli.
143. Thank you!: there's a remark interposed here by one of the men, perhaps "YOU'RE no dauber", to which he replies, "Thank you".
145 et seq. The realistic painter, who disdains nothing, is shown here.
189. Giotto di Bondone (1266-1337): a pupil of Cimabue, and regarded as the principal reviver of art in Italy. He was a personal friend of Dante. See note under `Old Pictures in Florence', St. 2.
223. I'm grown a man no doubt, I've broken bounds: all the editions are so punctuated; but it seems the comma should be after "man", connecting "no doubt" with "I've broken bounds".
235. "Giovanni da Fiesole, better known as Fra Angelico (1387-1455). Angelico was incomparably the greatest of the distinctively mediaeval school, whose `dicta' the Prior in the poem has all at his tongue's end. To `paint the souls of men', to `make them forget there's such a thing as flesh', was the end of his art. And, side by side with Angelico, Masaccio painted. His short life taught him a different lesson -- `the value and significance of flesh'. He would paint by preference the BODIES of men, and would give us NO MORE OF SOUL than the body can reveal. So he `laboured', saith the chronicler, `in nakeds', and his frescoes mark an epoch in art." -- Ernest Bradford (B. S. Illustrations).
"One artist in the seclusion of his cloister, remained true to the traditions and mode of expression of the middle ages, into which, nevertheless, the incomparable beauty and feeling of his nature breathed fresh life. Fra Giovanni Angelico, called da Fiesole from the place of his birth, occupies an entirely exceptional position. He is the late-blooming flower of an almost by-gone time amid the pulsations of a new life. Never, in the whole range of pictorial art, have the inspired fervor of Christian feeling, the angelic beauty and purity of which the soul is capable, been so gloriously interpreted as in his works. The exquisite atmosphere of an almost supernaturally ideal life surrounds his pictures, irradiates the rosy features of his youthful faces, or greets us, like the peace of God, in the dignified figures of his devout old men. His prevailing themes are the humility of soul of those who have joyfully accepted the will of God, and the tranquil Sabbath calm of those who are lovingly consecrated to the service of the Highest. The movement and the changing course of life, the energy of passion and action concern him not." -- `Outlines of the History of Art'. By Dr. Wilh. Luebke.
236. Lorenzo Monaco: a monk of the order of Camaldoli; a conservative artist of the time, who adhered to the manner of Taddeo Gaddi and his disciples, but Fra Angelico appears likewise to have influenced him.
238. Flower o' the pine, etc.: