How Flora envied this simplicity, and wished that she had a little more of it. It would have saved her so much pain; but it is one of those things which cannot be acquired, at least by a person like Flora, who could not summon up sufficient courage even to touch the hand of any one whom she liked extremely, unless she were unmistakably made to feel that it would give pleasure. Flora had said after reading Marie's history, "We shall be such contrasts!" and so they were; but this difference of disposition only seemed to make them greater friends.
But it is time for us to leave the ladies, and follow the two gentlemen to the Accademia. As it was Mr. Barkley's first visit to Florence, he had still most of Beato Angelico's masterpieces to see. He had indeed seen his works, on the day before, at the Uffizi, and the "Crowning of the Blessed Virgin," in the Louvre, was an old familiar friend to him; but another treat was now in store for him, for Beato Angelico was his master-painter.
On their way they talked of the different subjects from his pencil which they were about to see, and especially of the "Descent from the Cross" and the "Last Judgment." Mr. Barkley said that he meant to keep these for a bonne bouche, and begged to be taken straight to il Beato's "poem in painting," the "Life of our Lord." Mr. Blake could not help rallying his friend a little about his desperate enthusiasm for the Frate, which he thought somewhat extravagant.
"But here we are," he exclaimed, "so you will soon be gratified. I shall, as you wish, take you straight to the 'Life of our Lord,' and then leave you to your ecstasies for a time. When I come back, be pleased to impart some of them to me."
Accordingly Mr. Blake left him to the contemplation of this august history, and did not join him again for a considerable time, which he spent in paying long visits to his favourite pictures. He was not at a loss for occupation during this time, as a most varied experience and a fair share of study had rendered him capable of really enjoying fine paintings.
When he did at length return to Mr. Barkley, he found him at the closing subject—the "Last Judgment;" not the great picture on that subject, but an older one, and asked, "Well?"
"Well!" echoed Mr. Barkley, "this is art indeed! Here we see that the painter had a higher aim in view than that of displaying his own talent in originality of design, or even correctness of outline. These indeed have not been neglected, but they have been used only as means to a great end, and that end was to teach a sublime lesson. Each of these thirty-eight compartments is a study in itself, a study in which the mind of the angelic painter speaks to us through his works, causing us to know, and by knowing, to love something of 'the splendour of unity'—the Beautiful itself. To produce this—you will agree with me—is the highest triumph of art. Where this is not, what do we see but the works of copyists, who portray, more or less well, what they see with their mortal eyes?"
"I quite agree with you that we cannot rightly call anything a work of real art which is not in some degree a creation, and a teacher, whose purpose it is to draw us from the lower and material world to the contemplation of higher things. But we must have a standard of truth, and therefore I cannot altogether share in your admiration of Angelico's 'History of our Lord,' as there are many things represented in it for which we have no authority, and in some places the meaning is obscure and unintelligible. Much of it seems to be inspired rather by the mystic imagination of a pious monk than by the grand and simple written record of our Saviour's life upon earth, the beauty of which these paintings ought only to illustrate. When your favourite keeps to this he is truly great, as in the 'Descent from the Cross,' for instance."
"Ah, true! Will you forgive me if I say that you can hardly seize all the speaking beauty depicted in this great history? I do not say this, as you will believe, in any way to depreciate your judgment, but in regard only to the extent of your belief."