His predecessors reproduced with slight varieties the model of Giotto, and the great Florentine painter himself has given us the scene in its most simple reality. High in the central part of Giotto's "Coronation" Christ places the crown on the Virgin, who with hands crossed, bows her head to receive the homage of her Son. But on her face there is no expression of ecstatic joy, modest, indeed "humble in the midst of glory", she droops her eyes, almost as if she dared not rest them on the Saviour. Angels and saints, symmetrically disposed at the sides, fill the whole background of the picture, with heads either raised in admiration or bowed in respect, but in attitudes so similar, that they give a sense of monotony. Then come the saints, some kneeling at the foot of the throne, and others in the side wings of the triptych, reverently bowing to the Mother of God.
Fra Angelico repeats the principal motive, but develops it according to his high ideal, his intense faith, and mystic sentiment. He gives to the Virgin an expression of infinite sweetness; to the angels a truly celestial charm, to the saints a serene expression of beatitude, and to the whole scene the azure divine character of a vision of Paradise.
High in the centre the Redeemer extends his right hand to add a brilliant gem to the crown of the Virgin, who sits near him, with hands crossed in loving reverence. A luminous golden ray from this group engraved on the panel, forms gleaming and resplendent waves in the background of the picture, from which groups of angels stand out, playing all sorts of music, or dancing with hand clasped in hand. Two are prostrated in profound admiration at the base, and shed clouds of incense from their thuribles, while two others draw melody from heavenly harps.
In the lower part of the picture are many saints, who by their charmed faces and feeling of ineffable joy, show how delighted they are with the vision and the heavenly music.
ANCIENT AND MODERN GALLERY—FLORENCE.
THE LAST JUDGEMENT.
"The greatest eloquence," writes Marchese, "would fail to express the impression which this painting produces. The heart has a language which does not always speak in words, and we can never contemplate this picture without feeling in love with heaven."[27]
Among the works which were undoubtedly done by Fra Angelico during his stay at Fiesole, may be ascribed several different representations of the Last Judgment. He derived the inspiration of the subject directly from Orcagna's fresco in Santa Maria Novella, only Fra Angelico has created a paradise too exclusively modelled on the monastic life. "His ideal," writes Reymond, "is a young neophyte entirely absorbed in prayer—a contemplative being who has renounced earthly life, abdicating his qualities as a man to dream of nothing but the future life. Orcagna, on the contrary, dreams of an ideal in which human life triumphs in all its fulness, and one might say that the beings which people his Paradise are but glorified bodies."[28]