In sweetness of type and depth of feeling, the angels of Fra Angelico are more profound than Perugino's. Besides, they seem to have more sincerity about them. The monk-painter in his cell saw visions of heavenly things, and as he saw so he recorded in art. All his faces seem filled with divine tenderness. He painted only one face, one type. His pictures show men with beards and monks in cowls, and angels in flowing robes with bright wings; but there is always the same face, the same sentiment. His trumpet-blowing angels, of which there are countless copies in existence, are epitomes of this conception and sentiment. They have great purity and beauty. Fra Angelico was a man of pure thought to start with, and everything he touched reflected his purity.
TYPES OF FILIPPINO AND BOTTICELLI
FILIPPINO LIPPI: MADONNA AND ST. BERNARD (detail of angels)
SEPPI; ANGEL OF ANNUNCIATION
Filippino and Botticelli came later than Fra Angelico, and the Florence of their day had begun to draw away from medieval traditions in art in favor of more learned technical accomplishment; yet one can hardly see any waning of sentiment in the work of these men. In fact, the sentiment of Filippino is often perilously near to sentimentality, so intense and earnest is the feeling of the man. His Madonna is always on the brink of tears, and his angels are in perfect sympathy with the Madonna. Botticelli is more of an intellectual force; but he too is saturated with sentiment to a point of morbidity. His Madonnas have sad eyes, mouths that droop at the corners, hollow cheeks, and long, flowing hair. They bend before the Angel of the Annunciation like broken flowers, or agonize at the Crucifixion like lost souls. Their sentiment is intense. Nor does it vary much when Botticelli dealt with classic subjects. His Venus in her seashell, his Pallas, his Spring, all have some of the same morbidity, mingled with mystery, melancholy, tenderness, that we see in his angels surrounding the Madonna. This personal quality of the painter is very attractive, and has perhaps done more to make Botticelli popular than his fine qualities as a draftsman and a painter.
PRERAPHAELITE ANGELS
When the Preraphaelite movement started in England over half a century ago, with Rossetti, Holman-Hunt, and Millais as painters, and Ruskin for a prophet, it could think of no one better as a model to follow than Botticelli. The Botticelli look is quite apparent in the sad, rather unhealthy faces of Rossetti. This Rossetti influence was handed on to his pupil, Burne-Jones. None of the Preraphaelite ardor was abated or its sentiment lessened with Burne-Jones. Indeed, he improved upon his master both technically and sentimentally. He was a much better draftsman and colorist than Rossetti, and presented the Preraphaelite idea with greater force and effect.