KNIGHTS OF ART
STORIES OF THE ITALIAN PAINTERS
BY AMY STEEDMAN
AUTHOR OF `IN GOD'S GARDEN'
TO FRANCESCA
ABOUT THIS BOOK
What would we do without our picture-books,
I wonder? Before we knew how to read, before
even we could speak, we had learned to love them.
We shouted with pleasure when we turned the pages
and saw the spotted cow standing in the daisy-
sprinkled meadow, the foolish-looking old sheep with
her gambolling lambs, the wise dog with his friendly
eyes. They were all real friends to us.
Then a little later on, when we began to ask for
stories about the pictures, how we loved them more
and more. There was the little girl in the red cloak
talking to the great grey wolf with the wicked eyes;
the cottage with the bright pink roses climbing
round the lattice-window, out of which jumped a
little maid with golden hair, followed by the great
big bear, the middle-sized bear, and the tiny bear.
Truly those stories were a great joy to us, but we
would never have loved them quite so much if we
had not known their pictured faces as well.
Do you ever wonder how all these pictures came
to be made? They had a beginning, just as everything
else had, but the beginning goes so far back
that we can scarcely trace it.
Children have not always had picture-books to
look at. In the long-ago days such things were not
known. Thousands of years ago, far away in
Assyria, the Assyrian people learned to make
pictures and to carve them out in stone. In Egypt,
too, the Egyptians traced pictures upon the walls
of their temples and upon the painted mummy-
cases of the dead. Then the Greeks made still
more beautiful statues and pictures in marble, and
called them gods and goddesses, for all this was at
a time when the true God was forgotten.
Afterwards, when Christ had come and the people
had learned that the pictured gods were not real,
they began to think it wicked to make beautiful
pictures or carve marble statues. The few pictures
that were made were stiff and ugly, the figures were
not like real men and women, the animals and trees
were very strange-looking things. And instead of
making the sky blue as it really was, they made it
a chequered pattern of gold. After a time it seemed
as if the art of making pictures was going to die out
altogether.
Then came the time which is called `The Renaissance,'
a word which means being born again, or a
new awakening, when men began to draw real
pictures of real things and fill the world with images
of beauty.
Now it is the stories of the men of that time, who
put new life into Art, that I am going to tell you--
men who learned, step by step, to paint the most
beautiful pictures that the world possesses.
In telling these stories I have been helped by an
old book called The Lives of the Painters, by
Giorgio Vasari, who was himself a painter. He
took great delight in gathering together all the
stories about these artists and writing them down
with loving care, so that he shows us real living
men, and not merely great names by which the
famous pictures are known.
It did not make much difference to us when we
were little children whether our pictures were good
or bad, as long as the colours were bright and we
knew what they meant. But as we grow older and
wiser our eyes grow wiser too, and we learn to know
what is good and what is poor. Only, just as our
tongues must be trained to speak, our hands to
work, and our ears to love good music, so our eyes
must be taught to see what is beautiful, or we may
perhaps pass it carelessly by, and lose a great joy
which might be ours.
So now if you learn something about these great
artists and their wonderful pictures, it will help your
eyes to grow wise. And some day should you visit
sunny Italy, where these men lived and worked,
you will feel that they are quite old friends. Their
pictures will not only be a delight to your eyes, but
will teach your heart something deeper and more
wonderful than any words can explain.
AMY STEEDMAN
CONTENTS
GIOTTO, . . . BORN 1276, DIED 1337
FRA ANGELICO, . . '' 1387, '' 1466
MASACCIO, . . . '' 1401, '' 1428
FRA FILIPPO LIPPI,. . '' 1412, '' 1469
SANDRO BOTTICELLI,. . '' 1446, '' 1610
DOMENICO GHIRLANDAIO, '' 1449, '' 1494
FILIPPINO LIP . . '' 1467, '' 1604
PIETRO PERUGINO, . '' 1446, '' 1624
LEONARDO DA VINCI,. . '' 1462, '' 1619
RAPHAEL, . . . '' 1483, '' 1620
MICHELANGELO, . . '' 1476, '' 1664
ANDREA DEL SARTO, . '' 1487, '' 1631
GIOVANNI BELLINI, . '' 1426, '' 1616
VITTORE CARPACCIO,. . '' 1470? '' 1619
GIORGIONE, . . '' 1477? '' 1610
TITIAN, . . . '' 1477, '' 1676
TINTORETTO, . . '' 1662, '' 1637
PAUL VERONESE, . . '' 1628, '' 1688
LIST OF PICTURES
IN COLOUR
THE RELEASE OF ST. PETER. BY FILIPPO LIPPI,
`The tall angel in flowing white robes gently leads St. Peter
out of prison,'
Church of the Carmine, Florence.
THE VISIT OF THE MAGI. BY GIOTTO,
`The little Baby Jesus sitting on His Mother's knee,'
Academia, Florence.
THE MEETING OF ANNA AND JOACHIM. BY GIOTTO,
`Two homely figures outside the narrow gateway,'
Sta. Maria Novella, Florence.
THE ANNUNCIATION. BY FRA ANGELICO,
`The gentle Virgin bending before the Angel messenger,'
S. Marco, Florence.
THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. BY FRA ANGELICO,
`The Madonna in her robe of purest blue holding the Baby
close in her arms,'
Academia, Florence.
THE ANNUNCIATION. BY FILIPPO LIPPI,
`The Madonna with the dove fluttering near, and the Angel
messenger bearing the lily branch,'
Academia Florence.
THE NATIVITY. BY FILIPPO LIPPI,
`His Madonnas grew ever more beautiful,'
Academia, Florence.
THE ANGEL. BY BOTTICELLI,
TOBIAS AND THE ANGEL.
`His figures seemed to move as if to the rhythm of music,'
Academia, Florence.
ST. PETER IN PRISON. BY FILIPPO LIPPI,
`The sad face of St. Peter looks out through the prison
bars,'
Church of the Carmine, Florence.
TWO SAINTS. BY PERUGINO,
THE FRESCO OF THE CRUCIFIXION.
`Beyond was the blue thread of river and the single trees
pointing upwards,'
Sta. Maddalena de Pazzi, Florence.
TWO SAINTS. BY PERUGINO,
THE FRESCO OF THE CRUCIFIXION.
`Quiet dignified saints and spacious landscapes,'
Sta. Maddalena de Pazzi, Florence.
ST. JAMES. BY ANDREA DEL SARTO.
`The kind strong hand of the saint is placed lovingly
beneath the little chin,'
Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
CHERUB. BY GIOV. BELLINI,
`Giovanni's angels are little human boys with grave sweet
faces,'
Church of the Frari, Venice.
ST. TRYPHONIUS AND THE BASILISK. BY CARPACCIO,
`The little boy saint has folded his hands together and
looks upward in prayer,'
S. Giorgio Schiavari, Venice.
THE LITTLE VIRGIN. BY TITIAN,