. The study and criticism of Italian art : second series. mpress of the decline. She presents a slimfigure, majestically tall, a profile of Athene, such asHellenic genius at its height conceived. From headto foot her tremulous frame is quivering with loath-ing ; and for disgust her fingers will scarcely touchthe hated head. The specifically artistic qualities of this work areworthy of the interpretation. The means used areas simple as in the Marine Combat. With sepiaon white paper, Mantegna attains effects of unsur-passable plasticity, of resplendent colour. Note, forinstance, how white and ro
. The study and criticism of Italian art : second series. mpress of the decline. She presents a slimfigure, majestically tall, a profile of Athene, such asHellenic genius at its height conceived. From headto foot her tremulous frame is quivering with loath-ing ; and for disgust her fingers will scarcely touchthe hated head. The specifically artistic qualities of this work areworthy of the interpretation. The means used areas simple as in the Marine Combat. With sepiaon white paper, Mantegna attains effects of unsur-passable plasticity, of resplendent colour. Note, forinstance, how white and round the right arm emergesfrom the impenetrable blackness. But let us hearwhat Messer Giorgio Vasari has to say touchingthis masterpiece : There is in our portfolio, on a half sheet royal, adrawing by Andrea of a Judith putting in the bag ofa negress slave the head of Holofernes. It is inblack and white, but of a technique no longer prac-tised ; for in place of white lead, he has used thewhite ground so skilfully that you see the separate ANDREA MANTEGNA. Braun, Clement &> Co. ] Wffizi, Florence. JUDITH WITH THE HEAD OF HOLOFERNES ANDREA MANTEGNA 57 hairs spun out, and such other refinements, as if theyhad been done most daintily with a brush. Where-fore this sheet may be regarded as a painting ratherthan as a Ill With the sepia version of the Uffizi, the DublinJudith may not be compared, either for interpre-tation or execution. It is the ablest of Mantegnasworks in grisaille, his most elaborate technique ; butwe quickly note the hampering of energy both mentaland manual. No fierce rebound from stifling op-pression is depicted here, but the self-pity andlassitude of one tasting the futility of revenge, andforeseeing further wrongs. The modelling is more obvious than in the sepiasketch, but scarcely so plastic ; with one exception,the touch is never so vivifying. The hair of Holo-fernes is the exception, the locks of which are likeswaying river grasses swept b
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectartital, bookyear1902
