Donatello . dnot be represented by ayoung and inexperiencedartist. Gabriel is at oncedivine messenger and adoringangel, Mary at once thehandmaiden of the Lord andthe Blessed Virgin. But is it permissible,on examining this pictureinspired by the spirit ofmost exquisite Christian re-ligious poetry, to turn ones thoughts again to the antique? — And Apart from the multi-coloured ornamentation of the tabernacle, thescene has a chaste charm that cannot be better characterized, than by re-ference to Greek tomb monuments which are immediately suggested by thestyle of the relief: figures almos
Donatello . dnot be represented by ayoung and inexperiencedartist. Gabriel is at oncedivine messenger and adoringangel, Mary at once thehandmaiden of the Lord andthe Blessed Virgin. But is it permissible,on examining this pictureinspired by the spirit ofmost exquisite Christian re-ligious poetry, to turn ones thoughts again to the antique? — And Apart from the multi-coloured ornamentation of the tabernacle, thescene has a chaste charm that cannot be better characterized, than by re-ference to Greek tomb monuments which are immediately suggested by thestyle of the relief: figures almost in the round, against a relief-like, animatedbackground in an aedicula. Even the forms are not free from classicist sug-gestions. The softly-rounded oval of the face and the parted hair appearto have been created under the influence of antique female heads — aninfluence which henceforth frequently returns in Donatellos work (Figs. 6iand 62). Near akin, at least as regards type, is the Mary between four. Fig. 67. Virgin and Tabernacle near the Albergo di Londra. (To page 74.) 74 cherubs on the large, coloured clay-relief of the Berlin Royal Museum (Fig. 66)and the half figure of Mary pressing the Infant towards her (Fig. 6]^ groupedon a replica in Verona with two adoring angels). The details of the frameare also antique in spirit, but our feeling for style is here as much atvariance with them, as in the tabernacle of St. Louis. Again Donatelloshows himself different to, and decades ahead of, all others. Where elsecould one find, about 1430, a frieze slightly curved in a concave line!where an arrangement as picturesque as that of the obliquely (!) placedescutcheons! Where else would the bases of the pilasters be formed assymmetrical volutes and tendrils, the capitals as double masks, and theshafts be provided with And is not this wealth of ornament,which borders on overcharging and leaves no little corner unadorned, a signrather of pictorial, than of
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectdonatello13861466
