. The history of Our Lord as exemplified in works of art : with that of His types ; St. John the Baptist ; and other persons of the Old and New Testament. lway in which these types were often executed, instances may befound where the ancient limner has introduced both, to makedoubly sure. The jaws may be said to have gone out by the 15thcentury. The great early Italian painters did not favour this subject, pro-bably from a sense of its unfitness for Art. Neither Duccio norGiotto has it. The mystical and fervid Fra Angelico seems to haveintroduced it into the domain of Art proper. He has two co
. The history of Our Lord as exemplified in works of art : with that of His types ; St. John the Baptist ; and other persons of the Old and New Testament. lway in which these types were often executed, instances may befound where the ancient limner has introduced both, to makedoubly sure. The jaws may be said to have gone out by the 15thcentury. The great early Italian painters did not favour this subject, pro-bably from a sense of its unfitness for Art. Neither Duccio norGiotto has it. The mystical and fervid Fra Angelico seems to haveintroduced it into the domain of Art proper. He has two concep-tions of the scene. Here the large red cross banner appears in theLords hand, the doors are broken, the demon beneath them, andAdam has already the divine hand in both of his. Abel, a beardedman in skins, follows with Eve ; David is recognised by his crown,Moses by his horns of light (woodcut, No. 216, next page). Allthese, with the procession following them, are encircled by the nim-bus of sanctity. In his other picture, the happiness of the spectatoris disturbed by a peep behind the scenes, where two different groups 260 HISTORY OF OUR 216 Descent into Limbus. (Fra Augelico.) of a man and a woman are seen struggling with fiends, and alas !being without the investiture of sanctity, with no chance of the doctrine of hell being emptied only in part is rather cruellyset forth. Jacopo Bellini, born about the same time as Fra Angelico, hasthe subject in his book of delicate drawings in the BritishMuseum. Here a new feature appears, which does not again leavethe subject in Italian Art. The good thief, holding a largecross, stands by, whilst the Saviour delivers the souls. This inci-dent was adopted by Mantegna, who has the subject of Limbusmore than once. In his grand engraving, the Lord stands withHis back to the spectator, stooping into an abyss whence a fewoutstretched arms are appearing. The good thief, a young nudefigure, is very grand. He may be suppose
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