The
cross, a link between heaven and earth, is borne by a trinity of
angels; S. Michael, as the avenging spirit, stands a powerful figure in
the foreground dividing the saved from the lost; the whole composition
forming a heavenward cross on an earthly foundation. There are no caves
and holes of torture with muscular bodies writhing within them; but in
the despairing figures passing away on the right, some with heads bowed
on clasped hands, others lifting up faces and arms in a vain cry for
mercy, what suggestions there are of infinite remorse!--more dignified
far than the distorted sufferers in the torture pits of previous
masters. These are just indicated by two demons, and a subterranean
fire behind the unblest souls. Miss Owen, [Footnote: _Art Schools of
Christendom_, edited by Prof. Ruskin.] speaking Mr. Ruskin's
sentiments, calls this a great falling off from Giotto and Orcagna's
conceptions; but though theirs may be more powerful and terrible, a
greater suggestion of Christian religion is here.
They, and later, Michelangelo, flung Dante's great struggling soul in
tangible forms upon the walls, and embodied his poem, awful, grand, and
earnest, with all the human passion intensified into human suffering.
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