All the
positive colour is in the drapery of the saints, one in red and green,
and another in red and blue. The two angels are exquisitely drawn, and
contrast well in their natural innocence with the sentimental pair in
Raphael's _Madonna of the Baldacchino_ on the same wall of the
Pitti Palace.
San Marco was rich in frescoes of the _Madonna and Child_, two of
which are still in the chapel of the convent, and two in the Belle
Arti. Some of these are charming in expression, the children clinging
round the mother's neck in a true childish _abandon_ of affection.
What a tender feeling these monk artists had for the spirit of
maternity! Perhaps by being debarred from the contemplation of maternal
love in its humanity, they more clearly comprehended its divinity. Look
at the little round-backed nestling child in Fra Angelico's _Madonna
della Stella_, imperfect as it is in form, the whole spirit of love
is in it. He does not give only the mother-love for the child, but the
child-love for the mother, which is more divine, and the same feeling
is seen in the _Madonna_ of Fra Bartolommeo.
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