New-York tribune., 1918-04-20
The Bardiini Collection
OF Italian Works Of Art
Renaissance sculpture-An Extraordinary Group Of
Madonnas-Beautful Old Furniture
By Royal Cortissoz

After many delays the collection of
the Florentine antiquary. Signor
s.efano Bardini, has been brought to
this country and placed on view at the
American Art Galleries, where it will
presently be dispersed at auction. The
sale will continue through five after
Moons. beginning on April 2S, and there.
wi|l also be one evening session, on
Anril 25. 1t is a large collection, con-
tanning nearly eight hundred pieces,
and possesses an interest comn1snsu-
rate with the repute of its owner, long
known as one of the most capable of
italian dealers Mr.. Horace T Townsend,
who has prepared the exceptionally
good catalogue, notes in his preface
tbat some Of Signor BardinI"s most dis
tinguished objects were at the last mo-
ment withheld from eSportation, in
obedience to the law giving the Italian
government an option on such works of
art as it wishes to keep in the country.
One would have surmised some occur
renee Of the sort. The collection is
wanting in those instances of out
standing splendor which we had half
expected This is noticeable especially
in the department Of paintings, and we
ebserve it also where the bronzes are
concerned. Nevertheless, this Is, as we
have said, the kind of exhibition that
the Bardini galleries could always be
counted upon to furnish forth, an exhi-
btion of things authentic and beauti-
full, things richly expressive of the
genius of the Renaissance.
In one respect that genius is rep
resented as never before in the United
States. The plastic art of the htteenth
century is illustrated in series of
stucco reliefs SO large and of such IN
trinsic merit as to form a really re-
markable contribution to the subject.
The series is dedicated, of course, to
the cult of the Madonna, that cult
which dominated Renaissance sculpture
almost more decisively than Renals-
sance painting. And in the material
employed these reliefs revive famous
tradition in one of its most begulilng
aspects. At first blush, stucco might
seem to point TO a certain minor status
for the sculptures in question. 1t is
we'll known that 1t was much used TOR
ephemeral productions, IN the archl-
tectural and sculptural settings Tor
those pageants which were so frequent
in Renaissance life. We see the artists
OF Florence thus adjoining Medicean
fete Just as we have seen the artists
of our own day creating in staff
the great spectacles of our exhibitions
at Chicago or San Francisco. AS the
pageants faded those chaxming trophies,
groups, putti and what not went down
the wind. That was all that the old
workers in stucco, on those occasions,
expected, and doubtless their impro-
visations were framed in the light and
almost careless spirit suitable to the
circumstances. These Madonnas, on the
other hand, plainly indicate different
origin. 1t is true that some of them
may have been made as studies or
models 1t is also probable that some
of them were executed by assistants,
put forth quickly to supply a heavy
demand, or to satisfy buyers with
modest purses. And yet they share in
the quality which marks the great
marbles of the period. They have the
glory Of style which illumines the
marbles, and, paradoxically, they have
charm lacking to work produced in
the more costly material. This is the
charm of color.
The Bardini reliefs are practically
all polychromatic in character, which
is to say, that their subtly modelled
surfaces softly CLEAN with exquisite
tints of blue, green, rose and creamy
yellow, with here and there traces OF
gliding whose once plangent brilliance
time has worn down to the key Of
mufhed sunlight. On the very thresh-
old OF the exhibition we come upon a
relief (No. 35D concerning which the
catalogue says: "Signor Bardn con-
siders this the most beautiful of all
the Madonnas modelled by Antonio
Rossellino." Eulogies in the catalogue
are as rule to be distrusted, but we
can understand and condone this one,
realizing that not even hardened
0eaier could let such a work go from
MIN without some word of impulsive
appreciation. The sculptor fulfls, to
negln with, in something like perfec-
t!on, the most difficult requirement of
ms art, the grouping of the seated
hgure with the Child upon her lap in
sucn wise that the rectangular space
IS Ideally filled. In other words, the
aaesign Is monumental in dignity and
balance and at the same time has the
Ease ana artlessness Of nature itself.
consider, too, with reference to this
aI ."o JuuiclouS placlng OF the
angels IN the background, how unob-
traslye they are yet how indispe nsable
70 the composition. Look then to the
sp,, sppa'e, positively tender handling of
she draperies and to the gradual
neightening Of the modelling in the
.orms' SO that the richer relief about
.se 1aces still stays part and parcel Of
snas melting delicacy which is the
quality Of the work as a Whole. Plastic
.Li-e az we call it, and as We do so we
mi ,aahK IN the bold solid terms of sculpt-
sa, se, o. stubborn medium requiring
sp;.e sp.ee IN its manipulation; but not,
tshsssandlng ~ these tangible elements
en sme hhai impression we carry away is
az OF beauty IS evaneacent as 4
ssneal :. me color spread upon the
'' 'ies there like film Of enchant-