Evening star., 1928-04-29

Pope against this riot of anatomy as
background for the altar OF Gods
vicar hearing which, Michclangelo
painted the cardinals face unmistak-
ably among the damned. Biagio ragged
and begged the Pope to compel the
artist to take him out OF the picture;
but the Pope genially reminded him
that by the unanimous agreement OF
the thcolog ans rot even Pope cOllid
take soul out of hell
All the world came to see this I'M
mense fresco: and all Italian art was
colored by 1t into the baroque-~the
bizarre, the exaggerated and the forced.
Romanticism in italian art begins here {.
the Allgemcinheit, or universality, OF
the Greeks. is gone. and Individual
emotion and character appear III ora
matte and violent expression. we
come away as if from Dante's Infer
no.; VIC feel that any man who could
have PAINTED such picture must him
self have been through hell OF torment
in his life This Is not a picture. 1t Is
a sermon. q terrible prophecy OF the
end OF the Renaissance In the destruc-
tion of on Italv too aoftcned with
pleasures to. fight for its liberty; this is
Savnrarola come back from the grave;
Il Is the dawn of the Counter-Reforma
ton
Rena isSance Architecture.
One final task remained. and in a
field so different that one wonders al
the artists triumph in 1t.
The revival of ancient letters mao
brought with 1t not only resoratlon OF
Greek and Roman idea OF sculpture
but rehrth of classic atvles IN bu0d~.
III InI
italy, and had never been at home
there. the Latin tradition of order
svmmetrv and utility was hostile ~
the Gothic romanticism of ornament
and detail. The only completely Gothic
churches in Italy--the cathedral at
Milan and the convent at ASsisi--had
been built bv foreign a"chitec's,
BYZANTINE ultimately, Asiatic - In
fuences had won in the north; but IN
italy II was the spirit Of Greece and
Rome TINT sDnke again in the archltec-
ture of the Renaissance. -
The new spirit apocared distinctly IN
the PalaZ2o Vecchio or old palace,
which Arnolfo designed for the signory
If Florence at the beginning OF the
fourteenth century, In a lesser degree
It dominated the great Duomo or catne-.
dral there. which Arnolfo began ano
Brunelleschi finished. In l4l7 the
slgnory convoked the architects anu
engineers OF the city to plan the most
difficult and dangerous part OF the ca
thedral-the dome Again, as in the
case of the baptistry doors, the judges
were unable to decide which artist
should be intrusted with the work. AT
last. in desperation. they accepted Bru-
nellcschis humorous suggestion that the
award should go to the artist who could
make an egg stand on end. All tried
and failed except Brunelleschi himself,
who put the egg down Just hard enough
to crush the shell slightly. giving 1t q
base on which to stand. In the end
Brunelleschi and Ghiberti were made
equal masters of the task,
Friction Is Revealed.
Inevitably. friction grew. Unable TO
work except with q free hand, Bru-
nelleschi feigned Illness and stayed at
home Soon the work stopped and the
wardens OF the cathedral came 10 Bru-
nelleschi and reported "Ghiberti will
not do anything without YOU" But, :
said Brunelleschi. Il could do II well
enough without him" The wardenS
saw, as Vasari puts it, that Filippo was
sick only of the desire TO work alone,
and they promised that Ghiberti would
withdraw: but Ghiberti did not. Bru-
nelleschi then proposed that the work
should be divided into two parts, one
to be directed by Ghiberti, the other by
himself The proposal was accented.
But soon the wardens saw that Ghiberti
was great sculptor but only middling
architect and that his half would have
10 be undone They made Brunelleschi
sole director of the work, and, content
at last. he produced a masterpiece. The
dome he built for the cathedral at Flor
ence became the model for the dome OF
st Peters. and though Michelangelo
improved upon the original, there is a
stern simplicity about the earlier dome
which led Vasari, though himself an
architect and friend of Angelo, 10 say
that from the time Of the Greeks and
Romans TO the present there has APP
peared no more excellent or admirable
gerns that Filippo Brunelleschi
With julius II the center of Renais-
sance architecture passed from Florence
to Rome. When he decided TO rebuild
ST. Peters he thought only of the art
problems involved, he never dreamed
that the undertaking would be the in
direct contributory cause of the Refor-
nation. He called first upon Bramante
da Urbino. who made the Belvedere
wing OF the Vatican. with its magnifi-
cent interior and famous winding stair
way. Bramante now drew spacious
design for a new cathedral and work
was begun on II in 1908. But hts plan
called for more money than Peters
Pence had in hand, and the work
stopped TIL the peddling OF indulgences
under Leo X brought in the requisite
gold and divided Christendom.
Refuses TO Work for Pay.
The work was resumed, but not TIL
the papacy of Paul III was 1t carried
on with any resolution. The Pope had
heard Michelangelo criticize the design
Of Bramante for the cathedral. nov he
made the natural retort and asked
Michelangelo could he do better2 Ths
old artist did not care TO accept the
challenge; he was Sc now, and had
thought that hts work was done. The
Pope tried 70 bribe him with a generous
stipend. but the unaecountable Angelo.