Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/388

358 Painting method of mixing oil colours. It is usually asserted that Domenico learned the secret from Antonello da Messina in Venice, and then carried it to Florence. This is now disbelieved; and it seems very doubtful if Domenico Veneziano used oil at all in a different manner from his predecessors. In the cathedral of Florence is an eques- trian portrait of Niccolo Tolentino painted by him in imitation of statuary : it forms a companion to a similar picture of Hawhwood by Uccelli. Alessandro Filipepi (1446 — 1510), commonly called from the name of the goldsmith with whom he studied, Botti- celli, was the pupil of Filippo Lippi ; he is famed for the introduction of ancient mythology into sacred subjects, and for being the first of the great series of painters in the famous Sistine Chapel of the Vatican. Six of his works are in the National Gallery. Domenico Bigordi, called from his skill in making garlands Ghirlandajo (1419 — 1494), is remarkable for his skill in portraiture, his command of all the technical processes of painting, and for the brilliancy of the colour- ing of his frescoes ; he may be said to have carried on and advanced the movement begun by Masaccio : his most famous works are a series of frescoes in the Sassetti Chapel in the church of the S. Trinita at Florence — of which the Funeral of S. Francis is considered the finest — and the frescoes representing scenes from the Life of the Virgin and the Life of S. John the Baptist (Fig. 129) in the choir of S. Maria Novella. The Florence galleries and churches, the Berlin Museum, and the Louvre, contain specimens of his pictures. Luca Signorelli (1441 — 1523) was one of those who did most to promote the development of the great Florentine