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(fpegiaU) which then included painters. A document
diBOovered by Milanesi informs us that in July, 1423,
he was occupied on the celebrated paintings of the
Brancacci chapel in. the Church of the Carmine. Here
he was again at work in 1426. In 1427 he was in Hun-
gary in the service of the famous Florentine adven-
turer, Filipo Scolari (PippoSpanoas he is sumamed).
Between 1428 and 1435 he executed near Varese, at
CastigUone d'Olona, paintings discovered fortv years
■ince in the baptistery and collegiate church. He
died four or five years later aged, not 37 as Vasaii
states, but 57 years. Masolino's glory is to hav«
collaborated in the Carmine and to be also the master
and forerunner of Masaccio. He pla;y^ed an important
part in the development of the Renaissance, but it is
far from being as considerable or as "providential" as
ancient historians have claimed.
At the beginning of the fifteenth century the Renais- sance was at hand; in all countries simultaneously and nearly everywhere it had the same characteristics. For example the work of the Limbourgs belongs to 1416, and some miniatulies of their calendar might almost be mistaken for certain pictures of Gentile da Fabriano^ whose " Adoration of the Kings *' belongs to 1423. Similar figures are found in Masolino's work in the Brancacci Chapel, such as the pretty group of Florentine gentlemen m the ** Preaching of St. Peter *'. The delicate taste of the architecture, the pleasing sense of the landscape are still general traits ot the art of this period. When Masolino came to Florence he was more than forty years old . All agree at present in attributing to him the frescoes, in the Church of San Clemente at Rome, which Vasari regards as the work of Masaccio's youth. They may be placed about 1415. They represent scenes from the li(e of St. Ambrose and the life of St. Catherine. The latter have been often restored. What is remarkable about these frescoes is not that they differ from many Giot- tesque works (nearly all the traditional ideas and customs have been followed), neither is it that the painter shows great skill, but he has a wholly new sense of grace and beauty, an innate gift of elegance, and that inexpressible quality which we call '* charm. " It seems as though a breath of youth passed over the art of painting and thawed the ancient formulas. There is nothing more ravishing than the figures of the women, especially the young girls. The little Cathe- rine, converting the wife of the Emperor Maxentius, is a virginal vision of childish beauty whose sweetness has only been surpassed by Angelico. It is especially in the large " Calvary " behind the altar that this at- mosphere of ingenuousness is felt. The immense landscape of undulating hills, on which is unfolded the feebly composed scene, redeems all the defects of composition such as absence of the pathetic and lack of unity in the grouping. One is conscious only of a peace, an enchantment of nature which resembles the state of grace.
Some of these merits are found in the frescoes in the Carmine. As indicated by its reputation this cele- brated work must be its author's most considerable composition. He painted only three of these com- positions: on one of the pillars in the entrance the "Temptation of Adam and Eve ", and in the chapel it- self the "Preaching and the Miracles of St. Peter", which is the best of all. and com])rises two distinct episodes: the "Cure of the Paralytic" and the "Res- urrection of Tabitha". Deserving of admiration are the figures of the Apostles and the accuracy of observa- tion in the attitude of the cripple and the risen woman. But what constitutes the value of these works, and is abo found in the frescoes of San Clemente, is a sober and spiritual grace and a delightful sense, at once familiar and refined , of life . It is this quality, also, that imparts value to the frescoes at Castiglione d'Olona. the last and most animated of his works. His " life of St John the Baptist " abounds in Uvely traits. The
beautiful costumes and portraits, the graceful attire of
the women, his Herodiases and Salomes, are charming.
At need the painter gives proof of technical knowledge;
he develops fair perspectives composed of delicate
architecture in the antioue manner. But all this for
him fk but the frame, full of fancy and taste, wherein
transpire charming scenes of Florentine Ufe. Thus in
the "Baptism of Christ" the group of neophytes rob-
ing, the man seated putting on his shoes, and the one
who. bare-limbed awaiting his turn, snivera in his
cloak, form a genre picture which is full of spirit and
charm.
Masaccio treated the same subject at the Carmine with his customary grandeur; Masolino sees in it only a familiar study, similar to the " Baths " or " Studies" of the German prints, but in which only a Florentine could put such a lively sense of beauty. Opposite, the trio of angels bearing the garments of Christ recall the most exquisite figures of the "Life of St. Catherine". But above all there is that general air of spring and adolescence, that unique feeling of youth which is the charm of that age^ and which we find in Gentile and Pesellino, but which lasted only a moment and was seen no more. Vasari realized this: "He was the first to impart more sweetness to his figures of women, to give more graceful demeanour to his young men. . . . He treated skilfully the play of Ught and shade. . . . His pictures are blended with such grace that they have all the suppleness imaginable. ... It is very difficult to say whether Masaccio really owes anything to Masolino. The genius of this sublime young man transcends ordinary rules; he brought about a revolu- tion in the school, and hastened by fifty years the development of the Renaissance. But without the interference of tlus sudden and tremendous force the Renaissance would have arrived of itself, less great perhaps, less learned, but more gently. Masolino shows us what the blossoming would have been had it not been for Masaccio's coup dHat."
Vabari, ed. Milanese (Florence, 1878, 1886): Crowb and Cavalcasalle, HiMory of painting in Italy (London, 1864-66); LObke, Masolino and Masaccio in JahrbHeher fUr KtmsttnaseH" schaft (1870), 75-79; 280-286; Bchuahzow. Masaccio: Stvdien (Cassel. 1896-1000); Wickhoit, Die Fretken dor Katharine- kapeUe in S. Clemente zu Rom. in ZeUschrift fOr BUdende Kunst
(1889). 306; Mttm, Histoire de VArt pendant la Renaissance,
Vol. I. Les Primitives (Paris, 1888); Quthmann. Die Land-
schafbnalerei . . . von Oiotto bis Rafael (Leipsig, 1902); Rosen,
Die Natur in der Kunst (Ldpiig, 1903); Bbrenbon, Florentine
Painters of the Renaissance (London, 2nd ed.. 1904).
Louis Gillkt.
Mason, Richabd Angelus a S. Francisco, Eng- lish — or Irish — Franciscan writer; b. in Wiltshire, 1599; d. at Douai, 30 Dec., 1678. There is some dis- pute as to the nationality of his extraction: while it is affT^ that he was a native of the English county of Wiltshire, a Franciscan MS. record, dated 1721, men- tions his having been *' for some time dean of a Catho- lick deanery in Ireland, conveying a suggestion that his family may have been Irish: Gillow(Bibl. Diet, of the English Catholics) thinks that if Mason ever held a deanery in Ireland, it must have been under the Protestant Establishment, in which case Father Angelus, as he was known among his contempo- raries, would have to be reckoned among the seven- teenth-century converts. The MS. mention of his "Oatholick deanery", however, was written forty- three years after Mason's death, and there is evidence that he was ordained priest at Douai four years after his profession in the Seraphic Order, the latter event having taken place in 1629. In any case he rapidly became eminent in the order, being created a doctor of divinity and appointed successively to the high ad- ministrative offices of definitor, guardian, and visitor of the province of Brabant. Elected provincial in 1659, he visited Paris in an unsuccessful attempt to obtain permission for the settlement there of a colony of Franciscan sisters from the convent at Nieuport (Flanders) to which he had been confessor. . Froia.
