Page:The painters of Florence from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century (1915).djvu/129

aspirations of Christian truth found their most complete and beautiful expression.

All the mystic thought of the mediæval world, the passionate love of God and man that beat in the heart of St. Francis, the yearnings of Dante's soul after a higher and more perfect order, the poetic dreams of the monks who sang of the Celestial Country, are embodied in the art of Angelico. The depth and sincerity of his own religious feeling lent wings to his imagination, and the exquisite purity of his soul breathes in every line of his painting. It is the intensity of his own love and sorrow that weeps with Dominic at the foot of the Cross, or gazes with Francis in unspeakable longing on his dying Lord: it is his own sweet and gentle fancy that brings down these enchanted visions of Paradise. Vasari's eloquent language shows how profound was the impression made upon his age by this friar, whose saintly life was reflected in his works, and whose simple and child-like faith supplied the inspiration of his art.

"This truly angelic father spent his whole life in the service of God and his fellow-creatures. He was a man of simple habits, and most saintly in all his ways. He kept himself from all worldliness, and was so good a friend to the poor that I think his soul must be already in heaven. He worked continually at his art, but would never paint anything excepting sacred subjects. He might have been a wealthy man, but he did not care for money, and used to say that true riches consist in being content with little. He might have enjoyed high dignities, both in his convent and in the world, but he cared nothing for these things, saying that he who would practise painting has need of quiet, and should