File:The spell of Italy (1909) (14784180585).jpg

Identifier: spellofitaly00maso (find matches)
Title: The spell of Italy
Year: 1909 (1900s)
Authors: Mason, Caroline Atwater, 1853-1939
Subjects: Italy -- Description and travel
Publisher: Boston : L. C. Page & company
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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nd day in Milan, and I enjoyed the raptures ofthe youngsters over the mediaeval bridal chests, theantique goldsmiths work, the tapestries and reli-quaries. Even more impressive than these thingswere the carved chimney-pieces, doors and window-frames of the beautiful old Palazzo itself. The Brera gave us a notable discovery, the frescoesof Luini. Certain of his easel pictures, seen before,had exercised a compelUng charm, but here we camesuddenly and for the first time upon his frescoes,above all that of the Burial of St. Catherine, and theyrevealed his peculiar excellence. His angels aresupremely beautiful, and through all his work is es-sential poetry and purity. The Virgin, seen laterin his painting of the Holy Family after Leonardoin the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, is most feminine, mosttruly Lconardesque in its angeHc archness and tendersubtlety. Later, in the Chiesa del Monastero Maggiore, wefound frescoes by Luini even more notable thanthose in the Brera. He gradually became to me the
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In the North 319 representative of Leonardo, who is so difficult tofind and grasp save in sketches, suggestions, andvanishing glimpses of mysterious power and loveli-ness. Whether Luini was or was not Leonardospupil, he painted according to his types and concep-tions, and caught his peculiar half-wistful, half-mocking charm in a conspicuous degree. In theend I concluded to take my Leonardo by way of themore accessible Luini, — an advantage accruing tothe non-critical mind! I found in truth something fairly exasperating insearching out Leonardo himself, whether it was inthe Last Supper, receding ever from ones visualgrasp, or in the delicious portrait of Beatrice dEste,that most engaging of Renaissance Itahan womensportraits. With great enthusiasm we sought herout, — the darling thing, precious in her own storyand doubly precious as Leonardos work! Here stoodguard the critic with the two-edged sword! Theportrait was not that of Beatrice dEste and it wasnot the work of Leonardo! Ecc

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