saintly Giovanni endeavoured to idealize
the human figure and render it divine, Masolino, like most of his
contemporaries, followed a style distinctly realistic; yet it may be
proved that in technique, both followed the same rules, and worked on
similar principles. In fact the similitude between the two painters
noticeable in their composition, softness of outline, lightness of
figures, and clear harmonious colouring, tends to confirm the great
artistic affinity which we have indicated. Both of them used rosy
tints in the flesh, with greenish and yellowish shadows, both recall
the older artists of the "trecento" in the perspective, which is often
incorrect, and out of proportion. But how far superior is Fra Angelico
when the work of both in its full aspect is compared!

Fra Angelico has, it is true, conventional forms, and there is a
certain sameness in his heads with their large oval countenances; the
small eyes, outlined round the upper arch of the eyebrow, and with a
black spot for pupils, sometimes lack expression, or have a too
monotonous one, and the iris is often lost in the white of the cornea;
his mouths are always drawn small with a thickening of the lips in
the centre, and the corners strongly accentuated; the colour of his
faces is either too pink or too yellow; the folds of the robes (often
independent of the figure, especially in the lower part) fall
straight, and in the representations of the seated Virgin expand on
the ground, as if to form the foot of a chalice. But in his frescoes
these faults of conventional manner almost entirely disappear, giving
place to freer drawing, more life-like expression, and a character of
greater power.

We will not repeat with Vasari that Fra Giovanni perfected his art
from the frescoes of the Brancacci Chapel; but we do not doubt that he
too felt the beneficent influx of the new style, of which Masaccio was
the greatest champion, and that he followed it, leaving behind, up to
a certain point, the primitive giottesque forms. There is in his art,
the great mediaeval ideal rejuvenated and reinvigorated by the spirit
of newer times. Being in the beginning of his career, as is generally
believed, only an illuminator, he continued, with subtle delicacy and
accurate, almost timid design, to illuminate in larger proportions on
his panels, those figures which are often only parts of a decorative
whole. But in his later works while still preserving the simplicity
of handling, a