priorship of S. Marco,
which he declined as being unworthy, but recommended Antonio, "the good
archbishop".--That practically is his whole life. As to his character,
let Vasari tell us. "He would often say that whosoever practised art
needed a quiet life and freedom from care, and he who occupies himself
with the things of Christ ought always to be with Christ. . . . Some
say that Fra Giovanni never took up his brush without first making a
prayer. . . . He never made a crucifix when the tears did not course
down his cheeks." The one curious thing--to me--about Fra Angelico
is that he has not been canonized. If ever a son of the Church toiled
for her honour and for the happiness of mankind it was he.

There are examples of Fra Angelico's work elsewhere in Florence;
the large picture in Room I of this gallery; the large altar-piece
at the Uffizi, with certain others; the series of mural paintings
in the cells of S. Marco; and his pictures will be found not only
elsewhere in Florence and Italy but in the chief galleries of the
world; for he was very assiduous. We have an excellent example at
the National Gallery, No. 663; but this little room gives us the
artist and rhapsodist most completely. In looking at his pictures,
three things in particular strike the mind: the skill with which he
composed them; his mastery of light; and--and here he is unique--the
pleasure he must have had in painting them. All seem to have been play;
he enjoyed the toil exactly as a child enjoys the labour of building
a house with toy bricks. Nor, one feels, could he be depressed. Even
in his Crucifixions there is a certain underlying happiness, due
to his knowledge that the Crucified was to rise again and ascend to
Heaven and enjoy eternal felicity. Knowing this (as he did know it)
how could he be wholly cast down? You see it again in the Flagellation
of Christ, in the series of six scenes (No. 237). The scourging is
almost a festival. But best of all I like the Flight into Egypt, in
No. 235. Everything here is joyous and (in spite of the terrible cause
of the journey) bathed in the sunny light of the age of innocence:
the landscape; Joseph, younger than usual, brave and resolute and
undismayed by the curious turn in his fortunes; and Mary with the
child in her arms, happy and pretty, seated securely on an amiable
donkey that has neither bit nor bridle. It is when one looks at
Fra Angelico that one understands how wise were the Old Masters to
se