him. One would think that they were being
born again from solid clay, and growing into form with labour. The
fully risen spirits stand and walk about, all occupied with the
expectation of the Judgment; but those that are yet in the act of
rising, have no thought but for the strange and toilsome process of
this second birth. Signorelli here, as elsewhere, proves himself one
of the greatest painters by the simple means with which he produces
the most marvellous effects. His composition sways our souls with
all the passion of the terrible scenes that he depicts. Yet what
does it contain? Two stern angels on the clouds, a blank grey plain,
and a multitude of naked men and women. In the next compartment Hell
is painted. This is a complicated picture, consisting of a mass of
human beings entangled with torturing fiends. Above hover demons
bearing damned spirits, and three angels see that justice takes its
course. Signorelli here degenerates into no mediaeval ugliness and
mere barbarity of form. His fiends are not the bestial creatures of
Pisano's basreliefs, but models of those monsters which Duppa has
engraved from Michel Angelo's 'Last Judgment'--lean naked men, in
whose hollow eyes glow the fires of hate and despair, whose nails
have grown to claws, and from whose ears have started horns. They
sail upon bats' wings; and only by their livid hue, which changes
from yellow to the ghastliest green, and by the cruelty of their
remorseless eyes, can you know them from the souls they torture. In
Hell ugliness and power of mischief come with length of years.
Continual growth in crime distorts the form which once was human;
and the interchange of everlasting hatred degrades the tormentor and
his victim to the same demoniac ferocity. To this design the science
of foreshortening, and the profound knowledge of the human form in
every posture, give its chief interest. Paradise is not less
wonderful. Signorelli has contrived to throw variety and grace into
the somewhat monotonous groups which this subject requires. Above
are choirs of angels, not like Fra Angelico's, but tall male
creatures clothed in voluminous drapery, with grave features and
still, solemn eyes. Some are dancing, some are singing to the lute,
and one, the most gracious of them all, bends down to aid a
suppliant soul. The men beneath, who listen in a state of bliss, are
all undraped. Signorelli, in this difficult composition, remains
temperate, serene, and simple; a M