Italian art in the National Gallery Author:Jean Paul Richter Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE EARLY REALISTIC PAINTERS OF THE FLORENTINE SCHOOL: UCCELLI, PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA. UEELY the Giotteschi. in the National Gallery stand in a very str... more »iking contrast to the wonderful productions of the Florentine artists of the following century exhibited in the adjoining rooms. Wo might even assert, without fear of contradiction, that there is no gallery on this side of the Alps which can boast of possessing equally important works by first-rate Florentine artists, such as Paolo Uccelli, Pollajuolo, Pesellino, Piero della Francesca, and, above all, Sandro Botticelli. Of Paolo Uccelli's work very little is now in existence, and, among his few authentic paintings, the largo panel picture in the National Gallery is the best-preserved specimen of his style. He was one of the greatest masters of early Eenaissance Art, yet it is impossible to say that his pictures are pleasant or attractive. It may seem strange but it is a fact, that works by earlier masters, such as Orcagna and many others, will surely be understood and appreciated by any one who takes an interest in the old masters, while productions of this great Eenaissance painter will scarcely satisfy or please him, and even art students must admit that it is somewhat difficult to be fully satisfied with them. Vasari, in writing the life of this artist, explains, in a long introduction, that his efforts were chiefly directed to the problems of perspective, and he characterizes his style as being of "a dry and angular hardness, which is a very common result of too close a consideration of minute points." In his pictures.as well as in his private life, Uccelli showed all the earnestness and prepossession of a " professor." His biographer relates an amusing episode illustrating his devotion to study and his persis...« less