It Was Not Old And It Was Not Modern.
The Expression Of The Virgin's Face Was Lovely, And There Was More
Individuality Than Is Commonly Found In Modern Italian Work.
Modern Italian Colour Is Generally Either Cold And Dirty, Or Else
Staring.
The colour here was tender, and reminded me of fifteenth-
century Florentine work.
The folds of the drapery were not modern;
there was a sense of effort about them, as though the painter had
tried to do them better, but had been unable to get them as free
and flowing as he had wished. Yet the picture was not old; to all
appearance it might have been painted a matter of ten years; nor
again was it an echo - it was a sound: the archaism was not
affected; on the contrary, there was something which said, as
plainly as though the living painter had spoken it, that his
somewhat constrained treatment was due simply to his having been
puzzled with the intricacy of what he saw, and giving as much as he
could with a hand which was less advanced than his judgment. By
some strange law it comes about that the imperfection of men who
are at this stage of any art is the only true perfection; for the
wisdom of the wise is set at naught, and the foolishness of the
simple is chosen, and it is out of the mouths of babes and
sucklings that strength is ordained.
Unable to arrive at any conclusion, I asked the sacristan, and was
told it was by a certain Dedomenici of Rossa, in the Val Sesia, and
that it had been painted some forty or fifty years ago. I
expressed my surprise, and the sacristan continued: "Yes, but what
is most wonderful about him is that he never left his native
valley, and never had any instruction, but picked up his art for
himself as best he could."
I have been twice to Varallo since, to see whether I should change
my mind, but have not done so. If Dedomenici had been a Florentine
or Venetian in the best times, he would have done as well as the
best; as it is, his work is remarkable. He died about 1840, very
old, and he kept on improving to the last. His last work - at least
I was told upon the spot that it was his last - is in a little
roadside chapel perched high upon a rock, and dedicated, if I
remember rightly, to S. Michele, on the path from Fobello in the
Val Mastallone to Taponaccio. It is a Madonna and child in clouds,
with two full-length saints standing beneath - all the figures life-
size. I came upon this chapel quite accidentally one evening, and,
looking in, recognised the altar-piece as a Dedomenici. I inquired
at the next village who had painted it, and was told, "un certo
Dedomenici da Rossa." I was also told that he was nearly eighty
years old when he painted this picture.
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