THE HUMANISTIC THEORY OF PAINTING - College Art Association

UT PICTURA POESIS: HUMANISTIC THEORY OF PAINTING 233
from the dead now decrepit and bald, now young, in fact of every age, when it is written
that on the last day there shall be no age nor youth, nor any deformity of body;'67 or the
Virgin turns away from Christ, as if fearing that she herself were unprotected from his
wrath;'68 or Charon's bark appears without the sanction of historical truth even though
Michelangelo owed its introduction to the greatest of Italian poets.'69 For poetry and
theology, says Gilio, are sharply opposed, and when Michelangelo painted an important
article of the faith, it was his business to imitate the theologians, not the poets."'
Gilio had, however, no objection to the poets provided the painter chose the proper
moment to use them. And in the categorizing manner of his age he divides painters into
three groups-poetical, historical, and mixed painters.17 The first are like the poets in being
free to invent their subjects provided they follow Horace's advice to follow nature and avoid
the incongruous, whereas the second group, as we have seen, are not free to invent at all,172
at least if one includes in a definition of invention any imaginative treatment of one's reli-
gious or historical subject. The third group, who have much in common, says Gilio, with
the great epic poets of antiquity, mix fact with fiction in a delightful manner as Virgil did,
for instance, when he added the purely fabulous account of Aeneas' sojourn with Dido to
a story which in the main was historically correct.'7 And it is in the domain of allegory and
symbolism where fact and fancy frequently mingle that the painters owe much to the
antique poets, and even more to those sculptors who carved on the Roman triumphal arches
personifications of Victory, Peace, and the City of Rome, whence the Christians learned to
give human form to the theological virtues.'74 These are admitted in sacred art, Gilio
characteristically adds, "for no other reason than because they are virtues, for the purity
of religion wants nothing but what is virtuous, especially when it comes to allegorical
figures."'" There follows a warning to the painters that recalls the later sentiments of
De Piles and Du Bos that the spectator must be able to understand these mixtures of truth
and fiction without undue mental effort.'76 And it is worth noting that Gilio's threefold
division of poetical, historical, and mixed painters has its later counterpart in the threefold
activity already discussed which F6libien was to assign to the grand peintre of the seven-
teenth century.
167. Ibid., p. 107: "L'altro capriccio ? [by capriccio
Gilio means Michelangelo's "caprice," his unwarranted
freedom of imagination which results in the violation of
sacred truth], che in quel giorno non ci sara ne vecchiezza,
ne pueritia, ne calvitie, ne cosa alcuna che renda il corpo
in qual si voglia parte difforme, e brutto, come dianzi vi
dissi: e quivi si veggono decrepiti, calvi, fanciulli, e gente
d'ogni etade."
168. Ibid., p. 107. It is argued that on the last day, far
from fulfilling her role of intercessor for humanity, she will
condemn with her son. But Michelangelo is finally al-
lowed to be in the realm of "fintioni concesse" when he
renders the Virgin as she turns away from Christ, only
because he thereby shows the ignorant that she is (when
not assisting at the Last Judgment) the Mother of Mercy.
169. Ibid., p. io8. Gilio fears that the ignorant will be-
lieve in the reality of poetic inventions: "L'altra cosa che
mi dispiace ? che in uno articolo di tanta importanza
Michelagnolo haggia framessa la favola di Caronte, che
con la sua alata barca passa l'anime de'dannati, per la
Stigia Palude; alzando il remo per batter quelle che
tardano ad entrare dentro, accib dieno luogo a l'altre.
Pensate voi che gli ignoranti non credano fermamente,
che laggihi vi sieno fiumi, paludi, navi, giudici che rivedano
i processi, el Cane da tre Teste che riscuote la gabella?"
170. Ibid., p. og9: "Perb Michelagnolo dovendo
dipingere uno articolo de la nostra fede importantissimo
doveva imitare i Teologi, e non i Poeti, che la Teologia, e
la poesia si sono de diretto contrarie."
171. Ibid., p. 75: "Perche doverebbono sapere, che il
pittore a le volte 6 puro historico, ' le volte puro poeta, ed
a le volte ? misto. Quando 6 puro poeta, penso che lecito
gli sia dipingere tutto quello, che il capriccio gli detta; con
quei gesti, con quei sforzi sieno perb convenevoli a la figura,
che egli fa." In the course of the next two pages Gilio
translates a number of lines from the famous beginning of
the Ars poetica in which Horace remarks that poets and
painters have always had liberty of imagination, but that
poets-and Gilio means that these lines shall apply as well
to painters-must not make savage mate with tame, or
serpents with birds, etc. (see note 14).
172. There were very rare "fintioni concesse," but only,
it would seem, if these could be construed to have some
bearing of their own on theological truth. See note 168.
173. Ibid., p. 116.
174. Ibid., p. II17.
175. Ibid.: "Perb i Cristiani da questi esempi mossi
hanno imparato a dar forma humana a la Religione, a la
Fede, a la Speranza, a la Carita, ed a l'altre virth che
insieme con queste vanno mescolatamente con le cose sacre,
e virth Teologiche si chiamano; e non per altro fra le
cose sacre si mettono, che per esser virth, come che la
purita de la religione altro che cose virtuose non richieda,
e spetialmente queste."
176. See p. 216 and note 86.