Ltns a.
MoDza, now to be seen either in the Brertt, the Louvre, or in one or two private collections, one fragroaat onl^ Twwaining at the villa itseU. Some of his moet beauti- ful frescoes were included in this scheme of decoration. Probably after this work came the various frescoes done for churches and monasteries at Milan, now to be Men in the Brera, because the religious houses in ques- tion have either been closed or destroyed. One of the most important ia the Hadonna with St. Anthony and St. Barbara, wgned with the Latin signature and dated 1521.
Another scheme of decoration he carried out was that for the Casa Litta, the frescoes from which ate now to be seen in the Louvre. They include the life-«ise, h^-lenKth Christ, one of Luini's most im- portant works. Lees known than these works, how- ever, are those which Luini did at Chiaravalle near Ro^oredo, executed in 1512 and 1515, concerning vluch one or two documents have been recently dis- covered, ^vins us the stipend paid to the artist for the work. The largest fresco, however, of "^^^^^ this period is the magnificent ' ' Coro- nation of Our Lord ",
inted for the Con-
is by frrsco work that the artist will always be
natem
be seen in the Am-
brosian Library. The
document concern-
ing it tells us dis-
.tinctly that the work
was commenced on
12 October, 1521,
and finished on 22
March, 1522— a ver-
itable Unir de Joret.
as the fresco is oi
huge site, crowded
with figures, evident.
lymoet of them por-
traits, and contains
in the figure of the
Redeemer one of the
greatest works LuinI
ever produced , TJn-
fortunatelv, the dig-
nity of the central
figure is rather di-
nunished by the statu I'-'^iue grandeur of the six kneel- ing figures representing the mpmbera of the confra- ternity who commissioned the work.
By far the most notable work, however, which Luini ever executed was the decoration in the church of St. Maurice, known aa the Old Monastery, commenced for Giovapni Bentivoglio and his wife, and commem- orative of the fact that their daughter took the veil in this church, and entered the monastery with which it was connected. The whole of the nist end of the church, including the high altar, was decorated by Luini, and the eflect ia superb. He returned to the 8Une church in I52S to aecorate the chapel of St. Maurice for Francesco Besoui, and the whole of the interior of this chapel is oovered with his exquisite wori^ the Flaeellation scene and the two frescoes of St. (^therine oeinp of remarkable beauty, and the entire chapel a shrme to the great jMinter. It is im- posnble to recount here all Luini's importaot worica, Dut his frescoes in the sanctuary at Saronno
belongs to the fresco with its greater breadth and
strength and its lower scheme of colouring. Nothing
in the fresco work can be finer than the 1530 lunette at
Ij^inano, showing the Madonna, the Divine Child, and
St. John the Baptist. Fortunately, the entry in the
books of the convent concerning the payment for tbis
fresco can still be seen; it waa spread over a long time,
and was trifling at the best. In that payment we
have our last authoritative statement concerning the
painter. True, Salvatori, a Capuchin monk, said that
m a convent near Milan there was a picture dated
1547, which Luini commenced, and his son Aurelio
finished, while Orlandi, in the Ahecedario, definitely
states that the painter was alive in 1540 — to the Sa-
ronno document we have already referred— but from
153!} Luini vanishes
into silence, and we
can only conjecture
Concemini; any later
years. He was the
supreme ma.iter of
fresco work, and had
an exquisite feeling
forlovelinessof fonn,
with a deep sense of
the pathos, sorrow,
and suffering of life.
He was not subtle
or profound, his
archaic, as were those of Foppa and
those of Braniantino,
although from all
three men he doubt-
less derived impres-
uons. His composi-
tion is not always
well-balanced and
tiiatof Sodoma. His ij^ colouring is neither
" luscious nor volup-
?pe*i^\Iy in liis frescoes, quiet, simple, and at (inips pnle oiul cold, iiut his pictures invari- ably, like a note of music, draw a corresponding chord from the heart — a chord which is, at the will of the ' painter, bright with joy or tremulous with sorrow and grief . He appeals notably to those who pray, and to those who weep, and reveals by hia work that he waa a man of intense personal feeling, and had an intimate knowledge of the mysteries alike of great joy and bitter sorrow,
WiLUAu*ON, Luini (London, IBOO); Qauthiei. Luini |P»™, 1906); I.ccA. Sacrid Lomiard Art (Uilu. ISST); Obunui, Abradario (Venice, 176.1): Lohauo. TraOala ddV Arlr della PiUiira (MiUn, I684h Rio, De VArt Chraien (Phcu, 1S74|: Roomi, Slaria d^ia PiUura Ilaliaiui (Pisa, IS17); docuraenu laap«etAl by tha vriter at Lesnano, Luffano, Luino, Milan and
Georoe Charles Williaubon.
Lake, Gospel (
Saint. — ^The subject will b«
tbeir way almost as ereat aa the decontion at the
Qreat Monastery, ana perhaps the polj^tych
tLq.-
e important than eitber of them, so
nuaptuoua is it in its colouring and so erquisite in its
teUgious feeling.
Of bis other work in oil, perhaps the chief and finest Mbinet picture is the " Hadonna of the Rose Hedge ",
Saint Luke; IT. Authenticity of the Gospel;
tegrity of the (joepel; IV. Purpose and Contents;
V. Sources of the Gospel; Synoptic Problem; VI.
Saint Luke's Accuracy; VII. Lvsanias, Tetrarch of
AUIene; VIII. Who Spoke the Magnificat? IX. The
Ccnsua of Quirinius; X. Saint Luke and Josephus.
I. BiooRAFHT or Saint Luke. — The name Imcos (Luke) is probably an abbreviation from Lucanus. liko
