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564 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART. Chap. XXVII. true riches are to be found in contentment. He might have ruled over many, but would not, saying that obedience was easier and less liable to error. He might have enjoyed dignities amongst his brethren and beyond. He disdained them, affirming that he sought for none other than might be consistent with a successful avoidance of hell, and the attainment of Paradise. And, in truth, what dignity can compare with that which all religious, nay, all men in ge neral, are bound to seek, and which consists in God and a virtuous life? Humane and sober, he lived chastely, avoid ing the snares of the world, and he was wont to say that the pursuit of art required rest and a life of holy thoughts; that he who illustrates the acts of Christ should be with Christ. He was never known to indulge in anger with his brethren, a great and in my opinion all but unattainable quality; and he never admonished but with a smile. With incredible kindness he would tell those who sought his works that, if they settled with the prior, he should not fail. In fact, this father, whom no one can too much praise, was in all his dealings and arguments modest and humble, and in his works easy and pious. The saints whom he depicted had more of the air and semblance of saints than any produced by others. He never retouched or altered anything he had once finished, but left it as it had turned out, the will of God being that it should be so. Some go so far as to say, that Fra Giovanni never would have touched a brush, had he not first humbled himself in prayer. He never represented the crucified Saviour without having his cheeks bathed in tears; and hence one may judge from the features and attitudes of his figures the perfection of his grand and sincere belief in the Christian faith.” 1 The art of Fra Giovanni or, as he may now be called, Angelico, was inspired and inborn, and he adapted to his religious feeling the means best suited to its expres sion. But there is a material and practical part in the frame of every painter whether priest or layman; and this, in Angelico, was not derived essentially from the technic of a mere miniaturist. Exquisite care and 1 Vas. Vol. IV. p.p. 37—9. Mar- chese (Vol. I. p. 199) wonders where Vasari found all the facts he narrates respecting the Ange lico and concludes that he had them from Fra Eustachio a minia ture painter of S. Marco at Flo rence, who is known to have assisted the Aretine in the notices for his first edition.