Chap. XXVII. ANGELICO’S STYLE. 565 finish were invariably lavished on his work, and this is a feature usual in miniaturists; but it was one of the least talents which he possessed, and an accessory by the side of greater qualities. His language in art, being the best suited to the development of religious feeling, was beyond measure simple, and in this he verges on the defects of the miniaturist; but, though he neglected many of the mechanical advantages of his profession, his execu tion was never out of harmony with the grandeur of his composition. In his peculiar path he was an extraordi nary genius and great in one way as Masaccio was in another. Without denying that he pursued like most be ginners of his time the study of miniature, one may affirm that he was not an exclusive follower of that art in his youth. Between him and Lorenzo Monaco there was that connection which might arise from a community of thought and of condition. Religious sentiment, and what modern critics call the mystic, was common to Lorenzo and to Traini, more marked in Angelico. Two monks like the Camaldole and the Dominican might work in common and exhibit the same bent of mind without necessarily standing in the relation of master and pupil to each other. Greater, indeed, and far more likely to exist was that relation between Angelico and Masolino. The latter, at Castiglione, displayed the same spirit as that of Angelico, not merely in composition, but in tenderness and a bird like softness and slenderness of form; not merely in light and liquid colour, but in technical methods of execution. In both one may trace the mode of painting on smooth surfaces with faint shadows and fluid tints. In both the architecture was light and pretty, but defective in per spective and out of proportion with the figures. The draperies were cast in the same form, though improved to grandeur and breadth by Angelico. The same type and mould were given to the angels; and those of the Baptism of Castiglione rival in calm religious expression and features, in slenderness and graceful bend, in femi nine softness, those of the Dominican. To sum up, there
