That eminent theorist of Pre-Raphaelitism, Sir James Tuckett, does not shrink from placing the Madonna of the National Gallery on a level with the masterpieces of Christian art.  “By giving to the Virgin’s head,” says Sir James Tuckett, “a third of the total height of the figure, the old master attracts the spectator’s attention and keeps it directed towards the more sublime parts of the human figure, and in particular the eyes, which we ordinarily describe as the spiritual organs.  In this picture, colouring and design conspire to produce an ideal and mystical impression.  The vermilion of the cheeks does not recall the natural appearance of the skin; it rather seems as if the old master has applied the roses of Paradise to the faces of the Mother and the Child.”

We see, in such a criticism as this, a shining reflection, so to speak, of the work which it exalts; yet MacSilly, the seraphic aesthete of Edinburgh, has expressed in a still more moving and penetrating fashion the impression produced upon his mind by the sight of this primitive painting.  “The Madonna of Margaritone,” says the revered MacSilly, “attains the transcendent end of art.  It inspires its beholders with feelings of innocence and purity; it makes them like little children.  And so true is this, that at the age of sixty-six, after having had the joy of contemplating it closely for three hours, I felt myself suddenly transformed into a little child.  While my cab was taking me through Trafalgar Square I kept laughing and prattling and shaking my spectacle-case as if it were a rattle.  And when the maid in my boarding-house had served my meal I kept pouring spoonfuls of soup into my ear with all the artlessness of childhood.”

“It is by such results,” adds MacSilly, “that the excellence of a work of art is proved.”

Margaritone, according to Vasari, died at the age of seventy-seven, “regretting that he had lived to see a new form of art arising and the new artists crowned with fame.”

These lines, which I translate literally, have inspired Sir James Tuckett with what are perhaps the finest pages in his work.  They form part of his “Breviary for Aesthetes”; all the Pre-Raphaelites know them by heart.  I place them here as the most precious ornament of this book.  You will agree that nothing more sublime has been written since the days of the Hebrew prophets.

MARGARITONE’S VISION

Margaritone, full of years and labours, went one day to visit the studio of a young painter who had lately settled in the town.  He noticed in the studio a freshly painted Madonna, which, although severe and rigid, nevertheless, by a certain exactness in the proportions and a devilish mingling of light and shade, assumed an appearance of relief and life.  At this sight the artless and sublime worker of Arezzo perceived with horror what the future of painting would be.  With his brow clasped in his hands he exclaimed: