Part VII, Pompilia compares her deliverer, Caponsacchi, to the picture

of St. George. In Part VIII, the speaker who defends Guido reads a description of a man moved by too much grief, and says it fits Guido’s case just as exactly as Maratta’s portraits are like the life. The prosecutor, in Part IX, compares himself in his descriptions of the family of Pompilia, to a painter, carefully planning to paint a ‘Holy Family’. In this connection he names Carlo Maratta, Luca Giordano, Angelo, Raphael, Pietro da Cortona, and Ferri. Four or five other comparisons are found in _The Ring and the Book_, but in general, they are very similar to the ones given above, and little would be gained by enumerating all of them.

About forty lines of _Fifine at the Fair_ are concerned with an extended comparison of a man’s treatment of his wife with his attitude toward an authentic Raphael which he has bought. In each case he makes much over the new treasure when it has first come into his possession, then seems neglectful, but in case of any danger, thinks first of his real object of affection, forgetting such light fancies as other women and Doré picture books. The comparison is further extended by likening the soul in its choice of another soul to finding satisfaction in art--poetry, music, and painting. The Italian artists, Bazzi, Raphael, and Michael Angelo, are named as examples in this connection.

_Red Cotton Night-Cap Country_ contains a very Browningesque description of a soul, and pleads:

“Aspire, break bounds! I say, Endeavor to be good and better still, And best! Success is nought, endeavor’s all.”

* * * * *

... “there the incomplete, More than completion, matches the immense,-- Then Michael Angelo against the world.”

_With Charles Avison_, _Cenciaja_, and _With Christopher Smart_ contain comparisons similar to those noted above.

Eleven poems in all deal with Italian painters or painting as the principal theme. They are: _Pictor Ignotus_, _Old Pictures in Florence_, _The Guardian Angel_, _Fra Lippo Lippi_, _Andrea del Sarto_, _One Word More_, _A Face_, _Pacchiarotto_, _Filippo Baldinucci_, _With Francis Furini_, and _Beatrice Signorini_. Eight of these center around the work, personality, or history of a single artist. Of the eight, _Pictor Ignotus_, _Andrea del Sarto_, _Fra Lippo Lippi_, and _With Francis Furini_, are serious poetic efforts, having as the theme a painter’s endeavor, and dealing in each case with some shortcoming or lack of acknowledged success. Each of the first three, as poetry, is excellent in conception and execution. _With Francis Furini_, however, is rather didactic and heavy, lacking in lyricism and beauty.

The failure of Pictor Ignotus was due to his high conception of art--so high that he could not bear to submit pictures of real worth to the world. With his extremely sensitive disposition he could not endure the thought of ignorant criticism by people who had no comprehension of the aim or purpose of the artist. Lippi failed to gain approbation because he would not sacrifice his conception of painting things as God made them to the misguided saintliness of the monks. Furini, according to Browning’s estimate, failed in part, because of his attitude toward the nude. Andrea del Sarto, the greatest failure in all Browning, possessed a masterly technique, but failed through his weakness of character.

Of the later art poems, published after 1855, _With Francis Furini_ is the most serious effort. It contains an extended defense of the nude in art, the substance of which is summed up in the following quotations:

“No gift but in the very plentitude Of its perfection, goes maimed, misconstrued, By wickedness or weakness: still some few Have grace to see thy purpose, strength to mar Thy work with no admixture of their own.”

* * * * *

... “Show beauty’s May, ere June Undo the bud’s blush, leave a rose to cull --No poppy neither! Yet less perfect-pure, Divinely precious with life’s dew besprent. Show saintliness that’s simply innocent Of guessing sinnership exists.”

Among the less serious works, _Pacchiarotto_ tells the story of a reformer-painter, suffering at the hands of the people who opposed him. With a decidedly humorous treatment, rollicking verse, and impossible rhymes, Browning carried on the poem to its conclusion of a fling at the critics of his own verse. _Filippo Baldinucci_ simply retells a rather amusing story, quite distinct from any serious consideration of the painter as an artist, with an added conclusion which Browning imagined for himself. In like manner, _Beatrice Signorini_ consists of a poetized version of some very personal history, which Browning took from Baldinucci. The husband of Beatrice, who was the painter Romanelli, fell in love with Artemisia Genteleschi, and having painted her portrait, showed it to his wife. She immediately destroyed it, Romanelli approved her spirit, and ever after loved her more.

VI. CONFORMITY TO HISTORY.--A few instances of departure from historical facts are found in the poems on painting, though it is really remarkable that they were not less accurate, written as they were at a time when the history of painting had been so slightly investigated. Such errors as existed are usually the result of mistakes in the sources Browning followed, though these were the best in their day, rather than from carelessness on his part.

Some very recent investigators assert that Browning unduly exaggerated the character of Andrea’s wife, in _Andrea del Sarto_. However, no less an authority than W. M. Rossetti insists that he was essentially true to the facts in representing her. Others insist that he was somewhat unfair in the general impression which he gives of Andrea. At least he has not changed the facts materially in this particular case; and if any liberty has been taken, from a poetic standpoint it is well taken. There are several slight errors in _Fra Lippo Lippi_. For example, Guidi (Masaccio) is now known to have been the master, not the pupil of Lippi, and the picture in Sant’ Ambrogio was probably not the expiation of a prank.

The few changes in the facts, however, are comparatively slight, all told. Allowing for mistaken authorities whom Browning followed, variations are much more trivial than might be expected. By the old well-worn charity cloak of poetic license it is customary to allow for considerable idealization. But Browning, the artist of things as they really exist, held to the truth as he saw it, even in his treatment of art. This he did in spite of the fact that his purpose was not to give art history, but to present personality as it existed in relation to art. With his deep insight into human nature, as well as art history, he took the characters which he found in the world of art, the good or bad, and gave them to us as examples of the striving, often unsuccessful soul.