ANIMAL LIFE IN ITALIAN PAINTING 



mystic meanings, and the lore contained in them was 

 part of the inheritance of the later Middle Ages, and 

 persists into the Renaissance itself^ 



The apparently purposeless introduction of some 

 animal into a picture may often be explained by 

 reference to this branch of literature. This is so even 

 at a late period, when no one would have thought of 

 going direct to Physiologus for a subject. Its influence 

 remained in the mental equipment of the painter, or 

 of those who planned the scheme of the painting. Nor 

 was this influence only literary ; a pictorial link may 

 frequently be traced from the illustrations of the Biblia 

 Pauperum, the Bestiaries, and the Speculum in its various 

 forms. 



The second motive is the life and teaching of 

 St. Francis of Assisi. To him the unity of life was 

 an inspiring revelation ; everything that lived was a 

 sharer with him of the life of the Holy Spirit, the Giver 

 of Life, and so came into comradeship with him.^ Both 

 the birds and the wolves were part of his family circle. 



^ The Speculum was published as late as 1612 by the Benedictines 

 of Douai. See G. G. Coulton, A Mediaval Garner, 1910, p. 12. 



^ " He would remain in contemplation before a flower, an insect, or a 

 bird, and regarded them with no dilettante or egoistic pleasure ; he was 

 interested that the plant should have its sun, the bird its nest ; that the 

 humblest manifestations of creative force should have the happiness to 

 which they are entitled." — Barine in Revue des Deux Mondcs, April 1891. 

 Quoted in W. R. Inge, Christian Mysticism, 1899. 



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