ANIMAL LIFE IN ITALIAN PAINTING 



Orcagfna, large altar-piece by Orcagna (Andrea di Cione I'Arcag- 

 c. 1308- 1368 



nuolo), which represent the Nativity and the Adoration 



of the Magi, subjects often ordered by church or con- 

 vent, the latter a favourite especially with naturalistic 

 painters. The ox and the ass, though not mentioned 

 in the gospels, are an almost essential part of a 

 Nativity or Adoration. Many of the religious paint- 

 ings derive their subject from the apocryphal gospels, 

 which were as well known through the agency of the 

 Legenda Aurea as the canonical gospels themselves. 

 It is the Pseudo-Matthcei Evangelium which supplies 

 the ox and ass. " On the third day after the birth of 

 the Lord, Mary left the cave and went into a stable and 

 placed the Child in the manger, and the ox and the ass 

 adored Him, Then was fulfilled what was said by Isaia 

 the prophet, saying, ' The ox knows his master and the 

 ass his lord's crib.' But these animals having Him in 

 the midst adored Him continually. Then was fulfilled 

 what was said by Abacuc the prophet, saying, ' In the 

 midst of two animals thou shalt be known.' " ^ 



They are definitely ordered for the Nativity in the 

 Hermeneia, or Byzantine guide to painting," and it must 

 be remembered that in what Mr. Berenson calls "that 



^ Evangelia Apocrypha, ed. Constantinus de Tischendorf (Lipsise, 

 1876), chap. xiv. p. 80. 



' Didron, Christian Iconography (Bohn, 1891), vol. ii. p. 300. 



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