GENTILES
422
GENTILI
and in the following year he signs ami dates his picture
executed to the order of Palla Strozzi for the church
of Santa Trinita in that city. The evidence that he
continued in Florence in 1423 is found in some deeds
relating to a curious quarrel which took place between
one of Gentile's pupils and a certain Bernardo, who
threw some stones into the courtyard of the house
where Gentile was, breaking some small pieces of sculp-
ture which happened to be of great value to the artist.
Gentile's work in Siena has usually been assigned to the year 1426, but closer investigation shows that it was carried out in 1425, and a lease of a house in Siena taken for a month by the artist in that year is still in existence, and proves the date of the residence of Gentile in Siena, and the time that he took to paint the picture. It is dated 22 July, and at the end of August of the same year Gentile was in Orvieto, painting in the Duomo, as the archives of the cathe- dral prove. That work completed, he was at length able to leave for Rome, and in 1427 was at work in the church of San Giovanni in Laterano, and the records of his engagement and stipend have been printed. By 22 November, 1428, he was dead, because on that day, according to the evidence of the commune of Fabriano, his niece Maddalena took possession of the property of her uncle, who was declared to have died in Rome intestate. Further evidence of this date is given by a deed dated October, 1427, in which the master is spoken of as deceased, and these docu- ments prove the inaccuracy of the statements of Vasari both as regards the date of Gentile's decease and the place where Vasari says he died, Citta di Castello. Amico Ricci and Milanesi were inaccurate in stating that Gentile died after 1450, as they were misled by a phrase "autore requisito" which occurs in a document representing the visit of Roger van der Weyden to Rome, when he visited San Giovanni in Laterano, and saw the paintings of Gentile. He ex- pressed the greatest admiration for the work, and according to Ricci and Milanesi called the author of the paintings before him. Inasmuch as the visit took place in 1450, these two authors placed Gentile's decease after that date, but the phrase refers to the author having died, and this is proved by the two documents just cited.
These few facts practically embrace all that we definitely know respecting this artist. He is said to have learned his art under Allegretto Nuzzi. His family name is by some writers given as Maso or Massi, and his burial is said to have taken place in Santa Francesca Romana in the Campo Vaccino, but all these statements are for the present matters of con- jecture. He was probably born at Fabriano in the March of Ancona, according to the evidence of his name, but Nuzzi is believed to have died when Gentile was fifteen years old, and therefore he could have derived very little instruction from Nuzzi. Two of liis pictures are dated, the " Adoration of the Kings" in the Academy at Florence, 1 423 ; and the group of saints in San Nicolo in the same city, 1425. His best work in Rome and Venice has perished, but he is well repre- sented in the Brera Gallery in Milan, the galleries of Perugia, Paris, and Berlin; and important pictures in the Ileugel collection in Paris and the StroganofT collection in St. Petersburg are now accepted a.s being from his hand. Of his work in Rome there is a repre- sentation of the miracle of St. Nicholas to be seen in the Vatican Gallery, and part of his work in Orvieto still remains. A picture in the royal collection at Buckingham Palace is attributed to him, with con- siderable evidence in its favour; and his paintings are also to be seen at Settignano, in the municipal gallery at Pisa, and in the .Jarves collection at Newhaven in the United States, but his most important work is the large picture in the Academy in Florence, a painting of remarkable excellence and extraordinary beauty. In his birthplace there is one picture representing St.
Francis, which is probably a genuine work. His
paintings are distinguished by great magnificence of
colour and marked by his pecidiar method of high
relief in gesso work, and by the remarkable use he
made of small portions of the most brilliant colour,
appUed in conjunction with masses of gold. He may
be accepted as one of the greatest masters of his
period, and as a man exceedingly skilful in composi-
tion, and full of grand ideas as regards colouring and
effect, for in the combination of rich colour with gold
he has seldom if ever been equalled amongst decora-
tive painters.
Arduino Colasanti, Gmlile da Fabriano (Bergamo, 1909); Amico Ricci, Memorie Storiche delle Arti e degli Artisti delta Marca di Ancona {Macerata, 1834); Gidlio Cantalambssa, Vccchi affreschi a S. Vittoria in Matenano in Nuova Ret'i^ta Miseua. Ill, 1; A. and A. Longhi, L'anno delta morle di Gentile da Fabriano (Fano. 1887); Vasari, Vile de' piit eccelenti pittori (p'lorence, 15.50); also edited by Milanesi (Florence, 1S78-S5); Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, ed. Williamson, III (London and New York, 1904), s. v. Massi. George Charles Williamson.
Gentiles (Heb. Goyim: Gr. effi/?;, teviKol, "E\Xi;i'es; Vulg. Gentcs, Gentiles, Grceci), a word of Latin origin and usually employed in the plural. In the English versions of both Testaments it collectively designates the nations distinct from the Jewish people. The basis of this distinction is that, as descendants of Abraham, the Jews considered themselves, and were in fact, before the coming of Christ, the chosen people of God. As the non-Jewish nations did not worship the true God and generally indulged in immoral practices, the term GCnpm " Gentiles" has oftentimes in the Sacred Writings, in the Talmud, etc., a disparag- ing meaning. Since the spread of Christianity, the word Gen^i'/cs designates, in theological parlance, those who are neither Jews nor Christians. In the United States, the Mormons use it of persons not belonging to their .sect. See Proselytes.
(Cathulic authors are marked with an asterisk.) ScHtiRER, lli.'itortj of the Jewish People, second division, vol, I (New York, 1891); Selbie in Hast.. Diet, nf the Bible, s. v.; Le- sfcTRE* in ViG., DirA. de la Bible.s.v.Gentih; Hirsch in y^uj- vih Encycl., s. v. (New York, 1903): Brown, Brigos. and Driver, Hebrew and English Lexicon, s. v. ^U (New York, 1906); Dullinger*. The Gentile and the Jew (tr. London, 1906).
Francis E. Gigot.
Gentili, Aloysius, b. 14 July, 1801, at Rome; d. 26 September, 1848, at Dublin. He was proficient in poetry, displayed considerable musical aptitude, had a taste for mechanical and electrical science, and was devoted to the cultivation of modern languages, applj'ing himself more particularly to the study of English. His early life was that of a brilliant young man of the world, full of ambition of a nobler kind, a pet of society, and an evident favourite of fortune. He sought admission into the Society of Jesus, and would have been accepted, but his health seemed broken, and the Society did not venture to receive him. He became more and more impressed with the conviction that God called him to the priest- hood and to labour for the conversion of England. He made the acquaintance of Father Rosmini, who, at his earnest ontrcat\', accepted him as a postulant of the newly-founded Institute of Charity. He remained in Rome, attending theological lectures, whilst residing at the Irish College, in order, at the same time, to im- prove his English, and after his ordination to the priesthood, in 1830, proceeded to Domo d'Ossola to make his novitiate.
Whilst Gentili was living at the Irish College, a yoimg English gentleman, who had been converted whilst a student at Cambridge, arrived in Rome. This was Mr. .\ml)roso Phillipps de Lisle (q. v.). This zealous convert applied to the rector of the Irish Col- lege, to obtain for him a priest to preach the Catholic Faith in the neighbourhood of his ancestral home. The rector suggested the Abate Gentili as in every way
