PAINTERS AND ENGRAVERS.
the order of the same prelate, a large high-altarpiece for the church of St. Peter. But one of these
works can be rightly said to have been preserved
to us. The ' Navicella ' — an allegorical represent-
ation of the Catholic Church, wherein the Apostles
are seen in a boat, with Christ saving St. Peter from
the waves — although still shown to the public in
the portico of St. Peter's, may safely be said no
longer to retain more than a reminiscence of
Giotto's original composition, so thoroughly and
frequently has it been restored. The altar-piece,
however, still remains almost complete in its
original parts, and in a comparatively exceptional
state of preservation. It was removed from its
ancient honourable position at the time of the
destruction of the old basilica of St. Peter, and
now hangs dismembered on the walls of the
Sagrestia dei Canonici, in the new church. Before
this great work, in all probability the earliest of
the master's authenticated paintings, Giotto's real
position in the history of art becomes at once
apparent. Were this altar-piece alone preserved
to us of all his creations, it would still be amply
sufBcient to uphold for him the proud title of the
founder of Modern Painting. The most casual
comparison with the work of his predecessors is
sufficiently convincing to make clear at once the
great transformation which the artist here succeeded
in effecting. His figures are dignified and also
graceful, at times reminiscent of the antique, but
never a mere copy of it ; the folds of his draperies
are at once simple and flowing, clearly showing
the contours of the body, in utter contrast to the
minute and oft-times meaningless lining of the
Byzantine artists; his representation of movement
is free and unconstrained. It is precisely in his
development of these last-named qualities, and
especially in that of Form, that Giotto achieved
his greatest artistic triumphs. So important a
factor in his art is this same quality of Form, that
it is almost solely upon a study of this distinctive
feature that Giotto's latest critics have based their
chronological arrangement of his works. Again,
in the matter of colour, he has placed before us
something differing entirely from the painting of
his time. But what is equally in contrast to the
work of his Italian and Byzantine predecessors, is
the individual expression of his figures — and it
was doubtless this which most strongly impressed
his contemporaries. "The persons in grief look
melancholy," exclaims an old writer in speaking
of his work, " ami those who are joj'ous look gay."
Such naturalism must indeed have been irresistible
in its effects on a public so long accustomed to the
rigid conformity of Byzantine types.
Of the other works which Giotto is known to have executed in Rome, none now remain except I the fragment of a fresco in San Giovanni in Laterano, representing Boniface VIII. in a balcony, announcing the opening of tlie Jubilee of 1300. We are in ignorance as to when Giotto under- took his first commission at Assisi, but of the long series of frescoes which he has left in the church of San Francesco in that town, the earliest, repre- senting scenes from the Lives of the Virgin and of Christ, in the right transept of the Lower Church, appear, in point of style, to belong to a period closely following on the completion of the Stefaneschi altar-piece, with which they have much in common. In charm of colour and grace of expression, these works are to be classed among the most pleasing of all the master's creations — while in depth of feeling and dignity of conception, the last fresco of the series, representing the Cruci- fixion, remains among the masterpieces of early Italian painting, far surpassing the later and more realistic treatment of the same subject in the Paduan Arena. The famous allegories of 'Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience,' and ihe ' Glorification of St. Francis,' on the central ceiling of the Lower Church, come next in order, and are too well known to require special description. It is sufficient to say that they show a marked technical advance over the master's earlier work, and in them Giotto has given special prominence to his sense of decorative effect, entirely disprov- ing the common assertion that he was lacking in this latter quality of liis art. From these alle- gories we may pass to the three interesting frescoes in the right transept, representing certain miracles of St. Francis — works which exhibit a decided tendency toward a more realistic style of treatment than is to be found in any of the master's previous creations. Before leaving the Lower Church, mention must also be made of the paint- ings, generally attributfd to Buffalmacco and Taddeo Gaddi, in the Chapel of the Magdalen, several of which clearly show Giotto's own handi- work. Two of these, one representing the Jlagdalen anointing Christ's feet, the other the Raising of Lazarus, are especially r.oticeable for strong dramatic treatment, and closely foreshadow the later work at Padua. Others of these frescoes show the co-operation of assistants, and are unequal in merit.
The long series of paintings in the Upper Church, depicting the principal events of St. Francis' life, has given rise to endless discussions among art critics of the past half-century. By the great majority of writers these frescoes are still looked upon as the earliest of Giotto's extant works — an opinion doubtless having rise in the tradition that Giotto here carried on and com- pleted ' Cimabue's ' earlier work, and also in great measure due to the changed appearance given these frescoes by excessive and total repaint. Sufficient may still be gathered, however, from what remains, to clearly prove their real position in the chronological order of Giotto's works. The advanced feeling for form, the energy of movement and simplicity of narration, so clearly shown throughout the greater part of this remarkable series, surely point to a date of execution posterior to all the frescoes in the Lower Church, and but shortly preceding those in the Arena Chapel. The last nine subjects of this pictured history, relating to the death and miracles of the Saint, exhibit a marked divergence in stj'le from those that pre- cede them, and are probably by the same unknown pupil of the master to whom are due the frescoes in the chapel of St. Nicholas, in the Lower Church.
It is not quite certain at what date Giotto went to Padua ; but the Scrovegno Chapel, in the old Arena of that city, was not built until 1303, and it was its founder, Enrico Scrovegno, a noble citizen of Padua, who employed Giotto to decorate it. The undertaking was an arduous one, but the result was equal to the opportunity. In a series of thirty-eight frescoes, the master depicted, in a triple course along the walls, the histories of the Virgin and of her Divine Son. Beneath these lines of pictures were placed thoughtfully-conceived figures of the antagonistic Virtues and
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