Page:Bryan's dictionary of painters and engravers, volume 1.djvu/245

 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