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 UDINE

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UDINE

Paolo di Dono, called L'ccello Self-portrait, The Louvre

baptistery in Florence. Vasari tells us that his special love was for geometry and perspective. Manetti taught him geometry, but where he learned painting we do not know, nor are we acquainted with the reasons which led him to leave the botega of Ghiberti and set up for himself. Vasari scotTs at Uecello's study of perspective, regarding it as waste of time, and saying that the artist became "more needy than famous". His skill in foreshort- ening and proportion, and in some of the complex difficulties of per- .spective, was quite remarkable, and his pictures for this reason alone are well worthy careful study, for they dis- ])lay an extraordi- nary knowledge of geometric perspec- tive. His most im- portant work is the colossal equestrian figure of Sir John Hawkwood, a chia- roscuro in terra- rirde, intended to imitate a stone statue, seen aloft, standing out from the wall of the ca- thedral. One of the most precious possessions of the National Gallery, London, is a battle-picture by this artist. For a long time this was wrongly entitled the "Battle of Sant' Egidioof 1416 ", but it really represents the rout of San Romano of 1432. Instead of Malatesta, the picture gives us a representation of Nicolo da Tolentino. Mr. Herbert Home gave considerable attention to the history of this picture some twelve years ago, and was able to arrive at a very accurate determina- tion regarding it. There are very few paintings by Uccello in existence, although he must have painted a considerable number. There is a panel by him in the Louvre, containing his own portrait, associated with those of Giotto, Donatello, Brunelleschi, and Manetti, representing perspective associated with painting, sculpture, architectiu'c, and geometry. Many of the frescoes he executed for Santa Maria Novella have been destroyed. The only other picture of his that need be mentioned here is a predella in a church near Urbino, relating to the theft of a pax, which is attributed to him by many critics. He is said to have studied the works of Pisanello with great advantage, and it is probable that it was from Pisanello that he first learned painting, but he may be practically- regarded as one of the founders of the art of linear pcrspi'ctivc. There are very few dates known in his history beyond those of his birth and death. But we know that in 1425 he was at work at Venice, in 1436 painting his portrait of Sir John Hawkwood, and in 1468 residing at Ur- bino.

Vasari, Lives of the Painters: Bottari, Note alte Vite del Vasari (Florence, 1707); Idem, Diatoghi sopra U tre Belli Arti (Lucca. 17.51).

Gborge Charles Williamson.

XJdine, .Xrchdioce.se op (Utinensis). — The city of Feline, the capital of a province and archdiocese in Friiili, northern Italy, is situated in a region mainly agricultural. Its cathedral, built in 1236 by the Patriarch Bertoldo, was altered several times, most recently, in 1706, through the munificence of the Manin family, whose tombs adorn the choir. It con- tains paintings by Pordenone, Tiepolo (ch.ipel of the Blessed Sacrament), Matleo da Verona, etc.; statues by Torretto (St. Bertrand), Linardi (Pius IX), Mini-

sini (.\rchbishop Bricato). In the baptistery is a font by Giovanni da Zuglio (1480) and paintings by Tiepolo. The oldest church at Udine is that of S. Maria di Castello, transformed in the .sixteenth century. S. Antonio Abbate contains the tombs of the patriarchs Francesco and Ermolao Barbaro; SS. Fihppo e Giacomo, statues by Contieri; S. Pietro Mart ire and the Zitelle e S. Chiara contain note- worthy pictures; the Madonna delle Grazie preserves a much venerated Byzantine Madonna and is rich in sculpture and paintings. Among the profane edifices, the Castello, which acquired its present form in 1.517, was the residence of the patriarchs of Aquileia, then of the Venetian governor, and is now a barrack; it contains a great parliament chamber painted by Amalteo, Tiepolo, and others. The city hall (1457), the work of Nicolo Lionello, in a .sober and graceful Gothic style, is rich in paintings by the most celebrated Venetian niasiers, as is also the archiepiscopal palace, built by the Patriarch Francesco Barbaro, especially remarkable for the salon of Giovanni da Udine. The city hos- pital was built in 1782 by Archbishop Gradenigo. Many of the private residences also are rich in works of art.

Where the city of Udine now stands there existed, in the Roman period, a fortified camp, probably for the defence of the Via Julia Augusta leading from Aquileia to the Carnic Alps. Narses also made use of this fort after the Gothic War. No mention, how- ever, is found of Utinum until 983, when Otho II granted its stronghold to Radoaldo, Patriarch of .4quileia, Prince of Friuli and Istria. A centre of population went on forming here from that time, and

The Cathedral, Ldlne, XIII Ce.ntdry successive patriarchs provided it with water-supijly and other institutions. The population was notably increased by the arrival of Tu.scan exiles in the thir- teenth and fourteenth centuries. In the thirteenth century the patriarch was representetl by a yaxlalilo, while twelve nobles and twelve commons represented the i)eoi)le in the government. The (irivilcges of the citizens were augmented by the Patriarchs Ramondo