Page:The painters of Florence from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century (1915).djvu/38

18 other Roman artist working at Assisi. Another member of this prelate's family had already employed Roman masters to execute the mosaics in S. Maria Trastevere, and now at his bidding Giotto designed the famous mosaic of the Navicella, or ship of the Church, which hangs in the vestibule of St. Peter's. Little trace of the original work now remains, but the portrait of the Cardinal is introduced in the corner; and in the fisherman angling in the lake we see a characteristic touch of Giotto's invention. Far more worthy of study is the altar-piece which Giotto painted for the Cardinal, and which is still preserved in the Canons' Sacristy. This fine tempera-painting has fortunately escaped restoration, and deserves the high praise bestowed upon it by Vasari. In the central panel Christ, robed in a richly embroidered mantle, is seen seated on a throne, surrounded by angels, and worshipped by the kneeling Cardinal, a man of fifty years, clad in blue draperies and red cape. On either side are the Martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul, and on the reverse of the panels Stefaneschi appears again, led by his patron, St. George, kneeling at the feet of St. Peter enthroned between St. Andrew and St. John, and attended by angels and glorified saints. The colour is fine, the design rich and imposing, and the attitude and expression of the Cardinal, clasping the bar of the throne, are full of reverent devotion. The presence of the donor in the courts of heaven was in itself an innovation which no artist before Giotto had attempted, and the human and individual character of the Cardinal's head contrasts finely with the more conventional types of the celestial beings. Giotto's original genius