Page:The painters of Florence from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century (1915).djvu/44

24 above, angels are seen bearing the gifts of pious donors—a mantle, a purse and a convent-church—into heaven, where God the Father bends down with outstretched hands to receive them. Finally, in the fourth compartment we have a vision of St. Francis, clad in the deacon's garb which he retained in his humility to the end of his life, enthroned in glory and attended by choirs of rejoicing angels.

These allegories are not the only works which Giotto executed in the Lower Church of Assisi. Ghiberti's statement, that the Florentine master painted almost the whole of the Lower Church, is confirmed by Petrus Rudolphus, who expressly mentions the frescoes of the Childhood and Crucifixion in the right transept as being by the hand of Giotto. In their present ruined condition it is not easy to distinguish between the work of the master and that of his assistants; but the whole series bears the stamp of Giotto's invention, and in many cases the composition foreshadows that of the Arena frescoes at Padua. The scenes of the Childhood are full of human charm and tenderness—the Babe laying his little hand in blessing on the aged king's head, and the young Mother wrapping the Child in the folds of her mantle, as she rides the ass and Joseph leads the way with pilgrim staff and bottle in his hand, are touches which no one but Giotto would have introduced. Even when, as in the Passion scenes, the old types are more closely followed, a deeper note is sounded. The Pietà resembles that of the Roman master in the Upper Church, but is more dramatic in character; while in the Crucifixion, the passionate grief of St. John, the overwhelming sorrow of the