Page:The painters of Florence from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century (1915).djvu/72

50 a number of spectators, amongst others a group of children, evidently copied from the boys who threw stones in the Allegory of Poverty at Assisi. The little Virgin is represented standing by herself on the steps of the Temple and turning round with outstretched arm, as if in the act of solemnly declaring her intentions to her parents. The unity of the picture is thus destroyed, and the simple and impressive effect of Giotto's composition is entirely lost. The Marriage and Return of the Virgin to her home are combined in one and the same picture, but in spite of the picturesque head-dresses introduced and the variety of foliage in the trees of the background, the composition is crowded and ineffective, and far inferior to Giotto's rendering. In the more homely scenes, however, Taddeo succeeds better, and the birth of the Virgin is perhaps the most natural and graceful subject of the whole series. The large Coronation of the Virgin attended by angels playing musical instruments, which originally hung in the Baroncelli Chapel and was long ascribed to Giotto, is also, there can be little doubt, Taddeo's work. To him, again, we may ascribe the panels of the presses which held the altar-plate in the sacristy of Santa Croce, decorated with scenes from the life of St. Francis, chiefly imitated from Giotto's frescoes in the Upper Church at Assisi. Another large altar-piece of the Madonna and Child, attended by angels swinging censers and offering flowers, is in the gallery at Siena, and bears Taddeo's signature as well as the date 1355. After Giotto's death Taddeo became the foremost painter in Florence, and decorated numerous churches and cloisters with frescoes, which have all perished.