Page:The painters of Florence from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century (1915).djvu/79

1430] he went to Padua, where he entered the service of Francesco di Carrara, married a lady of good position, and spent the rest of his life. Here he "made and composed the Book of the Art, in the reverence of God and of the Virgin Mary, of St. Eustachius (his own patron), of St. Francis and St. John the Baptist and St. Anthony of Padua, in the reverence of Giotto, Taddeo and Agnolo, and for the utility and good and advantage of those who would attain perfection in the art." It was formerly supposed that Cennino died in the debtors' prison called the Stinchi in Florence, because the MS. of his book in the Laurentian Library ends with the words: "On the 31st of July 1437, in the Stinchi prison;" but this was probably added by the copyist who beguiled his prison hours by transcribing the treatise, and since this inscription is not found in the Riccardiani MS., there is no reason to conclude that Cennino's prosperous career had so dismal an end.

As a practical treatise on Trecento painting, dealing minutely with fresco and tempera alike, and describing the technique of Giotto and his immediate followers, Cennino's book is of the utmost value, while at the same time it gives us some insight into the habits and customs of Florentine painters at this period. He insists on the necessity of constantly referring to Nature, and advises every student to draw something from Nature every day. But he lays down certain rules to be observed in the proportion of the human figure and face, which is to be divided into three parts—the forehead, the nose, and the chin with the mouth. And he gives minute prescriptions for the composition