Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 1.djvu/111

Rh thods, could make so happy a commencement, whether as respects design or colouring, will be compelled to regard him with great respect and admiration. There are, moreover, in the same church of Santa Croce, and above the marble tomb of Carlo Marsuppini of Arezzo, a Crucifix, a figure of the Virgin, a St. John and the Magdalen at the foot of the Cross, all by the hand of Giotto; and on the other side of the church, exactly opposite to the latter, and above the burial-place of Leonardo Aretino, is an Annunciation, near the high altar, which has been restored with very little judgment, by the hand of some modern painter: a great discredit to those who had the custody of these works. In the refectory is a Tree of the Cross, with scenes from the life of St. Louis, and a Last Supper, by the same master. On the presses or wardrobes of the sacristy also, are passages from the life of Christ and that of St. Francis. Giotto likewise painted in the church of the Carmine, depicting the life ot St. John the Baptist, for the chapel of that Saint, in a series of pictures; and in the Guelphic Palace of Florence there is a painting of the Christian Faith, admirably executed in fresco, wherein he has placed the portrait of Clement IV, who founded the society, conferring on it his own arms, which it has borne ever since. After these works were finished, Giotto departed from Florence, and went to Assisi,