Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 1.djvu/123

Rh as it is said, drew an ass, bearing a pack-saddle loaded with a crown and sceptre, while a similar saddle lay at his feet, also bearing the ensigns of sovereignty : these last were all new ; and the ass scented them with an expression of desire to change them for those he then bore. The king inquired what this picture might signify ; when Giotto replied, “Such is the kingdom, and such the subjects, who are every day desiring a new lord.” Leaving Naples to proceed to Rome, Giotto was detained at Gaeta, where he was persuaded to paint certain subjects from the New Testament for the. These works are now greatly injured by time, but not to such a degree as to prevent us from clearly distinguishing the portrait of Giotto himself, which will be found near a large and very beautiful crucifix. These works being completed, he passed some days in Rome, in the service of the Signor Malatesta, to whom he could not refuse this favour : he then repaired to Rimini, of which city the said Malatesta was lord, and painted numerous pictures in the ; but these works were afterwards destroyed by Gismondo, son of Pandolfo Malatesta, who rebuilt the entire edifice. He also painted a fresco on the cloisters in front of the church. This was the history of the Beata Michelina, one of the best and most beautiful works that Giotto ever produced ; for to say nothing of the grace and life of the heads, which are nevertheless wonderful, or of the draperies, which are admirably done, there is the evidence of so much varied thought in the composition, and care in the execution, that it cannot be too highly praised. The principal figure is a young woman, lovely as it is possible to conceive that a woman can be, and who is in the act of freeing herself by oath from the calumnious charge of adultery. She takes the oath on a book, while she keeps her eyes fixed on her husband in an attitude of inexpressible grace, and with the expression of the most assured innocence ; he having compelled her to make oath, from doubts respecting a black infant to which she had given birth, and which he