Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 1.djvu/147

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The Florentine painter and disciple of Giotto,, was an artist of such excellence, that he not only surpassed all those who had preceded him in the art, but left even his master, Giotto himself, far behind. Thus he was considered, and with justice, to be the best of all the painters who had appeared down to that time, and his works clearly show that he was so. In the, Stefano painted a figure of the Virgin in fresco, which is superior, both in design and colouring, to the work of Giotto; and in the cloister of, in Florence, he painted three of the arches, also in fresco. The first of these arches exhibits the, with Moses and Elias; and the painter, figuring to himself the splendour by which the three disciples must have been dazzled, has represented them in extraordinary and very beautiful attitudes. The mode in which the figures are enveloped in their draperies proves, also, that Stefano sought to display the form beneath the folds, a thing that had not previously been attempted, nor taken into consideration, even by Giotto himself. Beneath the arch wherein he has represented Christ healing the man possessed by a demon, Stefano drew a building in perspective: this was in a manner then but little known, and was perfectly well done, showing great judgment, with much knowledge of art, power of invention, and correctness in' the proportions of the columns in the doors, windows, and cornices, and a manner of treatment so unlike that of the other artists of the time, that Stefano appears to have already acquired a certain perception of the good and perfect manner of the moderns. Among other ingenious things, Stefano invented a flight of