Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 1.djvu/54

40 the principal door, and around the rose window, he placed the ascension of the Virgin in heaven, together with the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles. This work, truly great and rich, and most admirably executed, must, in my opinion, have caused the utmost astonishment in the world of that day, more especially as the art of painting had been for so long a time in complete darkness. To myself, who saw it for the second time in the year 1563, it appearedmost beautiful, more particularly when I considered that obscurity of art from the shades of which Cimabue had found means to elicit so much light. But of all these paintings (a thing which merits consideration), those of the vaults being less exposed to dust and other accidents, are in much better preservation than any of the others. Having completed these works, Cimabue began to paint the lower part of the walls, namely from the windows downwards, and made some progress therein, but being recalled to Florence by his private affairs, he did not continue this work, and it was finished, as will be seen in its due place, by Giotto, many years after.

Having thus returned to Florence, Cimabue next worked in the cloister of Santo Spirito. The entire side next the church is painted by other masters, in the Greek manner ; but three arches, containing events from the life of Christ, are by his own hand, and certainly display much power of design. About the same time, he sent some of his works, executed in Florence, to Empoli, where they are still preserved with great veneration in the parochial church of