praise accorded to Cimabue and his pupil Giotto aroused a great deal
of fear, for their good workmanship in painting was hailed throughout
Italy, was one Margaritone, painter of Arezzo, who recognised equally
well with the others who previously occupied the foremost positions
in painting in that unhappy age, that the work of these two men would
probably all but obliterate his own reputation. Margaritone was
considered excellent among the painters of the age who worked in the
Byzantine style, and he did a number of pictures in tempera at
Arezzo. He worked in fresco also, painting almost the whole of the
church of S. Clemente, an abbey of the order of the Camaldolites, but
these occupied him a long time and cost him much trouble. The church
is entirely destroyed to-day, together with many other buildings,
including a strong fortress called S. dementi, because the Duke
Cosimo de' Medici not only here, but round the whole circuit of the
city, pulled down many buildings and the old walls which had been
restored by Guido Petramalesco, a former bishop and lord of the city,
in order to reconstruct them with curtains and bastions much stronger
and of less circuit than the former ones had been, and consequently
more easy to defend with a smaller number of men. Margaritone's
pictures in this church contained many figures both small and great,
and although they were executed in the Byzantine style, yet they were
admitted to show evidence of having been executed with good judgment
and with love of art, as may be inferred from the works of this
painter which are still extant in that city. Of these the principal
is a picture, now in the chapel of the Conception in S. Francesco,
representing a Madonna with modern ornamentation, which is held in
great veneration by the friars there. In the same church he did a
large crucifix, also in the Byzantine style, which is now placed in
the chapel where the quarters of the superintendent are situated. The
Saviour is delineated upon the axes of the cross, and Margaritone
made many such crucifixes in that city. For the nuns of S.
Margherita he painted a work which is now placed in the transept of
their church. This is canvas stretched on a panel, containing
subjects from the life of Our Lady and of St John the Baptist in
small figures, executed in a much better style, and with more
diligence and grace than the large ones. This work is noteworthy, not
only because the little figures in it are so carefully finished that
they resemble the work of an illuminator, but because it is a
wonderful thing that a picture on canvas should have lasted three
hundred years. He did an extraordinary number of pictures for all the
city, and a St Francis drawn from life at Sargiano, a convent of the
bare-footed friars. To this he placed his name, because he considered
that it was more than usually well done. He afterwards made a large
crucifix in wood, painted in the Byzantine manner, and sent it to
Florence to M. Farinata degli Uberti, a most famous citizen who, in
addition to many other notable exploits, had saved his native city
from imminent danger and ruin. This crucifix is now in S. Croce,
between the chapel of the Peruzzi and that of the Giugni. In S.
Domenico, at Arezzo, a church and convent built by the lords of
Pietramela in the year 1275, as their coat of arms proves, he did
many things before returning to Rome, where he had already given
great satisfaction to Pope Urban IV. by doing some things in fresco
for him in the portico of St Peter's; for although in the Byzantine
style of the time, they were not without merit. After he had
finished a St Francis at Ganghereto, a place above Terranuova in the
Valdarno, he devoted himself to sculpture, as he was of an ambitious
spirit, and he studied with such diligence that he succeeded much
better than he had done in painting; for although his first
sculptures were in the Byzantine style, as may be seen in four
figures in wood of a Deposition from the Cross in the Pieve, and some
other figures in relief which are in the chapel of St Francis above
the baptismal font, yet he adopted a much better manner after he had
visited Florence and had seen the works of Arnolfo, and of the other
more celebrated sculptors of the time. In the year 1275 he returned
to Arezzo in the suite of Pope Gregory, who passed through Florence
on his journey from Avignon to Rome. Here an opportunity presented
itself to make himself better known, for the Pope died at Arezzo
after having given 30,000 scudi to the Commune wherewith to finish
the building of the Vescovado which had been begun by Master Lapo,
and had made but little progress. The Aretines therefore ordained
that the chapel of St Gregory should be made in memory of the Pope in
the Vescovado, in which Margaritone afterwards placed a picture, and
in addition that Margaritone should make a marble tomb for the Pope
in the Vescovado. He set to work upon the task and brought it to such
a successful completion, introducing the Pope's portrait from life
both in marble and in painting, that it was considered to be the best
work which he had ever produced.
Margaritone then set to work to complete the Vescovado, following the
design of Lapo, and he displayed great activity; but he did not
complete it, for a few years later, in 1289, war broke out again
between the Florentines and Aretines, through the fault of Guglielmo
Ubertini, bishop and lord of Arezzo, aided by the Tarlati of
Pietramela and by the Pazzi of Val d'Arno, when all the money left by
the Pope for the building of the Vescovado was expended upon the war,
while evil befell the leaders, who were routed and slain at
Campaldino. The Aretines then ordained that the tolls paid by the
surrounding country, called a _dazio_, should be set aside for the
use of the building, and this toll has lasted to our own day. To
return to Margaritone, he seems to have been the first, so far as one
can judge by his works, who thought it necessary to take precautions,
when painting on wood, that the joints should be secure, so that no
cracks or fissures should appear after the completion of the
painting, and it was his practice to cover the panel completely with
canvas, fastened on by a strong glue made of shreds of parchment and
boiled in the fire; he then treated the surface with gypsum, as may
be seen in many of his own pictures and in those of others. Over the
gypsum, thus mixed with the glue, he made lines and diadems and other
rounded ornaments in relief; and it was he who invented the method of
grounding in bol-ar-moniac, on which he laid gold leaf which he
afterwards burnished. All these things which had never been seen
before may be noticed in his works, especially in an antependium in
the Pieve of Arezzo, which contains scenes from the life of St
Donate, and also in S. Agnesa and S. Niccolo in the same city.
Margaritone produced many works in his own country which were sent
out of it, part of which were at Rome in S. Giovanni and in St
Peter's, and some at S. Caterina at Pisa, where there is a St
Catherine of his over an altar in the transept, containing many small
figures in a representation of her life, and also a panel of St
Francis with many subjects from his life, on a gold ground. In the
upper church of S. Francesco at Assisi is a crucifix by his hand
painted in the Byzantine style, on a beam which spans the church. All
these works were greatly prized by the people of the time, although
they are not valued to-day, except as being curious on account of
their age; indeed they could only be considered good in an age when
art was not at its zenith, as it is to-day. Margaritone also paid
some attention to architecture, although I have not mentioned any
things made from his designs because they are of slight importance.
However, I must not forget to say that he designed the palace of the
governors of the city of Ancona, as I have found, in 1270, in the
Byzantine style; and what is more, he carved in sculpture eight
windows for the façade, each of which has two columns in the middle,
which support two arches. Over each window is a representation in
half relief, occupying the space between the arches and the top of
the window, of an Old Testament subject, carved in a species of stone
found in the country. Under the windows and on the façade are some
letters, the purport of which must be conjectured, so badly are they
done, which give the date and time at which the work was executed.
The design of the church of S. Ciriaco at Ancona was also by his
hand. Margaritone died at the age of seventy-seven, regretting, it is
said, that he had lived long enough to see the changes of the age and
the honours accorded to the new artists. He was buried in the old
Duomo of Arezzo, in a tomb of Travertine, which has been destroyed in
our own time by the demolition of that church. The following epitaph
was written for him:
Hic jacet ille bonus pictura Margaritonus,
Cui requiem Dominus tradat uhique plus.
Margaritone's portrait was in the old Duomo by the hand of Spinello,
in the Adoration of the Magi, and was copied by me before the church
was pulled down.
Giotto, Painter, Sculptor, and Architect of Florence.
The debt which painters owe to Nature, which serves continually as an
example to them, that from her they may select the best and finest
parts for reproduction and imitation, is due also to the Florentine
painter, Giotto; because, when the methods and outlines of good
painting had been buried for so many years under the ruins caused by
war, he alone, although born in the midst of unskilful artists, was
able, through God's gift in him, to endow art with a proper form
after it had been revived in a bad style. Certainly it was nothing
short of a miracle, in so gross and unskilful an age, that Giotto
should have worked to such purpose that design of which the men of
the time had little or no conception, was revived to a vigorous life
by his means. The birth of this great man took place in the year
1276, fourteen miles from Florence, in the town of Vespignano, his
father, who was a simple field labourer, being named Bondone. He
brought up Giotto as well as his position in life allowed. When the
boy had attained the age of ten years he exhibited, in all his
childish ways, an extraordinary quickness and readiness of mind,
which made him a favourite, not only with his father, but with all
who knew him, both in the village and beyond it. Bondone then set him
to watch a few sheep, and while he was following these from place to
place to find pasture, he was always drawing something from nature or
representing the fancies which came into his head, with a stone on
the ground or on sand, so much was he attracted to the art of design
by his natural inclination. Thus one day when Cimabue was going on
some business from Florence to Vespignano, he came upon Giotto, who,
while his sheep were grazing, was drawing one of them from life with
a pointed piece of stone upon a smooth surface of rock, although he
had never had any master but nature. Cimabue stopped in amazement at
the sight, and asked the boy if he would like to come and stay with
him. Giotto replied he would go willingly if his father would
consent. Cimabue lost no time in finding Bondone, who joyfully
consented and allowed his son to accompany Cimabue to Florence.
After his arrival there, assisted by his natural talent and taught by
Cimabue, the boy not only equalled his master's style in a short
time, but became such a good imitator of nature that he entirely
abandoned the rude Byzantine manner and revived the modern and good
style of painting, introducing the practice of making good portraits
of living persons, a thing which had not been in use for more than
two hundred years. And although there were some few portraits made in
this manner, as has been said above, yet they had not been very
successful, nor were they nearly so well executed as those of Giotto.
Among other portraits which he made, the chapel of the Podesta palace
at Florence still contains that of Dante Aligheri, his close
companion and friend, no less famous as a poet than Giotto then was
as a painter. This poet has been warmly praised by M. Giovanni
Boccaccio in the introduction to the story of M. Forese da Rabatta.
In this same chapel Giotto has also painted his own portrait as well
as those of Ser Brunetto Latini, Dante's master, and M. Corso Donati,
a famous citizen of the time. Giotto's first paintings were in the
chapel of the high altar of the Badia at Florence, in which he made a
number of things which were considered beautiful, but especially an
Annunciation. In this he has represented with extraordinary truth the
fear and astonishment of the Virgin Mary at the salutation of
Gabriel, who, in her terror seems ready to run away. The picture of
the high altar in the same chapel is also by Giotto's hand, and it
has continued to retain its position there, rather because of a
certain reverence which is felt for the work of such a man than for
any other reason. In S. Croce there are four chapels decorated by his
hand, three between the sacristy and the principal chapel, and one on
the other side. In the first of these, that of M. Ridolfo de' Bardi,
in which the bell ropes hang, is the life of St Francis, at whose
death a number of friars exhibit the effect of weeping with
considerable fidelity to nature. In the second, which is that of the
family of the Peruzzi, are two subjects from the life of St John the
Baptist, to whom the chapel is dedicated. Here is a very life-like
representation of the dancing of Herodias, and of the promptitude
with which some servants are performing the service of the table. In
the same chapel are two miracles of St John the Evangelist, the one
representing the raising of Drusiana, the other his being caught up
into Heaven. The third chapel, that of the Giugni and dedicated to
the Apostles, contains representations by Giotto of the martyrdom of
many of them. In the fourth, that of the Tosinghi and Spinelli, which
is on the north side of the church and is dedicated to the Assumption
of Our Lady, Giotto painted the Nativity of the Virgin, her marriage,
the Annunciation, the adoration of the Magi, and the presentation of
the Christ child to Simeon. This last is a most beautiful thing, for
not only is the warmest love depicted in the face of the old man as
he receives the Christ, but the action of the child, who is afraid of
him and stretches out his arms to return to his mother, could not be
represented with more tenderness or greater beauty. In the Death of
Our Lady the Apostles are represented with a number of very beautiful
angels. The Baroncelli chapel in the same church contains a painting
in tempera by Giotto's hand, in which he has represented with great
care the coronation of Our Lady. It contains a very large number of
small figures and a choir of angels and saints, produced with great
diligence. On this work he has written his name and the date in gold
letters. Artists who reflect that at this time Giotto was laying the
foundations of the proper method of design and of colouring, unaided
by the advantages of seeing the light of the good style, will be
compelled to hold him in the highest veneration. In the same church
of S. Croce there are in addition a crucifix above the marble tomb of
Carlo Marzuppini of Arezzo, Our Lady with St John and the Magdalene
at the foot of the cross, and opposite on the other side of the
building an Annunciation towards the high altar over the tomb of
Lionardo Aretino, which has been restored by modern artists with
great lack of judgment. In the refectory he has done the history of
St Louis, a Last Supper, and a Tree of the Cross, while the presses
of the sacristy are decorated with some scenes from the lives of
Christ and of St Francis in small figures. At the church of the
Carmine in the chapel of St John the Baptist he represented the whole
of that saint's life in several pictures; and in the Palazzo della
parte Guelfa at Florence there is the history of the Christian faith
painted admirably by him in fresco, and containing the portrait of
Pope Clement IV., who founded that monastery to which he gave his
arms, retained by them ever since.
After these works Giotto set out from Florence for Assisi in order to
finish what Cimabue had begun there. On his way through Arezzo he
painted the chapel of St Francis, which is above the baptistery in
the Pieve there, and a St Francis and a St Dominic, portraits from
life, on a round pillar near to a most beautiful antique Corinthian
capital. In the Duomo outside Arezzo he decorated the interior of a
large chapel with the Stoning of St Stephen, an admirable composition
of figures. On completing these things he proceeded to Assisi, a
city of Umbria, whither he was summoned by fra Giovanni di Muro della
Marca, at that time general of the friars of St Francis. In the upper
church of this town he painted a series of thirty-two frescoes of the
life of St Francis, under the corridor which traverses the windows,
sixteen on each side, with such perfection that he acquired the
highest reputation thereby. In truth the work exhibits great variety,
not only in the postures of the different figures, but in the
composition of each subject, besides which it is very interesting to
see the various costumes of those times and certain imitations and
observations of Nature. One of the most beautiful of these represents
a thirsty man, whose desire for water is represented in the most
lively manner as he kneels on the ground to drink from a spring, with
such wonderful reality that one might imagine him to be a real
person. There are many other things most worthy of notice into which
I will not enter now, because I do not wish to be tedious. Let it
suffice to say that by these works Giotto acquired the highest
reputation for the excellence of his figures, for his arrangement,
sense of proportion, fidelity to Nature, and his innate facility
which he had greatly increased by study, while in addition to this he
never failed to express his meaning clearly. Giotto indeed was not so
much the pupil of any human master as of Nature herself, for in
addition to his splendid natural gifts, he studied Nature diligently,
arid was always contriving new things and borrowing ideas from her.
When these works were completed Giotto painted in the lower church of
the same place the upper part of the walls beside the high altar, and
all four angles of the vaulting over the spot where the body of St
Francis lies, the whole displaying his beautiful and inventive
imagination. The first contains St Francis glorified in Heaven,
surrounded by those Virtues which are required of those who wish to
be perfect in the sight of God. On the one side Obedience puts a yoke
on the neck of a friar who kneels before her, the bands of which are
drawn by hands to Heaven. With one finger on her mouth she signifies
silence, and her eyes are turned towards Jesus Christ, who is
shedding blood from his side. Beside her are Prudence and Humility to
show that where true obedience exists, there also will be humility
and prudence, causing everything to prosper. In the second angle is
Chastity, who will not allow herself to be won by the kingdoms,
crowns, or palms which are being offered to her. At her feet stands
Purity who is washing the naked, while Fortitude is bringing others
to be washed and cleansed. On one side of Chastity is Penitence,
chasing a winged Love with the cord of discipline and putting to
flight Uncleanness. Poverty occupies the third space, treading on
thorns with her bare feet; behind her barks a dog, while a boy is
throwing stones at her and another is pushing thorns into her legs
with a stick. Poverty here is espoused by St Francis, while Jesus
Christ holds her hand in the mystical presence of Hope and Chastity.
In the fourth and last of these places is a St Francis in glory,
clothed in the white tunic of a deacon, in triumph and surrounded by
a multitude of angels who form a choir about him and hold a banner on
which are a cross and seven stars, while over all is the Holy Spirit.
In each of these angles are some Latin words explanatory of the
subject. Besides these four angles the paintings on the side walls
are most beautiful, and deserve to be highly valued both for the
perfection which they exhibit and because they were produced with
such skill that they are in an excellent state of preservation
to-day. These paintings contain an excellent portrait of Giotto
himself, and over the door of the sacristy is a fresco by his hand of
St Francis receiving the stigmata, so full of tenderness and devotion
that it seems to me to be the most excellent painting that Giotto has
produced here, though all are really beautiful and worthy of praise.