THE EARLY WORK OF GIOTTO AT FLORENCE AND ROME.
But little remains to us of the work of Giotto's student days, and
those years immediately following; but sufficient is known to show
that his first works were, as we should naturally expect, executed in
Florence itself.
The following description of some of these frescoes is taken from
Vasari. "The first pictures of Giotto were painted for the Chapel of
the High Altar in the Abbey of Florence, where he executed many works
considered extremely fine. Among these an _Annunciation_ is
particularly admired; the expression of fear and astonishment in the
countenance of the Virgin, when receiving the salutation of Gabriel,
is vividly depicted;[50] she appears to suffer the extremity of
terror, and seems almost ready to take flight. The altarpiece of that
chapel is also by Giotto; but this has been, and continues to be,
preserved,[51] rather from the respect felt for the work of so
distinguished a man, than from any other motive."
The large _Madonna Enthroned_, of which we speak at length a little
further on, was also executed at this period. This was painted for the
altar of the church of the Ognissanti, and is probably the first
quite certain work which now remains of this master. There is a
Madonna in the Brera Gallery at Milan which, if Giotto's work,
probably belongs to an early period, but is (according to Professor
Dobbert) of a less formal character; but I have not seen this work,
and cannot speak as to its authenticity or character.
Giotto also painted at this time in the church of the Carmine,[52]
which was burnt in 1771, but a few of these frescoes were rescued and
engraved by Thomas Patch;[53] according to Waagen, two of these
fragments are in Liverpool, one in the collection of Mr. Rogers, and
others in the Campo Santo of Pisa. The picture in the National Gallery
attributed to Giotto is a fragment of one of these frescoes, and
represents the heads of two of the apostles. Whether these two heads
are by Giotto's own hand is almost impossible to say, but they are in
any case works of his school, and of an early period. Judging by the
type of face, I should think it less probable of the two uncertainties
that they were executed by Giotto; but the matter is of little
importance, as the qualities they possess chiefly are not those we
find in Giotto's work. The two heads are genuine early fresco at all
events. There are several other works in the refectory, Pisa,
attributed to Giotto by Vasari, amongst which are a _Tree of the
Cross_, a Last Supper, and scenes from the life of St. Louis, a figure
of the Virgin, and a St. John and the Magdalene at the foot of the
cross; the last three of which are now concealed by whitewash, and the
authorship of any of the pictures in the refectory is considered
doubtful by Rumohr. Of the two series of panels illustrating the
lives of Christ and St. Francis, I have spoken at length below; it is
sufficient here to say that Vasari assigns them to Giotto.
Vasari makes Giotto execute various paintings, amongst them the whole
Assisi series, and the frescoes (since discovered not to be by this
master) in the Campo Santo of Pisa, between these early works and his
visit to Rome. This, however, is impossible, from the date of that
visit being fixed by strong evidence between the years 1296 and 1298,
which leaves the young painter the barest time possible to execute his
numerous early works in Florence after his six years' apprenticeship
to Cimabue. In 1296, however, occurred the incident of the O related
elsewhere, and in that or the following year Giotto visited Rome at
the invitation of Pope Boniface VIII.[54]
According to Vasari, he here executed a large picture in the sacristy
of St. Peter's, "with five others in the church itself--these last
being passages from the life of Christ; all of which he executed with
so much care, that no better work in distemper ever proceeded from his
hands.... The Pope having seen these works of Giotto, whose manner
pleased him infinitely, commanded that he should paint subjects from
the Old and New Testaments entirely around the walls of St. Peter's;
and for a commencement the artist executed in fresco the angel seven
toreccecia high, which is now over the organ: this was followed by
many other pictures, of which some have been restored in our own days,
while more have been either destroyed in laying the foundations of the
new walls, or have been taken from the old edifice of St. Peter's and
set under the organ, as is the case with a Madonna that was cut out of
the wall that it might not totally be destroyed, and being supported
with beams and bars of iron was thus carried away and secured for its
beauty in the place wherein the pious love which the Florentine
doctor, Messer Nicolo Acciainoli, has ever borne to the excellent in
art, desired to see it enshrined, and where he has richly adorned the
work of Giotto with a framework composed of modern pictures and of
ornaments in stucco. The picture in mosaic known as the _Navicella_,
and which stands above the three doors of the portico in the vestibule
of St. Peter's, is also from the hand of Giotto--a truly wonderful
work, and deservedly eulogised by all enlightened judges; and this not
only for the merit of the design, but also for that of the grouping of
the apostles, who labour in various attitudes to guide their boat
through the tempestuous sea, while the winds blow in a sail which is
swelling with so vivid a reality that the spectator could almost
believe himself to be looking at a real sail. Yet it must have been
excessively difficult to produce the harmony and interchange of light
and shadow which we admire in this work, with mere pieces of glass,
and that in a sail of such magnitude--a thing which even with the
pencil could only be equalled by great effort. There is a fisherman
also standing on a rock and fishing with a line, in whose attitude the
extraordinary patience proper to that occupation is most obvious,
while the hope of prey and his desire for it are equally manifest in
his countenance."
The above must be taken for what it is worth, as all the works named
in the quotation have perished, with the exception of the _Navicella_
and one other.[55] I have preferred to quote Vasari's description of
the _Navicella_ to any more elaborate one, for its simplicity, and a
certain strain of honest enthusiasm rare in contemporary criticism.
The remark about the extraordinary patience of the fisherman, and his
mingled hope and desire for prey, is delightful in its unconscious
satire. This mosaic still remains, but so defaced by restoration as to
have little traces of the original which roused Vasari's enthusiasm.
The production of these various works in Rome occupied Giotto six
years, at the end of which he returned to Florence in the year 1302,
and was employed to paint frescoes in the hall of the Podesta, or as
it is now more commonly called the Bargello. I found it impossible, as
I have said above, on examining these frescoes carefully, to believe
that the greater portion of them were executed by Giotto;[56] and
owing to damp and restoration the majority have suffered so severely,
as to render it a question of little but antiquarian interest whose
work they originally were. The large fresco of the _Paradise_ at the
end of the chapel, in which are the famous portraits of Dante and
Corso Donati, has been greatly restored, especially the Dante head,
which has been wholly re-painted. The portrait, nevertheless, is one
of great interest, and the spirit of the composition has been
preserved by the restorer, though the painting itself is hard and
heavy compared with the untouched work of our master.
It was shortly after the execution of this work, that Giotto prepared
the designs for the façade of the Duomo, which were executed by Andrea
Pisano; and in the succeeding year Giotto married, and shortly
afterwards removed to Padua.
The large _Madonna Enthroned_, by Giotto, bears the greatest
resemblance to the manner of Cimabue of any of this master's work.
Before the throne, which is raised on two high steps, and surrounded
with a canopy and pillars crowned by Gothic arches, kneel two angels
in white, each bearing a vase of flowers in her hand; on either side
of the throne appear six saints and angels. The Madonna is heavily
painted, and clothed in a white under-robe, with a long blue-green
mantle covering the lower portion of the figure. The Virgin gazes
straight out of the picture with something of the peculiar lack-lustre
gaze so invariably found in the pictures of the Byzantine masters, and
which was seldom absent from the faces of Cimabue himself. The two
front angels on the east side of the throne are in green, and offer to
the Virgin a model of the church (in which the picture was to serve as
an altarpiece) and a crown. The infant Christ has his hand raised as
if to address the spectator; in his face there is little of the
infantine playfulness or expression which is to be found in Giotto's
later work, as, for instance, in the fresco of the _Presentation in
the Temple_ in the Arena Chapel, where the infant Christ is struggling
to escape from the high priest to the Virgin, who stretches her arms
towards him. Indeed, throughout this picture, there is hardly to be
found a trace of the characteristic merits of Giotto's later work, and
it must have been executed in the early days of his apprenticeship to
Cimabue, whose method of arrangement has been almost slavishly copied.
The type of face, however, both of the Virgin and the Christ, are of a
broader, heavier type than in the Byzantine model, the chin fuller and
less retreating, the eye less elliptical, and the expression, though
somewhat blank, has not that drooping, half-dreamy look of the older
schools. If we turn from this Madonna, to the gigantic one by Cimabue
which hangs on the opposite side of the entrance in the Accademia, we
can see clearly the advance made by Giotto even in this early work.
Besides the differences above mentioned, there is a fresher, more
life-like air about the whole picture; the figures are arranged less
for graceful lines, and more in accordance with nature; the drapery is
not so severely conventional in the arrangement of its folds, there
is a nearer approach to the sweeping curves of nature than to the
formal vertical lines which had grown common from the imitation of
Byzantine mosaics.
When, however, all these differences are noted and allowed their full
value, we can only conclude that this work of Giotto's is one of his
earliest and least spontaneous productions, and that the colour in it
must have suffered great deterioration. Like nearly all the pictures
painted upon panel of this period, the colour has probably darkened
and lost much of its original beauty, and this will perhaps account
for the work having little of that purity of tint that is so
noticeable in Giotto's frescoes. Of the ten small scenes from the life
of St. Francis, which are generally attributed to Giotto, the same
remarks apply as to the series of scenes from the New Testament spoken
of below, and the assertion must be reiterated that there is no reason
to attribute either of these series to the hand of Giotto, the
colouring especially being contrary to the general work of that
master. There is a crude vermilion tint employed in almost every one
of these panels that may be sought for in vain in any of the frescoes
at Padua, Assisi, or in the Santa Croce at Florence.
With regard to the twenty-two small designs on panel which are in the
Accademia under the title of being portions of the great altarpiece at
Santa Maria Novella, it scarcely admits of doubt that they are bad
imitations of the master rather than specimens of even his earliest
work. If we take the slightest of the drawings in the Arena Chapel and
compare them with one of these panels, we shall find a total
dissimilarity, both in colour and design. These works do not err on
the side of incompleteness of design or a tentative method of
execution. They rather belong to a school which carries its execution
farther than its thought, and is in fact a complacent imitation of the
work of Giotto. I see in these no traces of Giotto's work, though
many traces of his manner, and feel sure that if these designs belong
in any way to Giotto, they must have been utterly spoilt in the
re-painting. They do not, however, seem to me to have been his
designs, as even in the sadly-spoilt frescoes in the Bargello, can the
traces of the master's handiwork be clearly seen, despite damp,
whitewash, and restoration, and it is excessively improbable that
these smaller panels should have needed or received equal alteration.
They are in all probability the work of Taddeo Gaddi, or one of his
pupils; but this is hardly the place to enter upon the discussion of
their authorship, further than to explain it not to belong to the hand
of Giotto.
In the chapel of the Castellani, in the Santa Croce, is the crucifix
generally ascribed to Giotto by Lord Lindsay and other writers, but it
is difficult to discover any ground, save such as is derived from
popular tradition, for such an assumption. The lines of the figure are
stiff and formal, the colour lifeless and heavy, and the whole work
seems to belong to the Sienese school in the character of the design.
It should be noted that this work is set far back behind a double row
of huge pewter candlesticks, and great branches of artificial flowers,
and is placed immediately beneath the only window that lights the
chapel, so that it is impossible to speak with certainty of the merits
of the colouring. A curious instance of the difficulty of deciding a
work to be by Giotto on account of the merit or originality of the
design is to be seen in this very chapel, where there are seven
frescoes on the right of the crucifix, by Agnolo Gaddi, which are full
of so-called Giottesque traits. Very evidently Giotto's influence was
in the air, and the very winds of heaven seem to have carried the
matter. In the Baroncelli Chapel we have an opportunity of comparing
undoubted works by Taddeo Gaddi with those frescoes in the Upper
Church at Assisi, which I have refused to consider as Giotto's; but
if these Florentine ones be by the same hand it has undoubtedly
advanced in skill; the architecture, especially, is of a considerably
more elaborate character, and is more akin to that of the Lower Church
at Assisi. It must be noticed too that there is in these Gaddi
frescoes, more observation of nature than in those of the Upper
Church; in one composition alone are there no less than four different
species of trees introduced into the background; orange, palm, a
species of laurel, and a round-topped tree, which might be anything
from a sycamore to a cedar. Various characteristics of Giotto's works
are to be traced in these frescoes; the colouring is evidently an
unsuccessful imitation, and gesture and action are used somewhat
overmuch, without helping to tell the story, as we can fancy would be
done by one trying to follow Giotto's method.
FOOTNOTES:
[50] How a certain reviewer would have scoffed at Giotto for
representing the Virgin in this manner!
[51] It has been removed since, and its whereabouts is not now known.
[52] There is a dispute about the period when these frescoes were
executed, but the weight of evidence is in favour of their having been
done at the earliest period of Giotto's artistic career.
[53] Mr. Thomas Patch does not seem to have appreciated the master
much, for he can see little difference between his work and that of
the other painters of the same period, _e.g._ the Sienese and Pisan
schools.
[54] According to Baldinucci, Vasari says Benedict IX., and Crowe and
Cavalcaselle, Benedict XI (1303). _Vide supra_, p. 35.
[55] Portrait of Boniface VIII. preserved under glass in the church.
Ed. Flor.
[56] I may perhaps mention that Mr. Fairfax Murray, who accompanied me
to the Bargello, and gave me his valuable opinion as to the authorship
of the frescoes, also felt certain of Giotto only having painted one
or two of the number.