THE LOWER CHURCH OF ASSISI.
At first sight the church seems of small extent, as the entrance is in
a transept at the north side, and the eye looks across the nave
without perceiving it; but a few steps forward, and an abrupt turn to
the left, brings the church before us--a vast dim cave, glowing with
rich colour and subdued light. Looking up the nave, the building
appears to be lighted only by the narrow windows in the thick wall of
the apse, save where here and there a dull gleam from one of the side
chapels steals across, but hardly lightens, the gloom.
Nor is it alone in shape of roof and dimness of light that the
resemblance to a cavern exists, for it is visible too in the low
walls, whence the arched roof springs in massive curves, and in the
seeming absence of all support for the great arches, for the plain
stone pillars that support them, half embedded in the walls, and only
reaching to a height of eight feet from the ground, attract little
notice, and the arches seem to grow out of the walls as if in a
building of nature's own construction.
The division of the church, and the arrangement of the arches, is the
same as in the Upper Church; but everything which is there arranged so
as to give appearance of lightness and unsubstantiality, is here made
as ponderous in appearance as possible. The two churches might stand
for embodiments of light and shade, of graceful symmetry and rock-hewn
strength. And it is easy to see that this is no chance contrast caused
by the circumstances of the case, for where the windows give upon the
church, they are deep sunken in arched recesses, while the large
windows in the side chapel are more than half veiled by the arched
entrances to the chapels, which last form almost a separate row of
chambers, so wholly are they cut off from the nave. Half way up the
nave a massive iron grating divides the church, and further on,
beneath the centre of the great arches that form the body of the
choir, the high altar stands upon a daïs of four steps, its only
decoration being six massive candlesticks, whose huge lights reach
almost to the roof. The apse is the usual semicircle, pierced with
narrow arched windows, and within its shadow, are the desks and
pulpits where sit all that are left of the Franciscan Brethren. We
will not attempt to describe more than its general effect, and indeed
that is best done by simply saying that it closely resembles that of
St. Mark, at Venice. In detail, there is hardly the least similarity;
but in depth of light and shade, in profusion of rich colour gleaming
on every hand, in the general effect of its round arches, mosaic
pavement, and glimmering lamps, the similarity is striking. If the
lover of nature found the prospect without to his mind, the lover of
art can hardly fail to be satisfied with the prospect within. Above
the high-altar shine the four greatest works of Giotto, and to right
and left of the choir, roof and wall are covered with frescoes by
Giotto, Cimabue, Memmi, Gaddi, and others, every inch of space being
filled with paintings. Chapel after chapel opens in long series from
the choir, each rich in paintings, even the huge round arches of the
nave are painted in delicately-involved patterns to represent mosaics
of coloured marble. Here our traveller may well rest in silent wonder,
that so much beauty remains unvisited, for unvisited it is by nine
out of every ten tourists who pass by the gates of Assisi. There is,
perhaps--we will even say probably--no building within the limits of
the civilised world in which so much colour-beauty is concentrated as
in that of the Lower Church. For six hundred years have these walls
glowed like jewels through the "dim, religious light," and the setting
sun has lighted up with still greater glory the golden halos of their
pictured saints; for six hundred years have prayer and praise rung
along these massive arches and echoed up the mountain-side; and now
prayer and picture are fading alike; the most damaged fresco on the
walls is hardly so maimed as the rite it witnesses, the vilest
restoration no greater parody on the original than are those few poor
monks parodies of their ancient Order. It is, we think, impossible for
any one with a heart which is not entirely dead to all human
sympathies not to be somewhat moved at this combination of fading art
and faded faith, but it is a feeling the power of which we can hardly
hope to explain to our readers, apart from the influences which
produced it. The _religio loci_ is, of all other influences, the one
which is least capable of deliberate analysis, and the combination
between colour-beauty and a peculiar solemnity of feeling, one of
which many people even deny the existence.
It is worth noticing that though the whole effect of the church is, as
I have said, excessively similar to that of St. Mark's at Venice,
especially in the richness of subdued colouring, the effect which is
produced in St. Mark's by elaborate Byzantine mosaics, and the lavish
use of gold and precious marbles, is here gained only by the lovely
colouring of the frescoes, which cover every available space, and even
are continued on the arches themselves, which are painted in elaborate
imitations of marble mosaic. The richness of hue of these painted
mosaics is very great, and the patterns frequently of great delicacy
and beauty. On the first arch, for instance, there is a running
border of vine leaves drawn with a freedom and truth which is
remarkable, if we compare it with the representation of natural
foliage in the frescoes.[68] Most of the patterns, however, both on
the arches and the borders surrounding the pictures are more or less
geometrical, and are interspersed with medallions of the heads of
various prophets and saints of the Church.
The most westerly portion of the building, including the entrance, is
destroyed by bad Renaissance work of the most vulgar type, and any one
who wishes to see the two styles (pre- and post-Raphael) most strongly
contrasted in favour of the former, could hardly have a better
opportunity than is given by the series of frescoes (representing the
Popes) in this part of the church.
Let us next look in detail at the arrangement of the frescoes.
It is in the four triangular spaces of the roof immediately above the
altar, that the four great Giotto frescoes, illustrating the three
vows of the Order of St. Francis--_Obedience_, _Chastity_, _Poverty_,
and one of the _Enthronement of St. Francis in Heaven_, are seen.
In the right-hand transept of the choir there are a series of designs
by Gaddi, Memmi, Cimabue, and Giotto, of various New Testament
subjects, the most prominent of which is a magnificent _Enthronement
of the Virgin_, by Cimabue, underneath which Giotto has painted St.
Francis and four brethren of his order, who gaze at the Madonna with
reverent ecstasy.
The most interesting portion of the church is undoubtedly the choir,
though, owing to the narrow arched windows and the altar being placed
at the west instead of the east end, it is only towards sundown that
there is sufficient light to thoroughly illuminate the frescoes on the
roof.
First let me give a description of these four works, and then examine
the question of the authorship of the other frescoes in the choir
which are attributed to Giotto.
_The Frescoes above the High Altar in the Lower Church of
Assisi._--The subjects chosen for illustration typify, as might be
expected, the vows and the reward of the Franciscan brotherhood; the
four frescoes representing--first, the _Vow of Poverty_; second, that
of _Chastity_; third, _Obedience_; and fourth, the _Enthronement of
St. Francis in Heaven_. The first three of these subjects are all
treated in the manner of allegories, the interpretation of which is
sufficiently obvious.
The first and last frescoes represent St. Francis himself as the
protagonist of the allegory, the second and third only introduce him
incidentally. Thus, in the first fresco, the subject is _St. Francis
wedded to Poverty_, typifying the course which must be followed by all
disciples of the order. The chief features of this composition are as
follows:--Towards the centre of the fresco, slightly to the left-hand
side, are the three chief actors in the scene--Christ, St. Francis,
and Poverty, the saint in the dress of his order, his bride in a thin
short robe with naked feet; around the group stand the angels in whose
presence the marriage is being solemnised. On the left hand of the
composition, in the foreground of the picture, a beggar appeals to a
young man for alms, in answer to which the youth is taking off his
cloak, while his guardian angel pats him on the shoulder approvingly,
and points to the marriage ceremony as if to confirm his charitable
intention. On the right hand of the picture two figures, with
money-bags clutched firmly in their hands, seem to resist the pleading
of an angel, who points to St. Francis, and apparently urges them to
follow his example. The centre of the foreground is occupied by two
figures of children, one of whom, with garments held tightly round
him, is throwing stones at Poverty, whilst the other is pointing at
her scornfully with a long stick. The figure of Poverty herself,
which is the central one of the fresco, has at her feet a barking dog
and a thicket of brambles, the thorns of which have torn rents in her
robe, but in the background a flowering rose-tree seems to symbolise
the advantages which the saint promises to her followers. The upper
part of the composition represents one angel bearing a model of the
church up to heaven, and another carrying the cloak which the young
man on the left has given to the beggar, to receive both of which
gifts the Almighty bends down from the clouds.[69]
There is in this fresco a praise of poverty which is by no means in
accordance with the ideas which the painter himself entertained, and
must have been a very perfunctory performance on his part; for,
curiously enough, there is in existence a canzone on the subject of
poverty by Giotto, in which he clearly states his opinion of it as a
very dangerous thing, and one that tended towards vice rather than led
to its abstention. This canzone may be found in Vasari.[70]
_The Vow of Chastity._--This fresco also falls into three chief
divisions, as follows:--The left-hand group is composed of eight
figures, of whom three are aspirants who wish to join the Franciscan
brotherhood. One of these is being welcomed by St. Francis himself,
while another, a nun, is presented with a cross by one of the
attendant female figures, possibly intended to typify Sta. Chiara;
behind these are two more figures of saints. A soldier, with a shield
in one hand and a scourge in the other, stands by the side of St.
Francis, and indicates the struggle and the means of victory which
those who desire to excel in chastity must endure--the rocky ground
upon which the group stands showing the difficulty of the first
approach. The centre of the foreground is occupied by a group which
has in its midst a naked figure in a font being baptised by angels,
behind whom stand two attendant angels with the garments of the
novice, and two soldiers, holding scourges, seem to wait for the
ceremony to be completed. The third group, in the foreground,
symbolises the victory of the angels and monks over the evil desires
of the flesh, and consists of several figures, the chief of which is a
monk, with wings already sprouting out of his brown robe and a halo
round his cowled head, who is driving away with his trident a figure
symbolical of love--love as understood by the priests--half cupid,
half devil. A winged beast, something between horse and pig, has been
already vanquished by the same stout monk, and is falling backwards
into an abyss of flame; a third figure beyond, also symbolical of
lust, is having his arm seized by a winged skeleton, who plants his
foot firmly upon the figure's thigh and apparently intends to kick him
into the flames below. The background of the picture is filled with
the fortress in which Chastity sits securely guarded behind double
walls, to whom angels are bearing the crown and palm of heavenly
victory. Beneath her seat two angels offer her banner and shield to
the novice below.
These are undoubtedly the two finest of the allegorical series, being
both more varied in composition and incident and finer in individual
figures than the frescoes of _Obedience_ and _St. Francis in Glory_,
both of which are a little formal in their arrangement.
In the _Obedience_ the action takes place within a shrine, divided
into three compartments, to the right and left hand of which large
groups of ministering angels are kneeling. This shrine symbolises the
Monastery of St. Francis, or the house of all those who join his
brotherhood. In its left-hand compartment, which is presided over by a
double-faced figure with mirror and shield labelled Prudence, a saint
with a halo exhorts two monks, who seem to wait their turn to take
the required vow. In the centre, Obedience, a winged female figure in
a man's robe, imposes the yoke of obedience upon a kneeling figure,
laying at the same time her finger upon her lips. On the right hand
are three figures--a kneeling saint, Humility holding a torch in her
hand, and a centaur, who, with arm upraised, is witnessing the vow
taken by the monk with despair, and whose advance seems checked by a
reflection cast upon him from the mirror of Prudence.
The fourth fresco--_St. Francis enthroned in Heaven_--represents the
saint sitting in a shrine, a sceptre in one hand, and a breviary in
the other, above him a legend to the effect that this is his reward,
and around groups of angels bearing lilies and palms, trumpets and
harps. Of all the four frescoes, this is the least interesting, St.
Francis himself in his heavy robe, covered with gold embroidery, being
almost comically stiff and unnatural.
Having spoken very briefly of the main incidents of these four great
frescoes, I must say a few words upon their special characteristics.
They are in my opinion the greatest works which Giotto has left to us,
though a good deal of the _naïf_ grace and freshness of the artist's
early work has disappeared.
Though single figures in the Santa Croce frescoes may perhaps be
favourably compared with any in these Assisi compositions, yet for
scope of imagination and variety of detail, they stand easily
pre-eminent, and owing to their fortunate position beneath the floor
of the Upper Church, they have been almost entirely preserved from the
effects of damp, which has ruined nearly all Giotto's later works in
Florence. There is to be seen in these symbolical paintings the
fulfilment of all that was promised in the work of the Arena Chapel;
accompanied by a more daring ambition, and a far higher power of
realising the conceptions of the artist. The key of colour is the
same--pure and delicate; perhaps, as compared with later artists, a
trifle faint; but it is here much more extended, and there is much
more variety in the individual tints. Gradation, that great secret of
beautiful colour, is more diligently sought for; tints are more broken
up, more numerous, and more skilfully combined, and the effect of the
fresco, as a whole, is infinitely richer. Similar advance is
noticeable in the composition, which is studied with an elaboration
suitable to the masses of figures introduced into each work, and which
though occasionally a little formal, is in the highest degree
excellent, if it be contrasted with that which was prevalent before
and contemporary with our Painter.
Other merits there are, such as might have been expected in an older
artist, of which the chief are a fuller knowledge of form, and a
greater attention to its details, to which must certainly be added an
increase in the richness and disposition of the folds of the drapery,
and a little concession to the claims of elegance in the arrangement
of the attitudes and robes. The old grace is still there, but it is
hardly as unconscious as of old; it owes less to feeling, and more to
skill; it is more wonderful, but hardly so charming. These frescoes
are, we may say in conclusion, by far the most important uninjured
works which remain to us from Giotto's hand, and fortunately they seem
from their position to stand a good chance of preservation. Neither
dust nor damp can well affect them; the little light that suffices to
illumine the poor ritual of Assisi, will take many a year to darken
the tints of these pictures above the altar; and the old church above
them will have crumbled into ruin before any accident can disturb the
massive arches on whose interstices Giotto has painted these pictures.
The only other fresco of Giotto's maturity which I have heard of as
being of nearly equal importance with these, is one in the shop of
Francesco Pittipaldi, at Naples, which was originally a part of the
convent of Sta Chiara. This fresco (which I have not seen) is quoted
by Crowe and Cavalcaselle as being one of those beautiful compositions
by Giotto which "are his grand claim to the admiration of the world."
It represents the miracles of the loaves and fishes, and is symbolical
of the almsgiving of the Franciscans.
I may here mention the other later works of this painter, which
circumstances have prevented me from examining, and of which therefore
I have given no description. These are:--1st. Works in the Brera
Gallery at Milan, and in the Pinacoteca of Bologna--originally parts
of an altarpiece for the church of St. Maria degli Angeli at Bologna.
2nd. _St. Francis receiving the Stigmata_, now in the Louvre, formerly
belonging to the convent of St. Francesco at Pisa. 3rd. An _Entombment
of the Virgin_, belonging to a Mr. Martin. These works are given as
Giotto's on the authority of Crowe and Cavalcaselle.
We may observe generally with regard to the pictures in the north
transept, that they are in every way more elaborate than those of the
Arena at Padua, the drapery especially being more varied in its folds
and colours. Another very characteristic difference in these later
pictures is the greater preponderance of the architectural element in
the designs. In the Arena Chapel what little architecture is
introduced, is simple in form and excessively plain in colour, serving
for little more than a bare indication of the meaning of the
composition, and being in no wise an important portion of the picture.
But at Assisi, in six at least out of the nine pictures attributed to
Giotto in the northern transept, architecture has a very important
place assigned to it, and it is noticeable that the architectural
portions of the composition are decorated with mosaic borders in some
way corresponding to those used in the decoration of the actual
church. The attempt seems to have been at Assisi to glorify the
building of the church, and to render the pictures subordinate to the
architectural unity of decoration, whereas in the Arena Chapel the
attempt was evidently to obliterate the building through the beauty of
the pictures, or rather to make the spectator forget the plain shell
which inclosed the frescoes in tracing the story which their
compositions pictured. The figures, too, in these Assisi frescoes are
comparatively small, and possess but slight individual interest; here
and there we see attempts at animation of gesture, but they are
comparatively slight, and the chief interest of the frescoes depends
upon the grace of the composition, and the richness of the colouring
used.
The colouring, too, is perceptibly different from that of the Arena
Chapel, where, though very delicate, it is simple in the extreme,
while in many of these pictures, the hues used are deep and rich in
general effect, but have lost much of the fresh purity which formerly
distinguished them.
At the Arena Chapel the picture stood out at a glance, every
superfluous detail giving instant place to the main spirit of the
scene; here the treatment is much more elaborate, but a considerable
portion of the earnestness and oneness of the Arena frescoes is gone;
the work, though beautiful, is not striking, not that it is exactly
confused, but seems rather to be that of a conscientious workman
carrying out directions faithfully, with a little painful effort.
Of course this alteration in architecture and colour was caused to
some considerable extent by the necessity of the work being in harmony
with the very elaborate decoration of the church, and by the fact of
the construction of the building being far more intricate and
elaborate than the plain oblong box of the Arena Chapel. The simple
magnificence of tint which makes each fresco in the latter building
tell as if it were of a perfect jewel, and the breadth of composition
and treatment, owing to which the picture denotes as forcibly as
possible the fact depicted, would perhaps have been out of harmony if
adopted here; but there can be little doubt which treatment is the
most admirable in itself or most like that of Giotto's usual style.
However this may be, there is another and a simpler reason for the
differences we have noted, which is, that in all probability the only
frescoes executed by Giotto's own hand were those in the four
triangular spaces above the choir, and two others presently to be
mentioned; the majority of the works attributed to him were probably
executed by Taddeo Gaddi and Simon Memmi, under his superintendence.
This would render it probable that greater elaboration should be
bestowed upon the more mechanical portions of the composition which
could be executed almost equally well by the pupil, and would likewise
account for the pictures being treated more from the point of view of
portions of the building, and the figures being kept subordinate, as
it will of course account for the work being both more varied in
colouring, and also for its having less of the master's delicate
beauty.
It must be noted that the scale of colouring in the _Vows of St.
Francis_ is a much more extended one than the painter was possessed of
at the time of his decoration of the Arena Chapel, and this alone
should have made Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle hesitate before
attributing these works to an earlier period.[71] Very certainly
growth in years and genius would be likely to increase the richness
and variety of his tints, and no doubt most of these north transept
frescoes were executed by his pupils, and only had the final touches
laid on by the master. The most noticeable quality in these frescoes,
compared with the undoubted work of Giotto, both in the Arena Chapel
and the frescoes in the ceiling of Assisi, is the lack of that life in
every line which was so excellent a merit in Giotto's work. In the
frescoes of Padua every line is perfectly unfaltering and necessary,
and endowed with a force and deliberate intention to which it is
difficult to find a parallel in the history of art. "No man," says Mr.
Ruskin, somewhere, "has expressed so much action in a single gesture
as Giotto has done." Of this vivid expression the frescoes in the
north transept appear to me to retain few traces; they have just the
same relation to the early work that a clever imaginary landscape has
to a rough sketch from nature. The first may not be _wrong_, but we
feel that the latter is right.
A good deal of the difference is no doubt also due to the fact of the
influence of Cimabue, who had painted here before Giotto's time, and
something perhaps to the _genius loci_; the darkened air, the fragrant
incense, the mixed influences of priestcraft and superstition, that
fill the place.
A painter is but a man after all, and _quâ_ painter he is necessarily
a more susceptible man than the rest--an instrument prone to echo to
various influences. No doubt there must have been a far different
spirit in this half-lighted cave to that which dwelt in the fair open
hall of the Arena; as different as the somewhat barren mountain, on
which the convent stands, was from the bee-haunted, flowery inclosure
in which stands Scrovegni's chapel.
Some or all of these various reasons may serve to explain the
difference in feeling between these works and those executed by Giotto
both in earlier and later times, especially the excessive use of gold
and lustrous richness; and some of the lifeless expressions of the
figures may probably be attributed to the influences of monastic
discipline and want of fresh air and sunlight.
The pictures in the north transept, attributed to Giotto by Professor
Dobbert (the latest writer on this subject, and, as far as critical
opinion goes, little more than an echo of Crowe and Cavalcaselle) are
as follows:--1. _The Visitation_; 2. _The Adoration of the Shepherds_;
3. _The Magi_; 4. _The Presentation in the Temple_; 5. _The Flight
into Egypt_; 6. _The Massacre of the Innocents_; 7. _The Return of the
Family_; 8. _The Crucifixion_.
_The Salutation_ (or _Visitation_).--This composition is in its main
figures a repetition of the one in the Arena chapel. There are,
however, more people introduced; the background is altered, the
figures are slighter and stiffer, the lines of the drapery less
flowing, and with less action in them. The faces are thinner and
larger, and the figures are smaller in proportion to the size of the
picture.
_The Nativity._--This composition is altogether inferior in interest
and dramatic power to that in the Arena. The natural action of the
Virgin, as she half turns on her bed to place the Child in the nurse's
arms, is changed to a stiff sitting posture; the angels are arranged
in four groups, instead of flying hither and thither as in the Arena
picture. Indeed the picture is wholly symmetrical in its arrangements,
Joseph being in one corner, the shepherds and their flocks in another;
the two attendants and the Child in the centre. Above these come again
the Virgin and Child, with a row of angels hovering on each side; and
above these again the roof of the shed, with two more groups of
angels; down the centre of the picture a glory streams upon the Infant
Christ. It may be noticed that the Virgin's face in this and the other
pictures in this transept is much more of the Greek type than that
used by Giotto at Padua. The only real Giottesque traits in this
composition are, first, the natural actions and expressions of the two
attendants engaged in purifying the Child; and, second, the actions of
the ox and the ass, who poke their heads across the manger with the
patient stupidity, and wonder-what-it's-all-about, look of nature.
_The Adoration of the Magi._--In this and the following fresco of the
_Presentation in the Temple_ we find perhaps the strongest proof of
these works being more probably imitations of Giotto's manner than
original works. I cannot conceive how it is possible for any artist
(or indeed any one with an eye for a picture at all) to imagine that
these stiff, formal draperies, falling in folds, which seem as if each
had a leaden weight attached to it, so straight and stiff are they,
and those inexpressive faces, chiefly of the aquiline type, could have
proceeded from the same hand as the frescoes of _Obedience_ and
_Poverty_.
Standing, as I did, here on the steps of the high altar, by the side
of the one fresco, and beneath the others, it appeared inconceivable
that a question should ever have been raised as to the authorship of
the frescoes of the north transept, or at least as to their being by
Giotto's own hand. The misleading fact has, I suppose, been the
reproduction of so many of the master's figures and attitudes in these
frescoes; but, rightly understood, this should rather have created the
contrary presumption, for it is far more likely that a pupil should
repeat his master's figures, than that a man of such inventive genius
as Giotto undoubtedly was at a later time, should deliberately set
himself to copy his earlier work, as he must have done if these
pictures were by him.
But apart from all such _à priori_ considerations, the difference in
the work and the style is so great as to put the matter beyond a
question. There is not to be found in any of the hundreds of figures
in the four large compositions in the ceiling of this church, one in
which the faces are of the same type, the figures of the same long,
lean kind, and the drapery of the straight, angular nature that we
find in these two frescoes of the _Adoration_ and the _Presentation_.
The same thing applies to the _Flight into Egypt_, though in this
composition there is a greater approach in some respects to the
master's manner. It is worthy of notice that the various trees and
ferns in this picture are painted without the dark background employed
by Giotto in his Arena pictures; each leaf is now painted dark against
the background, instead of light on a background of a dark patch, the
rough outside shape of the tree. This is no inconsiderable advance,
and a still greater may be noticed in the painting of the bramble in
the fresco of _St. Francis' Wedding to Poverty_.
The only other picture in this series of which it is necessary to
speak is the _Crucifixion_, which is incomparably the finest of these
paintings, and bears most likeness to the master's work. I am inclined
to think that this composition was in great measure, if not wholly,
executed by Giotto himself, though even this work shows traces of
inferiority to that of the Arena Chapel in some respects; and the
painting has suffered a good deal from damp and apparently, in some
places, from restoration, though being unable to examine it in a very
good light, I am not certain upon the latter point.
It only remains to sum up my remarks upon these works. From the
considerations I have given, and many other differences on which it
were too long to enter here, I am led to the inevitable conclusion,
that the only composition actually painted by Giotto in the Lower
Church of St. Francis at Assisi, besides the four allegorical works in
the ceiling of the choir, is the _Crucifixion_, and a small _predella_
to it in monochrome, representing St. Francis and four monks of the
order gazing towards the cross in the above picture.
Professor Dobbert's conjecture, that Giotto visited Assisi a second
time, and then designed both the allegorical pictures and those in the
transept, and left them to be executed by his pupils, seems to be
refuted by the excessive superiority of the ceiling frescoes to those
of the transept, and the unlikeness of the former to the work of any
of Giotto's pupils. It must be repeated here that there is not at
present the slightest evidence of Giotto having been twice at Assisi,
and that the professor's conjecture is not supported by anything but
Crowe's idea that the transept frescoes were done at a later period
than those of the ceiling.
I should have liked to dwell a little upon the other interesting
portions of the town, of its quaint and often beautiful architecture,
or of the many glorious walks along the mountain to be taken
therefrom, but it would lead me too far from my subject, and I must be
content with mentioning that it would be difficult to find more
impressive hill scenery than that which surrounds Assisi, though it is
of a somewhat gloomy character. The olive and the cypress are almost
the only trees to be seen on one side of the town, and the mountains
slope abruptly down to a narrow valley, through which foams a mountain
torrent. In the immediate neighbourhood are the spots connected with
the actual life of St. Francis and Sta Chiara (the saint who was the
first of his female followers), the most interesting of which is the
Hermitage of St. Francesco, lying in a cleft of the mountain, some two
miles from the town. Many another church and monument is there of
interest in this place, but we have outstayed our space, and, we fear,
our readers' patience; so let us take the midnight train to more
civilised Florence, throw behind us the dreamy idleness of the few
hours we have spent amongst traditions of saint and miracle, and leave
Assisi sleeping upon the mountain-side in its accustomed solitude. In
one last look from our comfortable first-class carriage, we see the
convent and the sharp points of its surrounding cypresses, dark
against the clear starlight, and in another instant the train has
swept on out of the shadow of the mountain, and we are in the
nineteenth century once more.
FOOTNOTES:
[68] It would, however, be unsafe to found any conclusion on the
naturalism found here, as it is certain that painters of many later
periods worked in this lower church.
[69] According to Crowe and Cavalcaselle, the original drawing for
this fresco is in the possession of H.R.H. the Duc d'Aumale. It is a
pen drawing on vellum.
[70] Vasari, vol. i. p. 348.
[71] It is in no spirit of carping criticism that I must here express
my inability to discover clearly when Crowe and Cavalcaselle do intend
to make Giotto visit Assisi. I have found so much difficulty in
finding any definite statements throughout their work that I have
almost ceased to expect them. I _believe_ they mean that the Assisi
frescoes were previously executed to those of Padua.