GIOTTO'S LATER WORK AT FLORENCE.
"The characteristics of Power and Beauty occur more or less in
different buildings, some in one and some in another; but all
together, and all in their highest possible relative degrees,
they exist, as far as I know, only in one building in the
world, the Campanile of Giotto."--JOHN RUSKIN, _The Seven
Lamps_.
The later work of Giotto at Florence falls into two distinct
divisions, the one consisting of his frescoes and his great panel
picture of the _Coronation of the Virgin_, the other of his sculpture
and architecture, both of which last have as their sole remaining
example, the Campanile, in the Piazza del Duomo, better known as
"Giotto's tower." The limits of my space compel me to speak very
briefly upon each of these divisions, which I regret the less because
they are by far the best known and most frequently written about of
Giotto's works; and when Mr. Ruskin has put forth his whole strength
in description, an inferior writer may be well pardoned for
unwillingness to make his inferiority manifest. With this brief word
of apology then, I speak first of the frescoes in the Santa Croce.
Giotto painted four chapels here, but the only remaining frescoes are
those in the chapels of the Peruzzi and the Bardi, the former
containing scenes from the lives of St. John the Evangelist and St.
John the Baptist, the latter representations of the life and death of
St. Francis. Both these chapels have suffered a good deal from
restoration, especially that of the Bardi, which has been so coarsely
repainted as to have entirely lost all beauty of colour, and which I
shall not therefore dwell upon in detail.
The top fresco on the right hand wall of the Peruzzi Chapel, has also
been quite ruined by coarse repainting, and when examined with a good
glass shows a coarse black line round every portion of the
composition, not unlike that used by the disciples of a certain modern
school of decorative painting, who seek to gain the effect which their
incompetence otherwise denies them by outlining their compositions in
this manner.
The two lower frescoes on the right hand wall, however, representing
respectively the Healing of Drusiana by St. John, and the Ascension
from the grave of that Evangelist, though they have been a good bit
restored, have had the restoration, carefully and sparingly done, and
retain still a beauty of colour as great as is to be found in any of
Giotto's works. The chief differences observable between these
frescoes and those of the earlier years are such as we might expect to
find in the later work of an earnest painter, and are briefly as
follows:--First, a loss of the semi-burlesque spirit observable in the
Arena Chapel, and not wholly absent from the four great frescoes of
the Lower Church at Assisi. All is grave and dignified in treatment;
the action proceeds in a still vivid, but not eager, manner; it is the
difference between the _Stabat Mater_ played on the organ, and "The
Campbells are coming," on the bagpipes of a Highland regiment. Allied
to this change, and dependent upon it, is the loss of a good deal of
the incidental drama of the composition, a certain diminution of
interest in the spectators, who are now more parts of the general
scene, and less individual characters affected in different ways by
what is happening. The composition gains, perhaps, in dramatic unity,
gains certainly if judged by the canons of later art, but loses in
dramatic intensity, and, it seems to me, in truth to life. Again,
there is much more composition, and that of a more elaborate kind,
than in the Arena work: the figures are larger proportionately to the
fresco in which they are placed, and possessed of a uniform grace and
dignity which were absent from the earlier frescoes. Increased
knowledge of form and power of arrangement, is seen in the figures of
the men, and the treatment of the draperies; the latter especially,
while still being drawn with comparative breadth and simplicity, have
gained in beauty of line, and slightly in attention to the form
beneath them. Lastly, there is to be noticed an advance in the
treatment of colour which is the most important of all the changes. It
is with the greatest diffidence I speak upon this point, as it is
nearly impossible, in the dim light of this chapel (whose only window
is covered with a yellow curtain), to be sure of what is the painter's
original work and what is restoration; but while making every
allowance for error, it seems to me that there is here shown, in
places where the work is almost certainly genuine, a great increase in
the power of gradation of colour, a capability of making each portion
more beautiful in itself, besides being beautiful as a part of the
whole. There is not found in these frescoes (in the Peruzzi), any
longer those broad masses of comparatively ungradated tint which are
so common in the Arena series; and there is further to be found an
extension of the scale of colouring, a power of combining more
delicate and more varied hues than in the earlier frescoes.
The whole tone of the picture is sharper and more mellow than before,
and though this is by no means an unmixed gain, for much of the
crystalline purity and freshness of the earlier pictures is lost
thereby, yet on the whole the gain is greater than the loss, much in
the same way that though we may regret the absence of the bright eye
and ardent impetuosity of youth, we must needs give greater honour to
manhood which has fulfilled the promise, though it may have lost
something of the freshness, of "the wild gladness of morning."
On the left hand wall of this chapel there are also three frescoes of
which the uppermost is of comparatively little importance; the
remaining two are--first, _The Birth of John_; second, _The Daughter
of Herodias dancing before Herod_. The lower of these is a good deal
faded, but (I believe) not at all restored, and both are of exceeding
beauty. In the first, the picture is divided into two parts by pillars
supporting the section of a house similar to those of which Giotto
generally formed his interiors. The larger portion of the fresco
represents the mother of the Evangelist lying upon her bed surrounded
by friends and attendants, and in the smaller part the nurse is
presenting the infant to the father, who is apparently deep in
thought. The figure of the nurse holding out the child, and all the
attendants and friends who press round the bed, are full of interest,
and the whole composition of the picture very fine.
More beautiful, however, to me, is the lowest fresco of Herodias, if
it were only for the figure of the violin (for it is a sort of violin)
player, a figure whose grace and truth of action has, I think, never
been surpassed.
In this picture the daughter of Herodias is represented twice, the
first time in the main body of the fresco, dancing in front of the
table at which the king is seated, while in the centre an attendant
brings in the Baptist's head upon a dish, and offers it to the king;
and again on the extreme right of the fresco, where, in a sort of
inner room, the dancer kneels to her mother, and presents her with the
head.
There are in the Bardi Chapel frescoes of Sta. Chiara and St. Louis,
also by Giotto; but both have been restored especially the
latter,[72] which is wholly ruined thereby. Formerly in the Baronzelli
Chapel, but now in a small room close to the sacristy, hangs the
greatest masterpiece of our artist upon panel; indeed the only one of
his works executed in that manner which can fairly be called worthy of
his powers.[73] This is the famous _Coronation of the Virgin_, a
picture in five compartments, the four outer ones of which represent a
choir of angels with various musical instruments, and an attendant
company of saints, prophets, and martyrs, while the centre division
shows the Virgin dressed as a bride seated upon a throne, and bending
her head to receive the crown from Christ.
It is wholly beyond my power to convey to my readers any idea of the
exceeding loveliness of this work, and no description could, I think,
give more than a faint shadow of its beauty. Descriptions of pictures
are stupid things at the best, and when the attempt is made to
describe a work whose beauty consists less in any hard tangible
perfection of form and colour, than in a delicate purity of feeling
and an intense belief in the subject treated of, when we have to
catalogue as beauties, the expressions of a choir of angels, and the
raptures of the surrounding saints, words seem totally inadequate to
the task.
Perhaps some faint idea of the picture may be gained by likening it to
the _Paradise_ of Fra Angelico, which hangs in the Uffizi Gallery, and
which is probably familiar to most of my readers, if only through the
medium of the innumerable copies which have been made of the figures
of the playing and singing angels which surround its frame. Fancy
these Angelico figures enlarged slightly and made human, instead of
angelic; fancy them arranged in rows, one above the other, the first
row kneeling, and the second standing behind them, while further in
the background, tier above tier, rise the heads of prophets and
martyrs almost to the top of the golden background. Put two pictures
of this sort on each side of a central one of _Christ and the Virgin_,
lower Fra Angelico's key of colour just a little, till his pinks,
blues, and yellows have shades of neutral colour toning them down, let
the types of the saints and angels be rather heavier in the jaw, and
broader in the face than his, and then you have the bones, so to
speak, of Giotto's _Coronation_.
More than this I cannot tell you of the beauty of this picture, and it
were useless to dwell upon the tender gravity of the singing angels,
the devotion of the listening saints, the exquisite balance of the
groups, and the pure brightness of the colouring. In a picture the
whole of whose effect depends upon such subtle combination of faith
and skill as does this _Coronation_, it is worse than useless to
attempt to catalogue its merits as if for an auctioneer's programme.
It is best to say, simply, that in a devotional age a great painter
put forth his whole strength, to embody his faith in the loveliest
design he could conceive, and that the result was worthy of him.
In the cloisters of the S. Maria Novella there are some frescoes
attributed to Giotto much injured by damp, and one, the _Birth of the
Virgin_, spoilt by restoration; one, however, remains, of great
beauty, which in its leading figures is as fine as any of Giotto's
work; this is the _Meeting of Joachim and Anna at the Golden Gate_.
The leading figures here are fortunately comparatively uninjured by
the damp, though Anna's blue robe has lost a little of its colour; the
faces are full of expression, tender and loving to a degree, and the
attitudes of both figures both graceful and natural. In this work the
painter has gained a nearer approach to female beauty than in any
other fresco which I have seen. After a long and careful examination
of these frescoes I am unwillingly forced to come to the conclusion
that they are not by Giotto, but are later works of his school. I say
unwillingly, for it is with the greatest reluctance that I differ on
this point from Mr. Ruskin, who has in one of his small series, called
_Mornings in Florence_, expatiated very enthusiastically upon the
merit of these works. The technical reasons which have most certainly
lead me to this conclusion can hardly be stated so as to interest the
general reader, but the main points which are evident upon the surface
of the matter are--1st, the comparative crudeness and poorness of
colour in three out of the four frescoes, a crudity which is scarcely
to be accounted for by any amount of restoration. The colour is not so
much violent as it is weak and uninteresting; 2nd, the exaggeration in
gesture never used by Giotto in subordinate figures, and a certain
wilful ugliness of attitude which I have never found in that painter's
works; 3rd, the difference in the drawing of the drapery, which is
sharp and thin in its folds, the folds being far more numerous than in
Giotto's work, and their angles much more abrupt. The last difference
is one of beauty. As far as I know Giotto was incapable of drawing a
face of the slender rounded type such as Anna's in the second of these
frescoes which I have referred to. Both the drawing of that face and
its delicate modelling belong to another and a later hand than his.
Lastly I may state for whatever it is worth, that I heard only a few
days since that it is probably the case, according to the best opinion
of the archæologists, that the cloister in which these frescoes are,
is of a later date than that of Giotto's death. If this be so of
course it sets the matter at rest, but whether it be so or not I think
a careful examination of the frescoes will satisfy any one
interested in the matter that they cannot fairly be attributed to our
artist. It must be remembered that the work of the Giotteschi, as they
are called, is exceedingly puzzling and confused and liable to be
mistaken very easily even by one who is devoting his whole attention
to the subject. Mr. Ruskin has in two former instances been led to
attribute works to Giotto which are not by that artist according to
almost indisputable evidence: the instances I allude to are, one in
speaking of the frescoes at Avignon as by this artist, the other in
attributing to him a picture now discovered to be by Lorenzo Monaco in
the Uffizi Gallery.
[Illustration: FLORENCE.
_Showing Giotto's Campanile, and the "Duomo."_]
THE CAMPANILE.
From my window _au troisième_, in the Piazza del Duomo, the look-out
this gray April afternoon cannot be called altogether gay. The sellers
of flowers and oranges have withdrawn well into the shelter of their
little awnings, through which the rain slowly trickles upon the bright
mass of fruit; in the great square, the restless population of
Florence move aimlessly to and fro with cloaks muffling their faces;
there are five close cabs stationed just beneath my window, the
drivers of which sit on their respective boxes, beneath the shelter of
four large green umbrellas and one blue one; behind them the
Baptistery lifts its conical roof by the side of the scaffolding which
marks the restoration of the cathedral, and beyond and above
everything the Campanile[74] in the square of the Signoria raises its
grim castellated head, dark and threatening. One building alone
refuses to succumb to the influences of cloud and rain, refuses to
lose its beauty or be deprived of its colours; its delicate traceries,
and its shades of red, yellow, black, white, and green marble still
standing out clearly perceptible through the heavy atmosphere. This is
the building with the account of which closes the story of Giotto's
life; this is the last and greatest achievement of that great genius
who joined to his skill of hand a heart tender enough to enter into
every human weakness, and sympathies which extended to the animal and
vegetable creation, and drew, with as much simple fidelity and honest
enjoyment the dog watching the sheep and the oxen drawing the wain, as
the sufferings of the Saviour, or the faith of the disciples.
In shape the Campanile is a square tower without buttress of any kind,
rising 292 feet straight from the pavement of the piazza. It has four
stories, but does not diminish towards the top, the only difference
being that the windows increase in size, and in this way an appearance
of superior lightness is gained by the upper stories. The style of the
architecture is Gothic in so far as it makes use of the pointed arch,
but can hardly be described as such without giving a false impression
to those who are accustomed to the Gothic of the north; and who think
of that style as one of varied, if somewhat gloomy, masses, of
irregular arches, pinnacles, and buttresses; colourless save for the
lichen that grows between the grey stones, and owing their beauty more
to the unwearied inventiveness of their builders' fancy than to any
symmetrical unity of design.
It seems to me that this Campanile, as does the cathedral, partakes
much more of the Lombardic element than the Gothic, especially in its
use of coloured marbles, which are here employed throughout the whole
surface of the tower. One thing is certain, that whatever be the style
of the architecture it has a character of its own which renders it a
thing apart. In the course of many years' travel in every quarter of
the globe, I have come upon but one building which had at all the same
sort of power over the imagination which is possessed by this tower of
Giotto. That structure was the Taj, at Agra, which in its
exquisiteness of finish, its delicacy of involved ornament, its
perfectly unsullied whiteness, and above all, in its completeness of
design, resembled the Florentine Campanile, though for beauty of
proportion, no less than for that of colour, the Indian tomb must
yield precedence to the Italian bell-tower. The Taj, too, owes much of
its effect to the beauty of its surroundings; to the stately entrance,
the long paved approach of white marble, the great daïs of the same,
on which the tomb stands, and last, not least, to thick rows of dark
cypress trees which surround it to right and left, and toss their
fretted spires towards the sky, a hundred feet below the great dome.
The Campanile has no such proud surroundings, no such adventitious
helps to its beauty, but stands in simple strength, in the busiest
square in Florence, in the midst of the fruit-sellers and
flower-sellers, where the street boys can play at hide-and-seek round
its base, and wonder idly perhaps at the inlaid marbles. In either
case the surroundings are such as one should be loth to change; for
the tomb which marks the pride and love of an Eastern monarch, the
quiet inclosed garden, with its marble terraces and clustering groups
of cypress; and for the Campanile--which was the last gift of a great
artist to his native city--the busy square, the thronging people, the
hundred cries of Florence sounding about its base, and fading into a
faint scarce-heard murmur long ere they reach the great overhanging
battlements, round whose massive sculpture resound only the whispering
of the breeze and the fluttering of white-winged birds.
The building is in four stories, the two lowest of which are entirely
without windows, the first being adorned with bas-reliefs by Giotto,
and with statues by Donatello and others. Intermediate between the
lowest series of bas-reliefs and the statues, are four series of
bas-reliefs, each seven in number, representing the beatitudes, the
works of mercy, the virtues, and the sacraments.
The second and third stories have each two pointed-arched windows of
the same size and design, each of which is divided in the usual Gothic
manner by a centre shaft. This shaft is of exquisite delicacy, in
design a richly carved spiral, ending in a capital, from which spring
two trefoiled arches. The sides of these windows are also enriched
with a similar shaft, then a rich border of mosaic, inclosed again by
a spiral, terminating in a second pointed arch which forms the outer
border to the window, above which is a triangular canopy thickly
carved. The whole of these windows, with the exception of the mosaic
band, are executed in white marble, and surrounded by slabs of green
serpentine and red porphyry.
The fourth story has but one window, rather larger than both those in
the second or third story, and divided by two spirals instead of one.
It is noticeable that the sides and canopy of this highest aperture
are comparatively simple in form and devoid of sculpture, which
practically ceases with the third story. Giotto was too thorough an
artist to put elaborate sculpture at a height where it could not be
seen, and preferred, instead of substituting coarser work, to depend
for the beauty of this upper story, almost entirely upon the effect of
boldly designed mosaic. Instead, therefore, of a single narrow band of
mosaic above the arch of the window, there are in the fourth story
four comparatively wide ones, and above this the triangular space
beneath the plain arch is filled with the same work, as are also the
spaces beside and above the canopy. Above the canopy is a still
broader band of mosaic, on which the jagged arches of the battlements
seem to rest; and above these again, a last band of mosaic is
surmounted by a gallery of white marble about six feet high, pierced
with quartre-foils along its whole length.
It is wholly impossible to describe the delicacy and finish which the
crest of this campanile possesses; the eye is led on from story to
story, the mosaic being used more and more freely, the sculpture more
sparingly, as the ascent is made, till at last the sculpture ends in
one perfectly shaped window, and the mosaic blossoms forth like a
flower into fullest beauty. Gradually the massive base, with its dark
bas-reliefs, changes into lighter sculpture, with backgrounds of blue
marble, then into figures of the saints, prophets, and patriarchs,
breaking the uniformity of which are two long vertical pierced panels
of quartre-foils in circles, serving to give light to the interior,
but not telling as windows, then two rich bands of mosaic carry on the
effect up to the first range of windows. There is no difference
between the first and second stories, except that the lower one has a
rich band of sculpture beneath the window, which is replaced by plain
marble in the second; but above the second, as I have said, the
sculpture ceases to be the main feature, the mosaic takes its place,
and succeeds in carrying out the unison of rich work and lightness of
effect in a way which is as novel as it is beautiful.
A few words must be said of the famous range of bas-reliefs, the
lowest, all of which were designed by Giotto, though he only lived to
execute two. This series is twenty-eight in number, exclusive of those
on the small half towers which form the corners of the Campanile. They
represent first the creation of man and woman, then the gradual
development of knowledge, the gradual increase of man's power over
nature, and discovery of his own capacities. Of three of these,
illustrations are given which may be relied upon for fidelity to the
main points of the design, though they do little justice to the
exquisite delicacy of the work.
These bas-reliefs are in lozenge form, about eighteen inches in height
and slightly less in breadth, and entirely surround the tower; nearly
the whole of these were sculptured by Luca della Robbia and Andrea
Pisano, to whom was entrusted the carrying out of Giotto's designs.
I shall not endeavour here to classify these reliefs according to
their authorship for two reasons; one, that the carrying out of
Giotto's design, whether by Andrea Pisano, Luca della Robbia, or any
other sculptor, is as to each special relief a pure matter of
conjecture, and is besides little connected with the subject I have in
hand; and the other reason is that this classification, though
attempted with great ingenuity, and after close investigation by Mr.
Ruskin, in his pamphlet on the "Shepherd's Tower," appears to me to
have yielded no satisfactory results, but rather to have involved the
subject in further obscurity, insomuch as it has led him to attribute
various reliefs in the series to Giotto's own hand, wholly on internal
evidence, and that moreover in my judgment of a most unsatisfactory
nature. I content myself, therefore, with observing that the three
first frescoes of the series and the one representing the drunkenness
of Noah are almost certainly the work of a different hand to that of
the rest of the bas-reliefs, and that that hand has probably modified
Giotto's original design to a considerable extent in the relative
importance of the landscape portions of the composition.
In these last designs of Giotto's life, there is a curious recurrence
to the ideas of his earliest time, a curious delight in depicting
natural objects, and treating his subject from the humorously dramatic
point of view; such as indeed he never altogether lost, but which lies
very much in the shade in the later frescoes of this master. In fact,
in some of these bas-reliefs, the comic element almost entirely
predominates, as, for instance, in that which is entitled _Logic_, in
which two furious disputants stand face to face, the countenances
inflamed with passion, one apparently being just on the eve of
proceeding to the _argumentum ad hominem_, the other rapping an open
book querulously with his finger. Others show a depth of perception of
character which perhaps would hardly have been expected from the
artist, as in the relief of _Arithmetic_, where a master is
instructing two of his pupils in that gentle science. One of the boys
is evidently intelligent enough, and bends happily over his book; the
other is of a heavy bovine type, and is listening with a puzzled
expression to the master's explanation. Of all the designs, perhaps
the finest are simply narrative, and of such, the three first of the
series, the creation of Adam, the creation of Eve, and the relief
called _The First Arts_, are singularly beautiful. It should be
noticed here that Giotto's knowledge of, and skill in depicting,
trees, made great advances from the time of the frescoes in the Arena
to that of these reliefs. No doubt something must be allowed for the
genius of those who executed the reliefs; but if they were done from
Giotto's designs, and there is a concensus of opinion that such was
the case, the advance is a very marked one. I am the more inclined to
believe in this progress as in the drawing of the brambles, in the
great fresco of _St. Francis wedding Poverty_ in the Lower Church of
Assisi, there are the elements of such leaf and bough drawing as are
seen here; and even at Assisi, the advance from the Arena, in the
drawing is very evident. Especially fine in design, and as far as it
goes, true to nature, is the drawing of the vine in the relief of
_Noah's Drunkenness_, or as it is sometimes called, the _Convention of
Wine_. The drawing of the leaves and grapes, and their disposition in
the panel, is perhaps the finest piece of good sculptural design to be
found at such an early date; and I should have selected this relief
for reproduction, had it not been, owing to Giotto's intense
perception of the essential meaning of his subject, so unpleasing in
the degradation of the drunken figure, as to unfit it for purposes of
illustration.
[Illustration: THE FIRST ARTS. BAS-RELIEF DESIGNED BY GIOTTO.
_On the Campanile, Florence._]
Our artist's sympathy with animal life, also revives in these works in
its full force, and may be seen in many instances. Look for example at
the fresco of ploughing, where the driver is guiding the oxen by the
simple, yet perfectly efficient plan, of twisting the tail round his
wrist, and pulling it one way or the other, when he wishes to turn. Or
look at the puppy in the bas-relief of _Shepherd Life_, as he sits
outside the patriarch's tent watching the sheep file past. What a
sense of comical responsibility and mischief there is in his face, the
quintessence, so to speak, of puppydom. Or look, for another kind of
truth, at the action of the horse in the fresco of _Riding_, and the
manner in which the rider is urging him with hand and voice at the
same time, and the wind is blowing out his mantle behind. There is a
curious circumstance with regard to this last design, which I
discovered by chance a few weeks ago when walking in the sculptor's
rooms of the British Museum. That is, that there is a figure in one of
the great friezes there, not that of the Parthenon, but the next in
beauty, that of the Erectheum, which is almost identical in the figure
of its man and his action with this of Giotto's. The very lines of the
cloak blowing out behind are almost identical, and the grasp of the
rider's knees, the pose of his figure and the outstretched arm (what
is left of it in the Greek sculpture, it has been taken just below the
elbow) are all exactly similar. The whole spirit of the Greek frieze
is as vivid in Giotto's work as it is in the original sculpture,
executed more than a thousand years before. It merely shows the
extraordinary unity of all good art, that a mediæval Italian, working
purely from nature and life, should be able to arrive by himself, at a
representation which has all the feeling of that which is acknowledged
to be the finest art the world has ever seen. It must be noticed that
where Giotto falls short of his Grecian predecessor, is chiefly in the
nobility of the types both of man and horse. Giotto's horse is going,
and his man is urging him as certainly as in the frieze, but his horse
is comparatively a common every-day cabhorse and is going in something
of the same rocking-time manner we may see in Hyde Park any day of the
week. And the man is like most of Giotto's men, a very ordinary
individual, somewhat of what hunting men call "a tailor," perhaps,
though he is evidently accustomed to riding. The Grecian sculptor has
refined the types of both man and horse, and given the latter a grand
sweeping action, such as would be promptly stopped by the police, if
indulged in within the limits of the park. This difference, however,
is a difference in aim, not a difference in feeling; the beauty of
line, and the meaning of the scene are given with almost as much
intensity by our artist as by the unknown sculptor who preceded him.
Most unfortunately I only found this similarity too late to permit me
to make use of it in the book; for a drawing of these two figures side
by side would have shown the likeness and dissimilarity more than
pages of description.
[Illustration: RIDING. BAS-RELIEF DESIGNED BY GIOTTO.
_On the Campanile, Florence._]
Many other bas-reliefs of this series are of great interest, but there
is no space left for me to dwell upon them, nor are their merits other
than those which I have spoken of so frequently throughout this book,
of simple truth, of keen discernment, and of genuine feeling. At every
step the work seems to say to us, "Here is the representation of
something true;" and the artist seems to say, "I have only tried to
give you facts in the most beautiful arrangement consistent with
truth; if you want more, or less, why, you must go elsewhere."
And so it is that from the time when he draws the meditations of a
puppy, to that in which he hangs his massive tower of coloured marble,
between the earth and heaven, his work seems simple, grand, and
sincere. He is not painting pictures to aggrandise himself, he is only
lovingly recording what he knows, feels, or hopes. He is not above,
nor below his work; his work is himself; it is himself, in joy, or
sorrow, or curiosity, or surprise; in mirth, or indifference. He is
human in his failings as well as in his greatness, and pretends to no
greater merit, than that of doing good work in a straightforward
manner.
Therefore we look back across the centuries with pleasure, to catch a
glimpse of the homely figure whose dreams of beauty were mingled with
tenderness and mirth, who lived in a coarse age, and made coarse jokes
at odd times; but who walked hand in hand with Dante, as great, if not
as sublime a genius, and whose life, as we can read it in his
paintings, was one of sympathy with all things living, and perfect
devotion to his art. Neither a Philistine, nor a humbug, he seems to
have trod the narrow path of art with secure footsteps, a good
workman, as well as a great imaginative painter; a merry as well as an
honest man. Such are the men whom Art wants nowadays, as it wanted
them then, those who are men as well as artists, who will not dream in
courtly isolation of beauties which never existed, but will go down
into the markets, and the streets, where men sin and sorrow, or by the
rivers and fields, where they toil and hope, and use their genius to
brighten the facts of every day, to interpret the strange gleams of
beauty, which fall here and there upon a weary world.
I like to think that that Campanile of "porphyry and jasper" was not
raised by one who dwelt amidst cold dreams of architectural proportion
and gave his life to the designing of geometrical ornament, but by the
man who could feel the humour of the dog, the patience of the oxen,
and love to have such things carved about the base of his tower; and
as I sit here in its very shadow, it seems to me as if the most
fitting meed of praise with which to conclude an essay on the old
painter, is, not that he painted the purest and loveliest frescoes in
the world; not that he raised above Florence a tower, which has been
the wonder and delight of all succeeding ages, but that he was the
first to show by his work, that Art was useful to man, not only as a
teacher, but as a friend.
FOOTNOTES:
[72] Mr. Ruskin has here been mistaken in asserting that this fresco
has not suffered from restoration; a good opera glass will satisfy any
one of this fact, as the restoration has not only been great in
amount, but most execrable in the quality of its work.
[73] Amongst those with which I am personally acquainted I hear on
good authority that the panel picture known as the Stefaneschi
altarpiece, at Rome, is of exceeding beauty.
[74] Of the Palazzo Vecchio.
INDEX.
PAGE
_Annunciation._ By Giotto, 59
Arena Chapel, Padua, 69
" Frescoes in, 76
" Note by Mr. Ruskin on, 84
Arnolfo di Cambio, 21
Arnolfo di Lapi (Cambio?), 21
Assisi, Lower Church of, 111
Assisi, Upper Church of, 94
Byzantine Architecture, 15
Campanile, The, at Florence, 135
Cennini, 29
Christian Architecture, 16
Cimabue, 33
_Coronation of the Virgin._ By Giotto, 128
Florence, Santa Croce, 65, 66, 118, 128
" Santa Maria Novella, 65, 133
" Campanile at, 135
Fresco Painting, 28
Frescoes in Arena Chapel, Padua, 76
Frescoes at Assisi, 115, 124
Frescoes in Santa Croce, 128
Frescoes in Santa Maria Novella, 133
Giotto, born at Vespignano (1266?), 41
" taken by Cimabue to Florence, 43
" story of his O, 45
" visits Rome, 45
" returns to Florence, 46
" paints portrait of Dante, 46
" marries Ciuta di Lapo, 47
" frescoes in the Arena Chapel at Padua, 47
" paints a buckler, 49
" visits Assisi, 51
" frescoes in Santa Croce, Florence, 51
" designs the Campanile, Florence, 52
" dies at Florence in 1336, 52
" latest works of, 120
Giunta of Pisa, 23, 100
Greek Art, 12
Guido of Siena, 38
Illuminated Manuscripts, 14
Lombardic Architecture, 24
_Madonna Enthroned._ By Cimabue, 36
_Madonna Enthroned._ By Giotto, 59, 63
Mosaics, 13, 21
_Navicella_, The, 45, 62
Padua, Arena Chapel at, 61
Painting, Chief function of, 53
Pisa, Campo Santo of, 61
Pisano, Andrea, 139
Pisano, Niccolo, 20
Robbia, Luca della, 139
Ruskin, John, 24, 84
Scrovegni Chapel at Padua, 69
Venice, Saint Mark's, 22, 27, 112
THE END.
R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS. BREAD STREET HILL, E.C.
_Published in Monthly Volumes._
A NEW SERIES OF
ILLUSTRATED BIOGRAPHIES OF THE GREAT ARTISTS.
The increasing love of art in our own country and the great desire for
knowledge in all matters connected with the literature of art and the
lives of the Great Masters called for the publication of the very
important information which modern research has gathered together on
every side, and which has now attracted the attention of all students
of art-biography both at home and abroad.
The intention of the projectors of this Series has been to produce, in
an easily accessible form and at a price within reach of every one,
the results of the recent investigations which have been made by many
well-known critics, especially those of Germany and the Netherlands.
Dr. Woltmann lately published a new edition of his great work on HANS
HOLBEIN; Professor Carl Lemcke on RUBENS and on VAN DYCK; Dr. Anton
Springer on RAPHAEL and MICHELANGELO; Herr Vosmaer has issued a
revision of his celebrated treatise on REMBRANDT, and Herr Thausing an
elaborate Life of ALBRECHT DÜRER. These works correct old statements
that have been proved to be untrue, impart new facts, and add
materially to our interest in the histories of the painters. Many of
the Italian art-critics have likewise recently issued treatises on the
great artists of their own country; and in France scarcely a week
passes without the appearance of some new contribution to the History
of Art. All this matter has been carefully studied.
The Series is issued in the form of handbooks. Each work contains a
monograph of a GREAT ARTIST--or a brief history of a GROUP OF ARTISTS
of one school--a portrait of the Master, and as many examples of his
art as could be readily procured. Cheapness of price having been
especially aimed at, the introduction of expensive new engravings was
thought to be unadvisable. Arrangements were therefore made with the
proprietors of the most important art publications on the Continent
for the reproduction of many of their costly woodcuts. These have been
printed with great care, and each biography of the Series has been
illustrated with at least twelve to twenty full-page engravings. The
price of each volume is 3_s._ 6_d._
_The following Biographies are now ready:_--
_ITALIAN PAINTERS._
=LEONARDO DA VINCI.= By Dr. J. PAUL RICHTER, Author of "Die
Mosaiken von Ravenna." With 16 Illustrations. From recent
researches.
=MICHELANGELO.= By CHARLES CLÉMENT, Author of "Michel-Ange,
Léonard et Raphael." With many large Engravings.
=RAPHAEL.= From the text of J. D. PASSAVANT. By N. D'ANVERS,
Author of "An Elementary History of Art." With 20 Engravings.
=TITIAN.= From the most recent researches. By RICHARD FORD HEATH,
M.A., Hertford College, Oxford. With 16 Engravings.
=TINTORETTO.= From investigations at Venice. By W. ROSCOE OSLER,
Author of occasional Essays on Art. With many Engravings.
_GERMAN, FLEMISH, DUTCH, &c._
=HOLBEIN.= From the text of Dr. A. WOLTMANN. By JOSEPH CUNDALL,
Author of "Life and Genius of Rembrandt." With 20 Engravings.
=THE LITTLE MASTERS OF GERMANY.= By W. B. SCOTT, Author of
"Lectures on Fine Arts." With 16 Engravings.
*** An _Edition de luxe_, containing 14 extra plates
from rare engravings in the British Museum, and bound in
Roxburgh style, may be had, price 10_s._ 6_d._
=REMBRANDT.= From the text of C. VOSMAER. By J. W. MOLLETT, B.A.,
Officier de l'Instruction Publique (France). With 16
Engravings.
=RUBENS.= From recent authorities. By C. W. KETT, M.A., Hertford
College, Oxford. With 16 Engravings.
=VAN DYCK and HALS.= From recent authorities. By PERCY R. HEAD,
Lincoln College, Oxford. With 16 Engravings.
=FIGURE PAINTERS OF HOLLAND.= By Lord RONALD GOWER, Trustee of
National Portrait Gallery. With 18 Engravings.
=VERNET & DELAROCHE.= From CHARLES BLANC. By J. RUUTZ REES,
Author of various Essays on Art. With 16 Engravings.
_ENGLISH PAINTERS._
=HOGARTH.= From recent researches. By AUSTIN DOBSON, Author of
"Vignettes in Rhyme." With 16 Illustrations.
=REYNOLDS.= From the most recent authorities. By F. S. PULLING,
M.A., Exeter College, Oxford. With 16 Illustrations.
=TURNER.= From recent investigations. By COSMO MONKHOUSE, Author
of "Studies of Sir E. Landseer." With 20 Engravings.
=LANDSEER.= A Memoir, by FREDERICK G. STEPHENS, Author of
"Flemish Relics," &c. With many Illustrations.
_The Volumes preparing for Early Publication are:_--
=FRA ANGELICO and the EARLY PAINTERS of FLORENCE.= By CATHERINE
PHILLIMORE. With 16 Illustrations.
=FRA BARTOLOMMEO and ALBERTINELLI.= By LEADER SCOTT, Author of "A
Nook in the Apennines." With 16 Illustrations.
=VELAZQUEZ.= By EDWIN STOWE, M.A., Brasenose College, Oxford.
With many Illustrations.
=GAINSBOROUGH and CONSTABLE=. By G. M. BROCK-ARNOLD, Hertford
College, Oxford. With many Illustrations.
=ALBRECHT DÜRER.= From recent authorities. By R. F. HEATH, M.A.,
Hertford College, Oxford. With many Illustrations.
=VAN EYCK and THE FLEMISH SCHOOL.= By MARY HEATON, Author of "The
History of Albrecht Dürer." With many Illustrations.
=GIOTTO.= By HARRY QUILTER, M.A., Trinity Col., Cambridge. From
recent investigations at Padua and Assisi. With many
Illustrations.
=CORNELIUS and OVERBECK.= By J. BEAVINGTON ATKINSON, Author of
"The Schools of Modern Art in Germany."
NOTICES OF THE PRESS.
1. From a Review in the _Spectator_, July 5, 1879.
"It is high time that some thorough and general acquaintance
with the works of these mighty painters should be spread
abroad, and it is also curious to think how long their names
have occupied sacred niches in the world's heart, without the
presence of much popular knowledge about the collective work of
their lives.... If the present series of biographies, which
seems to be most thoroughly and tastefully edited, succeeds in
responding to the wants of modest, if ardent, art-knowledge,
its aim will be accomplished."
2. Reprinted from the _Times_, January 22, 1880.
"Few things in the way of small books upon great subjects,
avowedly cheap and necessarily brief, have been hitherto so
well done as these biographies of the Great Masters in
painting. They afford just what a very large proportion of
readers in these hurrying times wish to be provided with--a
sort of concentrated food for the mind. The Liebigs of
literature, however, especially in that of the fine arts, need
no small amount of critical acumen, much experience in the art
of system, and something of the bee-like instinct that guesses
rightly where the honey lies. The mere 'boiling down' of great
books will not result in giving us a good little book, unless
the essence is properly diluted and set before us in a form
that can be readily assimilated, so to speak, and not in an
indigestible lump of details. The writers of these biographies
have, on the whole, succeeded in giving an excellent _aperçu_
of the painters and their works, and better where they have
adhered to the lives written by acknowledged specialists--such
as M. Vosmaer for Rembrandt, Passavant for Raphael, and Dr.
Woltmann for Holbein. The life of Holbein is by the editor,
with whom the idea of such a series originated, and to whose
great experience is to be attributed the very valuable copies
of all the important pictures contained in the different
biographies. These have been selected with great taste and
judgment, and being taken generally from less well-known works
by the masters, they enhance the interest and add much to the
practical utility of the books. The chronological lists of the
works of the masters are also very useful additions."
3. From _La Chronique des Arts_, March 20, 1880.
"A un prix d'extrême bon marché, 4 francs environ, en petits
volumes joliment cartonnés, et ornés de quinze à vingt
planches, la maison Sampson Low, Marston et Cie., à Londres, a
entrepris de publier une série de biographies des grands
artistes, résumées d'après les travaux les plus récents et les
plus estimés. Une bibliographie, une liste des gravures
exécutées par ou d'après l'artiste, une liste de ses oeuvres
ou de leurs prix; enfin, un index accompagnant ces résumés
confiés à des écrivains distingués versés dans l'histoire de
l'art. Ont paru ou sont en préparation dans cette série de
notices: Titien, Rembrandt, Raphaël, Van Dyck et Hals, Holbein,
Tintoret, Turner, Rubens, Michel-Ange, Léonard, Giotto,
Gainsborough, Velazquez, Pérugin, Reynolds, Landseer, Delaroche
et Vernet, les Petit Maîtres, les Peintres de figure en
Hollande.
"Peut-être la maison Sampson Low, Marston et Cie, devrait-elle
tenter une édition française de ces jolis et intéressants
petits volumes sérieusement étudiés, dont la brièveté
substantielle et le bon marché deviennent une bénédiction par
ce temps d'énormes publications à prix non moins
énormes."--DURANTY.
* * * * *
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE & RIVINGTON,
CROWN BUILDINGS, 188. FLEET STREET.
* * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have
been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
The Errata list has been corrected in this text.