FLORENTINE SCHOOL.
EPOCH I.
_Origin of the revival of Painting_--_Association and
methods of the old Painters_--_Series of Tuscan Artists
before the time of Cimabue and Giotto._
SECT. I.
That there were painters in Italy, even during the rude ages, is
attested not only by historians,[26] but by several pictures which have
escaped the ravages of time; Rome retains several ancient specimens.[27]
Passing over her cemeteries, which have handed down to us a number of
Christian monuments, part in specimens of painted glass, scattered
through our museums, and part in those of parietal histories, or walled
mosaic, it will be sufficient to adduce two vast works, unrivalled by
any others, that I know of, in Italy. The first is the series of the
Popes, which in order to prove the succession of the papal chair, from
the prince of the Apostles down to the time of St. Leo, this last holy
pontiff caused to be painted; a work of the fifth century, which was
subsequently continued until our own times. The second is the decoration
of the whole church of San Urbano, where there are several evangelical
acts represented on the walls, along with some histories of the Titular
Saint and St. Cecilia, a production which, partaking in nothing either
of the Greek lineaments or style of drapery, may be attributed more
justly to an Italian pencil, which has subscribed the date of 1011.[28]
Many more might be pointed out, existing in different cities; as for
instance the picture at Pesara, of the patron saints of the city,
illustrated by the celebrated Annibale Olivieri, which is earlier than
the year 1000; those in the vaults of the cathedral at Aquileja,[29] the
picture at Santa Maria Primerana at Fiesole, which seems the work of
that or the succeeding age;[30] and the picture at Orvieto which was
formerly known by the name of S. Maria Prisca, but is now generally
called S. Brizio.[31] I say nothing of the figures of the virgin
formerly ascribed to St. Luke, and now supposed to be the production of
the eleventh or twelfth century, as I shall have to treat of them at the
opening of the third book. The painters of those times were, however, of
little repute; they produced no illustrious scholars, no work worthy of
marking an era. The art had gradually degenerated into a kind of
mechanism, which, after the models afforded by the Greek workers in
mosaic employed in the church of St. Mark, at Venice,[32] invariably
exhibited the same legends, in which nature appeared distorted rather
than represented. It was not till after the middle of the thirteenth
century that any thing better was attempted; and the improvement of
sculpture was the first step towards the formation of a new style.
The honour of this is due to the Tuscans; a nation that from very remote
antiquity disseminated the benign light of art and learning throughout
Italy; but it more especially belongs to the people of Pisa. They taught
artists how to shake off the trammels of the modern Greeks, and to adopt
the ancients for their models. Barbarism had not only overwhelmed the
arts, but even the maxims necessary for their re-establishment. Italy
was not destitute of fine specimens of Grecian and Roman sculpture; but
she had long been without an artist who could appreciate their value,
much less attempt to imitate them. Little else was executed in those
dark ages but some rude pieces of sculpture, such as what remains in the
cathedral of Modena, in San Donato at Arezzo, in the Primaziale at
Pisa,[33] and in some other churches where specimens are preserved on
the doors or in the interior. Niccola Pisano was the first who
discovered and pursued the true path. There were, and still are, some
ancient sarcophagi in Pisa, especially that which inclosed the body of
Beatrice, mother of the Countess Matilda, who died in the eleventh
century. A chase, supposed to represent that of Hippolytus, is
sculptured on it in basso relievo, which must be the production of a
good school; being a subject which has been often delineated by the
ancients on many urns still extant at Rome.[34] This was the model which
Niccola selected, from this he formed a style which participated of the
antique, especially in the heads and the casting of the drapery; and
when exhibited in different Italian cities "it inspired artists with a
laudable emulation to apply to sculpture more assiduously than they had
before done," as we are informed by Vasari. Niccola did not attain to
what he aspired. The compositions are sometimes crowded, the figures are
often badly designed, and shew more diligence than expression. His name,
however, will always mark an era in the history of design, because he
first led artists into the true path by the introduction of a better
standard. Reform in any branch of study invariably depends on some rule,
which, promulgated and adopted by the schools, gradually produces a
general revolution in opinion, and opens a new field to the exertions of
a succeeding age.
About 1231, he sculptured at Bologna the urn of San Domenico, and from
this, as a remarkable event, he was named "_Niccola of the Urn_." He
afterwards executed in a much superior style, the Last Judgment, for the
cathedral of Orvieto, and the pulpit in the church of San Giovanni, at
Pisa; works that demonstrate to the world that design, invention, and
composition, received from him a new existence. He was succeeded by
Arnolfo Florentino, his scholar, the sculptor of the tomb of Boniface
VIII. in San Pietro at Rome; and by his son Giovanni, who executed the
monuments of Urban IV. and of Benedict IX. in Perugia. He afterwards
completed the great altar of San Donato, at Arezzo, the cost of which
was thirty thousand gold florins; besides many other works which remain
in Naples and in several cities of Tuscany. Andrea Pisano was his
associate, and probably also his disciple in Perugia, who, after
establishing himself in Florence, ornamented with statues the cathedral
and the church of San Giovanni in that city; and in twenty-two years
finished the great gate of bronze "to which we are indebted for all that
is excellent, difficult, or beautiful in the other two, which are the
workmanship of succeeding artists." He was, in fact, the founder of that
great school that successively produced Orcagna, Donatello, and the
celebrated Ghiberti, who fabricated those gates for the same church,
which Michelagnolo pronounced worthy to form the entrance of Paradise.
After Andrea, we may notice Giovanni Balducci, of Pisa, whose era,
country, and style, all lead us to suppose him one of the same school.
He was an excellent artist, and was employed by Castruccio, Lord of
Lucca, and by Azzone Visconti, Prince of Milan; where he flourished, and
left, among other monuments of his art, the tomb of San Pietro Martire,
at S. Eustorgio, which is so highly praised by Torre, by Lattuada, and
by various other learned illustrators of Milanese antiquities.[35] Two
eminent artists, natives of Siena, proceeded from the school of Gio.
Pisano, namely, the two brothers, Agnolo and Agostino, who are greatly
commended by Vasari as improvers of the art. Whoever has seen the
sepulchre of Guido, bishop of Arezzo, which is decorated with an
infinity of statues and basso-relievos, representing passages of his
life, will not only find reason to admire in them the design, which was
the work of Giotto, but the execution of the sculpture. The brothers
also executed many of their own designs in Orvieto, in Siena, and in
Lombardy, where they brought up several pupils, who for a long period
pursued their manner, and diffused it over Italy.
To the improvement of sculpture succeeded that of mosaic, through the
efforts of another Tuscan, belonging to the order of minor friars, named
Fra Jacopo, or Fra Mino da Turrita, from a place in the territory of
Siena. It is not known whether he was instructed in his art by the
Romans or by the Greek workers in mosaic,[36] but it is well ascertained
that he very far surpassed them. On examining what remains of his works
in Santa Maria Maggiore at Rome, one can hardly be persuaded that it is
the production of so rude an age, did not history constrain us to
believe it. It appears probable that he took the ancients for his
models, and deduced his rules from the more chaste specimens of mosaic,
still remaining in several of the Roman churches, the design of which is
less crude, the attitudes less forced, and the composition more skilful,
than were exhibited by the Greeks who ornamented the church of San
Marco, at Venice. Mino surpassed them in every thing. From 1225, when he
executed, however feebly, the mosaic of the tribune of the church of San
Giovanni, at Florence, he was considered at the head of the living
artists in mosaic.[37] He merited this praise much more by his works at
Rome, and it appears that he long maintained his reputation. Vasari has
not been sufficiently just to the fame of Turrita, in noticing him only
casually in the life of Tafi, but the verses he recites, and the
commissions he mentions, demonstrate how greatly Turrita was esteemed by
his contemporaries. It is maintained that he was also a painter, but
this is a mistake which will be cleared up in the Sienese school, and
both there and elsewhere I shall question the authority of any author
who either greatly commends or underrates him.
From a deficiency of _specimens_, like those above recorded, painting
long remained in a more rude state than mosaic, and was very far behind
sculpture. But we must not imagine, that at the birth of Cimabue, in
1240, the race of artists was entirely extinct, as erroneously asserted
by Vasari: this must be deemed an exaggeration, for he himself has
recounted several sculptors, architects, and painters then living; and
the general scope of his less cautious expressions, against which so
many writers have inveighed, and still continue to declaim, favours this
opinion. I shall be constrained to advert, in almost every book, to
their accusations, and to produce the names of the artists who then
lived. I shall commence with those who then flourished in Tuscany. The
city of Pisa, at this time, had not only painters, but a school for each
of the fine arts[38]. The distinguished Signor Morrona, who has
illustrated the Pisan antiquities, deduces its origin immediately from
Greece. The Pisans, already very powerful by sea and land, having
resolved in 1063 to erect the vast fabric of their cathedral, had drawn
thither artists in miniature, and other painters, at the same time with
Buschetto the architect, and these men educated pupils for the city. The
Greeks at that time were but ill qualified to instruct, for they knew
little. Their first pupils in Pisa seem to have been a few anonymous
artists, some of whose miniatures and rude paintings are still in
existence. A parchment, containing the _exultet_, as usually sung on
Sabbato Santo, is in the cathedral, and we may here and there observe,
painted on it, figures in miniature, with plants and animals: it is a
relique of the early part of the twelfth century, yet a specimen of art
not altogether barbarous. There are likewise some other paintings of
that century in the same cathedral, containing figures of our Lady, with
the holy infant on her right arm: they are rude, but the progress of the
same school may be traced from them to the time of Giunta. This artist
lately received a fine eulogium, among other illustrious Pisans, from
Signor Tempesta, and he was fully entitled to it from the more early
historians. His country possesses none of his undoubted pictures, except
a crucifixion with his name, which is believed to be among his earliest
productions, a print from which may be found in the third volume of
_Pisa Illustrata_. He executed better pictures in Assisi, where he was
invited to paint by Frat' Elia di Cortona, superior of the Minori, about
the year 1230. From thence we are furnished with notices of his
education, which is thus described by P. Angeli, the Historian of that
cathedral: "Juncta Pisanus ruditer a Graecis instructus, primus ex
Italis, artem apprehendit circa An. Sal. 1210." In the church of the
Angioli there is a better preserved work of the same master; it is a
crucifixion, painted on a wooden cross; on the lateral edges and upper
surface of which our Lady is represented, with two other half-length
figures, and underneath the remains of an inscription are legible, which
having copied on the spot, I do not hesitate to publish with its
deficiencies now supplied:
_Iv_nTA PISAnUS
_Ivn_TINI ME _Fecit_.
I supply _Juntini_, because Signor da Morrona asserts,[39] that about
this time, a _Giunta da Giuntino_ is mentioned in the records of Pisa,
whom by the aid of the _Assisi_ inscription, I conjecture to be the
painter we have now under notice. The figures are considerably less than
life; the design is dry, the fingers excessively long, but these are
_vitia non hominum sed temporum_; in short, this piece shews a knowledge
of the naked figure, an expression of pain in the heads, and a
disposition of the drapery, greatly superior to the efforts of the
Greeks, his contemporaries. The handling of his colours is strong,
although the flesh inclines to that of bronze; the local tints are
judiciously varied, the chiaroscuro even shews some art, and the whole
is not inferior, except in the proportions, to crucifixions with similar
half figures usually ascribed to Cimabue. He painted at Assisi another
crucifixion, which is now lost, to which may be added, a portrait of
Frat' Elia, with this inscription, "_F. Helias fecit fieri. Jesu Christe
pie miserere precantis Heliae. Juncta Pisanus me pinxit, An. D. 1236.
Indit. IX._" The inscription has been preserved by P. Wadingo in his
annals of the Franciscan order for that year, and the historian
describes the crucifixion as _affabre pictum_. The fresco works of
Giunta were executed in the great church of the Franciscans, and
according to Vasari he was there assisted by certain Greeks. Some busts
and history pieces still remain in the gallery and the contiguous
chapels, among which is the crucifixion of San Pietro, noticed in the
_Etruria Pittrice_. Some believe that those paintings have been here and
there injudiciously retouched, and this may serve to excuse the drawing,
which may have been altered in many places, but the feebleness of the
colouring cannot be denied. When they are compared with what Cimabue
executed there about forty years afterwards, it seems that Giunta was
not sufficiently forcible in this species of painting; perhaps he might
have improved, but he is not mentioned after 1235; and it is conjectured
that he died while yet a young man, at a distance from his native
country. I am induced to believe so from observing, that Giunta di
Giuntino is noticed in the records of Pisa, in the early part of that
century, but not afterwards; and that Cimabue was sent for to paint the
altar-piece and portrait of San Francesco of Pisa, about the year 1265,
before he went to Assisi. It is more likely that Giunta would have
executed this, had he returned home from that city, where he had seen
and perhaps painted the portrait of the Holy Father.[40]
From this school the art is believed to have spread in these early times
over all Tuscany, although it must not be forgotten that there were
miniature painters there as well as in the other parts of Italy, who,
transferring their art from small to large works, like Franco of
Bologna, betook themselves, and incited others to painting on walls and
on panel. Whatever we may choose to believe, Siena, at this period,
could boast her Guido, who painted from the year 1221, but not entirely
in the manner of the Greeks, as we shall find under the Sienese school.
Lucca possessed in 1235 one Bonaventura Berlingieri. A San Francesco
painted by him still exists in the castle of Guiglia, not far from
Modena, which is described as a work of great merit for that age.[41]
There lived another artist about the year 1288, known by his production
of a crucifixion which he left at San Cerbone, a short distance from the
city with this inscription; "_Deodatus filius Orlandi de Luca me
pinxit_, A. D. 1288." Margaritone of Arezzo was a disciple and imitator
of the Greeks, and by all accounts he must have been born several years
before Cimabue. He painted on canvas, and if we may credit Vasari, made
the first discovery of a method of rendering his pictures more durable,
and less liable to cracking. He extended canvas on the panel, laying it
down with a strong glue, made of shreds of parchment, and covered the
whole with a ground of gypsum, before he began to paint. He formed
diadems and other ornaments of plaster, giving them relief from gilding
and burnishing them. Some of his crucifixions remain in Arezzo, and one
of them is in the church of the Holy Cross at Florence, near another by
Cimabue; both are in the old manner, and not so different in point of
merit, but that Margaritone, however rude, may be pronounced as well
entitled as Cimabue to the name of painter.
While the neighbouring cities had made approaches towards the new style,
Florence, if we are to credit Vasari and his followers, was without a
painter; but subsequent to the year 1250 some Greek painters were
invited to Florence by the rulers of the city, for the express purpose
of restoring the art of painting in Florence, where it was rather wholly
lost than degenerated. To this assertion I have to oppose the learned
dissertation of Doctor Lami, which I have just commended. Lami observes,
that mention is made in the archives of the chapters of one Bartolommeo
who painted in 1236, and that the picture of the Annunciation of our
Lady, which is held in the highest veneration in the church of the
Servi, was painted about that period. It is retouched in some parts of
the drapery; it possesses, however, much originality, and for that age
is respectably executed. When I prepared my first edition I had no
knowledge of the work of Lami, which was not then published, and hence
was unable to proceed further than to refute the opinion of those who
ascribed this sacred figure to Cavallini, a pupil of Giotto. I reflected
that the style of Cavallini appeared considerably more modern in his
other works which I had examined at Assisi, and at Florence; yet,
various artists whom I consulted, and among others Signor Pacini, who
had copied the Annunciation, disputed with me this diversity of style. I
further adduced the form of the characters written there in a book,
_Ecce Virgo concipiet, &c._ which resemble those of the thirteenth
century; nor have they that profusion of lines which distinguishes the
German, commonly denominated the Gothic character, which Cavallini and
other pupils of Giotto always employed. I rejoice that the opinion of
Lami confirms my conjecture, and stamps its authenticity; and it seems
to me highly probable that the Bartolommeo, whom he indicates, is the
individual to whom the memorandums of the Servi ascribe the production
of their Annunciation about the year 1250. The same religious fraternity
preserve, among their ancient paintings, a Magdalen, which appears from
the design and inscription, a work of the thirteenth century; and we
might instance several coeval pictures that still exist in their
chapter house, and in other parts of the city.[42]
Having inserted these notices of ancient painters, and some others,
which will be found scattered throughout the work, I turn to Vasari, and
to the accusations laid to his charge. He is defended by Monsignor
Bottari in a note at the conclusion of the life of Margaritone, taken
from Baldinucci. He affirms, from his own observation, "That though each
city had some painters, they were all as contemptible and barbarous as
Margaritone, who, if compared to Cimabue, is unworthy of the name of
painter." The examples already cited do not permit me to assent to this
proposition; even Bottari himself will scarcely allow me to do so, as he
observes, in another note on the life of Cimabue, "That he was the first
who abandoned the manner of the Greeks, or at least who avoided it more
completely than any other artist." But if others, such as Guido,
Bonaventura, and Giunta, had freed themselves from it before his time,
why are they not recorded as the first, in point of time, by Vasari? Did
not their example open the new path to Cimabue? Did they not afford a
ray of light to reviving art? Were they not in painting what the two
Guidos were in poetry, who, however much surpassed by Dante, are
entitled to the first place in a history of our poets? Vasari would
therefore have acted better had he followed the example of Pliny, who
commences with the rude designers, Ardices of Corinth, and Telephanes of
Sicyon; he then minutely narrates the invention of Cleophantes the
Corinthian, who coloured his designs with burnt earth; next, that of
Eumarus the Athenian, who first represented the distinction of age and
sex. Then comes that of Cimon of Cleonae, who first expressed the various
attitudes of the head, and aimed at representing the truth, even in the
joints of the fingers and the folds of the garments. Thus, the merits of
each city, and every artist, appear in ancient history; and it seems to
me just, that the same should be done, as far as possible, in modern
history. These observations may, at present, suffice in regard to a
subject that has been made a source of complaint and dispute among many
writers.
Nevertheless it cannot be denied that there is no city to which painting
is more indebted than to Florence, nor any name more proper to mark an
epoch, whatever may be the opinion of Padre della Valle,[43] than that
of Cimabue. The artists whom I have before mentioned had few followers;
their schools, with the exception of that of Siena, languished, and were
either gradually dispersed, or united themselves to that of Florence.
This school in a short time eclipsed every other, and has continued to
flourish in a proud succession of artists, uninterrupted even down to
our own days. Let us then trace it from its commencement.
Giovanni Cimabue, descended from illustrious ancestors,[44] was both an
architect and a painter. That he was the pupil of Giunta is conjectured
in our times, only because the Greeks were less skilful than the
Italians. It ought to be a previous question, whether the supposed
scholar and master ever resided in the same place, which it would seem,
after the observations before adduced, can scarcely be admitted.[45] It
appears from history, that he learnt the art from some Greeks who were
invited to Florence, and painted in S. Maria Novella, according to
Vasari. It is an error to assert that they painted in the chapel of the
Gondi, which was built a century after, together with the church; it was
certainly in another chapel, under the church, where those Greek
paintings were covered with plaister, and their place supplied by
others, the work of a painter of the thirteenth century.[46]
Not long since a part of the new plaister fell down, and some of the
very rude figures of those Greek painters became again visible. It is
probable that Cimabue imitated them in early life, and perhaps at that
time painted the S. Francesco and the little legends which surround it
in the church of S. Croce. But, if I mistake not, it is doubtful who
painted this picture; at least it neither has the manner nor the
colouring of the works of Cimabue, even when young. I may refer to the
S. Cecilia, with the implements of her martyrdom, in the church
dedicated to that Saint, and which was afterwards removed to that of San
Stefano, a picture greatly superior to that of S. Francesco.
However this may be, like other Italians of his age, Giovanni got the
better of his Greek education, which seems to have consisted in one
artist copying another without ever adding any thing to the practice of
his master. He consulted nature, he corrected in part the rectilinear
forms of his design, he gave expression to the heads, he folded the
drapery, and he grouped the figures with much greater art than the
Greeks. His talent did not consist in the graceful. His Madonnas have no
beauty, his angels in the same piece have all the same forms. Wild as
the age in which he lived, he succeeded admirably in heads full of
character, especially in those of old men, impressing an indescribable
degree of bold sublimity, which the moderns have not been able greatly
to surpass. Vast and inventive in conception, he executed large
compositions, and expressed them in grand proportions. His two great
altar-pieces of the Madonna, at Florence, the one in the church of the
Dominicans, the other in that of the Trinity, with the grand figures of
the prophets, do not give so good an idea of his style as his fresco
paintings in the church of Assisi, where he appears truly magnificent
for the age in which he lived. In these histories of the Old and New
Testament, such as remain, he appears an Ennius, who, amid the rudeness
of Roman epic poetry, gave flashes of genius not displeasing to a
Virgil. Vasari speaks of him with admiration for the vigour of his
colouring, and justly so of the pictures in the ceiling. They are still
in a good state of preservation, and although some of the figures of
Christ, and of the Virgin in particular, retain much of the Greek
manner, others representing the Evangelists, and Doctors instructing the
Monks of the Franciscan Order, from their chairs, exhibit an originality
of conception and arrangement that does not appear in contemporary
works. The colouring is bold, the proportions are gigantic even in the
distance, and not badly preserved; in short, painting may there be said
to have almost advanced beyond what the mosaic worker at first attempted
to do. The whole of these, indeed, are steps in the progress of the
human intellect not to be recounted in one history, and form beyond
question the distinguishing excellence of the Florentine artist, when
put into competition with either the Pisans or the Sienese. Nor do I
perceive how, after the authority of Vasari, who assigns the work of the
ceiling to Cimabue, confirmed by the tradition of five centuries, P.
della Valle is justified at this day, in ascribing that painting to
Giotto, a painter of a milder genius. If he was induced to prefer other
artists to Cimabue, because they gave the eyes less fierceness, and the
nose a finer shape, these circumstances appear to me too insignificant
to degrade Cimabue from that rank which he enjoys in impartial
history.[47] He has moreover asserted, that Cimabue neither promoted nor
injured the Florentine school by his productions, a harsh judgment, in
the opinion of those who have perused so many old writers belonging to
the city who have celebrated his merits, and of those who have studied
the works of the Florentine artists before his time, and seen how
greatly Cimabue surpasses them.
If Cimabue was the Michelangiolo of that age, Giotto was the Raffaello.
Painting, in his hands, became so elegant, that none of his school, nor
of any other, till the time of Masaccio, surpassed, or even equalled
him, at least in gracefulness of manner. Giotto was born in the country,
and was bred a shepherd; but he was likewise born a painter; and
continually exercised his genius in delineating some object or other
around him. A sheep which he had drawn on a flat stone, after nature,
attracted the notice of Cimabue, who by chance passed that way: he
demanded leave of his father to take him to Florence, that he might
afford him instruction; confident, that in him, he was about to raise up
a new ornament to the art. Giotto commenced by imitating his master, but
quickly surpassed him. An Annunciation, in the possession of the Fathers
of Badia, is one of his earliest works. The style is somewhat dry, but
shews a grace and diligence, that announced the improvement we
afterwards discern. Through him symmetry became more chaste, design more
pleasing, and colouring softer than before. The meagre hands, the sharp
pointed feet, and staring eyes, remnants of the Grecian manner, all
acquired more correctness under him.
It is not possible to assign the cause of this transition, as we are
able to do in the case of later painters; but it is reasonable to
conclude that it was not wholly produced, even by the almost divine
genius of this artist, unaided by adventitious circumstances. There is
no necessity for sending him, as some have done, to be instructed at
Pisa; his history does not warrant it, and an historian is not a
diviner. Much less ought we to refer him to the school of F. Jacopo da
Turrita, and give him Memmi and Lorenzetti for fellow pupils, who are
not known to have been in Rome when F. Jacopo was distinguished for his
best manner. But P. della Valle thinks he discovers in Giotto's first
painting, the style and composition of Giunta, (Preface to Vasari, p.
17,) and in the pictures of Giotto at S. Croce, in Florence, which "_he
has meditated upon a hundred times_," he recognizes F. Jacopo, and finds
"_reason for opining_" that he was the master of Giotto. (Vide tom. ii.
p. 78.) When a person becomes attached to a system, he often sees and
opines what no one else can possibly see or opine. In the same manner
Baldinucci wished to refer to the school of Giotto, one Duccio da Siena,
Vital di Bologna, and many others, as will be noticed; and he too argues
upon a resemblance of style, which, to say truth, neither I nor any one
I know can perceive. If I cannot then agree with Baldinucci, can I value
his imitator? and more particularly as it is no question here of Vitale,
or any other artist of mediocrity, almost unknown to history, but of
Giotto himself. Is it likely, with a genius such as his, and born in an
age not wholly barbarous, with the advantages enjoyed under Cimabue,
especially in point of colouring, that he would take Giunta for his
model, or listen to the instruction of Fra Mino, in order to excel his
master. Besides, what advantage can be obtained from thus disturbing the
order of chronology, violating history, and rejecting the tradition of
Giotto's native school, in order to account for his new style?
It is most probable that, as the great Michelangiolo, by modelling and
studying the antique, quickly surpassed in painting his master,
Ghirlandaio, the same occurred with regard to Giotto. It is at least
known that he was also a sculptor, and that his models were preserved
till the time of Lorenzo Ghiberti. Nor was he without good examples.
There were specimens of antique sculpture at Florence, which may be yet
seen near the cathedral, (not to mention those which he afterwards saw
at Rome); and their merit, then already established by the practice of
Niccola and Giovanni of Pisa, could not be unknown to Giotto, to whom
nature had granted such a taste for the exquisite and the beautiful.
When one contemplates some of his heads of men; some of his forms,
proportioned far beyond the littleness of his contemporaries; his taste
in flowing, natural, and becoming drapery; some of his attitudes after
the manner of the antique, breathing grace and tranquillity, it is
scarce possible to doubt that he derived no small advantage from ancient
sculpture. His very defects discover this. A good writer (the author of
the Guide of Bologna) remarks in him a style which partakes of statuary,
contrary to the practice of contemporary foreign artists; a circumstance
very common, as we shall observe, under the Roman school, to those
painters who designed from statues. I shall be told that he probably
derived assistance from the sculpture of the two Pisani; especially as
Baldinucci has discovered a strong resemblance between his style and
that of Giovanni, and some others also have noticed the circular
compositions, the proportions and casting of the drapery which one
perceives in the basso-relievos of the early Pisan school. I would not
deny that he also availed himself of them; but it was perhaps in the
manner that Raffaello profited by Michelangiolo, whose example taught
him to imitate the antique. Nor let it be objected to me that the
dryness of the design, the artifice of concealing the feet by long
garments, the inaccuracy of the extremities, and similar defects, betray
rather a Pisan than an Attic origin. This only proves, that when he
became the founder of a style, he did not aim at giving it the
perfection of which it was susceptible, and which it could hardly be
expected to obtain amid the numerous avocations in which he appears to
have been engaged; in short, I cannot persuade myself, that without the
imitation of the antique, he could in so short a time have made such a
progress, as to have been admired even by Bonarruoti himself.[48]
The first histories of the patriarch S. Francesco, at Assisi, near the
paintings of his master, shew how greatly he excelled him. As his work
advanced he became more correct; and towards the conclusion, he already
manifested a design more varied in the countenances, and improved in the
extremities; the features are more animated, the attitudes more
ingenious, and the landscape more natural. To one who examines them with
attention, the composition appears the most surprising; a branch of the
art, in which he seems not only to surpass himself, but even sometimes
appears unrivalled. In many historical pictures, he often aimed at
ornamenting with buildings, which he painted of a red, or azure, or a
yellow, the colours employed in staining houses, or of a dazzling white,
in imitation of Parian marble. One of his best pictures in this work is
that of a thirsty person, to the expression of which scarcely any thing
could be added by the animating pencil of Raffaello d'Urbino himself.
With similar skill he painted in the inferior church, and this is
perhaps the best performance which has reached our times, though
specimens remain in Ravenna, in Padua, in Rome, in Florence, and in
Pisa. It is assuredly the most spirited of all, for he has there, with
the most poetical images, depicted the saint shunning vice, and a
follower of virtue; it is my opinion that he here gave the first example
of symbolical painting, so familiar to his best followers.
His inventions, which, according to the custom of the age, were employed
in scripture history, are repeated by him in nearly the same style in
several places; and are generally most pleasing when the proportions of
the figures are the least. His small pictures of the Acts of St. Peter
and St. Paul, with some representations of our Saviour, and of various
saints, in the sacristy of the Vatican, appear most elegant and highly
finished miniatures; as likewise are some others in the church of the
Holy Cross at Florence, taken from scriptural history, or from the life
of St. Francis. The real art of portrait painting commenced with him; to
whom we are indebted for correct likenesses of Dante, of Brunetto
Latini, and of Corso Donati. It was indeed before attempted, but,
according to Vasari, no one had succeeded. He also improved the art of
working in mosaic; a piece wrought by him in the Navicella, or ship of
St. Peter, may be seen in the portico of that cathedral; but it has been
so much repaired, that now the design is wholly different, and appears
the work of another artist. It is believed that the art of miniature
painting, so much prized in that age for the ornamenting of missals,
received great improvement from him.[49] Architecture undoubtedly did;
the admirable belfry of the cathedral of Florence is the work of Giotto.
After collecting all the notices he could of the scholars of Cimabue and
Giotto, Baldinucci endeavours to make us believe that all the benefits
which accrued to painting, sculpture, and architecture in Italy, and
even throughout the world, came directly or indirectly from Florence.
The following is the manner in which he expresses himself in his first
pages, with the proofs which he adduces. "During my researches, I have
ascertained beyond all doubt the truth of an opinion I always considered
as indisputable, and which is not controverted by respectable ancient
historians; that these arts in the first place were restored by Cimabue
and Giotto, and afterwards diffused over the world by their disciples;
and I conceived the idea of making it evident by the help of a tree,
which at a glance might shew their progress from the earliest to the
present times." He published the first small part of this tree, just as
I exhibit it to the reader; and promised in each succeeding volume to
give another part, that would establish the connexion with the principal
root (Cimabue), or with the branches derived from it; a promise from
which he adroitly delivered himself; therefore we are without any more
than these few branches that follow:
CIMABUE.
_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
Arnolfo, | | | | Oderigi,
| Gaddo. Tafi, Giotto, Ugolino. |
| | | Franco
F. Ristoro, | | Bolognese,
F. Sisto, Fra Mino, Gio. Pisano a miniature
and a worker a sculptor painter.
F. Giovanni, in and
architects. mosaic. architect.
But with all his pains he has not satisfied the public expectation, as
is observed by Signor Piacenza, who published the splendid Turin edition
of Baldinucci as far as the life of Franciabigio, accompanied with very
useful notes and dissertations.[50] It is alleged, that to make this
tree fair and flourishing, he has inserted in it branches dexterously
stolen from his neighbours, who have not failed to reclaim their
property. I rejoice to write in an age when the opinions of Baldinucci
have few followers even in Florence. The excellent work entitled
"_Etruria Pittrice_," composed and applauded in that city in proportion
as it is free from the prejudice of former times, proves this
sufficiently. Following in like manner the light of history and of
reason, unswayed by party spirit, I shall in the first place observe,
that among all the scholars of Cimabue, I do not find any named by
Vasari, but Giotto and Arnolfo di Lapo, concerning whom it is certain
that the historian was in error. Lapo and Arnolfo are the names of two
different sculptors, _disciples_ of Niccolo Pisano, who, being already
versed in the art, assisted him in 1266 to adorn with history pieces the
pulpit of the cathedral at Siena, an authentic document of which remains
in the archives of the work.[51] Thus this branch of the tree belongs to
Pisa, unless Cimabue have a claim to it, by contributing in some degree
to the instruction of Arnolfo in the principles of architecture. Andrea
Tafi was the pupil of Apollonius, a Greek artist, and assisted him in
the church of St. John, in some pieces of mosaic, from scriptural
history, which, according to Vasari, are without invention and without
design; but he improved as he proceeded, for the last part of the work
was less despicable than the beginning. Cimabue is not named in these
works, nor in what Tafi afterwards executed without assistance; and as
he was old when Cimabue began to teach, I cannot conceive how he can be
reckoned the scholar of the latter, or a branch from that root. Gaddo
Gaddi, says Vasari, was contemporary with Cimabue, and was his intimate
friend, as well as that of Tafi; through their friendship he received
hints for his improvement in mosaic. At first he followed the manner of
the Greeks, mingled with that of Cimabue. After long working in this
manner, he went to Rome, and there improved his style, while employed on
the facade of S. Maria Maggiore, by his own genius, assisted in my
opinion by imitating the ancient workers in mosaic. He also painted some
altar-pieces, and I saw at Florence one of his crucifixions, of a square
figure, and very respectable workmanship. This circumstance induces me
to consider Gaddo, in some measure, among the imitators of Cimabue, but
not one of his pupils; for it appears to me unjust, should a
contemporary communicate with an artist either as a friend, or for the
sake of advice on the art, to set him immediately down as a branch from
that stock. Vasari relates of Ugolino Senese, that he was a tenacious
follower of the Greek style, and inclined more to imitate Cimabue than
Giotto. He does not on this account, indeed, expressly say, that he had
been his scholar; he rather hints that he had other instructors at
Siena, for which reason it will be better to consider him under that
school, there being no reason to doubt that he belonged to it. In that
of Bologna we should also class Oderigo, who, as a miniature painter,
was more likely to employ some other master than a painter in fresco
like Cimabue. In the mean time it is useful to reflect, that were the
method of Baldinucci to be pursued, nothing authentic would remain in a
history of painting; and the schools of the early masters would increase
beyond all limits, were the scholars of each master to be confounded
with his friends, acquaintances, and contemporaries, who paid attention
to his maxims.
It is still more strange to peruse the account of the connexion between
the first and secondary branches of the tree, or if one may use the
expression, between the children and grandchildren of Cimabue. There is
nothing natural in their succession, and the labour is wholly useless
which derives the professors of every fine art, of whatever country,
past, present, and to come, from one individual. F. Ristoro and F. Sisto
were eminent architects, who rebuilt the grand bridges of the Carraja
and the Holy Trinity, about 1264, when Cimabue was twenty-four years of
age. Baldinucci writes of both, that they were, perhaps, disciples or
imitators of Arnolfo, from the state of their works. But how comes he to
found on a _perhaps_, what he, a little before, had vaunted as a _clear
demonstration_? And then, on what does this _perhaps_ rest? Is it not
more probable that Arnolfo, and Cimabue himself, imitated them? That Fra
Mino da Turrita should appear in his tree as a scholar of Tafi, and as
posterior to Cimabue, is no less absurd. In 1225, a date omitted by
Baldinucci, Mino wrought in mosaic at Florence, fifteen years before
Cimabue was born. In his old age he commenced a similar work in the
cathedral of Pisa, "in the same style in which he had executed his other
labours," says Vasari, who adds, that Tafi and Gaddi (both his inferiors
in age and reputation) assisted him. The work was "little more than
begun," from which we may infer that they were not long associated. It
seems to me extraordinary how Baldinucci could assert, "it appears that
Vasari imagined that Mino was the pupil of Andrea Tafi," which is
contrary to fact: instead of the "_clear demonstration_," which he
promised, he has amused us with "_it appears_," which is evident only to
himself. At length, wishing to make us believe that Giovanni Pisano the
sculptor is a _pupil_ of Giotto the painter, he again turns to Vasari,
from whom he brings evidence that Giovanni, having completed his work in
the cathedral of Arezzo, and being then established at Orvieto, came to
Florence to examine the architecture of S. Maria del Fiore, and to
become acquainted with Giotto: he further notices two pieces which he
executed at Florence, the one a Madonna between two little angels, over
the gate of the cathedral; the other a small baptism of St. John; this
happened in 1297. Here Baldinucci hazards a reflection, that "if one
compares the other works of this artist with the above mentioned figure
of the Virgin Mary ... we may recognize in it such improvement ... and
so much of the manner of Giotto, that there cannot remain a doubt but he
is to be reckoned a disciple of this master, both in respect of his
imitation of him, and his observance of his precepts, _which he followed
during so many years in the exercise of the profession_." Every
attentive reader will discover here not a clear demonstration of the
assumption, but a mass of difficulties. He compares this to the other
figures made by Pisano at Florence, before he was acquainted with
Giotto; and yet this was the first which he there executed. He wishes to
make Giovanni, already sixty years of age, an imitator of Giotto, then
twenty-one, when it is much more probable that Giotto would follow him,
the best sculptor of the age. There is no foundation for the supposed
instruction which Giovanni received from Giotto, who, shortly after,
departed for Rome; where, after some other works, he executed the mosaic
of the _boat_ in 1298. In short, the whole question of preceptorship
rests on no better authority than a single figure. How great are the
inconsistencies in this account, and how absurd the explanations and
repetitions which are offered! What further shall we say? Is it not
lamentable thus to see so many old and honoured artists compelled, in
spite of history, to become pupils to masters so much younger and less
celebrated than themselves? I know that various writers have censured
Baldinucci as an historian of doubtful fidelity, artful in concealing or
misrepresenting facts, captious in expounding the opinions of Vasari,
and more intent on captivating than instructing his readers. I am not
ignorant that his system was controverted even in his own country, as
appears from his work published there, entitled _Delle Veglie_; and that
Signor Marmi, a learned Florentine, strongly suspected his fair dealing,
of which we shall adduce a proof under the Sienese school. Nevertheless
I take into account that he wrote in an age less informed in regard to
the history of painting, and that he defended an opinion then much more
common in Italy than at present. He had promised Cardinal Leopoldo de'
Medici to demonstrate it incontrovertibly for the honour of his country,
and of the house of Medici, and had received advice and assistance from
him in order to encourage him to defend it, and to refute the contrary
opinion. Under the necessity of answering Malvasia,[52] a severe writer
against Vasari, and of proving his assertion, that the people of
Bologna, no less than those of Siena, of Pisa, and other places, had
learned the art from the Florentines, he formed a false system, the
absurdity of which he did not immediately perceive; but he at last
discovered it, as Signor Piacenza observes, and succeeded in escaping
from its trammels. The most ingenious builders of systems have subjected
themselves very frequently to the same disadvantage, and the history of
literature abounds with similar instances.
Having examined this sophism, I cannot subscribe to the opinion of
Baldinucci; but shall comprise my own opinion in two propositions:--The
first is, That the improvement of painting is not due to Florence alone.
It has been remarked, that the career of human genius, in the progress
of the fine arts, is the same in every country. When the man is
dissatisfied with what the child learned, he gradually passes from the
ruder elements to what is less so, and from thence, to diligence and
precision; he afterwards advances to the grand, and the select, and at
length attains facility of execution.
Such was the progress of sculpture among the Grecians, and such has been
that of painting in our own country. When Correggio advanced from
laborious minuteness to grandeur, it was not necessary for him to know
that such was the progress of Raffaello, or, at any rate, to have
witnessed it: in like manner, nothing more was wanting to the painters
of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, than to learn that hitherto
they had pursued a wrong path; this was sufficient to guide them into a
better path, and it was not then untried; for sculpture had already
improved design. We have, in fact, seen the Pisani, and their scholars,
preceding the Florentines; and, as their precursors, diffusing a new
system of design over Italy. It would be injustice to overlook them in
the improvement of painting, in which design is of such importance; or
to suppose that they did not signally contribute to its improvement. But
if Italy be indebted solely to Cimabue and Giotto for its progress, all
the good artists should have come from Florence. And yet, in the
cathedral of Orvieto (to instance the finest work, perhaps, of that
age), we find, from the beginning of the fourteenth century, many
artists from various other places, who would not have been called to
ornament such a building, had they not previously enjoyed the reputation
of able masters.[53] Add to this, if we are to derive all painters from
those two masters, every style of painting should resemble that of their
Florentine disciples. But on examining the old paintings of Siena, of
Venice, of Bologna, and of Parma, they are found to be dissimilar in
idea, in choice of colouring, and in taste of composition. All, then,
are not derived from Florence.
My second proposition is, That no people then excelled in, nor
contributed, by example, so much to the progress of art as the
Florentines. Rival cities may boast artists of merit, even in the first
era of painting; their writers may deny the fame of Giotto and his
disciples; but truth is more powerful than declamation. Giotto was the
father of the new method of painting, as Boccaccio was called the father
of the new species of prose composition. After the time of the latter,
any subject could be elegantly treated of in prose; after the former,
painting could express all subjects with propriety. A Simon da Siena, a
Stefano da Firenze, a Pietro Laurati, added charms to the art; but they
and others owe to Giotto the transition from the old to a new manner. He
essayed it in Tuscany, and while yet a young man, greatly improved it,
to the general admiration of all classes. He did not leave Assisi until
called to Rome by Boniface VIII., nor did he take up his residence at
Avignon, until invited to France by Clement V. Before going there, he
was induced to stop at Padua, and on returning some years after, he
again resided at the same place. At that time many parts of Italy were
under a republican form of government; but abounded in potent families,
that bore sway in various quarters, and which, while adorning their
country, aimed at its subjugation. Giotto, beyond every other, was in
universal request, both at home and abroad. The Polentani of Ravenna,
the Malatesti of Rimino, the Estensi of Ferrara, the Visconti of Milan,
the Scala of Verona, Castruccio of Lucca, and also Robert, king of
Naples, sought to engage him with eagerness, and for some period
retained him in their service. Milan, Urbino, Arezzo, and Bologna, were
desirous to possess his works; and Pisa, that, in her _Campo Santo_,
afforded an opportunity for the choicest artists of Tuscany to vie with
one another,[54] as of old they contended at Corinth, and in Delphi,[55]
obtained from him those historic paintings from the life of Job, which
are greatly admired, though they are amongst his early productions. When
Giotto was no more, similar applause was bestowed on his disciples:
cities contended for the honour of inviting them, and they were even
more highly estimated than the native artists themselves. We shall find
Cavallini and Capanna in the Roman School; in that of Bologna the two
Faentini, Pace, and Ottaviano, with Guglielmo da Forli; Menabuoi at
Padua; Memmi, who was either a scholar or assistant of Giotto, at
Avignon; and we shall find traces of the successors of the same school
throughout all Italy. This work will indicate the names of some of them;
it will point out the style of others; without including the great
number who, in every province, have been withdrawn from our view, for
the purpose of replacing old pictures with others in the new manner.
Giotto thus became the model for students during the whole of the
fourteenth century, as was Raffaello in the sixteenth, and the Caracci
in the subsequent century: nor can I find a fourth manner that has been
so generally received in Italy as that of those three schools. There
have been some who, from the inspiration of their own genius, had
adopted a new manner, but they were little known or admired beyond the
precincts of their own country. Of the Florentines alone can it be
asserted, that they diffused the modern style from one extremity of
Italy to the other: in the restoration of painting, though not all, yet
the chief praise belongs to them; and this forms my second proposition.
I proceed more willingly to the sequel of my work, having escaped from
that part of it in which, amid the contradictory sentiments of authors,
I have often suspended my pen, mindful of the maxim, _Historia nihil
falsi audeat dicere, nihil veri non audeat_. Resuming the subject of
Florence, after the death of her great artist in 1336, I find painters
had there prodigiously multiplied, as I shall presently, from undoubted
testimony, proceed to prove. Not long afterwards, that is, in 1349, the
painters associated themselves into a religious fraternity, which they
denominated the Society of St. Luke, first established in S. Maria
Nuova, but afterwards in S. Maria Novella. This was not the first that
had arisen in Italy, as Baldinucci affirms: in 1290 there was a company
of painters previously established at Venice, of which St. Luke was the
patron, the laws of which, it is believed, are still preserved in the
church of St. Sophia.[56] But neither this, the Florentine, nor that of
Bologna, can be called academies for design; they were only the results
of Christian devotion, a sort of school, such as formerly existed, and
still exist in many of the arts. They did not consist of painters alone;
these always possessed the most elevated rank; but in the same place
were assembled artists "in metal and in wood, whose works partook, more
or less, of design;" as is related by Baldinucci, in describing the
Florentine association. In that of Venice were comprehended
basket-makers, gilders, and the lowest daubers; in that of Bologna were
included even saddlers, and scabbard-makers; who were only divided from
the painters by means of lawsuits and decisions. That unrefined age did
not as yet acknowledge the dignity of painting; it denominated those
artists master workmen, whom we now call professors of the art, and it
called shops what we name studies. I have often doubted, whether the
progress of the arts was so rapid among us as in Greece, because, there,
painting, either from the beginning or a very early era, was considered
as a liberal art: with us its dignity was much longer in being
acknowledged.
He who desires to discover the origin of those associations, will find
it in the works composed of different arts then most in use, of which I
shall treat somewhat fully, for the sake of illustrating the history. A
little above I mentioned basket-makers: at that time, all kinds of
furniture, such as cupboards, benches, and chests, were wrought by
mechanics, and then painted, especially when intended as the furniture
of new married women. Many ancient cabinet pictures have been cut out of
such pieces of furniture, and, by this means, preserved to later ages.
As for images on altars, through the whole of the fourteenth century,
they were not formed, as at present, on a separate piece from the
surrounding ornaments. There were made little altars, or dittici,[57] in
many parts of Italy, called _Ancone_; they first shaped the wood, and
laboriously ornamented it with carving. The design was conformed to the
Teutonic, or, as it is called, the Gothic architecture, seen in the
facades of churches built in that age. The whole work was a load of
minuteness, consisting of little tabernacles, pyramids, and niches; and
various doors and windows, with semi-circular and pointed arches, were
represented on the surface of the panel; a style very characteristic of
that period. I have sometimes there observed, in the middle, little
statues in mezzo-relievo.[58] Most frequently the painter designed these
figures or busts of saints: sometimes there were also prepared various
sorts of little forms, or moulds--formelle--in which to represent
histories. Often there was a step added to the little altar, where, in
several compartments, were likewise exhibited histories of our Saviour,
of the Virgin, and of the martyrs, either real or feigned.[59] Sometimes
various compartments were prepared, in which their lives were
represented. The carvers in wood were so vain of their craft, that they
often inscribed their own names before that of the painter.[60]
Even pictures for rooms were fashioned by the carvers into triangular
and square forms, which they surrounded with heavy borders, with rude
foliage, lace, or Arabesque ornaments around them. In that age, pictures
were rarely committed to canvass alone, though some such are to be seen
at Florence, and more among the Venetians and people of Bologna; but
panels were most frequently employed. The borders often inclosed
portions of canvass, not unfrequently of parchment, and sometimes of
leather, which, in all probability, were prepared by those who usually
wrought in such materials; and this is the reason why such artists, and
even in some instances saddlers, were sometimes associated with
painters.
History informs us that shields for war, or the tournament, and also
various equestrian accoutrements, as the saddles and trappings of
horses, were ornamented with painting, a custom which was retained till
the time of Francia, as Vasari mentions in his life; hence, armourers
and saddlers became associated with painters. Among them in like manner
might be included those who prepared walls for painting in fresco, and
who covered them with a reddish ground, which not unfrequently is still
discovered in the flaws. On this colour the figures were designed, and
such walls were the cartoons of the old masters. The stucco workers also
assisted them in those relieved ornaments we see in fresco paintings. I
believe they used moulds in those works, which seem nothing else than
globules, flowerets, and little stars, formed with a stamp, such as we
see on gilt plaister, on leather, on board, and on playing-cards. On
whatever substance they painted, some gold was usually added; with it
they ornamented the ground of their pictures, the glories of their
saints, their garments, and fringes. Although painters themselves were
skilled in such labours, it appears that they sought the assistance of
gilders, and therefore gilders were classed with painters, and like them
inscribed works with their names.
This was the practice of Cini and Saracini, just before recorded, and
particularly of a native of Ferrara, who, in the pictures of the
Vivarini, at Venice, subscribes his name before theirs. (_See Zanetti,
Pittura Ven._ p. 15.) And in the cathedral of Ceneda, below an
Incoronation of the Virgin, in which the artist did not care to exhibit
himself to posterity, the engraver, already noticed, left the following
inscription, which Signor Lorenzo Giustiniani, a Venetian patrician of
great taste and cultivation of mind, has very politely communicated to
me; "1438, A DI 10. FREVER CHRISTOFALO DA FERARA INTAJO."
Towards the end of the fourteenth century, when the gothic style was
disappearing from architecture, the design of the carvers improved, and
they began to erect over altars oblong panels, divided by partitions,
which were fashioned into pilasters, or small columns, and often between
these last feigned gates or windows, so that the ancona or altar bore
some resemblance to the facade of a palace or a church; over them was
placed a frieze, and above the frieze was a place like a stage with some
figures. The saints were placed below, and their histories were painted
in the compartments; and often there appeared their histories painted
upon some little form, or upon the steps. The partitions were gradually
removed, the proportions of the figures enlarged, and the saints were
disposed in a single piece around the throne of our Lord, not so erect
as formerly, after the manner of statues, but in different actions and
positions, a custom which prevailed even in the sixteenth century. The
practice of gilding grounds declined towards the end of the fifteenth
century, but it was increased on the garments, and fringes were never so
deep as at that period. About the close of that century gold was more
sparingly employed, and it was almost wholly abandoned in the following.
No little benefit would be conferred upon the art by any one who would
undertake to point out with accuracy what were the colours, gums, and
other mixtures employed by the Greeks. They were undoubtedly in
possession of the best methods transmitted to them by a tradition, which
though in some measure corrupted, was confessedly derived from their
ancestors. Even subsequent to the invention of oils, their colouring is
in some degree deserving of our admiration. In the Medicean Museum there
is a Madonna, subscribed with the following Latin inscription, _Andreas
Rico de Candia pinxit_, the forms of which are stupid, the folds
inelegant, and the composition coarse; but with all this, the colour is
so fresh, vivid, and brilliant, that there is no modern work that would
not lose by a comparison; indeed, the colouring is so extremely strong
and firm, that when tried with the iron, it does not liquefy, but rather
scales off, and breaks in minute portions. The frescos, likewise, of the
earliest Greek and Italian painters, are surprisingly strong, and more
particularly in upper than in lower Italy. There are some figures of
saints upon the pilasters of the church of San Niccolo, at Trevigi,
quite remarkable for their durability, an account of which is given in
the first volume of Padre Federici, (p. 188). I have understood from
professors that such a degree of _consistency_ must have been produced
by a certain portion of wax, which was employed at that period, as will
be explained in the subsequent chapter, on the subject of painting in
oil. It must, however, be admitted, that we are very little advanced in
these inquiries into the ancient methods of preparing colour. Were they
once satisfactorily explored, it would prove highly useful in the
restoration of ancient pictures, nor superfluous in regard to the
adoption of that firm, fused, and lucid colouring, which we shall have
occasion to commend in various Lombard and Venetian pictures, and more
especially in those of Coreggio.
These observations will not be useless to the connoisseur, who doubts
the age of a picture on which there are no characters. Where there are
letters he may proceed with still greater certainty. The letters
vulgarly called gothic, began to be used after the year 1200, in some
places more early than in others; and characters were loaded with a
superfluity of lines, through the whole of the fourteenth, until about
the middle of the fifteenth century, when the use of the Roman alphabet
was revived. What forms were adopted by artists in subscribing their
names, will be more conveniently explained in the course of a few pages
further. I have judged it proper to give here a sort of paleology of
painting; because inattention to this has been, and still is, a fruitful
source of error. The reader, however, may observe, that though the rules
here proposed, afford some light to resolve doubtful points, they are
not to be considered as infallible and universal, and he may further
recollect, that in matters of antiquity nothing is more dangerous and
ridiculous, than to form general rules, which a single example may be
sufficient to overthrow.
[Footnote 26: See Tiraboschi, _Storia della Litterat. Italiana_, towards
the end of tom. iv. See also the Dissertation of Lami on the Italian
painters and sculptors who flourished from the year 1000 to 1300; in the
Supplement to Vinci's _Trattato della Pittura_, printed at Florence in
1792; and see Moreni, P. iv. p. 108.]
[Footnote 27: See the Oration of Mon. Francesco Carrara _Delle Lodi
delle belle Arti_, Roma, 1758, 4to. with the accompanying Notes, in
which the two Bianchini, Marangoni, and Bottari, their illustrators, are
cited.]
[Footnote 28: Pointed out to me by Sig. D'Agincourt, a gentleman deeply
versed in antiquities of this sort.]
[Footnote 29: There were similar remains in the choir, the design of
which I have seen. They were covered over in 1733. Among other
curiosities was the portrait of the patriarch Popone, of the Emperor
Conrad, and his son Henry; the design, action, and characters, like the
mosaics at Rome; executed about the year 1030. See Bartoli, _Antichita
di Aquileja_, p. 369; and Altan, _Del vario Stato_, &c. p. 5.]
[Footnote 30: The figure of our Lady is retouched; but two miniatures
attached to it, are better preserved; the one represents a man, the
other a woman: and their drapery is in the costume of that period. The
figures are reversed in the engraving of them, which is published.]
[Footnote 31: See P. della Valle in the Preface to Vasari, p. 51.]
[Footnote 32: A few pictures by superior Greek artists, remain, which
are very good. Of this number is a Madonna, with a Greek inscription, at
the church of S. Maria in Cosmedin at Rome. There is also one at
Camerino said to have come from Smyrna; and I know of no Greek picture
in Italy better executed or better preserved.]
[Footnote 33: The lateral gate of bronze is of very rude workmanship, as
described by the Canon Martini, in his account of that temple, p. 85;
and by Sig. da Morrona, it is with much probability ascribed to the hand
of Bonanno Pisano. From Vasari's life of Arnalfo, we learn that the same
sculptor also executed the great gate of the Primaziale at Pisa, in
bronze, about the year 1180, subsequently destroyed by fire. That of
Santa Maria Nuova at Monreale, is likewise his. It is described by P.
del Giudice, in his account of that church, and bears the name of
Bonanno Pisano, with the date 1186. It is as rudely executed as the
preceding one at Pisa, as I am assured by the Cavalier Puccini,
accurately versed in every branch of the fine arts. If we wish to
estimate the merit of Niccola Pisano, we have only to compare these two
gates with the specimens which he gave us only a few years afterwards.]
[Footnote 34: Several specimens of similar productions also remain in
Sicily, particularly at Mazzerra and Girganti. At Palermo, the tomb of
the Empress Constance II. who died in the year 1222, is decorated with
an antique sculpture in basso relievo, representing a chase, which is
conjectured to represent that of AEneas and Dido, and which is well
engraved. See the work entitled, "I Regali Sepolchri del Duomo di
Palermo riconosciuti e illustrati. Nap. 1784."
Another specimen of this sort is said to be in the collection of Mr.
Blundell, at Ince.]
[Footnote 35: In the new Guide to Milan, Sig. Abate Bianconi observes,
"that these are beautiful works, and that nothing superior is to be seen
in any work of that age. Vasari, by omitting this very eminent Pisan,
and not mentioning these works, although he was according to his own
account at Milan, has given reason to believe, that he was not over
anxious in his researches." p. 215.
See also Giulini and Verri, as quoted by Sig. da Morrona in tom. i. pp.
199, 200.]
[Footnote 36: The mosaic school subsisted at Rome as early as the
eleventh and twelfth centuries. (See Musant. Fax Chronol. pp. 319, 338.)
In this the family of the Cosmati acquired great excellence. Adeodato di
Cosimo Cosmati employed himself in the church of St. Maria Maggiore, in
1290, (Guide to Rome); and several of the same name exercised their
talents in the cathedral of Orvieto. (See Valle Catalogo.) The whole of
these are preferred to the Greek mosaic workers, who were at the same
period engaged in decorating St. Mark's at Venice. (See Valle's Preface
to Vasari, p. 61.)]
[Footnote 37:
_Sancti Francisci Frater fuit hoc operatus
Jacobus in tali prae cunctis arte probatus_,
is the inscription on the mosaic.]
[Footnote 38: See _Pisa Illustrata_ of Signor da Morrona, tom. i. p.
224.]
[Footnote 39: Tom. ii. p. 127.]
[Footnote 40: In the sacristy of the Angioli is preserved the most
ancient portrait of San Francesco that is extant. It is painted on the
panel which served as the saint's couch until the period of his decease,
as we learn from the inscription. It is there supposed to be the work of
some Greek artist anterior to Giunta.]
[Footnote 41: See Signor Ab. Bettinelli, _Risorgimento d' Italia negli
studii, nelle arti, ne' costumi dopo il mille_, p. 192.]
[Footnote 42: To this list of early painters might perhaps be added the
name of Francesco Benani, by whom there is a whole length figure of St.
Jerome holding a crucifix in his hand. It possesses all the
characteristics attributed by Lanzi to this early age. Near the bottom
of the picture is a label, inscribed, Franciscus Benanus, Filius Petri
Ablada. The size of the picture is 2 feet 8 by 2 feet 2, on panel,
covered with gypsum. The vehicle of the colours is probably prepared
from eggs, which were usually employed for that purpose before the
invention of painting in oil, and to which an absorbent ground of lime
or gypsum seems to have been indispensable. It is surprising how well
the early pictures executed in this style have preserved their colouring
to the present day.]
[Footnote 43: This writer has thrown much light upon the history of our
early painters, from which I have derived and shall continue to derive,
much benefit; but in the heat of dispute, he has frequently depreciated
Cimabue in a way which I cannot approve. For instance, Vasari having
said, that "he contributed greatly to the perfection of the art," della
Valle asserts, that "he did it neither good nor harm;" and that having
closely examined the pictures of Cimabue, "he has found in them a ruder
style than appears in those of Giunta Pisano, of Guido da Siena, of
Jacopo da Turrita, &c." (tom. i. p. 235.) Of the two last I shall speak
elsewhere. With respect to the first, the writer contradicts himself
four pages after; when, commenting on another passage of the historian
relating to certain pictures of Cimabue, executed in Assisi in the
inferior church of S. Francesco, he says, that "he there, in his
opinion, surpassed Giunta Pisano." It is to be remembered that this was
his first work, or amongst the first that Cimabue painted in Assisi.
When he went thither, therefore, he was a better artist than Giunta.
How, then, when he worked in the superior church, in Assisi, and in so
many other places, did he become so bad a painter, and more uncouth than
Giunta himself?]
[Footnote 44: See Baldinucci, tom. i. p. 17, Florentine Edition, 1767,
where it is said that the Cimabuoi were also called _Gualtieri_.]
[Footnote 45: But see Baldinucci in _Veglia_, p. 87.]
[Footnote 46: We read, in the preface to the Sienese edition of Vasari's
Lives, (p. 17) as follows: "To Giunta and to the other artists of Pisa,
as heads of the school, was given the principal direction of adorning
the Franciscan church; and Cimabue and Giotto are known to have been
either disciples or assistants in their school, in which they produced
several important works. Giunta had the direction of his assistant as
long as he resided there, which may have been even subsequent to 1236.
But how are we to suppose that he could have been at Assisi so long as
to permit Cimabue (who was born in 1240, and went to Assisi about 1265)
to assist, to receive instructions from, and to succeed him? Such a
supposition is still more untenable as regards Giotto, who was invited
to Assisi many years afterwards." (Vasari.)]
[Footnote 47: To the testimonies in favor of Cimabue, may be added one
of no little weight, from the manuscript given to the public a few years
since, by the Abbate Morelli. We there find that Cimabue painted in
Padua, in the church del Carmine, which was afterwards burnt; but that a
head of S. Giovanni, by him, being rescued from the flames, was inserted
in a frame, and preserved in the house of Alessandro Capella. Would a
painter, who had done neither good nor harm to the Florentine school,
and to the art, have been invited to Padua? Would the remains of his
works have been held in such esteem? Would he have been so highly
valued, after so great a lapse of time, by Vasari, to whose arts he
seems to wish to ascribe the reputation of Cimabue. Other proofs of this
reputation may be seen in the defence of Vasari, in the present Book,
third Epoch. The writer of history ought completely to divest himself of
the love of system and party spirit.]
[Footnote 48: Vasari, tom. i. p. 322.]
[Footnote 49: A book is mentioned by Baldinucci ornamented by Giotto
with miniatures, with histories from the Old Testament, and presented to
the vestry of St. Peter, by Cardinal Stefaneschi; of this he neither
adduces any proof, nor can I find any record. From the evidence, rather,
of an existing necrology, where, among the presents made by Stefaneschi
to the cathedral, the pictures and the mosaic by Giotto are noticed
without any other work of this artist, the gift of the book is very
doubtful. See Sig. Ab, Cancellieri _De Secretariis Veteris Basilicae
Vaticanae_, p. 859, and 2464. Some miniatures of the martyrdom and
miracles of St. George, in another book, are ascribed to him; but I am
uncertain whether there is any ancient document for this; and they
might, possibly, be the work of Simone da Siena, who is often confounded
with him.]
[Footnote 50: See his first volume, pp. 131 and 202; and also P. della
Valle in the preface to Vasari, p. 27; also Signor da Morrona in his
Pisa Illustrata, p. 154; besides many other authors.]
[Footnote 51: D. Valle's preface to Vasari, p. 36.]
[Footnote 52: We may observe, that Malvasia is the champion, not only of
Bologna, but of Italy, and of all Europe. At page 11, volume first, he
has quoted a passage from Filibien, which proves that design always
maintained itself in France, even in rude ages, and that at the time of
Cimabue it was there equally respectable as in Italy.]
[Footnote 53: A catalogue of them is given in P. della Valle, in his
history of that Church, and is republished in the Sienese edition of
Vasari, at the end of the second volume.]
[Footnote 54: This place, which will ever do high honour to the
magnificence of the Pisans, would be an inestimable museum, if the
pictures there, executed by Giotto, by Memmi, by Stefano Florentino, by
Buffalmacco, by Antonio Veneziano, by the two Orcagni, by Spinello
Aretino, and by Laurati, had been carefully preserved; but the greatest
number having been injured by dampness, were repaired, but with
considerable judgment, within the century.]
[Footnote 55: Plin. xxxv. 9.]
[Footnote 56: Zanet. p. 3.]
[Footnote 57: It was a very ancient practice of Christian worship to
place the silver, or ivory dittici, upon the altars during the service
of the mass, and when the sacred ceremony was over, they were folded up
in the manner of a book, and taken elsewhere. The same figure was
retained, even in the introduction of the largest altar pieces, which
likewise consisted of two wings, and were portable. This custom, of
which I have seen few remnants in Italy, has been long preserved in the
Greek church. At length, by degrees, artists began to paint upon one
whole panel. (_See Buonarroti Vetri Antichi_, p. 258, &c.)]
[Footnote 58: In Torrello, one of the Venetian isles, there is an
ancient image of St. Hadrian, which is tolerably carved, and around it
the history of the saint is depicted: the style is feeble, but not
Grecian.]
[Footnote 59: I notice this peculiarity, because the histories, either
painted or engraved, belonging to those early times, are apt to perplex
us; nor can they be cleared up without having recourse to books of
fiction, which were, in those less civilized periods, believed. In the
acts of our Saviour, and of the Virgin, it may be useful to consult Gio.
Alberto Fabrizio, in the collection entitled "_Codex Apocr. Novi
Testamenti_;" in the acts of the apostles and martyrs, it is not so much
their real history, as the legends, either manifestly false or
suspected, as recounted by the Bollandisti, that will throw light upon
the subject.]
[Footnote 60: See Vasari in the life of Spinello Aretino: "Simone Cini,
a Florentine, carved it, it was gilt by Gabriello Saracini, and Spinello
di Luca of Arezzo, painted it in the year 1385." A similar signature may
be seen in Pittura Veneziana, page 15.]
FLORENTINE SCHOOL.
EPOCH I.
_Florentine Painters who lived after Giotto to the end of
the fifteenth century._
SECT. II.