After Giotto's return to Florence, about 1325, Robert, King of Naples,
wrote to his son Charles, King of Calabria, who was then in Florence,
desiring that he would by all means send Giotto to him at Naples, to
decorate the church and convent of Santa Clara, which he had just
completed, and desired to have adorned with noble paintings. Giotto
readily accepted this flattering invitation from so great and renowned a
monarch, and immediately set out to do him service. He was received at
Naples with every mark of distinction, and executed many subjects from
the old and New Testaments in the different chapels of the building. It
is said that the pictures from the Apocalypse, which he painted in one
of the chapels, were the inventions of Dante; but Dante was then dead,
and if Giotto derived any advantage from him, it must have been from
previous discussions on the subject. These works gave the greatest
satisfaction to the King, who munificently rewarded the artist, and
treated him with great kindness and extraordinary familiarity. Vasari
says that Giotto was greatly beloved by King Robert, who delighted to
visit him in his painting room, to watch the progress of his work, to
hear his remarks, and to hold conversation with him; for Giotto had a
ready wit, and was always as ready to amuse the monarch with his lively
conversation and witty replies as with his pencil. One day the King said
to him, "Giotto, I will make you the first man in Naples," to which
Giotto promptly replied, "I am already the first man in Naples; for this
reason it is that I dwell at the Porta Reale." At another time the King,
fearing that he would injure himself by overworking in the hot season,
said to him, "Giotto, if I were in your place, now that it is so hot, I
would give up painting for a time, and take my rest." "And so would I
do, certainly," replied Giotto, "were I the King of Naples." One day the
King to amuse himself, desired Giotto to _paint his kingdom_. The
painter drew an ass carrying a packsaddle loaded with a crown and
sceptre, while a similar saddle, also bearing the ensigns of royalty,
lay at his feet; these last were all new, and the ass scented them,
with an eager desire to change them for those he bore. "What does this
signify, Giotto?" enquired the King. "Such is thy kingdom," replied
Giotto, "and such thy subjects, who are every day desiring a new lord."