Nature, in a most unusual freak, had married in him the most graceful mind and the kindest heart to a form and visage of repulsive ugliness-ugliness so repulsive as to have been emphatically noticed by every one of his great contemporaries—by Petrarch in his Familiar Letters, by Boccaccio in the Decameron, and by Dante in a colloquy with the painter himself, recorded traditionally by a commentator of the fourteenth century.* But, on the other hand,

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*"Accidit autem semel, quòd dum Giottus pingeret Paduæ, adhuc satis juvenis, unam Capellam in loco ubi fuit olim Theatrum sive Arena, Dantes pervenit ad locum. Quem Giottus honorificè acceptum duxit ad domum suam. Ubi Dantes videns plures infantulos ejus summè deformes, et (ut citò dicam) patri simillimos, petivit, 'Egregie Magister! nimis miror, quòd quum in arte Pictoriâ dicamini non habere parem, unde est quòd alias figuras facitis tam formosas, vestras verò tam turpes?' - Cui Giottus subridens præstò respondit, Quia pingo de die, sed fingo de nocte.' "a Benvenuti Imolensis Comment. in Dantis Comad. ap. Muratori, Antiq. Ital. Medii Ævi, tom. i, p. 1185. -To the same effect Petrarch,- "Duos ego novi pictores egregios nec formosos, Jottum Florentinum civem, cujus inter modernos fama ingens est, et Simonem Senensem." Epist. Famil. lib. v, ep. xvii.—And Boccaccio,-" Egli avviene spesso, che, sì come la fortuna sotto vili arti alcuna volta grandissimi tesori di virtù nasconde,...cosi ancora sotto turpissime forme d' uomini si truovano maravigliosi ingegni dalla natura essere stati riposti. La qual cosa assai apparve in due nostri cittadini,. .l' uno il quale Messer Forese da Rabatta fu chiamato, essendo di persona piccolo e sformato, con viso piatto, e ricagnato, che a qualunque de' Baronci più trasformato l' ebbe, sarebbe stato sozzo, . .e l' altro, il cui nome fu Giotto,.. Ma quantunque la sua arte fosse grandissima, non era egli perciò, nè di persona, nè d' aspetto, in niuna cosa più bello che fosse Messer Forese." Decam. Giorn. vi, nov. 5.

a The same story is told of an ancient painter, L. Mallius, "qui optimus pictor Romæ habebatur," Macrob. Sat. 2, 2, quoted by Sillig,

VOL. II.

Dict. of Ancient Artists. But this does not weaken the testimony to Giotto's ugliness.

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his conversation overflowed with humour and sparkled with repartee; no man told a story with more point or elegance; his manner was kindness and courtesy itself and when we are informed, in addition to this, that he was a man thoroughly "dabbene," without a shadow of envy, and no less excellent a Christian than a painter, we cannot wonder that he should have been popular everywhere and loved by every one, and have even become, dissimilar as were the broad outlines of their respective characters, the personal friend of the lovers of Beatrice and of Laura. Much of this intellectual and moral character is perceptible in the bust of Giotto, erected to his memory by Lorenzo de' Medici, in the Duomo. He appears there with a full cheek, under-jawed, with compressed lips, ready apparently to break into a smile,-the general cast of the features firm and decided, yet full of fun. But no doubt the general ugliness has been softened down in this more recent version of his lineaments.

I may close this first period of Giotto's career with two events of importance in his life, and which certainly preceded his first expedition to Lombardy,― his attainment of the full rank of Magister, or master in his craft*-a title which, Boccaccio tells us, he

* A picture of the Virgin and child, attended by S. Peter and S. Paul, and the archangels Michael and Gabriel, painted for Bologna, originally in several compartments, now divided between that town and Milan, and inscribed 'Opus Magistri Jocti Florent.,' is so strongly marked with the characteristics of Giotto's style, (the eye elongated to caricature, the dignified but

*

ever, out of his extreme modesty, declined to use and his marriage to Ciuta di Lapo,† a lady of whose character and personal appearance nothing is known, except that her beauty, if she possessed any, failed to neutralise the evil influence of his own uncomeliness on the outward mould of their mutual progeny; his children were (at least in infancy) little lumps of deformity, as hideous as himself.‡

harsh features, the pale colouring, &c.,) that, but for the epithet 'Magister,' I should consider it one of his earliest works. This picture may have been painted on his road to Padua. Longhi, in his republication of Malvasia's Guide to Bologna, tells us that Giotto was eight months there, painting this picture,-Il Passeggiere Disingannato, p. 363, edit. 1782.-He does not give any authority. See Förster's observations, Beiträge, &c., p. 143.

*Giotto..meritamente una delle luci della Fiorentina gloria dir si puote; e tanto più, quanto con maggiore umiltà, Maestro degli altri in ciò vivendo, quella acquistò, sempre rifiutando d' esser chiamato Maestro. Il quale titolo da lui tanto più in lui risplendeva, quanto con maggior disidero da quegli che men sapevano di lui o da' suoi discepoli era cupidamente usurpato." Giorn. vi, nov. 5.-Giotto signs himself Magister' in the Madonna mentioned in the preceding note, probably an early work. But in the S. Francis, once at Pisa, now in Paris, and certainly (see a note to Section fourth, infra,) a later picture, the inscription is simply, 'Opus Jocti.' In the legal papers cited by Baldinucci, Giotto, even during his life-time, is frequently designed, simply, 'Gioctus Pictor.'

† She was a Florentine lady, according to documents cited by Baldinucci, tom. i, p. 133, and they had several little children living while Giotto was painting at Padua; see supra, p. 177,

note.

This appears from the story told by Benvenuto of Imola, already cited. For particulars respecting Giotto's children, see his Life by Baldinucci.

SECTION 2.-Second Period-Giotto's first visit to

Lombardy.

WE may now accompany Giotto on his visit to Lombardy in and about the year 1306. He has been well described as pilgrimising over Italy, scattering in every district the seeds of art, destined to flourish and bear fruit long after he had himself passed away from the scene.*

*If the frescoes at Ravenna, attributed to Giotto, be really his, I have little doubt they were executed immediately subsequent to the Madonna of Bologna, and previous to the chapel of the Arena presently to be mentioned. They merit notice, whether attributable to the master's hand or not. In S. Giovanni della Sagra, the four Evangelists on the vault of the fourth chapel to the left are the only vestige of Giottesque workmanship, they have been sadly injured by restoration. The frescoes of S. Chiara I was unable to see, the church being suppressed, and the key in the custody of a man who, during the whole period of my stay, was absent at the Pineta, that limbo of all things mislaid or out of mind at Ravenna. But those of S. Maria in porto fuori are more accessible. According to tradition, the whole church was painted by Giotto, but time and white-wash have been busily at work, and the frescoes of the presbytery and of the chapel of S. Matthew, at the extremity of the Southern nave, are the only ones that repay a minute examination. In the former series, the history of the Virgin is abridged into six compartments, of which the Massacre of the Innocents, and her own Death are the most remarkable, the former for much invention and merit in the composition, the latter for the characteristic attitudes of the Apostles and the

a Vasari mentions as works of Giotto at Ravenna, "alcune storie in fresco intorno alla chiesa (di S. Francesco), che sono ragionevoli,"-and in S. Giovanni Evangelista, cappella a fresco."-According to M.

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Bernhard, author of the life of Giotto in the Biographie Universelle,' "Une seule des peintures qu'il exécuta alors à St. François subsiste encore; elle se voit sur un des murs extérieurs."

The great object of this expedition was to paint in fresco the chapel of the Arena at Padua, a most

beauty of the Virgin's face, and for the singularity, that the Saviour receiving his mother's soul in his arms is represented with the youthful face of the Catacombs and the ancient mosaics, the first and the last time, so far as I am aware, that Giotto (if the author) has adopted this idea. Other Byzantine reminiscences also occur here. The Massacre is broken by a pointedarched niche, within which Our Saviour is represented administering the Eucharist, presenting the wafer to S. Peter with his right hand, and the cup to S. Paul with the left, a composition strongly resembling that on the 'Dalmatica di S. Leone.' And a Martyrdom, in the chapel at the extremity of the Northern nave, is completely the traditional composition of the Menologion. But the frescoes in the chapel of S. Matthew, though much injured, are the most interesting. The First represents his call to the Apostolate, he is seated, a young man of a pleasing countenance, and wearing the same red falling cap worn by Dante in the chapel of the Bargello; he appears about to rise up and follow Our Saviour-an admirable figure, full of dignity, who turns away, signing to him most expressively. In the Second compartment, he is seen healing a multitude of sick and infirm people at the capital of Ethiopia, where, according to the legend, he preached the gospel after the dispersion of the Apostles; the attitudes and expression of the decrepid band are excellent. In the Third, almost destroyed, a large dragon is still visible, couching before him,—two magicians, we are told, then tyrannised over the country, and came to interrupt his preaching, each accompanied by his dragon, spitting fire from its mouth and nostrils; S. Matthew went forth to meet them, and making the sign of the cross, the monsters sank into slumber at his feet. Of the remaining compartments, the best preserved is the Sixth, representing the baptism of the young King and Queen, the crown of his ministry; both are in white, the King in front, the Queen, with braided hair and her hands meekly crossed, behind him. The two last compartments, the Seventh and Eighth, probably represented the Apostle's martyrdom thirty-five years afterwards, during which interval he had acted as bishop of the Church of Ethiopia; the lower compartment is quite effaced, in the lunette above it, angels are seen wafting.