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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/18371-8.txt b/18371-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0d74cdd --- /dev/null +++ b/18371-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3133 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Giotto and his works in Padua, by John Ruskin + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Giotto and his works in Padua + An Explanatory Notice of the Series of Woodcuts Executed + for the Arundel Society After the Frescoes in the Arena + Chapel + +Author: John Ruskin + +Release Date: May 11, 2006 [EBook #18371] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Linda Cantoni, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +Library Edition + + +THE COMPLETE WORKS + +OF + +JOHN RUSKIN + + +STONES OF VENICE +VOLUME III + +GIOTTO + +LECTURES ON ARCHITECTURE + +HARBOURS OF ENGLAND + +A JOY FOREVER + + +NATIONAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION +NEW YORK CHICAGO + + + + +THE COMPLETE WORKS + +OF + +JOHN RUSKIN + + +VOLUME X + + +GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS +LECTURES ON ARCHITECTURE +THE HARBORS OF ENGLAND +POLITICAL ECONOMY OF ART (A JOY FOREVER) + + + + +GIOTTO + +AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA + +BEING + +AN EXPLANATORY NOTICE OF THE SERIES OF +WOODCUTS EXECUTED FOR THE ARUNDEL +SOCIETY AFTER THE FRESCOS IN +THE ARENA CHAPEL + + + + +ADVERTISEMENT. + + +The following notice of Giotto has not been drawn up with any idea of +attempting a history of his life. That history could only be written +after a careful search through the libraries of Italy for all +documents relating to the years during which he worked. I have no time +for such search, or even for the examination of well-known and +published materials; and have therefore merely collected, from the +sources nearest at hand, such information as appeared absolutely +necessary to render the series of Plates now published by the Arundel +Society intelligible and interesting to those among its Members who +have not devoted much time to the examination of mediæval works. I +have prefixed a few remarks on the relation of the art of Giotto to +former and subsequent efforts; which I hope may be useful in +preventing the general reader from either looking for what the painter +never intended to give, or missing the points to which his endeavours +were really directed. + +J.R. + + + + +GIOTTO + +AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. + + +Towards the close of the thirteenth century, Enrico Scrovegno, a noble +Paduan, purchased, in his native city, the remains of the Roman +Amphitheatre or Arena from the family of the Delesmanini, to whom +those remains had been granted by the Emperor Henry III. of Germany in +1090. For the power of making this purchase, Scrovegno was in all +probability indebted to his father, Reginald, who, for his avarice, is +placed by Dante in the seventh circle of the _Inferno_, and regarded +apparently as the chief of the usurers there, since he is the only one +who addresses Dante.[1] The son, having possessed himself of the +Roman ruin, or of the site which it had occupied, built himself a +fortified palace upon the ground, and a chapel dedicated to the +Annunciate Virgin. + +[Footnote 1: + + "Noting the visages of some who lay + Beneath the pelting of that dolorous fire, + One of them all I knew not; but perceived + That pendent from his neck each bore a pouch, + With colours and with emblems various marked, + On which it seemed as if their eye did feed. + And when amongst them looking round I came, + A yellow purse I saw, with azure wrought, + That wore a lion's countenance and port. + Then, still my sight pursuing its career, + Another I beheld, than blood more red, + A goose display of whiter wing than curd. + _And one who bore a fat and azure swine + Pictured on his white scrip, addressed me thus:_ + What dost thou in this deep? Go now and know, + Since yet thou livest, that my neighbour here, + Vitaliano, on my left shall sit. + A Paduan with these Florentines am I. + Ofttimes they thunder in mine ears, exclaiming, + Oh! haste that noble knight, he who the pouch + With the three goats will bring. This said, he writhed + The mouth, and lolled the tongue out, like an ox + That licks his nostrils." + + _Canto_ xvii. + +This passage of Cary's Dante is not quite so clear as that +translator's work usually is. "One of them all I knew not" is an +awkward periphrasis for "I knew none of them." Dante's indignant +expression of the effect of avarice in withering away distinctions of +character, and the prophecy of Scrovegno, that his neighbor Vitaliano, +then living, should soon be with him, to sit on his left hand, is +rendered a little obscure by the transposition of the word "here." +Cary has also been afraid of the excessive homeliness of Dante's +imagery; "whiter wing than curd" being in the original "whiter than +butter." The attachment of the purse to the neck, as a badge of shame, +in the _Inferno_, is found before Dante's time; as, for instance, in +the windows of Bourges cathedral (see Plate iii. of MM. Martin and +Cahier's beautiful work). And the building of the Arena Chapel by the +son, as a kind of atonement for the avarice of the father, is very +characteristic of the period, in which the use of money for the +building of churches was considered just as meritorious as its unjust +accumulation was criminal. I have seen, in a MS. Church-service of the +thirteenth century, an illumination representing Church-Consecration, +illustrating the words, "Fundata est domus Domini supra verticem +montium," surrounded for the purpose of contrast, by a grotesque, +consisting of a picture of a miser's death-bed, a demon drawing his +soul out of his mouth, while his attendants are searching in his +chests for his treasures.] + +This chapel, built in or about the year 1303,[2] appears to have been +intended to replace one which had long existed on the spot; and in +which, from the year 1278, an annual festival had been held on +Lady-day, in which the Annunciation was represented in the manner of +our English mysteries (and under the same title: "una sacra +rappresentazione di quel _mistero_"), with dialogue, and music both +vocal and instrumental. Scrovegno's purchase of the ground could not +be allowed to interfere with the national custom; but he is reported +by some writers to have rebuilt the chapel with greater costliness, +in order, as far as possible, to efface the memory of his father's +unhappy life. But Federici, in his history of the Cavalieri Godenti, +supposes that Scrovegno was a member of that body, and was assisted by +them in decorating the new edifice. The order of Cavalieri Godenti was +instituted in the beginning of the thirteenth century, to defend the +"existence," as Selvatico states it, but more accurately the dignity, +of the Virgin, against the various heretics by whom it was beginning +to be assailed. Her knights were first called Cavaliers of St. Mary; +but soon increased in power and riches to such a degree, that, from +their general habits of life, they received the nickname of the "Merry +Brothers." Federici gives forcible reasons for his opinion that the +Arena Chapel was employed in the ceremonies of their order; and Lord +Lindsay observes, that the fulness with which the history of the +Virgin is recounted on its walls, adds to the plausibility of his +supposition. + +[Footnote 2: For these historical details I am chiefly indebted to the +very careful treatise of Selvatico, _Sulla Cappellina degli Scrovegni +nell'Arena di Padova_. Padua, 1836.] + +Enrico Scrovegno was, however, towards the close of his life, driven +into exile, and died at Venice in 1320. But he was buried in the +chapel he had built; and has one small monument in the sacristy, as +the founder of the building, in which he is represented under a Gothic +niche, standing, with his hands clasped and his eyes raised; while +behind the altar is his tomb, on which, as usual at the period, is a +recumbent statue of him. The chapel itself may not unwarrantably be +considered as one of the first efforts of Popery in resistance of the +Reformation: for the Reformation, though not victorious till the +sixteenth, began in reality in the thirteenth century; and the +remonstrances of such bishops as our own Grossteste, the martyrdoms of +the Albigenses in the Dominican crusades, and the murmurs of those +"heretics" against whose aspersions of the majesty of the Virgin this +chivalrous order of the Cavalieri Godenti was instituted, were as +truly the signs of the approach of a new era in religion, as the +opponent work of Giotto on the walls of the Arena was a sign of the +approach of a new era in art. + +The chapel having been founded, as stated above, in 1303, Giotto +appears to have been summoned to decorate its interior walls about +the year 1306,--summoned, as being at that time the acknowledged +master of painting in Italy. By what steps he had risen to this +unquestioned eminence it is difficult to trace; for the records of his +life, strictly examined, and freed from the verbiage and conjecture of +artistical history, nearly reduce themselves to a list of the cities +of Italy where he painted, and to a few anecdotes, of little meaning +in themselves, and doubly pointless in the fact of most of them being +inheritances of the whole race of painters, and related successively +of all in whose biographies the public have deigned to take an +interest. There is even question as to the date of his birth; Vasari +stating him to have been born in 1276, while Baldinucci, on the +internal evidence derived from Vasari's own narrative, throws the date +back ten years.[3] I believe, however, that Vasari is most probably +accurate in his first main statement; and that his errors, always +numerous, are in the subsequent and minor particulars. It is at least +undoubted truth that Giotto was born, and passed the years of +childhood, at Vespignano, about fourteen miles north of Florence, on +the road to Bologna. Few travellers can forget the peculiar landscape +of that district of the Apennine. As they ascend the hill which rises +from Florence to the lowest break in the ridge of Fiesole, they pass +continually beneath the walls of villas bright in perfect luxury, and +beside cypress-hedges, enclosing fair terraced gardens, where the +masses of oleander and magnolia, motionless as leaves in a picture, +inlay alternately upon the blue sky their branching lightness of pale +rose-colour, and deep green breadth of shade, studded with balls of +budding silver, and showing at intervals through their framework of +rich leaf and rubied flower, the far-away bends of the Arno beneath +its slopes of olive, and the purple peaks of the Carrara mountains, +tossing themselves against the western distance, where the streaks of +motionless cloud burn above the Pisan sea. The traveller passes the +Fiesolan ridge, and all is changed. The country is on a sudden +lonely. Here and there indeed are seen the scattered houses of a farm +grouped gracefully upon the hill-sides,--here and there a fragment of +tower upon a distant rock; but neither gardens, nor flowers, nor +glittering palace-walls, only a grey extent of mountain-ground, tufted +irregularly with ilex and olive: a scene not sublime, for its forms +are subdued and low; not desolate, for its valleys are full of sown +fields and tended pastures; not rich nor lovely, but sunburnt and +sorrowful; becoming wilder every instant as the road winds into its +recesses, ascending still, until the higher woods, now partly oak and +partly pine, drooping back from the central crest of the Apennine, +leave a pastoral wilderness of scathed rock and arid grass, withered +away here by frost, and there by strange lambent tongues of earth-fed +fire.[4] Giotto passed the first ten years of his life, a +shepherd-boy, among these hills; was found by Cimabue near his native +village, drawing one of his sheep upon a smooth stone; was yielded up +by his father, "a simple person, a labourer of the earth," to the +guardianship of the painter, who, by his own work, had already made +the streets of Florence ring with joy; attended him to Florence, and +became his disciple. + +[Footnote 3: Lord Lindsay, _Christian Art_, vol. ii. p. 166.] + +[Footnote 4: At Pietra Mala. The flames rise two or three feet above +the stony ground out of which they spring, white and fierce enough to +be visible in the intense rays even of the morning sun.] + +We may fancy the glance of the boy, when he and Cimabue stood side by +side on the ridge of Fiesole, and for the first time he saw the +flowering thickets of the Val d'Arno; and deep beneath, the +innumerable towers of the City of the Lily, the depths of his own +heart yet hiding the fairest of them all. Another ten years passed +over him, and he was chosen from among the painters of Italy to +decorate the Vatican. + +The account given us by Vasari of the mode of his competition on this +occasion, is one of the few anecdotes of him which seem to be +authentic (especially as having given rise to an Italian proverb), and +it has also great point and value. I translate Vasari's words +literally. + +"This work (his paintings in the Campo Santo of Pisa) acquired for +him, both in the city and externally, so much fame, that the Pope, +Benedict IX., sent a certain one of his courtiers into Tuscany, to see +what sort of a man Giotto was, and what was the quality of his works, +he (the pope) intending to have some paintings executed in St. +Peter's; which courtier, coming to see Giotto, and hearing that there +were other masters in Florence who excelled in painting and in mosaic, +spoke, in Siena, to many masters; then, having received drawings from +them, he came to Florence; and having gone one morning into Giotto's +shop as he was at work, explained the pope's mind to him, and in what +way he wished to avail himself of his powers, and finally requested +from him a little piece of drawing to send to his Holiness. Giotto, +who was most courteous, took a leaf (of vellum?), and upon this, with +a brush dipped in red, fixing his arm to his side, to make it as the +limb of a pair of compasses, and turning his hand, made a circle so +perfect in measure and outline, that it was a wonder to see: which +having done, he said to the courtier, with a smile, 'There is the +drawing.' He, thinking himself mocked, said, 'Shall I have no other +drawing than this?' 'This is enough, and too much,' answered Giotto; +'send it with the others: you will see if it will be understood.' The +ambassador, seeing that he could not get any thing else, took his +leave with small satisfaction, doubting whether he had not been made a +jest of. However, when he sent to the pope the other drawings, and the +names of those who had made them, he sent also that of Giotto, +relating the way in which he had held himself in drawing his circle, +without moving his arm, and without compasses. Whence the pope, and +many intelligent courtiers, knew how much Giotto overpassed in +excellence all the other painters of his time. Afterwards, the thing +becoming known, the proverb arose from it: 'Thou art rounder than the +O of Giotto;' which it is still in custom to say to men of the grosser +clay; for the proverb is pretty, not only on account of the accident +of its origin, but because it has a double meaning, 'round' being +taken in Tuscany to express not only circular form, but slowness and +grossness of wit." + +Such is the account of Vasari, which, at the first reading, might be +gravely called into question, seeing that the paintings at Pisa, to +which he ascribes the sudden extent of Giotto's reputation, have been +proved to be the work of Francesco da Volterra;[5] and since, +moreover, Vasari has even mistaken the name of the pope, and written +Boniface IX. for Boniface VIII. But the story itself must, I think, be +true; and, rightly understood, it is singularly interesting. I say, +rightly understood; for Lord Lindsay supposes the circle to have been +mechanically drawn by turning the sheet of vellum under the hand, as +now constantly done for the sake of speed at schools. But neither do +Vasari's words bear this construction, nor would the drawing so made +have borne the slightest testimony to Giotto's power. Vasari says +distinctly, "and turning his hand" (or, as I should rather read it, +"with a sweep of his hand") not "turning the vellum;" neither would a +circle produced in so mechanical a manner have borne distinct witness +to any thing except the draughtsman's mechanical ingenuity; and Giotto +had too much common sense, and too much courtesy, to send the pope a +drawing which did not really contain the evidence he required. Lord +Lindsay has been misled also by his own careless translation of +"pennello tinto di rosso" ("a _brush_ dipped in red,") by the word +"crayon." It is easy to draw the mechanical circle with a crayon, but +by no means easy with a brush. I have not the slightest doubt that +Giotto drew the circle as a painter naturally would draw it; that is +to say, that he set the vellum upright on the wall or panel before +him, and then steadying his arm firmly against his side, drew the +circular line with one sweeping but firm revolution of his hand, +holding the brush long. Such a feat as this is completely possible to +a well-disciplined painter's hand, but utterly impossible to any +other; and the circle so drawn, was the most convincing proof Giotto +could give of his decision of eye and perfectness of practice. + +[Footnote 5: At least Lord Lindsay seems to consider the evidence +collected by Förster on this subject conclusive. _Christian Art_, vol. +ii. p. 168.] + +Still, even when thus understood, there is much in the anecdote very +curious. Here is a painter requested by the head of the Church to +execute certain religious paintings, and the only qualification for +the task of which he deigns to demonstrate his possession is executive +skill. Nothing is said, and nothing appears to be thought, of +expression, or invention, or devotional sentiment. Nothing is required +but firmness of hand. And here arises the important question: Did +Giotto know that this was all that was looked for by his religious +patrons? and is there occult satire in the example of his art which he +sends them?--or does the founder of sacred painting mean to tell us +that he holds his own power to consist merely in firmness of hand, +secured by long practice? I cannot satisfy myself on this point: but +yet it seems to me that we may safely gather two conclusions from the +words of the master, "It is enough, and more than enough." The first, +that Giotto had indeed a profound feeling of the value of _precision_ +in all art; and that we may use the full force of his authority to +press the truth, of which it is so difficult to persuade the hasty +workmen of modern times, that the difference between right and wrong +lies within the breadth of a line; and that the most perfect power and +genius are shown by the accuracy which disdains error, and the +faithfulness which fears it. + +And the second conclusion is, that whatever Giotto's imaginative +powers might be, he was proud to be a good _workman_, and willing to +be considered by others only as such. There might lurk, as has been +suggested, some satire in the message to the pope, and some +consciousness in his own mind of faculties higher than those of +draughtsmanship. I cannot tell how far these hidden feelings existed; +but the more I see of living artists, and learn of departed ones, the +more I am convinced that the highest strength of genius is generally +marked by strange unconsciousness of its own modes of operation, and +often by no small scorn of the best results of its exertion. The +inferior mind intently watches its own processes, and dearly values +its own produce; the master-mind is intent on other things than +itself, and cares little for the fruits of a toil which it is apt to +undertake rather as a law of life than a means of immortality. It will +sing at a feast, or retouch an old play, or paint a dark wall, for its +daily bread, anxious only to be honest in its fulfilment of its +pledges or its duty, and careless that future ages will rank it among +the gods. + +I think it unnecessary to repeat here any other of the anecdotes +commonly related of Giotto, as, separately taken, they are quite +valueless. Yet much may be gathered from their general _tone_. It is +remarkable that they are, almost without exception, records of +good-humoured jests, involving or illustrating some point of practical +good sense; and by comparing this general colour of the reputation of +Giotto with the actual character of his designs, there cannot remain +the smallest doubt that his mind was one of the most healthy, kind, +and active, that ever informed a human frame. His love of beauty was +entirely free from weakness; his love of truth untinged by severity; +his industry constant, without impatience; his workmanship accurate, +without formalism; his temper serene, and yet playful; his imagination +exhaustless, without extravagance; and his faith firm, without +superstition. I do not know, in the annals of art, such another +example of happy, practical, unerring, and benevolent power. + +I am certain that this is the estimate of his character which must be +arrived at by an attentive study of his works, and of the few data +which remain respecting his life; but I shall not here endeavour to +give proof of its truth, because I believe the subject has been +exhaustively treated by Rumohr and Förster, whose essays on the works +and character of Giotto will doubtless be translated into English, as +the interest of the English public in mediæval art increases. I shall +therefore here only endeavour briefly to sketch the relation which +Giotto held to the artists who preceded and followed him, a relation +still imperfectly understood; and then, as briefly, to indicate the +general course of his labours in Italy, as far as may be necessary for +understanding the value of the series in the Arena Chapel. + +The art of Europe, between the fifth and thirteenth centuries, divides +itself essentially into great branches, one springing from, the other +grafted on, the old Roman stock. The first is the Roman art itself, +prolonged in a languid and degraded condition, and becoming at last a +mere formal system, centered at the feet of Eastern empire, and thence +generally called Byzantine. The other is the barbarous and incipient +art of the Gothic nations, more or less coloured by Roman or Byzantine +influence, and gradually increasing in life and power. + +Generally speaking, the Byzantine art, although manifesting itself +only in perpetual repetitions, becoming every day more cold and +formal, yet preserved reminiscences of design originally noble, and +traditions of execution originally perfect. + +Generally speaking, the Gothic art, although becoming every day more +powerful, presented the most ludicrous experiments of infantile +imagination, and the most rude efforts of untaught manipulation. + +Hence, if any superior mind arose in Byzantine art, it had before it +models which suggested or recorded a perfection they did not +themselves possess; and the superiority of the individual mind would +probably be shown in a more sincere and living treatment of the +subjects ordained for repetition by the canons of the schools. + +In the art of the Goth, the choice of subject was unlimited, and the +style of design so remote from all perfection, as not always even to +point out clearly the direction in which advance could be made. The +strongest minds which appear in that art are therefore generally +manifested by redundance of imagination, and sudden refinement of +touch, whether of pencil or chisel, together with unexpected starts of +effort or flashes of knowledge in accidental directions, gradually +forming various national styles. + +Of these comparatively independent branches of art, the greatest is, +as far as I know, the French sculpture of the thirteenth century. No +words can give any idea of the magnificent redundance of its +imaginative power, or of the perpetual beauty of even its smallest +incidental designs. But this very richness of sculptural invention +prevented the French from cultivating their powers of painting, except +in illumination (of which art they were the acknowledged masters), and +in glass-painting. Their exquisite gift of fretting their stone-work +with inexhaustible wealth of sculpture, prevented their feeling the +need of figure-design on coloured surfaces. + +The style of architecture prevalent in Italy at the same period, +presented, on the contrary, large blank surfaces, which could only be +rendered interesting by covering them with mosaic or painting. + +The Italians were not at the time capable of doing this for +themselves, and mosaicists were brought from Constantinople, who +covered the churches of Italy with a sublime monotony of Byzantine +traditions. But the Gothic blood was burning in the Italian veins; and +the Florentines and Pisans could not rest content in the formalism of +the Eastern splendour. The first innovator was, I believe, Giunta of +Pisa, the second Cimabue, the third Giotto; the last only being a man +of power enough to effect a complete revolution in the artistic +principles of his time. + +He, however, began, like his master Cimabue, with a perfect respect +for his Byzantine models; and his paintings for a long time consisted +only of repetitions of the Byzantine subjects, softened in treatment, +enriched in number of figures, and enlivened in gesture. Afterwards he +invented subjects of his own. The manner and degree of the changes +which he at first effected could only be properly understood by actual +comparison of his designs with the Byzantine originals;[6] but in +default of the means of such a comparison, it may be generally stated +that the innovations of Giotto consisted in the introduction, A, of +gayer or lighter colours; B, of broader masses; and, C, of more +careful imitation of nature than existed in the works of his +predecessors. + +[Footnote 6: It might not, I think, be a work unworthy of the Arundel +Society, to collect and engrave in outline the complete series of +these Byzantine originals of the subjects of the Arena Chapel, in +order to facilitate this comparison. The Greek MSS. in the British +Museum would, I think, be amply sufficient; the Harleian MS. numbered +1810 alone furnishing a considerable number of subjects, and +especially a Death of the Virgin, with the St. John thrown into the +peculiar and violent gesture of grief afterwards adopted by Giotto in +the Entombment of the Arena Chapel.] + +A. _Greater lightness of colour._ This was partly in compliance with a +tendency which was beginning to manifest itself even before Giotto's +time. Over the whole of northern Europe, the colouring of the eleventh +and early twelfth centuries had been pale: in manuscripts, principally +composed of pale red, green, and yellow, blue being sparingly +introduced (earlier still, in the eighth and ninth centuries, the +letters had often been coloured with black and yellow only). Then, in +the close of the twelfth and throughout the thirteenth century, the +great system of perfect colour was in use; solemn and deep; composed +strictly, in all its leading masses, of the colours revealed by God +from Sinai as the noblest;--blue, purple, and scarlet, with gold +(other hues, chiefly green, with white and black, being used in points +or small masses, to relieve the main colours). In the early part of +the fourteenth century the colours begin to grow paler; about 1330 the +style is already completely modified; and at the close of the +fourteenth century the colour is quite pale and delicate. + +I have not carefully examined the colouring of early Byzantine work; +but it seems always to have been comparatively dark, and in +manuscripts is remarkably so; Giotto's paler colouring, therefore, +though only part of the great European system, was rendered notable by +its stronger contrast with the Byzantine examples. + +B. _Greater breadth of mass._ It had been the habit of the Byzantines +to break up their draperies by a large number of minute folds. Norman +and Romanesque sculpture showed much of the same character. Giotto +melted all these folds into broad masses of colour; so that his +compositions have sometimes almost a Titianesque look in this +particular. This innovation was a healthy one, and led to very noble +results when followed up by succeeding artists: but in many of +Giotto's compositions the figures become ludicrously cumbrous, from +the exceeding simplicity of the terminal lines, and massiveness of +unbroken form. The manner was copied in illuminated manuscripts with +great disadvantage, as it was unfavourable to minute ornamentation. +The French never adopted it in either branch of art, nor did any other +Northern school; minute and sharp folds of the robes remaining +characteristic of Northern (more especially of Flemish and German) +design down to the latest times, giving a great superiority to the +French and Flemish illuminated work, and causing a proportionate +inferiority in their large pictorial efforts. Even Rubens and Vandyke +cannot free themselves from a certain meanness and minuteness in +disposition of drapery. + +C. _Close imitation of nature._ In this one principle lay Giotto's +great strength, and the entire secret of the revolution he effected. +It was not by greater learning, not by the discovery of new theories +of art, not by greater taste, nor by "ideal" principles of selection, +that he became the head of the progressive schools of Italy. It was +simply by being interested in what was going on around him, by +substituting the gestures of living men for conventional attitudes, +and portraits of living men for conventional faces, and incidents of +every-day life for conventional circumstances, that he became great, +and the master of the great. Giotto was to his contemporaries +precisely what Millais is to _his_ contemporaries,--a daring +naturalist, in defiance of tradition, idealism, and formalism. The +Giottesque movement in the fourteenth, and Pre-Raphaelite movement in +the nineteenth centuries, are precisely similar in bearing and +meaning: both being the protests of vitality against mortality, of +spirit against letter, and of truth against tradition: and both, which +is the more singular, literally links in one unbroken chain of +feeling; for exactly as Niccola Pisano and Giotto were helped by the +classical sculptures discovered in their time, the Pre-Raphaelites +have been helped by the works of Niccola and Giotto at Pisa and +Florence: and thus the fiery cross of truth has been delivered from +spirit to spirit, over the dust of intervening generations. + +But what, it may be said by the reader, is the use of the works of +Giotto to _us_? They may indeed have been wonderful for their time, +and of infinite use in that time; but since, after Giotto, came +Leonardo and Correggio, what is the use of going back to the ruder +art, and republishing it in the year 1854? Why should we fret +ourselves to dig down to the root of the tree, when we may at once +enjoy its fruit and foliage? I answer, first, that in all matters +relating to human intellect, it is a great thing to have hold of the +root: that at least we ought to see it, and taste it, and handle it; +for it often happens that the root is wholesome when the leaves, +however fair, are useless or poisonous. In nine cases out of ten, the +first expression of an idea is the most valuable: the idea may +afterward be polished and softened, and made more attractive to the +general eye; but the first expression of it has a freshness and +brightness, like the flash of a native crystal compared to the lustre +of glass that has been melted and cut. And in the second place, we +ought to measure the value of art less by its executive than by its +moral power. Giotto was not indeed one of the most accomplished +painters, but he was one of the greatest men, who ever lived. He was +the first master of his time, in architecture as well as in painting; +he was the friend of Dante, and the undisputed interpreter of +religious truth, by means of painting, over the whole of Italy. The +works of such a man may not be the best to set before children in +order to teach them drawing; but they assuredly should be studied with +the greatest care by all who are interested in the history of the +human mind. + +One point more remains to be noticed respecting him. As far as I am +aware, he never painted profane subjects. All his important existing +works are exclusively devoted to the illustration of Christianity. +This was not a result of his own peculiar feeling or determination; it +was a necessity of the period. Giotto appears to have considered +himself simply as a workman, at the command of any employer, for any +kind of work, however humble. "In the sixty-third novel of Franco +Sacchetti we read that a stranger, suddenly entering Giotto's study, +threw down a shield, and departed, saying, 'Paint me my arms on that +shield.' Giotto looking after him, exclaimed, 'Who is he? What is he? +He says, "Paint me my arms," as if he was one of the BARDI. What arms +does he bear?'"[7] But at the time of Giotto's eminence, art was never +employed on a great scale except in the service of religion; nor has +it ever been otherwise employed, except in declining periods. I do not +mean to draw any severe conclusion from this fact; but it is a fact +nevertheless, which ought to be very distinctly stated, and very +carefully considered. All _progressive_ art hitherto has been +religious art; and commencements of the periods of decline are +accurately marked, in illumination, by its employment on romances +instead of psalters; and in painting, by its employment on mythology +or profane history instead of sacred history. Yet perhaps I should +rather have said, on _heathen mythology_ instead of _Christian +mythology_; for this latter term--first used, I believe, by Lord +Lindsay--is more applicable to the subjects of the early painters than +that of "sacred _history_." Of all the virtues commonly found in the +higher orders of human mind, that of a stern and just respect for +truth seems to be the rarest; so that while self-denial, and courage, +and charity, and religious zeal, are displayed in their utmost degrees +by myriads of saints and heroes, it is only once in a century that a +man appears whose word may be implicitly trusted, and who, in the +relation of a plain fact, will not allow his prejudices or his +pleasure to tempt him to some colouring or distortion of it. Hence the +portions of sacred history which have been the constant subjects of +fond popular contemplation have, in the lapse of ages, been encumbered +with fictitious detail; and their various historians seem to have +considered the exercise of their imagination innocent, and even +meritorious, if they could increase either the vividness of conception +or the sincerity of belief in their readers. A due consideration of +that well-known weakness of the popular mind, which renders a +statement credible in proportion to the multitude of local and +circumstantial details which accompany it, may lead us to look with +some indulgence on the errors, however fatal in their issue to the +cause they were intended to advance, of those weak teachers, who +thought the acceptance of their general statements of Christian +doctrine cheaply won by the help of some simple (and generally absurd) +inventions of detail respecting the life of the Virgin or the +Apostles. + +[Footnote 7: Notes to Rogers' _Italy_.] + +Indeed, I can hardly imagine the Bible to be ever read with true +interest, unless, in our reading, we feel some longing for further +knowledge of the minute incidents of the life of Christ,--for some +records of those things, which "if they had been written every one," +the world could not have contained the books that should be written: +and they who have once felt this thirst for further truth, may surely +both conceive and pardon the earnest questioning of simple disciples +(who knew not, as we do, how much had been indeed revealed), and +measure with some justice the strength of the temptation which +betrayed these teachers into adding to the word of Revelation. +Together with this specious and subtle influence, we must allow for +the instinct of imagination exerting itself in the acknowledged +embellishment of beloved truths. If we reflect how much, even in this +age of accurate knowledge, the visions of Milton have become confused +in the minds of many persons with scriptural facts, we shall rather be +surprised, that in an age of legends so little should be added to the +Bible, than that occasionally we should be informed of important +circumstances in sacred history with the collateral warning, "This +Moses spake not of."[8] + +[Footnote 8: These words are gravely added to some singular +particulars respecting the life of Adam, related in a MS. of the +sixteenth century preserved in the Herald's College.] + +More especially in the domain of painting, it is surprising to see how +strictly the early workmen confined themselves to representations of +the same series of scenes; how little of pictorial embellishment they +usually added; and how, even in the positions and gestures of figures, +they strove to give the idea rather of their having seen the _fact_, +than imagined a picturesque treatment of it. Often, in examining early +art, we mistake conscientiousness for servility, and attribute to the +absence of invention what was indeed the result of the earnestness of +faith. + +Nor, in a merely artistical point of view, is it less important to +note, that the greatest advance in power was made when painters had +few subjects to treat. The day has perhaps come when genius should be +shown in the discovery of perpetually various interest amidst the +incidents of actual life; and the absence of inventive capacity is +very assuredly proved by the narrow selection of subjects which +commonly appear on the walls of our exhibitions. But yet it is to be +always remembered, that more originality may be shown in giving +interest to a well-known subject than in discovering a new one; that +the greatest poets whom the world has seen have been contented to +retouch and exalt the creations of their predecessors; and that the +painters of the middle ages reached their utmost power by unweariedly +treading a narrow circle of sacred subjects. + +Nothing is indeed more notable in the history of art than the exact +balance of its point of excellence, in all things, midway between +servitude and license. Thus, in choice and treatment of subject it +became paralysed among the Byzantines, by being mercilessly confined +to a given series of scenes, and to a given mode of representing them. +Giotto gave it partial liberty and incipient life; by the artists who +succeeded him the range of its scenery was continually extended, and +the severity of its style slowly softened to perfection. But the range +was still, in some degree, limited by the necessity of its continual +subordination to religious purposes; and the style, though softened, +was still chaste, and though tender, self-restrained. At last came the +period of license: the artist chose his subjects from the lowest +scenes of human life, and let loose his passions in their portraiture. +And the kingdom of art passed away. + +As if to direct us to the observation of this great law, there is a +curious visible type of it in the progress of ornamentation in +manuscripts, corresponding with the various changes in the higher +branch of art. In the course of the 12th and early 13th centuries, the +ornamentation, though often full of high feeling and fantasy, is +sternly enclosed within limiting border-lines;--at first, severe +squares, oblongs, or triangles. As the grace of the ornamentation +advances, these border-lines are softened and broken into various +curves, and the inner design begins here and there to overpass them. +Gradually this emergence becomes more constant, and the lines which +thus escape throw themselves into curvatures expressive of the most +exquisite concurrence of freedom with self-restraint. At length the +restraint vanishes, the freedom changes consequently into license, and +the page is covered with exuberant, irregular, and foolish +extravagances of leafage and line. + +It only remains to be noticed, that the circumstances of the time at +which Giotto appeared were peculiarly favourable to the development of +genius; owing partly to the simplicity of the methods of practice, and +partly to the naïveté with which art was commonly regarded. Giotto, +like all the great painters of the period, was merely a travelling +decorator of walls, at so much a day; having at Florence a _bottega_, +or workshop, for the production and sale of small tempera pictures. +There were no such things as "studios" in those days. An artist's +"studies" were over by the time he was eighteen; after that he was a +_lavoratore_, "labourer," a man who knew his business, and produced +certain works of known value for a known price; being troubled with no +philosophical abstractions, shutting himself up in no wise for the +reception of inspirations; receiving, indeed, a good many, as a matter +of course,--just as he received the sunbeams which came in at his +window, the light which he worked by;--in either case, without +mouthing about it, or much concerning himself as to the nature of it. +Not troubled by critics either; satisfied that his work was well done, +and that people would find it out to be well done; but not vain of it, +nor more profoundly vexed at its being found fault with, than a good +saddler would be by some one's saying his last saddle was uneasy in +the seat. Not, on the whole, much molested by critics, but generally +understood by the men of sense, his neighbours and friends, and +permitted to have his own way with the walls he had to paint, as +being, on the whole, an authority about walls; receiving at the same +time a good deal of daily encouragement and comfort in the simple +admiration of the populace, and in the general sense of having done +good, and painted what no man could look upon without being the better +for it. + +Thus he went, a serene labourer, throughout the length and breadth of +Italy. For the first ten years of his life, a shepherd; then a +student, perhaps for five or six; then already in Florence, setting +himself to his life's task; and called as a master to Rome when he was +only twenty. There he painted the principal chapel of St. Peter's, and +worked in mosaic also; no handicrafts, that had colour or form for +their objects, seeming unknown to him. Then returning to Florence, he +painted Dante, about the year 1300,[9] the 35th year of Dante's life, +the 24th of his own; and designed the façade of the Duomo, on the +death of its former architect, Arnolfo. Some six years afterwards he +went to Padua, there painting the chapel which is the subject of our +present study, and many other churches. Thence south again to Assisi, +where he painted half the walls and vaults of the great convent that +stretches itself along the slopes of the Perugian hills, and various +other minor works on his way there and back to Florence. Staying in +his native city but a little while, he engaged himself in other tasks +at Ferrara, Verona, and Ravenna, and at last at Avignon, where he +became acquainted with Petrarch--working there for some three years, +from 1324 to 1327;[10] and then passed rapidly through Florence and +Orvieto on his way to Naples, where "he received the kindest welcome +from the good king Robert. The king, ever partial to men of mind and +genius, took especial delight in Giotto's society, and used frequently +to visit him while working in the Castello dell'Uovo, taking pleasure +in watching his pencil and listening to his discourse; 'and Giotto,' +says Vasari, 'who had ever his repartee and bon-mot ready, held him +there, fascinated at once with the magic of his pencil and pleasantry +of his tongue.' We are not told the length of his sojourn at Naples, +but it must have been for a considerable period, judging from the +quantity of works he executed there. He had certainly returned to +Florence in 1332." There he was immediately appointed "chief master" +of the works of the Duomo, then in progress, "with a yearly salary of +one hundred gold florins, and the privilege of citizenship." He +designed the Campanile, in a more perfect form than that which now +exists; for his intended spire, 150 feet in height, never was erected. +He, however, modelled the bas-reliefs for the base of the building, +and sculptured two of them with his own hand. It was afterwards +completed, with the exception of the spire, according to his design; +but he only saw its foundations laid, and its first marble story rise. +He died at Florence, on the 8th of January, 1337, full of honour; +happy, perhaps, in departing at the zenith of his strength, when his +eye had not become dim, nor his natural force abated. He was buried in +the cathedral, at the angle nearest his campanile; and thus the tower, +which is the chief grace of his native city, may be regarded as his +own sepulchral monument. + +[Footnote 9: Lord Lindsay's evidence on this point (_Christian Art_, +vol. ii. p. 174) seems quite conclusive. It is impossible to overrate +the value of the work of Giotto in the Bargello, both for its own +intrinsic beauty, and as being executed in this year, which is not +only that in which the Divina Commedia opens, but, as I think, the +culminating period in the history of the art of the middle ages.] + +[Footnote 10: _Christian Art_, vol. ii. p. 242.] + +I may refer the reader to the close of Lord Lindsay's letter on +Giotto,[11] from which I have drawn most of the particulars above +stated, for a very beautiful sketch of his character and his art. Of +the real rank of that art, in the abstract, I do not feel myself +capable of judging accurately, having not seen his finest works (at +Assisi and Naples), nor carefully studied even those at Florence. But +I may be permitted to point out one or two peculiar characteristics in +it which have always struck me forcibly. + +[Footnote 11: _Christian Art_, p. 260.] + +In the first place, Giotto never finished highly. He was not, indeed, +a loose or sketchy painter, but he was by no means a delicate one. His +lines, as the story of the circle would lead us to expect, are always +firm, but they are never fine. Even in his smallest tempera pictures +the touch is bold and somewhat heavy: in his fresco work the handling +is much broader than that of contemporary painters, corresponding +somewhat to the character of many of the figures, representing plain, +masculine kind of people, and never reaching any thing like the ideal +refinement of the conceptions even of Benozzo Gozzoli, far less of +Angelico or Francia. For this reason, the character of his painting is +better expressed by bold wood-engravings than in general it is likely +to be by any other means. + +Again, he was a very noble colourist; and in his peculiar feeling for +breadth of hue resembled Titian more than any other of the Florentine +school. That is to say, had he been born two centuries later, when the +art of painting was fully known, I believe he would have treated his +subjects much more like Titian than like Raphael; in fact, the +frescoes of Titian in the chapel beside the church of St. Antonio at +Padua, are, in all technical qualities, and in many of their +conceptions, almost exactly what I believe Giotto would have done, had +he lived in Titian's time. As it was, he of course never attained +either richness or truth of colour; but in serene brilliancy he is not +easily rivalled; invariably massing his hues in large fields, limiting +them firmly, and then filling them with subtle gradation. He had the +Venetian fondness for bars and stripes, not unfrequently casting +barred colours obliquely across the draperies of an upright figure, +from side to side (as very notably in the dress of one of the +musicians who are playing to the dancing of Herodias' daughter, in one +of his frescoes at Santa Croce); and this predilection was mingled +with the truly mediæval love of _quartering_.[12] The figure of the +Madonna in the small tempera pictures in the Academy at Florence is +always completely divided into two narrow segments by her dark-blue +robe. + +[Footnote 12: I use this heraldic word in an inaccurate sense, knowing +no other that will express what I mean,--the division of the picture +into quaint segments of alternating colour, more marked than any of +the figure outlines.] + +And this is always to be remembered in looking at any engravings from +the works of Giotto; for the injury they sustain in being deprived of +their colour is far greater than in the case of later designers. All +works produced in the fourteenth century agree in being more or less +decorative; they were intended in most instances to be subservient to +architectural effect, and were executed in the manner best calculated +to produce a striking impression when they were seen in a mass. The +painted wall and the painted window were part and parcel of one +magnificent whole; and it is as unjust to the work of Giotto, or of +any contemporary artist, to take out a single feature from the series, +and represent it in black and white on a separate page, as it would be +to take out a compartment of a noble coloured window, and engrave it +in the same manner. What is at once refined and effective, if seen at +the intended distance in unison with the rest of the work, becomes +coarse and insipid when seen isolated and near; and the more skilfully +the design is arranged, so as to give full value to the colours which +are introduced in it, the more blank and cold will it become when it +is deprived of them. + +In our modern art we have indeed lost sight of one great principle +which regulated that of the middle ages, namely, that chiaroscuro and +colour are incompatible in their highest degrees. Wherever chiaroscuro +enters, colour must lose some of its brilliancy. There is no _shade_ +in a rainbow, nor in an opal, nor in a piece of mother-of-pearl, nor +in a well-designed painted window; only various hues of perfect +colour. The best pictures, by subduing their colour and +conventionalising their chiaroscuro, reconcile both in their +diminished degrees; but a perfect light and shade cannot be given +without considerable loss of liveliness in colour. Hence the supposed +inferiority of Tintoret to Titian. Tintoret is, in reality, the +greater colourist of the two; but he could not bear to falsify his +light and shadow enough to set off his colour. Titian nearly strikes +the exact mean between the painted glass of the 13th century and +Rembrandt; while Giotto closely approaches the system of painted +glass, and hence his compositions lose grievously by being translated +into black and white. + +But even this chiaroscuro, however subdued, is not without a peculiar +charm; and the accompanying engravings possess a marked superiority +over all that have hitherto been made from the works of this painter, +in rendering this chiaroscuro, as far as possible, together with the +effect of the local colours. The true appreciation of art has been +retarded for many years by the habit of trusting to outlines as a +sufficient expression of the sentiment of compositions; whereas in all +truly great designs, of whatever age, it is never the outline, but the +disposition of the masses, whether of shade or colour, on which the +real power of the work depends. For instance, in Plate III. (The Angel +appears to Anna), the interest of the composition depends entirely +upon the broad shadows which fill the spaces of the chamber, and of +the external passage in which the attendant is sitting. This shade +explains the whole scene in a moment: gives prominence to the curtain +and coverlid of the homely bed, and the rude chest and trestles which +form the poor furniture of the house; and conducts the eye easily and +instantly to the three figures, which, had the scene been expressed in +outline only, we should have had to trace out with some care and +difficulty among the pillars of the loggia and folds of the curtains. +So also the relief of the faces in light against the dark sky is of +peculiar value in the compositions No. X. and No. XII. + +The _drawing_ of Giotto is, of course, exceedingly faulty. His +knowledge of the human figure is deficient; and this, the necessary +drawback in all works of the period, occasions an extreme difficulty +in rendering them faithfully in an engraving. For wherever there is +good and legitimate drawing, the ordinary education of a modern +draughtsman enables him to copy it with tolerable accuracy; but when +once the true forms of nature are departed from, it is by no means +easy to express _exactly_ the error, and _no more than_ the error, of +his original. In most cases modern copyists try to modify or hide the +weaknesses of the old art,--by which procedure they very often wholly +lose its spirit, and only half redeem its defects; the results being, +of course, at once false as representations, and intrinsically +valueless. And just as it requires great courage and skill in an +interpreter to speak out honestly all the rough and rude words of the +first speaker, and to translate deliberately and resolutely, in the +face of attentive men, the expressions of his weakness or impatience; +so it requires at once the utmost courage and skill in a copyist to +trace faithfully the failures of an imperfect master, in the front of +modern criticism, and against the inborn instincts of his own hand and +eye. And let him do the best he can, he will still find that the grace +and life of his original are continually flying off like a vapour, +while all the faults he has so diligently copied sit rigidly staring +him in the face,--a terrible _caput mortuum_. It is very necessary +that this should be well understood by the members of the Arundel +Society, when they hear their engravings severely criticised. It is +easy to produce an agreeable engraving by graceful infidelities; but +the entire endeavour of the draughtsmen employed by this society has +been to obtain accurately the character of the original: and he who +never proposes to himself to rise _above_ the work he is copying, must +most assuredly often fall beneath it. Such fall is the inherent and +inevitable penalty on all absolute copyism; and wherever the copy is +made with sincerity, the fall must be endured with patience. It will +never be an utter or a degrading fall; that is reserved for those who, +like vulgar translators, wilfully quit the hand of their master, and +have no strength of their own. + +Lastly. It is especially to be noticed that these works of Giotto, in +common with all others of the period, are independent of all the +inferior sources of pictorial interest. They never show the slightest +attempt at imitative realisation: they are simple suggestions of +ideas, claiming no regard except for the inherent value of the +thoughts. There is no filling of the landscape with variety of +scenery, architecture, or incident, as in the works of Benozzo Gozzoli +or Perugino; no wealth of jewellery and gold spent on the dresses of +the figures, as in the delicate labours of Angelico or Gentile da +Fabriano. The background is never more than a few gloomy masses of +rock, with a tree or two, and perhaps a fountain; the architecture is +merely what is necessary to explain the scene; the dresses are painted +sternly on the "heroic" principle of Sir Joshua Reynolds--that drapery +is to be "drapery, and nothing more,"--there is no silk, nor velvet, +nor distinguishable material of any kind: the whole power of the +picture is rested on the three simple essentials of painting--pure +Colour, noble Form, noble Thought. + +We moderns, educated in reality far more under the influence of the +Dutch masters than the Italian, and taught to look for realisation in +all things, have been in the habit of casting scorn on these early +Italian works, as if their simplicity were the result of ignorance +merely. When we know a little more of art in general, we shall begin +to suspect that a man of Giotto's power of mind did not altogether +suppose his clusters of formal trees, or diminutive masses of +architecture, to be perfect representations of the woods of Judea, or +of the streets of Jerusalem: we shall begin to understand that there +is a symbolical art which addresses the imagination, as well as a +realist art which supersedes it; and that the powers of contemplation +and conception which could be satisfied or excited by these simple +types of natural things, were infinitely more majestic than those +which are so dependent on the completeness of what is presented to +them as to be paralysed by an error in perspective, or stifled by the +absence of atmosphere. + +Nor is the healthy simplicity of the period less marked in the +selection than in the treatment of subjects. It has in these days +become necessary for the painter who desires popularity to accumulate +on his canvas whatever is startling in aspect or emotion, and to +drain, even to exhaustion, the vulgar sources of the pathetic. Modern +sentiment, at once feverish and feeble, remains unawakened except by +the violences of gaiety or gloom; and the eye refuses to pause, except +when it is tempted by the luxury of beauty, or fascinated by the +excitement of terror. It ought not, therefore, to be without a +respectful admiration that we find the masters of the fourteenth +century dwelling on moments of the most subdued and tender feeling, +and leaving the spectator to trace the under-currents of thought which +link them with future events of mightier interest, and fill with a +prophetic power and mystery scenes in themselves so simple as the +meeting of a master with his herdsmen among the hills, or the return +of a betrothed virgin to her house. + +[Illustration] + +It is, however, to be remembered that this quietness in character of +subject was much more possible to an early painter, owing to the +connection in which his works were to be seen. A modern picture, +isolated and portable, must rest all its claims to attention on its +own actual subject: but the pictures of the early masters were nearly +always parts of a consecutive and stable series, in which many were +subdued, like the connecting passages of a prolonged poem, in order to +enhance the value or meaning of others. The arrangement of the +subjects in the Arena Chapel is in this respect peculiarly skilful; +and to that arrangement we must now direct our attention. + +[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE ARENA CHAPEL, PADUA, LOOKING EASTWARD.] + +It was before noticed that the chapel was built between 1300 and 1306. +The architecture of Italy in the beginning of the fourteenth century +is always pure, and often severe; but this chapel is remarkable, even +among the severest forms, for the absence of decoration. Its plan, +seen in the marginal figure on p. 26, is a pure oblong, with a narrow +advanced tribune, terminating in a trilateral apse. Selvatico quotes +from the German writer Stieglitz some curious observations on the +apparent derivation of its proportions, in common with those of other +buildings of the time, from the number of sides of its apse. Without +entering into these particulars, it may be noted that the apse is just +one-half the width of the body of the chapel, and that the length from +the extremity of the tribune to the west end is just seven times the +width of the apse. The whole of the body of the chapel was painted by +Giotto; the walls and roof being entirely covered either with his +figure-designs, or with various subordinate decorations connecting and +enclosing them. + +The woodcut on p. 27 represents the arrangement of the frescoes on the +sides, extremities, and roof of the chapel. The spectator is supposed +to be looking from the western entrance towards the tribune, having on +his right the south side, which is pierced by six tall windows, and on +which the frescoes are therefore reduced in number. The north side is +pierced by no windows, and on it therefore the frescoes are +continuous, lighted from the south windows. The several spaces +numbered 1 to 38 are occupied by a continuous series of subjects, +representing the life of the Virgin and of Christ; the narrow panels +below, marked _a_, _b_, _c_, &c., are filled by figures of the +cardinal virtues and their opponent vices: on the lunette above the +tribune is painted a Christ in glory, and at the western extremity the +Last Judgment. Thus the walls of the chapel are covered with a +continuous meditative poem on the mystery of the Incarnation, the acts +of Redemption, the vices and virtues of mankind as proceeding from +their scorn or acceptance of that Redemption, and their final +judgment. + +The first twelve pictures of the series are exclusively devoted to the +apocryphal history of the birth and life of the Virgin. This the +Protestant spectator will observe, perhaps, with little favour, more +especially as only two compartments are given to the ministry of +Christ, between his Baptism and Entry into Jerusalem. Due weight is, +however, to be allowed to Lord Lindsay's remark, that the legendary +history of the Virgin was of peculiar importance in this chapel, as +especially dedicated to her service; and I think also that Giotto +desired to unite the series of compositions in one continuous action, +feeling that to have enlarged on the separate miracles of Christ's +ministry would have interrupted the onward course of thought. As it +is, the mind is led from the first humiliation of Joachim to the +Ascension of Christ in one unbroken and progressive chain of scenes; +the ministry of Christ being completely typified by his first and last +conspicuous miracle: while the very unimportance of some of the +subjects, as for instance that of the Watching the Rods, is useful in +directing the spectator rather to pursue the course of the narrative, +than to pause in satisfied meditation upon any single incident. And it +can hardly be doubted that Giotto had also a peculiar pleasure in +dwelling on the circumstances of the shepherd life of the father of +the Virgin, owing to its resemblance to that of his own early years. + +The incidents represented in these first twelve paintings are recorded +in the two apocryphal gospels known as the "Protevangelion" and +"Gospel of St. Mary."[13] But on comparing the statements in these +writings (which, by the by, are in nowise consistent with each other) +with the paintings in the Arena Chapel, it appeared to me that Giotto +must occasionally have followed some more detailed traditions than are +furnished by either of them; seeing that of one or two subjects the +apocryphal gospels gave no distinct or sufficient explanation. +Fortunately, however, in the course of some other researches, I met +with a manuscript in the British Museum (Harl. 3571,) containing a +complete "History of the most Holy Family," written in Northern +Italian of about the middle of the 14th century; and appearing to be +one of the forms of the legend which Giotto has occasionally followed +in preference to the statements of the Protevangelion. I have +therefore, in illustration of the paintings, given, when it seemed +useful, some portions of this manuscript; and these, with one or two +verses of the commonly received accounts, will be found generally +enough to interpret sufficiently the meaning of the painter. + +[Footnote 13: It has always appeared strange to me, that +ecclesiastical history should possess no more authentic records of the +life of the Virgin, before the period at which the narrative of St. +Luke commences, than these apocryphal gospels, which are as wretched +in style as untrustworthy in matter; and are evidently nothing more +than a collection, in rude imitation of the style of the Evangelists, +of such floating traditions as became current among the weak +Christians of the earlier ages, when their inquiries respecting the +history of Mary were met by the obscurity under which the Divine will +had veiled her humble person and character. There must always be +something painful, to those who are familiar with the Scriptures, in +reading these feeble and foolish mockeries of the manner of the +inspired writers; but it will be proper, nevertheless, to give the +exact words in which the scenes represented by Giotto were recorded to +_him_.] + +The following complete list of the subjects will at once enable the +reader to refer any of them to its place in the series, and on the +walls of the building; and I have only now to remind him in +conclusion, that within those walls the greatest painter and greatest +poet of mediæval Italy held happy companionship during the time when +the frescoes were executed. "It is not difficult," says the writer +already so often quoted, Lord Lindsay, "gazing on these silent but +eloquent walls, to repeople them with the group once, as we know, five +hundred years ago, assembled within them: Giotto intent upon his work, +his wife Ciuta admiring his progress; and Dante, with abstracted eye, +alternately conversing with his friend, and watching the gambols of +the children playing on the grass before the door." + + * * * * * + +SERIES OF SUBJECTS. + + 1. The Rejection of Joachim's Offering. + 2. Joachim retires to the Sheepfold. + 3. The Angel appears to Anna. + 4. The Sacrifice of Joachim. + 5. The Vision of Joachim. + 6. The Meeting at the Golden Gate. + 7. The Birth of the Virgin. + 8. The Presentation of the Virgin. + 9. The Rods are brought to the High Priest. +10. The Watching of the Rods. +11. The Betrothal of the Virgin. +12. The Virgin returns to her House. +13. The Angel Gabriel. +14. The Virgin Annunciate. +15. The Salutation. +16. The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds. +17. The Wise Men's Offering. +18. The Presentation in the Temple. +19. The Flight into Egypt. +20. The Massacre of the Innocents. +21. The Young Christ in the Temple. +22. The Baptism of Christ. +23. The Marriage in Cana. +24. The Raising of Lazarus. +25. The Entry into Jerusalem. +26. The Expulsion from the Temple. +27. The Hiring of Judas. +28. The Last Supper. +29. The Washing of the Feet. +30. The Kiss of Judas. +31. Christ before Caiaphas. +32. The Scourging of Christ. +33. Christ bearing his Cross. +34. The Crucifixion. +35. The Entombment. +36. The Resurrection. +37. The Ascension. +38. The Descent of the Holy Spirit. + + * * * * * + +I. + +THE REJECTION OF JOACHIM'S OFFERING. + +"At that time, there was a man of perfect holiness, named Joachim, of +the tribe of Juda, and of the city of Jerusalem. And this Joachim had +in contempt the riches and honours of the world; and for greater +despite to them, he kept his flocks, with his shepherds. + +"... And he, being so holy and just, divided the fruits which he +received from his flocks into three parts: a third part--wool, and +lambs, and such like--he gave to God, that is to say, to those who +served God, and who ministered in the temple of God; another third +part he gave to widows, orphans, and pilgrims; the remaining third he +kept for himself and his family. And he persevering in this, God so +multiplied and increased his goods that there was no man like him in +the land of Israel.... And having come to the age of twenty years, he +took to wife Anna, the daughter of Ysaya, of his own tribe, and of the +lineage of David. + +"This precious St. Anna had always persevered in the service of God +with great wisdom and sincerity; ... and having received Joachim for +her husband, was subject to him, and gave him honour and reverence, +living in the fear of God. And Joachim having lived with his wife Anna +for twenty years, yet having no child, and there being a great +solemnity in Jerusalem, all the men of the city went to offer in the +temple of God, which Solomon had built; and Joachim entering the +temple with (incense?) and other gifts to offer on the altar, and +Joachim having made his offering, the minister of the temple, whose +name was Issachar, threw Joachim's offering from off the altar, and +drove Joachim out of the temple, saying, 'Thou, Joachim, art not +worthy to enter into the temple, seeing that God has not added his +blessing to you, as in your life you have had no seed.' Thus Joachim +received a great insult in the sight of all the people; and he being +all ashamed, returned to his house, weeping and lamenting most +bitterly." (MS. Harl.) + +The Gospel of St. Mary differs from this MS. in its statement of the +respective cities of Joachim and Anna, saying that the family of the +Virgin's father "was of Galilee and of the city of Nazareth, the +family of her mother was of Bethlehem." It is less interesting in +details; but gives a better, or at least more graceful, account of +Joachim's repulse, saying that Issachar "despised Joachim and his +offerings, and asked him why he, who had no children, would presume +to appear among those who had: adding, that his offerings could never +be acceptable to God, since he had been judged by Him unworthy to have +children; the Scripture having said, Cursed is every one who shall not +beget a male in Israel." + +Giotto seems to have followed this latter account, as the figure of +the high priest is far from being either ignoble or ungentle. + +The temple is represented by the two most important portions of a +Byzantine church; namely, the ciborium which covered the altar, and +the pulpit or reading desk; with the low screen in front of the altar +enclosing the part of the church called the "cancellum." Lord Lindsay +speaks of the priest within this enclosure as "confessing a young man +who kneels at his feet." It seems to me, rather, that he is meant to +be accepting the offering of another worshipper, so as to mark the +rejection of Joachim more distinctly. + + * * * * * + +II. + +JOACHIM RETIRES TO THE SHEEPFOLD. + +"Then Joachim, in the following night, resolved to separate himself +from companionship; to go to the desert places among the mountains, +with his flocks; and to inhabit those mountains, in order not to hear +such insults. And immediately Joachim rose from his bed, and called +about him all his servants and shepherds, and caused to be gathered +together all his flocks, and goats, and horses, and oxen, and what +other beasts he had, and went with them and with the shepherds into +the hills; and Anna his wife remained at home disconsolate, and +mourning for her husband, who had departed from her in such sorrow." +(MS. Harl.) + +"But upon inquiry, he found that all the righteous had raised up seed +in Israel. Then he called to mind the patriarch Abraham,--how that God +in the end of his life had given him his son Isaac: upon which he was +exceedingly distressed, and would not be seen by his wife; but +retired into the wilderness and fixed his tent there, and fasted forty +days and forty nights, saying to himself, 'I will not go down to eat +or drink till the Lord my God shall look down upon me; but prayer +shall be my meat and drink.'" (Protevangelion, chap. i.) + +Giotto seems here also to have followed the ordinary tradition, as he +has represented Joachim retiring unattended,--but met by two of his +shepherds, who are speaking to each other, uncertain what to do or how +to receive their master. The dog hastens to meet him with joy. The +figure of Joachim is singularly beautiful in its pensiveness and slow +motion; and the ignobleness of the herdsmen's figures is curiously +marked in opposition to the dignity of their master. + + * * * * * + +III. + +THE ANGEL APPEARS TO ANNA. + +"Afterwards the angel appeared to Anna his wife, saying, 'Fear not, +neither think that which you see is a spirit. For I am that angel who +hath offered up your prayers and alms before God, and am now sent to +tell you that a daughter will be born unto you.... Arise, therefore, +and go up to Jerusalem; and when you shall come to that which is +called the Golden Gate (because it is gilt with gold), as a sign of +what I have told you, you shall meet your husband, for whose safety +you have been so much concerned.'" (Gospel of St. Mary, chap. iii. +1-7.) + +The accounts in the Protevangelion and in the Harleian MS. are much +expanded: relating how Anna feared her husband was dead, he having +been absent from her five months; and how Judith, her maid, taunted +her with her childlessness; and how, going then into her garden, she +saw a sparrow's nest, full of young, upon a laurel-tree, and mourning +within herself, said, "I am not comparable to the very beasts of the +earth, for even they are fruitful before thee, O Lord.... I am not +comparable to the very earth, for the earth produces its fruits to +praise thee. Then the angel of the Lord stood by her," &c. + +Both the Protevangelion and Harleian MS. agree in placing the vision +in the garden; the latter adding, that she fled "into her chamber in +great fear, and fell upon her bed, and lay as in a trance all that day +and all that night, but did not tell the vision to her maid, because +of her bitter answering." Giotto has deviated from both accounts in +making the vision appear to Anna in her chamber, while the maid, +evidently being considered an important personage, is at work in the +passage. Apart from all reference to the legends, there is something +peculiarly beautiful in the simplicity of Giotto's conception, and in +the way in which he has shown the angel entering at the window, +without the least endeavour to impress our imagination by darkness, or +light, or clouds, or any other accessory; as though believing that +angels might appear any where, and any day, and to all men, as a +matter of course, if we would ask them, or were fit company for them. + + * * * * * + +IV. + +THE SACRIFICE OF JOACHIM. + +The account of this sacrifice is only given clearly in the Harleian +MS.; but even this differs from Giotto's series in the order of the +visions, as the subject of the _next_ plate is recorded first in this +MS., under the curious heading, "_Disse Sancto Theofilo_ como l'angelo +de Dio aperse a Joachim lo qual li anuntia la nativita della vergene +Maria;" while the record of this vision and sacrifice is headed, "Como +l'angelo de Dio aparse _anchora_ a Joachim." It then proceeds thus: +"At this very moment of the day" (when the angel appeared to Anna), +"there appeared a most beautiful youth (_unno belitissimo zovene_) +among the mountains there, where Joachim was, and said to Joachim, +'Wherefore dost thou not return to thy wife?' And Joachim answered, +'These twenty years God has given me no fruit of her, wherefore I was +chased from the temple with infinite shame.... And, as long as I live, +I will give alms of my flocks to widows and pilgrims.'... And these +words being finished, the youth answered, 'I am the angel of God who +appeared to thee the other time for a sign; and appeared to thy wife +Anna, who always abides in prayer, weeping day and night; and I have +consoled her; wherefore I command thee to observe the commandments of +God, and his will, which I tell you truly, that of thee shall be born +a daughter, and that thou shalt offer her to the temple of God, and +the Holy Spirit shall rest upon her, and her blessedness shall be +above the blessedness of all virgins, and her holiness so great that +human nature will not be able to comprehend it.'...[14] + +[Footnote 14: This passage in the old Italian of the MS. may interest +some readers: "E complice queste parole lo zovene respoxe, dignando, +Io son l'angelo de Dio, lo quale si te aparse l'altra fiada, in segno, +e aparse a toa mulier Anna che sempre sta in oration plauzando di e +note, e si lo consolada; unde io te comando che tu debie observare li +comandimenti de Dio, ela soua volunta che io te dico veramente, che de +la toa somenza insera una fiola, e questa offrila al templo de Dio, e +lo Spirito santo reposera in ley, ela soa beatitudine sera sovera tute +le altre verzene, ela soua santita sera si grande che natura humana +non la pora comprendere."] + +"Then Joachim fell upon the earth, saying, 'My lord, I pray thee to +pray God for me, and to enter into this my tabernacle, and bless me, +thy servant.' The angel answered, 'We are all the servants of God: and +know that my eating would be invisible, and my drinking could not be +seen by all the men in the world; but of all that thou wouldest give +to me, do thou make sacrifice to God.' Then Joachim took a lamb +without spot or blemish ...; and when he had made sacrifice of it, the +angel of the Lord disappeared and ascended into heaven; and Joachim +fell upon the earth in great fear, and lay from the sixth hour until +the evening." + +This is evidently nothing more than a very vapid imitation of the +scriptural narrative of the appearances of angels to Abraham and +Manoah. But Giotto has put life into it; and I am aware of no other +composition in which so much interest and awe has been given to the +literal "burnt sacrifice." In all other representations of such +offerings which I remember, the interest is concentrated in the +_slaying_ of the victim. But Giotto has fastened on the _burning_ of +it; showing the white skeleton left on the altar, and the fire still +hurtling up round it, typical of the Divine wrath, which is "as a +consuming fire;" and thus rendering the sacrifice a more clear and +fearful type not merely of the outward wounds and death of Christ, but +of his soul-suffering. "All my bones are out of joint: my heart is +like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels."[15] + +[Footnote 15: (Note by a friend):--"To me the most striking part of it +is, that the skeleton is _entire_ ('a bone of him shall not be +broken'), and that the head stands up still looking to the skies: is +it too fanciful to see a meaning in this?"] + +The hand of the Deity is seen in the heavens--the sign of the Divine +Presence. + + * * * * * + +V. + +THE ANGEL (RAPHAEL) APPEARS TO JOACHIM. + +"Now Joachim being in this pain, the Lord God, Father of mercy, who +abandons not his servants, nor ever fails to console them in their +distresses, if they pray for his grace and pity, had compassion on +Joachim, and heard his prayer, and sent the angel Raphael from heaven +to earth to console him, and announce to him the nativity of the +Virgin Mary. Therefore the angel Raphael appeared to Joachim, and +comforted him with much peace, and foretold to him the birth of the +Virgin in that glory and gladness, saying, 'God save you, O friend of +God, O Joachim! the Lord has sent me to declare to you an everlasting +joy, and a hope that shall have no end.'... And having finished these +words, the angel of the Lord disappeared from him, and ascended into +the heaven." (MS. Harl.) + +The passage which I have omitted is merely one of the ordinary +Romanist accounts of the immaculate conception of the Virgin, put +into the form of prophecy. There are no sufficient details of this +part of the legend either in the Protevangelion or Gospel of St. Mary; +but it is quite clear that Giotto followed it, and that he has +endeavoured to mark a distinction in character between the angels +Gabriel and Raphael[16] in the two subjects,--the form of Raphael +melting back into the heaven, and being distinctly recognised as +angelic, while Gabriel appears invested with perfect humanity. It is +interesting to observe that the shepherds, who of course are not +supposed to see the form of the Angel (his manifestation being only +granted to Joachim during his sleep), are yet evidently under the +influence of a certain degree of awe and expectation, as being +conscious of some presence other than they can perceive, while the +animals are unconscious altogether. + +[Footnote 16: The MS. makes the angel Raphael the only messenger. +Giotto clearly adopts the figure of Gabriel from the Protevangelion.] + + * * * * * + +VI. + +THE MEETING AT THE GOLDEN GATE. + +"And Joachim went down with the shepherds, and Anna stood by the gate, +and saw Joachim coming with the shepherds. And she ran, and hanging +about his neck, said, 'Now I know that the Lord hath greatly blessed +me.'" (Protevangelion, iv. 8, 9.) + +This is one of the most celebrated of Giotto's compositions, and +deservedly so, being full of the most solemn grace and tenderness. The +face of St. Anna, half seen, is most touching in its depth of +expression; and it is very interesting to observe how Giotto has +enhanced its sweetness, by giving a harder and grosser character than +is usual with him to the heads of the other two principal female +figures (not but that this cast of feature is found frequently in the +figures of somewhat earlier art), and by the rough and weather-beaten +countenance of the entering shepherd. In like manner, the falling +lines of the draperies owe a great part of their value to the abrupt +and ugly oblongs of the horizontal masonry which adjoins them. + + * * * * * + +VII. + +THE BIRTH OF THE VIRGIN. + +"And Joachim said, 'Now I know that the Lord is propitious to me, and +hath taken away all my sins.' And he went down from the temple of the +Lord justified, and went to his own house. + +"And when nine months were fulfilled to Anna, she brought forth, and +said to the midwife, 'What have I brought forth?' And she told her, a +girl. + +"Then Anna said, 'The Lord hath this day magnified my soul.' And she +laid her in the bed." (Protevangelion, v. 4-8.) + +The composition is very characteristic of Giotto in two respects: +first, in its natural homeliness and simplicity (in older designs of +the same subject the little Madonna is represented as born with a +golden crown on her head); and secondly, in the smallness of the +breast and head of the sitting figure on the right,--a fault of +proportion often observable in Giotto's figures of children or young +girls. + +For the first time, also, in this series, we have here two successive +periods of the scene represented simultaneously, the babe being +painted twice. This practice was frequent among the early painters, +and must necessarily become so wherever painting undertakes the task +of lengthened narrative. Much absurd discussion has taken place +respecting its propriety; the whole question being simply whether the +human mind can or cannot pass from the contemplation of one event to +that of another, without reposing itself on an intermediate gilt +frame. + + * * * * * + +VIII. + +THE PRESENTATION OF THE VIRGIN. + +"And when three years were expired, and the time of her weaning +complete, they brought the Virgin to the temple of the Lord with +offerings. + +"And there were about the temple, according to the fifteen Psalms of +Degrees, fifteen stairs to ascend. + +"The parents of the blessed Virgin and infant Mary put her upon one of +these stairs; but while they were putting off their clothes in which +they had travelled, in the meantime, the Virgin of the Lord in such a +manner went up all the stairs, one after another, without the help of +any one to lead her or lift her, that any one would have judged from +hence that she was of perfect age." (Gospel of St. Mary, iv. 1-6.) + +There seems nothing very miraculous in a child's walking up stairs at +three years old; but this incident is a favourite one among the +Roman-Catholic painters of every period: generally, however, +representing the child as older than in the legend, and dwelling +rather on the solemn feeling with which she presents herself to the +high-priest, than on the mere fact of her being able to walk alone. +Giotto has clearly regarded the incident entirely in this light; for +St. Anna touches the child's arm as if to support her; so that the +so-called miraculous walking is not even hinted at. + +Lord Lindsay particularly notices that the Virgin is "a dwarf woman +instead of a child; the delineation of childhood was one of the latest +triumphs of art." Even in the time of those latest triumphs, however, +the same fault was committed in another way; and a boy of eight or ten +was commonly represented--even by Raffaelle himself--as a dwarf +Hercules, with all the gladiatorial muscles already visible in stunted +rotundity. Giotto probably felt he had not power enough to give +dignity to a child of three years old, and intended the womanly form +to be rather typical of the Virgin's advanced mind, than an actual +representation of her person. + + * * * * * + +IX. + +THE RODS ARE BROUGHT TO THE HIGH-PRIEST. + +"Then he (the high-priest) appointed that all the men of the house and +family of David who were marriageable, and not married, should bring +their several rods to the altar. And out of whatsoever person's rod, +after it was brought, a flower should bud forth, and on the top of it +the Spirit of the Lord should sit in the appearance of a dove, he +should be the man to whom the Virgin should be given, and be betrothed +to her." (Gospel of St. Mary, v. 16, 17.) + +There has originally been very little interest in this composition; +and the injuries which it has suffered have rendered it impossible for +the draughtsman to distinguish the true folds of the draperies amidst +the defaced and worn colours of the fresco, so that the character of +the central figure is lost. The only points requiring notice are, +first, the manner in which St. Joseph holds his rod, depressing and +half-concealing it,[17] while the other suitors present theirs boldly; +and secondly, the graceful though monotonous grouping of the heads of +the crowd behind him. This mode of rendering the presence of a large +multitude, showing only the crowns of the heads in complicated +perspective, was long practised in mosaics and illuminations before +the time of Giotto, and always possesses a certain degree of sublimity +in its power of suggesting perfect unity of feeling and movement among +the crowd. + +[Footnote 17: In the next chapter, it is said that "Joseph drew back +his rod when every one else presented his."] + + * * * * * + +X. + +THE WATCHING OF THE RODS AT THE ALTAR. + +"After the high-priest had received their rods, he went into the +temple to pray. + +"And when he had finished his prayer, he took the rods and went forth +and distributed them; and there was no miracle attended them. + +"The last rod was taken by Joseph; and, behold, a dove proceeded out +of the rod, and flew upon the head of Joseph." (Protevangelion, viii. +9-11.) + +This is among the least graceful designs of the series; though the +clumsiness in the contours of the leading figures is indeed a fault +which often occurs in the painter's best works, but it is here +unredeemed by the rest of the composition. The group of the suitors, +however, represented as waiting at the outside of the temple, is very +beautiful in its earnestness, more especially in the passionate +expression of the figure in front. It is difficult to look long at the +picture without feeling a degree of anxiety, and strong sympathy with +the silent watching of the suitors; and this is a sign of no small +power in the work. The head of Joseph is seen far back on the extreme +left; thus indicating by its position his humility, and desire to +withdraw from the trial. + + * * * * * + +XI. + +THE BETROTHAL OF THE VIRGIN. + +There is no distinct notice of this event in the apocryphal Gospel: +the traditional representation of it is nearly always more or less +similar. Lord Lindsay's account of the composition before us is as +follows: + +"The high-priest, standing in front of the altar, joins their hands; +behind the Virgin stand her bridesmaids; behind St. Joseph the +unsuccessful suitors, one of whom steps forward to strike him, and +another breaks his rod on his knee. Joseph bears his own rod, on the +flower of which the Holy Spirit rests in the semblance of a dove." + +The development of this subject by Perugino (for Raffaelle's picture +in the Brera is little more than a modified copy of Perugino's, now at +Caen,) is well known; but notwithstanding all its beauty, there is +not, I think, any thing in the action of the disappointed suitors so +perfectly true or touching as that of the youth breaking his rod in +this composition of Giotto's; nor is there among any of the figures +the expression of solemn earnestness and intentness on the event which +is marked among the attendants here, and in the countenances of the +officiating priests. + + * * * * * + +XII. + +THE VIRGIN MARY RETURNS TO HER HOUSE. + +"Accordingly, the usual ceremonies of betrothing being over, he +(Joseph) returned to his own city of Bethlehem to set his house in +order, and to make the needful provisions for the marriage. But the +Virgin of the Lord, Mary, with seven other virgins of the same age, +who had been weaned at the same time, and who had been appointed to +attend her by the priest, returned to her parents' house in Galilee." +(Gospel of St. Mary, vi. 6, 7.) + +Of all the compositions in the Arena Chapel I think this the most +characteristic of the noble time in which it was done. It is not so +notable as exhibiting the mind of Giotto, which is perhaps more fully +seen in subjects representing varied emotion, as in the simplicity and +repose which were peculiar to the compositions of the early fourteenth +century. In order to judge of it fairly, it ought first to be compared +with any classical composition--with a portion, for instance, of the +Elgin frieze,--which would instantly make manifest in it a strange +seriousness and dignity and slowness of motion, resulting chiefly from +the excessive simplicity of all its terminal lines. Observe, for +instance, the pure wave from the back of the Virgin's head to the +ground; and again, the delicate swelling line along her shoulder and +left arm, opposed to the nearly unbroken fall of the drapery of the +figure in front. It should then be compared with an Egyptian or +Ninevite series of figures, which, by contrast, would bring out its +perfect sweetness and grace, as well as its variety of expression: +finally, it should be compared with any composition subsequent to the +time of Raffaelle, in order to feel its noble freedom from pictorial +artifice and attitude. These three comparisons cannot be made +carefully without a sense of profound reverence for the national +spirit[18] which could produce a design so majestic, and yet remain +content with one so simple. + +[Footnote 18: _National_, because Giotto's works are properly to be +looked on as the _fruit_ of their own age, and the _food_ of that +which followed.] + +The small _loggia_ of the Virgin's house is noticeable, as being +different from the architecture introduced in the other pictures, and +more accurately representing the Italian Gothic of the dwelling-house +of the period. The arches of the windows have no capitals; but this +omission is either to save time, or to prevent the background from +becoming too conspicuous. All the real buildings designed by Giotto +have the capital completely developed. + + * * * * * + +XIII. + +THE ANNUNCIATION.--THE ANGEL GABRIEL. + +This figure is placed on one side of the arch at the east end of the +body of the chapel; the corresponding figure of the Virgin being set +on the other side. It was a constant practice of the mediæval artists +thus to divide this subject; which, indeed, was so often painted, that +the meaning of the separated figures of the Angel and Mary was as well +understood as when they were seen in juxtaposition. Indeed, on the two +sides of this arch they would hardly be considered as separated, since +very frequently they were set to answer to each other from the +opposite extremities of a large space of architecture.[19] + +[Footnote 19: As, for instance, on the two opposite angles of the +façade of the Cathedral of Rheims.] + +The figure of the Angel is notable chiefly for its serenity, as +opposed to the later conceptions of the scene, in which he sails into +the chamber upon the wing, like a stooping falcon. + +The building above is more developed than in any other of the Arena +paintings; but it must always remain a matter of question, why so +exquisite a designer of architecture as Giotto should introduce forms +so harsh and meagre into his backgrounds. Possibly he felt that the +very faults of the architecture enhanced the grace and increased the +importance of the figures; at least, the proceeding seems to me +inexplicable on any other theory.[20] + +[Footnote 20: (Note by a friend:) "I suppose you will not admit as an +explanation, that he had not yet turned his mind to architectural +composition, the Campanile being some thirty years later?"] + + * * * * * + +XIV. + +THE ANNUNCIATION.--THE VIRGIN MARY. + +Vasari, in his notice of one of Giotto's Annunciations, praises him +for having justly rendered the _fear_ of the Virgin at the address of +the Angel. If he ever treated the subject in such a manner, he +departed from all the traditions of his time; for I am aware of no +painting of this scene, during the course of the thirteenth and +following centuries, which does not represent the Virgin as perfectly +tranquil, receiving the message of the Angel in solemn thought and +gentle humility, but without a shadow of fear. It was reserved for the +painters of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to change angelic +majesty into reckless impetuosity, and maiden meditation into panic +dread. + +The face of the Virgin is slightly disappointing. Giotto never reached +a very high standard of beauty in feature; depending much on distant +effect in all his works, and therefore more on general arrangement of +colour and sincerity of gesture, than on refinement of drawing in the +countenance. + + * * * * * + +XV. + +THE SALUTATION. + +This picture, placed beneath the figure of the Virgin Annunciate at +the east end of the chapel, and necessarily small, (as will be seen by +the plan), in consequence of the space occupied by the arch which it +flanks, begins the second or lower series of frescoes; being, at the +same time, the first of the great chain of more familiar subjects, in +which we have the power of comparing the conceptions of Giotto not +only with the designs of earlier ages, but with the efforts which +subsequent masters have made to exalt or vary the ideas of the +principal scenes in the life of the Virgin and of Christ. The two +paintings of the Angel Gabriel and the Virgin Annunciate hardly +provoke such a comparison, being almost statue-like in the calm +subjection of all dramatic interest to the symmetrical dignity and +beauty of the two figures, leading, as they do, the whole system of +the decoration of the chapel; but this of the Salutation is treated +with no such reference to the architecture, and at once challenges +comparison with the works of later masters. + +Nor is the challenge feebly maintained. I have no hesitation in +saying, that, among all the renderings of this scene which now exist, +I remember none which gives the pure depth and plain facts of it so +perfectly as this of Giotto's. Of majestic women bowing themselves to +beautiful and meek girls, both wearing gorgeous robes, in the midst of +lovely scenery, or at the doors of Palladian palaces, we have enough; +but I do not know any picture which seems to me to give so truthful an +idea of the action with which Elizabeth and Mary must actually have +met,--which gives so exactly the way in which Elizabeth would stretch +her arms, and stoop and gaze into Mary's face, and the way in which +Mary's hand would slip beneath Elizabeth's arms, and raise her up to +kiss her. I know not any Elizabeth so full of intense love, and joy, +and humbleness; hardly any Madonna in which tenderness and dignity +are so quietly blended. She not less humble, and yet accepting the +reverence of Elizabeth as her appointed portion, saying, in her +simplicity and truth, "He that is mighty hath magnified me, and holy +is His name." The longer that this group is looked upon, the more it +will be felt that Giotto has done well to withdraw from it nearly all +accessories of landscape and adornment, and to trust it to the power +of its own deep expression. We may gaze upon the two silent figures +until their silence seems to be broken, and the words of the question +and reply sound in our ears, low as if from far away: + +"Whence is this to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?" + +"My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my +Saviour." + + * * * * * + +XVI. + +THE NATIVITY. + +I am not sure whether I shall do well or kindly in telling the reader +anything about this beautiful design. Perhaps the less he knows about +early art or early traditions, the more deeply he will feel its purity +and truth; for there is scarcely an incident here, or anything in the +manner of representing the incidents, which is not mentioned or +justified in Scripture. The bold, hilly background reminds us that +Bethlehem was in the hill-country of Judah. But it may seem to have +two purposes besides this literal one: the first, that it increases +the idea of _exposure_ and loneliness in the birth of Christ; the +second that the masses of the great hills, with the angels floating +round them in the horizontal clouds, may in some sort represent to our +thoughts the power and space of that heaven and earth whose Lord is +being laid in the manger-cradle. + +There is an exquisite truth and sweetness in the way the Virgin turns +upon the couch, in order herself to assist in laying the Child down. +Giotto is in this exactly faithful to the scriptural words: "_She_ +wrapped the Child in swaddling-clothes, and _laid_ Him in a manger." +Joseph sits beneath in meditation; above, the angels, all exulting, +and, as it were, confused with joy, flutter and circle in the air like +birds,--three looking up to the Father's throne with praise and +thankfulness, one stooping to adore the Prince of Peace, one flying to +tell the shepherds. There is something to me peculiarly affecting in +this disorder of theirs; even angels, as it were, breaking their ranks +with wonder, and not knowing how to utter their gladness and passion +of praise. There is noticeable here, as in all works of this early +time, a certain confidence in the way in which the angels trust to +their wings, very characteristic of a period of bold and simple +conception. Modern science has taught us that a wing cannot be +anatomically joined to a shoulder; and in proportion as painters +approach more and more to the scientific, as distinguished from the +contemplative state of mind, they put the wings of their angels on +more timidly, and dwell with greater emphasis upon the human form, and +with less upon the wings, until these last become a species of +decorative appendage,--a mere _sign_ of an angel. But in Giotto's time +an angel was a complete creature, as much believed in as a bird; and +the way in which it would or might cast itself into the air, and lean +hither and thither upon its plumes, was as naturally apprehended as +the manner of flight of a chough or a starling. Hence Dante's simple +and most exquisite synonym for angel, "Bird of God;" and hence also a +variety and picturesqueness in the expression of the movements of the +heavenly hierarchies by the earlier painters, ill replaced by the +powers of foreshortening, and throwing naked limbs into fantastic +positions, which appear in the cherubic groups of later times. + +It is needless to point out the frank association of the two +events,--the Nativity, and appearance of the Angel to the Shepherds. +They are constantly thus joined; but I do not remember any other +example in which they are joined so boldly. Usually the shepherds are +seen in the distance, or are introduced in some ornamental border, or +other inferior place. The view of painting as a mode of suggesting +relative or consecutive thoughts, rather than a realisation of any one +scene, is seldom so fearlessly asserted, even by Giotto, as here, in +placing the flocks of the shepherds at the foot of the Virgin's bed. + +This bed, it will be noticed, is on a shelf of rock. This is in +compliance with the idea founded on the Protevangelion and the +apocryphal book known as the Gospel of Infancy, that our Saviour was +born in a cave, associated with the scriptural statement that He was +laid in a manger, of which the apocryphal gospels do not speak. + +The vain endeavour to exalt the awe of the moment of the Saviour's +birth has turned, in these gospels, the outhouse of the inn into a +species of subterranean chapel, full of incense and candles. "It was +after sunset, when the old woman (the midwife), and Joseph with her, +reached the cave; and they both went into it. And behold, it was all +filled with light, greater than the light of lamps and candles, and +greater than the light of the sun itself." (Infancy, i. 9.) "Then a +bright cloud overshadowed the cave, and the midwife said: This day my +soul is magnified." (Protevangelion, xiv. 10.) The thirteenth chapter +of the Protevangelion is, however, a little more skilful in this +attempt at exaltation. "And leaving her and his sons in the cave, +Joseph went forth to seek a Hebrew midwife in the village of +Bethlehem. But as I was going, said Joseph, I looked up into the air, +and I saw the clouds astonished, and the fowls of the air stopping in +the midst of their flight. And I looked down towards the earth and saw +a table spread, and working-people sitting around it; but their hands +were on the table, and they did not move to eat. But all their faces +were fixed upwards." (Protevangelion, xiii. 1-7.) + +It would, of course, be absurd to endeavour to institute any +comparison between the various pictures of this subject, innumerable +as they are; but I must at least deprecate Lord Lindsay's +characterising this design of Giotto's merely as the "Byzantine +composition." It contains, indeed, nothing more than the materials of +the Byzantine composition; but I know no Byzantine Nativity which at +all resembles it in the grace and life of its action. And, for full a +century after Giotto's time, in northern Europe, the Nativity was +represented in a far more conventional manner than this; usually only +the heads of the ox and ass are seen, and they are arranging, or +holding with their mouths, the drapery of the couch of the Child; who +is not being laid in it by the Virgin, but raised upon a kind of +tablet high above her in the centre of the group. All these early +designs, without exception, however, agree in expressing a certain +degree of languor in the figure of the Virgin, and in making her +recumbent on the bed. It is not till the fifteenth century that she is +represented as exempt from suffering, and immediately kneeling in +adoration before the Child. + + * * * * * + +XVII. + +THE WISE MEN'S OFFERING. + +This is a subject which has been so great a favourite with the +painters of later periods, and on which so much rich incidental +invention has been lavished, that Giotto's rendering of it cannot but +be felt to be barren. It is, in fact, perhaps the least powerful of +all the series; and its effect is further marred by what Lord Lindsay +has partly noted, the appearance--perhaps accidental, but if so, +exceedingly unskilful--of matronly corpulence in the figure of the +Madonna. The unfortunate failure in the representation of the legs and +chests of the camels, and the awkwardness of the attempt to render the +action of kneeling in the foremost king, put the whole composition +into the class--not in itself an uninteresting one--of the slips or +shortcomings of great masters. One incident in it only is worth +observing. In other compositions of this time, and in many later ones, +the kings are generally presenting their offerings themselves, and the +Child takes them in His hand, or smiles at them. The painters who +thought this an undignified conception left the presents in the hands +of the attendants of the Magi. But Giotto considers how presents +would be received by an actual king; and as what has been offered to a +monarch is delivered to the care of his attendants, Giotto puts a +waiting angel to receive the gifts, as not worthy to be placed in the +hands of the Infant. + + * * * * * + +XVIII. + +THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE. + +This design is one of those which are peculiarly characteristic of +Giotto as the head of the Naturalisti.[21] No painter before his time +would have dared to represent the Child Jesus as desiring to quit the +arms of Simeon, or the Virgin as in some sort interfering with the +prophet's earnest contemplation of the Child by stretching her arms to +receive Him. The idea is evidently a false one, quite unworthy of the +higher painters of the religious school; and it is a matter of +peculiar interest to see what must have been the strength of Giotto's +love of plain facts, which could force him to stoop so low in the +conception of this most touching scene. The Child does not, it will be +observed, merely stretch its arm to the Madonna, but is even +struggling to escape, violently raising the left foot. But there is +another incident in the composition, witnessing as notably to Giotto's +powerful grasp of all the facts of his subject as this does to his +somewhat hard and plain manner of grasping them;--I mean the angel +approaching Simeon, as if with a message. The peculiar interest of the +Presentation is for the most part inadequately represented in +painting, because it is impossible to imply the fact of Simeon's +having waited so long in the hope of beholding his Lord, or to inform +the spectator of the feeling in which he utters the song of hope +fulfilled. Giotto has, it seems to me, done all that he could to make +us remember this peculiar meaning of the scene; for I think I cannot +be deceived in interpreting the flying angel, with its branch of palm +or lily, to be the Angel of Death, sent in visible fulfilment of the +thankful words of Simeon: "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart +in peace." The figure of Anna is poor and uninteresting; that of the +attendant, on the extreme left, very beautiful, both in its drapery +and in the severe and elevated character of the features and +head-dress. + +[Footnote 21: See account of his principles above, p. 13, head C.] + + * * * * * + +XIX. + +THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. + +Giotto again shows, in his treatment of this subject, a juster +understanding of the probable facts than most other painters. It +becomes the almost universal habit of later artists to regard the +flight as both sudden and secret, undertaken by Joseph and Mary, +unattended, in the dawn of the morning, or "by night," so soon as +Joseph had awaked from sleep. (Matt. ii. 14.) Without a continuous +miracle, which it is unnecessary in this case to suppose, such a +lonely journey would have been nearly impracticable. Nor was instant +flight necessary; for Herod's order for the massacre could not be +issued until he had been convinced, by the protracted absence of the +Wise Men, that he was "mocked of them." In all probability the exact +nature and extent of the danger was revealed to Joseph; and he would +make the necessary preparations for his journey with such speed as he +could, and depart "by night" indeed, but not in the instant of +awakening from his dream. The ordinary impression seems to have been +received from the words of the Gospel of Infancy: "Go into Egypt _as +soon as the cock crows_." And the interest of the flight is rendered +more thrilling, in late compositions, by the introduction of armed +pursuers. Giotto has given a far more quiet, deliberate, and probable +character to the whole scene, while he has fully marked the fact of +divine protection and command in the figure of the guiding angel. Nor +is the picture less interesting in its marked expression of the night. +The figures are all distinctly seen, and there is no broad +distribution of the gloom; but the vigorous blackness of the dress of +the attendant who holds the bridle, and the scattered glitter of the +lights on the Madonna's robe, are enough to produce the required +effect on the mind. + +The figure of the Virgin is singularly dignified: the broad and severe +curves traced by the hem and deepest folds of her dress materially +conducing to the nobleness of the group. The Child is partly sustained +by a band fastened round the Madonna's neck. The quaint and delicate +pattern on this band, together with that of the embroidered edges of +the dress, is of great value in opposing and making more manifest the +severe and grave outlines of the whole figure, whose impressiveness is +also partly increased by the rise of the mountain just above it, like +a tent. A vulgar composer would have moved this peak to the right or +left, and lost its power. + +This mountain background is also of great use in deepening the sense +of gloom and danger on the desert road. The trees represented as +growing on the heights have probably been rendered indistinct by time. +In early manuscripts such portions are invariably those which suffer +most; the green (on which the leaves were once drawn with dark +colours) mouldering away, and the lines of drawing with it. But even +in what is here left there is noticeable more careful study of the +distinction between the trees with thick spreading foliage, the group +of two with light branches and few leaves, and the tree stripped and +dead at the bottom of the ravine, than an historical painter would now +think it consistent with his dignity to bestow. + + * * * * * + +XX. + +MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS. + +Of all the series, this composition is the one which exhibits most of +Giotto's weaknesses. All early work is apt to fail in the rendering of +violent action: but Giotto is, in this instance, inferior not only to +his successors, but to the feeblest of the miniature-painters of the +thirteenth century; while his imperfect drawing is seen at its worst +in the nude figures of the children. It is, in fact, almost impossible +to understand how any Italian, familiar with the eager gesticulations +of the lower orders of his countrywomen on the smallest points of +dispute with each other, should have been incapable of giving more +adequate expression of true action and passion to the group of +mothers; and, if I were not afraid of being accused of special +pleading, I might insist at some length on a dim faith of my own, that +Giotto thought the actual agony and strivings of the probable scene +unfit for pictorial treatment, or for common contemplation; and that +he chose rather to give motionless types and personifications of the +soldiers and women, than to use his strength and realistic faculty in +bringing before the vulgar eye the unseemly struggle or unspeakable +pain. The formal arrangement of the heap of corpses in the centre of +the group; the crowded standing of the mothers, as in a choir of +sorrow; the actual presence of Herod, to whom some of them appear to +be appealing,--all seem to me to mark this intention; and to make the +composition only a symbol or shadow of the great deed of massacre, not +a realisation of its visible continuance at any moment. I will not +press this conjecture; but will only add, that if it be so, I think +Giotto was perfectly right; and that a picture thus conceived might +have been deeply impressive, had it been more successfully executed; +and a calmer, more continuous, comfortless grief expressed in the +countenances of the women. Far better thus, than with the horrible +analysis of agony, and detail of despair, with which this same scene, +one which ought never to have been made the subject of painting at +all, has been gloated over by artists of more degraded times. + + * * * * * + +XXI. + +THE YOUNG CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE. + +This composition has suffered so grievously by time, that even the +portions of it which remain are seen to the greatest disadvantage. +Little more than various conditions of scar and stain can be now +traced, where were once the draperies of the figures in the shade, and +the suspended garland and arches on the right hand of the spectator; +and in endeavouring not to represent more than there is authority for, +the draughtsman and engraver have necessarily produced a less +satisfactory plate than most others of the series. But Giotto has also +himself fallen considerably below his usual standard. The faces appear +to be cold and hard; and the attitudes are as little graceful as +expressive either of attention or surprise. The Madonna's action, +stretching her arms to embrace her Son, is pretty; but, on the whole, +the picture has no value; and this is the more remarkable, as there +were fewer precedents of treatment in this case than in any of the +others; and it might have been anticipated that Giotto would have put +himself to some pains when the field of thought was comparatively new. +The subject of Christ teaching in the Temple rarely occurs in +manuscripts; but all the others were perpetually repeated in the +service-books of the period. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration] + +XXII. + +THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST. + +This is a more interesting work than the last; but it is also gravely +and strangely deficient in power of entering into the subject; and +this, I think, is common with nearly all efforts that have hitherto +been made at its representation. I have never seen a picture of the +Baptism, by any painter whatever, which was not below the average +power of the painter; and in this conception of Giotto's, the humility +of St. John is entirely unexpressed, and the gesture of Christ has +hardly any meaning: it neither is in harmony with the words, "Suffer +it to be so now," which must have been uttered before the moment of +actual baptism, nor does it in the slightest degree indicate the sense +in the Redeemer of now entering upon the great work of His ministry. +In the earlier representations of the subject, the humility of St. +John is never lost sight of; there will be seen, for instance, an +effort at expressing it by the slightly stooping attitude and bent +knee, even in the very rude design given in outline on the opposite +page. I have thought it worth while to set before the reader in this +outline one example of the sort of traditional representations which +were current throughout Christendom before Giotto arose. This instance +is taken from a large choir-book, probably of French, certainly of +Northern execution, towards the close of the thirteenth century;[22] +and it is a very fair average example of the manner of design in the +illuminated work of the period. The introduction of the scroll, with +the legend, "This is My beloved Son," is both more true to the +scriptural words, "Lo, a voice from heaven," and more reverent, than +Giotto's introduction of the visible figure, as a type of the First +Person of the Trinity. The boldness with which this type is introduced +increases precisely as the religious sentiment of art decreases; in +the fifteenth century it becomes utterly revolting. + +[Footnote 22: The exact date, 1290, is given in the title-page of the +volume.] + +I have given this woodcut for another reason also: to explain more +clearly the mode in which Giotto deduced the strange form which he has +given to the stream of the Jordan. In the earlier Northern works it is +merely a green wave, rising to the Saviour's waist, as seen in the +woodcut. Giotto, for the sake of getting standing-ground for his +figures, gives _shores_ to this wave, retaining its swelling form in +the centre,--a very painful and unsuccessful attempt at reconciling +typical drawing with laws of perspective. Or perhaps it is less to be +regarded as an effort at progress, than as an awkward combination of +the Eastern and Western types of the Jordan. In the difference between +these types there is matter of some interest. Lord Lindsay, who merely +characterises this work of Giotto's as "the Byzantine composition," +thus describes the usual Byzantine manner of representing the Baptism: + +"The Saviour stands immersed to the middle in Jordan (_flowing between +two deep and rocky banks_), on one of which stands St. John, pouring +the water on His head, and on the other two angels hold His robes. +The Holy Spirit descends upon Him as a dove, in a stream of light, +from God the Father, usually represented by a hand from Heaven. Two of +John's disciples stand behind him as spectators. Frequently _the +river-god of Jordan_ reclines with his oars in the corner.... In the +Baptistery at Ravenna, the rope is supported, not by an angel, but by +the river-deity _Jordann_ (Iordanes?), who holds in his left hand a +reed as his sceptre." + +Now in this mode of representing rivers there is something more than +the mere Pagan tradition lingering through the wrecks of the Eastern +Empire. A river, in the East and South, is necessarily recognised more +distinctly as a beneficent power than in the West and North. The +narrowest and feeblest stream is felt to have an influence on the life +of mankind; and is counted among the possessions, or honoured among +the deities, of the people who dwell beside it. Hence the importance +given, in the Byzantine compositions, to the name and specialty of the +Jordan stream. In the North such peculiar definiteness and importance +can never be attached to the name of any single fountain. Water, in +its various forms of streamlet, rain, or river, is felt as an +universal gift of heaven, not as an inheritance of a particular spot +of earth. Hence, with the Gothic artists generally, the personality of +the Jordan is lost in the green and nameless wave; and the simple rite +of the Baptism is dwelt upon, without endeavouring, as Giotto has +done, to draw the attention to the rocky shores of Bethabara and Ænon, +or to the fact that "there was much water there." + + * * * * * + +XXIII. + +THE MARRIAGE IN CANA. + +It is strange that the sweet significance of this first of the +miracles should have been lost sight of by nearly all artists after +Giotto; and that no effort was made by them to conceive the +circumstances of it in simplicity. The poverty of the family in which +the marriage took place,--proved sufficiently by the fact that a +carpenter's wife not only was asked as a chief guest, but even had +authority over the servants,--is shown further to have been +distressful, or at least embarrassed, poverty by their want of wine on +such an occasion. It was not certainly to remedy an accident of +careless provision, but to supply a need sorrowfully betraying the +narrow circumstances of His hosts, that our Lord wrought the beginning +of miracles. Many mystic meanings have been sought in the act, which, +though there is no need to deny, there is little evidence to certify: +but we may joyfully accept, as its first indisputable meaning, that of +simple kindness; the wine being provided here, when needed, as the +bread and fish were afterwards for the hungry multitudes. The whole +value of the miracle, in its serviceable tenderness, is at once +effaced when the marriage is supposed, as by Veronese and other +artists of later times, to have taken place at the house of a rich +man. For the rest, Giotto sufficiently implies, by the lifted hand of +the Madonna, and the action of the fingers of the bridegroom, as if +they held sacramental bread, that there lay a deeper meaning under the +miracle for those who could accept it. How all miracle _is_ accepted +by common humanity, he has also shown in the figure of the ruler of +the feast, drinking. This unregarding forgetfulness of present +spiritual power is similarly marked by Veronese, by placing the figure +of a fool with his bauble immediately underneath that of Christ, and +by making a cat play with her shadow in one of the wine-vases. + +It is to be remembered, however, in examining all pictures of this +subject, that the miracle was not made manifest to all the guests;--to +none indeed, seemingly, except Christ's own disciples: the ruler of +the feast, and probably most of those present (except the servants who +drew the water), knew or observed nothing of what was passing, and +merely thought the good wine had been "kept until now." + + * * * * * + +XXIV. + +THE RAISING OF LAZARUS. + +In consequence of the intermediate position which Giotto occupies +between the Byzantine and Naturalist schools, two relations of +treatment are to be generally noted in his work. As compared with the +Byzantines, he is a realist, whose power consists in the introduction +of living character and various incidents, modifying the formerly +received Byzantine symbols. So far as he has to do this, he is a +realist of the purest kind, endeavoring always to conceive events +precisely as they were likely to have happened; not to idealise them +into forms artfully impressive to the spectator. But in so far as he +was compelled to retain, or did not wish to reject, the figurative +character of the Byzantine symbols, he stands opposed to succeeding +realists, in the quantity of meaning which probably lies hidden in any +composition, as well as in the simplicity with which he will probably +treat it, in order to enforce or guide to this meaning: the figures +being often letters of a hieroglyphic, which he will not multiply, +lest he should lose in force of suggestion what he gained in dramatic +interest. + +None of the compositions display more clearly this typical and +reflective character than that of the Raising of Lazarus. Later +designers dwell on vulgar conditions of wonder or horror, such as they +could conceive likely to attend the resuscitation of a corpse; but +with Giotto the physical reanimation is the type of a spiritual one, +and, though shown to be miraculous, is yet in all its deeper aspects +unperturbed, and calm in awfulness. It is also visibly gradual. "His +face was bound about with a napkin." The nearest Apostle has withdrawn +the covering from the face, and looks for the command which shall +restore it from wasted corruption, and sealed blindness, to living +power and light. + +Nor is it, I believe, without meaning, that the two Apostles, if +indeed they are intended for Apostles, who stand at Lazarus' side, +wear a different dress from those who follow Christ. I suppose them +to be intended for images of the Christian and Jewish Churches in +their ministration to the dead soul: the one removing its bonds, but +looking to Christ for the word and power of life; the other inactive +and helpless--the veil upon its face--in dread; while the principal +figure fulfils the order it receives in fearless simplicity. + + * * * * * + +XXV. + +THE ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. + +This design suffers much from loss of colour in translation. Its +decorative effect depends on the deep blue ground, relieving the +delicate foliage and the local colours of dresses and architecture. It +is also one of those which are most directly opposed to modern +feeling: the sympathy of the spectator with the passion of the crowd +being somewhat rudely checked by the grotesque action of two of the +foremost figures. We ought, however, rather to envy the deep +seriousness which could not be moved from dwelling on the real power +of the scene by any ungracefulness or familiarity of circumstance. +Among men whose minds are rightly toned, nothing is ludicrous: it +must, if an act, be either right or wrong, noble or base; if a thing +seen, it must either be ugly or beautiful: and what is either wrong or +deformed is not, among noble persons, in anywise subject for laughter; +but, in the precise degree of its wrongness or deformity, a subject of +horror. All perception of what, in the modern European mind, falls +under the general head of the ludicrous, is either childish or +profane; often healthy, as indicative of vigorous animal life, but +always degraded in its relation to manly conditions of thought. It has +a secondary use in its power of detecting vulgar imposture; but it +only obtains this power by denying the highest truths. + + * * * * * + +XXVI. + +THE EXPULSION FROM THE TEMPLE. + +More properly, the Expulsion from the outer Court of the Temple (Court +of Gentiles), as Giotto has indicated by placing the porch of the +Temple itself in the background. + +The design shows, as clearly as that of the Massacre of the Innocents, +Giotto's want of power, and partly of desire, to represent rapid or +forceful action. The raising of the right hand, not holding any +scourge, resembles the action afterwards adopted by Oreagna, and +finally by Michael Angelo in his Last Judgment: and my belief is, that +Giotto considered this act of Christ's as partly typical of the final +judgment, the Pharisees being placed on the left hand, and the +disciples on the right. From the faded remains of the fresco, the +draughtsman could not determine what animals are intended by those on +the left hand. But the most curious incident (so far as I know, found +only in this design of the Expulsion, no subsequent painter repeating +it), is the sheltering of the two children, one of them carrying a +dove, under the arm and cloak of two disciples. Many meanings might +easily be suggested in this; but I see no evidence for the adoption of +any distinct one. + + * * * * * + +XXVII. + +THE HIRING OF JUDAS. + +The only point of material interest presented by this design is the +decrepit and distorted shadow of the demon, respecting which it may be +well to remind the reader that all the great Italian thinkers +concurred in assuming decrepitude or disease, as well as ugliness, to +be a characteristic of all natures of evil. Whatever the extent of the +power granted to evil spirits, it was always abominable and +contemptible; no element of beauty or heroism was ever allowed to +remain, however obscured, in the aspect of a fallen angel. Also, the +demoniacal nature was shown in acts of betrayal, torture, or wanton +hostility; never in valiancy or perseverance of contest. I recollect +no mediæval demon who shows as much insulting, resisting, or +contending power as Bunyan's Apollyon. They can only cheat, undermine, +and mock; never overthrow. Judas, as we should naturally anticipate, +has not in this scene the nimbus of an Apostle; yet we shall find it +restored to him in the next design. We shall discover the reason of +this only by a careful consideration of the meaning of that fresco. + + * * * * * + +XXVIII. + +THE LAST SUPPER. + +I have not examined the original fresco with care enough to be able to +say whether the uninteresting quietness of its design is redeemed by +more than ordinary attention to expression; it is one of the least +attractive subjects in the Arena Chapel, and always sure to be passed +over in any general observation of the series: nevertheless, however +unfavourably it may at first contrast with the designs of later +masters, and especially with Leonardo's, the reader should not fail to +observe that Giotto's aim, had it been successful, was the higher of +the two, as giving truer rendering of the probable fact. There is no +distinct evidence, in the sacred text, of the annunciation of coming +treachery having produced among the disciples the violent surprise and +agitation represented by Leonardo. Naturally, they would not at first +understand what was meant. They knew nothing distinctly of the +machinations of the priests; and so little of the character or +purposes of Judas, that even after he had received the sop which was +to point him out to the others as false;--and after they had heard the +injunction, "That thou doest, do quickly,"--the other disciples had +still no conception of the significance, either of the saying, or the +act: they thought that Christ meant he was to buy something for the +feast. Nay, Judas himself, so far from starting, as a convicted +traitor, and thereby betraying himself, as in Leonardo's picture, had +not, when Christ's first words were uttered, any immediately active +intention formed. The devil had not entered into him until he received +the sop. The passage in St. John's account is a curious one, and +little noticed; but it marks very distinctly the paralysed state of +the man's mind. He had talked with the priests, covenanted with them, +and even sought opportunity to bring Jesus into their hands; but while +such opportunity was wanting, the act had never presented itself fully +to him for adoption or rejection. He had toyed with it, dreamed over +it, hesitated, and procrastinated over it, as a stupid and cowardly +person would, such as traitors are apt to be. But the way of retreat +was yet open; the conquest of the temper not complete. Only after +receiving the sop the idea _finally_ presented itself clearly, and was +accepted, "To-night, while He is in the garden, I can do it; and I +will." And Giotto has indicated this distinctly by giving Judas still +the Apostle's nimbus, both in this subject and in that of the Washing +of the Feet; while it is taken away in the previous subject of the +Hiring, and the following one of the Seizure: thus it fluctuates, +expires, and reillumines itself, until his fall is consummated. This +being the general state of the Apostles' knowledge, the words, "One of +you shall betray me," would excite no feeling in their minds +correspondent to that with which we now read the prophetic sentence. +What this "giving up" of their Master meant became a question of +bitter and self-searching thought with them,--gradually of intense +sorrow and questioning. But had they understood it in the sense we now +understand it, they would never have each asked, "Lord, is it I?" +Peter believed himself incapable even of _denying_ Christ; and of +giving him up to death for money, every one of his true disciples +_knew_ themselves incapable; the thought never occurred to them. In +slowly-increasing wonder and sorrow ([Greek: êrxanto lupeisthai], Mark +xiv. 19), not knowing what was meant, they asked one by one, with +pauses between, "Is it I?" and another, "Is it I?" and this so quietly +and timidly that the one who was lying on Christ's breast never +stirred from his place; and Peter, afraid to speak, signed to him to +ask who it was. One further circumstance, showing that this was the +real state of their minds, we shall find Giotto take cognisance of in +the next fresco. + + * * * * * + +XXIX. + +THE WASHING OF THE FEET. + +In this design, it will be observed, there are still the twelve +disciples, and the nimbus is yet given to Judas (though, as it were, +setting, his face not being seen). + +Considering the deep interest and importance of every circumstance of +the Last Supper, I cannot understand how preachers and commentators +pass by the difficulty of clearly understanding the periods indicated +in St. John's account of it. It seems that Christ must have risen +while they were still eating, must have washed their feet as they sate +or reclined at the table, just as the Magdalen had washed His own feet +in the Pharisee's house; that, this done, He returned to the table, +and the disciples continuing to eat, presently gave the sop to Judas. +For St. John says, that he having received the sop, went _immediately_ +out; yet that Christ had washed his feet is certain, from the words, +"Ye are clean, but not all." Whatever view the reader may, on +deliberation, choose to accept, Giotto's is clear, namely, that though +not cleansed by the baptism, Judas was yet capable of being cleansed. +The devil had not entered into him at the time of the washing of the +feet, and he retains the sign of an Apostle. + +The composition is one of the most beautiful of the series, especially +owing to the submissive grace of the two standing figures. + + * * * * * + +XXX. + +THE KISS OF JUDAS. + +For the first time we have Giotto's idea of the face of the traitor +clearly shown. It is not, I think, traceable through any of the +previous series; and it has often surprised me to observe how +impossible it was in the works of almost any of the sacred painters to +determine by the mere cast of feature which was meant for the false +Apostle. Here, however, Giotto's theory of physiognomy, and together +with it his idea of the character of Judas, are perceivable enough. It +is evident that he looks upon Judas mainly as a sensual dullard, and +foul-brained fool; a man in no respect exalted in bad eminence of +treachery above the mass of common traitors, but merely a distinct +type of the eternal treachery to good, in vulgar men, which stoops +beneath, and opposes in its appointed measure, the life and efforts of +all noble persons, their natural enemies in this world; as the slime +lies under a clear stream running through an earthy meadow. Our +careless and thoughtless English use of the word into which the Greek +"Diabolos" has been shortened, blinds us in general to the meaning of +"Deviltry," which, in its essence, is nothing else than slander, or +traitorhood;--the accusing and giving up of good. In particular it has +blinded us to the meaning of Christ's words, "Have not I chosen you +twelve, and one of you is a traitor and accuser?" and led us to think +that the "one of you is a devil" indicated some greater than human +wickedness in Judas; whereas the practical meaning of the entire fact +of Judas' ministry and fall is, that out of any twelve men chosen for +the forwarding of any purpose,--or, much more, out of any twelve men +we meet,--one, probably, is or will be a Judas. + +The modern German renderings of all the scenes of Christ's life in +which the traitor is conspicuous are very curious in their vulgar +misunderstanding of the history, and their consequent endeavours to +represent Judas as more diabolic than selfish, treacherous, and +stupid men are in all their generations. They paint him usually +projected against strong effects of light, in lurid +chiaroscuro;--enlarging the whites of his eyes, and making him frown, +grin, and gnash his teeth on all occasions, so as to appear among the +other Apostles invariably in the aspect of a Gorgon. + +How much more deeply Giotto has fathomed the fact, I believe all men +will admit who have sufficient purity and abhorrence of falsehood to +recognise it in its daily presence, and who know how the devil's +strongest work is done for him by men who are too bestial to +understand what they betray. + + * * * * * + +XXXI. + +CHRIST BEFORE CAIAPHAS. + +Little is to be observed in this design of any distinctive merit; it +is only a somewhat completer version of the ordinary representation +given in illuminated missals and other conventual work, suggesting, as +if they had happened at the same moment, the answer, "If I have spoken +evil, bear witness of the evil," and the accusation of blasphemy which +causes the high-priest to rend his clothes. + +Apparently distrustful of his power of obtaining interest of a higher +kind, Giotto has treated the enrichments more carefully than usual, +down even to the steps of the high-priest's seat. The torch and barred +shutters conspicuously indicate its being now dead of night. That the +torch is darker than the chamber, if not an error in the drawing, is +probably the consequence of a darkening alteration in the yellow +colours used for the flame. + + * * * * * + +XXXII. + +THE SCOURGING OF CHRIST. + +It is characteristic of Giotto's rational and human view of all +subjects admitting such aspect, that he has insisted here chiefly on +the dejection and humiliation of Christ, making no attempt to suggest +to the spectator any other divinity than that of patience made perfect +through suffering. Angelico's conception of the same subject is higher +and more mystical. He takes the moment when Christ is blindfolded, and +exaggerates almost into monstrosity the vileness of feature and +bitterness of sneer in the questioners, "Prophesy unto us, who is he +that smote thee;" but the bearing of the person of Christ is entirely +calm and unmoved; and his eyes, open, are seen through the binding +veil, indicating the ceaseless omniscience. + +This mystical rendering is, again, rejected by the later realistic +painters; but while the earlier designers, with Giotto at their head, +dwelt chiefly on the humiliation and the mockery, later painters dwelt +on the physical pain. In Titian's great picture of this subject in the +Louvre, one of the executioners is thrusting the thorn-crown down upon +the brow with his rod, and the action of Christ is that of a person +suffering extreme physical agony. + +No representations of the scene exist, to my knowledge, in which the +mockery is either sustained with indifference, or rebuked by any stern +or appealing expression of feature; yet one of these two forms of +endurance would appear, to a modern habit of thought, the most natural +and probable. + + * * * * * + +XXXIII. + +CHRIST BEARING HIS CROSS. + +This design is one of great nobleness and solemnity in the isolation +of the principal figure, and removal of all motives of interest +depending on accessories, or merely temporary incidents. Even the +Virgin and her attendant women are kept in the background; all appeal +for sympathy through physical suffering is disdained. Christ is not +represented as borne down by the weight of the Cross, nor as urged +forward by the impatience of the executioners. The thing to be +shown,--the unspeakable mystery,--is the simple fact, the Bearing of +the Cross by the Redeemer. It would be vain to compare the respective +merits or value of a design thus treated, and of one like Veronese's +of this same subject, in which every essential accessory and probable +incident is completely conceived. The abstract and symbolical +suggestion will always appeal to one order of minds, the dramatic +completeness to another. Unquestionably, the last is the greater +achievement of intellect, but the manner and habit of thought are +perhaps loftier in Giotto. Veronese leads us to perceive the reality +of the act, and Giotto to understand its intention. + + * * * * * + +XXXIV. + +THE CRUCIFIXION. + +The treatment of this subject was, in Giotto's time, so rigidly fixed +by tradition that it was out of his power to display any of his own +special modes of thought; and, as in the Bearing of the Cross, so +here, but yet more distinctly, the temporary circumstances are little +regarded, the significance of the event being alone cared for. But +even long after this time, in all the pictures of the Crucifixion by +the great masters, with the single exception perhaps of that by +Tintoret in the Church of San Cassano at Venice, there is a tendency +to treat the painting as a symmetrical image, or collective symbol of +sacred mysteries, rather than as a dramatic representation. Even in +Tintoret's great Crucifixion in the School of St. Roch, the group of +fainting women forms a kind of pedestal for the Cross. The flying +angels in the composition before us are thus also treated with a +restraint hardly passing the limits of decorative symbolism. The +fading away of their figures into flame-like cloud may perhaps be +founded on the verse, "He maketh His angels spirits; His ministers a +flame of fire" (though erroneously, the right reading of that verse +being, "He maketh the winds His messengers, and the flaming fire His +servant"); but it seems to me to give a greater sense of possible +truth than the entire figures, treading the clouds with naked feet, of +Perugino and his successors. + + * * * * * + +XXXV. + +THE ENTOMBMENT. + +I do not consider that in fulfilling the task of interpreter intrusted +to me, with respect to this series of engravings, I may in general +permit myself to unite with it the duty of a critic. But in the +execution of a laborious series of engravings, some must of course be +better, some worse; and it would be unjust, no less to the reader than +to Giotto, if I allowed this plate to pass without some admission of +its inadequacy. It may possibly have been treated with a little less +care than the rest, in the knowledge that the finished plate, already +in the possession of the members of the Arundel Society, superseded +any effort with inferior means; be that as it may, the tenderness of +Giotto's composition is, in the engraving before us, lost to an +unusual degree. + +It may be generally observed that the passionateness of the sorrow +both of the Virgin and disciples, is represented by Giotto and all +great following designers as reaching its crisis at the Entombment, +not at the Crucifixion. The expectation that, after experiencing every +form of human suffering, Christ would yet come down from the cross, or +in some other visible and immediate manner achieve for Himself the +victory, might be conceived to have supported in a measure the minds +of those among His disciples who watched by His cross. But when the +agony was closed by actual death, and the full strain was put upon +their faith, by their laying in the sepulchre, wrapped in His +grave-clothes, Him in whom they trusted, "that it had been He which +should have redeemed Israel," their sorrow became suddenly hopeless; a +gulf of horror opened, almost at unawares, under their feet; and in +the poignancy of her astonied despair, it was no marvel that the agony +of the Madonna in the "Pietà" became subordinately associated in the +mind of the early Church with that of their Lord Himself;--a type of +consummate human suffering. + + * * * * * + +XXXVI. + +THE RESURRECTION. + +Quite one of the loveliest designs of the series. It was a favourite +subject with Giotto; meeting, in all its conditions, his love of what +was most mysterious, yet most comforting and full of hope, in the +doctrines of his religion. His joy in the fact of the Resurrection, +his sense of its function, as the key and primal truth of +Christianity, was far too deep to allow him to dwell on any of its +minor circumstances, as later designers did, representing the moment +of bursting the tomb, and the supposed terror of its guards. With +Giotto the leading thought is not of physical reanimation, nor of the +momentarily exerted power of breaking the bars of the grave; but the +consummation of Christ's work in the first manifesting to human eyes, +and the eyes of one who had loved Him and believed in Him, His power +to take again the life He had laid down. This first appearance to her +out of whom He had cast seven devils is indeed the very central fact +of the Resurrection. The keepers had not seen Christ; they had seen +only the angel descending, whose countenance was like lightning: for +fear of him they became as dead; yet this fear, though great enough to +cause them to swoon, was so far conquered at the return of morning, +that they were ready to take money-payment for giving a false report +of the circumstances. The Magdalen, therefore, is the first witness of +the Resurrection; to the love, for whose sake much had been forgiven, +this gift is also first given; and as the first witness of the truth, +so she is the first messenger of the Gospel. To the Apostles it was +granted to proclaim the Resurrection to all nations; but the Magdalen +was bidden to proclaim it to the Apostles. + +In the chapel of the Bargello, Giotto has rendered this scene with yet +more passionate sympathy. Here, however, its significance is more +thoughtfully indicated through all the accessories, down even to the +withered trees above the sepulchre, while those of the garden burst +into leaf. This could hardly escape notice when the barren boughs were +compared by the spectator with the rich foliage of the neighbouring +designs, though, in the detached plate, it might easily be lost sight +of. + + * * * * * + +XXXVII. + +THE ASCENSION. + +Giotto continues to exert all his strength on these closing subjects. +None of the Byzantine or earlier Italian painters ventured to +introduce the entire figure of Christ in this scene: they showed the +feet only, concealing the body; according to the text, "a cloud +received Him out of their sight." This composition, graceful as it is +daring, conveys the idea of ascending motion more forcibly than any +that I remember by other than Venetian painters. Much of its power +depends on the continuity of line obtained by the half-floating +figures of the two warning angels. + +I cannot understand why this subject was so seldom treated by +religious painters: for the harmony of Christian creed depends as much +upon it as on the Resurrection itself; while the circumstances of the +Ascension, in their brightness, promise, miraculousness, and direct +appeal to all the assembled Apostles, seem more fitted to attract the +joyful contemplation of all who received the faith. How morbid, and +how deeply to be mourned, was the temper of the Church which could not +be satisfied without perpetual representation of the tortures of +Christ; but rarely dwelt on His triumph! How more than strange the +concessions to this feebleness by its greatest teachers; such as that +of Titian, who, though he paints the Assumption of the Madonna rather +than a Pietà, paints the Scourging and the Entombment of Christ, with +his best power,--but never the Ascension! + + * * * * * + +XXXVIII. + +THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. + +This last subject of the series, the quietest and least interesting in +treatment, yet illustrates sadly, and forcibly, the vital difference +between ancient and modern art. + +The worst characters of modern work result from its constant appeal to +our desire of change, and pathetic excitement; while the best features +of the elder art appealed to love of contemplation. It would appear to +be the object of the truest artists to give permanence to images such +as we should always desire to behold, and might behold without +agitation; while the inferior branches of design are concerned with +the acuter passions which depend on the turn of a narrative, or the +course of an emotion. Where it is possible to unite these two sources +of pleasure, and, as in the Assumption of Titian, an action of +absorbing interest is united with perfect and perpetual elements of +beauty, the highest point of conception would appear to have been +touched: but in the degree in which the interest of action +_supersedes_ beauty of form and colour, the art is lowered; and where +real deformity enters, in any other degree than as a momentary shadow +or opposing force, the art is illegitimate. Such art can exist only by +accident, when a nation has forgotten or betrayed the eternal purposes +of its genius, and gives birth to painters whom it cannot teach, and +to teachers whom it will not hear. The best talents of all our English +painters have been spent either in endeavours to find room for the +expression of feelings which no master guided to a worthy end, or to +obtain the attention of a public whose mind was dead to natural +beauty, by sharpness of satire, or variety of dramatic circumstance. + +The work to which England is now devoting herself withdraws her eyes +from beauty, as her heart from rest; nor do I conceive any revival of +great art to be possible among us while the nation continues in its +present temper. As long as it can bear to see misery and squalor in +its streets, it can neither invent nor accept human beauty in its +pictures; and so long as in passion of rivalry, or thirst of gain, it +crushes the roots of happiness, and forsakes the ways of peace, the +great souls whom it may chance to produce will all pass away from it +helpless, in error, in wrath, or in silence. Amiable visionaries may +retire into the delight of devotional abstraction, strong men of the +world may yet hope to do service by their rebuke or their satire; but +for the clear sight of Love there will be no horizon, for its quiet +words no answer; nor any place for the art which alone is faithfully +Religious, because it is Lovely and True. + + * * * * * + +The series of engravings thus completed, while they present no +characters on which the members of the Arundel Society can justifiably +pride themselves, have, nevertheless, a real and effective value, if +considered as a series of maps of the Arena frescoes. Few artists of +eminence pass through Padua without making studies of detached +portions of the decoration of this Chapel, while no artist has time to +complete drawings of the whole. Such fragmentary studies might now at +any time be engraved with advantage, their place in the series being +at once determinable by reference to the woodcuts; while qualities of +expression could often be obtained in engravings of single figures, +which are sure to be lost in an entire subject. The most refined +character is occasionally dependent on a few happy and light touches, +which, in a single head, are effective, but are too feeble to bear due +part in an entire composition, while, in the endeavour to reinforce +them, their vitality is lost. I believe the members of the Arundel +Society will perceive, eventually, that no copies of works of great +art are worthily representative of them but such as are made freely, +and for their own purposes, by great painters: the best results +obtainable by mechanical effort will only be charts or plans of +pictures, not mirrors of them. Such charts it is well to command in as +great number as possible, and with all attainable completeness; but +the Society cannot be considered as having entered on its true +functions until it has obtained the hearty co-operation of European +artists, and by the increase of its members, the further power of +representing the subtle studies of masterly painters by the aid of +exquisite engraving. + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Giotto and his works in Padua, by John Ruskin + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA *** + +***** This file should be named 18371-8.txt or 18371-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/3/7/18371/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Linda Cantoni, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Giotto and his works in Padua + An Explanatory Notice of the Series of Woodcuts Executed + for the Arundel Society After the Frescoes in the Arena + Chapel + +Author: John Ruskin + +Release Date: May 11, 2006 [EBook #18371] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Linda Cantoni, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<h3>Library Edition</h3> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> + +<h2>THE COMPLETE WORKS</h2> + +<h3>OF</h3> + +<h1>JOHN RUSKIN</h1> + + +<p style="text-align: center"> </p> + + +<p style="text-align: center"><b>STONES OF VENICE<br /> +<span class="smcap">Volume</span> III</b></p> + +<p style="text-align: center"><b>GIOTTO</b></p> + +<p style="text-align: center"><b>LECTURES ON ARCHITECTURE</b></p> + +<p style="text-align: center"><b>HARBOURS OF ENGLAND</b></p> + +<p style="text-align: center"><b>A JOY FOREVER</b></p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> + + +<p style="text-align: center"> +NATIONAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION<br /> +NEW YORK CHICAGO<br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Transcriber's Note:</i> This e-text contains a phrase in Greek. +In the original text, some of the Greek characters have diacritical marks which do not display properly +in some browsers, such as Internet Explorer. In order to make this e-text as accessible as possible, +the diacritical marks have been omitted, and a modern theta (θ) is used in place of an old-style theta. +All text in Greek has a mouse-hover transliteration, e.g., +<span lang="el" title="Greek: kalos">καλος</span>.</p></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>THE COMPLETE WORKS</h3> + +<h4>OF</h4> + +<h3>JOHN RUSKIN</h3> + +<h4>VOLUME X</h4> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p style="text-align: center"><b>GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS</b></p> + +<p style="text-align: center"><b>LECTURES ON ARCHITECTURE</b></p> + +<p style="text-align: center"><b>THE HARBORS OF ENGLAND</b></p> + +<p style="text-align: center"><b>POLITICAL ECONOMY OF ART (<span class="smcap">A Joy Forever</span>)</b></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>GIOTTO</h2> + +<h3>AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA</h3> + +<h4>BEING</h4> + +<p style="text-align: center"> +<b>AN EXPLANATORY NOTICE OF THE SERIES OF<br /> +WOODCUTS EXECUTED FOR THE ARUNDEL<br /> +SOCIETY AFTER THE FRESCOS IN<br /> +THE ARENA CHAPEL<br /> +</b> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<p style="text-align: center"><b><a href="#ADVERTISEMENT">ADVERTISEMENT.</a></b></p> +<p style="text-align: center"><b><a href="#GIOTTO">GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.</a></b></p> +<p style="text-align: center"><b><a href="#SERIES">SERIES OF SUBJECTS.</a></b></p> +<p style="text-align: center"><b><a href="#FOOTNOTES">Footnotes.</a></b></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="ADVERTISEMENT" id="ADVERTISEMENT"></a>ADVERTISEMENT.</h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> following notice of Giotto has not been drawn up with any idea of +attempting a history of his life. That history could only be written +after a careful search through the libraries of Italy for all +documents relating to the years during which he worked. I have no time +for such search, or even for the examination of well-known and +published materials; and have therefore merely collected, from the +sources nearest at hand, such information as appeared absolutely +necessary to render the series of Plates now published by the Arundel +Society intelligible and interesting to those among its Members who +have not devoted much time to the examination of mediæval works. I +have prefixed a few remarks on the relation of the art of Giotto to +former and subsequent efforts; which I hope may be useful in +preventing the general reader from either looking for what the painter +never intended to give, or missing the points to which his endeavours +were really directed.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right">J.R.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="GIOTTO" id="GIOTTO"></a>GIOTTO</h2> + +<h3>AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Towards</span> the close of the thirteenth century, Enrico Scrovegno, a noble +Paduan, purchased, in his native city, the remains of the Roman +Amphitheatre or Arena from the family of the Delesmanini, to whom +those remains had been granted by the Emperor Henry III. of Germany in +1090. For the power of making this purchase, Scrovegno was in all +probability indebted to his father, Reginald, who, for his avarice, is +placed by Dante in the seventh circle of the <i>Inferno</i>, and regarded +apparently as the chief of the usurers there, since he is the only one +who addresses Dante.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> The son, having pos<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>sessed himself of the +Roman ruin, or of the site which it had occupied, built himself a +fortified palace upon the ground, and a chapel dedicated to the +Annunciate Virgin.</p> + +<p>This chapel, built in or about the year 1303,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> appears to have been +intended to replace one which had long existed on the spot; and in +which, from the year 1278, an annual festival had been held on +Lady-day, in which the Annunciation was represented in the manner of +our English mysteries (and under the same title: "una sacra +rappresentazione di quel <i>mistero</i>"), with dialogue, and music both +vocal and instrumental. Scrovegno's purchase of the ground could not +be allowed to interfere with the national custom; but he is reported +by some writers to have rebuilt the chapel with greater costliness, +in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> order, as far as possible, to efface the memory of his father's +unhappy life. But Federici, in his history of the Cavalieri Godenti, +supposes that Scrovegno was a member of that body, and was assisted by +them in decorating the new edifice. The order of Cavalieri Godenti was +instituted in the beginning of the thirteenth century, to defend the +"existence," as Selvatico states it, but more accurately the dignity, +of the Virgin, against the various heretics by whom it was beginning +to be assailed. Her knights were first called Cavaliers of St. Mary; +but soon increased in power and riches to such a degree, that, from +their general habits of life, they received the nickname of the "Merry +Brothers." Federici gives forcible reasons for his opinion that the +Arena Chapel was employed in the ceremonies of their order; and Lord +Lindsay observes, that the fulness with which the history of the +Virgin is recounted on its walls, adds to the plausibility of his +supposition.</p> + +<p>Enrico Scrovegno was, however, towards the close of his life, driven +into exile, and died at Venice in 1320. But he was buried in the +chapel he had built; and has one small monument in the sacristy, as +the founder of the building, in which he is represented under a Gothic +niche, standing, with his hands clasped and his eyes raised; while +behind the altar is his tomb, on which, as usual at the period, is a +recumbent statue of him. The chapel itself may not unwarrantably be +considered as one of the first efforts of Popery in resistance of the +Reformation: for the Reformation, though not victorious till the +sixteenth, began in reality in the thirteenth century; and the +remonstrances of such bishops as our own Grossteste, the martyrdoms of +the Albigenses in the Dominican crusades, and the murmurs of those +"heretics" against whose aspersions of the majesty of the Virgin this +chivalrous order of the Cavalieri Godenti was instituted, were as +truly the signs of the approach of a new era in religion, as the +opponent work of Giotto on the walls of the Arena was a sign of the +approach of a new era in art.</p> + +<p>The chapel having been founded, as stated above, in 1303, Giotto +appears to have been summoned to decorate its in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>terior walls about +the year 1306,—summoned, as being at that time the acknowledged +master of painting in Italy. By what steps he had risen to this +unquestioned eminence it is difficult to trace; for the records of his +life, strictly examined, and freed from the verbiage and conjecture of +artistical history, nearly reduce themselves to a list of the cities +of Italy where he painted, and to a few anecdotes, of little meaning +in themselves, and doubly pointless in the fact of most of them being +inheritances of the whole race of painters, and related successively +of all in whose biographies the public have deigned to take an +interest. There is even question as to the date of his birth; Vasari +stating him to have been born in 1276, while Baldinucci, on the +internal evidence derived from Vasari's own narrative, throws the date +back ten years.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> I believe, however, that Vasari is most probably +accurate in his first main statement; and that his errors, always +numerous, are in the subsequent and minor particulars. It is at least +undoubted truth that Giotto was born, and passed the years of +childhood, at Vespignano, about fourteen miles north of Florence, on +the road to Bologna. Few travellers can forget the peculiar landscape +of that district of the Apennine. As they ascend the hill which rises +from Florence to the lowest break in the ridge of Fiesole, they pass +continually beneath the walls of villas bright in perfect luxury, and +beside cypress-hedges, enclosing fair terraced gardens, where the +masses of oleander and magnolia, motionless as leaves in a picture, +inlay alternately upon the blue sky their branching lightness of pale +rose-colour, and deep green breadth of shade, studded with balls of +budding silver, and showing at intervals through their framework of +rich leaf and rubied flower, the far-away bends of the Arno beneath +its slopes of olive, and the purple peaks of the Carrara mountains, +tossing themselves against the western distance, where the streaks of +motionless cloud burn above the Pisan sea. The traveller passes the +Fiesolan ridge, and all is changed. The country is on a sudden<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> +lonely. Here and there indeed are seen the scattered houses of a farm +grouped gracefully upon the hill-sides,—here and there a fragment of +tower upon a distant rock; but neither gardens, nor flowers, nor +glittering palace-walls, only a grey extent of mountain-ground, tufted +irregularly with ilex and olive: a scene not sublime, for its forms +are subdued and low; not desolate, for its valleys are full of sown +fields and tended pastures; not rich nor lovely, but sunburnt and +sorrowful; becoming wilder every instant as the road winds into its +recesses, ascending still, until the higher woods, now partly oak and +partly pine, drooping back from the central crest of the Apennine, +leave a pastoral wilderness of scathed rock and arid grass, withered +away here by frost, and there by strange lambent tongues of earth-fed +fire.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> Giotto passed the first ten years of his life, a +shepherd-boy, among these hills; was found by Cimabue near his native +village, drawing one of his sheep upon a smooth stone; was yielded up +by his father, "a simple person, a labourer of the earth," to the +guardianship of the painter, who, by his own work, had already made +the streets of Florence ring with joy; attended him to Florence, and +became his disciple.</p> + +<p>We may fancy the glance of the boy, when he and Cimabue stood side by +side on the ridge of Fiesole, and for the first time he saw the +flowering thickets of the Val d'Arno; and deep beneath, the +innumerable towers of the City of the Lily, the depths of his own +heart yet hiding the fairest of them all. Another ten years passed +over him, and he was chosen from among the painters of Italy to +decorate the Vatican.</p> + +<p>The account given us by Vasari of the mode of his competition on this +occasion, is one of the few anecdotes of him which seem to be +authentic (especially as having given rise to an Italian proverb), and +it has also great point and value. I translate Vasari's words +literally.</p> + +<p>"This work (his paintings in the Campo Santo of Pisa) ac<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>quired for +him, both in the city and externally, so much fame, that the Pope, +Benedict IX., sent a certain one of his courtiers into Tuscany, to see +what sort of a man Giotto was, and what was the quality of his works, +he (the pope) intending to have some paintings executed in St. +Peter's; which courtier, coming to see Giotto, and hearing that there +were other masters in Florence who excelled in painting and in mosaic, +spoke, in Siena, to many masters; then, having received drawings from +them, he came to Florence; and having gone one morning into Giotto's +shop as he was at work, explained the pope's mind to him, and in what +way he wished to avail himself of his powers, and finally requested +from him a little piece of drawing to send to his Holiness. Giotto, +who was most courteous, took a leaf (of vellum?), and upon this, with +a brush dipped in red, fixing his arm to his side, to make it as the +limb of a pair of compasses, and turning his hand, made a circle so +perfect in measure and outline, that it was a wonder to see: which +having done, he said to the courtier, with a smile, 'There is the +drawing.' He, thinking himself mocked, said, 'Shall I have no other +drawing than this?' 'This is enough, and too much,' answered Giotto; +'send it with the others: you will see if it will be understood.' The +ambassador, seeing that he could not get any thing else, took his +leave with small satisfaction, doubting whether he had not been made a +jest of. However, when he sent to the pope the other drawings, and the +names of those who had made them, he sent also that of Giotto, +relating the way in which he had held himself in drawing his circle, +without moving his arm, and without compasses. Whence the pope, and +many intelligent courtiers, knew how much Giotto overpassed in +excellence all the other painters of his time. Afterwards, the thing +becoming known, the proverb arose from it: 'Thou art rounder than the +O of Giotto;' which it is still in custom to say to men of the grosser +clay; for the proverb is pretty, not only on account of the accident +of its origin, but because it has a double meaning, 'round' being +taken in Tuscany to express not only circular form, but slowness and +grossness of wit."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> + +<p>Such is the account of Vasari, which, at the first reading, might be +gravely called into question, seeing that the paintings at Pisa, to +which he ascribes the sudden extent of Giotto's reputation, have been +proved to be the work of Francesco da Volterra;<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> and since, +moreover, Vasari has even mistaken the name of the pope, and written +Boniface IX. for Boniface VIII. But the story itself must, I think, be +true; and, rightly understood, it is singularly interesting. I say, +rightly understood; for Lord Lindsay supposes the circle to have been +mechanically drawn by turning the sheet of vellum under the hand, as +now constantly done for the sake of speed at schools. But neither do +Vasari's words bear this construction, nor would the drawing so made +have borne the slightest testimony to Giotto's power. Vasari says +distinctly, "and turning his hand" (or, as I should rather read it, +"with a sweep of his hand") not "turning the vellum;" neither would a +circle produced in so mechanical a manner have borne distinct witness +to any thing except the draughtsman's mechanical ingenuity; and Giotto +had too much common sense, and too much courtesy, to send the pope a +drawing which did not really contain the evidence he required. Lord +Lindsay has been misled also by his own careless translation of +"pennello tinto di rosso" ("a <i>brush</i> dipped in red,") by the word +"crayon." It is easy to draw the mechanical circle with a crayon, but +by no means easy with a brush. I have not the slightest doubt that +Giotto drew the circle as a painter naturally would draw it; that is +to say, that he set the vellum upright on the wall or panel before +him, and then steadying his arm firmly against his side, drew the +circular line with one sweeping but firm revolution of his hand, +holding the brush long. Such a feat as this is completely possible to +a well-disciplined painter's hand, but utterly impossible to any +other; and the circle so drawn, was the most convincing proof Giotto +could give of his decision of eye and perfectness of practice.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p> +<p>Still, even when thus understood, there is much in the anecdote very +curious. Here is a painter requested by the head of the Church to +execute certain religious paintings, and the only qualification for +the task of which he deigns to demonstrate his possession is executive +skill. Nothing is said, and nothing appears to be thought, of +expression, or invention, or devotional sentiment. Nothing is required +but firmness of hand. And here arises the important question: Did +Giotto know that this was all that was looked for by his religious +patrons? and is there occult satire in the example of his art which he +sends them?—or does the founder of sacred painting mean to tell us +that he holds his own power to consist merely in firmness of hand, +secured by long practice? I cannot satisfy myself on this point: but +yet it seems to me that we may safely gather two conclusions from the +words of the master, "It is enough, and more than enough." The first, +that Giotto had indeed a profound feeling of the value of <i>precision</i> +in all art; and that we may use the full force of his authority to +press the truth, of which it is so difficult to persuade the hasty +workmen of modern times, that the difference between right and wrong +lies within the breadth of a line; and that the most perfect power and +genius are shown by the accuracy which disdains error, and the +faithfulness which fears it.</p> + +<p>And the second conclusion is, that whatever Giotto's imaginative +powers might be, he was proud to be a good <i>workman</i>, and willing to +be considered by others only as such. There might lurk, as has been +suggested, some satire in the message to the pope, and some +consciousness in his own mind of faculties higher than those of +draughtsmanship. I cannot tell how far these hidden feelings existed; +but the more I see of living artists, and learn of departed ones, the +more I am convinced that the highest strength of genius is generally +marked by strange unconsciousness of its own modes of operation, and +often by no small scorn of the best results of its exertion. The +inferior mind intently watches its own processes, and dearly values +its own produce; the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> master-mind is intent on other things than +itself, and cares little for the fruits of a toil which it is apt to +undertake rather as a law of life than a means of immortality. It will +sing at a feast, or retouch an old play, or paint a dark wall, for its +daily bread, anxious only to be honest in its fulfilment of its +pledges or its duty, and careless that future ages will rank it among +the gods.</p> + +<p>I think it unnecessary to repeat here any other of the anecdotes +commonly related of Giotto, as, separately taken, they are quite +valueless. Yet much may be gathered from their general <i>tone</i>. It is +remarkable that they are, almost without exception, records of +good-humoured jests, involving or illustrating some point of practical +good sense; and by comparing this general colour of the reputation of +Giotto with the actual character of his designs, there cannot remain +the smallest doubt that his mind was one of the most healthy, kind, +and active, that ever informed a human frame. His love of beauty was +entirely free from weakness; his love of truth untinged by severity; +his industry constant, without impatience; his workmanship accurate, +without formalism; his temper serene, and yet playful; his imagination +exhaustless, without extravagance; and his faith firm, without +superstition. I do not know, in the annals of art, such another +example of happy, practical, unerring, and benevolent power.</p> + +<p>I am certain that this is the estimate of his character which must be +arrived at by an attentive study of his works, and of the few data +which remain respecting his life; but I shall not here endeavour to +give proof of its truth, because I believe the subject has been +exhaustively treated by Rumohr and Förster, whose essays on the works +and character of Giotto will doubtless be translated into English, as +the interest of the English public in mediæval art increases. I shall +therefore here only endeavour briefly to sketch the relation which +Giotto held to the artists who preceded and followed him, a relation +still imperfectly understood; and then, as briefly, to indicate the +general course of his labours in Italy, as far as may be necessary for +understanding the value of the series in the Arena Chapel.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p> + +<p>The art of Europe, between the fifth and thirteenth centuries, divides +itself essentially into great branches, one springing from, the other +grafted on, the old Roman stock. The first is the Roman art itself, +prolonged in a languid and degraded condition, and becoming at last a +mere formal system, centered at the feet of Eastern empire, and thence +generally called Byzantine. The other is the barbarous and incipient +art of the Gothic nations, more or less coloured by Roman or Byzantine +influence, and gradually increasing in life and power.</p> + +<p>Generally speaking, the Byzantine art, although manifesting itself +only in perpetual repetitions, becoming every day more cold and +formal, yet preserved reminiscences of design originally noble, and +traditions of execution originally perfect.</p> + +<p>Generally speaking, the Gothic art, although becoming every day more +powerful, presented the most ludicrous experiments of infantile +imagination, and the most rude efforts of untaught manipulation.</p> + +<p>Hence, if any superior mind arose in Byzantine art, it had before it +models which suggested or recorded a perfection they did not +themselves possess; and the superiority of the individual mind would +probably be shown in a more sincere and living treatment of the +subjects ordained for repetition by the canons of the schools.</p> + +<p>In the art of the Goth, the choice of subject was unlimited, and the +style of design so remote from all perfection, as not always even to +point out clearly the direction in which advance could be made. The +strongest minds which appear in that art are therefore generally +manifested by redundance of imagination, and sudden refinement of +touch, whether of pencil or chisel, together with unexpected starts of +effort or flashes of knowledge in accidental directions, gradually +forming various national styles.</p> + +<p>Of these comparatively independent branches of art, the greatest is, +as far as I know, the French sculpture of the thirteenth century. No +words can give any idea of the magnificent redundance of its +imaginative power, or of the perpetual<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> beauty of even its smallest +incidental designs. But this very richness of sculptural invention +prevented the French from cultivating their powers of painting, except +in illumination (of which art they were the acknowledged masters), and +in glass-painting. Their exquisite gift of fretting their stone-work +with inexhaustible wealth of sculpture, prevented their feeling the +need of figure-design on coloured surfaces.</p> + +<p>The style of architecture prevalent in Italy at the same period, +presented, on the contrary, large blank surfaces, which could only be +rendered interesting by covering them with mosaic or painting.</p> + +<p>The Italians were not at the time capable of doing this for +themselves, and mosaicists were brought from Constantinople, who +covered the churches of Italy with a sublime monotony of Byzantine +traditions. But the Gothic blood was burning in the Italian veins; and +the Florentines and Pisans could not rest content in the formalism of +the Eastern splendour. The first innovator was, I believe, Giunta of +Pisa, the second Cimabue, the third Giotto; the last only being a man +of power enough to effect a complete revolution in the artistic +principles of his time.</p> + +<p>He, however, began, like his master Cimabue, with a perfect respect +for his Byzantine models; and his paintings for a long time consisted +only of repetitions of the Byzantine subjects, softened in treatment, +enriched in number of figures, and enlivened in gesture. Afterwards he +invented subjects of his own. The manner and degree of the changes +which he at first effected could only be properly understood by actual +comparison of his designs with the Byzantine originals;<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> but in +default of the means of such a comparison, it may be gener<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>ally stated +that the innovations of Giotto consisted in the introduction, A, of +gayer or lighter colours; B, of broader masses; and, C, of more +careful imitation of nature than existed in the works of his +predecessors.</p> + +<p>A. <i>Greater lightness of colour.</i> This was partly in compliance with a +tendency which was beginning to manifest itself even before Giotto's +time. Over the whole of northern Europe, the colouring of the eleventh +and early twelfth centuries had been pale: in manuscripts, principally +composed of pale red, green, and yellow, blue being sparingly +introduced (earlier still, in the eighth and ninth centuries, the +letters had often been coloured with black and yellow only). Then, in +the close of the twelfth and throughout the thirteenth century, the +great system of perfect colour was in use; solemn and deep; composed +strictly, in all its leading masses, of the colours revealed by God +from Sinai as the noblest;—blue, purple, and scarlet, with gold +(other hues, chiefly green, with white and black, being used in points +or small masses, to relieve the main colours). In the early part of +the fourteenth century the colours begin to grow paler; about 1330 the +style is already completely modified; and at the close of the +fourteenth century the colour is quite pale and delicate.</p> + +<p>I have not carefully examined the colouring of early Byzantine work; +but it seems always to have been comparatively dark, and in +manuscripts is remarkably so; Giotto's paler colouring, therefore, +though only part of the great European system, was rendered notable by +its stronger contrast with the Byzantine examples.</p> + +<p>B. <i>Greater breadth of mass.</i> It had been the habit of the Byzantines +to break up their draperies by a large number of minute folds. Norman +and Romanesque sculpture showed much of the same character. Giotto +melted all these folds into broad masses of colour; so that his +compositions have sometimes almost a Titianesque look in this +particular. This innovation was a healthy one, and led to very noble +results when followed up by succeeding artists: but in many of +Giotto's compositions the figures become ludicrously cumbrous,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> from +the exceeding simplicity of the terminal lines, and massiveness of +unbroken form. The manner was copied in illuminated manuscripts with +great disadvantage, as it was unfavourable to minute ornamentation. +The French never adopted it in either branch of art, nor did any other +Northern school; minute and sharp folds of the robes remaining +characteristic of Northern (more especially of Flemish and German) +design down to the latest times, giving a great superiority to the +French and Flemish illuminated work, and causing a proportionate +inferiority in their large pictorial efforts. Even Rubens and Vandyke +cannot free themselves from a certain meanness and minuteness in +disposition of drapery.</p> + +<p>C. <i>Close imitation of nature.</i> In this one principle lay Giotto's +great strength, and the entire secret of the revolution he effected. +It was not by greater learning, not by the discovery of new theories +of art, not by greater taste, nor by "ideal" principles of selection, +that he became the head of the progressive schools of Italy. It was +simply by being interested in what was going on around him, by +substituting the gestures of living men for conventional attitudes, +and portraits of living men for conventional faces, and incidents of +every-day life for conventional circumstances, that he became great, +and the master of the great. Giotto was to his contemporaries +precisely what Millais is to <i>his</i> contemporaries,—a daring +naturalist, in defiance of tradition, idealism, and formalism. The +Giottesque movement in the fourteenth, and Pre-Raphaelite movement in +the nineteenth centuries, are precisely similar in bearing and +meaning: both being the protests of vitality against mortality, of +spirit against letter, and of truth against tradition: and both, which +is the more singular, literally links in one unbroken chain of +feeling; for exactly as Niccola Pisano and Giotto were helped by the +classical sculptures discovered in their time, the Pre-Raphaelites +have been helped by the works of Niccola and Giotto at Pisa and +Florence: and thus the fiery cross of truth has been delivered from +spirit to spirit, over the dust of intervening generations.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> + +<p>But what, it may be said by the reader, is the use of the works of +Giotto to <i>us</i>? They may indeed have been wonderful for their time, +and of infinite use in that time; but since, after Giotto, came +Leonardo and Correggio, what is the use of going back to the ruder +art, and republishing it in the year 1854? Why should we fret +ourselves to dig down to the root of the tree, when we may at once +enjoy its fruit and foliage? I answer, first, that in all matters +relating to human intellect, it is a great thing to have hold of the +root: that at least we ought to see it, and taste it, and handle it; +for it often happens that the root is wholesome when the leaves, +however fair, are useless or poisonous. In nine cases out of ten, the +first expression of an idea is the most valuable: the idea may +afterward be polished and softened, and made more attractive to the +general eye; but the first expression of it has a freshness and +brightness, like the flash of a native crystal compared to the lustre +of glass that has been melted and cut. And in the second place, we +ought to measure the value of art less by its executive than by its +moral power. Giotto was not indeed one of the most accomplished +painters, but he was one of the greatest men, who ever lived. He was +the first master of his time, in architecture as well as in painting; +he was the friend of Dante, and the undisputed interpreter of +religious truth, by means of painting, over the whole of Italy. The +works of such a man may not be the best to set before children in +order to teach them drawing; but they assuredly should be studied with +the greatest care by all who are interested in the history of the +human mind.</p> + +<p>One point more remains to be noticed respecting him. As far as I am +aware, he never painted profane subjects. All his important existing +works are exclusively devoted to the illustration of Christianity. +This was not a result of his own peculiar feeling or determination; it +was a necessity of the period. Giotto appears to have considered +himself simply as a workman, at the command of any employer, for any +kind of work, however humble. "In the sixty-third novel of Franco +Sacchetti we read that a stranger, suddenly entering Giotto's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> study, +threw down a shield, and departed, saying, 'Paint me my arms on that +shield.' Giotto looking after him, exclaimed, 'Who is he? What is he? +He says, "Paint me my arms," as if he was one of the <span class="smcap">Bardi</span>. What arms +does he bear?'"<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> But at the time of Giotto's eminence, art was never +employed on a great scale except in the service of religion; nor has +it ever been otherwise employed, except in declining periods. I do not +mean to draw any severe conclusion from this fact; but it is a fact +nevertheless, which ought to be very distinctly stated, and very +carefully considered. All <i>progressive</i> art hitherto has been +religious art; and commencements of the periods of decline are +accurately marked, in illumination, by its employment on romances +instead of psalters; and in painting, by its employment on mythology +or profane history instead of sacred history. Yet perhaps I should +rather have said, on <i>heathen mythology</i> instead of <i>Christian +mythology</i>; for this latter term—first used, I believe, by Lord +Lindsay—is more applicable to the subjects of the early painters than +that of "sacred <i>history</i>." Of all the virtues commonly found in the +higher orders of human mind, that of a stern and just respect for +truth seems to be the rarest; so that while self-denial, and courage, +and charity, and religious zeal, are displayed in their utmost degrees +by myriads of saints and heroes, it is only once in a century that a +man appears whose word may be implicitly trusted, and who, in the +relation of a plain fact, will not allow his prejudices or his +pleasure to tempt him to some colouring or distortion of it. Hence the +portions of sacred history which have been the constant subjects of +fond popular contemplation have, in the lapse of ages, been encumbered +with fictitious detail; and their various historians seem to have +considered the exercise of their imagination innocent, and even +meritorious, if they could increase either the vividness of conception +or the sincerity of belief in their readers. A due consideration of +that well-known weakness of the popular mind, which renders a +statement credible in propor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>tion to the multitude of local and +circumstantial details which accompany it, may lead us to look with +some indulgence on the errors, however fatal in their issue to the +cause they were intended to advance, of those weak teachers, who +thought the acceptance of their general statements of Christian +doctrine cheaply won by the help of some simple (and generally absurd) +inventions of detail respecting the life of the Virgin or the +Apostles.</p> + +<p>Indeed, I can hardly imagine the Bible to be ever read with true +interest, unless, in our reading, we feel some longing for further +knowledge of the minute incidents of the life of Christ,—for some +records of those things, which "if they had been written every one," +the world could not have contained the books that should be written: +and they who have once felt this thirst for further truth, may surely +both conceive and pardon the earnest questioning of simple disciples +(who knew not, as we do, how much had been indeed revealed), and +measure with some justice the strength of the temptation which +betrayed these teachers into adding to the word of Revelation. +Together with this specious and subtle influence, we must allow for +the instinct of imagination exerting itself in the acknowledged +embellishment of beloved truths. If we reflect how much, even in this +age of accurate knowledge, the visions of Milton have become confused +in the minds of many persons with scriptural facts, we shall rather be +surprised, that in an age of legends so little should be added to the +Bible, than that occasionally we should be informed of important +circumstances in sacred history with the collateral warning, "This +Moses spake not of."<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> + +<p>More especially in the domain of painting, it is surprising to see how +strictly the early workmen confined themselves to representations of +the same series of scenes; how little of pictorial embellishment they +usually added; and how, even in the positions and gestures of figures, +they strove to give the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> idea rather of their having seen the <i>fact</i>, +than imagined a picturesque treatment of it. Often, in examining early +art, we mistake conscientiousness for servility, and attribute to the +absence of invention what was indeed the result of the earnestness of +faith.</p> + +<p>Nor, in a merely artistical point of view, is it less important to +note, that the greatest advance in power was made when painters had +few subjects to treat. The day has perhaps come when genius should be +shown in the discovery of perpetually various interest amidst the +incidents of actual life; and the absence of inventive capacity is +very assuredly proved by the narrow selection of subjects which +commonly appear on the walls of our exhibitions. But yet it is to be +always remembered, that more originality may be shown in giving +interest to a well-known subject than in discovering a new one; that +the greatest poets whom the world has seen have been contented to +retouch and exalt the creations of their predecessors; and that the +painters of the middle ages reached their utmost power by unweariedly +treading a narrow circle of sacred subjects.</p> + +<p>Nothing is indeed more notable in the history of art than the exact +balance of its point of excellence, in all things, midway between +servitude and license. Thus, in choice and treatment of subject it +became paralysed among the Byzantines, by being mercilessly confined +to a given series of scenes, and to a given mode of representing them. +Giotto gave it partial liberty and incipient life; by the artists who +succeeded him the range of its scenery was continually extended, and +the severity of its style slowly softened to perfection. But the range +was still, in some degree, limited by the necessity of its continual +subordination to religious purposes; and the style, though softened, +was still chaste, and though tender, self-restrained. At last came the +period of license: the artist chose his subjects from the lowest +scenes of human life, and let loose his passions in their portraiture. +And the kingdom of art passed away.</p> + +<p>As if to direct us to the observation of this great law, there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> is a +curious visible type of it in the progress of ornamentation in +manuscripts, corresponding with the various changes in the higher +branch of art. In the course of the 12th and early 13th centuries, the +ornamentation, though often full of high feeling and fantasy, is +sternly enclosed within limiting border-lines;—at first, severe +squares, oblongs, or triangles. As the grace of the ornamentation +advances, these border-lines are softened and broken into various +curves, and the inner design begins here and there to overpass them. +Gradually this emergence becomes more constant, and the lines which +thus escape throw themselves into curvatures expressive of the most +exquisite concurrence of freedom with self-restraint. At length the +restraint vanishes, the freedom changes consequently into license, and +the page is covered with exuberant, irregular, and foolish +extravagances of leafage and line.</p> + +<p>It only remains to be noticed, that the circumstances of the time at +which Giotto appeared were peculiarly favourable to the development of +genius; owing partly to the simplicity of the methods of practice, and +partly to the naïveté with which art was commonly regarded. Giotto, +like all the great painters of the period, was merely a travelling +decorator of walls, at so much a day; having at Florence a <i>bottega</i>, +or workshop, for the production and sale of small tempera pictures. +There were no such things as "studios" in those days. An artist's +"studies" were over by the time he was eighteen; after that he was a +<i>lavoratore</i>, "labourer," a man who knew his business, and produced +certain works of known value for a known price; being troubled with no +philosophical abstractions, shutting himself up in no wise for the +reception of inspirations; receiving, indeed, a good many, as a matter +of course,—just as he received the sunbeams which came in at his +window, the light which he worked by;—in either case, without +mouthing about it, or much concerning himself as to the nature of it. +Not troubled by critics either; satisfied that his work was well done, +and that people would find it out to be well done; but not vain of it, +nor more profoundly vexed at its being found fault with, than a good +saddler would be by some one's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> saying his last saddle was uneasy in +the seat. Not, on the whole, much molested by critics, but generally +understood by the men of sense, his neighbours and friends, and +permitted to have his own way with the walls he had to paint, as +being, on the whole, an authority about walls; receiving at the same +time a good deal of daily encouragement and comfort in the simple +admiration of the populace, and in the general sense of having done +good, and painted what no man could look upon without being the better +for it.</p> + +<p>Thus he went, a serene labourer, throughout the length and breadth of +Italy. For the first ten years of his life, a shepherd; then a +student, perhaps for five or six; then already in Florence, setting +himself to his life's task; and called as a master to Rome when he was +only twenty. There he painted the principal chapel of St. Peter's, and +worked in mosaic also; no handicrafts, that had colour or form for +their objects, seeming unknown to him. Then returning to Florence, he +painted Dante, about the year 1300,<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> the 35th year of Dante's life, +the 24th of his own; and designed the façade of the Duomo, on the +death of its former architect, Arnolfo. Some six years afterwards he +went to Padua, there painting the chapel which is the subject of our +present study, and many other churches. Thence south again to Assisi, +where he painted half the walls and vaults of the great convent that +stretches itself along the slopes of the Perugian hills, and various +other minor works on his way there and back to Florence. Staying in +his native city but a little while, he engaged himself in other tasks +at Ferrara, Verona, and Ravenna, and at last at Avignon, where he +became acquainted with Petrarch—working there for some three years, +from 1324 to 1327;<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> and then passed rapidly through Florence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> and +Orvieto on his way to Naples, where "he received the kindest welcome +from the good king Robert. The king, ever partial to men of mind and +genius, took especial delight in Giotto's society, and used frequently +to visit him while working in the Castello dell'Uovo, taking pleasure +in watching his pencil and listening to his discourse; 'and Giotto,' +says Vasari, 'who had ever his repartee and bon-mot ready, held him +there, fascinated at once with the magic of his pencil and pleasantry +of his tongue.' We are not told the length of his sojourn at Naples, +but it must have been for a considerable period, judging from the +quantity of works he executed there. He had certainly returned to +Florence in 1332." There he was immediately appointed "chief master" +of the works of the Duomo, then in progress, "with a yearly salary of +one hundred gold florins, and the privilege of citizenship." He +designed the Campanile, in a more perfect form than that which now +exists; for his intended spire, 150 feet in height, never was erected. +He, however, modelled the bas-reliefs for the base of the building, +and sculptured two of them with his own hand. It was afterwards +completed, with the exception of the spire, according to his design; +but he only saw its foundations laid, and its first marble story rise. +He died at Florence, on the 8th of January, 1337, full of honour; +happy, perhaps, in departing at the zenith of his strength, when his +eye had not become dim, nor his natural force abated. He was buried in +the cathedral, at the angle nearest his campanile; and thus the tower, +which is the chief grace of his native city, may be regarded as his +own sepulchral monument.</p> + +<p>I may refer the reader to the close of Lord Lindsay's letter on +Giotto,<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> from which I have drawn most of the particulars above +stated, for a very beautiful sketch of his character and his art. Of +the real rank of that art, in the abstract, I do not feel myself +capable of judging accurately, having not seen his finest works (at +Assisi and Naples), nor carefully studied even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> those at Florence. But +I may be permitted to point out one or two peculiar characteristics in +it which have always struck me forcibly.</p> + +<p>In the first place, Giotto never finished highly. He was not, indeed, +a loose or sketchy painter, but he was by no means a delicate one. His +lines, as the story of the circle would lead us to expect, are always +firm, but they are never fine. Even in his smallest tempera pictures +the touch is bold and somewhat heavy: in his fresco work the handling +is much broader than that of contemporary painters, corresponding +somewhat to the character of many of the figures, representing plain, +masculine kind of people, and never reaching any thing like the ideal +refinement of the conceptions even of Benozzo Gozzoli, far less of +Angelico or Francia. For this reason, the character of his painting is +better expressed by bold wood-engravings than in general it is likely +to be by any other means.</p> + +<p>Again, he was a very noble colourist; and in his peculiar feeling for +breadth of hue resembled Titian more than any other of the Florentine +school. That is to say, had he been born two centuries later, when the +art of painting was fully known, I believe he would have treated his +subjects much more like Titian than like Raphael; in fact, the +frescoes of Titian in the chapel beside the church of St. Antonio at +Padua, are, in all technical qualities, and in many of their +conceptions, almost exactly what I believe Giotto would have done, had +he lived in Titian's time. As it was, he of course never attained +either richness or truth of colour; but in serene brilliancy he is not +easily rivalled; invariably massing his hues in large fields, limiting +them firmly, and then filling them with subtle gradation. He had the +Venetian fondness for bars and stripes, not unfrequently casting +barred colours obliquely across the draperies of an upright figure, +from side to side (as very notably in the dress of one of the +musicians who are playing to the dancing of Herodias' daughter, in one +of his frescoes at Santa Croce); and this predilection was mingled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +with the truly mediæval love of <i>quartering</i>.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> The figure of the +Madonna in the small tempera pictures in the Academy at Florence is +always completely divided into two narrow segments by her dark-blue +robe.</p> + +<p>And this is always to be remembered in looking at any engravings from +the works of Giotto; for the injury they sustain in being deprived of +their colour is far greater than in the case of later designers. All +works produced in the fourteenth century agree in being more or less +decorative; they were intended in most instances to be subservient to +architectural effect, and were executed in the manner best calculated +to produce a striking impression when they were seen in a mass. The +painted wall and the painted window were part and parcel of one +magnificent whole; and it is as unjust to the work of Giotto, or of +any contemporary artist, to take out a single feature from the series, +and represent it in black and white on a separate page, as it would be +to take out a compartment of a noble coloured window, and engrave it +in the same manner. What is at once refined and effective, if seen at +the intended distance in unison with the rest of the work, becomes +coarse and insipid when seen isolated and near; and the more skilfully +the design is arranged, so as to give full value to the colours which +are introduced in it, the more blank and cold will it become when it +is deprived of them.</p> + +<p>In our modern art we have indeed lost sight of one great principle +which regulated that of the middle ages, namely, that chiaroscuro and +colour are incompatible in their highest degrees. Wherever chiaroscuro +enters, colour must lose some of its brilliancy. There is no <i>shade</i> +in a rainbow, nor in an opal, nor in a piece of mother-of-pearl, nor +in a well-designed painted window; only various hues of perfect +colour. The best pictures, by subduing their colour and +conventionalising their chiaroscuro, reconcile both in their +diminished degrees; but a perfect light and shade cannot be given +without con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>siderable loss of liveliness in colour. Hence the supposed +inferiority of Tintoret to Titian. Tintoret is, in reality, the +greater colourist of the two; but he could not bear to falsify his +light and shadow enough to set off his colour. Titian nearly strikes +the exact mean between the painted glass of the 13th century and +Rembrandt; while Giotto closely approaches the system of painted +glass, and hence his compositions lose grievously by being translated +into black and white.</p> + +<p>But even this chiaroscuro, however subdued, is not without a peculiar +charm; and the accompanying engravings possess a marked superiority +over all that have hitherto been made from the works of this painter, +in rendering this chiaroscuro, as far as possible, together with the +effect of the local colours. The true appreciation of art has been +retarded for many years by the habit of trusting to outlines as a +sufficient expression of the sentiment of compositions; whereas in all +truly great designs, of whatever age, it is never the outline, but the +disposition of the masses, whether of shade or colour, on which the +real power of the work depends. For instance, in Plate III. (The Angel +appears to Anna), the interest of the composition depends entirely +upon the broad shadows which fill the spaces of the chamber, and of +the external passage in which the attendant is sitting. This shade +explains the whole scene in a moment: gives prominence to the curtain +and coverlid of the homely bed, and the rude chest and trestles which +form the poor furniture of the house; and conducts the eye easily and +instantly to the three figures, which, had the scene been expressed in +outline only, we should have had to trace out with some care and +difficulty among the pillars of the loggia and folds of the curtains. +So also the relief of the faces in light against the dark sky is of +peculiar value in the compositions No. X. and No. XII.</p> + +<p>The <i>drawing</i> of Giotto is, of course, exceedingly faulty. His +knowledge of the human figure is deficient; and this, the necessary +drawback in all works of the period, occasions an extreme difficulty +in rendering them faithfully in an engraving. For wherever there is +good and legitimate drawing, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> ordinary education of a modern +draughtsman enables him to copy it with tolerable accuracy; but when +once the true forms of nature are departed from, it is by no means +easy to express <i>exactly</i> the error, and <i>no more than</i> the error, of +his original. In most cases modern copyists try to modify or hide the +weaknesses of the old art,—by which procedure they very often wholly +lose its spirit, and only half redeem its defects; the results being, +of course, at once false as representations, and intrinsically +valueless. And just as it requires great courage and skill in an +interpreter to speak out honestly all the rough and rude words of the +first speaker, and to translate deliberately and resolutely, in the +face of attentive men, the expressions of his weakness or impatience; +so it requires at once the utmost courage and skill in a copyist to +trace faithfully the failures of an imperfect master, in the front of +modern criticism, and against the inborn instincts of his own hand and +eye. And let him do the best he can, he will still find that the grace +and life of his original are continually flying off like a vapour, +while all the faults he has so diligently copied sit rigidly staring +him in the face,—a terrible <i>caput mortuum</i>. It is very necessary +that this should be well understood by the members of the Arundel +Society, when they hear their engravings severely criticised. It is +easy to produce an agreeable engraving by graceful infidelities; but +the entire endeavour of the draughtsmen employed by this society has +been to obtain accurately the character of the original: and he who +never proposes to himself to rise <i>above</i> the work he is copying, must +most assuredly often fall beneath it. Such fall is the inherent and +inevitable penalty on all absolute copyism; and wherever the copy is +made with sincerity, the fall must be endured with patience. It will +never be an utter or a degrading fall; that is reserved for those who, +like vulgar translators, wilfully quit the hand of their master, and +have no strength of their own.</p> + +<p>Lastly. It is especially to be noticed that these works of Giotto, in +common with all others of the period, are independent of all the +inferior sources of pictorial interest. They<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> never show the slightest +attempt at imitative realisation: they are simple suggestions of +ideas, claiming no regard except for the inherent value of the +thoughts. There is no filling of the landscape with variety of +scenery, architecture, or incident, as in the works of Benozzo Gozzoli +or Perugino; no wealth of jewellery and gold spent on the dresses of +the figures, as in the delicate labours of Angelico or Gentile da +Fabriano. The background is never more than a few gloomy masses of +rock, with a tree or two, and perhaps a fountain; the architecture is +merely what is necessary to explain the scene; the dresses are painted +sternly on the "heroic" principle of Sir Joshua Reynolds—that drapery +is to be "drapery, and nothing more,"—there is no silk, nor velvet, +nor distinguishable material of any kind: the whole power of the +picture is rested on the three simple essentials of painting—pure +Colour, noble Form, noble Thought.</p> + +<p> +<a name="figure"> +<img src="images/image01.jpg" alt="Chapel Plan" title="Chapel Plan" width="166" height="500" class="floatl" /></a></p> + +<p>We moderns, educated in reality far more under the influence of the +Dutch masters than the Italian, and taught to look for realisation in +all things, have been in the habit of casting scorn on these early +Italian works, as if their simplicity were the result of ignorance +merely. When we know a little more of art in general, we shall begin +to suspect that a man of Giotto's power of mind did not altogether +suppose his clusters of formal trees, or diminutive masses of +architecture, to be perfect representations of the woods of Judea, or +of the streets of Jerusalem: we shall begin to understand that there +is a symbolical art which addresses the imagination, as well as a +realist art which supersedes it; and that the powers of contemplation +and conception which could be satisfied or excited by these simple +types of natural things, were infinitely more majestic than those +which are so dependent on the completeness of what is presented to +them as to be paralysed by an error in perspective, or stifled by the +absence of atmosphere.</p> + +<p>Nor is the healthy simplicity of the period less marked in the +selection than in the treatment of subjects. It has in these days +become necessary for the painter who desires popularity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> to accumulate +on his canvas whatever is startling in aspect or emotion, and to +drain, even to exhaustion, the vulgar sources of the pathetic. Modern +sentiment, at once feverish and feeble, remains unawakened except by +the violences of gaiety or gloom; and the eye refuses to pause, except +when it is tempted by the luxury of beauty, or fascinated by the +excitement of terror. It ought not, therefore, to be without a +respectful admiration that we find the masters of the fourteenth +century dwelling on moments of the most subdued and tender feeling, +and leaving the spectator to trace the under-currents of thought which +link them with future events of mightier interest, and fill with a +prophetic power and mystery scenes in themselves so simple as the +meeting of a master with his herdsmen among the hills, or the return +of a betrothed virgin to her house.</p> + +<p>It is, however, to be remembered that this quietness in character of +subject was much more possible to an early painter, owing to the +connection in which his works were to be seen. A modern picture, +isolated and portable, must rest all its claims to attention on its +own actual subject: but the pictures of the early masters were nearly +always parts of a consecutive and stable series, in which many were +subdued, like the connecting passages of a prolonged poem, in order to +enhance the value or meaning of others. The arrangement of the +subjects in the Arena Chapel is in this respect peculiarly skilful; +and to that arrangement we must now direct our attention.</p> + +<p>It was before noticed that the chapel was built between 1300 and 1306. +The architecture of Italy in the beginning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> of the fourteenth century +is always pure, and often severe; but this chapel is remarkable, even +among the severest forms, for the absence of decoration. Its plan, +seen in the marginal <a href="#figure">figure</a> on <a href="#Page_26">p. 26</a>, is a pure oblong, with a narrow +advanced tribune, terminating in a trilateral apse. Selvatico quotes +from the German writer Stieglitz some curious observations on the +apparent derivation of its proportions, in common with those of other +buildings of the time, from the number of sides of its apse.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> Without +entering into these particulars, it may be noted that the apse is just +one-half the width of the body of the chapel, and that the length from +the extremity of the tribune to the west end is just seven times the +width of the apse. The whole of the body of the chapel was painted by +Giotto; the walls and roof being entirely covered either with his +figure-designs, or with various subordinate decorations connecting and +enclosing them.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center"> </p> + +<p style="text-align: center"><a name="woodcut"><img src="images/image02.jpg" alt="Arena Chapel" title="Arena Chapel" width="323" height="400" /></a></p> + +<p style="text-align: center"><b>INTERIOR OF THE ARENA CHAPEL, PADUA, LOOKING +EASTWARD</b></p> + +<p style="text-align: center"> </p> + +<p>The <a href="#woodcut">woodcut</a> on <a href="#Page_27">p. 27</a> represents the arrangement of the frescoes on the +sides, extremities, and roof of the chapel. The spectator is supposed +to be looking from the western entrance towards the tribune, having on +his right the south side, which is pierced by six tall windows, and on +which the frescoes are therefore reduced in number. The north side is +pierced by no windows, and on it therefore the frescoes are +continuous, lighted from the south windows. The several spaces +numbered 1 to 38 are occupied by a continuous series of subjects, +representing the life of the Virgin and of Christ; the narrow panels +below, marked <i>a</i>, <i>b</i>, <i>c</i>, &c., are filled by figures of the +cardinal virtues and their opponent vices: on the lunette above the +tribune is painted a Christ in glory, and at the western extremity the +Last Judgment. Thus the walls of the chapel are covered with a +continuous meditative poem on the mystery of the Incarnation, the acts +of Redemption, the vices and virtues of mankind as proceeding from +their scorn or acceptance of that Redemption, and their final +judgment.</p> + +<p>The first twelve pictures of the series are exclusively devoted to the +apocryphal history of the birth and life of the Virgin. This the +Protestant spectator will observe, perhaps, with little favour, more +especially as only two compartments are given to the ministry of +Christ, between his Baptism and Entry into Jerusalem. Due weight is, +however, to be allowed to Lord Lindsay's remark, that the legendary +history of the Virgin was of peculiar importance in this chapel, as +especially dedicated to her service; and I think also that Giotto +desired to unite the series of compositions in one continuous action,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +feeling that to have enlarged on the separate miracles of Christ's +ministry would have interrupted the onward course of thought. As it +is, the mind is led from the first humiliation of Joachim to the +Ascension of Christ in one unbroken and progressive chain of scenes; +the ministry of Christ being completely typified by his first and last +conspicuous miracle: while the very unimportance of some of the +subjects, as for instance that of the Watching the Rods, is useful in +directing the spectator rather to pursue the course of the narrative, +than to pause in satisfied meditation upon any single incident. And it +can hardly be doubted that Giotto had also a peculiar pleasure in +dwelling on the circumstances of the shepherd life of the father of +the Virgin, owing to its resemblance to that of his own early years.</p> + +<p>The incidents represented in these first twelve paintings are recorded +in the two apocryphal gospels known as the "Protevangelion" and +"Gospel of St. Mary."<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> But on comparing the statements in these +writings (which, by the by, are in nowise consistent with each other) +with the paintings in the Arena Chapel, it appeared to me that Giotto +must occasionally have followed some more detailed traditions than are +furnished by either of them; seeing that of one or two subjects the +apocryphal gospels gave no distinct or sufficient explanation. +Fortunately, however, in the course of some other researches, I met +with a manuscript in the British Museum (Harl. 3571,) containing a +complete "History of the most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> Holy Family," written in Northern +Italian of about the middle of the 14th century; and appearing to be +one of the forms of the legend which Giotto has occasionally followed +in preference to the statements of the Protevangelion. I have +therefore, in illustration of the paintings, given, when it seemed +useful, some portions of this manuscript; and these, with one or two +verses of the commonly received accounts, will be found generally +enough to interpret sufficiently the meaning of the painter.</p> + +<p>The following complete list of the subjects will at once enable the +reader to refer any of them to its place in the series, and on the +walls of the building; and I have only now to remind him in +conclusion, that within those walls the greatest painter and greatest +poet of mediæval Italy held happy companionship during the time when +the frescoes were executed. "It is not difficult," says the writer +already so often quoted, Lord Lindsay, "gazing on these silent but +eloquent walls, to repeople them with the group once, as we know, five +hundred years ago, assembled within them: Giotto intent upon his work, +his wife Ciuta admiring his progress; and Dante, with abstracted eye, +alternately conversing with his friend, and watching the gambols of +the children playing on the grass before the door."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="SERIES">SERIES OF SUBJECTS.</a></h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><a href="#I">1. The Rejection of Joachim's Offering.</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><a href="#II">2. Joachim retires to the Sheepfold.</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><a href="#III">3. The Angel appears to Anna.</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><a href="#IV">4. The Sacrifice of Joachim.</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><a href="#V">5. The Vision of Joachim.</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><a href="#VI">6. The Meeting at the Golden Gate.</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><a href="#VII">7. The Birth of the Virgin.</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><a href="#VIII">8. The Presentation of the Virgin.</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><a href="#IX">9. The Rods are brought to the High Priest.</a></span><br /> +<a href="#X">10. The Watching of the Rods.</a><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span><a href="#XI">11. The Betrothal of the Virgin.</a><br /> +<a href="#XII">12. The Virgin returns to her House.</a><br /> +<a href="#XIII">13. The Angel Gabriel.</a><br /> +<a href="#XIV">14. The Virgin Annunciate.</a><br /> +<a href="#XV">15. The Salutation.</a><br /> +<a href="#XVI">16. The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds.</a><br /> +<a href="#XVII">17. The Wise Men's Offering.</a><br /> +<a href="#XVIII">18. The Presentation in the Temple.</a><br /> +<a href="#XIX">19. The Flight into Egypt.</a><br /> +<a href="#XX">20. The Massacre of the Innocents.</a><br /> +<a href="#XXI">21. The Young Christ in the Temple.</a><br /> +<a href="#XXII">22. The Baptism of Christ.</a><br /> +<a href="#XXIII">23. The Marriage in Cana.</a><br /> +<a href="#XXIV">24. The Raising of Lazarus.</a><br /> +<a href="#XXV">25. The Entry into Jerusalem.</a><br /> +<a href="#XXVI">26. The Expulsion from the Temple.</a><br /> +<a href="#XXVII">27. The Hiring of Judas.</a><br /> +<a href="#XXVIII">28. The Last Supper.</a><br /> +<a href="#XXIX">29. The Washing of the Feet.</a><br /> +<a href="#XXX">30. The Kiss of Judas.</a><br /> +<a href="#XXXI">31. Christ before Caiaphas.</a><br /> +<a href="#XXXII">32. The Scourging of Christ.</a><br /> +<a href="#XXXIII">33. Christ bearing his Cross.</a><br /> +<a href="#XXXIV">34. The Crucifixion.</a><br /> +<a href="#XXXV">35. The Entombment.</a><br /> +<a href="#XXXVI">36. The Resurrection.</a><br /> +<a href="#XXXVII">37. The Ascension.</a><br /> +<a href="#XXXVIII">38. The Descent of the Holy Spirit.</a><br /> +</p></div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="I">I.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE REJECTION OF JOACHIM'S OFFERING.</h3> + +<p>"At that time, there was a man of perfect holiness, named Joachim, of +the tribe of Juda, and of the city of Jerusalem. And this Joachim had +in contempt the riches and honours of the world; and for greater +despite to them, he kept his flocks, with his shepherds.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p> + +<p>"... And he, being so holy and just, divided the fruits which he +received from his flocks into three parts: a third part—wool, and +lambs, and such like—he gave to God, that is to say, to those who +served God, and who ministered in the temple of God; another third +part he gave to widows, orphans, and pilgrims; the remaining third he +kept for himself and his family. And he persevering in this, God so +multiplied and increased his goods that there was no man like him in +the land of Israel.... And having come to the age of twenty years, he +took to wife Anna, the daughter of Ysaya, of his own tribe, and of the +lineage of David.</p> + +<p>"This precious St. Anna had always persevered in the service of God +with great wisdom and sincerity; ... and having received Joachim for +her husband, was subject to him, and gave him honour and reverence, +living in the fear of God. And Joachim having lived with his wife Anna +for twenty years, yet having no child, and there being a great +solemnity in Jerusalem, all the men of the city went to offer in the +temple of God, which Solomon had built; and Joachim entering the +temple with (incense?) and other gifts to offer on the altar, and +Joachim having made his offering, the minister of the temple, whose +name was Issachar, threw Joachim's offering from off the altar, and +drove Joachim out of the temple, saying, 'Thou, Joachim, art not +worthy to enter into the temple, seeing that God has not added his +blessing to you, as in your life you have had no seed.' Thus Joachim +received a great insult in the sight of all the people; and he being +all ashamed, returned to his house, weeping and lamenting most +bitterly." (MS. Harl.)</p> + +<p>The Gospel of St. Mary differs from this MS. in its statement of the +respective cities of Joachim and Anna, saying that the family of the +Virgin's father "was of Galilee and of the city of Nazareth, the +family of her mother was of Bethlehem." It is less interesting in +details; but gives a better, or at least more graceful, account of +Joachim's repulse, saying that Issachar "despised Joachim and his +offerings, and asked him why he, who had no children, would presume +to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> appear among those who had: adding, that his offerings could never +be acceptable to God, since he had been judged by Him unworthy to have +children; the Scripture having said, Cursed is every one who shall not +beget a male in Israel."</p> + +<p>Giotto seems to have followed this latter account, as the figure of +the high priest is far from being either ignoble or ungentle.</p> + +<p>The temple is represented by the two most important portions of a +Byzantine church; namely, the ciborium which covered the altar, and +the pulpit or reading desk; with the low screen in front of the altar +enclosing the part of the church called the "cancellum." Lord Lindsay +speaks of the priest within this enclosure as "confessing a young man +who kneels at his feet." It seems to me, rather, that he is meant to +be accepting the offering of another worshipper, so as to mark the +rejection of Joachim more distinctly.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="II">II.</a></h3> + +<h3>JOACHIM RETIRES TO THE SHEEPFOLD.</h3> + +<p>"Then Joachim, in the following night, resolved to separate himself +from companionship; to go to the desert places among the mountains, +with his flocks; and to inhabit those mountains, in order not to hear +such insults. And immediately Joachim rose from his bed, and called +about him all his servants and shepherds, and caused to be gathered +together all his flocks, and goats, and horses, and oxen, and what +other beasts he had, and went with them and with the shepherds into +the hills; and Anna his wife remained at home disconsolate, and +mourning for her husband, who had departed from her in such sorrow." +(MS. Harl.)</p> + +<p>"But upon inquiry, he found that all the righteous had raised up seed +in Israel. Then he called to mind the patriarch Abraham,—how that God +in the end of his life had given him his son Isaac: upon which he was +exceedingly dis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>tressed, and would not be seen by his wife; but +retired into the wilderness and fixed his tent there, and fasted forty +days and forty nights, saying to himself, 'I will not go down to eat +or drink till the Lord my God shall look down upon me; but prayer +shall be my meat and drink.'" (Protevangelion, chap. i.)</p> + +<p>Giotto seems here also to have followed the ordinary tradition, as he +has represented Joachim retiring unattended,—but met by two of his +shepherds, who are speaking to each other, uncertain what to do or how +to receive their master. The dog hastens to meet him with joy. The +figure of Joachim is singularly beautiful in its pensiveness and slow +motion; and the ignobleness of the herdsmen's figures is curiously +marked in opposition to the dignity of their master.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="III">III.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE ANGEL APPEARS TO ANNA.</h3> + +<p>"Afterwards the angel appeared to Anna his wife, saying, 'Fear not, +neither think that which you see is a spirit. For I am that angel who +hath offered up your prayers and alms before God, and am now sent to +tell you that a daughter will be born unto you.... Arise, therefore, +and go up to Jerusalem; and when you shall come to that which is +called the Golden Gate (because it is gilt with gold), as a sign of +what I have told you, you shall meet your husband, for whose safety +you have been so much concerned.'" (Gospel of St. Mary, chap. iii. +1-7.)</p> + +<p>The accounts in the Protevangelion and in the Harleian MS. are much +expanded: relating how Anna feared her husband was dead, he having +been absent from her five months; and how Judith, her maid, taunted +her with her childlessness; and how, going then into her garden, she +saw a sparrow's nest, full of young, upon a laurel-tree, and mourning +within herself, said, "I am not comparable to the very beasts of the +earth, for even they are fruitful before thee, O Lord.... I am<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> not +comparable to the very earth, for the earth produces its fruits to +praise thee. Then the angel of the Lord stood by her," &c.</p> + +<p>Both the Protevangelion and Harleian MS. agree in placing the vision +in the garden; the latter adding, that she fled "into her chamber in +great fear, and fell upon her bed, and lay as in a trance all that day +and all that night, but did not tell the vision to her maid, because +of her bitter answering." Giotto has deviated from both accounts in +making the vision appear to Anna in her chamber, while the maid, +evidently being considered an important personage, is at work in the +passage. Apart from all reference to the legends, there is something +peculiarly beautiful in the simplicity of Giotto's conception, and in +the way in which he has shown the angel entering at the window, +without the least endeavour to impress our imagination by darkness, or +light, or clouds, or any other accessory; as though believing that +angels might appear any where, and any day, and to all men, as a +matter of course, if we would ask them, or were fit company for them.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="IV">IV.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE SACRIFICE OF JOACHIM.</h3> + +<p>The account of this sacrifice is only given clearly in the Harleian +MS.; but even this differs from Giotto's series in the order of the +visions, as the subject of the <i>next</i> plate is recorded first in this +MS., under the curious heading, "<i>Disse Sancto Theofilo</i> como l'angelo +de Dio aperse a Joachim lo qual li anuntia la nativita della vergene +Maria;" while the record of this vision and sacrifice is headed, "Como +l'angelo de Dio aparse <i>anchora</i> a Joachim." It then proceeds thus: +"At this very moment of the day" (when the angel appeared to Anna), +"there appeared a most beautiful youth (<i>unno belitissimo zovene</i>) +among the mountains there, where Joachim was, and said to Joachim, +'Wherefore dost thou not return to thy wife?' And Joachim answered, +'These twenty years God<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> has given me no fruit of her, wherefore I was +chased from the temple with infinite shame.... And, as long as I live, +I will give alms of my flocks to widows and pilgrims.'... And these +words being finished, the youth answered, 'I am the angel of God who +appeared to thee the other time for a sign; and appeared to thy wife +Anna, who always abides in prayer, weeping day and night; and I have +consoled her; wherefore I command thee to observe the commandments of +God, and his will, which I tell you truly, that of thee shall be born +a daughter, and that thou shalt offer her to the temple of God, and +the Holy Spirit shall rest upon her, and her blessedness shall be +above the blessedness of all virgins, and her holiness so great that +human nature will not be able to comprehend it.'...<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> + +<p>"Then Joachim fell upon the earth, saying, 'My lord, I pray thee to +pray God for me, and to enter into this my tabernacle, and bless me, +thy servant.' The angel answered, 'We are all the servants of God: and +know that my eating would be invisible, and my drinking could not be +seen by all the men in the world; but of all that thou wouldest give +to me, do thou make sacrifice to God.' Then Joachim took a lamb +without spot or blemish ...; and when he had made sacrifice of it, the +angel of the Lord disappeared and ascended into heaven; and Joachim +fell upon the earth in great fear, and lay from the sixth hour until +the evening."</p> + +<p>This is evidently nothing more than a very vapid imitation of the +scriptural narrative of the appearances of angels to Abraham and +Manoah. But Giotto has put life into it; and I am aware of no other +composition in which so much interest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> and awe has been given to the +literal "burnt sacrifice." In all other representations of such +offerings which I remember, the interest is concentrated in the +<i>slaying</i> of the victim. But Giotto has fastened on the <i>burning</i> of +it; showing the white skeleton left on the altar, and the fire still +hurtling up round it, typical of the Divine wrath, which is "as a +consuming fire;" and thus rendering the sacrifice a more clear and +fearful type not merely of the outward wounds and death of Christ, but +of his soul-suffering. "All my bones are out of joint: my heart is +like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels."<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p> + +<p>The hand of the Deity is seen in the heavens—the sign of the Divine +Presence.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="V">V.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE ANGEL (RAPHAEL) APPEARS TO JOACHIM.</h3> + +<p>"Now Joachim being in this pain, the Lord God, Father of mercy, who +abandons not his servants, nor ever fails to console them in their +distresses, if they pray for his grace and pity, had compassion on +Joachim, and heard his prayer, and sent the angel Raphael from heaven +to earth to console him, and announce to him the nativity of the +Virgin Mary. Therefore the angel Raphael appeared to Joachim, and +comforted him with much peace, and foretold to him the birth of the +Virgin in that glory and gladness, saying, 'God save you, O friend of +God, O Joachim! the Lord has sent me to declare to you an everlasting +joy, and a hope that shall have no end.'... And having finished these +words, the angel of the Lord disappeared from him, and ascended into +the heaven." (MS. Harl.)</p> + +<p>The passage which I have omitted is merely one of the ordinary +Romanist accounts of the immaculate conception of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> the Virgin, put +into the form of prophecy. There are no sufficient details of this +part of the legend either in the Protevangelion or Gospel of St. Mary; +but it is quite clear that Giotto followed it, and that he has +endeavoured to mark a distinction in character between the angels +Gabriel and Raphael<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> in the two subjects,—the form of Raphael +melting back into the heaven, and being distinctly recognised as +angelic, while Gabriel appears invested with perfect humanity. It is +interesting to observe that the shepherds, who of course are not +supposed to see the form of the Angel (his manifestation being only +granted to Joachim during his sleep), are yet evidently under the +influence of a certain degree of awe and expectation, as being +conscious of some presence other than they can perceive, while the +animals are unconscious altogether.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="VI">VI.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE MEETING AT THE GOLDEN GATE.</h3> + +<p>"And Joachim went down with the shepherds, and Anna stood by the gate, +and saw Joachim coming with the shepherds. And she ran, and hanging +about his neck, said, 'Now I know that the Lord hath greatly blessed +me.'" (Protevangelion, iv. 8, 9.)</p> + +<p>This is one of the most celebrated of Giotto's compositions, and +deservedly so, being full of the most solemn grace and tenderness. The +face of St. Anna, half seen, is most touching in its depth of +expression; and it is very interesting to observe how Giotto has +enhanced its sweetness, by giving a harder and grosser character than +is usual with him to the heads of the other two principal female +figures (not but that this cast of feature is found frequently in the +figures of somewhat earlier art), and by the rough and weather-beaten +countenance of the entering shepherd. In like manner, the falling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +lines of the draperies owe a great part of their value to the abrupt +and ugly oblongs of the horizontal masonry which adjoins them.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="VII">VII.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE BIRTH OF THE VIRGIN.</h3> + +<p>"And Joachim said, 'Now I know that the Lord is propitious to me, and +hath taken away all my sins.' And he went down from the temple of the +Lord justified, and went to his own house.</p> + +<p>"And when nine months were fulfilled to Anna, she brought forth, and +said to the midwife, 'What have I brought forth?' And she told her, a +girl.</p> + +<p>"Then Anna said, 'The Lord hath this day magnified my soul.' And she +laid her in the bed." (Protevangelion, v. 4-8.)</p> + +<p>The composition is very characteristic of Giotto in two respects: +first, in its natural homeliness and simplicity (in older designs of +the same subject the little Madonna is represented as born with a +golden crown on her head); and secondly, in the smallness of the +breast and head of the sitting figure on the right,—a fault of +proportion often observable in Giotto's figures of children or young +girls.</p> + +<p>For the first time, also, in this series, we have here two successive +periods of the scene represented simultaneously, the babe being +painted twice. This practice was frequent among the early painters, +and must necessarily become so wherever painting undertakes the task +of lengthened narrative. Much absurd discussion has taken place +respecting its propriety; the whole question being simply whether the +human mind can or cannot pass from the contemplation of one event to +that of another, without reposing itself on an intermediate gilt +frame.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p> +<h3><a name="VIII">VIII.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE PRESENTATION OF THE VIRGIN.</h3> + +<p>"And when three years were expired, and the time of her weaning +complete, they brought the Virgin to the temple of the Lord with +offerings.</p> + +<p>"And there were about the temple, according to the fifteen Psalms of +Degrees, fifteen stairs to ascend.</p> + +<p>"The parents of the blessed Virgin and infant Mary put her upon one of +these stairs; but while they were putting off their clothes in which +they had travelled, in the meantime, the Virgin of the Lord in such a +manner went up all the stairs, one after another, without the help of +any one to lead her or lift her, that any one would have judged from +hence that she was of perfect age." (Gospel of St. Mary, iv. 1-6.)</p> + +<p>There seems nothing very miraculous in a child's walking up stairs at +three years old; but this incident is a favourite one among the +Roman-Catholic painters of every period: generally, however, +representing the child as older than in the legend, and dwelling +rather on the solemn feeling with which she presents herself to the +high-priest, than on the mere fact of her being able to walk alone. +Giotto has clearly regarded the incident entirely in this light; for +St. Anna touches the child's arm as if to support her; so that the +so-called miraculous walking is not even hinted at.</p> + +<p>Lord Lindsay particularly notices that the Virgin is "a dwarf woman +instead of a child; the delineation of childhood was one of the latest +triumphs of art." Even in the time of those latest triumphs, however, +the same fault was committed in another way; and a boy of eight or ten +was commonly represented—even by Raffaelle himself—as a dwarf +Hercules, with all the gladiatorial muscles already visible in stunted +rotundity. Giotto probably felt he had not power enough to give +dignity to a child of three years old, and intended the womanly form +to be rather typical of the Virgin's advanced mind, than an actual +representation of her person.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> +<h3><a name="IX">IX.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE RODS ARE BROUGHT TO THE HIGH-PRIEST.</h3> + +<p>"Then he (the high-priest) appointed that all the men of the house and +family of David who were marriageable, and not married, should bring +their several rods to the altar. And out of whatsoever person's rod, +after it was brought, a flower should bud forth, and on the top of it +the Spirit of the Lord should sit in the appearance of a dove, he +should be the man to whom the Virgin should be given, and be betrothed +to her." (Gospel of St. Mary, v. 16, 17.)</p> + +<p>There has originally been very little interest in this composition; +and the injuries which it has suffered have rendered it impossible for +the draughtsman to distinguish the true folds of the draperies amidst +the defaced and worn colours of the fresco, so that the character of +the central figure is lost. The only points requiring notice are, +first, the manner in which St. Joseph holds his rod, depressing and +half-concealing it,<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> while the other suitors present theirs boldly; +and secondly, the graceful though monotonous grouping of the heads of +the crowd behind him. This mode of rendering the presence of a large +multitude, showing only the crowns of the heads in complicated +perspective, was long practised in mosaics and illuminations before +the time of Giotto, and always possesses a certain degree of sublimity +in its power of suggesting perfect unity of feeling and movement among +the crowd.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="X">X.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE WATCHING OF THE RODS AT THE ALTAR.</h3> + +<p>"After the high-priest had received their rods, he went into the +temple to pray.</p> + +<p>"And when he had finished his prayer, he took the rods and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> went forth +and distributed them; and there was no miracle attended them.</p> + +<p>"The last rod was taken by Joseph; and, behold, a dove proceeded out +of the rod, and flew upon the head of Joseph." (Protevangelion, viii. +9-11.)</p> + +<p>This is among the least graceful designs of the series; though the +clumsiness in the contours of the leading figures is indeed a fault +which often occurs in the painter's best works, but it is here +unredeemed by the rest of the composition. The group of the suitors, +however, represented as waiting at the outside of the temple, is very +beautiful in its earnestness, more especially in the passionate +expression of the figure in front. It is difficult to look long at the +picture without feeling a degree of anxiety, and strong sympathy with +the silent watching of the suitors; and this is a sign of no small +power in the work. The head of Joseph is seen far back on the extreme +left; thus indicating by its position his humility, and desire to +withdraw from the trial.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="XI">XI.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE BETROTHAL OF THE VIRGIN.</h3> + +<p>There is no distinct notice of this event in the apocryphal Gospel: +the traditional representation of it is nearly always more or less +similar. Lord Lindsay's account of the composition before us is as +follows:</p> + +<p>"The high-priest, standing in front of the altar, joins their hands; +behind the Virgin stand her bridesmaids; behind St. Joseph the +unsuccessful suitors, one of whom steps forward to strike him, and +another breaks his rod on his knee. Joseph bears his own rod, on the +flower of which the Holy Spirit rests in the semblance of a dove."</p> + +<p>The development of this subject by Perugino (for Raffaelle's picture +in the Brera is little more than a modified copy of Perugino's, now at +Caen,) is well known; but notwithstanding all its beauty, there is +not, I think, any thing in the action of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> the disappointed suitors so +perfectly true or touching as that of the youth breaking his rod in +this composition of Giotto's; nor is there among any of the figures +the expression of solemn earnestness and intentness on the event which +is marked among the attendants here, and in the countenances of the +officiating priests.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="XII">XII.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE VIRGIN MARY RETURNS TO HER HOUSE.</h3> + +<p>"Accordingly, the usual ceremonies of betrothing being over, he +(Joseph) returned to his own city of Bethlehem to set his house in +order, and to make the needful provisions for the marriage. But the +Virgin of the Lord, Mary, with seven other virgins of the same age, +who had been weaned at the same time, and who had been appointed to +attend her by the priest, returned to her parents' house in Galilee." +(Gospel of St. Mary, vi. 6, 7.)</p> + +<p>Of all the compositions in the Arena Chapel I think this the most +characteristic of the noble time in which it was done. It is not so +notable as exhibiting the mind of Giotto, which is perhaps more fully +seen in subjects representing varied emotion, as in the simplicity and +repose which were peculiar to the compositions of the early fourteenth +century. In order to judge of it fairly, it ought first to be compared +with any classical composition—with a portion, for instance, of the +Elgin frieze,—which would instantly make manifest in it a strange +seriousness and dignity and slowness of motion, resulting chiefly from +the excessive simplicity of all its terminal lines. Observe, for +instance, the pure wave from the back of the Virgin's head to the +ground; and again, the delicate swelling line along her shoulder and +left arm, opposed to the nearly unbroken fall of the drapery of the +figure in front. It should then be compared with an Egyptian or +Ninevite series of figures, which, by contrast, would bring out its +perfect sweetness and grace, as well as its variety of expression: +finally, it should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> be compared with any composition subsequent to the +time of Raffaelle, in order to feel its noble freedom from pictorial +artifice and attitude. These three comparisons cannot be made +carefully without a sense of profound reverence for the national +spirit<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> which could produce a design so majestic, and yet remain +content with one so simple.</p> + +<p>The small <i>loggia</i> of the Virgin's house is noticeable, as being +different from the architecture introduced in the other pictures, and +more accurately representing the Italian Gothic of the dwelling-house +of the period. The arches of the windows have no capitals; but this +omission is either to save time, or to prevent the background from +becoming too conspicuous. All the real buildings designed by Giotto +have the capital completely developed.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="XIII">XIII.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE ANNUNCIATION.—THE ANGEL GABRIEL.</h3> + +<p>This figure is placed on one side of the arch at the east end of the +body of the chapel; the corresponding figure of the Virgin being set +on the other side. It was a constant practice of the mediæval artists +thus to divide this subject; which, indeed, was so often painted, that +the meaning of the separated figures of the Angel and Mary was as well +understood as when they were seen in juxtaposition. Indeed, on the two +sides of this arch they would hardly be considered as separated, since +very frequently they were set to answer to each other from the +opposite extremities of a large space of architecture.<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p> + +<p>The figure of the Angel is notable chiefly for its serenity, as +opposed to the later conceptions of the scene, in which he sails into +the chamber upon the wing, like a stooping falcon.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p> + +<p>The building above is more developed than in any other of the Arena +paintings; but it must always remain a matter of question, why so +exquisite a designer of architecture as Giotto should introduce forms +so harsh and meagre into his backgrounds. Possibly he felt that the +very faults of the architecture enhanced the grace and increased the +importance of the figures; at least, the proceeding seems to me +inexplicable on any other theory.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="XIV">XIV.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE ANNUNCIATION.—THE VIRGIN MARY.</h3> + +<p>Vasari, in his notice of one of Giotto's Annunciations, praises him +for having justly rendered the <i>fear</i> of the Virgin at the address of +the Angel. If he ever treated the subject in such a manner, he +departed from all the traditions of his time; for I am aware of no +painting of this scene, during the course of the thirteenth and +following centuries, which does not represent the Virgin as perfectly +tranquil, receiving the message of the Angel in solemn thought and +gentle humility, but without a shadow of fear. It was reserved for the +painters of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to change angelic +majesty into reckless impetuosity, and maiden meditation into panic +dread.</p> + +<p>The face of the Virgin is slightly disappointing. Giotto never reached +a very high standard of beauty in feature; depending much on distant +effect in all his works, and therefore more on general arrangement of +colour and sincerity of gesture, than on refinement of drawing in the +countenance.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p> +<h3><a name="XV">XV.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE SALUTATION.</h3> + +<p>This picture, placed beneath the figure of the Virgin Annunciate at +the east end of the chapel, and necessarily small, (as will be seen by +the plan), in consequence of the space occupied by the arch which it +flanks, begins the second or lower series of frescoes; being, at the +same time, the first of the great chain of more familiar subjects, in +which we have the power of comparing the conceptions of Giotto not +only with the designs of earlier ages, but with the efforts which +subsequent masters have made to exalt or vary the ideas of the +principal scenes in the life of the Virgin and of Christ. The two +paintings of the Angel Gabriel and the Virgin Annunciate hardly +provoke such a comparison, being almost statue-like in the calm +subjection of all dramatic interest to the symmetrical dignity and +beauty of the two figures, leading, as they do, the whole system of +the decoration of the chapel; but this of the Salutation is treated +with no such reference to the architecture, and at once challenges +comparison with the works of later masters.</p> + +<p>Nor is the challenge feebly maintained. I have no hesitation in +saying, that, among all the renderings of this scene which now exist, +I remember none which gives the pure depth and plain facts of it so +perfectly as this of Giotto's. Of majestic women bowing themselves to +beautiful and meek girls, both wearing gorgeous robes, in the midst of +lovely scenery, or at the doors of Palladian palaces, we have enough; +but I do not know any picture which seems to me to give so truthful an +idea of the action with which Elizabeth and Mary must actually have +met,—which gives so exactly the way in which Elizabeth would stretch +her arms, and stoop and gaze into Mary's face, and the way in which +Mary's hand would slip beneath Elizabeth's arms, and raise her up to +kiss her. I know not any Elizabeth so full of intense love, and joy, +and humbleness; hardly any Madonna in which tenderness and dignity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> +are so quietly blended. She not less humble, and yet accepting the +reverence of Elizabeth as her appointed portion, saying, in her +simplicity and truth, "He that is mighty hath magnified me, and holy +is His name." The longer that this group is looked upon, the more it +will be felt that Giotto has done well to withdraw from it nearly all +accessories of landscape and adornment, and to trust it to the power +of its own deep expression. We may gaze upon the two silent figures +until their silence seems to be broken, and the words of the question +and reply sound in our ears, low as if from far away:</p> + +<p>"Whence is this to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?"</p> + +<p>"My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my +Saviour."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="XVI">XVI.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE NATIVITY.</h3> + +<p>I am not sure whether I shall do well or kindly in telling the reader +anything about this beautiful design. Perhaps the less he knows about +early art or early traditions, the more deeply he will feel its purity +and truth; for there is scarcely an incident here, or anything in the +manner of representing the incidents, which is not mentioned or +justified in Scripture. The bold, hilly background reminds us that +Bethlehem was in the hill-country of Judah. But it may seem to have +two purposes besides this literal one: the first, that it increases +the idea of <i>exposure</i> and loneliness in the birth of Christ; the +second that the masses of the great hills, with the angels floating +round them in the horizontal clouds, may in some sort represent to our +thoughts the power and space of that heaven and earth whose Lord is +being laid in the manger-cradle.</p> + +<p>There is an exquisite truth and sweetness in the way the Virgin turns +upon the couch, in order herself to assist in laying the Child down. +Giotto is in this exactly faithful to the scrip<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>tural words: "<i>She</i> +wrapped the Child in swaddling-clothes, and <i>laid</i> Him in a manger." +Joseph sits beneath in meditation; above, the angels, all exulting, +and, as it were, confused with joy, flutter and circle in the air like +birds,—three looking up to the Father's throne with praise and +thankfulness, one stooping to adore the Prince of Peace, one flying to +tell the shepherds. There is something to me peculiarly affecting in +this disorder of theirs; even angels, as it were, breaking their ranks +with wonder, and not knowing how to utter their gladness and passion +of praise. There is noticeable here, as in all works of this early +time, a certain confidence in the way in which the angels trust to +their wings, very characteristic of a period of bold and simple +conception. Modern science has taught us that a wing cannot be +anatomically joined to a shoulder; and in proportion as painters +approach more and more to the scientific, as distinguished from the +contemplative state of mind, they put the wings of their angels on +more timidly, and dwell with greater emphasis upon the human form, and +with less upon the wings, until these last become a species of +decorative appendage,—a mere <i>sign</i> of an angel. But in Giotto's time +an angel was a complete creature, as much believed in as a bird; and +the way in which it would or might cast itself into the air, and lean +hither and thither upon its plumes, was as naturally apprehended as +the manner of flight of a chough or a starling. Hence Dante's simple +and most exquisite synonym for angel, "Bird of God;" and hence also a +variety and picturesqueness in the expression of the movements of the +heavenly hierarchies by the earlier painters, ill replaced by the +powers of foreshortening, and throwing naked limbs into fantastic +positions, which appear in the cherubic groups of later times.</p> + +<p>It is needless to point out the frank association of the two +events,—the Nativity, and appearance of the Angel to the Shepherds. +They are constantly thus joined; but I do not remember any other +example in which they are joined so boldly. Usually the shepherds are +seen in the distance, or are introduced in some ornamental border, or +other inferior<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> place. The view of painting as a mode of suggesting +relative or consecutive thoughts, rather than a realisation of any one +scene, is seldom so fearlessly asserted, even by Giotto, as here, in +placing the flocks of the shepherds at the foot of the Virgin's bed.</p> + +<p>This bed, it will be noticed, is on a shelf of rock. This is in +compliance with the idea founded on the Protevangelion and the +apocryphal book known as the Gospel of Infancy, that our Saviour was +born in a cave, associated with the scriptural statement that He was +laid in a manger, of which the apocryphal gospels do not speak.</p> + +<p>The vain endeavour to exalt the awe of the moment of the Saviour's +birth has turned, in these gospels, the outhouse of the inn into a +species of subterranean chapel, full of incense and candles. "It was +after sunset, when the old woman (the midwife), and Joseph with her, +reached the cave; and they both went into it. And behold, it was all +filled with light, greater than the light of lamps and candles, and +greater than the light of the sun itself." (Infancy, i. 9.) "Then a +bright cloud overshadowed the cave, and the midwife said: This day my +soul is magnified." (Protevangelion, xiv. 10.) The thirteenth chapter +of the Protevangelion is, however, a little more skilful in this +attempt at exaltation. "And leaving her and his sons in the cave, +Joseph went forth to seek a Hebrew midwife in the village of +Bethlehem. But as I was going, said Joseph, I looked up into the air, +and I saw the clouds astonished, and the fowls of the air stopping in +the midst of their flight. And I looked down towards the earth and saw +a table spread, and working-people sitting around it; but their hands +were on the table, and they did not move to eat. But all their faces +were fixed upwards." (Protevangelion, xiii. 1-7.)</p> + +<p>It would, of course, be absurd to endeavour to institute any +comparison between the various pictures of this subject, innumerable +as they are; but I must at least deprecate Lord Lindsay's +characterising this design of Giotto's merely as the "Byzantine +composition." It contains, indeed, nothing more than the materials of +the Byzantine composition; but I know<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> no Byzantine Nativity which at +all resembles it in the grace and life of its action. And, for full a +century after Giotto's time, in northern Europe, the Nativity was +represented in a far more conventional manner than this; usually only +the heads of the ox and ass are seen, and they are arranging, or +holding with their mouths, the drapery of the couch of the Child; who +is not being laid in it by the Virgin, but raised upon a kind of +tablet high above her in the centre of the group. All these early +designs, without exception, however, agree in expressing a certain +degree of languor in the figure of the Virgin, and in making her +recumbent on the bed. It is not till the fifteenth century that she is +represented as exempt from suffering, and immediately kneeling in +adoration before the Child.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="XVII">XVII.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE WISE MEN'S OFFERING.</h3> + +<p>This is a subject which has been so great a favourite with the +painters of later periods, and on which so much rich incidental +invention has been lavished, that Giotto's rendering of it cannot but +be felt to be barren. It is, in fact, perhaps the least powerful of +all the series; and its effect is further marred by what Lord Lindsay +has partly noted, the appearance—perhaps accidental, but if so, +exceedingly unskilful—of matronly corpulence in the figure of the +Madonna. The unfortunate failure in the representation of the legs and +chests of the camels, and the awkwardness of the attempt to render the +action of kneeling in the foremost king, put the whole composition +into the class—not in itself an uninteresting one—of the slips or +shortcomings of great masters. One incident in it only is worth +observing. In other compositions of this time, and in many later ones, +the kings are generally presenting their offerings themselves, and the +Child takes them in His hand, or smiles at them. The painters who +thought this an undignified conception left the presents in the hands +of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> attendants of the Magi. But Giotto considers how presents +would be received by an actual king; and as what has been offered to a +monarch is delivered to the care of his attendants, Giotto puts a +waiting angel to receive the gifts, as not worthy to be placed in the +hands of the Infant.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="XVIII">XVIII.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE.</h3> + +<p>This design is one of those which are peculiarly characteristic of +Giotto as the head of the Naturalisti.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> No painter before his time +would have dared to represent the Child Jesus as desiring to quit the +arms of Simeon, or the Virgin as in some sort interfering with the +prophet's earnest contemplation of the Child by stretching her arms to +receive Him. The idea is evidently a false one, quite unworthy of the +higher painters of the religious school; and it is a matter of +peculiar interest to see what must have been the strength of Giotto's +love of plain facts, which could force him to stoop so low in the +conception of this most touching scene. The Child does not, it will be +observed, merely stretch its arm to the Madonna, but is even +struggling to escape, violently raising the left foot. But there is +another incident in the composition, witnessing as notably to Giotto's +powerful grasp of all the facts of his subject as this does to his +somewhat hard and plain manner of grasping them;—I mean the angel +approaching Simeon, as if with a message. The peculiar interest of the +Presentation is for the most part inadequately represented in +painting, because it is impossible to imply the fact of Simeon's +having waited so long in the hope of beholding his Lord, or to inform +the spectator of the feeling in which he utters the song of hope +fulfilled. Giotto has, it seems to me, done all that he could to make +us remember this peculiar meaning of the scene; for I think I cannot +be deceived in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> interpreting the flying angel, with its branch of palm +or lily, to be the Angel of Death, sent in visible fulfilment of the +thankful words of Simeon: "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart +in peace." The figure of Anna is poor and uninteresting; that of the +attendant, on the extreme left, very beautiful, both in its drapery +and in the severe and elevated character of the features and +head-dress.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="XIX">XIX.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT.</h3> + +<p>Giotto again shows, in his treatment of this subject, a juster +understanding of the probable facts than most other painters. It +becomes the almost universal habit of later artists to regard the +flight as both sudden and secret, undertaken by Joseph and Mary, +unattended, in the dawn of the morning, or "by night," so soon as +Joseph had awaked from sleep. (Matt. ii. 14.) Without a continuous +miracle, which it is unnecessary in this case to suppose, such a +lonely journey would have been nearly impracticable. Nor was instant +flight necessary; for Herod's order for the massacre could not be +issued until he had been convinced, by the protracted absence of the +Wise Men, that he was "mocked of them." In all probability the exact +nature and extent of the danger was revealed to Joseph; and he would +make the necessary preparations for his journey with such speed as he +could, and depart "by night" indeed, but not in the instant of +awakening from his dream. The ordinary impression seems to have been +received from the words of the Gospel of Infancy: "Go into Egypt <i>as +soon as the cock crows</i>." And the interest of the flight is rendered +more thrilling, in late compositions, by the introduction of armed +pursuers. Giotto has given a far more quiet, deliberate, and probable +character to the whole scene, while he has fully marked the fact of +divine protection and command in the figure of the guiding angel. Nor +is the picture less interesting in its marked expression of the night. +The figures<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> are all distinctly seen, and there is no broad +distribution of the gloom; but the vigorous blackness of the dress of +the attendant who holds the bridle, and the scattered glitter of the +lights on the Madonna's robe, are enough to produce the required +effect on the mind.</p> + +<p>The figure of the Virgin is singularly dignified: the broad and severe +curves traced by the hem and deepest folds of her dress materially +conducing to the nobleness of the group. The Child is partly sustained +by a band fastened round the Madonna's neck. The quaint and delicate +pattern on this band, together with that of the embroidered edges of +the dress, is of great value in opposing and making more manifest the +severe and grave outlines of the whole figure, whose impressiveness is +also partly increased by the rise of the mountain just above it, like +a tent. A vulgar composer would have moved this peak to the right or +left, and lost its power.</p> + +<p>This mountain background is also of great use in deepening the sense +of gloom and danger on the desert road. The trees represented as +growing on the heights have probably been rendered indistinct by time. +In early manuscripts such portions are invariably those which suffer +most; the green (on which the leaves were once drawn with dark +colours) mouldering away, and the lines of drawing with it. But even +in what is here left there is noticeable more careful study of the +distinction between the trees with thick spreading foliage, the group +of two with light branches and few leaves, and the tree stripped and +dead at the bottom of the ravine, than an historical painter would now +think it consistent with his dignity to bestow.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="XX">XX.</a></h3> + +<h3>MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS.</h3> + +<p>Of all the series, this composition is the one which exhibits most of +Giotto's weaknesses. All early work is apt to fail in the rendering of +violent action: but Giotto is, in this instance,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> inferior not only to +his successors, but to the feeblest of the miniature-painters of the +thirteenth century; while his imperfect drawing is seen at its worst +in the nude figures of the children. It is, in fact, almost impossible +to understand how any Italian, familiar with the eager gesticulations +of the lower orders of his countrywomen on the smallest points of +dispute with each other, should have been incapable of giving more +adequate expression of true action and passion to the group of +mothers; and, if I were not afraid of being accused of special +pleading, I might insist at some length on a dim faith of my own, that +Giotto thought the actual agony and strivings of the probable scene +unfit for pictorial treatment, or for common contemplation; and that +he chose rather to give motionless types and personifications of the +soldiers and women, than to use his strength and realistic faculty in +bringing before the vulgar eye the unseemly struggle or unspeakable +pain. The formal arrangement of the heap of corpses in the centre of +the group; the crowded standing of the mothers, as in a choir of +sorrow; the actual presence of Herod, to whom some of them appear to +be appealing,—all seem to me to mark this intention; and to make the +composition only a symbol or shadow of the great deed of massacre, not +a realisation of its visible continuance at any moment. I will not +press this conjecture; but will only add, that if it be so, I think +Giotto was perfectly right; and that a picture thus conceived might +have been deeply impressive, had it been more successfully executed; +and a calmer, more continuous, comfortless grief expressed in the +countenances of the women. Far better thus, than with the horrible +analysis of agony, and detail of despair, with which this same scene, +one which ought never to have been made the subject of painting at +all, has been gloated over by artists of more degraded times.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p> +<h3><a name="XXI">XXI.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE YOUNG CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE.</h3> + +<p>This composition has suffered so grievously by time, that even the +portions of it which remain are seen to the greatest disadvantage. +Little more than various conditions of scar and stain can be now +traced, where were once the draperies of the figures in the shade, and +the suspended garland and arches on the right hand of the spectator; +and in endeavouring not to represent more than there is authority for, +the draughtsman and engraver have necessarily produced a less +satisfactory plate than most others of the series. But Giotto has also +himself fallen considerably below his usual standard. The faces appear +to be cold and hard; and the attitudes are as little graceful as +expressive either of attention or surprise. The Madonna's action, +stretching her arms to embrace her Son, is pretty; but, on the whole, +the picture has no value; and this is the more remarkable, as there +were fewer precedents of treatment in this case than in any of the +others; and it might have been anticipated that Giotto would have put +himself to some pains when the field of thought was comparatively new. +The subject of Christ teaching in the Temple rarely occurs in +manuscripts; but all the others were perpetually repeated in the +service-books of the period.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p style="text-align: center"> +<img src="images/image03.jpg" alt="Baptism of Christ" title="Baptism of Christ" width="272" height="350" /></p> + +<p style="text-align: center"> </p> + +<h3><a name="XXII">XXII.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST.</h3> + +<p>This is a more interesting work than the last; but it is also gravely +and strangely deficient in power of entering into the subject; and +this, I think, is common with nearly all efforts that have hitherto +been made at its representation. I have never seen a picture of the +Baptism, by any painter whatever, which was not below the average +power of the painter; and in this conception of Giotto's, the humility +of St. John is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> entirely unexpressed, and the gesture of Christ has +hardly any meaning: it neither is in harmony with the words, "Suffer +it to be so now," which must have been uttered before the moment of +actual baptism, nor does it in the slightest degree indicate the sense +in the Redeemer of now entering upon the great work of His ministry. +In the earlier representations of the subject, the humility of St. +John is never lost sight of; there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> will be seen, for instance, an +effort at expressing it by the slightly stooping attitude and bent +knee, even in the very rude design given in outline on the opposite +page. I have thought it worth while to set before the reader in this +outline one example of the sort of traditional representations which +were current throughout Christendom before Giotto arose. This instance +is taken from a large choir-book, probably of French, certainly of +Northern execution, towards the close of the thirteenth century;<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> +and it is a very fair average example of the manner of design in the +illuminated work of the period. The introduction of the scroll, with +the legend, "This is My beloved Son," is both more true to the +scriptural words, "Lo, a voice from heaven," and more reverent, than +Giotto's introduction of the visible figure, as a type of the First +Person of the Trinity. The boldness with which this type is introduced +increases precisely as the religious sentiment of art decreases; in +the fifteenth century it becomes utterly revolting.</p> + +<p>I have given this woodcut for another reason also: to explain more +clearly the mode in which Giotto deduced the strange form which he has +given to the stream of the Jordan. In the earlier Northern works it is +merely a green wave, rising to the Saviour's waist, as seen in the +woodcut. Giotto, for the sake of getting standing-ground for his +figures, gives <i>shores</i> to this wave, retaining its swelling form in +the centre,—a very painful and unsuccessful attempt at reconciling +typical drawing with laws of perspective. Or perhaps it is less to be +regarded as an effort at progress, than as an awkward combination of +the Eastern and Western types of the Jordan. In the difference between +these types there is matter of some interest. Lord Lindsay, who merely +characterises this work of Giotto's as "the Byzantine composition," +thus describes the usual Byzantine manner of representing the Baptism:</p> + +<p>"The Saviour stands immersed to the middle in Jordan (<i>flowing between +two deep and rocky banks</i>), on one of which stands St. John, pouring +the water on His head, and on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> other two angels hold His robes. +The Holy Spirit descends upon Him as a dove, in a stream of light, +from God the Father, usually represented by a hand from Heaven. Two of +John's disciples stand behind him as spectators. Frequently <i>the +river-god of Jordan</i> reclines with his oars in the corner.... In the +Baptistery at Ravenna, the rope is supported, not by an angel, but by +the river-deity <i>Jordann</i> (Iordanes?), who holds in his left hand a +reed as his sceptre."</p> + +<p>Now in this mode of representing rivers there is something more than +the mere Pagan tradition lingering through the wrecks of the Eastern +Empire. A river, in the East and South, is necessarily recognised more +distinctly as a beneficent power than in the West and North. The +narrowest and feeblest stream is felt to have an influence on the life +of mankind; and is counted among the possessions, or honoured among +the deities, of the people who dwell beside it. Hence the importance +given, in the Byzantine compositions, to the name and specialty of the +Jordan stream. In the North such peculiar definiteness and importance +can never be attached to the name of any single fountain. Water, in +its various forms of streamlet, rain, or river, is felt as an +universal gift of heaven, not as an inheritance of a particular spot +of earth. Hence, with the Gothic artists generally, the personality of +the Jordan is lost in the green and nameless wave; and the simple rite +of the Baptism is dwelt upon, without endeavouring, as Giotto has +done, to draw the attention to the rocky shores of Bethabara and Ænon, +or to the fact that "there was much water there."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="XXIII">XXIII.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE MARRIAGE IN CANA.</h3> + +<p>It is strange that the sweet significance of this first of the +miracles should have been lost sight of by nearly all artists after +Giotto; and that no effort was made by them to conceive the +circumstances of it in simplicity. The poverty of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> family in which +the marriage took place,—proved sufficiently by the fact that a +carpenter's wife not only was asked as a chief guest, but even had +authority over the servants,—is shown further to have been +distressful, or at least embarrassed, poverty by their want of wine on +such an occasion. It was not certainly to remedy an accident of +careless provision, but to supply a need sorrowfully betraying the +narrow circumstances of His hosts, that our Lord wrought the beginning +of miracles. Many mystic meanings have been sought in the act, which, +though there is no need to deny, there is little evidence to certify: +but we may joyfully accept, as its first indisputable meaning, that of +simple kindness; the wine being provided here, when needed, as the +bread and fish were afterwards for the hungry multitudes. The whole +value of the miracle, in its serviceable tenderness, is at once +effaced when the marriage is supposed, as by Veronese and other +artists of later times, to have taken place at the house of a rich +man. For the rest, Giotto sufficiently implies, by the lifted hand of +the Madonna, and the action of the fingers of the bridegroom, as if +they held sacramental bread, that there lay a deeper meaning under the +miracle for those who could accept it. How all miracle <i>is</i> accepted +by common humanity, he has also shown in the figure of the ruler of +the feast, drinking. This unregarding forgetfulness of present +spiritual power is similarly marked by Veronese, by placing the figure +of a fool with his bauble immediately underneath that of Christ, and +by making a cat play with her shadow in one of the wine-vases.</p> + +<p>It is to be remembered, however, in examining all pictures of this +subject, that the miracle was not made manifest to all the guests;—to +none indeed, seemingly, except Christ's own disciples: the ruler of +the feast, and probably most of those present (except the servants who +drew the water), knew or observed nothing of what was passing, and +merely thought the good wine had been "kept until now."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p> +<h3><a name="XXIV">XXIV.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE RAISING OF LAZARUS.</h3> + +<p>In consequence of the intermediate position which Giotto occupies +between the Byzantine and Naturalist schools, two relations of +treatment are to be generally noted in his work. As compared with the +Byzantines, he is a realist, whose power consists in the introduction +of living character and various incidents, modifying the formerly +received Byzantine symbols. So far as he has to do this, he is a +realist of the purest kind, endeavoring always to conceive events +precisely as they were likely to have happened; not to idealise them +into forms artfully impressive to the spectator. But in so far as he +was compelled to retain, or did not wish to reject, the figurative +character of the Byzantine symbols, he stands opposed to succeeding +realists, in the quantity of meaning which probably lies hidden in any +composition, as well as in the simplicity with which he will probably +treat it, in order to enforce or guide to this meaning: the figures +being often letters of a hieroglyphic, which he will not multiply, +lest he should lose in force of suggestion what he gained in dramatic +interest.</p> + +<p>None of the compositions display more clearly this typical and +reflective character than that of the Raising of Lazarus. Later +designers dwell on vulgar conditions of wonder or horror, such as they +could conceive likely to attend the resuscitation of a corpse; but +with Giotto the physical reanimation is the type of a spiritual one, +and, though shown to be miraculous, is yet in all its deeper aspects +unperturbed, and calm in awfulness. It is also visibly gradual. "His +face was bound about with a napkin." The nearest Apostle has withdrawn +the covering from the face, and looks for the command which shall +restore it from wasted corruption, and sealed blindness, to living +power and light.</p> + +<p>Nor is it, I believe, without meaning, that the two Apostles, if +indeed they are intended for Apostles, who stand at Lazarus' side, +wear a different dress from those who follow Christ.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> I suppose them +to be intended for images of the Christian and Jewish Churches in +their ministration to the dead soul: the one removing its bonds, but +looking to Christ for the word and power of life; the other inactive +and helpless—the veil upon its face—in dread; while the principal +figure fulfils the order it receives in fearless simplicity.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="XXV">XXV.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM.</h3> + +<p>This design suffers much from loss of colour in translation. Its +decorative effect depends on the deep blue ground, relieving the +delicate foliage and the local colours of dresses and architecture. It +is also one of those which are most directly opposed to modern +feeling: the sympathy of the spectator with the passion of the crowd +being somewhat rudely checked by the grotesque action of two of the +foremost figures. We ought, however, rather to envy the deep +seriousness which could not be moved from dwelling on the real power +of the scene by any ungracefulness or familiarity of circumstance. +Among men whose minds are rightly toned, nothing is ludicrous: it +must, if an act, be either right or wrong, noble or base; if a thing +seen, it must either be ugly or beautiful: and what is either wrong or +deformed is not, among noble persons, in anywise subject for laughter; +but, in the precise degree of its wrongness or deformity, a subject of +horror. All perception of what, in the modern European mind, falls +under the general head of the ludicrous, is either childish or +profane; often healthy, as indicative of vigorous animal life, but +always degraded in its relation to manly conditions of thought. It has +a secondary use in its power of detecting vulgar imposture; but it +only obtains this power by denying the highest truths.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p> +<h3><a name="XXVI">XXVI.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE EXPULSION FROM THE TEMPLE.</h3> + +<p>More properly, the Expulsion from the outer Court of the Temple (Court +of Gentiles), as Giotto has indicated by placing the porch of the +Temple itself in the background.</p> + +<p>The design shows, as clearly as that of the Massacre of the Innocents, +Giotto's want of power, and partly of desire, to represent rapid or +forceful action. The raising of the right hand, not holding any +scourge, resembles the action afterwards adopted by Oreagna, and +finally by Michael Angelo in his Last Judgment: and my belief is, that +Giotto considered this act of Christ's as partly typical of the final +judgment, the Pharisees being placed on the left hand, and the +disciples on the right. From the faded remains of the fresco, the +draughtsman could not determine what animals are intended by those on +the left hand. But the most curious incident (so far as I know, found +only in this design of the Expulsion, no subsequent painter repeating +it), is the sheltering of the two children, one of them carrying a +dove, under the arm and cloak of two disciples. Many meanings might +easily be suggested in this; but I see no evidence for the adoption of +any distinct one.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="XXVII">XXVII.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE HIRING OF JUDAS.</h3> + +<p>The only point of material interest presented by this design is the +decrepit and distorted shadow of the demon, respecting which it may be +well to remind the reader that all the great Italian thinkers +concurred in assuming decrepitude or disease, as well as ugliness, to +be a characteristic of all natures of evil. Whatever the extent of the +power granted to evil spirits, it was always abominable and +contemptible; no element of beauty or heroism was ever allowed to +remain, however obscured, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> the aspect of a fallen angel. Also, the +demoniacal nature was shown in acts of betrayal, torture, or wanton +hostility; never in valiancy or perseverance of contest. I recollect +no mediæval demon who shows as much insulting, resisting, or +contending power as Bunyan's Apollyon. They can only cheat, undermine, +and mock; never overthrow. Judas, as we should naturally anticipate, +has not in this scene the nimbus of an Apostle; yet we shall find it +restored to him in the next design. We shall discover the reason of +this only by a careful consideration of the meaning of that fresco.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="XXVIII">XXVIII.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE LAST SUPPER.</h3> + +<p>I have not examined the original fresco with care enough to be able to +say whether the uninteresting quietness of its design is redeemed by +more than ordinary attention to expression; it is one of the least +attractive subjects in the Arena Chapel, and always sure to be passed +over in any general observation of the series: nevertheless, however +unfavourably it may at first contrast with the designs of later +masters, and especially with Leonardo's, the reader should not fail to +observe that Giotto's aim, had it been successful, was the higher of +the two, as giving truer rendering of the probable fact. There is no +distinct evidence, in the sacred text, of the annunciation of coming +treachery having produced among the disciples the violent surprise and +agitation represented by Leonardo. Naturally, they would not at first +understand what was meant. They knew nothing distinctly of the +machinations of the priests; and so little of the character or +purposes of Judas, that even after he had received the sop which was +to point him out to the others as false;—and after they had heard the +injunction, "That thou doest, do quickly,"—the other disciples had +still no conception of the significance, either of the saying, or the +act: they thought that Christ meant he was to buy something for the +feast. Nay, Judas himself, so far from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> starting, as a convicted +traitor, and thereby betraying himself, as in Leonardo's picture, had +not, when Christ's first words were uttered, any immediately active +intention formed. The devil had not entered into him until he received +the sop. The passage in St. John's account is a curious one, and +little noticed; but it marks very distinctly the paralysed state of +the man's mind. He had talked with the priests, covenanted with them, +and even sought opportunity to bring Jesus into their hands; but while +such opportunity was wanting, the act had never presented itself fully +to him for adoption or rejection. He had toyed with it, dreamed over +it, hesitated, and procrastinated over it, as a stupid and cowardly +person would, such as traitors are apt to be. But the way of retreat +was yet open; the conquest of the temper not complete. Only after +receiving the sop the idea <i>finally</i> presented itself clearly, and was +accepted, "To-night, while He is in the garden, I can do it; and I +will." And Giotto has indicated this distinctly by giving Judas still +the Apostle's nimbus, both in this subject and in that of the Washing +of the Feet; while it is taken away in the previous subject of the +Hiring, and the following one of the Seizure: thus it fluctuates, +expires, and reillumines itself, until his fall is consummated. This +being the general state of the Apostles' knowledge, the words, "One of +you shall betray me," would excite no feeling in their minds +correspondent to that with which we now read the prophetic sentence. +What this "giving up" of their Master meant became a question of +bitter and self-searching thought with them,—gradually of intense +sorrow and questioning. But had they understood it in the sense we now +understand it, they would never have each asked, "Lord, is it I?" +Peter believed himself incapable even of <i>denying</i> Christ; and of +giving him up to death for money, every one of his true disciples +<i>knew</i> themselves incapable; the thought never occurred to them. In +slowly-increasing wonder and sorrow (<span lang="el" title="Greek: êrxanto lupeisthai">ηρξαντο λυπεισθαι</span>, Mark +xiv. 19), not knowing what was meant, they asked one by one, with +pauses between, "Is it I?" and another, "Is it I?" and this so quietly +and timidly that the one who was lying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> on Christ's breast never +stirred from his place; and Peter, afraid to speak, signed to him to +ask who it was. One further circumstance, showing that this was the +real state of their minds, we shall find Giotto take cognisance of in +the next fresco.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="XXIX">XXIX.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE WASHING OF THE FEET.</h3> + +<p>In this design, it will be observed, there are still the twelve +disciples, and the nimbus is yet given to Judas (though, as it were, +setting, his face not being seen).</p> + +<p>Considering the deep interest and importance of every circumstance of +the Last Supper, I cannot understand how preachers and commentators +pass by the difficulty of clearly understanding the periods indicated +in St. John's account of it. It seems that Christ must have risen +while they were still eating, must have washed their feet as they sate +or reclined at the table, just as the Magdalen had washed His own feet +in the Pharisee's house; that, this done, He returned to the table, +and the disciples continuing to eat, presently gave the sop to Judas. +For St. John says, that he having received the sop, went <i>immediately</i> +out; yet that Christ had washed his feet is certain, from the words, +"Ye are clean, but not all." Whatever view the reader may, on +deliberation, choose to accept, Giotto's is clear, namely, that though +not cleansed by the baptism, Judas was yet capable of being cleansed. +The devil had not entered into him at the time of the washing of the +feet, and he retains the sign of an Apostle.</p> + +<p>The composition is one of the most beautiful of the series, especially +owing to the submissive grace of the two standing figures.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p> +<h3><a name="XXX">XXX.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE KISS OF JUDAS.</h3> + +<p>For the first time we have Giotto's idea of the face of the traitor +clearly shown. It is not, I think, traceable through any of the +previous series; and it has often surprised me to observe how +impossible it was in the works of almost any of the sacred painters to +determine by the mere cast of feature which was meant for the false +Apostle. Here, however, Giotto's theory of physiognomy, and together +with it his idea of the character of Judas, are perceivable enough. It +is evident that he looks upon Judas mainly as a sensual dullard, and +foul-brained fool; a man in no respect exalted in bad eminence of +treachery above the mass of common traitors, but merely a distinct +type of the eternal treachery to good, in vulgar men, which stoops +beneath, and opposes in its appointed measure, the life and efforts of +all noble persons, their natural enemies in this world; as the slime +lies under a clear stream running through an earthy meadow. Our +careless and thoughtless English use of the word into which the Greek +"Diabolos" has been shortened, blinds us in general to the meaning of +"Deviltry," which, in its essence, is nothing else than slander, or +traitorhood;—the accusing and giving up of good. In particular it has +blinded us to the meaning of Christ's words, "Have not I chosen you +twelve, and one of you is a traitor and accuser?" and led us to think +that the "one of you is a devil" indicated some greater than human +wickedness in Judas; whereas the practical meaning of the entire fact +of Judas' ministry and fall is, that out of any twelve men chosen for +the forwarding of any purpose,—or, much more, out of any twelve men +we meet,—one, probably, is or will be a Judas.</p> + +<p>The modern German renderings of all the scenes of Christ's life in +which the traitor is conspicuous are very curious in their vulgar +misunderstanding of the history, and their consequent endeavours to +represent Judas as more diabolic than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> selfish, treacherous, and +stupid men are in all their generations. They paint him usually +projected against strong effects of light, in lurid +chiaroscuro;—enlarging the whites of his eyes, and making him frown, +grin, and gnash his teeth on all occasions, so as to appear among the +other Apostles invariably in the aspect of a Gorgon.</p> + +<p>How much more deeply Giotto has fathomed the fact, I believe all men +will admit who have sufficient purity and abhorrence of falsehood to +recognise it in its daily presence, and who know how the devil's +strongest work is done for him by men who are too bestial to +understand what they betray.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="XXXI">XXXI.</a></h3> + +<h3>CHRIST BEFORE CAIAPHAS.</h3> + +<p>Little is to be observed in this design of any distinctive merit; it +is only a somewhat completer version of the ordinary representation +given in illuminated missals and other conventual work, suggesting, as +if they had happened at the same moment, the answer, "If I have spoken +evil, bear witness of the evil," and the accusation of blasphemy which +causes the high-priest to rend his clothes.</p> + +<p>Apparently distrustful of his power of obtaining interest of a higher +kind, Giotto has treated the enrichments more carefully than usual, +down even to the steps of the high-priest's seat. The torch and barred +shutters conspicuously indicate its being now dead of night. That the +torch is darker than the chamber, if not an error in the drawing, is +probably the consequence of a darkening alteration in the yellow +colours used for the flame.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p> +<h3><a name="XXXII">XXXII.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE SCOURGING OF CHRIST.</h3> + +<p>It is characteristic of Giotto's rational and human view of all +subjects admitting such aspect, that he has insisted here chiefly on +the dejection and humiliation of Christ, making no attempt to suggest +to the spectator any other divinity than that of patience made perfect +through suffering. Angelico's conception of the same subject is higher +and more mystical. He takes the moment when Christ is blindfolded, and +exaggerates almost into monstrosity the vileness of feature and +bitterness of sneer in the questioners, "Prophesy unto us, who is he +that smote thee;" but the bearing of the person of Christ is entirely +calm and unmoved; and his eyes, open, are seen through the binding +veil, indicating the ceaseless omniscience.</p> + +<p>This mystical rendering is, again, rejected by the later realistic +painters; but while the earlier designers, with Giotto at their head, +dwelt chiefly on the humiliation and the mockery, later painters dwelt +on the physical pain. In Titian's great picture of this subject in the +Louvre, one of the executioners is thrusting the thorn-crown down upon +the brow with his rod, and the action of Christ is that of a person +suffering extreme physical agony.</p> + +<p>No representations of the scene exist, to my knowledge, in which the +mockery is either sustained with indifference, or rebuked by any stern +or appealing expression of feature; yet one of these two forms of +endurance would appear, to a modern habit of thought, the most natural +and probable.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="XXXIII">XXXIII.</a></h3> + +<h3>CHRIST BEARING HIS CROSS.</h3> + +<p>This design is one of great nobleness and solemnity in the isolation +of the principal figure, and removal of all motives of interest +depending on accessories, or merely temporary inci<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>dents. Even the +Virgin and her attendant women are kept in the background; all appeal +for sympathy through physical suffering is disdained. Christ is not +represented as borne down by the weight of the Cross, nor as urged +forward by the impatience of the executioners. The thing to be +shown,—the unspeakable mystery,—is the simple fact, the Bearing of +the Cross by the Redeemer. It would be vain to compare the respective +merits or value of a design thus treated, and of one like Veronese's +of this same subject, in which every essential accessory and probable +incident is completely conceived. The abstract and symbolical +suggestion will always appeal to one order of minds, the dramatic +completeness to another. Unquestionably, the last is the greater +achievement of intellect, but the manner and habit of thought are +perhaps loftier in Giotto. Veronese leads us to perceive the reality +of the act, and Giotto to understand its intention.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="XXXIV">XXXIV.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE CRUCIFIXION.</h3> + +<p>The treatment of this subject was, in Giotto's time, so rigidly fixed +by tradition that it was out of his power to display any of his own +special modes of thought; and, as in the Bearing of the Cross, so +here, but yet more distinctly, the temporary circumstances are little +regarded, the significance of the event being alone cared for. But +even long after this time, in all the pictures of the Crucifixion by +the great masters, with the single exception perhaps of that by +Tintoret in the Church of San Cassano at Venice, there is a tendency +to treat the painting as a symmetrical image, or collective symbol of +sacred mysteries, rather than as a dramatic representation. Even in +Tintoret's great Crucifixion in the School of St. Roch, the group of +fainting women forms a kind of pedestal for the Cross. The flying +angels in the composition before us are thus also treated with a +restraint hardly passing the limits of decorative symbolism. The +fading away of their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> figures into flame-like cloud may perhaps be +founded on the verse, "He maketh His angels spirits; His ministers a +flame of fire" (though erroneously, the right reading of that verse +being, "He maketh the winds His messengers, and the flaming fire His +servant"); but it seems to me to give a greater sense of possible +truth than the entire figures, treading the clouds with naked feet, of +Perugino and his successors.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="XXXV">XXXV.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE ENTOMBMENT.</h3> + +<p>I do not consider that in fulfilling the task of interpreter intrusted +to me, with respect to this series of engravings, I may in general +permit myself to unite with it the duty of a critic. But in the +execution of a laborious series of engravings, some must of course be +better, some worse; and it would be unjust, no less to the reader than +to Giotto, if I allowed this plate to pass without some admission of +its inadequacy. It may possibly have been treated with a little less +care than the rest, in the knowledge that the finished plate, already +in the possession of the members of the Arundel Society, superseded +any effort with inferior means; be that as it may, the tenderness of +Giotto's composition is, in the engraving before us, lost to an +unusual degree.</p> + +<p>It may be generally observed that the passionateness of the sorrow +both of the Virgin and disciples, is represented by Giotto and all +great following designers as reaching its crisis at the Entombment, +not at the Crucifixion. The expectation that, after experiencing every +form of human suffering, Christ would yet come down from the cross, or +in some other visible and immediate manner achieve for Himself the +victory, might be conceived to have supported in a measure the minds +of those among His disciples who watched by His cross. But when the +agony was closed by actual death, and the full strain was put upon +their faith, by their laying in the sepulchre, wrapped in His +grave-clothes, Him in whom they trusted,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> "that it had been He which +should have redeemed Israel," their sorrow became suddenly hopeless; a +gulf of horror opened, almost at unawares, under their feet; and in +the poignancy of her astonied despair, it was no marvel that the agony +of the Madonna in the "Pietà" became subordinately associated in the +mind of the early Church with that of their Lord Himself;—a type of +consummate human suffering.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="XXXVI">XXXVI.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE RESURRECTION.</h3> + +<p>Quite one of the loveliest designs of the series. It was a favourite +subject with Giotto; meeting, in all its conditions, his love of what +was most mysterious, yet most comforting and full of hope, in the +doctrines of his religion. His joy in the fact of the Resurrection, +his sense of its function, as the key and primal truth of +Christianity, was far too deep to allow him to dwell on any of its +minor circumstances, as later designers did, representing the moment +of bursting the tomb, and the supposed terror of its guards. With +Giotto the leading thought is not of physical reanimation, nor of the +momentarily exerted power of breaking the bars of the grave; but the +consummation of Christ's work in the first manifesting to human eyes, +and the eyes of one who had loved Him and believed in Him, His power +to take again the life He had laid down. This first appearance to her +out of whom He had cast seven devils is indeed the very central fact +of the Resurrection. The keepers had not seen Christ; they had seen +only the angel descending, whose countenance was like lightning: for +fear of him they became as dead; yet this fear, though great enough to +cause them to swoon, was so far conquered at the return of morning, +that they were ready to take money-payment for giving a false report +of the circumstances. The Magdalen, therefore, is the first witness of +the Resurrection; to the love, for whose sake much had been forgiven, +this gift is also first given; and as the first witness of the truth, +so she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> is the first messenger of the Gospel. To the Apostles it was +granted to proclaim the Resurrection to all nations; but the Magdalen +was bidden to proclaim it to the Apostles.</p> + +<p>In the chapel of the Bargello, Giotto has rendered this scene with yet +more passionate sympathy. Here, however, its significance is more +thoughtfully indicated through all the accessories, down even to the +withered trees above the sepulchre, while those of the garden burst +into leaf. This could hardly escape notice when the barren boughs were +compared by the spectator with the rich foliage of the neighbouring +designs, though, in the detached plate, it might easily be lost sight +of.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="XXXVII">XXXVII.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE ASCENSION.</h3> + +<p>Giotto continues to exert all his strength on these closing subjects. +None of the Byzantine or earlier Italian painters ventured to +introduce the entire figure of Christ in this scene: they showed the +feet only, concealing the body; according to the text, "a cloud +received Him out of their sight." This composition, graceful as it is +daring, conveys the idea of ascending motion more forcibly than any +that I remember by other than Venetian painters. Much of its power +depends on the continuity of line obtained by the half-floating +figures of the two warning angels.</p> + +<p>I cannot understand why this subject was so seldom treated by +religious painters: for the harmony of Christian creed depends as much +upon it as on the Resurrection itself; while the circumstances of the +Ascension, in their brightness, promise, miraculousness, and direct +appeal to all the assembled Apostles, seem more fitted to attract the +joyful contemplation of all who received the faith. How morbid, and +how deeply to be mourned, was the temper of the Church which could not +be satisfied without perpetual representation of the tortures of +Christ; but rarely dwelt on His triumph! How more than strange the +concessions to this feebleness by its greatest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> teachers; such as that +of Titian, who, though he paints the Assumption of the Madonna rather +than a Pietà, paints the Scourging and the Entombment of Christ, with +his best power,—but never the Ascension!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="XXXVIII">XXXVIII.</a></h3> + +<h3>THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.</h3> + +<p>This last subject of the series, the quietest and least interesting in +treatment, yet illustrates sadly, and forcibly, the vital difference +between ancient and modern art.</p> + +<p>The worst characters of modern work result from its constant appeal to +our desire of change, and pathetic excitement; while the best features +of the elder art appealed to love of contemplation. It would appear to +be the object of the truest artists to give permanence to images such +as we should always desire to behold, and might behold without +agitation; while the inferior branches of design are concerned with +the acuter passions which depend on the turn of a narrative, or the +course of an emotion. Where it is possible to unite these two sources +of pleasure, and, as in the Assumption of Titian, an action of +absorbing interest is united with perfect and perpetual elements of +beauty, the highest point of conception would appear to have been +touched: but in the degree in which the interest of action +<i>supersedes</i> beauty of form and colour, the art is lowered; and where +real deformity enters, in any other degree than as a momentary shadow +or opposing force, the art is illegitimate. Such art can exist only by +accident, when a nation has forgotten or betrayed the eternal purposes +of its genius, and gives birth to painters whom it cannot teach, and +to teachers whom it will not hear. The best talents of all our English +painters have been spent either in endeavours to find room for the +expression of feelings which no master guided to a worthy end, or to +obtain the attention of a public whose mind was dead to natural +beauty, by sharpness of satire, or variety of dramatic circumstance.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p> + +<p>The work to which England is now devoting herself withdraws her eyes +from beauty, as her heart from rest; nor do I conceive any revival of +great art to be possible among us while the nation continues in its +present temper. As long as it can bear to see misery and squalor in +its streets, it can neither invent nor accept human beauty in its +pictures; and so long as in passion of rivalry, or thirst of gain, it +crushes the roots of happiness, and forsakes the ways of peace, the +great souls whom it may chance to produce will all pass away from it +helpless, in error, in wrath, or in silence. Amiable visionaries may +retire into the delight of devotional abstraction, strong men of the +world may yet hope to do service by their rebuke or their satire; but +for the clear sight of Love there will be no horizon, for its quiet +words no answer; nor any place for the art which alone is faithfully +Religious, because it is Lovely and True.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The series of engravings thus completed, while they present no +characters on which the members of the Arundel Society can justifiably +pride themselves, have, nevertheless, a real and effective value, if +considered as a series of maps of the Arena frescoes. Few artists of +eminence pass through Padua without making studies of detached +portions of the decoration of this Chapel, while no artist has time to +complete drawings of the whole. Such fragmentary studies might now at +any time be engraved with advantage, their place in the series being +at once determinable by reference to the woodcuts; while qualities of +expression could often be obtained in engravings of single figures, +which are sure to be lost in an entire subject. The most refined +character is occasionally dependent on a few happy and light touches, +which, in a single head, are effective, but are too feeble to bear due +part in an entire composition, while, in the endeavour to reinforce +them, their vitality is lost. I believe the members of the Arundel +Society will perceive, eventually, that no copies of works of great +art are worthily representative of them but such as are made freely, +and for their own purposes, by great painters: the best results +obtain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>able by mechanical effort will only be charts or plans of +pictures, not mirrors of them. Such charts it is well to command in as +great number as possible, and with all attainable completeness; but +the Society cannot be considered as having entered on its true +functions until it has obtained the hearty co-operation of European +artists, and by the increase of its members, the further power of +representing the subtle studies of masterly painters by the aid of +exquisite engraving.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="footnotes"><h2><a name="FOOTNOTES">FOOTNOTES</a></h2> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Noting the visages of some who lay<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beneath the pelting of that dolorous fire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One of them all I knew not; but perceived<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That pendent from his neck each bore a pouch,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With colours and with emblems various marked,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On which it seemed as if their eye did feed.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And when amongst them looking round I came,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A yellow purse I saw, with azure wrought,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That wore a lion's countenance and port.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then, still my sight pursuing its career,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Another I beheld, than blood more red,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A goose display of whiter wing than curd.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And one who bore a fat and azure swine<br /></i></span><i> +<span class="i0">Pictured on his white scrip, addressed me thus:</span></i><span class="i0"><br /></span> +<span class="i0">What dost thou in this deep? Go now and know,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Since yet thou livest, that my neighbour here,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Vitaliano, on my left shall sit.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A Paduan with these Florentines am I.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ofttimes they thunder in mine ears, exclaiming,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh! haste that noble knight, he who the pouch<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With the three goats will bring. This said, he writhed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The mouth, and lolled the tongue out, like an ox<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That licks his nostrils."<br /></span> +<span class="i12"><i>Canto</i> xvii.<br /></span> +</div></div> +<p> +This passage of Cary's Dante is not quite so clear as that +translator's work usually is. "One of them all I knew not" is an +awkward periphrasis for "I knew none of them." Dante's indignant +expression of the effect of avarice in withering away distinctions of +character, and the prophecy of Scrovegno, that his neighbor Vitaliano, +then living, should soon be with him, to sit on his left hand, is +rendered a little obscure by the transposition of the word "here." +Cary has also been afraid of the excessive homeliness of Dante's +imagery; "whiter wing than curd" being in the original "whiter than +butter." The attachment of the purse to the neck, as a badge of shame, +in the <i>Inferno</i>, is found before Dante's time; as, for instance, in +the windows of Bourges cathedral (see Plate iii. of MM. Martin and +Cahier's beautiful work). And the building of the Arena Chapel by the +son, as a kind of atonement for the avarice of the father, is very +characteristic of the period, in which the use of money for the +building of churches was considered just as meritorious as its unjust +accumulation was criminal. I have seen, in a MS. Church-service of the +thirteenth century, an illumination representing Church-Consecration, +illustrating the words, "Fundata est domus Domini supra verticem +montium," surrounded for the purpose of contrast, by a grotesque, +consisting of a picture of a miser's death-bed, a demon drawing his +soul out of his mouth, while his attendants are searching in his +chests for his treasures.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> For these historical details I am chiefly indebted to the +very careful treatise of Selvatico, <i>Sulla Cappellina degli Scrovegni +nell'Arena di Padova</i>. Padua, 1836.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Lord Lindsay, <i>Christian Art</i>, vol. ii. p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> At Pietra Mala. The flames rise two or three feet above +the stony ground out of which they spring, white and fierce enough to +be visible in the intense rays even of the morning sun.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> At least Lord Lindsay seems to consider the evidence +collected by Förster on this subject conclusive. <i>Christian Art</i>, vol. +ii. p. 168.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> It might not, I think, be a work unworthy of the Arundel +Society, to collect and engrave in outline the complete series of +these Byzantine originals of the subjects of the Arena Chapel, in +order to facilitate this comparison. The Greek MSS. in the British +Museum would, I think, be amply sufficient; the Harleian MS. numbered +1810 alone furnishing a considerable number of subjects, and +especially a Death of the Virgin, with the St. John thrown into the +peculiar and violent gesture of grief afterwards adopted by Giotto in +the Entombment of the Arena Chapel.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Notes to Rogers' <i>Italy</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> These words are gravely added to some singular +particulars respecting the life of Adam, related in a MS. of the +sixteenth century preserved in the Herald's College.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Lord Lindsay's evidence on this point (<i>Christian Art</i>, +vol. ii. p. 174) seems quite conclusive. It is impossible to overrate +the value of the work of Giotto in the Bargello, both for its own +intrinsic beauty, and as being executed in this year, which is not +only that in which the Divina Commedia opens, but, as I think, the +culminating period in the history of the art of the middle ages.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> <i>Christian Art</i>, vol. ii. p. 242.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> <i>Christian Art</i>, p. 260.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> I use this heraldic word in an inaccurate sense, knowing +no other that will express what I mean,—the division of the picture +into quaint segments of alternating colour, more marked than any of +the figure outlines.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> It has always appeared strange to me, that +ecclesiastical history should possess no more authentic records of the +life of the Virgin, before the period at which the narrative of St. +Luke commences, than these apocryphal gospels, which are as wretched +in style as untrustworthy in matter; and are evidently nothing more +than a collection, in rude imitation of the style of the Evangelists, +of such floating traditions as became current among the weak +Christians of the earlier ages, when their inquiries respecting the +history of Mary were met by the obscurity under which the Divine will +had veiled her humble person and character. There must always be +something painful, to those who are familiar with the Scriptures, in +reading these feeble and foolish mockeries of the manner of the +inspired writers; but it will be proper, nevertheless, to give the +exact words in which the scenes represented by Giotto were recorded to +<i>him</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> This passage in the old Italian of the MS. may interest +some readers: "E complice queste parole lo zovene respoxe, dignando, +Io son l'angelo de Dio, lo quale si te aparse l'altra fiada, in segno, +e aparse a toa mulier Anna che sempre sta in oration plauzando di e +note, e si lo consolada; unde io te comando che tu debie observare li +comandimenti de Dio, ela soua volunta che io te dico veramente, che de +la toa somenza insera una fiola, e questa offrila al templo de Dio, e +lo Spirito santo reposera in ley, ela soa beatitudine sera sovera tute +le altre verzene, ela soua santita sera si grande che natura humana +non la pora comprendere."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> (Note by a friend):—"To me the most striking part of it +is, that the skeleton is <i>entire</i> ('a bone of him shall not be +broken'), and that the head stands up still looking to the skies: is +it too fanciful to see a meaning in this?"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> The MS. makes the angel Raphael the only messenger. +Giotto clearly adopts the figure of Gabriel from the Protevangelion.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> In the next chapter, it is said that "Joseph drew back +his rod when every one else presented his."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> <i>National</i>, because Giotto's works are properly to be +looked on as the <i>fruit</i> of their own age, and the <i>food</i> of that +which followed.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> As, for instance, on the two opposite angles of the +façade of the Cathedral of Rheims.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> (Note by a friend:) "I suppose you will not admit as an +explanation, that he had not yet turned his mind to architectural +composition, the Campanile being some thirty years later?"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> See account of his principles above, + <a href="#Page_13">p. 13</a>, head C.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> The exact date, 1290, is given in the title-page of the +volume.</p></div> + +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Giotto and his works in Padua, by John Ruskin + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA *** + +***** This file should be named 18371-h.htm or 18371-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/3/7/18371/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Linda Cantoni, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Giotto and his works in Padua + An Explanatory Notice of the Series of Woodcuts Executed + for the Arundel Society After the Frescoes in the Arena + Chapel + +Author: John Ruskin + +Release Date: May 11, 2006 [EBook #18371] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Linda Cantoni, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +Library Edition + + +THE COMPLETE WORKS + +OF + +JOHN RUSKIN + + +STONES OF VENICE +VOLUME III + +GIOTTO + +LECTURES ON ARCHITECTURE + +HARBOURS OF ENGLAND + +A JOY FOREVER + + +NATIONAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION +NEW YORK CHICAGO + + + + +THE COMPLETE WORKS + +OF + +JOHN RUSKIN + + +VOLUME X + + +GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS +LECTURES ON ARCHITECTURE +THE HARBORS OF ENGLAND +POLITICAL ECONOMY OF ART (A JOY FOREVER) + + + + +GIOTTO + +AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA + +BEING + +AN EXPLANATORY NOTICE OF THE SERIES OF +WOODCUTS EXECUTED FOR THE ARUNDEL +SOCIETY AFTER THE FRESCOS IN +THE ARENA CHAPEL + + + + +ADVERTISEMENT. + + +The following notice of Giotto has not been drawn up with any idea of +attempting a history of his life. That history could only be written +after a careful search through the libraries of Italy for all +documents relating to the years during which he worked. I have no time +for such search, or even for the examination of well-known and +published materials; and have therefore merely collected, from the +sources nearest at hand, such information as appeared absolutely +necessary to render the series of Plates now published by the Arundel +Society intelligible and interesting to those among its Members who +have not devoted much time to the examination of mediaeval works. I +have prefixed a few remarks on the relation of the art of Giotto to +former and subsequent efforts; which I hope may be useful in +preventing the general reader from either looking for what the painter +never intended to give, or missing the points to which his endeavours +were really directed. + +J.R. + + + + +GIOTTO + +AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. + + +Towards the close of the thirteenth century, Enrico Scrovegno, a noble +Paduan, purchased, in his native city, the remains of the Roman +Amphitheatre or Arena from the family of the Delesmanini, to whom +those remains had been granted by the Emperor Henry III. of Germany in +1090. For the power of making this purchase, Scrovegno was in all +probability indebted to his father, Reginald, who, for his avarice, is +placed by Dante in the seventh circle of the _Inferno_, and regarded +apparently as the chief of the usurers there, since he is the only one +who addresses Dante.[1] The son, having possessed himself of the +Roman ruin, or of the site which it had occupied, built himself a +fortified palace upon the ground, and a chapel dedicated to the +Annunciate Virgin. + +[Footnote 1: + + "Noting the visages of some who lay + Beneath the pelting of that dolorous fire, + One of them all I knew not; but perceived + That pendent from his neck each bore a pouch, + With colours and with emblems various marked, + On which it seemed as if their eye did feed. + And when amongst them looking round I came, + A yellow purse I saw, with azure wrought, + That wore a lion's countenance and port. + Then, still my sight pursuing its career, + Another I beheld, than blood more red, + A goose display of whiter wing than curd. + _And one who bore a fat and azure swine + Pictured on his white scrip, addressed me thus:_ + What dost thou in this deep? Go now and know, + Since yet thou livest, that my neighbour here, + Vitaliano, on my left shall sit. + A Paduan with these Florentines am I. + Ofttimes they thunder in mine ears, exclaiming, + Oh! haste that noble knight, he who the pouch + With the three goats will bring. This said, he writhed + The mouth, and lolled the tongue out, like an ox + That licks his nostrils." + + _Canto_ xvii. + +This passage of Cary's Dante is not quite so clear as that +translator's work usually is. "One of them all I knew not" is an +awkward periphrasis for "I knew none of them." Dante's indignant +expression of the effect of avarice in withering away distinctions of +character, and the prophecy of Scrovegno, that his neighbor Vitaliano, +then living, should soon be with him, to sit on his left hand, is +rendered a little obscure by the transposition of the word "here." +Cary has also been afraid of the excessive homeliness of Dante's +imagery; "whiter wing than curd" being in the original "whiter than +butter." The attachment of the purse to the neck, as a badge of shame, +in the _Inferno_, is found before Dante's time; as, for instance, in +the windows of Bourges cathedral (see Plate iii. of MM. Martin and +Cahier's beautiful work). And the building of the Arena Chapel by the +son, as a kind of atonement for the avarice of the father, is very +characteristic of the period, in which the use of money for the +building of churches was considered just as meritorious as its unjust +accumulation was criminal. I have seen, in a MS. Church-service of the +thirteenth century, an illumination representing Church-Consecration, +illustrating the words, "Fundata est domus Domini supra verticem +montium," surrounded for the purpose of contrast, by a grotesque, +consisting of a picture of a miser's death-bed, a demon drawing his +soul out of his mouth, while his attendants are searching in his +chests for his treasures.] + +This chapel, built in or about the year 1303,[2] appears to have been +intended to replace one which had long existed on the spot; and in +which, from the year 1278, an annual festival had been held on +Lady-day, in which the Annunciation was represented in the manner of +our English mysteries (and under the same title: "una sacra +rappresentazione di quel _mistero_"), with dialogue, and music both +vocal and instrumental. Scrovegno's purchase of the ground could not +be allowed to interfere with the national custom; but he is reported +by some writers to have rebuilt the chapel with greater costliness, +in order, as far as possible, to efface the memory of his father's +unhappy life. But Federici, in his history of the Cavalieri Godenti, +supposes that Scrovegno was a member of that body, and was assisted by +them in decorating the new edifice. The order of Cavalieri Godenti was +instituted in the beginning of the thirteenth century, to defend the +"existence," as Selvatico states it, but more accurately the dignity, +of the Virgin, against the various heretics by whom it was beginning +to be assailed. Her knights were first called Cavaliers of St. Mary; +but soon increased in power and riches to such a degree, that, from +their general habits of life, they received the nickname of the "Merry +Brothers." Federici gives forcible reasons for his opinion that the +Arena Chapel was employed in the ceremonies of their order; and Lord +Lindsay observes, that the fulness with which the history of the +Virgin is recounted on its walls, adds to the plausibility of his +supposition. + +[Footnote 2: For these historical details I am chiefly indebted to the +very careful treatise of Selvatico, _Sulla Cappellina degli Scrovegni +nell'Arena di Padova_. Padua, 1836.] + +Enrico Scrovegno was, however, towards the close of his life, driven +into exile, and died at Venice in 1320. But he was buried in the +chapel he had built; and has one small monument in the sacristy, as +the founder of the building, in which he is represented under a Gothic +niche, standing, with his hands clasped and his eyes raised; while +behind the altar is his tomb, on which, as usual at the period, is a +recumbent statue of him. The chapel itself may not unwarrantably be +considered as one of the first efforts of Popery in resistance of the +Reformation: for the Reformation, though not victorious till the +sixteenth, began in reality in the thirteenth century; and the +remonstrances of such bishops as our own Grossteste, the martyrdoms of +the Albigenses in the Dominican crusades, and the murmurs of those +"heretics" against whose aspersions of the majesty of the Virgin this +chivalrous order of the Cavalieri Godenti was instituted, were as +truly the signs of the approach of a new era in religion, as the +opponent work of Giotto on the walls of the Arena was a sign of the +approach of a new era in art. + +The chapel having been founded, as stated above, in 1303, Giotto +appears to have been summoned to decorate its interior walls about +the year 1306,--summoned, as being at that time the acknowledged +master of painting in Italy. By what steps he had risen to this +unquestioned eminence it is difficult to trace; for the records of his +life, strictly examined, and freed from the verbiage and conjecture of +artistical history, nearly reduce themselves to a list of the cities +of Italy where he painted, and to a few anecdotes, of little meaning +in themselves, and doubly pointless in the fact of most of them being +inheritances of the whole race of painters, and related successively +of all in whose biographies the public have deigned to take an +interest. There is even question as to the date of his birth; Vasari +stating him to have been born in 1276, while Baldinucci, on the +internal evidence derived from Vasari's own narrative, throws the date +back ten years.[3] I believe, however, that Vasari is most probably +accurate in his first main statement; and that his errors, always +numerous, are in the subsequent and minor particulars. It is at least +undoubted truth that Giotto was born, and passed the years of +childhood, at Vespignano, about fourteen miles north of Florence, on +the road to Bologna. Few travellers can forget the peculiar landscape +of that district of the Apennine. As they ascend the hill which rises +from Florence to the lowest break in the ridge of Fiesole, they pass +continually beneath the walls of villas bright in perfect luxury, and +beside cypress-hedges, enclosing fair terraced gardens, where the +masses of oleander and magnolia, motionless as leaves in a picture, +inlay alternately upon the blue sky their branching lightness of pale +rose-colour, and deep green breadth of shade, studded with balls of +budding silver, and showing at intervals through their framework of +rich leaf and rubied flower, the far-away bends of the Arno beneath +its slopes of olive, and the purple peaks of the Carrara mountains, +tossing themselves against the western distance, where the streaks of +motionless cloud burn above the Pisan sea. The traveller passes the +Fiesolan ridge, and all is changed. The country is on a sudden +lonely. Here and there indeed are seen the scattered houses of a farm +grouped gracefully upon the hill-sides,--here and there a fragment of +tower upon a distant rock; but neither gardens, nor flowers, nor +glittering palace-walls, only a grey extent of mountain-ground, tufted +irregularly with ilex and olive: a scene not sublime, for its forms +are subdued and low; not desolate, for its valleys are full of sown +fields and tended pastures; not rich nor lovely, but sunburnt and +sorrowful; becoming wilder every instant as the road winds into its +recesses, ascending still, until the higher woods, now partly oak and +partly pine, drooping back from the central crest of the Apennine, +leave a pastoral wilderness of scathed rock and arid grass, withered +away here by frost, and there by strange lambent tongues of earth-fed +fire.[4] Giotto passed the first ten years of his life, a +shepherd-boy, among these hills; was found by Cimabue near his native +village, drawing one of his sheep upon a smooth stone; was yielded up +by his father, "a simple person, a labourer of the earth," to the +guardianship of the painter, who, by his own work, had already made +the streets of Florence ring with joy; attended him to Florence, and +became his disciple. + +[Footnote 3: Lord Lindsay, _Christian Art_, vol. ii. p. 166.] + +[Footnote 4: At Pietra Mala. The flames rise two or three feet above +the stony ground out of which they spring, white and fierce enough to +be visible in the intense rays even of the morning sun.] + +We may fancy the glance of the boy, when he and Cimabue stood side by +side on the ridge of Fiesole, and for the first time he saw the +flowering thickets of the Val d'Arno; and deep beneath, the +innumerable towers of the City of the Lily, the depths of his own +heart yet hiding the fairest of them all. Another ten years passed +over him, and he was chosen from among the painters of Italy to +decorate the Vatican. + +The account given us by Vasari of the mode of his competition on this +occasion, is one of the few anecdotes of him which seem to be +authentic (especially as having given rise to an Italian proverb), and +it has also great point and value. I translate Vasari's words +literally. + +"This work (his paintings in the Campo Santo of Pisa) acquired for +him, both in the city and externally, so much fame, that the Pope, +Benedict IX., sent a certain one of his courtiers into Tuscany, to see +what sort of a man Giotto was, and what was the quality of his works, +he (the pope) intending to have some paintings executed in St. +Peter's; which courtier, coming to see Giotto, and hearing that there +were other masters in Florence who excelled in painting and in mosaic, +spoke, in Siena, to many masters; then, having received drawings from +them, he came to Florence; and having gone one morning into Giotto's +shop as he was at work, explained the pope's mind to him, and in what +way he wished to avail himself of his powers, and finally requested +from him a little piece of drawing to send to his Holiness. Giotto, +who was most courteous, took a leaf (of vellum?), and upon this, with +a brush dipped in red, fixing his arm to his side, to make it as the +limb of a pair of compasses, and turning his hand, made a circle so +perfect in measure and outline, that it was a wonder to see: which +having done, he said to the courtier, with a smile, 'There is the +drawing.' He, thinking himself mocked, said, 'Shall I have no other +drawing than this?' 'This is enough, and too much,' answered Giotto; +'send it with the others: you will see if it will be understood.' The +ambassador, seeing that he could not get any thing else, took his +leave with small satisfaction, doubting whether he had not been made a +jest of. However, when he sent to the pope the other drawings, and the +names of those who had made them, he sent also that of Giotto, +relating the way in which he had held himself in drawing his circle, +without moving his arm, and without compasses. Whence the pope, and +many intelligent courtiers, knew how much Giotto overpassed in +excellence all the other painters of his time. Afterwards, the thing +becoming known, the proverb arose from it: 'Thou art rounder than the +O of Giotto;' which it is still in custom to say to men of the grosser +clay; for the proverb is pretty, not only on account of the accident +of its origin, but because it has a double meaning, 'round' being +taken in Tuscany to express not only circular form, but slowness and +grossness of wit." + +Such is the account of Vasari, which, at the first reading, might be +gravely called into question, seeing that the paintings at Pisa, to +which he ascribes the sudden extent of Giotto's reputation, have been +proved to be the work of Francesco da Volterra;[5] and since, +moreover, Vasari has even mistaken the name of the pope, and written +Boniface IX. for Boniface VIII. But the story itself must, I think, be +true; and, rightly understood, it is singularly interesting. I say, +rightly understood; for Lord Lindsay supposes the circle to have been +mechanically drawn by turning the sheet of vellum under the hand, as +now constantly done for the sake of speed at schools. But neither do +Vasari's words bear this construction, nor would the drawing so made +have borne the slightest testimony to Giotto's power. Vasari says +distinctly, "and turning his hand" (or, as I should rather read it, +"with a sweep of his hand") not "turning the vellum;" neither would a +circle produced in so mechanical a manner have borne distinct witness +to any thing except the draughtsman's mechanical ingenuity; and Giotto +had too much common sense, and too much courtesy, to send the pope a +drawing which did not really contain the evidence he required. Lord +Lindsay has been misled also by his own careless translation of +"pennello tinto di rosso" ("a _brush_ dipped in red,") by the word +"crayon." It is easy to draw the mechanical circle with a crayon, but +by no means easy with a brush. I have not the slightest doubt that +Giotto drew the circle as a painter naturally would draw it; that is +to say, that he set the vellum upright on the wall or panel before +him, and then steadying his arm firmly against his side, drew the +circular line with one sweeping but firm revolution of his hand, +holding the brush long. Such a feat as this is completely possible to +a well-disciplined painter's hand, but utterly impossible to any +other; and the circle so drawn, was the most convincing proof Giotto +could give of his decision of eye and perfectness of practice. + +[Footnote 5: At least Lord Lindsay seems to consider the evidence +collected by Foerster on this subject conclusive. _Christian Art_, vol. +ii. p. 168.] + +Still, even when thus understood, there is much in the anecdote very +curious. Here is a painter requested by the head of the Church to +execute certain religious paintings, and the only qualification for +the task of which he deigns to demonstrate his possession is executive +skill. Nothing is said, and nothing appears to be thought, of +expression, or invention, or devotional sentiment. Nothing is required +but firmness of hand. And here arises the important question: Did +Giotto know that this was all that was looked for by his religious +patrons? and is there occult satire in the example of his art which he +sends them?--or does the founder of sacred painting mean to tell us +that he holds his own power to consist merely in firmness of hand, +secured by long practice? I cannot satisfy myself on this point: but +yet it seems to me that we may safely gather two conclusions from the +words of the master, "It is enough, and more than enough." The first, +that Giotto had indeed a profound feeling of the value of _precision_ +in all art; and that we may use the full force of his authority to +press the truth, of which it is so difficult to persuade the hasty +workmen of modern times, that the difference between right and wrong +lies within the breadth of a line; and that the most perfect power and +genius are shown by the accuracy which disdains error, and the +faithfulness which fears it. + +And the second conclusion is, that whatever Giotto's imaginative +powers might be, he was proud to be a good _workman_, and willing to +be considered by others only as such. There might lurk, as has been +suggested, some satire in the message to the pope, and some +consciousness in his own mind of faculties higher than those of +draughtsmanship. I cannot tell how far these hidden feelings existed; +but the more I see of living artists, and learn of departed ones, the +more I am convinced that the highest strength of genius is generally +marked by strange unconsciousness of its own modes of operation, and +often by no small scorn of the best results of its exertion. The +inferior mind intently watches its own processes, and dearly values +its own produce; the master-mind is intent on other things than +itself, and cares little for the fruits of a toil which it is apt to +undertake rather as a law of life than a means of immortality. It will +sing at a feast, or retouch an old play, or paint a dark wall, for its +daily bread, anxious only to be honest in its fulfilment of its +pledges or its duty, and careless that future ages will rank it among +the gods. + +I think it unnecessary to repeat here any other of the anecdotes +commonly related of Giotto, as, separately taken, they are quite +valueless. Yet much may be gathered from their general _tone_. It is +remarkable that they are, almost without exception, records of +good-humoured jests, involving or illustrating some point of practical +good sense; and by comparing this general colour of the reputation of +Giotto with the actual character of his designs, there cannot remain +the smallest doubt that his mind was one of the most healthy, kind, +and active, that ever informed a human frame. His love of beauty was +entirely free from weakness; his love of truth untinged by severity; +his industry constant, without impatience; his workmanship accurate, +without formalism; his temper serene, and yet playful; his imagination +exhaustless, without extravagance; and his faith firm, without +superstition. I do not know, in the annals of art, such another +example of happy, practical, unerring, and benevolent power. + +I am certain that this is the estimate of his character which must be +arrived at by an attentive study of his works, and of the few data +which remain respecting his life; but I shall not here endeavour to +give proof of its truth, because I believe the subject has been +exhaustively treated by Rumohr and Foerster, whose essays on the works +and character of Giotto will doubtless be translated into English, as +the interest of the English public in mediaeval art increases. I shall +therefore here only endeavour briefly to sketch the relation which +Giotto held to the artists who preceded and followed him, a relation +still imperfectly understood; and then, as briefly, to indicate the +general course of his labours in Italy, as far as may be necessary for +understanding the value of the series in the Arena Chapel. + +The art of Europe, between the fifth and thirteenth centuries, divides +itself essentially into great branches, one springing from, the other +grafted on, the old Roman stock. The first is the Roman art itself, +prolonged in a languid and degraded condition, and becoming at last a +mere formal system, centered at the feet of Eastern empire, and thence +generally called Byzantine. The other is the barbarous and incipient +art of the Gothic nations, more or less coloured by Roman or Byzantine +influence, and gradually increasing in life and power. + +Generally speaking, the Byzantine art, although manifesting itself +only in perpetual repetitions, becoming every day more cold and +formal, yet preserved reminiscences of design originally noble, and +traditions of execution originally perfect. + +Generally speaking, the Gothic art, although becoming every day more +powerful, presented the most ludicrous experiments of infantile +imagination, and the most rude efforts of untaught manipulation. + +Hence, if any superior mind arose in Byzantine art, it had before it +models which suggested or recorded a perfection they did not +themselves possess; and the superiority of the individual mind would +probably be shown in a more sincere and living treatment of the +subjects ordained for repetition by the canons of the schools. + +In the art of the Goth, the choice of subject was unlimited, and the +style of design so remote from all perfection, as not always even to +point out clearly the direction in which advance could be made. The +strongest minds which appear in that art are therefore generally +manifested by redundance of imagination, and sudden refinement of +touch, whether of pencil or chisel, together with unexpected starts of +effort or flashes of knowledge in accidental directions, gradually +forming various national styles. + +Of these comparatively independent branches of art, the greatest is, +as far as I know, the French sculpture of the thirteenth century. No +words can give any idea of the magnificent redundance of its +imaginative power, or of the perpetual beauty of even its smallest +incidental designs. But this very richness of sculptural invention +prevented the French from cultivating their powers of painting, except +in illumination (of which art they were the acknowledged masters), and +in glass-painting. Their exquisite gift of fretting their stone-work +with inexhaustible wealth of sculpture, prevented their feeling the +need of figure-design on coloured surfaces. + +The style of architecture prevalent in Italy at the same period, +presented, on the contrary, large blank surfaces, which could only be +rendered interesting by covering them with mosaic or painting. + +The Italians were not at the time capable of doing this for +themselves, and mosaicists were brought from Constantinople, who +covered the churches of Italy with a sublime monotony of Byzantine +traditions. But the Gothic blood was burning in the Italian veins; and +the Florentines and Pisans could not rest content in the formalism of +the Eastern splendour. The first innovator was, I believe, Giunta of +Pisa, the second Cimabue, the third Giotto; the last only being a man +of power enough to effect a complete revolution in the artistic +principles of his time. + +He, however, began, like his master Cimabue, with a perfect respect +for his Byzantine models; and his paintings for a long time consisted +only of repetitions of the Byzantine subjects, softened in treatment, +enriched in number of figures, and enlivened in gesture. Afterwards he +invented subjects of his own. The manner and degree of the changes +which he at first effected could only be properly understood by actual +comparison of his designs with the Byzantine originals;[6] but in +default of the means of such a comparison, it may be generally stated +that the innovations of Giotto consisted in the introduction, A, of +gayer or lighter colours; B, of broader masses; and, C, of more +careful imitation of nature than existed in the works of his +predecessors. + +[Footnote 6: It might not, I think, be a work unworthy of the Arundel +Society, to collect and engrave in outline the complete series of +these Byzantine originals of the subjects of the Arena Chapel, in +order to facilitate this comparison. The Greek MSS. in the British +Museum would, I think, be amply sufficient; the Harleian MS. numbered +1810 alone furnishing a considerable number of subjects, and +especially a Death of the Virgin, with the St. John thrown into the +peculiar and violent gesture of grief afterwards adopted by Giotto in +the Entombment of the Arena Chapel.] + +A. _Greater lightness of colour._ This was partly in compliance with a +tendency which was beginning to manifest itself even before Giotto's +time. Over the whole of northern Europe, the colouring of the eleventh +and early twelfth centuries had been pale: in manuscripts, principally +composed of pale red, green, and yellow, blue being sparingly +introduced (earlier still, in the eighth and ninth centuries, the +letters had often been coloured with black and yellow only). Then, in +the close of the twelfth and throughout the thirteenth century, the +great system of perfect colour was in use; solemn and deep; composed +strictly, in all its leading masses, of the colours revealed by God +from Sinai as the noblest;--blue, purple, and scarlet, with gold +(other hues, chiefly green, with white and black, being used in points +or small masses, to relieve the main colours). In the early part of +the fourteenth century the colours begin to grow paler; about 1330 the +style is already completely modified; and at the close of the +fourteenth century the colour is quite pale and delicate. + +I have not carefully examined the colouring of early Byzantine work; +but it seems always to have been comparatively dark, and in +manuscripts is remarkably so; Giotto's paler colouring, therefore, +though only part of the great European system, was rendered notable by +its stronger contrast with the Byzantine examples. + +B. _Greater breadth of mass._ It had been the habit of the Byzantines +to break up their draperies by a large number of minute folds. Norman +and Romanesque sculpture showed much of the same character. Giotto +melted all these folds into broad masses of colour; so that his +compositions have sometimes almost a Titianesque look in this +particular. This innovation was a healthy one, and led to very noble +results when followed up by succeeding artists: but in many of +Giotto's compositions the figures become ludicrously cumbrous, from +the exceeding simplicity of the terminal lines, and massiveness of +unbroken form. The manner was copied in illuminated manuscripts with +great disadvantage, as it was unfavourable to minute ornamentation. +The French never adopted it in either branch of art, nor did any other +Northern school; minute and sharp folds of the robes remaining +characteristic of Northern (more especially of Flemish and German) +design down to the latest times, giving a great superiority to the +French and Flemish illuminated work, and causing a proportionate +inferiority in their large pictorial efforts. Even Rubens and Vandyke +cannot free themselves from a certain meanness and minuteness in +disposition of drapery. + +C. _Close imitation of nature._ In this one principle lay Giotto's +great strength, and the entire secret of the revolution he effected. +It was not by greater learning, not by the discovery of new theories +of art, not by greater taste, nor by "ideal" principles of selection, +that he became the head of the progressive schools of Italy. It was +simply by being interested in what was going on around him, by +substituting the gestures of living men for conventional attitudes, +and portraits of living men for conventional faces, and incidents of +every-day life for conventional circumstances, that he became great, +and the master of the great. Giotto was to his contemporaries +precisely what Millais is to _his_ contemporaries,--a daring +naturalist, in defiance of tradition, idealism, and formalism. The +Giottesque movement in the fourteenth, and Pre-Raphaelite movement in +the nineteenth centuries, are precisely similar in bearing and +meaning: both being the protests of vitality against mortality, of +spirit against letter, and of truth against tradition: and both, which +is the more singular, literally links in one unbroken chain of +feeling; for exactly as Niccola Pisano and Giotto were helped by the +classical sculptures discovered in their time, the Pre-Raphaelites +have been helped by the works of Niccola and Giotto at Pisa and +Florence: and thus the fiery cross of truth has been delivered from +spirit to spirit, over the dust of intervening generations. + +But what, it may be said by the reader, is the use of the works of +Giotto to _us_? They may indeed have been wonderful for their time, +and of infinite use in that time; but since, after Giotto, came +Leonardo and Correggio, what is the use of going back to the ruder +art, and republishing it in the year 1854? Why should we fret +ourselves to dig down to the root of the tree, when we may at once +enjoy its fruit and foliage? I answer, first, that in all matters +relating to human intellect, it is a great thing to have hold of the +root: that at least we ought to see it, and taste it, and handle it; +for it often happens that the root is wholesome when the leaves, +however fair, are useless or poisonous. In nine cases out of ten, the +first expression of an idea is the most valuable: the idea may +afterward be polished and softened, and made more attractive to the +general eye; but the first expression of it has a freshness and +brightness, like the flash of a native crystal compared to the lustre +of glass that has been melted and cut. And in the second place, we +ought to measure the value of art less by its executive than by its +moral power. Giotto was not indeed one of the most accomplished +painters, but he was one of the greatest men, who ever lived. He was +the first master of his time, in architecture as well as in painting; +he was the friend of Dante, and the undisputed interpreter of +religious truth, by means of painting, over the whole of Italy. The +works of such a man may not be the best to set before children in +order to teach them drawing; but they assuredly should be studied with +the greatest care by all who are interested in the history of the +human mind. + +One point more remains to be noticed respecting him. As far as I am +aware, he never painted profane subjects. All his important existing +works are exclusively devoted to the illustration of Christianity. +This was not a result of his own peculiar feeling or determination; it +was a necessity of the period. Giotto appears to have considered +himself simply as a workman, at the command of any employer, for any +kind of work, however humble. "In the sixty-third novel of Franco +Sacchetti we read that a stranger, suddenly entering Giotto's study, +threw down a shield, and departed, saying, 'Paint me my arms on that +shield.' Giotto looking after him, exclaimed, 'Who is he? What is he? +He says, "Paint me my arms," as if he was one of the BARDI. What arms +does he bear?'"[7] But at the time of Giotto's eminence, art was never +employed on a great scale except in the service of religion; nor has +it ever been otherwise employed, except in declining periods. I do not +mean to draw any severe conclusion from this fact; but it is a fact +nevertheless, which ought to be very distinctly stated, and very +carefully considered. All _progressive_ art hitherto has been +religious art; and commencements of the periods of decline are +accurately marked, in illumination, by its employment on romances +instead of psalters; and in painting, by its employment on mythology +or profane history instead of sacred history. Yet perhaps I should +rather have said, on _heathen mythology_ instead of _Christian +mythology_; for this latter term--first used, I believe, by Lord +Lindsay--is more applicable to the subjects of the early painters than +that of "sacred _history_." Of all the virtues commonly found in the +higher orders of human mind, that of a stern and just respect for +truth seems to be the rarest; so that while self-denial, and courage, +and charity, and religious zeal, are displayed in their utmost degrees +by myriads of saints and heroes, it is only once in a century that a +man appears whose word may be implicitly trusted, and who, in the +relation of a plain fact, will not allow his prejudices or his +pleasure to tempt him to some colouring or distortion of it. Hence the +portions of sacred history which have been the constant subjects of +fond popular contemplation have, in the lapse of ages, been encumbered +with fictitious detail; and their various historians seem to have +considered the exercise of their imagination innocent, and even +meritorious, if they could increase either the vividness of conception +or the sincerity of belief in their readers. A due consideration of +that well-known weakness of the popular mind, which renders a +statement credible in proportion to the multitude of local and +circumstantial details which accompany it, may lead us to look with +some indulgence on the errors, however fatal in their issue to the +cause they were intended to advance, of those weak teachers, who +thought the acceptance of their general statements of Christian +doctrine cheaply won by the help of some simple (and generally absurd) +inventions of detail respecting the life of the Virgin or the +Apostles. + +[Footnote 7: Notes to Rogers' _Italy_.] + +Indeed, I can hardly imagine the Bible to be ever read with true +interest, unless, in our reading, we feel some longing for further +knowledge of the minute incidents of the life of Christ,--for some +records of those things, which "if they had been written every one," +the world could not have contained the books that should be written: +and they who have once felt this thirst for further truth, may surely +both conceive and pardon the earnest questioning of simple disciples +(who knew not, as we do, how much had been indeed revealed), and +measure with some justice the strength of the temptation which +betrayed these teachers into adding to the word of Revelation. +Together with this specious and subtle influence, we must allow for +the instinct of imagination exerting itself in the acknowledged +embellishment of beloved truths. If we reflect how much, even in this +age of accurate knowledge, the visions of Milton have become confused +in the minds of many persons with scriptural facts, we shall rather be +surprised, that in an age of legends so little should be added to the +Bible, than that occasionally we should be informed of important +circumstances in sacred history with the collateral warning, "This +Moses spake not of."[8] + +[Footnote 8: These words are gravely added to some singular +particulars respecting the life of Adam, related in a MS. of the +sixteenth century preserved in the Herald's College.] + +More especially in the domain of painting, it is surprising to see how +strictly the early workmen confined themselves to representations of +the same series of scenes; how little of pictorial embellishment they +usually added; and how, even in the positions and gestures of figures, +they strove to give the idea rather of their having seen the _fact_, +than imagined a picturesque treatment of it. Often, in examining early +art, we mistake conscientiousness for servility, and attribute to the +absence of invention what was indeed the result of the earnestness of +faith. + +Nor, in a merely artistical point of view, is it less important to +note, that the greatest advance in power was made when painters had +few subjects to treat. The day has perhaps come when genius should be +shown in the discovery of perpetually various interest amidst the +incidents of actual life; and the absence of inventive capacity is +very assuredly proved by the narrow selection of subjects which +commonly appear on the walls of our exhibitions. But yet it is to be +always remembered, that more originality may be shown in giving +interest to a well-known subject than in discovering a new one; that +the greatest poets whom the world has seen have been contented to +retouch and exalt the creations of their predecessors; and that the +painters of the middle ages reached their utmost power by unweariedly +treading a narrow circle of sacred subjects. + +Nothing is indeed more notable in the history of art than the exact +balance of its point of excellence, in all things, midway between +servitude and license. Thus, in choice and treatment of subject it +became paralysed among the Byzantines, by being mercilessly confined +to a given series of scenes, and to a given mode of representing them. +Giotto gave it partial liberty and incipient life; by the artists who +succeeded him the range of its scenery was continually extended, and +the severity of its style slowly softened to perfection. But the range +was still, in some degree, limited by the necessity of its continual +subordination to religious purposes; and the style, though softened, +was still chaste, and though tender, self-restrained. At last came the +period of license: the artist chose his subjects from the lowest +scenes of human life, and let loose his passions in their portraiture. +And the kingdom of art passed away. + +As if to direct us to the observation of this great law, there is a +curious visible type of it in the progress of ornamentation in +manuscripts, corresponding with the various changes in the higher +branch of art. In the course of the 12th and early 13th centuries, the +ornamentation, though often full of high feeling and fantasy, is +sternly enclosed within limiting border-lines;--at first, severe +squares, oblongs, or triangles. As the grace of the ornamentation +advances, these border-lines are softened and broken into various +curves, and the inner design begins here and there to overpass them. +Gradually this emergence becomes more constant, and the lines which +thus escape throw themselves into curvatures expressive of the most +exquisite concurrence of freedom with self-restraint. At length the +restraint vanishes, the freedom changes consequently into license, and +the page is covered with exuberant, irregular, and foolish +extravagances of leafage and line. + +It only remains to be noticed, that the circumstances of the time at +which Giotto appeared were peculiarly favourable to the development of +genius; owing partly to the simplicity of the methods of practice, and +partly to the naivete with which art was commonly regarded. Giotto, +like all the great painters of the period, was merely a travelling +decorator of walls, at so much a day; having at Florence a _bottega_, +or workshop, for the production and sale of small tempera pictures. +There were no such things as "studios" in those days. An artist's +"studies" were over by the time he was eighteen; after that he was a +_lavoratore_, "labourer," a man who knew his business, and produced +certain works of known value for a known price; being troubled with no +philosophical abstractions, shutting himself up in no wise for the +reception of inspirations; receiving, indeed, a good many, as a matter +of course,--just as he received the sunbeams which came in at his +window, the light which he worked by;--in either case, without +mouthing about it, or much concerning himself as to the nature of it. +Not troubled by critics either; satisfied that his work was well done, +and that people would find it out to be well done; but not vain of it, +nor more profoundly vexed at its being found fault with, than a good +saddler would be by some one's saying his last saddle was uneasy in +the seat. Not, on the whole, much molested by critics, but generally +understood by the men of sense, his neighbours and friends, and +permitted to have his own way with the walls he had to paint, as +being, on the whole, an authority about walls; receiving at the same +time a good deal of daily encouragement and comfort in the simple +admiration of the populace, and in the general sense of having done +good, and painted what no man could look upon without being the better +for it. + +Thus he went, a serene labourer, throughout the length and breadth of +Italy. For the first ten years of his life, a shepherd; then a +student, perhaps for five or six; then already in Florence, setting +himself to his life's task; and called as a master to Rome when he was +only twenty. There he painted the principal chapel of St. Peter's, and +worked in mosaic also; no handicrafts, that had colour or form for +their objects, seeming unknown to him. Then returning to Florence, he +painted Dante, about the year 1300,[9] the 35th year of Dante's life, +the 24th of his own; and designed the facade of the Duomo, on the +death of its former architect, Arnolfo. Some six years afterwards he +went to Padua, there painting the chapel which is the subject of our +present study, and many other churches. Thence south again to Assisi, +where he painted half the walls and vaults of the great convent that +stretches itself along the slopes of the Perugian hills, and various +other minor works on his way there and back to Florence. Staying in +his native city but a little while, he engaged himself in other tasks +at Ferrara, Verona, and Ravenna, and at last at Avignon, where he +became acquainted with Petrarch--working there for some three years, +from 1324 to 1327;[10] and then passed rapidly through Florence and +Orvieto on his way to Naples, where "he received the kindest welcome +from the good king Robert. The king, ever partial to men of mind and +genius, took especial delight in Giotto's society, and used frequently +to visit him while working in the Castello dell'Uovo, taking pleasure +in watching his pencil and listening to his discourse; 'and Giotto,' +says Vasari, 'who had ever his repartee and bon-mot ready, held him +there, fascinated at once with the magic of his pencil and pleasantry +of his tongue.' We are not told the length of his sojourn at Naples, +but it must have been for a considerable period, judging from the +quantity of works he executed there. He had certainly returned to +Florence in 1332." There he was immediately appointed "chief master" +of the works of the Duomo, then in progress, "with a yearly salary of +one hundred gold florins, and the privilege of citizenship." He +designed the Campanile, in a more perfect form than that which now +exists; for his intended spire, 150 feet in height, never was erected. +He, however, modelled the bas-reliefs for the base of the building, +and sculptured two of them with his own hand. It was afterwards +completed, with the exception of the spire, according to his design; +but he only saw its foundations laid, and its first marble story rise. +He died at Florence, on the 8th of January, 1337, full of honour; +happy, perhaps, in departing at the zenith of his strength, when his +eye had not become dim, nor his natural force abated. He was buried in +the cathedral, at the angle nearest his campanile; and thus the tower, +which is the chief grace of his native city, may be regarded as his +own sepulchral monument. + +[Footnote 9: Lord Lindsay's evidence on this point (_Christian Art_, +vol. ii. p. 174) seems quite conclusive. It is impossible to overrate +the value of the work of Giotto in the Bargello, both for its own +intrinsic beauty, and as being executed in this year, which is not +only that in which the Divina Commedia opens, but, as I think, the +culminating period in the history of the art of the middle ages.] + +[Footnote 10: _Christian Art_, vol. ii. p. 242.] + +I may refer the reader to the close of Lord Lindsay's letter on +Giotto,[11] from which I have drawn most of the particulars above +stated, for a very beautiful sketch of his character and his art. Of +the real rank of that art, in the abstract, I do not feel myself +capable of judging accurately, having not seen his finest works (at +Assisi and Naples), nor carefully studied even those at Florence. But +I may be permitted to point out one or two peculiar characteristics in +it which have always struck me forcibly. + +[Footnote 11: _Christian Art_, p. 260.] + +In the first place, Giotto never finished highly. He was not, indeed, +a loose or sketchy painter, but he was by no means a delicate one. His +lines, as the story of the circle would lead us to expect, are always +firm, but they are never fine. Even in his smallest tempera pictures +the touch is bold and somewhat heavy: in his fresco work the handling +is much broader than that of contemporary painters, corresponding +somewhat to the character of many of the figures, representing plain, +masculine kind of people, and never reaching any thing like the ideal +refinement of the conceptions even of Benozzo Gozzoli, far less of +Angelico or Francia. For this reason, the character of his painting is +better expressed by bold wood-engravings than in general it is likely +to be by any other means. + +Again, he was a very noble colourist; and in his peculiar feeling for +breadth of hue resembled Titian more than any other of the Florentine +school. That is to say, had he been born two centuries later, when the +art of painting was fully known, I believe he would have treated his +subjects much more like Titian than like Raphael; in fact, the +frescoes of Titian in the chapel beside the church of St. Antonio at +Padua, are, in all technical qualities, and in many of their +conceptions, almost exactly what I believe Giotto would have done, had +he lived in Titian's time. As it was, he of course never attained +either richness or truth of colour; but in serene brilliancy he is not +easily rivalled; invariably massing his hues in large fields, limiting +them firmly, and then filling them with subtle gradation. He had the +Venetian fondness for bars and stripes, not unfrequently casting +barred colours obliquely across the draperies of an upright figure, +from side to side (as very notably in the dress of one of the +musicians who are playing to the dancing of Herodias' daughter, in one +of his frescoes at Santa Croce); and this predilection was mingled +with the truly mediaeval love of _quartering_.[12] The figure of the +Madonna in the small tempera pictures in the Academy at Florence is +always completely divided into two narrow segments by her dark-blue +robe. + +[Footnote 12: I use this heraldic word in an inaccurate sense, knowing +no other that will express what I mean,--the division of the picture +into quaint segments of alternating colour, more marked than any of +the figure outlines.] + +And this is always to be remembered in looking at any engravings from +the works of Giotto; for the injury they sustain in being deprived of +their colour is far greater than in the case of later designers. All +works produced in the fourteenth century agree in being more or less +decorative; they were intended in most instances to be subservient to +architectural effect, and were executed in the manner best calculated +to produce a striking impression when they were seen in a mass. The +painted wall and the painted window were part and parcel of one +magnificent whole; and it is as unjust to the work of Giotto, or of +any contemporary artist, to take out a single feature from the series, +and represent it in black and white on a separate page, as it would be +to take out a compartment of a noble coloured window, and engrave it +in the same manner. What is at once refined and effective, if seen at +the intended distance in unison with the rest of the work, becomes +coarse and insipid when seen isolated and near; and the more skilfully +the design is arranged, so as to give full value to the colours which +are introduced in it, the more blank and cold will it become when it +is deprived of them. + +In our modern art we have indeed lost sight of one great principle +which regulated that of the middle ages, namely, that chiaroscuro and +colour are incompatible in their highest degrees. Wherever chiaroscuro +enters, colour must lose some of its brilliancy. There is no _shade_ +in a rainbow, nor in an opal, nor in a piece of mother-of-pearl, nor +in a well-designed painted window; only various hues of perfect +colour. The best pictures, by subduing their colour and +conventionalising their chiaroscuro, reconcile both in their +diminished degrees; but a perfect light and shade cannot be given +without considerable loss of liveliness in colour. Hence the supposed +inferiority of Tintoret to Titian. Tintoret is, in reality, the +greater colourist of the two; but he could not bear to falsify his +light and shadow enough to set off his colour. Titian nearly strikes +the exact mean between the painted glass of the 13th century and +Rembrandt; while Giotto closely approaches the system of painted +glass, and hence his compositions lose grievously by being translated +into black and white. + +But even this chiaroscuro, however subdued, is not without a peculiar +charm; and the accompanying engravings possess a marked superiority +over all that have hitherto been made from the works of this painter, +in rendering this chiaroscuro, as far as possible, together with the +effect of the local colours. The true appreciation of art has been +retarded for many years by the habit of trusting to outlines as a +sufficient expression of the sentiment of compositions; whereas in all +truly great designs, of whatever age, it is never the outline, but the +disposition of the masses, whether of shade or colour, on which the +real power of the work depends. For instance, in Plate III. (The Angel +appears to Anna), the interest of the composition depends entirely +upon the broad shadows which fill the spaces of the chamber, and of +the external passage in which the attendant is sitting. This shade +explains the whole scene in a moment: gives prominence to the curtain +and coverlid of the homely bed, and the rude chest and trestles which +form the poor furniture of the house; and conducts the eye easily and +instantly to the three figures, which, had the scene been expressed in +outline only, we should have had to trace out with some care and +difficulty among the pillars of the loggia and folds of the curtains. +So also the relief of the faces in light against the dark sky is of +peculiar value in the compositions No. X. and No. XII. + +The _drawing_ of Giotto is, of course, exceedingly faulty. His +knowledge of the human figure is deficient; and this, the necessary +drawback in all works of the period, occasions an extreme difficulty +in rendering them faithfully in an engraving. For wherever there is +good and legitimate drawing, the ordinary education of a modern +draughtsman enables him to copy it with tolerable accuracy; but when +once the true forms of nature are departed from, it is by no means +easy to express _exactly_ the error, and _no more than_ the error, of +his original. In most cases modern copyists try to modify or hide the +weaknesses of the old art,--by which procedure they very often wholly +lose its spirit, and only half redeem its defects; the results being, +of course, at once false as representations, and intrinsically +valueless. And just as it requires great courage and skill in an +interpreter to speak out honestly all the rough and rude words of the +first speaker, and to translate deliberately and resolutely, in the +face of attentive men, the expressions of his weakness or impatience; +so it requires at once the utmost courage and skill in a copyist to +trace faithfully the failures of an imperfect master, in the front of +modern criticism, and against the inborn instincts of his own hand and +eye. And let him do the best he can, he will still find that the grace +and life of his original are continually flying off like a vapour, +while all the faults he has so diligently copied sit rigidly staring +him in the face,--a terrible _caput mortuum_. It is very necessary +that this should be well understood by the members of the Arundel +Society, when they hear their engravings severely criticised. It is +easy to produce an agreeable engraving by graceful infidelities; but +the entire endeavour of the draughtsmen employed by this society has +been to obtain accurately the character of the original: and he who +never proposes to himself to rise _above_ the work he is copying, must +most assuredly often fall beneath it. Such fall is the inherent and +inevitable penalty on all absolute copyism; and wherever the copy is +made with sincerity, the fall must be endured with patience. It will +never be an utter or a degrading fall; that is reserved for those who, +like vulgar translators, wilfully quit the hand of their master, and +have no strength of their own. + +Lastly. It is especially to be noticed that these works of Giotto, in +common with all others of the period, are independent of all the +inferior sources of pictorial interest. They never show the slightest +attempt at imitative realisation: they are simple suggestions of +ideas, claiming no regard except for the inherent value of the +thoughts. There is no filling of the landscape with variety of +scenery, architecture, or incident, as in the works of Benozzo Gozzoli +or Perugino; no wealth of jewellery and gold spent on the dresses of +the figures, as in the delicate labours of Angelico or Gentile da +Fabriano. The background is never more than a few gloomy masses of +rock, with a tree or two, and perhaps a fountain; the architecture is +merely what is necessary to explain the scene; the dresses are painted +sternly on the "heroic" principle of Sir Joshua Reynolds--that drapery +is to be "drapery, and nothing more,"--there is no silk, nor velvet, +nor distinguishable material of any kind: the whole power of the +picture is rested on the three simple essentials of painting--pure +Colour, noble Form, noble Thought. + +We moderns, educated in reality far more under the influence of the +Dutch masters than the Italian, and taught to look for realisation in +all things, have been in the habit of casting scorn on these early +Italian works, as if their simplicity were the result of ignorance +merely. When we know a little more of art in general, we shall begin +to suspect that a man of Giotto's power of mind did not altogether +suppose his clusters of formal trees, or diminutive masses of +architecture, to be perfect representations of the woods of Judea, or +of the streets of Jerusalem: we shall begin to understand that there +is a symbolical art which addresses the imagination, as well as a +realist art which supersedes it; and that the powers of contemplation +and conception which could be satisfied or excited by these simple +types of natural things, were infinitely more majestic than those +which are so dependent on the completeness of what is presented to +them as to be paralysed by an error in perspective, or stifled by the +absence of atmosphere. + +Nor is the healthy simplicity of the period less marked in the +selection than in the treatment of subjects. It has in these days +become necessary for the painter who desires popularity to accumulate +on his canvas whatever is startling in aspect or emotion, and to +drain, even to exhaustion, the vulgar sources of the pathetic. Modern +sentiment, at once feverish and feeble, remains unawakened except by +the violences of gaiety or gloom; and the eye refuses to pause, except +when it is tempted by the luxury of beauty, or fascinated by the +excitement of terror. It ought not, therefore, to be without a +respectful admiration that we find the masters of the fourteenth +century dwelling on moments of the most subdued and tender feeling, +and leaving the spectator to trace the under-currents of thought which +link them with future events of mightier interest, and fill with a +prophetic power and mystery scenes in themselves so simple as the +meeting of a master with his herdsmen among the hills, or the return +of a betrothed virgin to her house. + +[Illustration] + +It is, however, to be remembered that this quietness in character of +subject was much more possible to an early painter, owing to the +connection in which his works were to be seen. A modern picture, +isolated and portable, must rest all its claims to attention on its +own actual subject: but the pictures of the early masters were nearly +always parts of a consecutive and stable series, in which many were +subdued, like the connecting passages of a prolonged poem, in order to +enhance the value or meaning of others. The arrangement of the +subjects in the Arena Chapel is in this respect peculiarly skilful; +and to that arrangement we must now direct our attention. + +[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE ARENA CHAPEL, PADUA, LOOKING EASTWARD.] + +It was before noticed that the chapel was built between 1300 and 1306. +The architecture of Italy in the beginning of the fourteenth century +is always pure, and often severe; but this chapel is remarkable, even +among the severest forms, for the absence of decoration. Its plan, +seen in the marginal figure on p. 26, is a pure oblong, with a narrow +advanced tribune, terminating in a trilateral apse. Selvatico quotes +from the German writer Stieglitz some curious observations on the +apparent derivation of its proportions, in common with those of other +buildings of the time, from the number of sides of its apse. Without +entering into these particulars, it may be noted that the apse is just +one-half the width of the body of the chapel, and that the length from +the extremity of the tribune to the west end is just seven times the +width of the apse. The whole of the body of the chapel was painted by +Giotto; the walls and roof being entirely covered either with his +figure-designs, or with various subordinate decorations connecting and +enclosing them. + +The woodcut on p. 27 represents the arrangement of the frescoes on the +sides, extremities, and roof of the chapel. The spectator is supposed +to be looking from the western entrance towards the tribune, having on +his right the south side, which is pierced by six tall windows, and on +which the frescoes are therefore reduced in number. The north side is +pierced by no windows, and on it therefore the frescoes are +continuous, lighted from the south windows. The several spaces +numbered 1 to 38 are occupied by a continuous series of subjects, +representing the life of the Virgin and of Christ; the narrow panels +below, marked _a_, _b_, _c_, &c., are filled by figures of the +cardinal virtues and their opponent vices: on the lunette above the +tribune is painted a Christ in glory, and at the western extremity the +Last Judgment. Thus the walls of the chapel are covered with a +continuous meditative poem on the mystery of the Incarnation, the acts +of Redemption, the vices and virtues of mankind as proceeding from +their scorn or acceptance of that Redemption, and their final +judgment. + +The first twelve pictures of the series are exclusively devoted to the +apocryphal history of the birth and life of the Virgin. This the +Protestant spectator will observe, perhaps, with little favour, more +especially as only two compartments are given to the ministry of +Christ, between his Baptism and Entry into Jerusalem. Due weight is, +however, to be allowed to Lord Lindsay's remark, that the legendary +history of the Virgin was of peculiar importance in this chapel, as +especially dedicated to her service; and I think also that Giotto +desired to unite the series of compositions in one continuous action, +feeling that to have enlarged on the separate miracles of Christ's +ministry would have interrupted the onward course of thought. As it +is, the mind is led from the first humiliation of Joachim to the +Ascension of Christ in one unbroken and progressive chain of scenes; +the ministry of Christ being completely typified by his first and last +conspicuous miracle: while the very unimportance of some of the +subjects, as for instance that of the Watching the Rods, is useful in +directing the spectator rather to pursue the course of the narrative, +than to pause in satisfied meditation upon any single incident. And it +can hardly be doubted that Giotto had also a peculiar pleasure in +dwelling on the circumstances of the shepherd life of the father of +the Virgin, owing to its resemblance to that of his own early years. + +The incidents represented in these first twelve paintings are recorded +in the two apocryphal gospels known as the "Protevangelion" and +"Gospel of St. Mary."[13] But on comparing the statements in these +writings (which, by the by, are in nowise consistent with each other) +with the paintings in the Arena Chapel, it appeared to me that Giotto +must occasionally have followed some more detailed traditions than are +furnished by either of them; seeing that of one or two subjects the +apocryphal gospels gave no distinct or sufficient explanation. +Fortunately, however, in the course of some other researches, I met +with a manuscript in the British Museum (Harl. 3571,) containing a +complete "History of the most Holy Family," written in Northern +Italian of about the middle of the 14th century; and appearing to be +one of the forms of the legend which Giotto has occasionally followed +in preference to the statements of the Protevangelion. I have +therefore, in illustration of the paintings, given, when it seemed +useful, some portions of this manuscript; and these, with one or two +verses of the commonly received accounts, will be found generally +enough to interpret sufficiently the meaning of the painter. + +[Footnote 13: It has always appeared strange to me, that +ecclesiastical history should possess no more authentic records of the +life of the Virgin, before the period at which the narrative of St. +Luke commences, than these apocryphal gospels, which are as wretched +in style as untrustworthy in matter; and are evidently nothing more +than a collection, in rude imitation of the style of the Evangelists, +of such floating traditions as became current among the weak +Christians of the earlier ages, when their inquiries respecting the +history of Mary were met by the obscurity under which the Divine will +had veiled her humble person and character. There must always be +something painful, to those who are familiar with the Scriptures, in +reading these feeble and foolish mockeries of the manner of the +inspired writers; but it will be proper, nevertheless, to give the +exact words in which the scenes represented by Giotto were recorded to +_him_.] + +The following complete list of the subjects will at once enable the +reader to refer any of them to its place in the series, and on the +walls of the building; and I have only now to remind him in +conclusion, that within those walls the greatest painter and greatest +poet of mediaeval Italy held happy companionship during the time when +the frescoes were executed. "It is not difficult," says the writer +already so often quoted, Lord Lindsay, "gazing on these silent but +eloquent walls, to repeople them with the group once, as we know, five +hundred years ago, assembled within them: Giotto intent upon his work, +his wife Ciuta admiring his progress; and Dante, with abstracted eye, +alternately conversing with his friend, and watching the gambols of +the children playing on the grass before the door." + + * * * * * + +SERIES OF SUBJECTS. + + 1. The Rejection of Joachim's Offering. + 2. Joachim retires to the Sheepfold. + 3. The Angel appears to Anna. + 4. The Sacrifice of Joachim. + 5. The Vision of Joachim. + 6. The Meeting at the Golden Gate. + 7. The Birth of the Virgin. + 8. The Presentation of the Virgin. + 9. The Rods are brought to the High Priest. +10. The Watching of the Rods. +11. The Betrothal of the Virgin. +12. The Virgin returns to her House. +13. The Angel Gabriel. +14. The Virgin Annunciate. +15. The Salutation. +16. The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds. +17. The Wise Men's Offering. +18. The Presentation in the Temple. +19. The Flight into Egypt. +20. The Massacre of the Innocents. +21. The Young Christ in the Temple. +22. The Baptism of Christ. +23. The Marriage in Cana. +24. The Raising of Lazarus. +25. The Entry into Jerusalem. +26. The Expulsion from the Temple. +27. The Hiring of Judas. +28. The Last Supper. +29. The Washing of the Feet. +30. The Kiss of Judas. +31. Christ before Caiaphas. +32. The Scourging of Christ. +33. Christ bearing his Cross. +34. The Crucifixion. +35. The Entombment. +36. The Resurrection. +37. The Ascension. +38. The Descent of the Holy Spirit. + + * * * * * + +I. + +THE REJECTION OF JOACHIM'S OFFERING. + +"At that time, there was a man of perfect holiness, named Joachim, of +the tribe of Juda, and of the city of Jerusalem. And this Joachim had +in contempt the riches and honours of the world; and for greater +despite to them, he kept his flocks, with his shepherds. + +"... And he, being so holy and just, divided the fruits which he +received from his flocks into three parts: a third part--wool, and +lambs, and such like--he gave to God, that is to say, to those who +served God, and who ministered in the temple of God; another third +part he gave to widows, orphans, and pilgrims; the remaining third he +kept for himself and his family. And he persevering in this, God so +multiplied and increased his goods that there was no man like him in +the land of Israel.... And having come to the age of twenty years, he +took to wife Anna, the daughter of Ysaya, of his own tribe, and of the +lineage of David. + +"This precious St. Anna had always persevered in the service of God +with great wisdom and sincerity; ... and having received Joachim for +her husband, was subject to him, and gave him honour and reverence, +living in the fear of God. And Joachim having lived with his wife Anna +for twenty years, yet having no child, and there being a great +solemnity in Jerusalem, all the men of the city went to offer in the +temple of God, which Solomon had built; and Joachim entering the +temple with (incense?) and other gifts to offer on the altar, and +Joachim having made his offering, the minister of the temple, whose +name was Issachar, threw Joachim's offering from off the altar, and +drove Joachim out of the temple, saying, 'Thou, Joachim, art not +worthy to enter into the temple, seeing that God has not added his +blessing to you, as in your life you have had no seed.' Thus Joachim +received a great insult in the sight of all the people; and he being +all ashamed, returned to his house, weeping and lamenting most +bitterly." (MS. Harl.) + +The Gospel of St. Mary differs from this MS. in its statement of the +respective cities of Joachim and Anna, saying that the family of the +Virgin's father "was of Galilee and of the city of Nazareth, the +family of her mother was of Bethlehem." It is less interesting in +details; but gives a better, or at least more graceful, account of +Joachim's repulse, saying that Issachar "despised Joachim and his +offerings, and asked him why he, who had no children, would presume +to appear among those who had: adding, that his offerings could never +be acceptable to God, since he had been judged by Him unworthy to have +children; the Scripture having said, Cursed is every one who shall not +beget a male in Israel." + +Giotto seems to have followed this latter account, as the figure of +the high priest is far from being either ignoble or ungentle. + +The temple is represented by the two most important portions of a +Byzantine church; namely, the ciborium which covered the altar, and +the pulpit or reading desk; with the low screen in front of the altar +enclosing the part of the church called the "cancellum." Lord Lindsay +speaks of the priest within this enclosure as "confessing a young man +who kneels at his feet." It seems to me, rather, that he is meant to +be accepting the offering of another worshipper, so as to mark the +rejection of Joachim more distinctly. + + * * * * * + +II. + +JOACHIM RETIRES TO THE SHEEPFOLD. + +"Then Joachim, in the following night, resolved to separate himself +from companionship; to go to the desert places among the mountains, +with his flocks; and to inhabit those mountains, in order not to hear +such insults. And immediately Joachim rose from his bed, and called +about him all his servants and shepherds, and caused to be gathered +together all his flocks, and goats, and horses, and oxen, and what +other beasts he had, and went with them and with the shepherds into +the hills; and Anna his wife remained at home disconsolate, and +mourning for her husband, who had departed from her in such sorrow." +(MS. Harl.) + +"But upon inquiry, he found that all the righteous had raised up seed +in Israel. Then he called to mind the patriarch Abraham,--how that God +in the end of his life had given him his son Isaac: upon which he was +exceedingly distressed, and would not be seen by his wife; but +retired into the wilderness and fixed his tent there, and fasted forty +days and forty nights, saying to himself, 'I will not go down to eat +or drink till the Lord my God shall look down upon me; but prayer +shall be my meat and drink.'" (Protevangelion, chap. i.) + +Giotto seems here also to have followed the ordinary tradition, as he +has represented Joachim retiring unattended,--but met by two of his +shepherds, who are speaking to each other, uncertain what to do or how +to receive their master. The dog hastens to meet him with joy. The +figure of Joachim is singularly beautiful in its pensiveness and slow +motion; and the ignobleness of the herdsmen's figures is curiously +marked in opposition to the dignity of their master. + + * * * * * + +III. + +THE ANGEL APPEARS TO ANNA. + +"Afterwards the angel appeared to Anna his wife, saying, 'Fear not, +neither think that which you see is a spirit. For I am that angel who +hath offered up your prayers and alms before God, and am now sent to +tell you that a daughter will be born unto you.... Arise, therefore, +and go up to Jerusalem; and when you shall come to that which is +called the Golden Gate (because it is gilt with gold), as a sign of +what I have told you, you shall meet your husband, for whose safety +you have been so much concerned.'" (Gospel of St. Mary, chap. iii. +1-7.) + +The accounts in the Protevangelion and in the Harleian MS. are much +expanded: relating how Anna feared her husband was dead, he having +been absent from her five months; and how Judith, her maid, taunted +her with her childlessness; and how, going then into her garden, she +saw a sparrow's nest, full of young, upon a laurel-tree, and mourning +within herself, said, "I am not comparable to the very beasts of the +earth, for even they are fruitful before thee, O Lord.... I am not +comparable to the very earth, for the earth produces its fruits to +praise thee. Then the angel of the Lord stood by her," &c. + +Both the Protevangelion and Harleian MS. agree in placing the vision +in the garden; the latter adding, that she fled "into her chamber in +great fear, and fell upon her bed, and lay as in a trance all that day +and all that night, but did not tell the vision to her maid, because +of her bitter answering." Giotto has deviated from both accounts in +making the vision appear to Anna in her chamber, while the maid, +evidently being considered an important personage, is at work in the +passage. Apart from all reference to the legends, there is something +peculiarly beautiful in the simplicity of Giotto's conception, and in +the way in which he has shown the angel entering at the window, +without the least endeavour to impress our imagination by darkness, or +light, or clouds, or any other accessory; as though believing that +angels might appear any where, and any day, and to all men, as a +matter of course, if we would ask them, or were fit company for them. + + * * * * * + +IV. + +THE SACRIFICE OF JOACHIM. + +The account of this sacrifice is only given clearly in the Harleian +MS.; but even this differs from Giotto's series in the order of the +visions, as the subject of the _next_ plate is recorded first in this +MS., under the curious heading, "_Disse Sancto Theofilo_ como l'angelo +de Dio aperse a Joachim lo qual li anuntia la nativita della vergene +Maria;" while the record of this vision and sacrifice is headed, "Como +l'angelo de Dio aparse _anchora_ a Joachim." It then proceeds thus: +"At this very moment of the day" (when the angel appeared to Anna), +"there appeared a most beautiful youth (_unno belitissimo zovene_) +among the mountains there, where Joachim was, and said to Joachim, +'Wherefore dost thou not return to thy wife?' And Joachim answered, +'These twenty years God has given me no fruit of her, wherefore I was +chased from the temple with infinite shame.... And, as long as I live, +I will give alms of my flocks to widows and pilgrims.'... And these +words being finished, the youth answered, 'I am the angel of God who +appeared to thee the other time for a sign; and appeared to thy wife +Anna, who always abides in prayer, weeping day and night; and I have +consoled her; wherefore I command thee to observe the commandments of +God, and his will, which I tell you truly, that of thee shall be born +a daughter, and that thou shalt offer her to the temple of God, and +the Holy Spirit shall rest upon her, and her blessedness shall be +above the blessedness of all virgins, and her holiness so great that +human nature will not be able to comprehend it.'...[14] + +[Footnote 14: This passage in the old Italian of the MS. may interest +some readers: "E complice queste parole lo zovene respoxe, dignando, +Io son l'angelo de Dio, lo quale si te aparse l'altra fiada, in segno, +e aparse a toa mulier Anna che sempre sta in oration plauzando di e +note, e si lo consolada; unde io te comando che tu debie observare li +comandimenti de Dio, ela soua volunta che io te dico veramente, che de +la toa somenza insera una fiola, e questa offrila al templo de Dio, e +lo Spirito santo reposera in ley, ela soa beatitudine sera sovera tute +le altre verzene, ela soua santita sera si grande che natura humana +non la pora comprendere."] + +"Then Joachim fell upon the earth, saying, 'My lord, I pray thee to +pray God for me, and to enter into this my tabernacle, and bless me, +thy servant.' The angel answered, 'We are all the servants of God: and +know that my eating would be invisible, and my drinking could not be +seen by all the men in the world; but of all that thou wouldest give +to me, do thou make sacrifice to God.' Then Joachim took a lamb +without spot or blemish ...; and when he had made sacrifice of it, the +angel of the Lord disappeared and ascended into heaven; and Joachim +fell upon the earth in great fear, and lay from the sixth hour until +the evening." + +This is evidently nothing more than a very vapid imitation of the +scriptural narrative of the appearances of angels to Abraham and +Manoah. But Giotto has put life into it; and I am aware of no other +composition in which so much interest and awe has been given to the +literal "burnt sacrifice." In all other representations of such +offerings which I remember, the interest is concentrated in the +_slaying_ of the victim. But Giotto has fastened on the _burning_ of +it; showing the white skeleton left on the altar, and the fire still +hurtling up round it, typical of the Divine wrath, which is "as a +consuming fire;" and thus rendering the sacrifice a more clear and +fearful type not merely of the outward wounds and death of Christ, but +of his soul-suffering. "All my bones are out of joint: my heart is +like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels."[15] + +[Footnote 15: (Note by a friend):--"To me the most striking part of it +is, that the skeleton is _entire_ ('a bone of him shall not be +broken'), and that the head stands up still looking to the skies: is +it too fanciful to see a meaning in this?"] + +The hand of the Deity is seen in the heavens--the sign of the Divine +Presence. + + * * * * * + +V. + +THE ANGEL (RAPHAEL) APPEARS TO JOACHIM. + +"Now Joachim being in this pain, the Lord God, Father of mercy, who +abandons not his servants, nor ever fails to console them in their +distresses, if they pray for his grace and pity, had compassion on +Joachim, and heard his prayer, and sent the angel Raphael from heaven +to earth to console him, and announce to him the nativity of the +Virgin Mary. Therefore the angel Raphael appeared to Joachim, and +comforted him with much peace, and foretold to him the birth of the +Virgin in that glory and gladness, saying, 'God save you, O friend of +God, O Joachim! the Lord has sent me to declare to you an everlasting +joy, and a hope that shall have no end.'... And having finished these +words, the angel of the Lord disappeared from him, and ascended into +the heaven." (MS. Harl.) + +The passage which I have omitted is merely one of the ordinary +Romanist accounts of the immaculate conception of the Virgin, put +into the form of prophecy. There are no sufficient details of this +part of the legend either in the Protevangelion or Gospel of St. Mary; +but it is quite clear that Giotto followed it, and that he has +endeavoured to mark a distinction in character between the angels +Gabriel and Raphael[16] in the two subjects,--the form of Raphael +melting back into the heaven, and being distinctly recognised as +angelic, while Gabriel appears invested with perfect humanity. It is +interesting to observe that the shepherds, who of course are not +supposed to see the form of the Angel (his manifestation being only +granted to Joachim during his sleep), are yet evidently under the +influence of a certain degree of awe and expectation, as being +conscious of some presence other than they can perceive, while the +animals are unconscious altogether. + +[Footnote 16: The MS. makes the angel Raphael the only messenger. +Giotto clearly adopts the figure of Gabriel from the Protevangelion.] + + * * * * * + +VI. + +THE MEETING AT THE GOLDEN GATE. + +"And Joachim went down with the shepherds, and Anna stood by the gate, +and saw Joachim coming with the shepherds. And she ran, and hanging +about his neck, said, 'Now I know that the Lord hath greatly blessed +me.'" (Protevangelion, iv. 8, 9.) + +This is one of the most celebrated of Giotto's compositions, and +deservedly so, being full of the most solemn grace and tenderness. The +face of St. Anna, half seen, is most touching in its depth of +expression; and it is very interesting to observe how Giotto has +enhanced its sweetness, by giving a harder and grosser character than +is usual with him to the heads of the other two principal female +figures (not but that this cast of feature is found frequently in the +figures of somewhat earlier art), and by the rough and weather-beaten +countenance of the entering shepherd. In like manner, the falling +lines of the draperies owe a great part of their value to the abrupt +and ugly oblongs of the horizontal masonry which adjoins them. + + * * * * * + +VII. + +THE BIRTH OF THE VIRGIN. + +"And Joachim said, 'Now I know that the Lord is propitious to me, and +hath taken away all my sins.' And he went down from the temple of the +Lord justified, and went to his own house. + +"And when nine months were fulfilled to Anna, she brought forth, and +said to the midwife, 'What have I brought forth?' And she told her, a +girl. + +"Then Anna said, 'The Lord hath this day magnified my soul.' And she +laid her in the bed." (Protevangelion, v. 4-8.) + +The composition is very characteristic of Giotto in two respects: +first, in its natural homeliness and simplicity (in older designs of +the same subject the little Madonna is represented as born with a +golden crown on her head); and secondly, in the smallness of the +breast and head of the sitting figure on the right,--a fault of +proportion often observable in Giotto's figures of children or young +girls. + +For the first time, also, in this series, we have here two successive +periods of the scene represented simultaneously, the babe being +painted twice. This practice was frequent among the early painters, +and must necessarily become so wherever painting undertakes the task +of lengthened narrative. Much absurd discussion has taken place +respecting its propriety; the whole question being simply whether the +human mind can or cannot pass from the contemplation of one event to +that of another, without reposing itself on an intermediate gilt +frame. + + * * * * * + +VIII. + +THE PRESENTATION OF THE VIRGIN. + +"And when three years were expired, and the time of her weaning +complete, they brought the Virgin to the temple of the Lord with +offerings. + +"And there were about the temple, according to the fifteen Psalms of +Degrees, fifteen stairs to ascend. + +"The parents of the blessed Virgin and infant Mary put her upon one of +these stairs; but while they were putting off their clothes in which +they had travelled, in the meantime, the Virgin of the Lord in such a +manner went up all the stairs, one after another, without the help of +any one to lead her or lift her, that any one would have judged from +hence that she was of perfect age." (Gospel of St. Mary, iv. 1-6.) + +There seems nothing very miraculous in a child's walking up stairs at +three years old; but this incident is a favourite one among the +Roman-Catholic painters of every period: generally, however, +representing the child as older than in the legend, and dwelling +rather on the solemn feeling with which she presents herself to the +high-priest, than on the mere fact of her being able to walk alone. +Giotto has clearly regarded the incident entirely in this light; for +St. Anna touches the child's arm as if to support her; so that the +so-called miraculous walking is not even hinted at. + +Lord Lindsay particularly notices that the Virgin is "a dwarf woman +instead of a child; the delineation of childhood was one of the latest +triumphs of art." Even in the time of those latest triumphs, however, +the same fault was committed in another way; and a boy of eight or ten +was commonly represented--even by Raffaelle himself--as a dwarf +Hercules, with all the gladiatorial muscles already visible in stunted +rotundity. Giotto probably felt he had not power enough to give +dignity to a child of three years old, and intended the womanly form +to be rather typical of the Virgin's advanced mind, than an actual +representation of her person. + + * * * * * + +IX. + +THE RODS ARE BROUGHT TO THE HIGH-PRIEST. + +"Then he (the high-priest) appointed that all the men of the house and +family of David who were marriageable, and not married, should bring +their several rods to the altar. And out of whatsoever person's rod, +after it was brought, a flower should bud forth, and on the top of it +the Spirit of the Lord should sit in the appearance of a dove, he +should be the man to whom the Virgin should be given, and be betrothed +to her." (Gospel of St. Mary, v. 16, 17.) + +There has originally been very little interest in this composition; +and the injuries which it has suffered have rendered it impossible for +the draughtsman to distinguish the true folds of the draperies amidst +the defaced and worn colours of the fresco, so that the character of +the central figure is lost. The only points requiring notice are, +first, the manner in which St. Joseph holds his rod, depressing and +half-concealing it,[17] while the other suitors present theirs boldly; +and secondly, the graceful though monotonous grouping of the heads of +the crowd behind him. This mode of rendering the presence of a large +multitude, showing only the crowns of the heads in complicated +perspective, was long practised in mosaics and illuminations before +the time of Giotto, and always possesses a certain degree of sublimity +in its power of suggesting perfect unity of feeling and movement among +the crowd. + +[Footnote 17: In the next chapter, it is said that "Joseph drew back +his rod when every one else presented his."] + + * * * * * + +X. + +THE WATCHING OF THE RODS AT THE ALTAR. + +"After the high-priest had received their rods, he went into the +temple to pray. + +"And when he had finished his prayer, he took the rods and went forth +and distributed them; and there was no miracle attended them. + +"The last rod was taken by Joseph; and, behold, a dove proceeded out +of the rod, and flew upon the head of Joseph." (Protevangelion, viii. +9-11.) + +This is among the least graceful designs of the series; though the +clumsiness in the contours of the leading figures is indeed a fault +which often occurs in the painter's best works, but it is here +unredeemed by the rest of the composition. The group of the suitors, +however, represented as waiting at the outside of the temple, is very +beautiful in its earnestness, more especially in the passionate +expression of the figure in front. It is difficult to look long at the +picture without feeling a degree of anxiety, and strong sympathy with +the silent watching of the suitors; and this is a sign of no small +power in the work. The head of Joseph is seen far back on the extreme +left; thus indicating by its position his humility, and desire to +withdraw from the trial. + + * * * * * + +XI. + +THE BETROTHAL OF THE VIRGIN. + +There is no distinct notice of this event in the apocryphal Gospel: +the traditional representation of it is nearly always more or less +similar. Lord Lindsay's account of the composition before us is as +follows: + +"The high-priest, standing in front of the altar, joins their hands; +behind the Virgin stand her bridesmaids; behind St. Joseph the +unsuccessful suitors, one of whom steps forward to strike him, and +another breaks his rod on his knee. Joseph bears his own rod, on the +flower of which the Holy Spirit rests in the semblance of a dove." + +The development of this subject by Perugino (for Raffaelle's picture +in the Brera is little more than a modified copy of Perugino's, now at +Caen,) is well known; but notwithstanding all its beauty, there is +not, I think, any thing in the action of the disappointed suitors so +perfectly true or touching as that of the youth breaking his rod in +this composition of Giotto's; nor is there among any of the figures +the expression of solemn earnestness and intentness on the event which +is marked among the attendants here, and in the countenances of the +officiating priests. + + * * * * * + +XII. + +THE VIRGIN MARY RETURNS TO HER HOUSE. + +"Accordingly, the usual ceremonies of betrothing being over, he +(Joseph) returned to his own city of Bethlehem to set his house in +order, and to make the needful provisions for the marriage. But the +Virgin of the Lord, Mary, with seven other virgins of the same age, +who had been weaned at the same time, and who had been appointed to +attend her by the priest, returned to her parents' house in Galilee." +(Gospel of St. Mary, vi. 6, 7.) + +Of all the compositions in the Arena Chapel I think this the most +characteristic of the noble time in which it was done. It is not so +notable as exhibiting the mind of Giotto, which is perhaps more fully +seen in subjects representing varied emotion, as in the simplicity and +repose which were peculiar to the compositions of the early fourteenth +century. In order to judge of it fairly, it ought first to be compared +with any classical composition--with a portion, for instance, of the +Elgin frieze,--which would instantly make manifest in it a strange +seriousness and dignity and slowness of motion, resulting chiefly from +the excessive simplicity of all its terminal lines. Observe, for +instance, the pure wave from the back of the Virgin's head to the +ground; and again, the delicate swelling line along her shoulder and +left arm, opposed to the nearly unbroken fall of the drapery of the +figure in front. It should then be compared with an Egyptian or +Ninevite series of figures, which, by contrast, would bring out its +perfect sweetness and grace, as well as its variety of expression: +finally, it should be compared with any composition subsequent to the +time of Raffaelle, in order to feel its noble freedom from pictorial +artifice and attitude. These three comparisons cannot be made +carefully without a sense of profound reverence for the national +spirit[18] which could produce a design so majestic, and yet remain +content with one so simple. + +[Footnote 18: _National_, because Giotto's works are properly to be +looked on as the _fruit_ of their own age, and the _food_ of that +which followed.] + +The small _loggia_ of the Virgin's house is noticeable, as being +different from the architecture introduced in the other pictures, and +more accurately representing the Italian Gothic of the dwelling-house +of the period. The arches of the windows have no capitals; but this +omission is either to save time, or to prevent the background from +becoming too conspicuous. All the real buildings designed by Giotto +have the capital completely developed. + + * * * * * + +XIII. + +THE ANNUNCIATION.--THE ANGEL GABRIEL. + +This figure is placed on one side of the arch at the east end of the +body of the chapel; the corresponding figure of the Virgin being set +on the other side. It was a constant practice of the mediaeval artists +thus to divide this subject; which, indeed, was so often painted, that +the meaning of the separated figures of the Angel and Mary was as well +understood as when they were seen in juxtaposition. Indeed, on the two +sides of this arch they would hardly be considered as separated, since +very frequently they were set to answer to each other from the +opposite extremities of a large space of architecture.[19] + +[Footnote 19: As, for instance, on the two opposite angles of the +facade of the Cathedral of Rheims.] + +The figure of the Angel is notable chiefly for its serenity, as +opposed to the later conceptions of the scene, in which he sails into +the chamber upon the wing, like a stooping falcon. + +The building above is more developed than in any other of the Arena +paintings; but it must always remain a matter of question, why so +exquisite a designer of architecture as Giotto should introduce forms +so harsh and meagre into his backgrounds. Possibly he felt that the +very faults of the architecture enhanced the grace and increased the +importance of the figures; at least, the proceeding seems to me +inexplicable on any other theory.[20] + +[Footnote 20: (Note by a friend:) "I suppose you will not admit as an +explanation, that he had not yet turned his mind to architectural +composition, the Campanile being some thirty years later?"] + + * * * * * + +XIV. + +THE ANNUNCIATION.--THE VIRGIN MARY. + +Vasari, in his notice of one of Giotto's Annunciations, praises him +for having justly rendered the _fear_ of the Virgin at the address of +the Angel. If he ever treated the subject in such a manner, he +departed from all the traditions of his time; for I am aware of no +painting of this scene, during the course of the thirteenth and +following centuries, which does not represent the Virgin as perfectly +tranquil, receiving the message of the Angel in solemn thought and +gentle humility, but without a shadow of fear. It was reserved for the +painters of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to change angelic +majesty into reckless impetuosity, and maiden meditation into panic +dread. + +The face of the Virgin is slightly disappointing. Giotto never reached +a very high standard of beauty in feature; depending much on distant +effect in all his works, and therefore more on general arrangement of +colour and sincerity of gesture, than on refinement of drawing in the +countenance. + + * * * * * + +XV. + +THE SALUTATION. + +This picture, placed beneath the figure of the Virgin Annunciate at +the east end of the chapel, and necessarily small, (as will be seen by +the plan), in consequence of the space occupied by the arch which it +flanks, begins the second or lower series of frescoes; being, at the +same time, the first of the great chain of more familiar subjects, in +which we have the power of comparing the conceptions of Giotto not +only with the designs of earlier ages, but with the efforts which +subsequent masters have made to exalt or vary the ideas of the +principal scenes in the life of the Virgin and of Christ. The two +paintings of the Angel Gabriel and the Virgin Annunciate hardly +provoke such a comparison, being almost statue-like in the calm +subjection of all dramatic interest to the symmetrical dignity and +beauty of the two figures, leading, as they do, the whole system of +the decoration of the chapel; but this of the Salutation is treated +with no such reference to the architecture, and at once challenges +comparison with the works of later masters. + +Nor is the challenge feebly maintained. I have no hesitation in +saying, that, among all the renderings of this scene which now exist, +I remember none which gives the pure depth and plain facts of it so +perfectly as this of Giotto's. Of majestic women bowing themselves to +beautiful and meek girls, both wearing gorgeous robes, in the midst of +lovely scenery, or at the doors of Palladian palaces, we have enough; +but I do not know any picture which seems to me to give so truthful an +idea of the action with which Elizabeth and Mary must actually have +met,--which gives so exactly the way in which Elizabeth would stretch +her arms, and stoop and gaze into Mary's face, and the way in which +Mary's hand would slip beneath Elizabeth's arms, and raise her up to +kiss her. I know not any Elizabeth so full of intense love, and joy, +and humbleness; hardly any Madonna in which tenderness and dignity +are so quietly blended. She not less humble, and yet accepting the +reverence of Elizabeth as her appointed portion, saying, in her +simplicity and truth, "He that is mighty hath magnified me, and holy +is His name." The longer that this group is looked upon, the more it +will be felt that Giotto has done well to withdraw from it nearly all +accessories of landscape and adornment, and to trust it to the power +of its own deep expression. We may gaze upon the two silent figures +until their silence seems to be broken, and the words of the question +and reply sound in our ears, low as if from far away: + +"Whence is this to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?" + +"My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my +Saviour." + + * * * * * + +XVI. + +THE NATIVITY. + +I am not sure whether I shall do well or kindly in telling the reader +anything about this beautiful design. Perhaps the less he knows about +early art or early traditions, the more deeply he will feel its purity +and truth; for there is scarcely an incident here, or anything in the +manner of representing the incidents, which is not mentioned or +justified in Scripture. The bold, hilly background reminds us that +Bethlehem was in the hill-country of Judah. But it may seem to have +two purposes besides this literal one: the first, that it increases +the idea of _exposure_ and loneliness in the birth of Christ; the +second that the masses of the great hills, with the angels floating +round them in the horizontal clouds, may in some sort represent to our +thoughts the power and space of that heaven and earth whose Lord is +being laid in the manger-cradle. + +There is an exquisite truth and sweetness in the way the Virgin turns +upon the couch, in order herself to assist in laying the Child down. +Giotto is in this exactly faithful to the scriptural words: "_She_ +wrapped the Child in swaddling-clothes, and _laid_ Him in a manger." +Joseph sits beneath in meditation; above, the angels, all exulting, +and, as it were, confused with joy, flutter and circle in the air like +birds,--three looking up to the Father's throne with praise and +thankfulness, one stooping to adore the Prince of Peace, one flying to +tell the shepherds. There is something to me peculiarly affecting in +this disorder of theirs; even angels, as it were, breaking their ranks +with wonder, and not knowing how to utter their gladness and passion +of praise. There is noticeable here, as in all works of this early +time, a certain confidence in the way in which the angels trust to +their wings, very characteristic of a period of bold and simple +conception. Modern science has taught us that a wing cannot be +anatomically joined to a shoulder; and in proportion as painters +approach more and more to the scientific, as distinguished from the +contemplative state of mind, they put the wings of their angels on +more timidly, and dwell with greater emphasis upon the human form, and +with less upon the wings, until these last become a species of +decorative appendage,--a mere _sign_ of an angel. But in Giotto's time +an angel was a complete creature, as much believed in as a bird; and +the way in which it would or might cast itself into the air, and lean +hither and thither upon its plumes, was as naturally apprehended as +the manner of flight of a chough or a starling. Hence Dante's simple +and most exquisite synonym for angel, "Bird of God;" and hence also a +variety and picturesqueness in the expression of the movements of the +heavenly hierarchies by the earlier painters, ill replaced by the +powers of foreshortening, and throwing naked limbs into fantastic +positions, which appear in the cherubic groups of later times. + +It is needless to point out the frank association of the two +events,--the Nativity, and appearance of the Angel to the Shepherds. +They are constantly thus joined; but I do not remember any other +example in which they are joined so boldly. Usually the shepherds are +seen in the distance, or are introduced in some ornamental border, or +other inferior place. The view of painting as a mode of suggesting +relative or consecutive thoughts, rather than a realisation of any one +scene, is seldom so fearlessly asserted, even by Giotto, as here, in +placing the flocks of the shepherds at the foot of the Virgin's bed. + +This bed, it will be noticed, is on a shelf of rock. This is in +compliance with the idea founded on the Protevangelion and the +apocryphal book known as the Gospel of Infancy, that our Saviour was +born in a cave, associated with the scriptural statement that He was +laid in a manger, of which the apocryphal gospels do not speak. + +The vain endeavour to exalt the awe of the moment of the Saviour's +birth has turned, in these gospels, the outhouse of the inn into a +species of subterranean chapel, full of incense and candles. "It was +after sunset, when the old woman (the midwife), and Joseph with her, +reached the cave; and they both went into it. And behold, it was all +filled with light, greater than the light of lamps and candles, and +greater than the light of the sun itself." (Infancy, i. 9.) "Then a +bright cloud overshadowed the cave, and the midwife said: This day my +soul is magnified." (Protevangelion, xiv. 10.) The thirteenth chapter +of the Protevangelion is, however, a little more skilful in this +attempt at exaltation. "And leaving her and his sons in the cave, +Joseph went forth to seek a Hebrew midwife in the village of +Bethlehem. But as I was going, said Joseph, I looked up into the air, +and I saw the clouds astonished, and the fowls of the air stopping in +the midst of their flight. And I looked down towards the earth and saw +a table spread, and working-people sitting around it; but their hands +were on the table, and they did not move to eat. But all their faces +were fixed upwards." (Protevangelion, xiii. 1-7.) + +It would, of course, be absurd to endeavour to institute any +comparison between the various pictures of this subject, innumerable +as they are; but I must at least deprecate Lord Lindsay's +characterising this design of Giotto's merely as the "Byzantine +composition." It contains, indeed, nothing more than the materials of +the Byzantine composition; but I know no Byzantine Nativity which at +all resembles it in the grace and life of its action. And, for full a +century after Giotto's time, in northern Europe, the Nativity was +represented in a far more conventional manner than this; usually only +the heads of the ox and ass are seen, and they are arranging, or +holding with their mouths, the drapery of the couch of the Child; who +is not being laid in it by the Virgin, but raised upon a kind of +tablet high above her in the centre of the group. All these early +designs, without exception, however, agree in expressing a certain +degree of languor in the figure of the Virgin, and in making her +recumbent on the bed. It is not till the fifteenth century that she is +represented as exempt from suffering, and immediately kneeling in +adoration before the Child. + + * * * * * + +XVII. + +THE WISE MEN'S OFFERING. + +This is a subject which has been so great a favourite with the +painters of later periods, and on which so much rich incidental +invention has been lavished, that Giotto's rendering of it cannot but +be felt to be barren. It is, in fact, perhaps the least powerful of +all the series; and its effect is further marred by what Lord Lindsay +has partly noted, the appearance--perhaps accidental, but if so, +exceedingly unskilful--of matronly corpulence in the figure of the +Madonna. The unfortunate failure in the representation of the legs and +chests of the camels, and the awkwardness of the attempt to render the +action of kneeling in the foremost king, put the whole composition +into the class--not in itself an uninteresting one--of the slips or +shortcomings of great masters. One incident in it only is worth +observing. In other compositions of this time, and in many later ones, +the kings are generally presenting their offerings themselves, and the +Child takes them in His hand, or smiles at them. The painters who +thought this an undignified conception left the presents in the hands +of the attendants of the Magi. But Giotto considers how presents +would be received by an actual king; and as what has been offered to a +monarch is delivered to the care of his attendants, Giotto puts a +waiting angel to receive the gifts, as not worthy to be placed in the +hands of the Infant. + + * * * * * + +XVIII. + +THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE. + +This design is one of those which are peculiarly characteristic of +Giotto as the head of the Naturalisti.[21] No painter before his time +would have dared to represent the Child Jesus as desiring to quit the +arms of Simeon, or the Virgin as in some sort interfering with the +prophet's earnest contemplation of the Child by stretching her arms to +receive Him. The idea is evidently a false one, quite unworthy of the +higher painters of the religious school; and it is a matter of +peculiar interest to see what must have been the strength of Giotto's +love of plain facts, which could force him to stoop so low in the +conception of this most touching scene. The Child does not, it will be +observed, merely stretch its arm to the Madonna, but is even +struggling to escape, violently raising the left foot. But there is +another incident in the composition, witnessing as notably to Giotto's +powerful grasp of all the facts of his subject as this does to his +somewhat hard and plain manner of grasping them;--I mean the angel +approaching Simeon, as if with a message. The peculiar interest of the +Presentation is for the most part inadequately represented in +painting, because it is impossible to imply the fact of Simeon's +having waited so long in the hope of beholding his Lord, or to inform +the spectator of the feeling in which he utters the song of hope +fulfilled. Giotto has, it seems to me, done all that he could to make +us remember this peculiar meaning of the scene; for I think I cannot +be deceived in interpreting the flying angel, with its branch of palm +or lily, to be the Angel of Death, sent in visible fulfilment of the +thankful words of Simeon: "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart +in peace." The figure of Anna is poor and uninteresting; that of the +attendant, on the extreme left, very beautiful, both in its drapery +and in the severe and elevated character of the features and +head-dress. + +[Footnote 21: See account of his principles above, p. 13, head C.] + + * * * * * + +XIX. + +THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. + +Giotto again shows, in his treatment of this subject, a juster +understanding of the probable facts than most other painters. It +becomes the almost universal habit of later artists to regard the +flight as both sudden and secret, undertaken by Joseph and Mary, +unattended, in the dawn of the morning, or "by night," so soon as +Joseph had awaked from sleep. (Matt. ii. 14.) Without a continuous +miracle, which it is unnecessary in this case to suppose, such a +lonely journey would have been nearly impracticable. Nor was instant +flight necessary; for Herod's order for the massacre could not be +issued until he had been convinced, by the protracted absence of the +Wise Men, that he was "mocked of them." In all probability the exact +nature and extent of the danger was revealed to Joseph; and he would +make the necessary preparations for his journey with such speed as he +could, and depart "by night" indeed, but not in the instant of +awakening from his dream. The ordinary impression seems to have been +received from the words of the Gospel of Infancy: "Go into Egypt _as +soon as the cock crows_." And the interest of the flight is rendered +more thrilling, in late compositions, by the introduction of armed +pursuers. Giotto has given a far more quiet, deliberate, and probable +character to the whole scene, while he has fully marked the fact of +divine protection and command in the figure of the guiding angel. Nor +is the picture less interesting in its marked expression of the night. +The figures are all distinctly seen, and there is no broad +distribution of the gloom; but the vigorous blackness of the dress of +the attendant who holds the bridle, and the scattered glitter of the +lights on the Madonna's robe, are enough to produce the required +effect on the mind. + +The figure of the Virgin is singularly dignified: the broad and severe +curves traced by the hem and deepest folds of her dress materially +conducing to the nobleness of the group. The Child is partly sustained +by a band fastened round the Madonna's neck. The quaint and delicate +pattern on this band, together with that of the embroidered edges of +the dress, is of great value in opposing and making more manifest the +severe and grave outlines of the whole figure, whose impressiveness is +also partly increased by the rise of the mountain just above it, like +a tent. A vulgar composer would have moved this peak to the right or +left, and lost its power. + +This mountain background is also of great use in deepening the sense +of gloom and danger on the desert road. The trees represented as +growing on the heights have probably been rendered indistinct by time. +In early manuscripts such portions are invariably those which suffer +most; the green (on which the leaves were once drawn with dark +colours) mouldering away, and the lines of drawing with it. But even +in what is here left there is noticeable more careful study of the +distinction between the trees with thick spreading foliage, the group +of two with light branches and few leaves, and the tree stripped and +dead at the bottom of the ravine, than an historical painter would now +think it consistent with his dignity to bestow. + + * * * * * + +XX. + +MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS. + +Of all the series, this composition is the one which exhibits most of +Giotto's weaknesses. All early work is apt to fail in the rendering of +violent action: but Giotto is, in this instance, inferior not only to +his successors, but to the feeblest of the miniature-painters of the +thirteenth century; while his imperfect drawing is seen at its worst +in the nude figures of the children. It is, in fact, almost impossible +to understand how any Italian, familiar with the eager gesticulations +of the lower orders of his countrywomen on the smallest points of +dispute with each other, should have been incapable of giving more +adequate expression of true action and passion to the group of +mothers; and, if I were not afraid of being accused of special +pleading, I might insist at some length on a dim faith of my own, that +Giotto thought the actual agony and strivings of the probable scene +unfit for pictorial treatment, or for common contemplation; and that +he chose rather to give motionless types and personifications of the +soldiers and women, than to use his strength and realistic faculty in +bringing before the vulgar eye the unseemly struggle or unspeakable +pain. The formal arrangement of the heap of corpses in the centre of +the group; the crowded standing of the mothers, as in a choir of +sorrow; the actual presence of Herod, to whom some of them appear to +be appealing,--all seem to me to mark this intention; and to make the +composition only a symbol or shadow of the great deed of massacre, not +a realisation of its visible continuance at any moment. I will not +press this conjecture; but will only add, that if it be so, I think +Giotto was perfectly right; and that a picture thus conceived might +have been deeply impressive, had it been more successfully executed; +and a calmer, more continuous, comfortless grief expressed in the +countenances of the women. Far better thus, than with the horrible +analysis of agony, and detail of despair, with which this same scene, +one which ought never to have been made the subject of painting at +all, has been gloated over by artists of more degraded times. + + * * * * * + +XXI. + +THE YOUNG CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE. + +This composition has suffered so grievously by time, that even the +portions of it which remain are seen to the greatest disadvantage. +Little more than various conditions of scar and stain can be now +traced, where were once the draperies of the figures in the shade, and +the suspended garland and arches on the right hand of the spectator; +and in endeavouring not to represent more than there is authority for, +the draughtsman and engraver have necessarily produced a less +satisfactory plate than most others of the series. But Giotto has also +himself fallen considerably below his usual standard. The faces appear +to be cold and hard; and the attitudes are as little graceful as +expressive either of attention or surprise. The Madonna's action, +stretching her arms to embrace her Son, is pretty; but, on the whole, +the picture has no value; and this is the more remarkable, as there +were fewer precedents of treatment in this case than in any of the +others; and it might have been anticipated that Giotto would have put +himself to some pains when the field of thought was comparatively new. +The subject of Christ teaching in the Temple rarely occurs in +manuscripts; but all the others were perpetually repeated in the +service-books of the period. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration] + +XXII. + +THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST. + +This is a more interesting work than the last; but it is also gravely +and strangely deficient in power of entering into the subject; and +this, I think, is common with nearly all efforts that have hitherto +been made at its representation. I have never seen a picture of the +Baptism, by any painter whatever, which was not below the average +power of the painter; and in this conception of Giotto's, the humility +of St. John is entirely unexpressed, and the gesture of Christ has +hardly any meaning: it neither is in harmony with the words, "Suffer +it to be so now," which must have been uttered before the moment of +actual baptism, nor does it in the slightest degree indicate the sense +in the Redeemer of now entering upon the great work of His ministry. +In the earlier representations of the subject, the humility of St. +John is never lost sight of; there will be seen, for instance, an +effort at expressing it by the slightly stooping attitude and bent +knee, even in the very rude design given in outline on the opposite +page. I have thought it worth while to set before the reader in this +outline one example of the sort of traditional representations which +were current throughout Christendom before Giotto arose. This instance +is taken from a large choir-book, probably of French, certainly of +Northern execution, towards the close of the thirteenth century;[22] +and it is a very fair average example of the manner of design in the +illuminated work of the period. The introduction of the scroll, with +the legend, "This is My beloved Son," is both more true to the +scriptural words, "Lo, a voice from heaven," and more reverent, than +Giotto's introduction of the visible figure, as a type of the First +Person of the Trinity. The boldness with which this type is introduced +increases precisely as the religious sentiment of art decreases; in +the fifteenth century it becomes utterly revolting. + +[Footnote 22: The exact date, 1290, is given in the title-page of the +volume.] + +I have given this woodcut for another reason also: to explain more +clearly the mode in which Giotto deduced the strange form which he has +given to the stream of the Jordan. In the earlier Northern works it is +merely a green wave, rising to the Saviour's waist, as seen in the +woodcut. Giotto, for the sake of getting standing-ground for his +figures, gives _shores_ to this wave, retaining its swelling form in +the centre,--a very painful and unsuccessful attempt at reconciling +typical drawing with laws of perspective. Or perhaps it is less to be +regarded as an effort at progress, than as an awkward combination of +the Eastern and Western types of the Jordan. In the difference between +these types there is matter of some interest. Lord Lindsay, who merely +characterises this work of Giotto's as "the Byzantine composition," +thus describes the usual Byzantine manner of representing the Baptism: + +"The Saviour stands immersed to the middle in Jordan (_flowing between +two deep and rocky banks_), on one of which stands St. John, pouring +the water on His head, and on the other two angels hold His robes. +The Holy Spirit descends upon Him as a dove, in a stream of light, +from God the Father, usually represented by a hand from Heaven. Two of +John's disciples stand behind him as spectators. Frequently _the +river-god of Jordan_ reclines with his oars in the corner.... In the +Baptistery at Ravenna, the rope is supported, not by an angel, but by +the river-deity _Jordann_ (Iordanes?), who holds in his left hand a +reed as his sceptre." + +Now in this mode of representing rivers there is something more than +the mere Pagan tradition lingering through the wrecks of the Eastern +Empire. A river, in the East and South, is necessarily recognised more +distinctly as a beneficent power than in the West and North. The +narrowest and feeblest stream is felt to have an influence on the life +of mankind; and is counted among the possessions, or honoured among +the deities, of the people who dwell beside it. Hence the importance +given, in the Byzantine compositions, to the name and specialty of the +Jordan stream. In the North such peculiar definiteness and importance +can never be attached to the name of any single fountain. Water, in +its various forms of streamlet, rain, or river, is felt as an +universal gift of heaven, not as an inheritance of a particular spot +of earth. Hence, with the Gothic artists generally, the personality of +the Jordan is lost in the green and nameless wave; and the simple rite +of the Baptism is dwelt upon, without endeavouring, as Giotto has +done, to draw the attention to the rocky shores of Bethabara and AEnon, +or to the fact that "there was much water there." + + * * * * * + +XXIII. + +THE MARRIAGE IN CANA. + +It is strange that the sweet significance of this first of the +miracles should have been lost sight of by nearly all artists after +Giotto; and that no effort was made by them to conceive the +circumstances of it in simplicity. The poverty of the family in which +the marriage took place,--proved sufficiently by the fact that a +carpenter's wife not only was asked as a chief guest, but even had +authority over the servants,--is shown further to have been +distressful, or at least embarrassed, poverty by their want of wine on +such an occasion. It was not certainly to remedy an accident of +careless provision, but to supply a need sorrowfully betraying the +narrow circumstances of His hosts, that our Lord wrought the beginning +of miracles. Many mystic meanings have been sought in the act, which, +though there is no need to deny, there is little evidence to certify: +but we may joyfully accept, as its first indisputable meaning, that of +simple kindness; the wine being provided here, when needed, as the +bread and fish were afterwards for the hungry multitudes. The whole +value of the miracle, in its serviceable tenderness, is at once +effaced when the marriage is supposed, as by Veronese and other +artists of later times, to have taken place at the house of a rich +man. For the rest, Giotto sufficiently implies, by the lifted hand of +the Madonna, and the action of the fingers of the bridegroom, as if +they held sacramental bread, that there lay a deeper meaning under the +miracle for those who could accept it. How all miracle _is_ accepted +by common humanity, he has also shown in the figure of the ruler of +the feast, drinking. This unregarding forgetfulness of present +spiritual power is similarly marked by Veronese, by placing the figure +of a fool with his bauble immediately underneath that of Christ, and +by making a cat play with her shadow in one of the wine-vases. + +It is to be remembered, however, in examining all pictures of this +subject, that the miracle was not made manifest to all the guests;--to +none indeed, seemingly, except Christ's own disciples: the ruler of +the feast, and probably most of those present (except the servants who +drew the water), knew or observed nothing of what was passing, and +merely thought the good wine had been "kept until now." + + * * * * * + +XXIV. + +THE RAISING OF LAZARUS. + +In consequence of the intermediate position which Giotto occupies +between the Byzantine and Naturalist schools, two relations of +treatment are to be generally noted in his work. As compared with the +Byzantines, he is a realist, whose power consists in the introduction +of living character and various incidents, modifying the formerly +received Byzantine symbols. So far as he has to do this, he is a +realist of the purest kind, endeavoring always to conceive events +precisely as they were likely to have happened; not to idealise them +into forms artfully impressive to the spectator. But in so far as he +was compelled to retain, or did not wish to reject, the figurative +character of the Byzantine symbols, he stands opposed to succeeding +realists, in the quantity of meaning which probably lies hidden in any +composition, as well as in the simplicity with which he will probably +treat it, in order to enforce or guide to this meaning: the figures +being often letters of a hieroglyphic, which he will not multiply, +lest he should lose in force of suggestion what he gained in dramatic +interest. + +None of the compositions display more clearly this typical and +reflective character than that of the Raising of Lazarus. Later +designers dwell on vulgar conditions of wonder or horror, such as they +could conceive likely to attend the resuscitation of a corpse; but +with Giotto the physical reanimation is the type of a spiritual one, +and, though shown to be miraculous, is yet in all its deeper aspects +unperturbed, and calm in awfulness. It is also visibly gradual. "His +face was bound about with a napkin." The nearest Apostle has withdrawn +the covering from the face, and looks for the command which shall +restore it from wasted corruption, and sealed blindness, to living +power and light. + +Nor is it, I believe, without meaning, that the two Apostles, if +indeed they are intended for Apostles, who stand at Lazarus' side, +wear a different dress from those who follow Christ. I suppose them +to be intended for images of the Christian and Jewish Churches in +their ministration to the dead soul: the one removing its bonds, but +looking to Christ for the word and power of life; the other inactive +and helpless--the veil upon its face--in dread; while the principal +figure fulfils the order it receives in fearless simplicity. + + * * * * * + +XXV. + +THE ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. + +This design suffers much from loss of colour in translation. Its +decorative effect depends on the deep blue ground, relieving the +delicate foliage and the local colours of dresses and architecture. It +is also one of those which are most directly opposed to modern +feeling: the sympathy of the spectator with the passion of the crowd +being somewhat rudely checked by the grotesque action of two of the +foremost figures. We ought, however, rather to envy the deep +seriousness which could not be moved from dwelling on the real power +of the scene by any ungracefulness or familiarity of circumstance. +Among men whose minds are rightly toned, nothing is ludicrous: it +must, if an act, be either right or wrong, noble or base; if a thing +seen, it must either be ugly or beautiful: and what is either wrong or +deformed is not, among noble persons, in anywise subject for laughter; +but, in the precise degree of its wrongness or deformity, a subject of +horror. All perception of what, in the modern European mind, falls +under the general head of the ludicrous, is either childish or +profane; often healthy, as indicative of vigorous animal life, but +always degraded in its relation to manly conditions of thought. It has +a secondary use in its power of detecting vulgar imposture; but it +only obtains this power by denying the highest truths. + + * * * * * + +XXVI. + +THE EXPULSION FROM THE TEMPLE. + +More properly, the Expulsion from the outer Court of the Temple (Court +of Gentiles), as Giotto has indicated by placing the porch of the +Temple itself in the background. + +The design shows, as clearly as that of the Massacre of the Innocents, +Giotto's want of power, and partly of desire, to represent rapid or +forceful action. The raising of the right hand, not holding any +scourge, resembles the action afterwards adopted by Oreagna, and +finally by Michael Angelo in his Last Judgment: and my belief is, that +Giotto considered this act of Christ's as partly typical of the final +judgment, the Pharisees being placed on the left hand, and the +disciples on the right. From the faded remains of the fresco, the +draughtsman could not determine what animals are intended by those on +the left hand. But the most curious incident (so far as I know, found +only in this design of the Expulsion, no subsequent painter repeating +it), is the sheltering of the two children, one of them carrying a +dove, under the arm and cloak of two disciples. Many meanings might +easily be suggested in this; but I see no evidence for the adoption of +any distinct one. + + * * * * * + +XXVII. + +THE HIRING OF JUDAS. + +The only point of material interest presented by this design is the +decrepit and distorted shadow of the demon, respecting which it may be +well to remind the reader that all the great Italian thinkers +concurred in assuming decrepitude or disease, as well as ugliness, to +be a characteristic of all natures of evil. Whatever the extent of the +power granted to evil spirits, it was always abominable and +contemptible; no element of beauty or heroism was ever allowed to +remain, however obscured, in the aspect of a fallen angel. Also, the +demoniacal nature was shown in acts of betrayal, torture, or wanton +hostility; never in valiancy or perseverance of contest. I recollect +no mediaeval demon who shows as much insulting, resisting, or +contending power as Bunyan's Apollyon. They can only cheat, undermine, +and mock; never overthrow. Judas, as we should naturally anticipate, +has not in this scene the nimbus of an Apostle; yet we shall find it +restored to him in the next design. We shall discover the reason of +this only by a careful consideration of the meaning of that fresco. + + * * * * * + +XXVIII. + +THE LAST SUPPER. + +I have not examined the original fresco with care enough to be able to +say whether the uninteresting quietness of its design is redeemed by +more than ordinary attention to expression; it is one of the least +attractive subjects in the Arena Chapel, and always sure to be passed +over in any general observation of the series: nevertheless, however +unfavourably it may at first contrast with the designs of later +masters, and especially with Leonardo's, the reader should not fail to +observe that Giotto's aim, had it been successful, was the higher of +the two, as giving truer rendering of the probable fact. There is no +distinct evidence, in the sacred text, of the annunciation of coming +treachery having produced among the disciples the violent surprise and +agitation represented by Leonardo. Naturally, they would not at first +understand what was meant. They knew nothing distinctly of the +machinations of the priests; and so little of the character or +purposes of Judas, that even after he had received the sop which was +to point him out to the others as false;--and after they had heard the +injunction, "That thou doest, do quickly,"--the other disciples had +still no conception of the significance, either of the saying, or the +act: they thought that Christ meant he was to buy something for the +feast. Nay, Judas himself, so far from starting, as a convicted +traitor, and thereby betraying himself, as in Leonardo's picture, had +not, when Christ's first words were uttered, any immediately active +intention formed. The devil had not entered into him until he received +the sop. The passage in St. John's account is a curious one, and +little noticed; but it marks very distinctly the paralysed state of +the man's mind. He had talked with the priests, covenanted with them, +and even sought opportunity to bring Jesus into their hands; but while +such opportunity was wanting, the act had never presented itself fully +to him for adoption or rejection. He had toyed with it, dreamed over +it, hesitated, and procrastinated over it, as a stupid and cowardly +person would, such as traitors are apt to be. But the way of retreat +was yet open; the conquest of the temper not complete. Only after +receiving the sop the idea _finally_ presented itself clearly, and was +accepted, "To-night, while He is in the garden, I can do it; and I +will." And Giotto has indicated this distinctly by giving Judas still +the Apostle's nimbus, both in this subject and in that of the Washing +of the Feet; while it is taken away in the previous subject of the +Hiring, and the following one of the Seizure: thus it fluctuates, +expires, and reillumines itself, until his fall is consummated. This +being the general state of the Apostles' knowledge, the words, "One of +you shall betray me," would excite no feeling in their minds +correspondent to that with which we now read the prophetic sentence. +What this "giving up" of their Master meant became a question of +bitter and self-searching thought with them,--gradually of intense +sorrow and questioning. But had they understood it in the sense we now +understand it, they would never have each asked, "Lord, is it I?" +Peter believed himself incapable even of _denying_ Christ; and of +giving him up to death for money, every one of his true disciples +_knew_ themselves incapable; the thought never occurred to them. In +slowly-increasing wonder and sorrow ([Greek: erxanto lupeisthai], Mark +xiv. 19), not knowing what was meant, they asked one by one, with +pauses between, "Is it I?" and another, "Is it I?" and this so quietly +and timidly that the one who was lying on Christ's breast never +stirred from his place; and Peter, afraid to speak, signed to him to +ask who it was. One further circumstance, showing that this was the +real state of their minds, we shall find Giotto take cognisance of in +the next fresco. + + * * * * * + +XXIX. + +THE WASHING OF THE FEET. + +In this design, it will be observed, there are still the twelve +disciples, and the nimbus is yet given to Judas (though, as it were, +setting, his face not being seen). + +Considering the deep interest and importance of every circumstance of +the Last Supper, I cannot understand how preachers and commentators +pass by the difficulty of clearly understanding the periods indicated +in St. John's account of it. It seems that Christ must have risen +while they were still eating, must have washed their feet as they sate +or reclined at the table, just as the Magdalen had washed His own feet +in the Pharisee's house; that, this done, He returned to the table, +and the disciples continuing to eat, presently gave the sop to Judas. +For St. John says, that he having received the sop, went _immediately_ +out; yet that Christ had washed his feet is certain, from the words, +"Ye are clean, but not all." Whatever view the reader may, on +deliberation, choose to accept, Giotto's is clear, namely, that though +not cleansed by the baptism, Judas was yet capable of being cleansed. +The devil had not entered into him at the time of the washing of the +feet, and he retains the sign of an Apostle. + +The composition is one of the most beautiful of the series, especially +owing to the submissive grace of the two standing figures. + + * * * * * + +XXX. + +THE KISS OF JUDAS. + +For the first time we have Giotto's idea of the face of the traitor +clearly shown. It is not, I think, traceable through any of the +previous series; and it has often surprised me to observe how +impossible it was in the works of almost any of the sacred painters to +determine by the mere cast of feature which was meant for the false +Apostle. Here, however, Giotto's theory of physiognomy, and together +with it his idea of the character of Judas, are perceivable enough. It +is evident that he looks upon Judas mainly as a sensual dullard, and +foul-brained fool; a man in no respect exalted in bad eminence of +treachery above the mass of common traitors, but merely a distinct +type of the eternal treachery to good, in vulgar men, which stoops +beneath, and opposes in its appointed measure, the life and efforts of +all noble persons, their natural enemies in this world; as the slime +lies under a clear stream running through an earthy meadow. Our +careless and thoughtless English use of the word into which the Greek +"Diabolos" has been shortened, blinds us in general to the meaning of +"Deviltry," which, in its essence, is nothing else than slander, or +traitorhood;--the accusing and giving up of good. In particular it has +blinded us to the meaning of Christ's words, "Have not I chosen you +twelve, and one of you is a traitor and accuser?" and led us to think +that the "one of you is a devil" indicated some greater than human +wickedness in Judas; whereas the practical meaning of the entire fact +of Judas' ministry and fall is, that out of any twelve men chosen for +the forwarding of any purpose,--or, much more, out of any twelve men +we meet,--one, probably, is or will be a Judas. + +The modern German renderings of all the scenes of Christ's life in +which the traitor is conspicuous are very curious in their vulgar +misunderstanding of the history, and their consequent endeavours to +represent Judas as more diabolic than selfish, treacherous, and +stupid men are in all their generations. They paint him usually +projected against strong effects of light, in lurid +chiaroscuro;--enlarging the whites of his eyes, and making him frown, +grin, and gnash his teeth on all occasions, so as to appear among the +other Apostles invariably in the aspect of a Gorgon. + +How much more deeply Giotto has fathomed the fact, I believe all men +will admit who have sufficient purity and abhorrence of falsehood to +recognise it in its daily presence, and who know how the devil's +strongest work is done for him by men who are too bestial to +understand what they betray. + + * * * * * + +XXXI. + +CHRIST BEFORE CAIAPHAS. + +Little is to be observed in this design of any distinctive merit; it +is only a somewhat completer version of the ordinary representation +given in illuminated missals and other conventual work, suggesting, as +if they had happened at the same moment, the answer, "If I have spoken +evil, bear witness of the evil," and the accusation of blasphemy which +causes the high-priest to rend his clothes. + +Apparently distrustful of his power of obtaining interest of a higher +kind, Giotto has treated the enrichments more carefully than usual, +down even to the steps of the high-priest's seat. The torch and barred +shutters conspicuously indicate its being now dead of night. That the +torch is darker than the chamber, if not an error in the drawing, is +probably the consequence of a darkening alteration in the yellow +colours used for the flame. + + * * * * * + +XXXII. + +THE SCOURGING OF CHRIST. + +It is characteristic of Giotto's rational and human view of all +subjects admitting such aspect, that he has insisted here chiefly on +the dejection and humiliation of Christ, making no attempt to suggest +to the spectator any other divinity than that of patience made perfect +through suffering. Angelico's conception of the same subject is higher +and more mystical. He takes the moment when Christ is blindfolded, and +exaggerates almost into monstrosity the vileness of feature and +bitterness of sneer in the questioners, "Prophesy unto us, who is he +that smote thee;" but the bearing of the person of Christ is entirely +calm and unmoved; and his eyes, open, are seen through the binding +veil, indicating the ceaseless omniscience. + +This mystical rendering is, again, rejected by the later realistic +painters; but while the earlier designers, with Giotto at their head, +dwelt chiefly on the humiliation and the mockery, later painters dwelt +on the physical pain. In Titian's great picture of this subject in the +Louvre, one of the executioners is thrusting the thorn-crown down upon +the brow with his rod, and the action of Christ is that of a person +suffering extreme physical agony. + +No representations of the scene exist, to my knowledge, in which the +mockery is either sustained with indifference, or rebuked by any stern +or appealing expression of feature; yet one of these two forms of +endurance would appear, to a modern habit of thought, the most natural +and probable. + + * * * * * + +XXXIII. + +CHRIST BEARING HIS CROSS. + +This design is one of great nobleness and solemnity in the isolation +of the principal figure, and removal of all motives of interest +depending on accessories, or merely temporary incidents. Even the +Virgin and her attendant women are kept in the background; all appeal +for sympathy through physical suffering is disdained. Christ is not +represented as borne down by the weight of the Cross, nor as urged +forward by the impatience of the executioners. The thing to be +shown,--the unspeakable mystery,--is the simple fact, the Bearing of +the Cross by the Redeemer. It would be vain to compare the respective +merits or value of a design thus treated, and of one like Veronese's +of this same subject, in which every essential accessory and probable +incident is completely conceived. The abstract and symbolical +suggestion will always appeal to one order of minds, the dramatic +completeness to another. Unquestionably, the last is the greater +achievement of intellect, but the manner and habit of thought are +perhaps loftier in Giotto. Veronese leads us to perceive the reality +of the act, and Giotto to understand its intention. + + * * * * * + +XXXIV. + +THE CRUCIFIXION. + +The treatment of this subject was, in Giotto's time, so rigidly fixed +by tradition that it was out of his power to display any of his own +special modes of thought; and, as in the Bearing of the Cross, so +here, but yet more distinctly, the temporary circumstances are little +regarded, the significance of the event being alone cared for. But +even long after this time, in all the pictures of the Crucifixion by +the great masters, with the single exception perhaps of that by +Tintoret in the Church of San Cassano at Venice, there is a tendency +to treat the painting as a symmetrical image, or collective symbol of +sacred mysteries, rather than as a dramatic representation. Even in +Tintoret's great Crucifixion in the School of St. Roch, the group of +fainting women forms a kind of pedestal for the Cross. The flying +angels in the composition before us are thus also treated with a +restraint hardly passing the limits of decorative symbolism. The +fading away of their figures into flame-like cloud may perhaps be +founded on the verse, "He maketh His angels spirits; His ministers a +flame of fire" (though erroneously, the right reading of that verse +being, "He maketh the winds His messengers, and the flaming fire His +servant"); but it seems to me to give a greater sense of possible +truth than the entire figures, treading the clouds with naked feet, of +Perugino and his successors. + + * * * * * + +XXXV. + +THE ENTOMBMENT. + +I do not consider that in fulfilling the task of interpreter intrusted +to me, with respect to this series of engravings, I may in general +permit myself to unite with it the duty of a critic. But in the +execution of a laborious series of engravings, some must of course be +better, some worse; and it would be unjust, no less to the reader than +to Giotto, if I allowed this plate to pass without some admission of +its inadequacy. It may possibly have been treated with a little less +care than the rest, in the knowledge that the finished plate, already +in the possession of the members of the Arundel Society, superseded +any effort with inferior means; be that as it may, the tenderness of +Giotto's composition is, in the engraving before us, lost to an +unusual degree. + +It may be generally observed that the passionateness of the sorrow +both of the Virgin and disciples, is represented by Giotto and all +great following designers as reaching its crisis at the Entombment, +not at the Crucifixion. The expectation that, after experiencing every +form of human suffering, Christ would yet come down from the cross, or +in some other visible and immediate manner achieve for Himself the +victory, might be conceived to have supported in a measure the minds +of those among His disciples who watched by His cross. But when the +agony was closed by actual death, and the full strain was put upon +their faith, by their laying in the sepulchre, wrapped in His +grave-clothes, Him in whom they trusted, "that it had been He which +should have redeemed Israel," their sorrow became suddenly hopeless; a +gulf of horror opened, almost at unawares, under their feet; and in +the poignancy of her astonied despair, it was no marvel that the agony +of the Madonna in the "Pieta" became subordinately associated in the +mind of the early Church with that of their Lord Himself;--a type of +consummate human suffering. + + * * * * * + +XXXVI. + +THE RESURRECTION. + +Quite one of the loveliest designs of the series. It was a favourite +subject with Giotto; meeting, in all its conditions, his love of what +was most mysterious, yet most comforting and full of hope, in the +doctrines of his religion. His joy in the fact of the Resurrection, +his sense of its function, as the key and primal truth of +Christianity, was far too deep to allow him to dwell on any of its +minor circumstances, as later designers did, representing the moment +of bursting the tomb, and the supposed terror of its guards. With +Giotto the leading thought is not of physical reanimation, nor of the +momentarily exerted power of breaking the bars of the grave; but the +consummation of Christ's work in the first manifesting to human eyes, +and the eyes of one who had loved Him and believed in Him, His power +to take again the life He had laid down. This first appearance to her +out of whom He had cast seven devils is indeed the very central fact +of the Resurrection. The keepers had not seen Christ; they had seen +only the angel descending, whose countenance was like lightning: for +fear of him they became as dead; yet this fear, though great enough to +cause them to swoon, was so far conquered at the return of morning, +that they were ready to take money-payment for giving a false report +of the circumstances. The Magdalen, therefore, is the first witness of +the Resurrection; to the love, for whose sake much had been forgiven, +this gift is also first given; and as the first witness of the truth, +so she is the first messenger of the Gospel. To the Apostles it was +granted to proclaim the Resurrection to all nations; but the Magdalen +was bidden to proclaim it to the Apostles. + +In the chapel of the Bargello, Giotto has rendered this scene with yet +more passionate sympathy. Here, however, its significance is more +thoughtfully indicated through all the accessories, down even to the +withered trees above the sepulchre, while those of the garden burst +into leaf. This could hardly escape notice when the barren boughs were +compared by the spectator with the rich foliage of the neighbouring +designs, though, in the detached plate, it might easily be lost sight +of. + + * * * * * + +XXXVII. + +THE ASCENSION. + +Giotto continues to exert all his strength on these closing subjects. +None of the Byzantine or earlier Italian painters ventured to +introduce the entire figure of Christ in this scene: they showed the +feet only, concealing the body; according to the text, "a cloud +received Him out of their sight." This composition, graceful as it is +daring, conveys the idea of ascending motion more forcibly than any +that I remember by other than Venetian painters. Much of its power +depends on the continuity of line obtained by the half-floating +figures of the two warning angels. + +I cannot understand why this subject was so seldom treated by +religious painters: for the harmony of Christian creed depends as much +upon it as on the Resurrection itself; while the circumstances of the +Ascension, in their brightness, promise, miraculousness, and direct +appeal to all the assembled Apostles, seem more fitted to attract the +joyful contemplation of all who received the faith. How morbid, and +how deeply to be mourned, was the temper of the Church which could not +be satisfied without perpetual representation of the tortures of +Christ; but rarely dwelt on His triumph! How more than strange the +concessions to this feebleness by its greatest teachers; such as that +of Titian, who, though he paints the Assumption of the Madonna rather +than a Pieta, paints the Scourging and the Entombment of Christ, with +his best power,--but never the Ascension! + + * * * * * + +XXXVIII. + +THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. + +This last subject of the series, the quietest and least interesting in +treatment, yet illustrates sadly, and forcibly, the vital difference +between ancient and modern art. + +The worst characters of modern work result from its constant appeal to +our desire of change, and pathetic excitement; while the best features +of the elder art appealed to love of contemplation. It would appear to +be the object of the truest artists to give permanence to images such +as we should always desire to behold, and might behold without +agitation; while the inferior branches of design are concerned with +the acuter passions which depend on the turn of a narrative, or the +course of an emotion. Where it is possible to unite these two sources +of pleasure, and, as in the Assumption of Titian, an action of +absorbing interest is united with perfect and perpetual elements of +beauty, the highest point of conception would appear to have been +touched: but in the degree in which the interest of action +_supersedes_ beauty of form and colour, the art is lowered; and where +real deformity enters, in any other degree than as a momentary shadow +or opposing force, the art is illegitimate. Such art can exist only by +accident, when a nation has forgotten or betrayed the eternal purposes +of its genius, and gives birth to painters whom it cannot teach, and +to teachers whom it will not hear. The best talents of all our English +painters have been spent either in endeavours to find room for the +expression of feelings which no master guided to a worthy end, or to +obtain the attention of a public whose mind was dead to natural +beauty, by sharpness of satire, or variety of dramatic circumstance. + +The work to which England is now devoting herself withdraws her eyes +from beauty, as her heart from rest; nor do I conceive any revival of +great art to be possible among us while the nation continues in its +present temper. As long as it can bear to see misery and squalor in +its streets, it can neither invent nor accept human beauty in its +pictures; and so long as in passion of rivalry, or thirst of gain, it +crushes the roots of happiness, and forsakes the ways of peace, the +great souls whom it may chance to produce will all pass away from it +helpless, in error, in wrath, or in silence. Amiable visionaries may +retire into the delight of devotional abstraction, strong men of the +world may yet hope to do service by their rebuke or their satire; but +for the clear sight of Love there will be no horizon, for its quiet +words no answer; nor any place for the art which alone is faithfully +Religious, because it is Lovely and True. + + * * * * * + +The series of engravings thus completed, while they present no +characters on which the members of the Arundel Society can justifiably +pride themselves, have, nevertheless, a real and effective value, if +considered as a series of maps of the Arena frescoes. Few artists of +eminence pass through Padua without making studies of detached +portions of the decoration of this Chapel, while no artist has time to +complete drawings of the whole. Such fragmentary studies might now at +any time be engraved with advantage, their place in the series being +at once determinable by reference to the woodcuts; while qualities of +expression could often be obtained in engravings of single figures, +which are sure to be lost in an entire subject. The most refined +character is occasionally dependent on a few happy and light touches, +which, in a single head, are effective, but are too feeble to bear due +part in an entire composition, while, in the endeavour to reinforce +them, their vitality is lost. I believe the members of the Arundel +Society will perceive, eventually, that no copies of works of great +art are worthily representative of them but such as are made freely, +and for their own purposes, by great painters: the best results +obtainable by mechanical effort will only be charts or plans of +pictures, not mirrors of them. Such charts it is well to command in as +great number as possible, and with all attainable completeness; but +the Society cannot be considered as having entered on its true +functions until it has obtained the hearty co-operation of European +artists, and by the increase of its members, the further power of +representing the subtle studies of masterly painters by the aid of +exquisite engraving. + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Giotto and his works in Padua, by John Ruskin + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA *** + +***** This file should be named 18371.txt or 18371.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/3/7/18371/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Linda Cantoni, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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