DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.63447#0520
504
THE HISTORICAL PAST OF ITALY.
In the arena the landscape is still Byzantine, and
the compositions are derived from the usual fount of
traditional art. As yet the lofty ideality which formed
the latter glory of the Italian school is wanting; but
the great occasion which now tasked his genius, the
decoration of the Church of Assisi, called forth all the
talent that in him lay. At Assisi, in company with the
choicest artists of the day, he was employed on a series of
frescoes for the church and sanctuary of the popular Saint.
The unworldliness, the tenderness, the warmth, and
the perfectness of faith in St. Francis had, from the
first, placed him apart from his fellow-creatures, and his
name had already been invested with the reverence and
connected with the marvels of legendary heroes. His
name, his dress—that of the tertiary mendicant order-
and his acts, were literally the “ household words ” of
the poor. At Assisi, his birthplace, a basilica already
existed on the spot, venerated for the martyrdom of
Rufinus; it had already some paintings on the walls
when the new church was added to it, and became the
sanctuary of St. Francis. Giunta da Siena, and other
artists of the mystic Byzantine school, had painted
there, and to these succeeded Cimabue and Giotto. The
latter painted the life of St. Francis in a series of subjects
in the naturalistic manner. The improvement in colour-
ing, perspective, and proportion, together with a more life-
like movement in the figures, is discernible in the groups
of the upper church; these seem to have been exe-
cuted by Giotto’s own hand. The ceilings of the lower
church, which certainly were painted by him, display
even more breadth of treatment, freedom of brush, and
desire to imitate nature.1
The harsh, crude outline of former days now began to
be softened, and the effect of light and shade in giving
relief now seems to have been discovered. "We can
trace even the improvement which practice in the mere
technical details gave the artist in his successive works.
1 See note in appendix for further particulars.
THE HISTORICAL PAST OF ITALY.
In the arena the landscape is still Byzantine, and
the compositions are derived from the usual fount of
traditional art. As yet the lofty ideality which formed
the latter glory of the Italian school is wanting; but
the great occasion which now tasked his genius, the
decoration of the Church of Assisi, called forth all the
talent that in him lay. At Assisi, in company with the
choicest artists of the day, he was employed on a series of
frescoes for the church and sanctuary of the popular Saint.
The unworldliness, the tenderness, the warmth, and
the perfectness of faith in St. Francis had, from the
first, placed him apart from his fellow-creatures, and his
name had already been invested with the reverence and
connected with the marvels of legendary heroes. His
name, his dress—that of the tertiary mendicant order-
and his acts, were literally the “ household words ” of
the poor. At Assisi, his birthplace, a basilica already
existed on the spot, venerated for the martyrdom of
Rufinus; it had already some paintings on the walls
when the new church was added to it, and became the
sanctuary of St. Francis. Giunta da Siena, and other
artists of the mystic Byzantine school, had painted
there, and to these succeeded Cimabue and Giotto. The
latter painted the life of St. Francis in a series of subjects
in the naturalistic manner. The improvement in colour-
ing, perspective, and proportion, together with a more life-
like movement in the figures, is discernible in the groups
of the upper church; these seem to have been exe-
cuted by Giotto’s own hand. The ceilings of the lower
church, which certainly were painted by him, display
even more breadth of treatment, freedom of brush, and
desire to imitate nature.1
The harsh, crude outline of former days now began to
be softened, and the effect of light and shade in giving
relief now seems to have been discovered. "We can
trace even the improvement which practice in the mere
technical details gave the artist in his successive works.
1 See note in appendix for further particulars.