DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51584#0036
32
EARLY ITALIAN PAINTERS.
and the influence of his large original mind upon
the later works of Cimabue is distinctly to be
traced.
The first recorded performance of Giotto was a
painting on the wall of the Palazzo dell’ Podesta,
or council-chamber of Florence, in which were in-
troduced the portraits of Dante, Brunetto Latini,
Corso Donati, and others. Vasari speaks of these
works as the first successful attempts at portraiture
in the history of modern art. They were soon
afterwards plastered or whitewashed over during
the triumph of the enemies of Dante; and for ages,
though known to exist, they were lost and buried
from sight. The hope of recovering these most in-
teresting portraits had long been entertained, and
various attempts had been made at different times
without success, till at length, as late as 1840, they
were brought to light by the perseverance and en-
thusiasm of Mr. Bezzi, an Italian gentleman, now
residing in England. On comparing the head of
Dante, painted when he was about thirty, prosperous
and distinguished in his native city, with the later
portraits of him when an exile, worn, wasted, em-
bittered by misfortune and disappointment and
wounded pride, the difference of expression is as
touching as the identity in feature is indubitable.
The attention which in his childhood Giotto
seems to have given to all natural forms and ap-
pearances, showed itself in his earlier pictures ; lie
EARLY ITALIAN PAINTERS.
and the influence of his large original mind upon
the later works of Cimabue is distinctly to be
traced.
The first recorded performance of Giotto was a
painting on the wall of the Palazzo dell’ Podesta,
or council-chamber of Florence, in which were in-
troduced the portraits of Dante, Brunetto Latini,
Corso Donati, and others. Vasari speaks of these
works as the first successful attempts at portraiture
in the history of modern art. They were soon
afterwards plastered or whitewashed over during
the triumph of the enemies of Dante; and for ages,
though known to exist, they were lost and buried
from sight. The hope of recovering these most in-
teresting portraits had long been entertained, and
various attempts had been made at different times
without success, till at length, as late as 1840, they
were brought to light by the perseverance and en-
thusiasm of Mr. Bezzi, an Italian gentleman, now
residing in England. On comparing the head of
Dante, painted when he was about thirty, prosperous
and distinguished in his native city, with the later
portraits of him when an exile, worn, wasted, em-
bittered by misfortune and disappointment and
wounded pride, the difference of expression is as
touching as the identity in feature is indubitable.
The attention which in his childhood Giotto
seems to have given to all natural forms and ap-
pearances, showed itself in his earlier pictures ; lie