DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51584#0055
GIOTTO.
51
at least, of flexibility. His notions of grouping
and arrangement he seems to have taken from the
ancient basso-relievos: there is a statuesque grace
and simplicity in his compositions which reminds
us of them. His style of colouring and execution
was, like all the rest, an innovation on received
methods : his colours were lighter and 'more roseate
than had ever been known ; the fluid by which they
were tempered more thin and easily managed ; and
his frescoes must have been skilfully executed to
Jiave stood so well as they have done. Their dura-
tion is, indeed, nothing compared to the Egyptian
remains ; but the latter have been for ages covered
up from light and air in a dry sandy climate : those
of Giotto have been exposed to all the vicissitudes
of weather and of underground damp, have been
whitewashed and every way ill-treated, yet the
fragments which remain have still a surprising
freshness, and his distemper pictures are still won-
derful. It is to be regretted that the reader cannot
be referred to any collection in England for an
example of the characteristics here enumerated.
We have not in the National Gallery a single
example of Giotto or his scholars : the earliest pic-
ture we have is dated nearly two hundred years
after his death : the only one in the Louvre (a St.
Francis, as large as life) is dubious and unworthy
of him. In the Florentine gallery are three pic-
tures: Christ on the Mount of Olives, one of his
51
at least, of flexibility. His notions of grouping
and arrangement he seems to have taken from the
ancient basso-relievos: there is a statuesque grace
and simplicity in his compositions which reminds
us of them. His style of colouring and execution
was, like all the rest, an innovation on received
methods : his colours were lighter and 'more roseate
than had ever been known ; the fluid by which they
were tempered more thin and easily managed ; and
his frescoes must have been skilfully executed to
Jiave stood so well as they have done. Their dura-
tion is, indeed, nothing compared to the Egyptian
remains ; but the latter have been for ages covered
up from light and air in a dry sandy climate : those
of Giotto have been exposed to all the vicissitudes
of weather and of underground damp, have been
whitewashed and every way ill-treated, yet the
fragments which remain have still a surprising
freshness, and his distemper pictures are still won-
derful. It is to be regretted that the reader cannot
be referred to any collection in England for an
example of the characteristics here enumerated.
We have not in the National Gallery a single
example of Giotto or his scholars : the earliest pic-
ture we have is dated nearly two hundred years
after his death : the only one in the Louvre (a St.
Francis, as large as life) is dubious and unworthy
of him. In the Florentine gallery are three pic-
tures: Christ on the Mount of Olives, one of his