DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51584#0057
GIOTTO.
53
embodying that very superstition. Perhaps the
very circumstance of his being employed in paint-
ing the interiors of churches and monasteries opened
to his acute, discerning, and independent mind
reflections which took away some of the respect for
the mysteries they concealed. There is extant a
poem of Giotto’s, entitled ‘ A song against Poverty,’
which becomes still more piquante in itself, and
expressive of the peculiar turn of Giotto’s mind,
when we remember that he had painted the Glori-
fication of Poverty as the Bride of St. Francis, and
that in those days songs in praise of poverty were
as fashionable as devotion to St. Francis, the “ Pa-
triarch of poverty.” Giotto was celebrated, too,
for his joyous temper, for his witty and satirical
repartees, and seems to have been as careful of his
worldly goods as he was diligent in acquiring
them. Boccaccio relates an anecdote of him, not
very important; but as it contains several traits
which are divertingly characteristic, we will give
it here:—
“ Fair and dear ladies 1” (Thus the novelist is
wont to address his auditory) “ It is a wondrous
thing to see how oftentimes nature hath been pleased
to hide within the most misshapen forms the most
wondrous treasures of soul, which is evident in the
persons of two of our fellow-citizens, of whom I
shall now briefly discourse to you. Messer Forese
da Rabatta, the advocate, being a personage of the
VOL. I. D
53
embodying that very superstition. Perhaps the
very circumstance of his being employed in paint-
ing the interiors of churches and monasteries opened
to his acute, discerning, and independent mind
reflections which took away some of the respect for
the mysteries they concealed. There is extant a
poem of Giotto’s, entitled ‘ A song against Poverty,’
which becomes still more piquante in itself, and
expressive of the peculiar turn of Giotto’s mind,
when we remember that he had painted the Glori-
fication of Poverty as the Bride of St. Francis, and
that in those days songs in praise of poverty were
as fashionable as devotion to St. Francis, the “ Pa-
triarch of poverty.” Giotto was celebrated, too,
for his joyous temper, for his witty and satirical
repartees, and seems to have been as careful of his
worldly goods as he was diligent in acquiring
them. Boccaccio relates an anecdote of him, not
very important; but as it contains several traits
which are divertingly characteristic, we will give
it here:—
“ Fair and dear ladies 1” (Thus the novelist is
wont to address his auditory) “ It is a wondrous
thing to see how oftentimes nature hath been pleased
to hide within the most misshapen forms the most
wondrous treasures of soul, which is evident in the
persons of two of our fellow-citizens, of whom I
shall now briefly discourse to you. Messer Forese
da Rabatta, the advocate, being a personage of the
VOL. I. D