Early Italian Painting to 1400 - Oertel R.

Author: Oertel R.

Tags: history european history painting prarger publisher early italian painting

Year: 1968

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Text

GARLY
PAINTINQ
TO 1400
(

6 *
o
m<

£
Q
v

x
•'

PRAEGER

18.MJ

Early Italian
Painting to i4oo
ROBERT OERTEL
The glory

of Italian Renaissance art

has

overshadowed the work of

lier

Italian masters.

number

tury, a great

ear-

In the past cenof panel paint-

and frescoes of extraordinary
importance have come to light, and

ings

these masterpieces reveal a hitherto

unknown
In

outstanding richness.

art of

Early Italian Painting,

art his-

torian Robert Ocrtcl, director of the

picture gallery of the State

Museum

Berlin-Dahlcm, gives a complete
account of Italian painting from the
in

Dark Ages

the threshold of the

Renaissance. Beginning with the earliest

examples in the

fifth to

centuries, he advances to the

seventh

monu-

mental works of the eleventh century such as Sant'Angclo in Formis and the development of panel
painting in the following two cen-

—
—

turies.

The major

part of the

book

Cimabue, Duccio,

Simonc Martini,

the Lorcnzettis, and,

concentrates

above
This

Giotto.

all,

the

painting

book on

first

include

early Italian

fourteenth

the

century, thereby emphasizing the

full

Giotto as a
culmination of what went before him
as well as an influence on later painthistorical significance of

ers.

thorough discussion of paint-

ing in Assisi and

Rome

at the

turn

of the thirteenth century introduces
the core

of the

book — the study

Giotto's entire career.

Questions of

attribution are considered,

and there

study of technique
and the relation between design and
execution. Giotto's contemporaries,
the great Sienese masters, are presenis

fascinating

ted individually and in relation to the

Florentine master. Finally, the author
describes

the

development of the
up to the time

schools of the Trecento

of the penetration of "International

Gothic" into

Italy.

Continued on back

flap

rE~

"Bi

Early Italian Painting to 1400

Early
Italian

Painting
to 1400

ROBERT OERTEL

Frederick A. Praeger, Publishers

New York

•

Washington

Books that matter
Published in the United States of America in 1968

by Frederick A. Praeger,
111

Fourth Avenue,

Inc., Publishers

New

York, N. Y. 10003

1966 in Stuttgart, Germany, by

W. Kohlhammer GmbH,

Stuttgart Berlin Koln Mainz

Printed in

West Germany by W. Kohlhammer GmbH, Stuttgart

BfiACiMin 1
C4f

Contents

Foreword.

page

Introduction

The

The eleventh and

Early Tuscan panel-painting

Florence and Siena in the Duecento

Assisi

Giotto

Giotto and his pupils

early

and

Middle Ages

twelfth centuries

Rome

the early years

Plates 1-J2

113

Duccio

195

Simone Martini

202

and Ambrogio Lorenzetti

Pietro

Orcagna and

The Triumph

his circle

Death

218

240

247

Plates 73-128

249

The end

309

Trecento painting outside Tuscany

317

Notes on the text

335

Index

372

of the Trecento in Florence

Foreword

Works

of art need a receptive eye

of our

own

direct

today

as all

its

historical context.

by reference

will elude us.

Thus

our

that the reality of the past

The

come

This

life.

past.

true

There

art of the past. Familiarity

Art history

attempts to arrive at historical truth:

past except

we must

they are to

with what is being done
necessary for an understanding of ancient art - and it can only be
approach to the

understood

dox

time and even more so of works of the distant

own

same para-

cannot comprehend the

experience, and yet

at variance

we hope

subject to the

are not

aware

with our present experience, the truth

works of an

to understand the

try to grasp the significance of their strange

early master

and unfamiliar elements.

rediscovery of early Italian painting was preceded by a long prepara-

tory phase that extended back as far as the end of the eighteenth century, and

indeed some useful

work

teenth century. For a

in this field

good

part of our

had already been done

in the seven-

knowledge of medieval works

of art

we are indebted to the antiquarian interests of the Baroque era. Furthermore,
many old paintings and mosaics, now lost, were preserved in Baroque engravings and drawings. These copies have

day

research.

become

indispensable to present-

was only towards the end of the eighteenth century, however,

that this antiquarian interest

proach. This was

when

was converted

into an authentic historical ap-

Italian scholars first started to

engage in systematic

research into the records, including those of the Middle Ages, for the pur-

The

poses of art history.
at that time,

wanted
It

'antiques',

was

left

first

collections of Italian Primitives

but the predominant interest was

not works of

to the

were founded

still

antiquarian: collectors

to a

more thorough under-

art.

Romantics to open the

way

standing of the works of the early Italian masters. In about 1800, French,
English,

and German

est in this period.

ings
art

art lovers, as well as the Italians,

became known through books and other

were dispersed

began

to take

an inter-

Large collections were formed, and wall- and panel-paintpublications.

in the process of secularization

and found

Many works
their

way

in to

Foreword

museums and

Those

private collections.

aware of pre-Raphaelite painting,

as it

interested in the arts at last

was then

became

characteristically called.

the surge of admiration for the Renaissance in the latter part of the

first

nineteenth century obscured this interest in the art of the earlier Primitive

which was regarded merely

period,

That

sance'.

of Assisi.

It is

telen, that

as the

'preliminary stage of the Renais-

how Henry Thode described it in
only in our own century, thanks

1885 in his book on St Francis
particularly to Friedrich Rin-

have again realized the greatness of Giotto

mind

influence of his powerful

centre of the present work.

is still

theme

Its

artist,

and the

growing. Giotto therefore stands
in

broad terms

at the

the prelude to Giotto,

the extent of his historical significance (which has only recently been recog-

and

nized),

A
eries.

wide

his

stylistic influence.

book
monograph of

substantial part of the

Rintelen's

approach to Giotto, the

first

concerned with these very recent discov-

19 12

on Giotto

kind that

its

is still

a lasting

record of an

accord with our present-

day interpretation. But precisely because Rintelen fastened so accurately on
he missed the

the topical values of Giotto's

art,

ficance, the full course of his

development, and the wide range of

ence.

Both

account

aspects of Giotto, the historical

form

are to

Italian painting

artist's

and the

a true picture of

him

true historical signi-

artistic,

his influ-

must be taken into

today.

before Giotto, especially the rich and characteristic panel-

painting of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, has to a large extent been

rediscovered only in recent decades, and the process has not yet
end.

New

works of

that period,

been concealed beneath
similarly

many

been discovered.

It is

The

some

coming

to light.

And

of unique importance, have only recently

part of our task to

tant of these discoveries,

to an

which have hitherto escaped notice or have

later paintings, are constantly

wall-paintings,

come

draw

attention to the

and to indicate the most recent

more impor-

scientific conclusions.

notes are devoted mainly to this purpose.

Since the

first

further increased, and the

come more

book in 1953 the range of discoveries has
discussion of what is known has extended and be-

appearance of

this

penetrating. Relevant

in the text as far as possible,

In the illustrations, a
to be reproduced.

but

number

We have

new findings have been taken into account
many had to be assigned to the notes.
of

well-known masterpieces inevitably had

attempted, however, to include

many

illustra-

tions as possible of newly-discovered material or recently restored works.

author

indebted to scholars and friends for

contributions,

which

are

acknowledged

their valuable suggestions

in the relevant notes to the text.

The
and

Introduction

our search for the beginnings of

Italian painting, a

around 1300

the obvious turning-point. Like

Dante

language and poetry, Giotto, in painting, stood
of

new

study of the main lines

development provides an apparently simple answer. The period

of historical

in the history of Italian

at the threshold of centuries

development. With the appearance of these two Florentines,

assumed her

awakening
through

distinctive national role in

at the

Western

civilization.

beginning of the fourteenth century did

political activity,

nor was

Italy

The intellectual
not come about

primarily due to economic and social

was the achievement of two artistic geniuses. The development
states - the first independent Italian accomplishment in the field of

advances.
of city

political organization

in itself

- could do no more than prepare the ground, and was

only an expression of particular

each other.

From

tragic quarrel

the resulting restraints

with

Ins native city;

interests, often in bitter rivalry

Dante found

release

with

only through a

Giotto disregarded those restraints from

the very beginning.

A new era in
the Trecento

the history of art had begun. Seen

'early' period,

Giotto

its

from

the

High

Renaissance,

beginning, and everything before

him prehistory. The new movement, which started around 1300, spread beyond national boundaries even in Giotto's own time. Dante's influence remained
confined to the regions where the Italian language was known, but the language of painting created by Giotto was understood north of the Alps too,

where

it left

early traces. 1 Italian artists,

Sienese origin active in Avignon,

was no lack of native

above

became the

tury was also a period of change and spiritual

simple

his

Burgundian miniature

style,

the painters of

Roman and

inspiration of Europe.

There

where the fourteenth cenrevival. However, without the

creative talent in the north,

impulse initiated by Giotto and
art of the

all

contemporaries neither the refined courtly
painters,

nor Master Bertram's powerful

nor the exuberant flowering of Bohemian painting

at the

time

Introduction

of Charles

IV and

son Wenceslas, would have been possible. Even the

his

van Eyck brothers owed
Italian painting initiated

role.

The

And

elements of their style to the revival of

turning-point around 1300

whole of Western

the

essential

under Giotto.

again

was

art as

it is

European

important in the development of

in the history of Italian art.

only a century

Italy,

had already assumed

Italy
is

later, that

was the

first

European

country to cross from the Middle Ages into the modern age. This process,
the start of the Renaissance, took place with almost unbelievable swiftness

and vigour. Historians have attempted

to set

back the decisive moment, and

to detect the roots of the Renaissance in the fourteenth

and even

teenth century; they have also tried to do the reverse

tinuing survival of medieval trends well into the Renaissance.

north of the Alps

at the countries

suffices to

put

all

in the thir-

con-

stressing the

But

a glance

and

these qualifications

reservations in their right perspective.

The

transition

was more

clearly

and decisively marked

any other country.

half of the fifteenth century than in

chiefly in art, as

had been the

post-medieval concept of
expression in the visual

case in the earlier transition

and above

all

in painting.

perspective, initiated in Florence about 1420,

of space based

ysis

manifested

was

on mathematical laws which

itself

around 1300. The

based on natural science found

life

arts,

in Italy in the first

its first

The technique

vivid

of central

product of the same anal-

later

made

possible the ad-

vance of natural science and the discoveries of Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo.

and

Never before or

since has there

been such close contact between

science. Artists finally succeeded in ridding themselves of the social

intellectual

trammels of the Middle Ages. The

Italian art thus

came

to an end.

But

origins so unequivocally? Perhaps our

first

phase in the history of

really possible to

first brief

art

and

determine the

survey has oversimplified the

problem.

The

belief that the intellectual

beginning of

and

artistic

awakening of 1300 marked the

Italian history in the full sense of the

was

a conviction current

significant tradition:

epoch

with the great achievements

itself.

Parallel

history developed.

numerous

in art a consciousness of

A sense of history already runs through Dante's great poem.

Although the poet himself
his

word rests on a long and
among the people of the

still

historical figures

clung to the ancient traditions and although

were only symbols and examples

for his

com-

plex theological argument, the Divine Comedy had an influence on the historical

awareness of succeeding generations that can hardly be overestimated.

Dante's commentators contributed as

much

the official chroniclers of the Trecento.

to the Italians' sense of history as

Towards

own

find Italians beginning to write their

number

that time Filippo Villani introduced a

work on famous

phies of painters into his
decessor,

the end of the century

art history.

Cimabue, were hailed

extinct' art of painting. 2

the

and

Florentines. Giotto

men who had

Introduction

of biograhis pre-

revived the 'almost

These two, and Giotto's more important pupils,

were discussed with brevity and accuracy. At about the same time Cennino
Cennini wrote II libro deWArte, a manual for painters describing the techniques
of the workshops of the late Giotto school. 3

from Greek

ment

in a

into Latin,

textbook written in the

ing the Byzantine
is

and made

spirit of the

style, stands for

writes, 'Giotto translated art

modern,' a surprisingly perceptive

the past

which Giotto had superseded.

also significant that this second-generation pupil of the great

sidered the 'modern' style - in

ment -

which he no doubt included

to be Latin rather than Italian. In this sentence

own

his

of about 1450, took the

of the
tion

new

same

classical,

Middle Ages were only

achieve-

Cennino formulated

he too looked on Giotto

the conqueror of the maniera greca.

art,

between three periods -

ever, the

line:

master con-

the basic thesis of Florentine art historians. Lorenzo Ghiberti, in his
tarii

state-

Middle Ages. 'Greek', mean-

He draws

medieval and modern.

Commen-

as the

founder

a sharp distinc-

him,

how-

period of decay, a historical vacuum.

This division into periods was the humanists' conception of history transposed
into the history of art. 4 Realizing as

we do

today that Giotto was rooted in

the Middle Ages as firmly as his contemporary Dante,

Giorgio Vasari, the sixteenth-century biographer of
rinascita in this

Giotto's time,

context for the

first

and not the period

modern

age.

artists,

remarkable

his

own

used the

age.

word

today regard

modern

as the Renaissance.

age.

used the idea

Middle Ages, the rudeness and barbarism of the Gothic

era, to intensify its contrast

re-born

find

time; but he meant the rebirth of art in

that

Vasari saw Giotto as the true initiator of the
of the 'darkness' of the

modernity of Giotto's rather than

that Ghiberti emphasizes the

Thus

with the

brilliance

both of antiquity and of the

Ghiberti's basic approach remained valid for Vasari.

Nevertheless, Vasari realized that the Middle Ages had been a constructive

and creative period, although
Furthermore, with

ern' period, beginning

decessor. His

work,

this

his greater

did not moderate his condemnation of them.

knowledge, he was able to analyze the 'mod-

about 1300, with more discrimination than

first

published in 1550, followed by a second,

his pre-

much

en-

larged edition in 1568, determined ideas about Italian art until well into
the nineteenth century. 5 This lasting influence of Vasari
his impressive

and elaborate theory of the evolution of

application to the change that took place

was due partly

art, especially in

to
its

between the thirteenth and four-

Introduction

teenth centuries, and partly to his postulation of the basic division into periods.

For

many

years to come, the sharp dividing line

distort the

image of

drawn by

Vasari was to

earlier periods.

all

This view established so early by Renaissance art historians was
in

essentials at the

its

time of Jakob Burckhardt.

a grossly over-simplified
rate

and

view of

distinct period of

immense

We now realize

We see

history.

still

cultural productivity,

and

spective medieval

But the change

made

way
was

our approach to

us see apparently familiar facts in a

stands at the beginning. His

new

the

first

'their' re-

no longer

decisive step

on the

to the Renaissance, the foundation for everything that followed,
also the climax, the

in the distant past.

consummation of many

Gothic culture was

now

that

was

also

its

artistic tradition;

its

culmination in Europe in about 1300, and

essential

itself.

art history, in

realize

classical art,

its

style.

creative self-

neglected: medieval

was neither Gothic, nor Byzantine, nor simply

Romanesque in the sense in which the word is applied to
the Alps. But can it be called 'Italian' in the same way that
an expression of the

element in the formation of Giotto's

admiration for rediscovered

painting in Italy

for essential elements of his style. Furthermore,

There was a third element which Renaissance
assurance and

but

diverse trends originating

did not just supersede the Byzantine

indeed he was indebted to

was

art history has also

perspective. Giotto

work was indeed

in the course

European nations have been rediscovering
in

that

the Middle Ages as a sepa-

of the last fifty years
art.

accepted

Italian spirit;

and

so,

how far

back does

the art north of
Giotto's art
Italian

was

medieval

painting reach?

know

of hundreds of panel-paintings, mainly

from Latium and Umbria,
twelfth century.

The

that

still

The

also

in the

and

earlier times suggest that since the early Christian era the tradition

disappeared in

and

ruption at

all.

past, until

But

and even

increasing discoveries of panel-paintings

of panel-painting - like the art of icons in the East

centuries,

from Tuscany, but

in the thirteenth

origins of tins craftsmanlike, but highly developed

prolific, art are lost in obscurity.

from

were done

Italy.

Wall-paintings were produced in Italy throughout the

especially in
7

- had never completely

Rome where there seems to have been no interwe have to look even further into the

trace these roots

arrive at the origins of Christian art, the

these cannot possibly be called Italian.

we must

catacomb paintings.

search for a

new

point

of departure.

From the time it ceased to be the centre of the Roman empire, Italy merged
into a new supra-national community. During the early and later parts of the
12

Middle Ages the unity of Europe was

a palpable reality.

Church and empire

knew no national frontiers. The universality of religion and the common
mode of daily life remained undisturbed even when the differences between
the two dominant powers intensified, and when particular interests pursued
their own ends. The great universal principles of the system were not seriously challenged until the end of the thirteenth century. Thomas Aquinas,
the greatest philosopher of the

Cologne just

he did

Middle Ages, lived and taught

in his native Italy.

The

upper

intellectual

and

in Paris
class

Introduction

was not

the only group that felt

itself related to the whole of Europe. The religious
by St Francis of Assisi, a genuinely popular movement, spread
few years of the saint's death (1226) to all Western countries. At

revival led

within a

was

that time Italian national awareness

still

an embryonic stage. 8 St Francis

himself, in addition to Italian, spoke Provencal, the

prepared the

way

in Italy for the 'vulgar' tongue.

Romance

offshoot that

a written language Italian

barely existed before the beginning of the thirteenth century; at least there
are

works.

traces of literary

only one

was

have), Italy

an awareness of

itself.

language

among

last

Whenever

taken

as the criterion

Western nations

the

(it is

awaken

were taken

'national' standpoints

the
to

in the

course of medieval controversies, they were merely tactical expedients, to be
discarded

when no

longer required. Since the decline of antiquity Italy had

indeed been only a 'geographical expression'.

emperors mention the 'Kingdom of
territory of

of Spoleto

and Benevento

Rome

own.

Sandwiched

Petri,

was

itself

the Middle

Ages did not

like to

and the Normans ruled

unite the peninsula
the papacy; a

new

theless Frederick

from

power not

And

so,

II,

with

his

The Byzantines, the SaraThe Hohenstaufens' attempt to

ambition to turn the country into a single

Italian unity.

from

Even Dante

still

hoped

for

its

state,

real-

well after the attempt had failed, the Hohenstaufen dream

can talk about

similar question applies

and France. Today

spirit of unity.

that until the

were not conscious of sharing

again whether

foreign rule - that of Anjou - replaced the old one. Never-

must be admitted, however,

Italians

citizens in

Italians.

in the south.

contributed to the emergence of an Italian
It

its

the south collapsed in the face of opposition

had implanted the idea of
ization.

be called

between the

the papal state, with political
a territorial

underrated in comparison to the emperor and the pope, and

cens,

German

the duchies

in looser association.

north and the south was the Patrimonium
its

the records of

Lombardy Lombardy and Tuscany, with

formed the

interests entirely of

When

they refer to the regions that once

Italy',

end of the thirteenth century the

common

'Italian'

culture,

culture

and

may

be asked

art before that time.

with equal justification to the cultures of Germany

hesitate to

answer

in the affirmative

with the same

Introduction

alacrity as

elements

we did a
common

short while ago. Perhaps

to all these nations

should consider the medieval

relevant to our assessment of

history than the peculiar national characteristics that separated them. Perhaps,

too,
until

are reading something into those times

much

clear-cut solution will never be possible, but

question in mind.

ening nation,
expression.

It is

were members

must not

from

mainly craftsmen. Their

The

itself,

can find the

however, that

forget,

that in later times.

from

of the clergy;

of creative activity.

were dictated by

and the margin
fact, artistic

left

be useful to bear

mode

work

for the

the beginning

its

exponents

were
from our conception
was unknown; artistic creation

Choice of subject and formal presen-

an extent which

can no longer conceive,

was

individual expression

artist's

of self-

Middle Ages had

differed greatly

idea of individuality

rules to

first possibilities

art in the

this

which an awak-

the twelfth century onwards they

to a large extent only reproductive.

tation

will

true that pictorial art offers a field in

unaware of

still

a function different

was

which did not materialize

later.

expression was entirely governed

over the centuries, which transcended the

negligible. In

theological formulas evolved

of any individual and also

life

all

national and regional peculiarities.

The
Artists

was

intellectual content of art

common

to the

whole Western world.

could wander from country to country and find the same familiar

when no local talent was available, they
The painter Johannes, an Italian, was sum-

assignments everywhere. Frequently,

were summoned from

far afield.

moned by Otto III to decorate the cathedral at Aachen, and builders were
brought to Germany from Lombardy and even from Greece. Johannes, himself raised

for his services to the rank of bishop

court of the bishop of Liege.
century, the

Lombard

show

of local traditions.

The freedom

frontiers. Portable

whose

world.

upon medieval works

movement

art,

way

at the

of the

artists

known

to us

of art as products

was

unlimited

with each other extended beyond

illuminated manuscripts and prototypes

to the

most

Particularly in the early part of the

a picture of constant interchange

of the eleventh

was summoned by Abbot Gauzlin

close contact

works of

for wall-paintings found their

emperor 9 died

the Loire. 10 These examples,

the danger of looking

as that of their patrons,
all

the

after, in the first half

painter Nivardus

of Fleury to his monastery

chance,

Not long

between

distant regions of the

Middle Ages,
all

parts of

Western

art history presents

Christendom.

The

who

Pilgrims

visited the capital of

early

Christendom

Middle Ages

in the

the great basilicas decorated with extensive picture cycles.

Middle Ages found

The

early Christian

mosaics in Santa Maria Maggiore showing scenes from the Old Testament
are

still

extant.

San Paolo fuori

rows of

Rows
le

pictures,

of glittering pictures cover the long walls of the nave. 1

mura must have been an even more

one above the other -

both

sides of the nave.

from

the

was

Two

the right, and

from

the lives of the Apostles

According to tradition there was a similar arrangement of pictures

left.

life

impressive sight.

not mosaics - extended along

each wall there were about forty separate scenes,

Old Testament on

in the old St Peter's.

the

frescoes,

the walls of the nave, in double rows, scenes

of Christ faced scenes

from the Old Testament.

a fresco cycle of the life of St Peter. 2

from

In the vestibule there

The impact this profusion

must have made on the innocent eyes of medieval pilgrims

of pictures

hardly con-

ceivable today.

and patrons from

Painters

representation, authenticated

naturally also affected

over Europe found in

all

by church authority and

the style of these works, and especially

ings of the early Christian era, in

painting survived.

The

convey

This

Roman,

a sense of space

now had

were

by the paint-

spirit

of classical

the highly-developed

through techniques of

The awareness

to be reacquired,

light

and shade,

of classical art and

was thus never completely

its

skills,

lost.

the reason for the exceptional position of Italian, and especially

art in the

swept across

Middle Ages. Even the Byzantine influence

Italy lost

its

imitators in

that continually

Rome. The early Christian narrative cycles,
pictures from the Old and New Testaments, had

force in

in particular the series of

many

which something of the

movement, remnants of

foreshortening and perspective.

although

the 'correct'

spectator had constantly before his eyes well-designed

figures in animated, expressive
ability to

Rome

tradition; but they

Rome

to the transition of 1300. 3

itself,

in Latium,

and even further

afield, right

Even the elaborate decoration of the nave of San

Francesco at Assisi reveals the iconographic influence of the

Roman

frescoes,

The

early

Middle Ages

which

despite

some

later

overpainting go back to the fifth century. 4 Giotto

Roman

himself was deeply indebted to these

Roman

thorough study of

Only

a fraction of the

wall-paintings

former wealth of

to enable us to see the outline of

monumental

painting.

made

models, and evidently

from pagan

times.

Rome has survived,

more than

but

millennium of

enough

it is

ecclesiastical

The complex of Santa Maria Antiqua, which stood at
Forum Romanum, was rediscovered under

the foot of the Palatine near the

recent buildings after a long period of oblivion.

from

are wall-paintings

on top
in Italy

of others,

reveal the multitude of intellectual

during that turbulent
trends as

between the realism of the
Christian

art,

However,

intent

era.

was

Rome

classical style

on representing

at that time.

and the new

Above

the

trends

artistic

can see that the

new

classical tradition

Madonna, on

the

The

great breach

language of

pictorial

defined.

from Santa Maria Antiqua,

a frag-

transcendental style had already

completely.

some painted

and

was not yet

spiritual values,

gained ground in the sixth century 6 But there

Antiqua to show that the

alone there

Art has never been so international and

in the oldest surviving painting

mentary Madonna,

this site

the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries,

which

full of conflicting

also evidence in Santa

had not exhausted

its

Maria

influence

famous Palimpsest Wall, there

head of an angel from an Annunciation, which

part of a layer of paintings

done about the second quarter of the seventh century. 7 This fragment, painted

comes

in a gentle, atmospheric style,

sixth-century manner.

should never have taken

we had

not

as a surprise after the severity of the

known

the sequence of the layers

this illusionistic style for

The paintings of Santa Maria

foris portas in Castelscprio, the

frescoes discovered in Italy in recent decades, also

the later of the two.

show

most important

traces of the classical

tradition that survived in the seventh century. 8 This small church north of

Milan and not

far

from Tradate

ment. The frescoes, in half

and the childhood of

is all

life-size,

that remains of an early medieval settle-

showing scenes from the

life

of Mary

Jesus, are painted in a lively sketchy technique (pi. l).

These figures convey a gentle animation and

a sense of

movement and mental

them sharply from the figures in the 'transcendental'
style, which are usually presented in a severely frontal view and without any
reference to space or time. The bold manner is reminiscent of the most daring

alertness,

which

distinguish

improvisations of late classical illusionistic painting and
especially the landscape

and architectural motifs,

much

of the detail,

derived from

classical art.

But we do not know if they were in fact direct survivals of classicism, nor
where the painters came from who created works in this late classical tradition on Lombard soil. Perhaps they were Hellenistic Syrians or Alexandrians,

driven from their native lands by the tide of Islam, or Byzantines
fled

from

the iconoclasts.

who had

perhaps they were simply local masters trained

or Eastern models. Since the discovery of the frescoes

late classical

all

The

early

Middle Ages

these

have been considered, and dates have been suggested varying from

possibilities

the beginning of the seventh to the second quarter of the tenth century.

which come remarkablv

rightly been pointed out that characteristics

has

close to

the Byzantine manner, such as the treatment of draperies with sharp metallic

edges and white highlights, appear side by side with late
elements.

But

seprio frescoes arc fresher

- and there

possible

seventh or the

classical illusionistic

comparison with works of the tenth century the Castel-

first

and more original

in style.

would

therefore

external supporting evidence - to place

them

seem

in the

half of the eighth century, despite the inadequate proof

and the absence of comparable works of that period. 9

The sharp
of the

difference of opinion about the Castelscprio frescoes

complex development of

in the

an example

and the co-existence

other great post-war discovery, the frescoes

church of the Carolingian monastery of St Johann zu Miinster (MiiGraubiinden, a

stair) in

problems for research.

much

ago, and since 1947 the

whitewash

magne,

in a

situated

first

larger find than Castelscprio, also poses several
to light a

few decades

whole decoration has been found underneath
intact state. 10

passes used

the stvle of painting

quarter of the ninth century,

we know

gian art north of the Alps as

the

The monastery, founded by Charle-

on one of the mountain

Though

work came

small part of this

remarkably

into upper Italy.

the

early medieval painting

The

of a great variety of styles.

has
it.

by the Franks

as routes

undoubtedly Carolingian of

little

common

There are some

with Carolin-

associations

with

the St Gall and north Italian manuscript illuminations, but they are confined
to the figure types

and

11
to particular formal elements.

other place in the north, or in

power and monumentality
details

rows of

pictures,

scenes: the top

know

a popular narrative style of equal

existed at that time.

The

illusionistic effect of the

framework. The walls on each

side of the

room have

one above the other, each divided into eight separate

row, which continues across the entrance wall,

David and Absalom; the

where

diminished by the clarity of the composition and the architectural

severity of the painted
five

Italy,

life

of Christ

shown

tells

in the four

the story

lower rows.

the east side there are three apses covered with narrative and symbolic

representations,

and the west wall has

huge Last Judgment, the

earliest

known

to us.
It is

this

natural to think of Italy as the

typical

combination of

late

most

classical

likely place for the creation of

and Byzantine components. The

The

early

Middle Ages

work

technique and style are crude and careless, but the

displays such

com-

could only have been executed by a group of crafts-

plete assurance that

men accustomed

monumental assignments. Everything

lished tradition,

which hardly

points to an estab-

existed at that time in the north. Indeed

would seem only natural to assign the work for this remote Alpine monastery,
on the route towards the south, to Italian painters, presumably from Milan. 12
This then may be the answer to the problem presented by the monument
of Carolingian painting in the Alps and if no other purpose has been served
;

reminded

are at least

that the borders

between the separate

Middle Ages were

in the early centuries of the

fluid

and

work

Careful restoration has recently disclosed yet another
painting,

though

very fragmentary

in a

of San Salvatore in Brescia,

decorative scheme

possible,

rough reconstruction of the
are harsher

the Miistair paintings, but the difference

them

monumental

little later

than

richly articulated

although only isolated fragments of the figura-

They

tive scenes are preserved.

regions

the decoration of the nave

which was probably done only

the paintings at Miistair. 13

state. It is

artistic

easily crossed.

in the Carolingian period. 14

and more vigorous
not so great

The drawings
and

paint, the so-called sinopie, are of special interest

in style than

as to rule

out dating

preserved underneath the
will

be referred to again. 15

Until the startling discoveries of recent decades, the only larger ninth-

century fresco cycle
far

from Monte

known

to us

was

racy: the figure of the abbot Epiphanius, the
places

San Vincenzo

that of

Volturno, not

Cassino. 16 These paintings can be dated with relative accu-

them between 826 and 843

(pi. 2).

painted with exceptional freedom. There

nor any intention to follow

a traditional

donor

The

apparently no stereotype design,

formula.

been derived from several sources, and yet

in the Crucifixion scene,

lively expressive figures are

it is

The

original

style appears to

have

and progressive rather

than eclectic. There are associations with the north, but these are of such a
general character that

it is

hardly possible to classify the paintings

Carolingian. 17 All that can be said with certainty

as plainly

that the northern influences

were transmitted by way of Monte Cassino, within whose domain the abbey
of San Vincenzo

Monte

We
for

lies.

Cassino, the parent monastery of the Benedictine Order, was - as

shall see later

- the centre of brisk

can perhaps assume that

we have some documentary

examples of monumental
dicate

this

whether

of a school at

at that

Monte

art,

evidence to

apart

time the

artistic activity in

was already

from

the eleventh century.

so in the Carolingian period,

this effect;

but there are no other

the San Vincenzo paintings, to in-

artistic projects

of the abbots

were products

Cassino. Art-historical attemps to establish correlations

period remain dubious owing to the scarcity of surviving works.

in this early

Yet new discoveries

in southern Italy

have greatly increased our over-all

The

early

Middle Ages

knowledge of early medieval painting. Since 1942 wall-paintings were discovered in a small oratory in the Basilica dei SS. Martiri in Cimitile, near Nola. 18

Though
listic

an incomplete

and iconographic

from

narrative scenes

formal language

they are of considerable sty-

state of preservation,

interest. In

the

addition to the apse decoration, there are

of Christ, his Passion and Resurrection.

life

powerful but popular, almost coarse, and on

the works can be dated around 900. This date

stylistic

The

grounds

corroborated by architectural

evidence and can be supported by historical argument. 19

The fragments

of figure compositions, discovered in 1947 in Santa Sofia

Benevento, are probably even older than the Cimitile frescoes, and their

linear style

Vincenzo

from

Volturno, but

Rome,

- possibly

after the

earthquake

in 847,

necessary to restore the church. 20

reminiscent of San

probable that the Benevento discoveries date

it is

the middle of the ninth century

which made
In

more animated. This dynamic manner

number

of ninth-century mosaics and paintings indicate that

there too a specific medieval style, dominated largely
in the process of formation.

typical

Ascension, painted about 850, in the

example

Lower Church

linear elements,

was

the wall-painting of the
of San Clemente. 21

The

attendant apostles, concisely and confidently drawn, are gathered in dramat-

groups

ically expressive

that the

two

symmetrical.
scenes

(pi.

The development

from Santa Maria

around 880

jb). Closer observation reveals the surprising fact

lively, well-articulated

(pi.

groups of apostles are almost completely

of this style

seen again in a series of narrative

Egiziaca (temple of Fortuna Virilis), probably done

3a). 2,2 These compositions are as expressive as northern

of the late Carolingian period, but have a greater clarity
ial

structure.

The

Italian talent

apparent here, but there

Rome,

still

works

and superior pictor-

becoming

for

monumental composition

sign of a specifically local tradition. In

elsewhere in Europe, the tenth century brought a decline in creative

force. Its revival

towards the end of the century, which eventually also led

to considerable achievements here, seems to have originated in other centres.

The

earliest

eleventh and twelfth centuries

and most important example of the revival of monumental paint-

ing in Italy

found

in the north,

not far from

of the apse of the former parish church of San

Cantu. 1

The

date of the

Como.

It is

Vincenzo

the decoration

in Galliano near

work can be determined with some

reference to the consecration of the church in 1007;

it is

accuracy by

therefore a

Lombard

counterpart of the paintings at Oberzell on the island of Reichenau which

were done possibly

decade or two

Ariberto da Intimiano, was

of Milan

of San Vincenzo,

by Emperor Henry

whose work has survived in Galwere brought by Ariberto from Milan. 2 As happens so often with med-

in 1018,

liano

The donor

earlier.

made archbishop

and

ieval art,

in all probability the painters

can here deduce something about the style of a flourishing and

from an isolated work, fortuitously preserved in an out-ofOnly in such a context can the paintings in this rural church,
of little importance at the time of its founding, be explained. The low, broad
apse is transformed by the paintings into an imposing monumental structure.
The figures on the vaults, although preserved only in fragments, are among
influential school

the-way

the

place.

most impressive heritages of the Middle Ages. In addition there

tive scenes of
tion.

amazing

liveliness

doubt the painters

and unusually

work

here

rich

arc narra-

and original ornamenta-

commanded

all

the

knowledge

available at the time.

The main figure, Christ in Benediction, looms in enormous supernatural size.
The prophets, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, bow to the ground and prepare the way
for him with their fervent gestures (pi. 4). Next to them, holding scrolls with
the inscriptions Peticio and Postulatio, stand the two archangels who intercede
on behalf

mankind. At

their sides choirs of saints offer their

martyrdom. 3 The colours glow with

a cold fire.

crowns of

Jeremiah wears a bluish-grey

robe with green shadows and white highlights, and a strident brick-red cloak.

The

flesh

done

ochre with green and red shadows. Sparkling white lights

flicker

over the surfaces disrupting their

a lively plastic
influences,

frescoes

own

cohesion but awakening instead

This, as well as the facial types, clearly reveals Byzantine

life.

may

but the painters

also

have resorted directly to

late classical

and mosaics. However, the decorative highlights, often applied

The

eleventh

and twelfth
centuries

sharp linear strokes, are also reminiscent of the paintings at Oberzell.

which

of the St Vincent legend

Reichenau

closer affinity to the
is

and the

plainly 'Ottoman',

the lower zone of the apse

fill

style.

The

representation of the architecture

free treatment of the surfaces

the Byzantine manner. This technique recalls the

Henry

miniatures, the Book of Pericopes of

The

equally unlike

contemporary Reichenau

and the Bamberg Apocalypse.

II,

gradations in size according to spiritual importance of the central figures

in the

main painting

works.

The enormous mandorla surrounding

in the apse

another feature in

influence, but the motif of the standing Christ
tine art

was

familiar only with half-length

the Pantocrator,

generally
is

The scenes
show an even

and

in countries

Christ
is

common

particularly

northern

Roman. 4 Byzan-

and enthroned representations of

north of the Alps the Salvator

seated in the chair of the apocalyptic judge. 5

shown

with these

also a sign of

the only closer connection between Galliano and

Mundi

also

However,

this

painting.

The

Roman

decoration of the apse of San Bastianello on the Palatine, done at about the

same time,

iooo, also has an upright figure of Christ, but artistically

it is

provincial and not comparable with the grandiose creation at Galliano. 6

The

schematic arrangement of the figures in several horizontal rows
ferior to the free

grouping and careful relationships

the Galliano work.
classical

The

in-

ornamental motifs taken directly from

Roman

con-

anterior border of the arch of the apse, painted in an illu-

manner with glass goblets, fish, crabs, turtles and other marine creatures,

unique in medieval

frieze

in their use of

models, the painters of Galliano are superior to their

temporaries.
sionistic

Even

much

in scale that distinguish

Features such as the elaborate decorative

art.

and other ornamentation have

meander

striking parallels in the Oberzell paintings.

The association between Galliano and the artistic centre of south-west Germany does not seem to have been of an accidental or sporadic nature.
It is certain that the style of the Galliano work is not to be attributed to a
local painter or

any

single important artist.

major work of Lombard painting
at the

junction of

all

the

main

in the

stylistic

are confronted here with a

Ottoman

peroid, a

work

that stands

trends of the time. There even seems

be a connection with Carolingian painting, for example with the paintings

Stjohann

at Miistair: the

bold technique and ease of the monumental

are clearly the product of a kindred

ings at Oberzell are

somewhat

temperament.

abstract

and more

style

comparison, the paint-

in the classical spirit.

There the

The

eleventh

and twelfth
centuries

element

pictorial

everything
It

would be
was the

art. It

kept in balance by line and ornament, whereas in Galliano

dominated by the original

pictorial force.

natural to suppose that Milan

many

capital of the country,

stood, at least in part, and

ably

still

was

closely associated

its

was the centre of

its

True, none of them

Lombard

metropolitan church, Sant'Ambrogio,

with the donor of San Vincenzo

examples of eleventh-century monumental painting are
itself.

this

great early churches presum-

in Galliano.

still

comparable with the San Vincenzo

directly

but records of the art of those early times have

come down

Some

extant in Milan
apse,

to us so haphaz-

ardly that this does not necessarily invalidate our supposition. Nevertheless,

wherever the actual centre

may have

painting justify the esteem

shown

painters,

Johannes and Nivardus. 8

There

hardly any other area of art history

preservation as medieval
of expression

Lombard
two contemporary

been, the surviving remnants of

in the reports about the

monumental

painting.

dependent on the accidents of

The urge

to create

new modes

often led to the destruction of older works; and conse-

itself

quently there are fewest surviving remnants in just those places where artistic life

was most

prolific

and

tradition

most

ancient. In wall-paintings fresh

were constantly being superimposed on

layers

the early

works

now known

to us

earlier ones. Indeed,

were discovered,

labour, beneath later layers of paint or whitewash.

after

much

most of

painstaking

We can hope to find wall-

paintings in an untouched state of preservation only in places outside the

main

stream of development, or where the creative forces were exhausted at an
early stage.

rare,

however, to come across complete and undamaged

medieval monuments in their original colour. As a rule they are found only
in small,

remote

rural churches,

and only very exceptionally

in larger buil-

These miracles of preservation give us a picture of the period when the

dings.

walls of

all

the churches and chapels of the land

mental paintings. In

was the

all

the leading art centres, pictorial decoration of churches

rule rather than the exception.

were lacking

were covered with monu-

that pictorial representation

was only where means and resources

was confined

to the choir, but even

then some decorative scheme was always sought for the other parts of the

Whenever possible the nave was covered with figurative representain the manner of the great Roman basilicas. Tins practice came to an

edifice.

tions

end only with the appearance of the Gothic

style,

which replaced painted

walls with areas of coloured glass.

The
22

finest

example of an early medieval

ecclesiastical building, fully

corated with paintings and almost completely intact,

found

de-

in Italy. It

Capua9

the basilica of Sant'Angelo in Formis near

Monte Cassino monastery, whose

of the

situated in the vicinity

abbot, Desiderius (1058-86),

tioned as donor in an inscription above the portal. 10 Desiderius'

menname is
is

life at

Monte

Cassino in the second half

of the eleventh century, vividly recorded

by the

chroniclers. 11

associated with the thriving artistic

craftsmen in

skilled

fields,

all

especially mosaicists

from Amalfi and Lombardy.

builders

distinct

and

The

eleventh

and twelfth
centuries

He engaged

from Byzantium and
lively narrative style of

manuscript illumination also developed, valuable examples of which have been
preserved. 12

The mosaics

of the Byzantine masters have

impressive achievements of
later,

can

still

ment extend

monumental painting under

perished, but the

in three rows,

one above the other, along the high walls of the
(pis I, 5). In the apse

awesome and sublime, between symbols

the seated

of the evangelists; beneath

stand the three archangels, St Benedict, and the donor in an abbot's
offering a

The

its

along the

almost completely covered with a Last Judg-

traditional place in the

aisles

West. 14 The narrative painting continues

with scenes from the Old Testament. The

basilica

decorative scheme and choice of scenes are Western, but their

and

stylistic

iconographic elements are predominantly Byzantine. 15 Nevertheless,
doubtful whether

this

of the narrative, the

work

the

of Byzantine or local

compact grouping of the

division of the surfaces, appear to be Italian,

the

Romanesque. Everything

Christ,

blind

him

gown

model of the church. 13

entrance wall opposite

ment, in

little

New Testa-

be seen in Sant'Angelo in Formis. Scenes from the

nave from the west entrance to the main apse
Christ,

all

Desiderius, or a

and

with a

before

him

The vigour

figures, the simple rectangular

and strongly inclined towards

designed for dramatic

his large halo inscribed

man who bows humbly

artists.

its

and

cross,

effect.

dominates

all

The

figure of

the scenes.

The

appears again in the same picture,

his healed eyes at the well (pi. 6b). The adulteress
him hesitantly, while the Pharisees whisper suspiciously and venombehind her back (pi. 6a). The Lord shows his condemnation of her

with sight restored, washing
approaches
ously

accusers

terrified

woman who turns

his stern expression

her face. Although

and the mild gesture he makes towards the

him in contrition and

this art is still

yet with a glint of hope in

primitive in conception and technique,

has profound humanity and great narrative power.

The stocky

figures painted

with coarse brush-strokes in a traditional colour scheme are surprisingly expressive.

eyes,
this

The

faces are

all

variations of a single type

and boldly-marked red cheeks.

simple formula produces

The

And

yet

- narrow forehead,

how much

palette, too,

life

large

and animation

quite limited

bright blue,

yellow and a darker shade of ochre, rich reddish-brown, earthy green,

much

The

eleventh

and twelfth
centuries

chalk-white lavishly applied, and a mixture of the primary colours with

white - that

all.

These meagre resources are handled with masterly

manship but without

Even the

subtlety.

sharpest contrasts are reduced

crafts-

the

harsh blue of the sky in every scene. Firm reddish-brown outlines enclose the
areas that

have been

hastily coloured in.

are told in a popular

though the

and

stylistic origins

from

is,

this

style

stories

Al-

rustic strength.

new

of the painting are unmistakably Byzantine,

emerging.

however, one figure in Sant'Angelo

popular, provincial character type. There

portal in the west vestibule (pi. y). This figure

Formis which diverges

nothing primitive in the

tympanum

half-length figure of the archangel Michael in the

and

and bold, the

lively

way, and the forms have a kind of

distinctive elements are clearly

There

The

main

of the

severe and elegant, remote

delicate; the closely-applied brush-strokes are full of verve.

The

celestial

radiance of this angel and his touch of Hellenistic grace give an impression of

The

unequalled nobility.

face

designed in large clear planes with fascinating

asymmetry. The seemingly accidental difference between the two
face

which appears here
is

producing the

its

and

delicate, sensitive

clearest

cloak

purple ground.

painted with blue and red strokes

The same technique
and

greater subtlety in the modelling of the flesh,

of the vestibule are

The key
vestibule

scenes

done

life

in a similar but

The

not original, but a

was removed

the restoration.

The

upper

angels, in the

between the paintings
lies

later restoration,

in the

con-

in the history of the
its

five pointed-arch

probably of the

late twelfth

the upper lunette fresco above the

main

were done some time

after

indicate that the paintings

austere

used with even

somewhat weaker manner.

existing vestibule, with

made when

discernible again in

of the hermits in the four vaults

and those inside the church probably

century. Observations
portal

the

to the striking stylistic differences

struction of the building.
arcades,

from

by two

the medallion picture of Maria orans, supported

The

art

mature form. The handling of the colours

The

lively.

effect of a

part of the arch. 16

sides of the

and deliberate device of monumental Byzantine

a characteristic

and polished

style of the

two

portal lunettes does

not preclude a date around 1200 or early in the thirteenth century, but
impossible to say whether the paintings are the

work

it is

of a Byzantine artist

or of an Italian trained on Eastern models. 18
In the interior of the basilica, the disparity in style

and time becomes very

obvious. There, too, in the main apse, are the figures of the three archangels,

among them

St Michael, the patron saint of Sant'Angelo (pi. I).

There

doubt that Byzantine models determined the type and posture of the
24

figures,

the sumptuousness of the draperies, the splendid sweep of the wings, and

Sant'Angelo in Formis

•

The main

apse

indeed

the basic pictorial and plastic forms.

all

extremely simplified. The linear expression

But here the technique

frozen into a set formula of

almost mask-like concentration; the colours are reduced to a small number
of strongly contrasting tones.

The Byzantine

seems to dominate the work, has in
time

first
itself.

It is

new

style,

fact

influence,

which

The

eleventh

and twelfth
centuries

at first glance

been only partly assimilated. For the

the powerful 'vulgar' style of Italian painting, asserts

customary

eleventh-century Italian art to talk about a Benedictine

style,

Monte Cassino school, and which
20
is supposed to have greatly influenced painting in Rome.
Tins may be true
of manuscript illumination, which reached its peak in Monte Cassino at the
time of Desiderius, for manuscripts of Monte Cassino did indeed serve as
models for the wall-painters of Rome; but they are actually an eclectic mixture
of local and Byzantine elements. 21 The monumental art of Monte Cassino,
the roots of which are to be found in the

as seen in

had no

The

Sant'Angelo in Formis and in a small group of related monuments,

real effect

Rome. 22
the Lower Church

art in

wall-paintings in

of San

Clemente

Rome, prob-

ably done around noo, mostly have a Western medieval, rather than a

Byzantine, character. 23

With

their elegant,

animated figures and their delicate

harmony of colour, they form a transition between the free style of Ottoman art and the stricter order of the Romanesque. Their affinity with northern
art is unmistakable, yet the sense of form is clearly and typically Italian, even
Roman. It is apparent in the lucid unfolding of the narrative, the confident
balancing of the composition, and finally in certain plastic elements winch are

introduced without disrupting the

compact groups, without

flat

parallel in

Romanesque

northern art

pattern.

The

recurring

at that time, are especially

noteworthy.

example

the vivid scene

showing the mother embracing her rescued

son in the burial chapel of St Clement at the bottom of the Black Sea

The water around

the chapel

swarming with marine

creatures.

(pi. 8).

From

the

from the Chersonese city-gate, and the sea recedes as it does every year on the feast of the saint. The child is well and
healthy after a whole year in the flooded sanctuary. The mother bends passionately over him; in the next scene she presses him thankfully to her bosom.
With naive confidence, the artist suspends the laws of nature in order to conform to the letter of the pious legend but the realistic elements - the chapel
surrounded by water, and the crowd streaming from the city's gate - are not
left,

a procession approaches

;

neglected.

However, the convincing unity

of the picture

not due to the

The

eleventh

and twelfth

visible relationships of the scenes,

but

lies

rather in the even

and colour and the smooth, though severe, flow of

The

centuries

style of

San Clemente with

its

rhythm

form

line.

slender figures, bright colours, and cool

elegant linear manner, had a lasting effect in

Rome

and Latium. The deco-

Rome, not
from Civita Castellana, is probably the closest to it in time. 24 An inscription on the apse painting, presumably done in the first quarter of the twelfth
century, names the Roman painters Johannes, Stephanus and Nicolaus, as the
authors of the work. A boldly drawn figure of Christ draped in a cloak of
ration of the choir

and transept

in Sant'Elia near Nepi, north of

far

yellow ochre - the substitute for gold - towers in the vault of the apse against

background. Attending Christ are Peter and Paul,

a blue
a

a flock of

lambs on

gold ground, angels, and female martyrs in splendid robes. At the

sides of

on the east walls of the transept, the twenty-four elders of the Apomarch in solemn order, arranged in two horizontal rows (pi. p). Scenes

the apse,

calypse

from the Apocalypse and
walls of the transept.

It is

the legend of the founding of the church cover the

the best preserved and artistically most important

monumental cycle of the Middle Ages to survive in the vicinity of Rome.
The paintings in the choir of San Pietro in Tuscania must have been done
at

about the same time. 20 Even in their fragmentary

state

they have a powerful

impact due mainly to the truly gigantic Christ clad in white,
about to sunder the expanse of the main apse. The figure

apex of the apse and bends with
hover

all

around

excitement.

It is

The powerful

(pi. II),

its

and the

rises

curvature. Angels in vigorous
apostles

who

below gaze upwards

movement
in frenzied

an Ascension of striking elemental force and ahead of

style uses bright highlights

and vivid colours

seems

almost to the

its

as the sole

time.

means

of dominating the

huge expanse, and can be regarded

stylistic parallel to

Sant'Angelo in Formis. There seems, however, to be no

derivative connection

between the two works, and the

ponents of Sant'Angelo are completely absent here.

more reminiscent
in

San Vincenzo

The

as a slightly belated

distinct

Some

of the style of the early eleventh century

Byzantine com-

of the details are

which we observed

at Galliano.

from the life of St Peter, preserved on the right wall of the
presbytery in the same church, are quite different (pi. 10a). They are in the
San Clemente style, but advanced to a slightly more elegant and formalistic
stage.

six scenes

Evidently painted shortly after the apse decoration, they demonstrate

the variety of artistic trends that co-existed in

There

no space here

twelfth-century wall-painting. 26

Rome

to describe the less important

The next

large cycle

at the time.

monuments of Rome's
is from the end

known

of this period. After long neglect the decoration of San Giovanni a Porta

done under Pope Cclcstine

Latina, probably

(1191-8) or slightly

III

fortunately the apse decoration has been

But

lost.

later,

has

The eleventh

10b). 27

Un-

and twelfth

the nave and tribune,

now

centuries

been successfully restored to a relatively complete condition

(pi.

Romanesque decoTestament scenes on the walls of

restored to their original state, give a general idea of the

the nave, a Last Judgment

The

tribune.

A
is

on the entrance

1200,

have

in the

it is

close to

and

San Giovanni

a notable

The same

Porta Latina in theme and

common

freedom from Byzantine

its

abundance of

figures.

was probably done about 1200, or even
to be a

Ferentillo. 28 Painted in

mannered

late

in fact persisted in

Roman

basis in older

first

development of the San Clemente

Rome

about
cycles
tra-

influence.

commonly

later.

Both

style.

features appear in the fine apse decoration of

with

Tivoli,

in the

restoration but recognizable in outline,

abbey church of San Pietro near

a vivid, popular, narrative style, a

dition,

and apocalyptic scenes

wall,

apse probably contained a full-length figure of Christ.

similar cycle, partly disfigured

found

New

Old and

rative scheme, consisting of

into the thirteenth century.

San Silvestro in

dated too early, and
glance this style seems
stylistic trends,

But

which

the richer palette

and accumulation of calligraphic features of the Tivoli apse point unequivocally to a relatively late date.

The

close connection

with panel-painting can be plainly seen in the pre-

cious triptych preserved in the cathedral at Tivoli. 30

The wings

Christ Enthroned in golden robes.

The

centre panel shows

12) contain the Virgin and

(pi.

St John the Evangelist, painted in a graceful classical style.

the

wing

panels are representations of the

cension of St John(?). This triptych

what seems

to have been a large

triptychs with the

Rome

century).

earlier

to survive out of

same representations have been preserved

in the vicinity

other triptychs, only centre panels, with Christ Enthroned, have

Most

(pi. 13),

from

of these panels date

and

was done much

which may account

in part for the general archaic impres-

makes. The fine eclecticism of

thirteenth-century sense of the organic

regard to northern

art, this

Romanesque period

and none has been found

its
is

style stands out,

but already the

unmistakably present. 32

early appearance of panel-painting in Italy

surprising. Portable pictures

of the Alps in the

of the thirteenth

derived in type and style from earlier

sion

may seem

first half

it is

now

lost,

the

unlikely that the Tivoli triptych

it is

models

With

work

group of similar works. Four such complete

than 1200. Without doubt

bottom of

(one of them, however, dating from the beginning of the fourteenth

survived. 31

century

the

Death of the Virgin and the As-

the principal

on wooden

panels are very rare north

there are about

in France. In Italy,

two dozen

Germany

however, there are hundreds of

The

eleventh

and

twelfth

centuries

such pictures from the thirteenth and even the twelfth century. Only in

number

Catalonia have a comparable
in the

form

of paintings

be attributed to the accidents of preservation.

many

on wood

panels survived,

and antepcndia. 33 This uneven distribution cannot just

of retables

of the commissions

were

It is

likely that in Italy

an early stage entrusted to panel painters,

whereas north of the Alps they continued to be reserved for goldsmiths and

Some

sculptors.

features of the painted altarpieces indicate that they

originally considered as substitutes for goldsmiths'
pictures, following the

model of Byzantine

were

icons,

were

work. 34 Other devotional
also painted

on wood

in Italy.

Recent research has shown that
Ages.

Two

this tradition

Madonnas in
The large panel

seventh-century origin: the
near the Forum. 35

Nuova

Angels in Santa Maria in Trastevere
of subsequent overpainting

century. 36 All three are
late classical period.

a
in

pope

Rome

are probably of

the Pantheon and in Santa Maria
of the Enthroned

only slightly

later.

Madonna and Two
Since the removal

work

has been recognized as a

of the eighth

painted in the encaustic technique inherited from the

The

of them,

last

donor kneeling

her

showing the Madonna enthroned and

feet, in

Western

fashion,

was

certainly

done

and not imported from Byzantium.

Even Christ on the Cross, the

became

goes back to the early Middle

of the icons venerated in the churches of

traditional subject for sculpture in the north,

theme for panel-painting

a favourite

panels cut to the shape of the cross,

numbers, are

among

the

and have no precedents
the altar, or

most

in Italy.

The

which have survived

painted crucifix

in surprisingly large

characteristic creations of Italian

Byzantine

38
art.

They were

medieval

art 37

placed behind or above

frequently on the screen, or the bar that was used instead

from the choir. 39 Their function thus corresthe sculptured Triumphal Cross familiar in Romanesque

of a screen to separate the laity

ponded

to that of

art of the north.

The

earliest

the Crucifix

The

surviving example of this type

by Master

work

rich iconographic formula of the early crucifixes,

figure with subsidiary scenes and figures,
Stylistically

From

it is

of Tuscan painting,

Guillielmus, dated 1138, in the cathedral of Sarzana. 40

combining the main

here fully and clearly developed.

pure Romanesque without any sign of Byzantine influence.

the maturity of the style and technique

it is

plain that this

no exper-

imental beginning, but an isolated remnant, preserved by chance, of a wellestablished tradition.

Another dated Crucifix of the twelfth century has sur-

vived in Umbria, the
30

of Spoleto

(pi.

28).*1

work
It is

of Master Albertus (dated 11 87) in the cathedral

obviously also one of a long line of such works,

since lost.

Its

marked Byzantine

style

reminiscent of the paintings in the

vestibule of Sant'Angelo in Formis. 42

Roman

with either the

There is no recognizable connection
or Tuscan schools - evidence of the strong and varied

The

eleventh

and twelfth
centuries

of different Italian districts at that time.

artistic life

Whereas

Umbria

art

remained tentative and provincial,

developed constantly under the patronage of the

economic power was concentrated. The

cities,

where

Tuscany

political

and

of the Sarzana Crucifix

stylistic features

point to the school of Lucca, the earliest authenticated works of which belong
to the second half of the twelfth century.

Before turning to developments in Tuscany,

we must

of the

Romanesque

style.

The monumental churches and imposing

fortified cities testify to the greatness of that era,

its

decoration

glance at painting in

Lombardy was

northern Italy since the end of the eleventh century.

unfortunately almost entirely

although the pictorial

The only

lost.

a centre

palaces of

large-scale wall-

Lombardy are, however, of the transitional stage beOttonian and early Romanesque styles, and not of the High Rom-

paintings preserved in

tween the
anesque.

have long been familiar with the almost intact

alyptic representations in the

pictorial cycle of

remote church of San Pietro

Monte,

apocin the

rocky wilderness near Civate, not far from Lecco on Lake Como. 43 In addition, recent discoveries

have disclosed a

San Calocero, a church in Civate
tive

sequence

Monte

interrupted

itself.

by the

series

of fragmentary paintings in

Whereas

San Calocero the narra-

later addition of a vault, in

San Pietro

a single-aisle

with the entrance

church built on a slope rising towards the west,

at the east end.

The

vestibule has three vaulted aisles richly

decorated with paintings, and on the wall facing the nave there

a single

representation of the Angels Fighting the Apocalyptic Dragon (pis 14a, II).

and abstract colours - green, brick-red, yellow ochre,
the surface in a rhythmic flow.
All the faces are of the

The type

same

type, generally

of the features and the

All the shapes are

the
the

blue,

shown

as pebbles.

colour.

in three-quarter profile.

drawing of hands and drapery

smooth and round

Cool

and white - cover

Even the haloes glow with variegated

ably Byzantine, but the Western medieval sense of

the

the architecture, stucco decoration and painting are almost intact.

form

unmistak-

equally marked.

Although the struggle with

demon is presented dramatically, these angels, all holding their lances in
same way and making the same gestures, are representatives of one and
same spirit. The constant repetition of a standard formula here reveals an

artistic

power whose source we

are only beginning to understand.

The

secret

The

eleventh

and twelfth
centuries

may

in the fact that

lie

anonymous

such works are not the accomplishment of some

individual artist but express the cumulative effort of a long tra-

These powerful forms have acquired a timeless and impersonal

dition.

vali-

dity (pis 15a, 15b).

The

Monte and the well-preserved stucco decoabout uoo. 45 The San Galliano paintings of the

paintings of San Pietro

were probably done

ration

beginning of the eleventh century are freer and bolder by comparison, but

The Romanesque formula

archaic in style.

and the

seem

artistic potentialities still

only just taking shape,

uncertain. In Civate

on the other hand,

commitment
more firmly established than in Galliano. The free manipulation of the figures, so marked in San Galliano, has disappeared. Only
rarely does a figure stand out by its size, like the figure of Christ, now unalthough there too the style
to the

Romanesque

early formative stage, the

its

fortunately destroyed, in the scene of the Angels Fighting the Apocalyptic Dragon.

Everywhere

else there

a striking uniformity of scale as well as of type

These are Romanesque, and not Ottoman

gesture.

that pervades the apse paintings of

and

The visionary mood
given way to a formal

traits.

San Galliano has

solemnity.

By
are

comparison, the newly discovered frescoes of San Calocero in Civate

still

earlier

fairly free

and animated, although they were probably done not

than the San Pietro

Monte

cycle, possibly dating to the

much

end of the

eleventh century.

Among

the scant remains of

Lombard

wall-painting of the

(c.

1200)

sists

the only

monument

and importance.

in Pavia

con-

damaged Christ at
bold and technically fluent. The well-

of half-length life-size figures of saints, and a badly

the apex of the vault.

modelled

faces are of

These paintings

was

of considerable size

High Romanes-

Domnarum

que period, the decoration of the crypt of San Giovanni

at the

nesque

in Pavia

peak of

style of

The

its

were done

at a

time

when Lombard

development and had achieved

own. Sculpture, which was

architecture, kept pace

so prevalent that

painting

an unmistakably Byzantine stamp.

with

penetrated

this

still

a distinct

closely associated

development. However,

all fields

architecture

High Roma-

this style

with

was not

of artistic creativeness to an equal extent.

Painting looked to the established culture of Byzantium, a frequent source
of inspiration throughout the Middle Ages. This

was

Monte

Angels Fighting the Apocalyptic Dragon

(detail)

a natural propensity,

Civate San Pietro

where Venice, with her ancient trade connec-

particularly in northern Italy,

formed the gateway

tions,

The Fourth Crusade brought about

to the East.

the conquest of Constantinople and the establishment of the Latin Empire of

The

eleventh

and twelfth
centuries

the East in 1204. Venice furnished the ships that carried the Crusaders to the

Bosphorus, and did not
in the eastern

tibule of St

in St

new

century received a

supremacy

facade and ves-

were

also part of the

Mark's that had been in progress for a whole

impetus. Large numbers of painted icons and

minated Greek manuscripts undoubtedly
is

political

The

time.

the celebrated bronze horses

reliefs;

The mosaic work

ships. It

this

Mark's were decorated with booty from the East: columns,

marble panels, and
loot.

Her

to gather her reward.

fail

Mediterranean originated from

also possible that

Byzantine

also reached the

artists

West

illu-

in Venetian

emigrated to Venice and the

Adriatic seaboard.

The

of the thirteenth century

Italo-Byzantine style found

its

one of the works

purest expression. 47

semble, well-preserved and remarkably consistent

and

from

decoration of the crypt in the cathedral of Aquileia dating

first half

vaults,

It is a

(pi.

the

which the emerging
truly medieval en-

16a). 48 All the walls

and even the columns, are covered with paintings. Ochre, white,

reddish-browns, brick-red, and cool, dull green are the dominant colours in
its

present

peries,

state.

added

show

surfaces

The

bright blue of the ground and of

in tempera, has

now

largely disappeared.

many parts of the
The semicircular

the Crucifixion, the Descent from the Cross and Lamentation, and

the Death of the Virgin. In the vaults are eighteen scenes
St

Hermagoras, the patron

ration

around the base

saint of Aquileia (pi. 17).

done

like a curtain

sketched lightly with a brush -

mounted Asian archer

(pi.

16b).

as,

from the legend

on which animated

The

freshness

and naturalness of

sition,

to us in

emphasized by the hard white high-

especially in the legendary scenes for

therefore

Romanesque

no reason

Byzantium. Instead
soil,

down

clumsiness in the compowhich no Byzantine models

The abrupt awkward movements and some

existed, are reminiscent of

There

im-

Macedonia (dated 1164) provided the model for this
Aquileia everything is slightly harder and more brittle,

and the sharp angularity of the forms
lights.

these

main scheme.

frescoes in

phase. 49 In

stylistic

figures are

for example, the Crusader in pursuit of a

Byzantine monumental painting of the type that has come

Nerez

The very charming deco-

provisations contrast strongly with the gravity of the

the

dra-

wall

we may

The inscriptions are in Latin.
this is the work of artists from

practice.

to suppose that

speak of a provincial Byzantine art on Italian

whose exponents were presumably

local artists.

Early Tuscan panel-painting

The powerful
in the

left a

half of the twelfth century

Romanesque

the

skill

paintings

than in any other part of
to the recognized
crisis

But whereas

direction.

in the

Works

Romanesque

Lucca and

in Pisa, the

second

and apparently well-

was

Tuscany

to appear in

in the forefront, but
in the panel-

in far greater

numbers

architecture obstinately adhered
a sharp stylistic

of a distinct Byzantine character follow-

style

two

dence of surviving monuments, Tuscan

The

a native

and was demonstrated

also evident,

Italy.

lasting effect

art of the

Romanesque canons, painting experienced

and change of

ed masterpieces

happened

was dominated by

which then began

have a

Lombardy, the

as in

sense of form. Architecture

was

of the painters

deep mark on Tuscan painting in the early

decades of the Duecento. In Tuscany,

established

which was

influence of Byzantine art,

Venetian region, also

without noticeable

transition.

Tins

where, judging from the evi-

cities

pictorial tradition originated.

oldest Pisan Crucifix (pi. 22), undoubtedly of the twelfth century,

well-conceived and richly composed structure like the Sarzana Crucifix

ready mentioned, and

too

al-

probably the product of a long process of

development. Ten narrative scenes surround the principal figure. Fastened to
the cross with four nails, and appearing to stand rather than hang, Christ

down

looks

at the faithful

Christ, victor over sin

At the
in the

main

side of the

figure.

to the

Apostles,

depicted

Him

and including the scene of the

form showing Christ with

Last Supper

and the Washing of

suffering

of the

the foot, and the Ascension at the top.

closed eyes at the

the Feet (pi.

Crucifixion

moment

24a) are shown on

beam of the cross. The Pentecost is at
The style is bold and powerful, equally

the panels at the ends of the horizontal

artists

no doubt about the meaning

ranging from the Arrest on the Mount of Olives to the Appearance

in the traditional

The

in order to leave

is the Triumphant
Romanesque works.

each side of the approximately life-size Christ are three narra-

of the Risen Christ

death.

to us in northern

Triumphant Christ the Pisan

agony of death,

tive scenes,

with wide open eyes. This

and death, familiar

removed from

Ottoman manner and

the tentative versatility of the

gance of the Byzantine. All the forms are reduced to their basic
in the

same way

Romanesque

as in

tional shades,
is

column and the

and spaces are firmly defined. The choice of colour
and sharp division of the

principle of contrast

and no

Early Tuscan
panel-painting

architecture everything can be referred

to the square, the semicircle, the cube, the
jects

the ele-

essentials;

features that unify the

design.

ob-

governed by the

There are no

surfaces.

whole

arch. All the

The

transi-

artistic

unity

achieved by an abstract pattern of simple forms and strong bright colours.

It is

most accomplished

which

distinguish the

pictorial parallel to the

town

this architecture,

proud Romanesque buildings

of Pisa even today.

which

the purest realization of the Italian

esque concept of form, Pisan painting boldly exhibited
style, its

two

later, in

the

first

and primitive, but reaches

content, too,

our redeemer

strict artistic discipline. In its intellectual

removed from

far

who

the older crucifixes. This

our

suffered for

beams are devoted

sacrifice. In the

Death on the Cross.

really

24b) depict only the events from the Crucifixion on-

wards, beginning with the Descent from the Cross.
zontal

Christus

not the triumphant victor

sins,

over death. Indeed, the theme of the main figure
side scenes (pi.

no longer
imbued with

Its style is

a higher level of expression,

noble pathos, and controlled by a

The

Roman-

distinctive

decades of the thirteenth century,

reveals an entirely different artistic aspiration (pi. 2j). 2

patiens,

own

independence of foreign models. However, a second Crucifix, painted

in Pisa a generation or

plain

its

to St

The

John and the women,

panels

on the hori-

the witnesses to the

crowning panel, however, the Saviour does appear triumphant,

accompanied by angels and cherubim. Whereas the

earlier painter naively

surrounds the symbolic figure of Christ the King with scenes from the Passion

and the Resurrection,

with the events that are

in the later

illustrated.

in the story of the Passion,

work

the symbolism

The Death on

harmony

the Cross, the critical event

raised to a supra-historical level.

The counten-

ance of the dying Christ, inclined to one side with eyes shut and features

ennobled through pain and submission, expresses the
well-conceived and singularly accomplished

pure Byzantine.

competent

The uninterrupted flow

style,

(pi.

full significance of this

23).

The

style

master and not of an immigrant

this

artist

almost

presumably the work of a Tuscan

from Greece. The

Christus patiens type,

in the course of the thirteenth century superseded the

Christ in Italy and north of the Alps,
vation. 3

of line, the passionate and yet perfectly

reminiscent of the head of the angel above the portal of

Sant'Angelo in Formis, although

which

work

Triumphant

ultimately also of Byzantine deri-

Neighbouring Lucca underwent

Early Tuscan
panel-painting

fix preserved there

work

development. The oldest Cruci-

a similar

of high quality, genuinely

Romanesque

combination of severe forms and rich ornamentation. 4 But

encroachment of Byzantine influences early
the beginnings of an indigenous style.

by Berlinghiero,

become, to

a certain extent,

to the older Crucifixes in the

side,

Duecento overshadowed

in the

Crucifix of about 1210-20, signed

not only simpler in structure than the

means.

its

earlier types,

but

a different plane (pi. 2pj. 5

stylistically

artistic

The

Lucca too, the

It is

The mature Byzantine style has
Italianized. Berlinghiero's work is far superior
modelling, formal integration, and economy of

no longer a conglomeration

but a formal and pictorial unity.

The

of isolated forms placed side

large

number

of side scenes has

been suppressed and the figures of the mourners brought into an organic
relationship with the central figure.

Byzantine art clearly did for
Late

Romanesque

of the north ;

way

forms, and pointed the

towards

compact unity of

time to assimilate an

at that

what

Italian painting
it

the Gothic did for the

helped to overcome the tendency to isolated

out of the maze of ornamental
representation.
artistic style

The

from

detail

and motifs

willingness throughout Italy

the East

must not be thought

of in terms of 'foreign infiltration', but as an awareness of the need for a

model

superior
it

For

to inspire

Romanesque painting with new

life,

and to save

formalistic stagnation. 6

from

however,

a while,

looked

though the

traditional local style

had

son of

Berlinghiero, Buonaventura Berlinghieri, painted an altarpiece in 1235

which

been abandoned only to be replaced by a

still

in the Franciscan

figure of St Francis

The

saint

reflect

church

which

fills

in Pescia,

new

kind of formalism.

the centre of the panel recalls a

nothing of the humane Povcrcllo familiar

Europe.

(pi.

strange and forbidding, a sombre ascetic with set features, which

tions transcend

the joyous

31)? The
Byzantine icon.

not far from Lucca

any human

scale. It

bridegroom of poverty,

The

who

and the propor-

in history,

does not bring to

mind

the poet of nature,

revived religious

position of the hands with stigmata

life

western

and book corresponds

Byzantine picture of Christ in Benediction, and the small

to the

scale of the legend-

ary scenes on the sides intensifies the isolation and unworldly sublimity of
the
It

main
is

figure.

questionable whether the faithful of the thirteenth century saw their

saint as the

remote and godlike creature represented

conception that

contradicted by

in the Pescia panel

the rocky monastery of Sacro Spcco near Subiaco. 8 This
the

modern

sense,

but

the oldest representation of St Francis in

gives us a milder and

not a portrait

intimate interpretation

than the Pescia panel. Even

contradictor)- to the severe Byzantine con-

ception of the saint are the tender scenes surrounding the main figure in the
Pescia panel

Sermon
liest

itself.

These

Early Ttdscan
panel-painting

among them the Somatization and the
become such well-known themes, are the ear-

six scenes,

the Birds, later to

surviving pictorial versions of the St Francis legend (pis 30a, 30b).

The

Romanesque,

fresh naivety of the narrative scenes as well as the style are truly

with only a thin veneer of Byzantine elegance and severity.

The
of

was not an

St Francis retable at Pescia

type in spite of the early date.

its

only from an old

tation

work

was already

established.

after his death,

About

nor the oldest

of very similar design,

illustration, bears the date 1228. 9 It

was canonized, only two years

saint

isolated piece,

was

and

known

in that year that the

this

type of represen-

dozen other St Francis panels,

half a

some only slightly later than the Pescia altarpiece, are still extant. 10 They all
show the saint as a towering figure, surrounded by subsidiary scenes. Outwardly

type of altarpiece was not new: the basic pattern of the oldest

this

showed Christ or Mary as the central figure, with smaller naron each side. But these were all on wide horizontal panels. 11
The St Francis pictures are the first to be done on tall vertical panels hitherto
this had been customary only in tabernacles with movable wings and in simple
devotional pictures without side pieces. This emphasis on the vertical was an
altar paintings

rative pictures

;

new

element of the

essential

other

saints.

and soon appeared

style,

in representations of

The innovation was no sooner introduced than

an established type repeated hundreds of times - which
relationship that existed at that time

settled into

illustrates

the close

between the creative forces and the

sta-

bilizing influences of tradition.

its

basic pattern this variant

still

reminiscent of the earlier Crucifixes

was

simplified.

Berlinghiero already omitted the side scenes, and showed only

Mary and

with narrative side scenes, but the type of the Crucifix
St John

on the

central panel beside the

main

itself

figure of Christ. Giunta Pisano,

13
the leading master of the Pisan school in the second quarter of the Duecento,

went one
Assisi. It

step further in his Crucifix for the burial church of St Francis at

was donated

St Francis as

Presumably

was

later

1236 by

Elias of

Cortona, the second successor to

head of the Franciscan Order, and the founder of the church.
it

served as the triumphal cross in the present

kept in the

Upper Church, and

Lower Church;

has only recently been

lost.

There are three other Crucifixes signed by Giunta Pisano. 10 The oldest of
these, in Santa

Maria degli Angeli near

clearly (pis 26, 27).

already shows the

Assisi,

was probably done

new features

about the same time

Francesco Crucifix, around 1236. Christ alone

pictured on

as the

San

the central panel,

Early Tuscan
panel-painting

and the half-length figures of Mary and
of the cross-piece.

The body

of Christ

St
is

John

are placed in the side panels

strongly modelled;

axis

its

not-

iceably curved to the side, and the head bent in a kind of counterpoise to the
line of the

body. The eyes are closed. In a separate panel

at the top

a half-

length figure of the living Christ in Benediction holding a book. This

Ascension scenes that used to crown the

final simplification of the

Crucifixes.

The harmony

of the parts and the concentration

precedents for the figure of Christ in this

was through Giunta Pisano

that

cento Crucifixes. Giunta himself

made no

fected the proportions and expression.
a master like

Cimabue could add nothing

Giotto succeeded in giving

formed

form

intellectual content.

new

Even

further alterations.

Even

as late as the

he,

which

Due-

only per-

and

Only

the

young

a radically trans-

however, did not touch the outward

of the composition of the Crucifix, with

relation to the central figure,

Italian

end of the century

to this solution.

technical excellence

earlier

expression,

became the standard type of

the

on the essentials
were Byzantine

Although there
form and with this

of the subject are significant achievements.

its

parts

harmoniously arranged

persisted into the fourteenth century. 16

4 Florence and Siena in the Duecento

The middle

of die

Duecento saw the beginning of

of Tuscan painting.

The

new

In Lucca the tradition of the Berlinghiero

of decades, and such refined

workshop survived for

and mature works

as the

former Lcnbach Collection (now in private possession
pi. 32),

were

still

phase in the history

schools of Pisa and Lucca lost their pre-eminence.

being produced there

as late as 1260.

number

Madonna from

the

West Germany,
However, more imin

portant than the continuance of the Lucca style locally was the influence

had on Florence and Siena. The St Zenobius
crypt of Florence Cathedral,

the

work

the influence of the Berlinghieri school. 2

dependence on outside sources,
feeling for structure

and

Even

Coppo

by name, was
certainty

Marcovaldo, the

active in both

the

Madonna

del

cities.

;

the

Madonna

sits

The

It is

while the

rest

34 a).

first

after the

Florentine painter

earliest

work

middle of

known

to us

him with
Maria Mag-

attributable to

derived from the Byzantine type of the

the throne in a frontal position, holding the

Child on her lap with both hands. The
relief,

(pi.

emerged soon

Carmine of about 1250-60 in Santa

giore in Florence (pis 33, 34b J. 3

Nikopoia

at this early stage of technical

form, and the dramatic tension produced

of the composition

In Siena too, independent creative forces
the century.

once in the

of a Florentine master clearly under

specific Florentine features are apparent: the

clarity of

by the controlled rhythm

Altarpiece (1240-50),

painted. This,

Madonna and Child

done

are

low

and the broad frame studded with

may be a recollection of the origins of religious panelThere is an obvious attempt to simulate the effect of goldsmiths' work. 4

sculptured rosettes,
painting.

According to the records, Coppo fought for Florence
Montaperti in 1260, and was taken prisoner by the Sienese.

in the battle of

year later he

completed the large Madonna in Santa Maria dei Servi in Siena.

inscrip-

the date 1261. 5

The arrangement
tion, recently uncovered, bears his name and
of the Child placed on one side with the Madonna turning towards him is
based on the Hodegetria type, which takes its name from a once celebrated

Florence

and Siena
in the

Duecento

miraculous image in Constantinople.

The Madonna

was, however, originally

a standing figure; the seated figure never acquired any great importance in

Byzantine

art.

In the West,

on the other hand,

enthroned Madonnas. Coppo's Madonna

Tuscan
of

art,

but unfortunately

Duccio school. Luckily

by an

authenticated

inscription,

seated

still

with

the Child in her right arm.

The deep

The forms

and modelling have

are precise

(pi.

33).

MaThough not

hardly disputed

blue and red draperies interwoven with

and have

harmony and solemn

a metallic hardness; the

a true Florentine sharpness,

drawing

and reveal the native Flor-

entine sense of plastic and sculptural values. This style, then, manifests
at

an early stage,

The

who

when

the maniera grcca

Sienese counterpart of

high lyreshaped back, and holds

gold, and the dark tint of the flesh, produce an effect of

grandeur.

examples

essential part

have another large

Coppo

attribution to

its

a throne

were overpainted

to say, they

donna by Coppo, in Santa Maria dei Servi at Orvieto

now. 7 Mary

lost

Madonna and Child were 'moder-

nized' at the beginning of the Trecento - that
in the style of the

earliest

important picture has

this

original character: the faces of the

its

motif was also used for

this

one of the

Coppo

was

at the height of

its

itself

development.

Marcovaldo was Guido da

Siena,

has long been regarded as the real founder of Tuscan painting in his

native town. 8

Madonna

of 1261 could have been

Guido and
donna,

seems that the two

workshop drew

his

now

artists

done

inspiration

influenced one another. Coppo's

competition with Guido; and yet

from Coppo. Guido's

of an attempt to surpass the

work

of the Florentine artist

apparent in Mary's robe and other features. 9

work and more

spacious in composition.

figures. All the

outward

1280, and this
picture,

Ma-

whose

influence

surprisingly early date

1 221. It

Gothic clover-leaf arch spans the

style of painting.

The

gard Guido da Siena

as a

between the two leading

inscription

now

around

on the

been the cause

to the painter's name, 'Guido de Senis',

was

even larger than Coppo's

strangely inconsistent and has until

of constant controversy.

tation,

It is

characteristics point to a late date, possibly

confirmed by the

however,

assert Siena's

large

in the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena (pi. 36), gives the impression

the

this date that led earlier art historians to re-

master of exceptional significance. In the rivalry
schools, Florence

claim to priority and

and

Siena, this date

was used

to demolish Vasari's 'Florentine' interpre-

according to which the whole history of modern art begins with

Cimabue.
Despite the inscription, however, present-day opinion, based on an in-

comparably wider knowledge of monuments,
42

dating of the Palazzo Pubblico

definitely excludes the early

Madonna} Around 1220

Sienese painting

was

The Madonna of Santa Maria in
work of late Romanesque style

dependence.

at a stage of provincial

still

Tressa, near Siena, of about this time,

under the influence of the Lucca school.

Guido's

on the other hand,

art,

Florence

and Siena
in the

Duecento

thorough knowledge of the Byzantine conception of form and an

reveals a

early inclination to the Gothic.

have another large work by Guido, an

though incomplete, secures

inscription,

altar dossal, originally

now

seven half-length figures, of which only five

remain

(pi.

like that of

Coppo's Servi Madonna, was over-painted about 1300, the heads
dossal are well preserved

They

37b).

(pi.

Both

different.

stance.

But whereas Coppo's

turally hard, Guido's
fluid in
is

its lines.

The

good example.

since dispersed

from

style

rounded and

one of

among many

and

detail,

pictorial sub-

angular and sharp, crystalline and sculp-

smooth

elegant,

small panel of the Annunciation,

It is

Guido was

the Byzantine model, and have

same concern for physical form, perfection of

the

that

in this

temperaments were quite

their artistic

diverge equally

artists

show

clearly

The

eighth decade of the

a date in the

Duecento. Whereas the head of the Palazzo Pubblico Madonna,

contemporary of Coppo's - though

with

37a). 12

Guido's style

the melancholy of the Byzantine models,

which

its

transitions,

Princeton

from

a series of twelve scenes
collections. 13

now

the

life

(pi.

and
38),

of Christ,

patently affected

Coppo were only

source of formal ideas to be expressed essentially in plastic terms. In these
painters, the first recognizable artistic personalities, Florence

two

and Siena con-

fronted each other as distinctly opposite worlds.

Like the sense of plastic form and spatial
brittleness

man-like character of the

Magdalene Master,

scenes

man

from her

whom

so-called after the altarpiece
life,

frequent dryness and
middle-class,

The

showing the Saint surrounded

reveals himself at every point as a bourgeois crafts-

the hieratic severity and full-blown culture of Eastern art
alien

ative sense of the expression.
in the service of

The

best

work

of this bourgeois art

was done

popular piety, in the form of homely and unpretentious

devotional pictures. Panels such as those of the Master of

admired for
that

work-

as in Florence.

and incomprehensible. 14 In his pictures the Byzantine
reduced to an empty manner - the maniera greca in the later, pejor-

must have been
influence

clarity, the

Nowhere else was the sober,
new panel-painting so marked

also Florentine.

their technical soundness. 15

have escaped the hands of hasty

Some

Bagnano

are

still

of the pictures, especially those

restorers,

have survived the seven cen-

turies since

they were painted with hardly any deterioration. Their bright

colours

have the same freshness

still

Florentine painters.

when

they

left

the workshops of the

Florence

and Siena
in the

Duecento

In the prolific activity of the second half of the

Duecento

who was

in Florence, in the last quarter of the century,

master emerged

once again to inspire

the traditional Eastern forms with genuine passion and elevate

umental greatness: Cimabue. 16 In
in the Uffizi (pis jg, 40, 42a),

his large

Madonna

them

mon-

for Santa Trinita,

he shows the mother of

God

now

powerful

as a

presence outside time and space and yet brought close to us by the compelling,
fervent gaze of her wide-open eyes.

surrounded by a

Twice

circle of angels in perfect

she

life-size,

sits

a throne

symmetry. The Madonna and

by the blue-gold and red-gold of their draperies, are
muted tones are reserved

Child, closely united

the centre of the chromatic composition. Lighter but

The

on the two sides, like the figures
The symmetry is broken only in the
lower zone, where one of the Prophets is shown in a vermilion robe, as if
to imply that this group has no part in the order of the divine region. The

for the angels.

distribution of colours

of the angels, forms a mirror image.

structure of the throne

bright ochre-brown

quite clear in spite of the archaic perspective; the

wood,

slightly

shaded in

parts, has the weightless

The gold ground behind the Prophets

of a coloured design.

weightless appearance of the massive throne. This
clarity

And

and abstract medieval grandeur.

also adds to the

work combines
one

so, in this

look

Florentine

instance, a

few

years before the appearance of Giotto, the heavy bourgeois spirit of the

Florentine painters attained the elevated heights of true sacred
to disappear at the

Almost contemporaneous with Cimabue's Madonna

Madonna,

the Rucellai Madonna,

Maria Novella

named

in Florence (pis 41, 43).

at least ten years

another even larger

after the Rucellai chapel in Santa

The commission was given

Sienese painter Duccio in 1285, and the detailed contract

was

which was

art,

end of the Duecento.

younger than Cimabue, 19 and

authenticated work, speaks the language of a

new

still

exists.

to the

Duccio

this picture, his earliest

generation.

Its

measure-

ments, four and a half meters high and three meters wide, are larger than

anything

known

until then,

and the composition
and well-designed.

Its

but the surface

lighter

many

not

filled as

densely as Cimabue's,

and more atmospheric. The throne

perpendiculars lead the eye upwards.

gentle figures clad in filmy draperies,

seem

The

delicate

angels,

to float in front of the gold ground.

Kneeling, they worship the Virgin and her divine Son, and lightly support
the throne

evidently

the touch of their fingers. Duccio, like

much more

deeply affected by the

Cimabue. Byzantine nobility and melancholy are
ance of Mary, and even

all

spirit of the

the Sienese,

was

maniera greca than

reflected in the

counten-

strongly in the faces of die angels. But this

was not the only source of Duccio's

style.

The

delicate

and graceful touches

III

Cimabue Madonna

with Angels

Assisi,

San Francesco, Lower Church

that

he found

new

form, in the

Byzantine works were also present, though in a different
art of the

West. The

faint verticality in Duccio's

tion, the sense of space apparent in the oblique

composi-

view of the throne, and

finally

Florence

and Siena
in the

Duecento

form of the throne itself, show that the young Sienese master
was by no means unaffected by the Gothic movement, which was becoming
increasingly influential in Italy. The cathedral, which was being built in those
the ornamental

was received with

decades, demonstrates that, especially in Siena, this influence

enthusiasm.

The new

style eventually

triumphed during Duccio's

Simone Martini, one of Duccio's pupils, identified
reservations than any of his Italian contemporaries, with
time.

city,

influence

only barely perceptible.

still

But by comparison Cimabue's composition, although done
time or perhaps slightly
structure there

sion

seems

later,

freedom

Madonna

the

dominant

of the composition.

figure, she does not

Colour plays an important

clear

its

form and expreswhich is intensified by

effect

a concentration

about the same

in the

on the other hand, knew

with

in the detail

archaic. Despite

something sombre and oppressive

the severe symmetry. Duccio,

his

much more

and the archaic overcrowded surface - an

greater

and has out-

to this day.

Madonna the new

In the Rucellai

life-

the Gothic sense of

form. In the fourteenth century, Siena became a Gothic

wardly remained so

own

himself, with fewer

on the

how

overwhelm

combine

essentials.

Although

the other parts

role in the design; the deep

blue of the Virgin's cloak provides a tranquil centre for the free interplay of
the delicate colours of the surrounding angels.

The

two

tonal values of the

halves of the picture are the same, but the colours themselves differ. In his

handling of colour, Cimabue adheres to a
colour of the angels' draperies

The

draperies of his

faithfully

Madonna and Child

stricter

symmetry; every

single

reproduced on the opposite

side.

are interwoven with shining gold

become integrated in the uniform ornamentation of the whole
Cimabue has not yet emerged from the Middle Ages, whereas Duccio's
picture has a palpable unity and obeys a law and licence of its own; it is thus
a step towards the new order that was to prevail in Italian painting. The sole

so that they
picture.

decoration of the Duccio Madonna's deep-blue mantle
zigzag line of the hem,

which

is,

as it

the characteristic gold

were, a symbol of the

new

freedom,

well as a personal signature recurring repeatedly in Duccio's work.

The

or-

namentation and gold are confined to those parts that require decoration
according to the post-medieval convention - the throne, and the precious brocade covering
In

all

its

back.

probability Duccio painted the Rucellai

great size of the panel

makes

unlikely that

Madonna

in Florence, for the

was transported over

long

Florence

and Siena
in the

Duecento

distance. In spite of this,
its

it is

and

of colours

as for instance in

The

their light, detached delicacy.

and

in pale blue

major work of Sienese painting, and represents

exemplary fashion,

principles of design in

lilac

the free choice

draperies of the angels are

beside soft carmine and translucent sea-green - colours

that are also typical of Duccio's later

work. The

gay colour and the

careless

compared with

opacity of the average Florentine productions are primitive

The major Florentine painters, Coppo and Cimabue, were
work in monochrome, which is best suited to the expression of

such refinement.
inclined to

were disposed decoratively,

plastic values, and, as far as possible, the colours

often in a pedantic and calculated order.

Madonna

of the angels in the Santa Trinita

Madonna

paintings of the

Duecento

in these cases the colours of

of the angels

on the

correspondence

right

The symmetrical colour arrangement

that

found

from
number

left

The marked

transmitted a

of aesthetic principles

- which were adhered

But more important than

first

traces of

essentially

still

come back

act in

Rome

in 1272.

him

brought him to Rome, but

most

to the

a witness to

he was

he could not have been a mere beginner
with certainty

artistic

who

overreached the

significant of these masters,

first

doc-

ecclesiastical administrative

do not know the nature of the commission
as

also

medieval workshop practices

artistic personalities,

Cimabue. He was probably born between 1240 and 1250, and the

umentary reference

It is

workshops of the time

to strictly.

these

was the emergence of well-defined

- the

this

difference be-

indicated in such apparently trivial matters.

technical rules, the painters'

traditional rules.

upper corner:

always correspond. In Sienese painting

clear that, apart

discipline

in each

both the upper and lower parts of the draperies

and

just as consistently avoided.

tween the two schools

in all those Florentine

have an angel

company with high-ranking
at that time.

What

clerics

can be assumed

that the artistic impressions he gathered in

Rome were

the utmost importance in the formation of his style. Unfortunately he
referred to again in the records until the beginning of the

that

new

not

century. In

1302 he was working, together with other masters, on the apse mosaics of
Pisa Cathedral. In this large

the Santa Trinita

Coppo

Evangelist,

Crucifix in San

Probably painted around 1270,

and

John the
not known.

figure, St

The date of his death is
Domenico in Arezzo is the only panel-painting before
Madonna that can be assigned to Cimabue with certainty.

attributable to him.

The

work only one

done
di

it is

of the type originated

in the austere sculptural

Marcovaldo. 22 The Santa

by Giunta Pisano,

and expressive manner

Trinita

characteristic of

Madonna, however, already reveals

the mature, unmistakably personal style of Cimabue.

Modern

research

inclined to date
90, but there

than the Rucellai Madonna, that

later

between Cimabue's Madonna panel and
Recent opinion supports

much

earlier

the 1270s.

no conclusive evidence. 23
this,

to say,

around 1285-

the other hand, the close link

his frescoes at Assisi

beyond

in the

Dnecento

and maintains that the frescoes were begun

come back

shall

to this presently.
in the Florence Baptistry

uncertain. Quite possibly he collaborated in the scenes of Joseph's

from

and Siena

than was previously supposed, dating them towards the end of

Cimabue's contribution to the decoration

scenes

dispute.

Florence

Genesis also

show

life.

is still

Several

traces of his style, in spite of all the disfigurement

due to intervening restoration. 24

The

large Crucifix

church
45).

the

As the name

memory
on the

meters.

last

years of the century (pis 44,

was dedicated

implies, the church

to the

Holy Cross and

of the Crucifix with cherub wings that appeared to St Francis

at his stigmatization.

cross

which Cimabue made for Santa Croce, the Franciscan

probably belongs in the

in Florence,

screen,

The over

Probably Cimabue's work was

which would explain

life-size figure of

its

set

exceptional

as a

size,

triumphal

4.48

3.90

Christ appears even larger than the actual

dimensions might suggest because of

its

slenderness and the

wide sideways

curve of the body. The triangle formed by the arms and the ascending line
of the legs intersects the rectangular shapes of the frame
gether. Christ suffers, yet

network of
alistic, it

remote and weightless. The painting

fine overlapping brush-strokes,

radiates

vehement

life

refined than that of the

and binds them toa

and though by no means natur-

and creative power; the form

Madonna

panel.

The doubts

richer

and

occasionally ex-

pressed in regard to Cimabue's personal authorship of the Crucifix are certainly unjustified. 26 This

work

exemplifies his late style.

the Assisi frescoes has disappeared, but the stature of the

achieved there remains, and their expressive

power

The high pathos of
monumental forms

has here attained a final

intensity.

Assisi

The

significance of

last

Rome

and

Cimabue's paintings

chapter, can be fully understood only

at Assisi, briefly

when

mentioned

in the

they are considered in their

proper context. 1 In the grandiose structure that developed during the

thir-

teenth century over the burial place of St Francis, architecture and painting

form an organic whole.
dance of paintings

as the

other medieval building contains such an abun-

double church of San Francesco

at Assisi,

which

two churches built one above the other: the sombre tomblike Lower Church with its low vaults and massive walls, and above it the
bright and spacious Upper Church with extensive walls and vaults providing
ample space for painting. The Gothic forms which give the Upper Church
its character are well suited to express the Italian balanced sense of space. The
fact consists of

single-aisled nave, consisting of four almost square bays, has the appearance

of a

compact

relationship. 2

hall (pi.

47a) in which height and width form a harmonious

the sides of the

windows

there are large clear spaces.

Below

which were

them

the wall provides a continuous series of picture surfaces

filled

with twenty-eight scenes from the St Francis legend - that great work

executed by Giotto and
these

rows of

his pupils in the last years of the

pictures, the transept

and well-proportioned

as the

nave

Duecento. Beyond

and the polygonal choir are
(pi.

compact

46)?

This grandiose and lavishly decorated building, in strange contrast to the
rule of poverty, the essence of Franciscan teaching,

was begun

as early as

1228

at the instigation of Elias of Cortona, then minister-general of the Order.

completed the Lower Church and probably

though on quite
cuted structure.

a different

The

also

and more modest

planned the Upper Church,

scale than the eventually exe-

idea of a double church with a single aisle

ground plan doubtlessly originated with

Elias.

and cruciform

The Upper Church,

stands

made soon

today, involved a radical alteration in the plan, presumably
1247. This change,

which gave the building

by the fashionable Ile-de-France

and not,

architecture

by the cathedral of Angers. 4
The Upper Church was consecrated

after

Assisi

and Rome

Gothic character, was inspired

its

supposed until re-

cently,

been in a rough

in 1253.

seems, however, to have

state of construction at the time, 5 since the papal

approval

for collecting alms for the completion and maintenance of San Francesco

renewed

in that year for a further period of twenty-five years. In

was

1266 the

approval was confirmed and extended for an additional three years. After
that the records are silent for

more than two decades. Only when Nicholas IV,
Order from 1274-9, ascended the papal

minister-general of the Franciscan

throne do
building.
bulls to

find again a reference to

During

the providing of funds for the

pope
promote the construction, and presumably

San Francesco. 6

his short reign (1288-92), the

Church was probably
about

many

as eight

also the decoration, of

can be assumed, however, that building had not stopped

The

in the interim period.

posing that

issued as

built
tins

splendid portal on the south side of the

soon

after 1279.

There are

also

Lower

grounds for sup-

time Cimabue decorated the choir of the Upper

Church.

The

entire pictorial decoration of the choir, the crossing, the south tran-

and part of the north transept are by Cimabue and

sept,

pictures

on the vault above the

vation, are the focus of the

represented in the Byzantine
evangelist

a picture of a

world. Three of the
allotted to St

Mark,

whole conception. They

manner

walled

cities

are large seated figures

symbolizing a portion of the Christian

city,

are imaginary places, but the fourth, 'Ytalia',

a faithful medieval rendering of

regard to their actual position in the

are

city.

Rome. Many

crowded within

One

its

the walls without

of them, only recently iden-

crown of pinnacles and its stepped gables, 8 is the Capitol, the
senate - indicated by the minute coats-of-arms barely visible to

of the

workshop. The

and philosophers. Beside each

as scribes

well-known buildings and monuments
tified

his

crossing, the four evangelists, heralds of sal-

its

seat

the

naked eye. Besides the letters SPQR these escutcheons contain the emblem
of the Orsini family - and not, as was previously supposed, that of the Savelli.

way

This could not have been chosen

of paying

homage

to the great

random, but

Roman

of his connection with the Orsini, but

family.

Cimabue's covert
details are

associated with these influential patrons during his stay in

coats-of-arms do not appear

on an

known

very likely that he was closely

ecclesiastical

they must refer to the Orsini in their capacity

building but

Rome. As
on

the

the Capitol,

as senators. In these

decades

Assist

and

Rome

members

of the Orsini family repeatedly served as senators, and therefore

emblems

the precise

sumed

Cimabue's picture.

moment

in history

tempting, however, to associate

It is

when

be drawn from the appearance of their

definite chronological conclusions can

Nicholas

III,

two

the office of senator for a period of

with

an Orsini pope, himself as-

when

years (1279-80),

Two

the

senatorial

term of Charles of Anjou ended and was not renewed.

members

of the Orsini family served as senators together with the pope.

Moreover,

other

1279 one of these, Matteo Rosso Orsini, was in addition appoint-

ed cardinal protector of the Franciscan Order. Despite the absence of conclusive evidence

it is

extremely likely that Cimabue referred to

constellation in his picture of
a

Rome.

It is as

though he dated

this historical

his

work with

symbolic allusion, and thus provided a chronological clue for the experts. 10
This dating,

Upper Church was

evidently the

to be completed as

and the

first

transept.

These

pictures,

was natural

entire

Cimabue's portion was

carried out.

whose general

shows them to be older than those
for the

which the

accepted, demarcates the period during

decoration of the

to start

from

the choir

character and style of figures

in the nave,

form

the point of departure

whole decorative scheme.

The only

place

where the decoration

of the north transept

quite different

the upper zone

where work must have been under way before Cimabue

was appointed. The decorative elements of the borders and friezes arc pure
Gothic, and in the pictures there are noteworthy attempts at rendering perspective in the representations of Gothic architecture.

Cimabue, on the other

hand, tried by means of his decoration wherever possible to restyle the architectural features of the buildings
is

particularly

marked

and give them

in the nave.

The

a classical character,

which

pictures in the north transept are

They were painted by an
whose origins remain a complete mystery. Even his
technique is quite different from that of Cimabue: the a secco painting was
applied on a highly finished drawing in linear style, which is all that now
dedicated to the glory of Christ and the apostles.
artist

of great ability,

survives. This technique suggests that the artist

was trained

the bold elegance of the linear style indicates that he

in the north, but

was probably an

Italian,

work for some time
while Cimabue and his assistants were painting beside him and radically
changing the decorative scheme he had begun. The lower zone of the north
possibly a Sienese. Apparently he

still

continued his

transept was, however, eventually assigned to

from
Cimabue painted many

Crucifixion and scenes
In the choir

of the Virgin,

and

Cimabue.

contains a large

the lives of the apostles.
scenes

from

the

life

and glorification

in the south transept apocalyptic themes, choirs of angels,

and another Crucifixion. Unfortunately

now

only faintly

visible: the

this

powerful

pictorial sequence

Assisi and

Rome

iconographic content of the scenes can be deci-

phered only with great difficulty and the former magnificence of the compositions
of

warm

Cimabue used

lost.

ochre colours. In

a fresco secco technique

many

remnant. In so far

sole surviving

monochrome

extensive areas the underpainting

second layer

as this

preserved,

base

the

it is

dis-

coloured by the chemical changes that frequently occur in wall-paintings of
that time.
tints,

The

lead-white that was added to most colours, especially the flesh

has turned black through oxidation.

the appearance of photographic negatives.
sent everywhere, only an occasional

a result the pictures

now

have

Apart from the ochre tone pre-

muted brick-red has escaped

this

change.

Larger areas that have retained their original colour can be found only in the

middle zone of the south transept

among

the choirs of angels,

heavily impasted white, vivid green, and deep red are
liance

and unabated

intensity of these colours

contemporary panel-paintings.

diance these colours must have had

and

match the

no longer

when

where

bright,

The

visible.

bril-

produced by

effects

possible to visualize the ra-

they covered

was the

ribs of the building. In addition there

still

the walls, vaults

all

glitter of the gilded haloes

and gold highlights of the draperies and the large gold areas of the vaults

above the crossing, where the evangelists were shown enthroned. Only a
vigorous generation charged with primitive sensuous emotion could express
its

faith

and

its

The formal

vision of the heavenly

world

structure of the paintings

come

in such realistic terms.

exceptionally clear and essentially

monumental. Voluminous, yet powerfully modelled

figures

with expressive

heads and richly designed draperies are arranged in horizontal rows behind

and above one another. The scenes of the Death of Mary, her Assumption,
and her Glorification

in the

midst of the heavenly host, are typical examples. 12

Other compositions, for instance Mary on her Death-bed surrounded by
Apostles, display

an astonishing

Although there

spatial content.

yet

the

consistent organization of space in perspective, the figures, conceived in separate

blocks,

Cimabue

convey together

a sense

of three-dimensional

reveals himself as the direct precursor of Giotto,

an effect of depth by means of his figures.

The

space.

who

severe emphasis

basic hor-

work. The modelling of the

izontal

and

figures

and the tectonic construction of the paintings are Florentine

vertical planes also recurs in Giotto's

and reappear, though on

Here

also creates

traits,

a different stylistic principle, in Masaccio.

The agitated, furrowed faces
already noticed in the prophets of the Florentine Madonna panel appear everywhere in Assisi. The angels are grave and powerful, with low foreheads, large
In spite of

all this

Cimabue was no

formalist.

Assisi and

Rome

sharply-cut eyes, and strongly modelled jaws. 13

mind

that brings to

thoroughly

It is a

virile art

the great Florentines of later days: Masaccio, Donatello,

and Michelangelo. Cimabue's figures have the same

terribilita,

profound and

almost alarming solemnity.
This elemental and,
these figures,

all

of the picture

and tugs

swept by

crowd

a gust of passion (pi. 49J.

almost twice

takes

where

grief

deepest,

Mary's right hand

a halo, points

storm has

The

risen

dense,

with a gesture of unforgettable

Only

in his,

in the

group of mourners on

outward show of sorrow avoided.

is all

and

in a

The

turn gently towards each other.
this silent

real

life-size Christ.

Son of God. The twelve angels hover around the

cross in postures of utter despair (pi. 50).
left,

in the

of spectators resembles a corn-field swaying in the wind.

centurion, distinguished

expressiveness to the dead

the

deep pathos whenever the subject matter

at the loin-cloth of the

wildly excited

The

mood common

were, inarticulate disquiet, the

demands enhanced emotion. The Crucifixion scene

itself

south transept

as it

intensified to a

of classical nobility they

women

identify themselves with

other

Mary Magdalene

group. Only the passionate

St John

movement

impulsively stretches

her hands towards Christ, but stands motionless, as though taking a vow. At
her feet St Francis, a

humble monk,

kneels beside the cross and

bows over

Redeemer.

the dripping blood of the

Another equally large Crucifixion covers the corresponding wall
north transept.

The composition

in the

roughly the same, but the dramatic impact

of this version, evidently done later,

much weaker

than

its

older counter-

Cimabue seems to have entrusted its execution to his workshop. 14
But the Madonna with Angels and St Francis in the transept of the Lower
Church is another work by Cimabue's own hand, and probably the last he
did in Assisi (pi. III). Though faded and gravely impaired by numerous

part.

restorations, this

fragment

In the obscurity of the

the

still

one of the most impressive

low oppressive room,

in the church.

the forms reveal themselves as

consummation of Cimabue's achievement in the field of monumental
The drapery and the human forms become united and round as in

painting.

classical sculpture,

and the movements are

remarked upon; but
his contact

with

hardly

classical

justifies the

works.

It is

free

and

fluid.

This has often been

assumption that Cimabue renewed

likely that his plastic sense, the

sculptor's inclination for the austere beauty of simple forms, that

been an

essential characteristic of

The very

scale of the frescoes

Cimabue, here reached

done by Cimabue and

that the master's activities in Assisi extended over a

historical

Ins

its full

had long

expression.

workshop

number

suggests

of years.

grounds, the early part in the choir and the crossing of the Upper

Church

can, as already seen, very probably be dated to the

end of the 1270s.

Assist

and

Rome

The last portion, stylistically represented by the Enthroned Madonna in the
Lower Church, seems to have been done shortly after 1280. There is at least
one piece of evidence to confirm

hypothesis: the frescoes, dated 1284,

this

painted by the Florentine, Corso di Buono, in the choir of San Giovanni
Evangelista in

Montelupo

which Cimabue's

fully

(pi.

42 b) half-way between Florence and Pisa, for

developed

must have served

style at Assisi

model. 15

The type and style of the figures are similar, and the predominant reddish
and brown colours correspond to the basic tones of Cimabue's palette, although their range is more limited. The historical argument for the dating
of Cimabue's work at Assisi thus obtains direct and independent support from
this stylistic relationship.

While Cimabue was painting
in the

his

Madonna

sequence of the pictures

starts

from

Lower Church, the work
The narrative
scenes from the Old Testa-

in the

nave of the Upper Church was probably

also in progress.

the crossing:

ment, beginning with the Creation, are on the north wall, and the
Christ

on the south

The order

tive

first

and

The

third,

were done

first,

and those on the entrance wall

vaults

were

also decorated according to a

Bounded by wide

blue surfaces span the

room

last.

for

uniform plan

The

precious ultramarine,

repeated in the vaults of the choir and

the transepts. All the parts of the cruciform

The

empty

colourful borders, these large deep-

like celestial canopies.

originally strewn with golden stars,

left

counting from the crossing, were reserved for non-figura-

ornamentation.

starry sky.

life

arranged in two horizontal rows.

the lower zone, intended for the St Francis legend, was

the time being.
the

series

of execution followed the sequence of the narrative, so that the

scenes near the crossing

Only

Each

wall.

room were

thus united under a

figurative scenes with their gold ground, alternating rhyth-

mically between the ornamented vaults, do not disrupt but rather contribute
to the

harmony

of the scheme.

The

four Fathers of the Church in the

first

vault nearest the portal correspond to the four Evangelists in the vault above

They too are shown as full-figure scribes, each accompanied by
The centre of the ceiling is reserved for Christ attended by Mary,

the crossing.
a clerk. 18

John the

Baptist,

and St Francis interceding on behalf of humanity. Thus the

traditional Intercession scene

include the saint in

of Byzantine iconography

whose honour

huge half-length representations
angels.

the building

was

here enlarged to

erected.

in medallion form, each

The

figures are

accompanied by two

Contrary to Byzantine portrayals of Christ, whose Benediction

often

a gesture of stern authority, the figure of Christ radiates gentleness and an

Assisi

and Rome

abiding sublimity. This

from

nificantly

paintings are also to

the Saints,

similar

the

Roman Church

and

interpretation,

differs sig-

The artistic precedents for these
be found in Rome. The style of this vault, the Vault of
to that of Jacopo Torriti, and even more to that of his

the Byzantine conception.

Both masters are known from signed mosaic works preserved
Rome.
The scenes on the walls of the nave are also inspired by Roman tradition.
The scheme itself - the placing of Old Testament scenes opposite scenes from

pupil Rusuti.

churches in

New

the

those

Testament - was

from

Roman

Old Testament,

the

practice

ditions established in early Christian times. 19

many

;

of the scenes, especially

derive their iconography

early models.

Even the

Another and

largely influenced

the classical spirit and classical feeling for form,

still

from Roman

tra-

style of the painting

more powerful

feature

which becomes increasingly

more pronounced as the work progresses from the crossing to the entrance
wall. The nave of San Francesco must, therefore, be the work of Roman
painters, or artists trained in Rome. The Creation (pi 52), in the top row of
the north wall nearest to the crossing, has long been attributed to Filippo
Rusuti, an attribution unexpectedly confirmed
of the Creator

(pi.

the wall. 20

It is

53) that

came

sitive style of the

conventional.

by the drawing

when

the picture

in fresco secco. In

preliminary sketch, the final

It is

impossible to

technical process, or

can

tell

whether Rusuti

style.

addition to the

see, in

whether

Roman

work

(pi.

this

due to the complicated

clarification.

in the

made

the

life

of Christ,

manner

of the

But the nature

of the

a matter that requires further

project of Assisi

Florentine and

was of major importance

painting. In order to understand the

examine

briefly the

Roman

masters in the large joint

for the evolution of the

new

Italian

complex and quite dramatic phenomenon

that occurred in the last decades of the

Rome,

from

to identify the

fragmentary Crucifixion scene.

The encounter between

52) appears dry and

element, the influence of Cimabue's

between Duccio and Cimabuc

relationship

from

the completion to an assistant. 21

left

Furthermore, an attempt has been

young Duccio

lifted

comparison with the sen-

In the frescoes of the nave, especially in the scenes

of the head

was

brush under-drawing in red and ochre for the finished paint-

which was presumably done

ing,

to light

Duecento,

we must

turn once again

development there from about the middle

of the century.

Medieval
56

art in

the outset

Rome

presents a rich but

by no means uniform

picture.

could be said that since the decline of antiquity 'Roman

art'

no longer

existed, but

only

Rome. The

art in

Eternal City

was too big and

too universal to establish a local school of distinct character such

and

in Florence
a

Roman

were there any
cany,

Middle Ages there were

Siena. In the

character, but there

and

Rome

and works of

Roman concept of form, nor
of a Roman style. Unlike Tus-

was hardly any

typical or consistent features

where the smaller

artists

Assisi

as existed

made

centres

their contribution

and jointly formed

unified 'artistic landscape' with a distinctive style, Latium, the district around

Rome, was

a sphere of

Roman

influence with

creative energy of

its

own.

Thus, the paintings in the Sylvester Chapel near SS. Quattro Coronati in

Rome do
dryness,

not

and

show any

Roman

specific

features except perhaps a certain

a technical routine easily resorted to

when

keep pace with the influx of numerous commissions.

powers cannot

creative

Rome

had always been

academicism characterized by a massive and spacious

fertile soil for

in so far as this can

be said of any medieval work of

quence of the legendary scenes in the Sylvester Chapel. Their
of the middle of the Duecento, and the date of execution
related to the consecration of the chapel in 1246. 24
tell

two

and of

apostles,

peror

The

(pi. 18).

who

St Sylvester,

style

typical

vividness,

of the appearance of the

receives the papal tiara

basic Byzantine style

and

to the se-

evidently closely

With dramatic

dream

the story of Constantine's

the paintings

style;

art, it applies

from the em-

evident everywhere, but

still

transformed, as in Tuscan painting of the same period, into something popular

and Romanesque. The chromatic

effect

determined by the richly applied

chalk white, the contrasting brownish-red outlines and the predominant dull
earthy tones.
blue, covered

appeared

The

barrel vaulting of the long

with a pattern of

stars, like

room was

the spectacular sky vaulting that

and eventually became

later at Assisi

apparently originally

a feature of

most Trecento

churches.

In the abbey of Grottaferrata in the Alban
ings probably

done soon

after 1272.

hills

there are remains of paint-

The Romanesque formula and

the bold

emphasis on the outlines are no longer evident here. Moses, shrinking away

from

the snake,

modelled

Byzantine in character,

in large

naturalistic,

compact forms

and individual

are not exaggerated or enlarged in the medieval
expressive, fluid

and

natural.

Once

(pi.

iga). His head,

features such as the eyes

manner. The gestures are

again, the classic features of Byzantine art

demonstrate their liberating and stabilizing power.

was only the acceptance

of the neo-Hellenistic concept that provided Italy with the conditions for the

growth of an independent

From
and yet

here
this

realistic pictorial style.

was a barely perceptible

was one of the

step to the art of Pietro Cavallini,

decisive turning-points in the history of

Western

Assist

and

Rome

the Last Judgment in Santa Cecilia in

art. Cavallini's apostles in

in a

row on wooden

chairs,

draw them together

They hold their respective attributes in
them are looking in different directions. The
figures was a Byzantine practice, and can also be

(pi. igc).

and nearly

different ways,

Rome are seated

each completely isolated, and without any gesture

all

regular arrangement of the

seen in the Last Judgment in the Demetrios Cathedral at Vladimir; 26 but there
a certain uniformity

holds an open

book

preserved through the manner in which each apostle

in front of

him, and their postures and the arrangement

of their draperies are also roughly the same. Cavallini, however, varied the

postures and draperies of the figures, and although the type of head

same -

straight,

narrow

nose, eyes closely

set,

variety of hair style, demeanour, and age.

mouth -

They look

there

like seated

the

a rich

marble

each individually designed, and accidentally placed next to one an-

statues,

other. All they

material
tions

small

have

common

from which they

from

are

light to dark, are of the

though not very

a sculptural

compactness and the solid

made. The draperies, modelled with rich grada-

same tough, heavy

intense, colours are

material.

The luminous,

subdued by the strong, almost tangible

What mattered to Cavallini was form, the individual figure,
volume and weight. Space exists only to the extent that it is created by
the figures. The only thing that unites these painted statues to some degree
is light: the apostles seated on the left are uniformly lit from the left, and
those seated on the right are lit from the right.
The fire and noble spirituality of the Vladimir Apostles, which are here taken
sculptural effect.
its

as typical of

Byzantine

art,

have almost completely disappeared: Cavallini's

power and sober solemnity. The heads of
more animated than those of the older bearded

apostles retain only the primitive

the younger apostles appear
figures.

The new and

individual spirit of Cavallini's painting

expressed most

clearly in the figure of Christ in the Last Judgment (pi. 19b), radiating infinite

compassion.
of the gods.
blessed

The large countenance has the exalted calm of the classical images
The gestures are simple (only the right hand stretched out to the

completely preserved), and have acquired a

new and profound mean-

Although the Byzantine model is closely followed in the facial types
and attitudes - probably with the intention of faithful imitation - the coming.

pletely different
local

Roman

Western conception

asserts itself plainly. Its roots lie in the

tradition, in the paintings of the great basilicas of early Christian

times.

Hitherto the gigantic pictorial sequences in San Paolo and Old St Peter's

had influenced medieval
58

They

served as a kind of

art chiefly

through

their representational content.

monumental iconographic manual.

Now

they were

once again to become a

which we

fruitful artistic source, for

are fortunate

Assist

and

Rome

have documentary proof. Ghiberti records that Cavallini executed an ex-

tensive

commission

San Paolo fuori

mura. His task was to restore the

pictorial decoration of the basilica, originally

done

in the fifth century,

work he was careful to reproduce the iconography
Though evidently damaged, most of the scenes were

in his

and

of the existing scenes.

recognizable in their

new pictures (which is what
Some of the early Christian

broad outlines. Cavallini overpainted them with
the

Middle Ages understood by

restoration).

compositions were retained in their original form, and remained until they

were destroyed, together with

we still have a

complete

Cavallini's

work,

set of copies of these

in the fire of 1823.

However,

works commissioned by Cardinal

Francesco Barberini in the seventeenth century, 27 which convey the content of
the scenes, and also give an idea of their style. Fragmentary inscriptions, repro-

duced by the Baroque copyists, enable us to date Cavallini's

nave of San Paolo between 1277 and 1290, 28 the years

The

the style seen in Santa Cecilia.
ings in San Paolo differed

from

copies clearly

show

activities in the

which he evolved

that Cavallini's paint-

the fifth-century originals in the

slender

proportion of his figures and the greater variety of architectural motifs, in

Yet

part Gothic, that he introduced.

inevitably, the

grand

style

and the figures

of the early Christian compositions, full of classical recollections, exerted a

profound influence on Cavallini's work. His

later

independent productions

can only be understood in the light of the knowledge of early Christian
that he acquired during his

work

art

San Paolo.

This applies both to the Santa Cecilia frescoes and to the mosaic cycle in
Santa Maria in Trastevere, where Cavallini added six scenes from the

Mary

life

to the existing twelfth-century apse mosaics. The scenes were probably

completed

mood,

not been authenticated. 29 Their

in 1291, but this date has

especially

when compared with contemporary Roman

always been noticed.
Virgin (pi. 20 a),

It is

classical

mosaics, has

particularly strong in the first scene, the Birth of the

which has the

clarity of a classical relief.

The

activity of the

tempered by tender human warmth and sympathy. The freedom
of movement and the grouping reveal a mastery of composition - the result

midwives

of long years of close contact with classical Christian

mental
skill

effect of the Presentation in the

Temple

(pi.

art.

The solemn monu-

20b) depends on the rhythmic

with which the figures and the architectural forms of the background

brought into harmony. Other scenes, especially the Nativity of Christ and
the Death of the Virgin, still adhere closely to Byzantine iconography. Common
are

to the entire series,

however,

clear distribution of light

the sculptural conception of the figures, the

and shade

in the scenes,

which

are nearly

all lit

Assisi

and

Rome

from

a single direction,

and

pieces placed side

side to

economy of die means used to suggest
Romanesque manner. The two architectural

finally die

space, far superior to the formal

form the

interior setting for the Birth of the Virgin,

The same applies to the
Three Kings pay homage to Mary, although

are symbolic rather than representational.
in front of

which the

a surprising understanding of perspective.

were soon

to be assimilated

work

seems that directly

after the

the decoration of Santa Cecilia,

shows

of the elements that

and given harmonious expression by

Giotto, are already to be found in the

artist,

many

Indeed

building
it

a greater

of Cavallini.

completion of these mosaics Cavallini began

e.,

at the

beginning of the 1290s. 30 In addi-

tion to the Last judgment, remnants of scenes

from

Old Testament

the

are

preserved on the south wall of the nave, and a fragment of an Annunciation

on the north

scene

As was customary,

wall.

from

scenes

the

New

Testament

were placed opposite scenes from the Old Testament. Between the windows
there
in

were

also large figures of prophets standing

pure Gothic form. 31 The

to Cavallini,

and here too

had already worked

In San Paolo, Cavallini

Cambio, the Florentine

sculptor-architect,

extant, bears the date 1285.

The

Later, Cavallini

came

side

whose

association

side

with Arnolfo

tabernacle in San Paolo,

was renewed

still

in Santa Cecilia.

with their moulded gables correspond

Cavallini's painted Gothic baldachins

to Arnolfo's tabernacle,

beneath painted baldachins

new style from north of the Alps was thus familiar
we can trace the sources of his acquaintanceship.

which stands

in the choir

and

dated 1293.

into even closer contact with the Gothic, in Naples,

where Gothic architecture of great monumentality developed under the rule
Anjou family. The convent church of Santa Maria Donnaregina, one
of their principal enterprises, was decorated with frescoes by pupils of Caof the

vallini,

presumably under

his direction. Stylistically this large

work, abounding

in narrative detail,

opment than

surviving works in

his

developed by Giotto already shows
fully assimilated.

The

much
Rome. The new

belongs to a

its

and important

later stage of devel-

concept of painting

influence here, though

not yet

records mention Cavallini in Naples in 1308, but the

32
paintings in Donnaregina were probably produced only around 1320.

conclude our account of

for the frescoes at Assisi

Rome. There

are

this creative period,

which prepared the way

and the advent of Giotto, we must turn again to

two works

be considered: the mosaic apse decorations

Giotto, Esau and Isaac
Assisi, San Francesco

in the Lateran Basilica

among

and

Maria Maggiore. 33 Both these works,

most magnificent mosaics of

the

Nicholas IV, the same pope
of the

in Santa

work

who was

all

Assist

and

Rome

were commissioned by
promoting the continuation

time,

so active in

San Francesco. They were done by Jacopo Torriti, and can be

dated between 1288 and 1292 by reference to Pope Nicholas' reign. Torriti's

However, in
from the life of Mary in the apse of
Santa Maria Maggiore, we find the same classical Roman clarity and freshness
already noticed in the Vault of the Saints in Assisi. As principal motif for the

style

still

Torriti's

closer to the Byzantine tradition than Cavallini's.

work, especially

in the scenes

Santa Maria Maggiore mosaics, Torriti took the Coronation of the

'irgin

Western type of composition developed in France. 34 Thus a Gothic
element was introduced into the work, which is otherwise based on early
(pi.

21 a), a

The Gothic influence also becomes noticework of Filippo Rusuti, a pupil of Torriti,

Christian and Byzantine tradition.

able in the style of the figures in the

who decorated the facade of
The

transept of Santa

Santa Maria Maggiore with mosaics before 1308. 35

Maria Maggiore was

also

decorated with wall-

paintings under the patronage of Nicholas IV, and impressive remnants are

preserved. Large-scale spiral scroll-work and a
fill

the upper zone

and support a

busts of prophets. 36

and

The

frieze

hard

piercing, almost menacing, look.
is

with medallions containing over life-size

figures are rock-like, as

their expressions are equally

still

huge painted console framing

The

(pi.

21b).

though

chiselled in stone,

The wide-open

eyes have a

detail of the faces, ears, hair, beards,

defined in a severe, brittle style, and the drapery folds are sharp as crystal.

These busts of prophets were done by a painter of the Cavallini school, and
although they have been attributed to the young Giotto,
likely that they are the
Assisi

and

of a

in the Crucifix of Santa

be detected for the
richer,

work

first

young man. 37

two

hardly seems
Isaac scenes at

Maria Novella, where Giotto's

time with some certainty, everything

and more varied. But here, even

identify a painter, there

In the

is little

style

in the characteristic details

to suggest that the prophets are

can

livelier,

which

the

hand

of Giotto. Nevertheless there appears to be a close connection between the
paintings in Santa Maria
at Assisi.

Maggiore and

The anonymous Roman

the Prophet Busts,

certain parts of the

painter,

was perhaps one

of the

nave decoration

whom we may call the Master of
artists whom Giotto entrusted with

the execution of the Vault of the Doctors and the St Francis legend.
anticipates a train of

But

this

thought that must be developed in the following chapter

the Assisi frescoes.

6 Giotto the early years
:

The

great picture cycle in the nave of San Francesco at Assisi

large pictorial series that

were derived from models

Paolo and Old St Peter's in Rome. The mere fact of

makes

state of preservation

when

graphic scheme of
tions opposite
vaults,

Old and

which had no

umns or

single-aisled

lower zone, which

arcades. This

was

in a sense unique:

Testament scenes

in addition there

parallel in the

and furthermore the
pictures in the

New

one another, but

Roman

of the

last

survival in

its

unique today, but even

this cycle

was painted the work was

the

in the basilicas of
its

San

present

time

at the

placed the icono-

in their traditional posi-

was the decoration of the

basilicas

with

their

open

rafters;

church provided space for a third row of

was interrupted by

in other churches

a suitable place to illustrate the

life

col-

of St Francis,

the patron saint of the church. Extending along the walls of the nave there
are twenty-eight scenes

from

the St Francis legend, beginning

The

the crossing (pis 47a, 47b, 56-39, V, VI).

than the Biblical representations in the zone above, but

They confront
their intensity

and ending

pictures are smaller in scale
still

almost

life-size.

the spectator directly and fascinate the most casual visitor with

and forthright popular

But even more powerful than the

style.

miraculous and moving events of the story are the lofty monumentality and
austere grandeur of gesture
directness. Bright

and

and composition. Everything

lively colours are used

wherever

vivid tones to prevent the deep blue of the background,
part

lost,

from becoming

however, restrained
Franciscans

who

are

the chromatic effect

Cimabue's paintings
is

the

dominant

this zeal for

almost

tale

needed

for the

most

iconographic element,

brown cowls

of the

the scenes. Consequently

must have had

artistic

absent, partly because
reasons.

The

but the simple truth. The

history of Christendom, for nothing

scenes are

1
a mysterious unnatural light.

narrative purports to be a faithful historical record, and to

legendary

mous

all

now

mainly sober and earthy. The solemn splendour which

in the choir

illuminated with abstract clarity, not

inappropriate to the subject, but also for

The

One

colour: the grey and

prominent figures
is

note.

told with simple

suitable, for

life

less

of St Francis

than

decorative scheme of the nave of the

this

tell

not a

told as part of the

the subject of the enor-

Upper Church. There can be no

doubt

that iconographically

uniform plan, although
not reflected in the

artistic

was conceived from the

apparent

character of the work.

stylistically

more advanced than

and has

the appearance of having been

all

Old Testament

The

St Francis legend

Giotto:
the early years

the decoration in the upper zones of the nave,

done by

younger generation. The

kind were unavoidable in an undertaking of

Several groups of

size.

according to a

scenes nearest the crossing seem, in comparison, particularly

archaic. Discrepancies of this

such vast

start

glance that this uniformity

at first

artists

of different schools

seem

to have

worked

here successively. 2 Intermittent interruptions in activity must also have occurred, possibly because of shortage of

summoned from Rome had

means, but perhaps also because the

other commitments there. 3

Only

artists

the final scenes

of the upper zone, those nearest the entrance wall, reveal a stricter discipline.

The

method

collective

of production

was abandoned here and replaced by

who

the superior artistic ability of a single individual. This individual,
a

new

conception of

artistic responsibility,

and

at the

time a

new

created

style,

could

only have been Giotto.

far historians

have not been able to agree on the nature and

Giotto's intervention.

was

active in Assisi.

The only

fact that

definitive

almost beyond dispute

documentary evidence

exists,

made

worked

in the Franciscan

to connect this reference

Church. However, these were

church

at Assisi.

refer to the

St Francis legend alone
his authorship

was

explicitly

Attempts have been

with the Giottesque paintings in the Lower
all

workshop productions, and

part executed later than Riccobaldo's record.

must therefore

that

but one con-

temporary source, the Chronicle of Riccobaldo da Ferrara, mentions
that Giotto

scale of

Upper Church

The

for the

most

chronicler's information

only, and for a long time the

associated with Giotto.

Some

without reservation, while others disputed

historians accepted
it

hotly.

This dispute reflected two basically different approaches to the whole prob-

lem

of Giotto.

The

one, disposed to follow tradition and the evidence of

the records, accepted the St Francis cycle as an early

around 1300. The other, adopting a severely

wide

stylistic

style of the

disparity

between the

work

critical attitude,

St Francis scenes

Umbrian

done

emphasized the

and the grand austere

mature master, and regarded these paintings

follower of Giotto, or even of a local

of Giotto,

as the

work

of a

school. 6 Unfortunately this

valid criticism led to a misinterpretation of historical events, in

which admir-

ation for Giotto's mature art prevented a proper understanding of his early

development. For a long time these two irreconcilable views existed side by
side.

The

dispute about the St Francis cycle seemed to have been reduced to

the level of a professional controversy in

which the arguments had been

Giotto:
the early years

exhausted. In the absence of proof, prejudice prevailed, and the few historians

who from

an early stage had taken a

doctrinaire

less

and more synoptic

view of the problem were ignored. 7

The Giotto exhibition in 1937 at last initiated a re-appraisal. The impetus
come from the Assisi frescoes, but from a panel painting, the Crucifix
in Santa Maria Novella (pis 60 61). 8 This is a major work of Giotto's, but
did not

although

known

for a long time,

had attracted

little

attention until then.

had always hung on the entrance wall of the church, but rather high up

and inadequately

lit,

so that

shared the fate of

all

the early

works of the

master: the narrow conception of his style was blind to anything that did

not conform to the accepted
tication,

going back

ideal.

Even

a relatively early

documentary authen-

was disregarded, not through ignorance

as far as 13 12,

or carelessness, but simply because the information did not seem to tally with
the current conception of Giotto.

covery, which finally put

this

One may,

of Florentine painting and in Giotto's

own

analogous works, and of what appear to be
of the

therefore, speak of a real redis-

great Crucifix in

its

rightful place in the history

development.

the basis of

replicas, a date in the last

decade

established. 9

Duecento has been

when his youthful
The massive figure hangs heavily on the cross,
its chest stretched, the abdomen pressed forward, the broad hips somewhat
uncertainly foreshortened. It is far removed from the slender formalized figure
This

the style of Giotto at the age of about twenty-five,

powers were

at their height.

drooping weightlessly that
Crucifix
figure,

encountered in Cimabue's mature work, the

from Santa Croce. There

but

was Giotto

who

pathos and deep emotion in Cimabue's

first

depicted with unflinching realism the

humanity of Christ and the agony of the martyred body. However,
harsh realism

not the main substance of

features of the deeply
struggle.

bowed head

The hands with

this

are relaxed

impressive work.

and ennobled

their slender, shapely fingers,

open

its

after the

new,

The noble
wings.

long

The

tension of the skin, the contour of the muscles and the bones beneath are

modelled with great delicacy and deep

interest in the realities of suffering

and death. The type of the crucified figure, with bent knees and feet pierced
by a single nail, is Gothic, and here makes its first appearance in Italian painting. 11 Mary and St John on the side panels are not racked with pain, as in
Cimabue's Crucifix, but contemplate Christ with noble composure. Giotto's
leaning towards realism is kept in check by his firm emotional control and
his

unerring and confident sense of

style.

come back into our purview unexpectedly, also throws
an unexpected new light on the monumental cycle at Assisi. The confusion
This work, which has

now

of styles in the St Francis sequence
a pattern of consistent

begins to take on

some

order, and

development emerges. Furthermore, Giotto's

own

part

Giotto:
the early years

more clearly defined. Unless all the indications are misleading, his
mind and personal style can already be discerned in the Old Testa-

can be

constructive

ment
It

scenes in the upper zone of the north wall.

has always been observed that the

two

Isaac scenes, Jacob's Deception

Esau and Isaac (pis 34, 55, IV), are far superior in
scenes.

Their clear

spatial structure, narrative

have always attracted attention. For

work

of a 'great

unknown', the

and

quality to the other

artistic

power and

warm

rich

colour

long time they were thought to be the

so-called Isaac Master. 12

Had

such a master

indeed existed, he, and not Giotto, would have been the founder of modern
painting; here for the
stitute the

new

first

defined pictorial stage,
of

which

strict rule of

all

the basic elements that con-

formulated by Giotto

the box-like architecture - the

shown with

are

time are present

conception of a 'picture'

interior

the clearly

and exterior

equal clarity - the composition subjugated to the

the verticals and horizontals, the disposition of the picture surface

with reference to the edges of the frame, and

new

finally the sculptural

compact-

Only by satisfying these formal
requirements could the calm and moving drama, which makes the two Isaac
scenes so memorable, be brought to life. The blind, groping Isaac in the second
picture, which is the better preserved of the two, has no precedent in icononess of the figures, full of a

vitality.

graphic tradition. His sightless eyes face the frank gaze of Esau,
es

without yet suspecting that he has been cheated of

who

approach-

his father's blessing.

The young woman accompanying him looks on apprehensively. 13 In the first
scene the approach to Isaac is more guarded Jacob, his hands and neck covered
:

with the hide of the slaughtered kid, stands

shadow.

side nearest his father in

remains
the plot,

still

as a statue.

whose son

Jacob from Esau

Between

at the

the

two

but Jacob

stands Rebecca, the instigator of

obedient only to her will.

signifies that

foot of the bed, with the

Isaac has grasped his son's hand,

The halo which
blessing. The

he has received the

distinguishes

story

told

with the greatest economy of means, but the monumentality of the forms
gives weight even to this spare narrative,

and the

total effect

of a tense

and accomplished drama.
Further examination of the Isaac scenes strengthens the conviction that the
style,

the personal touch, cannot be attributed to

anyone but Giotto. The

Santa Maria Novella Crucifix provides a useful comparison.
in spite of

its

(pis 55, 61);

entirely different expression,

one need only

visualize

The head

of Christ,

closely related to Esau's

upright and with eyes open.

have the same generous structure, and although there

may

head

The forms

be differences in

Giotto:
the early years

detail, the nose,

mouth,

chin,

and cheeks are modelled with the same delicacy

and economy. The half-length figures of Mary and

on the

St John

side panels

of the Crucifix support the comparison. Their restrained, silent sorrow has
the

same emotional quality

the wordless and almost gestureless

drama of

the Isaac scenes.

From

these observations

can establish the extent of Giotto's participa-

tion in the decoration of the nave at Assisi.

for the

first

the 1290s.
ability,

when he

time

Still

him

from

apart

seems to have appeared there

young, and presumably determined

relatively

he painted them with

clearly sets

executed the two Isaac scenes at the beginning of

own

his

crowd

the

hand, and

anonymous

prove

his

his artistic individuality

painters, particularly

one compares the wall-paintings with the Crucifix, which was probably done
shortly after the Isaac scenes. Giotto, therefore, returned once

ence before continuing his

work

at Assisi.

And

have been in Rome. Familiarity with Cavallini's

style,

with the iconography

of the early Christian paintings in San Paolo and with Christian

Christian classical

spent

some time

are

art,

all essential

in close contact

early times he travelled freely,

to the Isaac scenes. Giotto

with Cavallini. 14

and was almost

to Flor-

an earlier date he must

and pre-

must have

can be assumed that from

much

home

Rome

in Florence.

The two Isaac scenes are in the bay next but one to the
Upper Church. It would appear that the painting of

the

proceeded steadily
It is

in that direction,

which was the

practical

entrance wall in
the upper zone

way

of working.

therefore not surprising that Giottesque ideas, later to be taken up again

in the

Arena Chapel,

also appear in the last bays

Comparison with the Santa Maria Novella

and on the entrance wall. 15

Crucifix suggests that part of these

scenes are also in Giotto's personal style, particularly the Lamentation of Christ,

and the two Joseph scenes on the opposite wall. 16
Shortly afterwards Giotto seems to have been given

a leading position at

Assisi. This, as Vasari reports, might well have been at the time

vanni da

Muro

1296 and 1304. 17

and

when Gio-

held the office of minister-general of the Order, between

pictorial surface

entirely
is

new

kind of relationship between

apparent in the Doctors' Vault.

thrones and desks of the

Church

Fathers, decorated in

The

spatial

Roman

style,

niche-like cabinets of their assistants, are placed in the vault in careful,
still

empirical, perspective.

and the

though

foreshortening makes the centre of

below the vault the only natural and proper viewpoint. The
stress on the horizontals at the base of the thrones gives the vaulting above
the ribs a unified dome-like shape. Neither Cimabue, in the vault above the
the church floor

The marked

depth

richly articulated

nor the Master of the

crossing,

new

This

sense of space in

Saints'

itself is

Vault attempted anything comparable.

indicative of Giotto.

The

central viewpoint,

the planned arrangements of the profusion of detail are Giotto's,
the accuracy with

which the

The

tures, are rendered.

accommodated

are

same

the elaborate marble and

types of the figures, clearly revealing

to this

of the Isaac scenes, but

details,

development. They

now

Roman

training,

have an echo of the

style

The

still

and of the colours,

Giotto
the early years

struc-

everything has become harder and colder.

true of the style of the draperies

chalky tones

and so

wooden

which sharp

predominate.

This hardness and austerity closely associates the Doctors' Vault with the

from the theme and scale - the vault representations
- there are few differences between the two that extend

St Francis legend. Apart

much

are

larger

beyond the usual
It

would seem

variations in execution occurring in

that the

directly after the vault,

and the connections

was the leading

plausible that Giotto

any particular workshop.

same group of workmen did the

just demonstrated

figure in this operation.

however, that from then on he entrusted the execution of

Although the compositions

to assistants.

scenes

from

bear the

mark

plain.

of his genius,

some

painting.

head of

Isaac,

some

of the

Church

though lacking

its

renewed

Isaac scenes

Fathers are reminiscent of the

profound

inspiration.

The youth-

of the scenes recalls the sons of Isaac, but the

own

hand.

tins also applies to

The group

The

fire,

the

sculptural severity of the

standard pattern

broken

the figures,

of the pope with

the Confirmation of the Ride of the Order

The

most of the

reduced to schematic roundness and smoothness. The archaic element

predominant, and

Giotto's

appears,

of the detail does not. His style evidently

youthful energy and alertness, are missing.

make

his designs largely

at least

But the connection with the two

The bearded heads

ful St Francis in

forms

whole, or

a hardening phase at tins time, possibly as a result of

Roman

contact with

patriarchial

as a

the Giving of the Cloak to the nineteenth scene, the Stigmatization

went through

is still

St Francis legend

(pi.

in only a

57J

few

which

members

are possibly

of the Curia in

a characteristic example.

places, as for instance in the

expressive heads of the outraged father and his companions in the scene of
St Francis Renouncing his Family (pis 58, V).
the
its

magnetism of the

But

these are exceptions. Despite

St Francis legend as a whole,

and the

skill

many

compositions, the individual parts remain strangely hard and cold, and the

warmth and forcefulness of the narrative are not reflected in the painting itself. The intimate mood of the legend, which from the start was at odds with
the characteristic effort to achieve monumentality, has been entirely lost in
the execution of the pictures.

Giotto:
the early years

would

seem

thus

the very limited sense that
assistants.

it is

why

This would explain

solution to the

problem

execution, a distinction that

value of the St Francis cycle.

in the

the work
among art

lies

historians.

in the distinction

Modern

concepts of 'originality' and 'author-

methods and

sense. Giotto's contribution to this field

than his achievement in

importance

fecting his

observed

all

creations.

Even

stylistic creation.

as a style in the familiar

was no

To understand

epoch-making

less

this side of his histor-

necessary to look again at the technical conditions af-

work.

duality of design

itself.

that

production have a history of their own, and are

artistic

an expression of a general intellectual attitude

narrower

between design and

essential for a just assessment of the artistic

upper zone and vaults of San Francesco should put us on our guard

techniques of

The

has been the subject of such

against applying present-day criteria to Giotto's

much

work only

Giotto's

must be discarded. The cooperative system of work

ship'

ical

an interpretation of his designs by inadequate

dispute and inconsistent assessments

The

famous cycle

likely that the

and execution

technically as old as the art of painting

the archaic periods, in Egypt, in Greece, and in medieval Europe,

was customary

draw

on the picture medium

directly

and then cover the drawing with

itself,

wall or panel,

The drawing, which

layers of paint.

also

served as the design, was the concern of the master. As a rule the execution
of the painting - depending

was the

task of his assistants.

on the

The

scale

and importance of the commission -

painters in the rocky monasteries

Athos, trained in the Byzantine tradition,
nineteenth century. 19 In this kind of

still

artistic

followed

on Mount

this practice in

approach the drawing

the

merely

an expedient, a preliminary stage in the execution of the work.

From
and

his

the technical evidence in their paintings,

contemporaries were the

They

can be inferred that Giotto

first post-classical

artists

abandon

this

monumental painting as an independent operation to be executed with care and accuracy. The model for
this was the mosaic technique, in which it was essential to begin with a fullscale drawing of the composition on the wall surface. The drawing was done
archaic practice.

treated the design of

with a brush on the rough
in sections

initial

layer of mortar,

with finer mortar into which coloured stones and pieces of

V
70

which was then covered
glass

Giotto, St Francis Renouncing His Family
Assisi, S.m Francesco

)BBgBE g®agBS&36S«@iB&:^^
i

were

pressed. In the

ed in

was completed,

The term

wall, as a rule in charcoal.

this.

the

first

drawing

Giotto
the early years

in a reddish tone.

which has recently come

into

common

use,

Such monumental drawings are found underneath almost

come to light wherever the top layer has peeled
The most striking example of this is in the Campo
which was heavily damaged in the Second World War. The

all

Trecento frescoes, and

oft

or been removed. 21

Santo in

When

was repeated with the brush, usually

sinopia (red earth),

from

derives

same way the designs for wall-paintings were now sketch-

on the

full size

Pisa,

had to be detached; as a result, the full-scale drawings - of amazing
quantity and quality - became visible (pi ioob). 22 The execution of the paint-

frescoes

would then

ing

from day

continue, as in mosaic,

fresh plaster applied in sections

Design and painting

to day, the so-called giornata (day's work).

were thus no longer merged, but formed two

basically separate operations,

two layers of plaster, coarse and
on top of the other. 23 This technique provided the condidevelopment of the classical buon fresco of the Renaissance with

distinguished further in the materials of the

applied one

fine,

tions for the

glossy surface and durable colours.

its

Technically, the painters of the Middle Ages had been facing an insoluble

dilemma. As the system of giornata was unknown, work on the
drying plaster had to be carried out with great speed.

combine two modes of operation. Only the design and the
done

in fresco. After the

ours.

There was thus

produced only

a choice

between

constant pressure, the fresco, and a
It

was here

first

ground had dried the painting was done

per, casein, or tempera. This

layer

were

in distem-

binding of the col-

a superficial

a durable

fresh, fast-

compromise was

but hasty execution under

permanent method.

careful but less

that the innovation introduced towards the

end of the thirteenth

century became a valuable aid and was evidently already put to systematic
use

by Giotto

in the St Francis legend at Assisi.

surface into smaller sections enabled

all

The

division of the picture

the parts to be executed carefully,

almost entirely in fresco. Giotto used the tempera technique only for specific
colours, such as blue, 24

the

whole much

and for ornaments and the

closer to that of the

fresco technique of the Renaissance.

like.

Middle Ages than

He was

His technique

to the fully developed

certainly not acquainted with

mechanical devices for transferring the design to the top layer, that

to say,

with the traced drawing and the cartoon. The freshly applied sections of
plaster

always covered the drawing just

Giotto, and

all

the other Trecento

particular 'day's work',
training. This

at the places

where

was

to be painted.

artists, relied, in the execution of each

on memory and on

their highly

developed formal

why Giotto's newly created style quickly lapsed into a formula.

Giotto

the early years

was doubtless Giotto's intention from the start to

because only in
style.

this

way

could he train

At the time of the execution of the

his assistants, that

beginning - and

create

numerous

his

manageable formulas,

St Francis legend the training of

to say, the formation of the Giotto

this is the

the master's intentions

uniform

assistants in a

workshop, was just

explanation of the frequent discrepancy between

and the inadequacy and schematism of the execution.

Naturally the painting had to be briefly sketched again with the brush on
the top layer as well, and this
lines.

was done free-hand, usually

in fine, confident

Although the design on the rough mortar of the wall had, through

Giotto's innovation,

become

of major importance,

served only to determine

The monumental

the general disposition and arrangement of the picture.

drawing, completely subjected to the requirements of the given space, har-

monized the painting and the

architecture in the

most natural way.

was

only in the course of the fifteenth century that such full-sized designs on the
wall surface were replaced by small-scale drawings in paper, which were then
transferred to the wall through the

design was detached

sphere of the
architecture,

vocably

from

'atelier',

medium

and with

this

The

of cartoons.

removed

the actual painting, and

process of

to the abstract

the original unity of wall-paintings and

which gave such painting

its

natural monumentality,

was

irre-

lost.

Giotto's part in this development can be fairly accurately seen in the paintings in the nave of San Francesco.

He was

surfaces into separate sections. This

had always been done when the height

not the

first

to divide the wall

on the

of the area to be painted exceeded the reach of the painter standing
scaffolding.

divided into

The huge
on the

We
two

can see that the apse of Sant'Angelo in Formis

horizontal zones, each approximately the height of a man.

figure of Christ

must have been drawn,

surface beneath the painted layer. 25

at Assisi

(pi. I)

were done

in exactly the

The

large

same way: there

broad outline

at least,

Old Testament

scenes

a distinct dividing line

Abraham in the Sacrifice of Isaac.
two sections. 26 In the two
considerably smaller. The divisions,

passing through the middle of the figure of

Twice

life-size, this

figure had to be painted in

Isaac scenes these sections are already

coinciding as a rule with the contours of the figures, though cutting across

them

occasionally, are frequently visible.

giomate, and

must have been

first

Each picture thus

designed on the wall in

consists of several
its

entirety.

The

next stage in the development can be observed in the Lamentation scene.

Once more the sections become smaller in size and the seams between tlicm
and more precise. The painter evidently tried to conceal the seams between the separate giomate. Cavallini's work is at about the same stage in this

finer

which may possibly have been originated by him. He was,

technique,

after

well acquainted with the mosaic technique, which served as model for

all,

Giotto:
the early

yens

the giornata system. 27

between the

In the St Francis legend the seams

with remarkable

many

visible in

skill,

unsurpassed in

handled

Nevertheless the divisions are

even to the naked eye, particularly in the Sermon

places

the Birds (pi. 56).

later times.

plaster sections are

detailed examination

has lately

become

possible to

determine with great accuracy the number of giornate, their outlines and sequence. 28 Nothing of the underlying
in

any of these

visible in several places.

in the usual reddish

manner

In the frescoes in the

svstem evolved

These were painted

brown. 30 Their

ing than the meticulous

consists of

monumental drawing can now be seen
on the fine plaster have become

pictures, but the brush sketches

at Assisi

style

in light ochre colours

noticeably bolder and

and not

more sweep-

of painting above.

Arena Chapel

became an

in Padua, Giotto's

major work, the

Each picture surface

established practice.

twelve to fifteen giornate. In some scenes, for example the Cruci-

fixion, the divisions are plainly visible. Nevertheless,

here too the seams are

carefully handled so that the surface appears completely uniform. 31 In later

years Giotto adopted an entirely different technique. In the Peruzzi Chapel
in Florence the division into giornate

almost exclusively a
tins

was an

developed
pupils

isolated
at Assisi

secco,

abandoned, and the painting

on dry

e.,

plaster.

not

done

known whether

experiment or a fundamental departure from the method

and Padua.

the other

and followers generally adhered

hand

certain that Giotto's

it is

to the giornata division. This postulates

winch was also used by Simone Martini, whose
monumental drawings, of the highest quality, have been found in Assisi and
Avignon (pis 82c, 82 A). In both cases these drawings are patently the decisive
the existence of a sinopia,

phases in the process of design. 33

have gone into these technical

understood without them. However,

details
it is

development, but rather the contrary a
:

produces

new

were always

new

techniques. Especially in the

also the

because Giotto's art cannot be

not technique that controls
kind of

artistic

approach always

Middle Ages, the

greatest artists

most accomplished craftsmen. With Giotto in particular,
its dependence on the great

the significance of the technical development and
stylistic

change that was taking place appear

Giotto was a plain craftsman,
great enterprises.

started

teenth-century Tuscany.
of

monumental painting

who

clearly.

in time rose to

become

a director of

with panel-painting, which flourished
the other hand there

was no

in thir-

substantial tradition

in Florence in the last quarter of the

Duecento. 34

Giotto:
the early years

For the mosaic decoration of the Baptistry,

were

style

artists

trained in the Byzantine

from Venice. Cimabue seems to have first
monumental art in Rome, and this is also true of

called in, possibly

entered the field of great

Giotto. There Giotto found masters experienced in wall-painting and

and he soon rose from the position of trainee and

saics,

The monumentality

recognized leader.

mo-

assistant to that of a

of his mature style

was no longer

dependent on external circumstances. His Padua frescoes are surprisingly small
measurements: the figures are barely half

in their overall

life-size.

virtue of their intellectual artistic principle, the disegno, that they

model

for the great Italian fresco art of the following centuries.

Disegno, drawing,

the central concept of Florentine art theory, familiar

through numerous contemporary writings throughout the whole period

to us

of the Renaissance.
tellectual core of a

today in
in this

way, but

means

work

wider

this

design, aim, idea, that

word

of art; and the

The

sense.

at the

meaning. Disegno,

facade

highest

constitutes the in-

commonly

used in Italian

same time they remained conscious of

in these

by Brunelleschi or

this lies its

is still

which

Florentine theorists also understood the term

two

senses, the concrete

Alberti,

and the

times.

all

was the

figure

However, nowhere

artistic merit.

narrower

its

ideal,

by Donatello, a
characterized by disegno, meaning that

distinctive feature of Florentine art at

It is

became the

the

power

of di-

segno so striking as in a Giotto composition.

may seem

single

idle to consider

drawing by

his

Giotto

as a

draughtsman seeing

hand has been preserved. All we have

are a

that not a

few copies

of frescoes of the Giotto school at Assisi and of Giotto's large mosaic in
the Navicella,

and nearly

all

Rome,

these Trecento drawings are recognizable at a

They are what we should call reproductions. Work that
is nowadays done by means of duplicating techniques was then done by hand.
The most common type of drawing in the Middle Ages was the excmplum,
glance as copies. 35

the sample drawing,

which was used

particular motif. Besides these, there

miniaturists in the margins of pages in

these

were usually playful attempts and

like serious designs.
It

was not

scribbles;

sheets.

However,

only rarely do they look

new
start

and

at first

only

an exception, that

also served as the basis of the contract signed

Such drawings were prepared

especially in cases

had no iconographic precedent or
76

books or on blank

by the

drawings submitted to the patron before the

until the Trecento,

They

freer experimental sketches

type of drawing appeared
of work.

convey the idea of a picture or

were

traditional

where

with the painter.

the required subject

model. As a

rule, in the

type

of compositions that followed the traditional Christian iconography, the painter

dispensed with the preliminary drawing.
that artists started to leave us large

and

designs,

Our

they had

drawing

exist:

was a

from

been

all

we know

And

it is

the

lost.

The

that they simply did not

truth

not accidental.

would

The Trecento

in the fifteenth century.

yet Giotto was a great draughtsman. Each of his pictures, and each

medium was

monumental drawing.

the

Giotto and his contemporaries the design, meaning the pictorial idea both

iconographic and

its

artistic sense,

its

was

and conditions of the wall and the room.

still

bound to the actual size
it would have seemed

Giotto

quite futile to anticipate in a small-scale drawing the arrangement of a

He had no need

position and the distribution of the masses.
straction,

which would merely have added

methods were

his

Giotto
the early years

advance to modern drawing practice

real

single figure, demonstrates this. His

century

Middle Ages

a creation of the Renaissance.

and the

transitional period,

came only

until the fifteenth

original drawings, sketches,

studies of models. 37

lack of real drawings

be strange

was not

numbers of

still

ations of design

to his difficulties. In this respect

new

medieval and archaic. The only

found importance for the

future,

was

element, of pro-

his systematic separation of the

and execution. Both could

com-

of such an ab-

now

oper-

be carried out without haste.

Design was given more weight, and the painstaking execution, already apparent in the St Francis cycle and characteristic of

became

possible because of

it.

ment.

It facilitated

ment

of representation accessible to

composition,

monumental wall

Giotto into a complete system of

without

all

Trecento painting,

much more than a technical achieveand made a new level of accuracy and refine-

This was

the realistic delineation,

first

work

opened

painters.

Developed

rich possibilities,

and

signalized in the Doctors' Vault, could

not have been achieved.
In the light of this, the St Francis legend can

now

also

be considered a

work of the
The improved procedures and the new systematic organization of the
workshop enabled him to realize his artistic intentions despite the individual

creation of Giotto's.

the standards of his time

was

fully a

master.

differences of the assistants
structure,

and the tone of

he had to engage. Giotto's composition, scenic

his narrative

were

essentially preserved.

depth of meaning and crystalline transparency of the slightly
frescoes could not yet be achieved.

the Giotto school
of a

common

still

style

its

among

The crowd

bound

fail.

was too

the

Padua
varied,

formative stage. Nevertheless, the establishment
his collaborators

had progressed

attempt to separate the St Francis legend into the
is

of assistants

Only

later

work

so far that

any

of 'masters' and 'hands'

Only

Giotto:
the early years

the

first

and the

last

the St Cecilia Master. 39

three scenes are so different

some

they can be attributed with

from

the rest that

certainty to another recognizable painter,

probably took

compositions from designs by

his

Giotto, but modified them, elongating the proportions and introducing
details.

new

The remaining

scenes exhibit to

some extent

the same principles of

com-

position that appear soon afterwards in Padua, such as the use of architectural

elements to augment figure groups,

as in

St Francis Renouncing his Family

(pi V), and the use of landscape to dramatize events, as in the Miracle of the

where the great bright slope of rock carries the saint's prayer upwards
manner that is unmistakably Giottesque. The landscapes in the Flight into

Spring,
in a

Egypt and the Lamentation, in Padua, are similarly used to heighten the action.

Other compositions,

especially the

crowd

appear to go further in attempting such
in Padua,

but these can be regarded

scenes towards the end of the cycle,

than anything Giotto produced

effects

bold experiments in an

unknown

field

and were not pursued further by the mature master. The whole course of
his

development,

now more

clearly apparent than in the past,

an increasing economy of means and
tion. In this

a conscious restraint

Giotto followed the same path

and the High Renaissance. Every great

style

was towards

and standardiza-

as the

masters of classical Greece

comes

to fruition within

its

own

self-imposed bounds.

The long
be taken

disputed question of the date of the St Francis legend can therefore

as resolved.

There

no longer any reason

began the designs for most of the scenes shortly
vanni da
is

Muro

to office, in 1296. 41

difficult to say:

probably not

How

long

much beyond

doubt that Giotto

after the accession of

Gio-

took to complete the work

1300.

Giotto himself does not seem to have waited for the completion of the

work. In 1300

at the latest,

Pope Boniface VIII must have

called

him

Rome

newly built Benediction Loggia in the Lateran.
Only one badly damaged fragment, showing the pope with two companions
42
The style of the fragment, now
blessing the populace, has been preserved.
to paint the frescoes in the

kept inside the Lateran

basilica,

legend. Giotto evidently brought

and here, too, he

almost identical with that of the St Francis

some

of his assistants

relied to a great extent

their

from

work, even

Assisi to

Rome,

in the principal

figures.

One

panel-painting, the Enthroned

Florence,

still

Madonna

belongs to Giotto's early period

be dated shortly before the beginning of the
78

and

of special interest because

of San Giorgio alia Costa in

(pis 62b,

work

64).^

can probably

in the St Francis legend

preliminary version of the mature

VI Giotto,
The Demons are Driven
from Arezzo (detail)
Assisi, San Francesco

Ognissanti Madonna. Unfortunately only a fragment remains of the panel

which was
the

Wide

originally about six feet high.

bottom have been sawn

and the painting

off,

on both

strips

sides

and

extremely worn. However,

the former spaciousness of the composition and the clear bright colours can

be imagined, and the elegant throne in Arnolfo's Gothic manner can be
approximately reconstructed. 44 The cloth hanging over the back of the throne
is

The
Madonna and
Madonna is the

similar in pattern to materials that often appear in the Assisi frescoes.

charm

of the heavily mutilated picture

of the Child. Massive
first

and yet

new

indication of a

lies

delicate, the

realism, a

new

in the style of the

treatment of the

conception of conscious and refined

monumentality. In particular, the solemn Christ Child with His royal dignity
is

indicative of Giotto's

mature

style, a

Child in the Ognissanti Madonna. The

by reference

ciated

The obvious

preparation for the severity of the

latter

work can only be

fully appre-

to such earlier stages of development.

stylistic

between the two Madonna panels
more than ten years. But the road that
period is still unknown. He can be traced until

differentiation

corresponds to a time interval of

Giotto travelled during
1300, when, having

this

left Assisi,

he designed the frescoes for the Benediction

Loggia of the Lateran. Between
not

later

than 1305, there

supposition.

Assisi

Those

first

and Padua, saw the

Arena

this

point and his activity in Padua, begun

gap that for the time being can be

five years of the

new

filled

only

century, the period between

final consolidation of his style as

manifested in the

frescoes.

The works done

at this crucial

time presumably also include the five-

panelled retable with half-length figures under Gothic arcades, which ori45
the high altar of the Badia in Florence.

ginally

came from

of the

Madonna and Child

length,

above the portal of the entrance wall

here the round surface

reminiscent of the

still

organized

The central panel
Madonna, also half-

at Assisi (pi. 62 a);

strictly in verticals

but whereas

and horizontals,

Badia retable steeply ascending diagonals are predominant, and
contours of the figures to the crowning gable.

The

effect

counter-

on the gold ground. The

relation-

;

the coloured inscription bands

ship of the figures to the

though not

free

from

ground and
tension,

relate the

one of great

monumentality the strong sense of space conveyed by the figures
acted

in the

to the architectural elements of the frame,

handled with confidence and a delicate

sense of balance.

There

a similar subtle relationship

between figure and surface

in the

Crucifix in San Francesco at Rimini, unfortunately in a fragmentary state of
preservation. 46

The

close connection of this

work with

the Badia altar

Giotto:
the early years

particularly noticeable in the Christ in Benediction

crowning piece on top of the
is

cross.

accepted, the Rimini Crucifix

The Chronicle of Riccobaldo

must

If this

also

this

painting,
It

work

specific

in Rimini, or to

Giotto can be based only on

reason the question of dating

on which

the other hand, there

any particular work by Giotto

this Crucifix. Its attribution to

and for

altar

belong to the pre-Padua period. 48

records that Giotto was active in Rimini,

49
ing, as in Assisi, for the Franciscans.

documentary reference

on the newly discovered

connection with the Badia

stylistic

grounds,

of crucial importance. 50 Riminese

Giotto's activity left a deep mark,

some

assistance.

has long been observed that Giotto's pre-Padua style produced a school in

Rimini, but the explanation of

Rimini painters. Recently

this

Italian

was sought

historians,

in the presence at Assisi of

rightly in our opinion, have

more likely conclusion that Giotto himself worked in Rimini behe went to Padua, between 1300 and 1305. 51 This would explain more

reached the
fore

clearly the course of his

Rimini school, to which

own development as well as
we shall return later. 52 The

conveys an idea of Giotto's

Rimini that no longer

style at the

exist.

time

the emergence of the

San Francesco Crucifix

when he produced

the frescoes in

7 Giotto and his pupils

Any

attempt to

assess Giotto's art as a

in the

Arena Chapel

of the

numerous monumental

Padua

whole must

cycles that Giotto

tion to regard the

produced

should have survived with hardly any damage. 1 There

now

extant.

Many

were produced before and

theless

one

a constant tempta-

characteristic part.

tend to forget that

only a small fragment of Giotto's work, and indeed of
that time,

pure chance that

this particular

that has been preserved as the entire ceuvre, or at

little

most important and

least as its

with the fresco cycle

start

(pis 66a, 66b, VII, VIII). It

all

the painting of

other works, both secular and

Padua cycle

are justified in regarding the

master done at the height of his powers,

ecclesiastical,

happen to have survived. 2 Never-

after those that

as a

when he could

major work of the
turn to advantage

the varied experience of his early years. In these frescoes his fully mature,
classic style

tative

was formulated for the

model

for

most of

his pupils.

became the storehouse of
extent

all

first

time,

The canon

and
of

remained the authori-

form

of the

inspiration for the Giotto school,

Padua
and

frescoes
to

some

Trecento painting. Giotto himself went far beyond his Padua achieve-

ments, but very few of his pupils were able to follow his further develop-

ment.

The modest,
in 1303

single-aisled building that houses this

and consecrated

as early as 1305. It

coes were also completed

why

that date. 3

major work was founded

not recorded whether the fres-

However,

there

practical reason

more than a year or two, for the workshop
team which Giotto brought with him to Padua was now fully trained in his
the

work should have

methods, and served

taken

as a perfect tool in his

hand. Giotto must have designed

Giotto

and

his pupils

most of the

scenes

possible only

and

also

executed the essential parts himself. This was

the basis of a calculated division of labour that entrusted

the parts of secondary importance to assistants. Presumably

particular, specialized

work
size

members

ancillary

of the workshop, as was

how

of a purely technical kind. This explains

preparatory

all

commission of

could be completed so quickly. Assistants probably also executed

of the figures

and even complete

work can hardly be
The only argument for

their

scenes,

which

that of the master.

a longer duration of the

indicates a remarkable stylistic

The

cution of the whole cycle.

work depends on

the con-

and handling between the three rows of

siderable disparity of conception
pictures, 4

tins

many

but they were so well trained that

from

distinguished

all

work

and flowers, landscapes - was done

architectural motifs, ornaments, plants

all

development during the exe-

structure of the scenes in the top

row is more
may have

economic, and the expression of the figures more restrained. This

been an intentional archaicism on the part of Giotto, a kind of abandonment
of the experiments he had attempted but not yet fully solved in the St Francis

legend. In the middle and lower zones the scenes are widened, and at the same

time more densely

filled.

Perspective

become more

organization of the space; the figures

more vigorous and
and

intense.

But

it is

especially in the Crucifixion

used with greater confidence in the

only in the

last

solid,

and the colours

scenes of Christ's Passion,

and the Lamentation, that Giotto's

harmony

style

monumental form and dramatic
expression, of composition and intellectual content. However, firm conclusions about the duration of the work cannot be drawn from this. A master
achieves

its

maturity, a complete

of Giotto's stature develops with each work, and his capacity for development

cannot be measured in terms of time.

shall

have to be content with the

assumption that the Padua frescoes were painted around 1305.

The

chapel, clearly designed

dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

from the

The

start to

include the paintings, was

story therefore begins in the upper zone

with the Expulsion ofJoachim and his Encounter with Anna at the Golden Gate,
life of Mary. The Dispatch of the Archangel Gabriel,

and continues with the

who

passes

triumphal arch.

account of the

Mary the message of the Annunciation, is depicted on the
The middle and lower zones of the long walls give a detailed
life and Passion of Christ. The entrance wall in the west is

devoted to the traditional Last Judgment, covering the whole
base,

ornamental paintings done with remarkable

of the Virtues

show

the pictures with

area.

first grisailles in

richly painted frames, serves to

the architecture.

The

Along the

allegorical figures

and Vices between painted marble panels, the

Western painting. This, and the
84

skill

harmonize

separate scenes, thirty-six in

all,

are

united according to a

of rules into an organic whole. This articulation

strict set

by providing a pattern of divisions and combinations, like the stanzas of a poem, so that a monumental rhythm is imposed
on the compositions. The whole framework is carefully and subtly devised

also contributes to the narrative

to serve the single purpose of giving full expression to each of the

Giotto

and

his pupils

many

pictures.

Giotto

the creator of the modern,

disegno, the

autonomous

tangular

form

contains

two

basic architectural directions, the vertical

The

picture.

virtue of his

compositions take shape within the surrounding frame, the rec-

which

and

represents a specific proportion,

inner architecture of the picture

at the

same time

and the horizontal.

completed and limited by

its

frame,

thereby gaining both in freedom and in discipline. Indeed the picture dominates the real space, whereas until then

had been controlled by the archi-

Older medieval wall-paintings, taken on

tecture.

ments of

a larger unit;

the structure and articulation of the

Giotto changed

this.

their

own, look

like frag-

they derive their character and monumentality from

room and

Such compositions

its

general decorative scheme.

as the Flight into

Egypt and the La-

monumental in their own right, and
has
quality.
every figure and contour
this
The few panel-pictures that can be
attributed to Giotto himself have the same independence. This also applies,
Padua

mentation, in

(pis 66a, VIII), are

for example, to the Triumphal Crucifix

from

the Arena Chapel, originally

beam separating the main room from
extant. 5 Compared with the huge Santa Maria Novella
early period, it appears more refined and almost delicate.
fastened to the

half the height of the Santa
5.78),
it

but

stood.

Maria Novella Crucifix

The

Ognissanti

and the

and much

The
also

Madonna

solidity of

larger,

Madonna

its

as against

forms

it is

new

which

shall refer again,

newly conceived monumentality.

panels of

still

in fact less than

meters

which we

in Florence, to

this

picture surface acquired a

became

It is

(2.23

has an intrinsic greatness not inferior to the frescoes near

conveys even more strongly
structure

the choir, and

Crucifix of Giotto's

its

incomparably superior to the older,

Cimabue and Duccio.
internal order

and independence, and

suitable for three-dimensional illusionism. Giotto's pictures

and

whole display a consistent, and to some extent systemAlthough it is usual to ascribe the development of per-

his fresco cycles as a
atic, 'perspective'.

spective to the painters of the following century, the Quattrocento, this

correct only in the sense that they
of perspective based

were the

on mathematical

dimensional representation was not
tial

traits

first

principles.

scientific,

but

employ an accurate system
Giotto's method of three-

already exhibits the essen-

of Renaissance perspective: three-dimensional illusion and spatial

Giotto

and

his pupils

from which

depth, with a single viewpoint

the entire pictorial space

new

prehensible; and with this he introduced something entirely

Middle Ages,

classical wall-paintings in

large numbers. In these he

found perspective

Rome, then

to organize the entire pictorial decoration of a

and on the

From
ally

room on

the long walls of the Arena Chapel,

right of the middle axis have their viewpoint
left;

preserved in

still

achieved with masterly

effects

in a peculiarly unsystematic fashion. 6 Giotto

though

viewpoint.

com-

in the

concern for the relationship between picture and spectator.

His inspiration was

virtuosity,

left half

all

moved

all

first

the pictures to the

slightly

towards the

moved

to the right.

the individual pictures

and sculptur-

of the walls the viewpoint

the centre of the oblong chapel

was the

the basis of a single

conceived ornamental painted frames are seen in correct perspective.

However, the

optical illusion

hundred years

later in

viewpoint primarily
or distortion occur

not perfect; that was only achieved three
Giotto used the central

ceiling paintings.

whenever foreshortening

as a regulating principle, so that

with reference to

it is

only in

illusionistic effect

Baroque

few

this point.

realized a completely

notably in the two Gothic choir

places,

lofts

painted on the wall of the triumphal arch. As a rule he avoided deep recession
in his pictures,

not through lack of

economy. His

artistic

and the

was

His pictorial space

and

However,
all

elementary and empirical,

there

was

endless space

a 'pictorial relief, as

in this respect his

frescoes that

still

methods adopted by the painters of the early Renaissance

scientific

were beyond his range. The concept of an
called, 8

perspective, but for purposes of

skill in

feeling for space

work

is still

was unknown

medieval in character.

distinctly

another principle consistently applied in the Arena Chapel

have

a far-reaching influence.

The

direction of light in

the narrative scenes, in the allegories of the base zone, and in the painted

frames, corresponds with the natural source of light

window
teaching,

in the

west wall.

also

found

lighting of the

from

the large tripartite

rule to this effect, clearly derived

book (Chapter 9).
thus became closely

in Cennini's

direction of light in the picture

from

nature

itself.

his pictures

related to the actual

room.

Indeed he had a

have

all

new and

the freshness of a

naissance created an even richer,
to a large extent

tistic

form

Giotto's

In wall-painting the

Giotto's contemporaries professed to see in his pictures nothing

to him.

has been appropriately

still

uncorrupted outlook on

first

less

reality,

than

and

encounter. In later times the Re-

variegated concept of nature, which

accepted today. In Giotto's work, however, the ar-

apparent: the bold, precisely calculated division of the

surface, the clarity of the pictorial stage, the solidity of the figures

and

their

VII

Giotto Adoration of the Kings

•

Padua, Arena Chapel

controlled

power

of expression. His figures are like marble statues, and yet

they have immense
characters,

on the

vitality. In his pictures

and space

The

and diminishes

lighting

exceptional, and

sake. Giotto

filled

(pi.

and he

reality.

66b).

views through the

economy

Nothing

lucidity of

Artificial

introduced for

where

in those places

His attitude to nature

style.

characterized

But above

shown

with the solemnity of the narrative, and

an economy equal to that of the
sober,

of the narrative,

with which stone-masons

views into complete buildings.

indicated with

necessary for the narrative

it is

mood

delineated as clearly and precisely as

fault, are

the figures and the landscape. Interiors are not

overlapping frame, but rather

concentrated

background of the

in the

objects, especially the buildings,

and carpenters would find no

human

an extension of the

or bare, participate in the

trees, leafy

and other inanimate

only in relation to them. The light

exists

figures in the foreground,

landscape.

nature

mind and

tells

its

own

with

reverent and

a strict devotion to

on the

stands his unerring artistic drive to fasten

all else

dominant forms, and exclude whatever

accidental.

from the time Giotto completed the Padua
fame grew -we already fmd an echo of
Dante's Divine Comedy 9 - and he became the busiest and most soughtItalian painter. He had previously worked in Florence, Rome, Assisi,

Three

fruitful decades

were

to pass

frescoes until his death in 1337. His
it

after

Rimini, and Padua, as
for

have

King Robert of Anjou

possible that

of this

said. In his later years

in Naples,

he executed commissions

and for Azzo Visconti

in Milan.

It is

he made a journey to Avignon, though the traditional account

not

reliable. 11

Avignon, which even

Many

in exile

and humanist Petrarch,

Italian painters

went

who had grown up

to the papal court at
12

The poet
Avignon and eventually with-

remained a centre of

artistic life.

drew to the seclusion of Vaucluse not far from the city, owned a Madonna
by Giotto, sent to him Jpy a friend in Florence. Petrarch also knew Giotto
personally, and refers to him as 'the foremost painter of our time' - nostri
aevi princeps. Of the Madonna painting he says that its beauty is hidden from
the ignorant, but astonishes the connoisseurs. 13 A commentary on Dante, known
14
as the Ottimo and written in Giotto's life-time, expresses the same high regard.

The unknown author
mankind, Giotto

writes, 'Of

the greatest.'

all

It is

Giotto was recognized already in his
in history

was pronounced

historical relationships

and

the painters past

and present known to

remarkable that the true greatness of

own

time. This verdict

his place

an age that was far from a clear insight into

at the

same time not addicted

notion of greatness which arose only in

modern

times.

to the abuse of the

Giotto

and

his pupils

According to the records, Giotto produced numerous works

Giotto

and his pupils

Padua period, but few have survived. The

frescoes of the Bardi

Chapels in Santa Croce, considered major works of

in his post-

and Peruzzi

his later years,

do not

provide a coherent picture of his development. (They will be referred to again
later.)

period only the

his panel-paintings of this

Ognissanti in Florence (pis 63, 65;
of the master. 15

work

authentic

now

was probably done

frescoes. In this picture the large solid

panel

medium

of panel-painting.

directly after the

by Giotto

in the

all

the

Padua

forms and powerful proportions of the

The

are translated

fine quality of the draperies, the

and surface

lucidity of the spatial structure, the sure handling of perspective

in relation to each other,

from

be regarded

most mature compositions of the Arena Chapel

figures in the

into the

Madonna

in the Uffizi) can

correspond to the stage of development reached

bottom zone of

the

Padua

frescoes.

The same

true of the

treatment of colour, where the most delicate tones are juxtaposed to glowing
reds

and greens;

tiful

white, gold, and red are used.

in the

ornamentation of the finely articulated throne, beau-

the original cool ultramarine
the painting, because the

The counterplay

of these colours with

unfortunately lost in the present condition of

Madonna's cloak has turned

dull

and greenish. Yet

despite this deterioration, the overall chromatic effect remains quite remark-

The colours impose a brilliant jewel-like quality on the powerful forms
and make the severely constructed composition light and transparent. Compared with the more sombre splendour of Duccio's and Cimabue's large
Madonna panels, Giotto's work seems amazingly bright, crystal-clear, and
able.

almost cool.

Nowadays
lier artists

now
it

them

as real beings,

form was only

now became

a disenchanting effect, but in fact

new mode

the

though

image or

of perception.

sig-

Whereas

ear-

raised to

generation

Giotto

solemn eminence. Hitherto

the direct expression of higher ideas to an extent not found
art

became instrumental

intellectual content, the vehicle for the divine.

earlier, in his

Sutnma Theologica of about 1270, Thomas Aquinas

defined the essence of beauty as perfection

and harmony

state,

reflection of a superior intellectual truth;

any pre-Giottesque painting. The beauty of

conveying the

may have

represented sacred images in an unworldly supranatural

portrays

artistic

this clarity

break-through to an entirely

nifies a

(proportio sivc consonantia),

(integritas sive perfectio )^Topovtion

and

lastly as clarity (claritas).

found in a purely theological argument on the beauty
beyond human perception, beauty in art was probably

In this definition,

God, which

furthest

from the mind

of the great theologian. For

him

earthly beauty existed

saw it as an analogy to the intellectual lucidity
with which we realize beauty, according to him, are

primarily in nature, and he

The

of reason.

faculties

Giotto

and

his pupils

perception and cognition. In the early Middle Ages people were already con-

vinced that divinity reveals

of gold, the

gleam of

divine light.

They were

of true beauty,

pearls

symmetry

the

itself in

of geometric forms, and

formed by the hand of the

in the richness of the material

and precious

conscious, however, that these

which cannot be

In the glitter

artist.

saw

stones, they

a reflection of the

were only

realized in material form. It

a reflection

was the

richness

of the material, the creation of nature rather than the artistic form, that gave

work

value to a

of art; for the

process of creation,

works of nature, which continue the divine

must be incomparably superior

to anything that an artist

can produce.

The

ideas of

Thomas Aquinas were

rooted in

still

this interpretation,

valent throughout the Middle Ages. His discussion of art

pre-

not concerned

with beauty, but with the relationship between form and matter and with
the

skill

of the

be regarded

would

the

artist, a

certainly be

Thomist

highest order.

for example,

and

still

to Giotto.

And

new

yet

strictness

which would be destroyed by any

a figure. Proportion

and harmony are

Everything

pictorial concept.

from

further

beauty realized in Giotto's

in the definition, lies in the
tion,

to consider Giotto's art as directly related to

the truth to suppose

actual connection, that the definition of the theologian,

was known

new

cisely to the

wrong

definition of beauty,

was any

that there

proficiency that can be acquired and therefore cannot

as a gift of the

it is

art.

striking that

Perfection, the

alteration,

any

shifting of a line or

also traits inseparable

from

reduced to simple basic forms, and

these specific artistic

finally there

means

clarity, the

that Giotto imparts beauty to his

luminous, refined, chromatic

ing into white. Pure strong colour
mixtures, lightened so that they

Everything

warm and
art

dull,

scale,

applied only in a

become almost

heavy and earthy

fiery or

few

colourless, are

avoided, as

becomes

aspects that relate

However, form

It is

parts

indeed

work. And
places; pale

predominant.

everything excessively

having an unduly harsh impact on the

'form'.

Giotto's
all

gradually dissolv-

senses. Giotto's

directed at the intellect, not the emotions. Physical beauty

ized and

element

and compactness of the composi-

of the picture are in clear proportional relationship to each other.

applies pre-

first

limits, orders

spiritual-

and subdues those

merely to the elementary and emotional spheres. In

this

re-orientation of art towards the intellect, the rational faculty that regulates,

and evaluates lies the underlying connection between Giotto's
and the theory of beauty propounded by Thomas Aquinas. Just as Thomas

distinguishes
art

Giotto

and

his pupils

Aquinas refined the traditional medieval conception and raised
level,

have

Giotto realized a

common

new

concept of beauty in the practice of

on reason and the

the emphasis

new

to a
art.

They

disposition to translate

material and emotional elements into spiritual values.

Herein

lies

Giotto's art.

the special feature of the kind of beauty

What we have

rule controlling

the

new

was not

of this danger

content.

realistic

is its

was required

strict discipline

to degenerate into naturalism. Giotto

and took great care to avoid

it.

was

strong as his feeling for realism.

of his

contem-

certainly

aware

His grasp of the principles

impose order on the manifold aspects of what the

that

encountered in

first

governing principle, the

which already drew the admiration

fidelity to nature,

poraries,

novel

its

described as 'form'

The beginnings

senses perceive

was

of these principles can be

though in more elementary fashion, in Cimabue, but the obsymmetry and massive structure of Cimabue's compositions are not
found in Giotto's work. Here everything is infinitely more refined. The
traced earlier,

vious

structure

and atmospheric;

light

of a crystalline formation.

develops with the ease and inevitability

the other hand, Giotto

the obtrusive logical consistency that
of the Early Renaissance.

the

new

element in

As the

his art

is still

Giotto was a highly conscious

not yet affected by

characteristic of Florentine painting

parallel

with Thomas Aquinas has indicated,

within the frame of

artist,

who

late

throughout

medieval concepts.

his career deliberately

accepted certain restrictions and observed a set of principles, modifying and

developing them only

and

This applies to the three-dimensional

which he avoided

in his pictures in

figures

slightly.

all

their restrained expression,

unnecessary depth, to the types of his

and to

he excluded anything purely individual,
refrained

few

from

many

realizing

of his pupils

effects

his choice of subject in general;

portrait-like, or too naturalistic.

things that

were

easily

within his reach.

and younger contemporaries, Taddeo Gaddi, Simone Martini,

and the two Lorenzettis, overstepped the

lines

he had drawn, and made bold

ventures into the field of realistic individual representation, but their efforts

were not pursued

in the fourteenth century,

in the Early Renaissance. Giotto himself

refrained

from

his principles,

pressing his innovations to their final conclusions; this

real basis of his influence
stantial innovations,

The

and were taken up again only

remained true to

on succeeding

set

generations.

As well

and
the

making sub-

painting on a firm course for a whole century.

schools that developed later derived

from Giotto and not from the

radical 'modern' masters of the following generation. The establishment of

norms and
92

the standardization of types

fundamental to Giotto's

he himself no doubt considered the training of

his school

one of

art,

his

and

most

important

tasks;

but

his

subsequent influence was not by any means limited

to the continuation of a Giotto school in the

One

can say that

all Italian

Giotto

and

his pupils

took

much

inferior or cruder

compounded of traditional elements drawn from a
and places, grew beyond the personal and itself became the

form. His personal
variety of periods

sense of the concept,

Trecento painting was based to some extent on

though sometimes

Giotto's achievement,

narrow

style,

source of a wide tradition persisting through

many

generations.

full light of history, is comThe Middle Ages and modern

This exciting drama, which takes place in the
prehensible to us today even in

its

details.

times seem to meet at the point where the anonymous, supra-personal creative

powers of

a tradition-bound age,

tive will

and

and new

artistic goals.

and the powerful creative energies of the

We have already mentioned
and

love of form, merge with the crea-

its

Giotto, in fact, incorporates both the pioneering inten-

tions of the individual

he was

with

style of a single, outstanding personality, conscious of his mission

only introduced to the technique of

Assisi.

His

Roman works

times.

and

that Giotto started as a panel-painter,

down

have come

or as sparse fragments; 17 but in Assisi

monumental painting

it is

that

Rome

to us in mutilated condition

possible to trace the

development

by step and follow his new method of work,
which culminated in the Padua frescoes. From then on his emphasis was on
the monumental. The Ognissanti Madonna, his most important panel-painting

monumental

of his

apart

from

the Santa Maria Novella Crucifix,

umental painting.

came

style step

this

technical difficulties

many

altar

and imposed

panels produced

with the Ognissanti Madonna

Three such

altar panels

none of them can

spirit of monnew style overon panel-painting. None of the

filled

with the

one occasion the greatness of the
itself

in the Giotto

workshop

in inherent greatness

at a later date

and

bear inscriptions attributing

compares

stylistic unity.

them

either the execution or the design (that

to Giotto, but in

to say, the prelim-

inary drawing on the underlying white panel) be ascribed to the master
himself.

The

large panel, originally

from San Francesco

in Pisa

and

now

Somatization of St Francis with three predella scenes, seems the most archaic. The style of the whole work is dry and
the

Louvre

in Paris, depicting the

18
close to that of the St Francis legend at Assisi.

The

fine jewel-like altarpiece of the Baroncelli

Chapel

in Santa

Croce

19
Florence belongs to a later period and could not have been done before 1328.

The many-figured composition, showing

the Coronation

0} the

Virgin in the

midst of the heavenly host, unites the five panels of the polyptych into

form

pictorial space.

tween the

spatial

However, there

a uni-

a discord, obviously deliberate, be-

unity and^the formal arrangement of the figures in dense

Giotto

and

his pupils

multiple rows behind and above each other. There

and surface

which

effects,

The two

but rather calculated and subtle.

an interplay of depth

by no means

creates a tense relationship,

primitive,

principal saints of the Franciscan

Order, St Francis and St Louis of Toulouse, placed precisely in the middle
of each of the

two outer wing

panels, are plainly raised outside the schematic

arrangement. The highly skilled perspective, which
position,

particularly noticeable in the

foreground.

The work,

the techniques of spatial illusion developed

artistic surface

arrangement

full of

the extensive scope of the Giotto

workshop

name

reversed.

was done under Giotto's

who was

generation

The

third signed

The

mannerism of

this

the Baroncelli altar shows

master.

which the trend of

inscription

official

its

uses

and the broad

could not other-

his classical,

monu-

merely indicates that the altarpiece

supervision but

a painter of the

younger

clearly given a free hand.

work,

church in Bologna, but

Enthroned Madonna

work

to a

fact,

in the
it

in order to create

in the later years,

interpretation Giotto gave to his function as

style

by Giotto

hidden tension.

kind cannot be attributed to Giotto himself. In

mental

whole com-

basic to the

therefore, only seems to be archaic; in reality

all

wise have lent his

music-making angels kneeling

also a five-panelled altarpiece,

now

in the

was originally

in a

Bologna Pinacoteca Nazionale. 20 The

is attended by the two archangels,
on each side of her in the old Byzantine manner, and
Peter and Paul, are on the outer panels. Each of the figures is

in the centre panel

Gabriel and Michael,
the Apostles,

in a different posture. Gabriel, the angel of the

towards the Madonna, and

Annunciation, turns his profile

his counterpart, Michael,

seen full face as in

an icon. The two apostles are standing in free space, in palpable opposition
to the ideal gold

common

ground which extends above and behind the

ground, which should accentuate the

heightens the effect of contradiction.
in contrast to the

The gold ground seems an anachronism
figures. The sharply outlined

vacuum, and the balance between

maintained in Giotto's works,

workshop product

which

here upset.

surface

isolated Giottesque elements are

it is

same

significance as those of the Baroncelli altar

merely a workshop

first

mind

were

employed with-

The

signature has

and the Louvre panel:

label.

glance this interpretation of the apparently unambiguous inscrip-

tion, opus magistri iocti de Florentia,

and depth,

another typical

It is

out producing a convincing homogeneous composition.
the

The

emphatic modelling of the

silhouettes stand in a

so skilfully

figures.

spatial unity of the five panels,

that,

although the modern

may seem

strange, but

must be borne

conceptions of originality and authorship

just beginning to emerge, the traditional

methods of team-work and

VIII

Giotto Lamentation

Padua, Arena Chapel

workshop production were deep-rooted.

In a

few

isolated cases, for

example

with Duccio for the Siena Cathedral Maesta of 1308, it was
stipulated that the master should carry out the commission with his own hand

in the contract

suis manibus.

This provision would not have been introduced

by the master himself were taken
requirement,

The

for granted, and

it is

his pupils

execution

significant that the

only appears in the clause dealing with the

suis manibus,

Giotto

and

fee.

contract begins with the provision that Duccio must execute the panel

'to the best of his ability

and with the help of God'; then follow the usual

conditions that he must complete the

other

work

before

it is

each day of Duccio's

completed;

work without

finally the fee

delay and undertake

fixed: sixteen soldi for

work on the panel suis manibus. It was obviously underwork on it every day, as technical reasons alone made

stood that he could not
this impossible.

There was no

work and

part in the

clear dividing line

between the master's

paration of the panel and ending with ornamentation,
left

to assistants. In the fourteenth

constant dispute between

artists

and

which were always

fifteenth centuries this

was

all

a source of

and patrons. 22 In the contracts with Perugino

and Signorelli for the Orvieto frescoes the curious provision
that

own

the purely technical operations, beginning with the pre-

introduced

must be done by the master's

the figures 'from the waist up'

own

hand. 23 Thus on the threshold of the High Renaissance division of labour

was

common, and

still

find even in the

in this case in a

Middle Ages.

It is

form one would hardly expect

known

well

that Raphael, too,

made con-

siderable use of the services of his pupils in his large fresco commissions as

well as in his panel-paintings.
his

have a whole group of paintings bearing

signature, but largely or entirely executed

attitude

still

common
Nearly

prevailed in the sixteenth century,

by his pupils. If this liberal
must have been even more

in Giotto's time.
all

historians

now

agree that none of the three signed works

have referred to reveals Giotto's personal

style,

and furthermore, no

among the works themselves. It seems that a
worked on them, which indicates the scale of the
workshop activity, and also shows that the surviving works constitute only
a small fragment of the whole production.

stylistic links

can be detected

succession of assistants

Other works of the Giotto workshop, unsigned, exhibit the variety of
assistants'

individual styles.

Among

Giotto workshop on traditional or
altarpieces,

and remnants of

at least

the

works

stylistic

two

grounds are two multi-panelled

others,

now

important of these, and also the most controversial,
tych in the Vatican

Museum, which

his

that can be attributed to the

dismembered. The most
is

the double-sided trip-

undoubtedly the altarpiece which

Giotto

and

his pupils

Stefaneschi. 25

was created by Giotto for Cardinal Jacopo
participated in it, and Giotto himself seems

The

the general composition.

works can be dated around 1320

The

A number

of artists

have been responsible only for

Ca-

five-panelled polyptych in the Florence

thedral (formerly in the Zenobius Chapel)
these

pure workshop product. 26 Both

at the earliest.

half-length figure of St Stephen in the

panel in an excellent state of preservation,

Museo

also a

Home

in Florence, a

workshop product

of great

decorative beauty, 27 and was part of a polyptych of which the centre panel, a

Madonna,

now in

the National Gallery in Washington. 28

St John the Evangelist,

but

it is

Two other panels,

and St Lawrence, are preserved in the Musee de Chaalis,

doubtful whether they belong to the same polyptych

and St Stephen,

as the

until recently. 29 Finally there

was believed

seven small panels, depicting scenes from the

life

Madonna

a series of

of Christ, that are

part

all

of one polyptych. Three are in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, and the rest
are distributed

among

various collections. 30

close to the style of the

buted to a gifted

When
it

becomes

assistant,

these paintings are

work, except

dent of external factors,

versa, as the

compared with

Renaissance

style

at the sacrifice of

value.

this

autonomy

still

artists

its

special qualities.

its size,

style

had very

large to small or vice
artists

artists,

who

learnt to

difficulty, the finished

work

who always proceeded from the
He was primarily concerned with

only occasionally tried his hand

works on

these 'marginal observations' can be

that appear in the allegories of Justice

to translate Giotto's
scale panel-painting

seen in the

and

two

how

and

attractive

scenes of everyday

the

was

given

large conceptions,

Injustice in Padua.

monumental pictorial motifs into
was bound to fail. The reduction

con-

start, as

actualities of the

a small scale; yet

produce from

in full size, Giotto

natural in an artist

its

work from

ceived and designed his compositions monumentally from the

pictorial surface.

now do

composition by Giotto

and cannot be altered without impairing

Unlike the Renaissance

though not without

definite limitations.

work from
effect of a

Although,

became indepen-

small-scale design, the bozzetto, or preparatory drawing, and to
this,

and

attri-

could not be reproduced in

gradually learnt to do, and as

The monumental

inseparably related to

only be

the corresponding scenes in Padua

monumental

to transpose the scale of his

matter of course.

artistic

typically Giottesque

have already observed, Giotto's monumental

was not able
as a

Though

frescoes, they too can

and not to Giotto himself.

clear that Giotto's

a small-scale
as

Arena Chapel

life

But any attempt

medium

of smaller-

in scale appears to alter

the proportions and upsets the relation of the parts, while the figures lose
their impressiveness

and become

less

refined. It seems that Giotto himself

never attempted
pupils,

this.

left

convinced from the

ation, or a

works to his
book illumin-

the transposition into small-scale

start that a

small panel-painting, a

drawing, could not convey the same value

as a

work

Giotto

and

his pupils

monu-

mental painting.
It is, therefore, probably not mere chance
workshop panels have been preserved, none

One

of these

Museen, which

works

that,

own

Giotto's

hand.

the altar dossal, the Death of the Virgin, in the Berlin Staatliche

may

well be the picture claimed by Ghiberti as one of Giotto's

in the Ognissanti in Florence. 31 It

was natural for Ghiberti

in his account to the traditional attributions,

modern

although a number of small

them

distinction

between the master's

own work

shop. His attitude to the question of authorship
Giotto's. Indeed

it is

to adhere

and not be concerned with the

was

and that of

quite possible that the original frame

Berlin picture had a similar inscription to those

Ins

work-

basically not different

(now

on the three

lost)

altarpieces

from

of the

men-

tioned earlier.

Here again the true authorship can be determined only on

The

first

wide

consideration

variations in scale

large, like the

much

stylistic

grounds.

the inferior execution, particularly noticeable in the

and proportions of the

figures.

Some

are excessively

bearded Apostle on Christ's right; others have heads that are

too small, and shrunken limbs. This applies even to the principal figure,

the Virgin, and

especially noticeable in the youthful Apostle standing to

the left of St Peter. These observations enable us to say with certainty that

not even the preliminary drawing was done by Giotto: the master of the

Padua

frescoes

was incapable of such

discrepancies.

They

are too

marked

have been introduced in the course of the execution of the work and must
already have been present in the preliminary drawing.
it

becomes

clear that

life

realized,
its

monumental composition by

Giotto, a

can identify the original version of the Death of

the Virgin

with some certainty. The Tosinghi Chapel, on the
in Santa

this

are dealing with the small-scale replica, with

inevitable deficiencies, of an original
lost fresco.

Once

left

of the choir chapel

Croce, contained a fresco cycle by Giotto depicting scenes from the

of the Virgin. All that

left

today

badly damaged Assumption scene

above the entrance arch of the chapel. 32 The other scenes inside the chapel
33
can be reconstructed to some extent from works that appear to be copies.
According to the sequence of the narrative, the death scene must have been
in the lowest zone of one of the two walls, a position that enabled it to be
frequently copied. 34
in the Giotto

workshop

activities of the

not surprising to find that a replica was produced
itself; this is

quite in keeping with our idea of the

post-Padua Giotto workshop.

Giotto

and

his pupils

direct knowledge of Giotto's own style in these decades.
monumental composition of the Death of the Virgin, which can
be deduced from the workshop reproduction in Berlin, seems to have corresponded stylistically to the Ognissanti Madonna. The style of the figures must

The

have

little

splendid

have been close to that
phasis

on symmetry and

in the lowest

Many

Madonna.

later Ognissanti

zone of the Arena Chapel, and the em-

strict surface articulation are

reminiscent of the slightly

of the features follow the traditional icono-

graphy of the Dormition, including the figure kneeling

tympanum

economic yet

effective handling of the

bed

and

problem of

new

possibly an indication of

us to the final

the

relief

his

still

in the foreground,

of the Death of the Virgin in Strasbourg. 35

as seen in the

ornamentation

The

in the rectangle of the

tendencies in Giotto's style. This brings

unresolved question concerning Giotto's development,

monumental works

in the

post-Padua period.

begin with, a pattern emerges similar to that of the panel-paintings of

this period.

The

frescoes

done

and the Arena Chapel are

in the period following the St Francis legend

also

predominantly workshop products. In the

Lower Church of San Francesco at Assisi we come across a group of assistants
working more or less in Giotto's style. The most independent of them is the
Master of the 'Franciscan Virtues', an instructive and

illustrative rather

than

monumental work, covering the vaults above the crossing of the Lower
Church. 36 The traditional attribution of these celebrated allegories to Giotto
himself

now

almost universally rejected, and probably not even the designs

can be attributed to him.
Christ,

The

and the Crucifixion

elegantly done.

They

representations of the birth and childhood of

in the vault of the adjoining

reveal an intimate

knowledge

north transept are

of the forms and motifs

of the Giotto workshop, and a considerable, though purely eclectic

The
the

painters of the frescoes in the St Nicholas

skill.

Chapel (before 1307?) and

Magdalene Chapel were even more dependent on Giotto. 37 They were

trained in the style of the

Padua

and to some extent

frescoes,

style of the St Francis legend. In the St

in the earlier

Nicholas Chapel the principles of

Giotto's early compositions are applied in a free though clumsy manner. In

the Magdalene Chapel,

on the other hand,

several of the scenes appear to

awkward, ill-conceived renderings of the corresponding scenes in Padua,
which served

models: the Raising of Lazarus, Noli me Tangere and, here

conceived in a different context, the Wedding
landscape in the
stylistic

first

trend of the

weakened and the
100

two

new

of these scenes

The more

reflects a

extensive

change

in the

generation, but as a result the dramatic tension

essential figurative

with the originals reveals

at Carta.

no doubt

how

composition destroyed. Comparison

far Giotto

stood above his

assistants,

and

demonstrates that attempts to reproduce his compositions even in their original size

had

little

chance of success.

Such close dependence on Giotto must imply

done

at his direction

and under

commercial

his

Giotto

and
that all these frescoes

responsibility,

One

fore regarded at the time as Giotto's works.

and were there-

documents from

of the

his pupils

were
re-

cords covering the years 1328 to 1333, and referring to commissions he did
for

King Robert of Anjou

in Naples, gives an indication of the organization

to control such large-scale contracts. 38

set up
From this document, a payment voucher of May 133 1, it transpires that Giotto, described as the protomagister, was collaborating with a number of masters, classified respectively as

and craftsmen. The

painters

latter

were

chiefly

masons and carpenters

who

were responsible for the construction of the scaffolding and the preparation
of the plaster for the wall-paintings. In the Santa Barbara Chapel,

Nuovo,

of Castel

The documents

the extent of the

reveal that at the

private chapel of the king,
it is

work

to be supervised

same time Giotto was

and on

a panel-painting

interest

in the painters,

who

like the

e.,

the church

working

in the

commissioned by him;

obvious that additional craftsmen were required for

But our main

also

was enormous.

all

these commissions.

craftsmen are described

They received daily wages, whereas Giotto, as court painter, drew
The records do not tell where these painters came from, but
fragments that have survived are of some assistance. The paintings

as magistri.

a fixed salary.

here the

in the private chapel of the

the halls of Castel

Nuovo

decoration around the
served.

few

windows

life-size heads.

Tuscany, though

of them,

many

series

Nine Heroes

of the

are completely lost, but

consists of ornamental

proximately

In a

king and the

in the Santa Barbara
friezes, interspersed

These heads were

cases they

may

all

least

one of

part of the

Chapel has been pre-

with medallions of ap-

done by

painters trained in

be loosely described

however, the well-known individual

as Giottesque.

style of

Maso

Banco can be recognized. 39 This distinguished pupil of Giotto, who will be
referred to again later, was therefore one of the masters working under
Giotto's direction. He had accompanied Giotto from Florence to Naples,
whether

more or less independent collaborator is of little
remembered that, according to Cennini, Taddeo Gaddi
pupil for twenty-four years, which indicates that even fully

as pupil

importance.

was Giotto's

or as a

will be

qualified masters continued to

Maso di Banco and
The pictorial areas in the

for Giotto. 40

may

therefore be assumed

other masters participated in the frescoes

that

of the

work

Arena Chapel

plain style of the

Santa Barbara Chapel are

Padua.

The long high

Angevin Gothic, provided

much

single-aisled

now

lost.

larger than those

room,

built in the

ideal conditions for wall-painting:

101

Giotto

and

his pupils

narrow windows,

rising to the full height of the wall, leave the surfaces

disturbed and

the

start the

fill

room with

bright, even light.

un-

seems that from the

building was designed with a view to decorative

monumental

paint-

ing. 41

There

another notable church in Naples which once contained an exten-

sive fresco cycle

done under Giotto's

Santa Chiara, which

from the

west.

enclosed

direction.

three sides

few remnants of the

coration after a fire during the Second
original

work. There are fragments of

the execution

Chiara are

in the nuns' choir of

large walls,

World War,

give

Giotto's hand. 42

those of the chapel in Castel

it is

clear that Giotto's activity in

to an impressive achievement;

man who,

til

some

idea of the

Hopes

of finding

and the walls of Santa

fulfilled,

Nuovo. However,

the documentary evidence and the size of the walls,

their paintings,

and well

a Crucifixion, Giottesque in style, but

crude, and certainly not

bare today

was

paintings, revealed beneath later de-

more fragments have unfortunately not been
from

now

stripped of

Naples must have amounted

could only have been accomplished by a

in addition to his artistic genius, possessed

an exceptional organiz-

ing ability.

his return to Florence,

Giotto received the appointment, noted in a

formal deed dated April 1334, of supervisor of the construction of the Cathedral. 43 In this capacity

he began the building of the Campanile, and jointly

with the sculptor Andrea Pisano undertook the
level of the tower. 44

him

in his

But even

home-town

this task,

relief

decoration on the ground

unusual for a painter, did not keep

for any length of time.

When

he was almost seventy,

he obtained the permission of the Florentine government to go to Milan
paint frescoes, probably
his return

The

last

Azzo

secular themes, for

from Milan, he died

in Florence

Visconti. Shortly after

January 1337. 45

phase in the development of the Giotto workshop

the frescoes of the chapel in the Palazzo del Bargello, also

known

reflected in
as the Pal-

azzo del Podesta,

now

positions are stiff

and undramatic, and the individual forms have

They were done
in 1337, the year of Giotto's death, and thus give an idea of the kind of work
produced by the Giotto school without the master's supervision. 46 They consist of a pictorial cycle depicting the life of Mary Magdalene, a representation
of Paradise on the altar wall, and an Inferno on the entrance wall. The comthe

Museo Nazionale

in Florence.

polish. Nevertheless, Ghiberti included these frescoes
his catalogue of Giotto's

accepted as Giotto's

102

when

works, and on account of

a routine

without reservation
this

they were again

they were rediscovered in the nineteenth century

beneath the whitewash that had concealed them for centuries.

It is,

however,

possible that Ghiberti

Dante next

was misled. Filippo

about

Villani's chronicle, written in

an altar panel in the Bargello chapel containing a portrait of

1400, refers to

to a self-portrait of Giotto. This altar panel seems to

have

Giotto

and

his pupils

dis-

appeared shortly afterwards, because already in the middle of the Quattrocento the Dante portrait

referred to as being

of the wall-paintings, 47 a misconception that

generation to generation

though

to visitors,

now

even

;

faithfully

by Giotto -

pointed out

the date of the

frescoes demonstrates. 48 Ghiberti's attribution of the frescoes to Giotto

have been the

result of the

Dante

so-called

the frescoes to

appeared,

have dealt

works of
as his,

remained. Even

the

at length

with Giotto's

two

lost

fresco cycles in Santa

no more

than there

about the productions of

works and the unauthenticated

Croce

The

in Florence.

reason

his

workshop

that

have been

own hand

or to

two fresco cycles. Even if there were any,
from them whether they relate to works by
workshop products. We have seen that this distincto the

and that Giotto's attitude

nor

in a different

way

in the matter

had any objection

his patrons

The

being given to obvious workshop products.

to his

three signed altar panels,

the fresco fragments in Naples and the documents

what was accepted in Giotto's own time, and
most important source, must be understood in
likely that

he attempted

Giotto's

and

contemporaries.

works Ghiberti adds the

a panel in Santa

true that in

It is

qualification

this light.

that

two
'di

Ghiberti's Commentarii, our

were

it is

hardlv

attributed to Giotto

places in his catalogue of

sua mono'

Maria Novella, unfortunately

Since

own, Ghiberti pre-

critical stylistic distinctions of his

sumably did no more than record those works

own

was

name

referring to them, are clear evidence of this. Later tradition only passed

his

dis-

tell

particularly liberal. Neither he

There are no contemporary documents, no deed of donation, and no

tion hardly existed at that time,

and

dis-

the unqualified inclusion of

certainty about Giotto's authorship of these frescoes

payment vouchers referring
it would not be possible to
Giotto's

attribution of

and when the panel

than with those that are generally accepted

that there

cussing.

so,

;

among Giotto's works reveals Ghiberti's uncritical attitude.

his last period, rather

e.,

was by Giotto, the

error that easily followed

this false attribution

may

that led to the confusion over the

portrait. If the altar panel

him was an

the Bargello Chapel

same process

one

to say, in

handed on from

the alleged Dante portrait

neither a portrait, nor

it is

muro, that

was

lost.

the Arena Chapel

All the other

works

including the frescoes in the Bargello Chapel, and a scene of the Death of the
Virgin (probably the Berlin panel),

'four chapels

and four

he records without comment.

panels' in Santa Croce,

mentions

and adds no further

details.

103

Giotto

and

his pupils

One

of the panels

undoubtedly the Baroncelli

noted the significance of Giotto's signature there.
records and surviving

works

of the Virgin,

now

and

the assistance of later

have already

in Santa Croce, the four chapels can

be identified: the Tosinghi Chapel, mentioned
life

altar,

With

lost; its

earlier,

probably

with frescoes from the

counterpart to the right of the choir, the Bardi

Chapel, containing six scenes from the St Francis legend, and a Stigmatization

above the entrance arch; adjoining

John the

the lives of SS.

from

Peruzzi Chapel, with frescoes

this the

Baptist and the Evangelist; and finally the Giugni

Chapel, with frescoes representing the martyrdom of the Apostles, also unfortunately

The
works

lost.

frescoes in these chapels
listed

to determine

Ghiberti,

were Giotto's

sense as

distinctions

the other

all

and the documentary evidence does not enable us

with any greater certainty the manner and extent of

participation. Indeed the only criterion

draw

same

in the

grounds.

stylistic

we have

The

lies

our

his personal

own

external sources, the

ability to

documentary

records, can be misleading unless they are interpreted with careful regard to

the prevailing attitudes and conceptions at the time

The

frescoes in the Bardi

and Peruzzi Chapels,

were covered with whitewash

When
as

last

they were written.

like those in the Bargello,

and replaced by new decoration.

at a later date,

discovered in the middle of the

works by Giotto, on the

when

century, they were readily accepted

basis of Ghiberti's

and

Vasari's evidence,

and were

conscientiously restored in accordance with nineteenth-century ideas.

Al-

though the paintings had been severely damaged by the whitewash, the tombs
that

were mounted

restoration

time.

was not

A new

vourable

against them, and finally
as radical

and disfiguring

results,

therefore,

left

have survived without serious

now

exist

pictures in the Bardi

blemishes, the marks of wall-tombs that were

104

fa-

restorers

51
the iconographic content essentially intact.

remnants of the original painting

The two bottom

long

on the whole produced

and has shown that although the nineteenth-century

The compositions,
52

process, the

as historians believed for a

restortaion, undertaken in i960, has

overpainted large sections, they

state.

by the cleaning

more or

alteration,
less

and

damaged

Chapel have sharply defined

mounted

there at one time,

Giotto, Raising of Drusiatta

(detail)

Florence, Santa Croce

work

but otherwise the

in this chapel

in surprisingly

and only the

parts painted in fresco almost intact,

good

condition, with

a secco parts almost entirely

Giotto

and

his pupils

obliterated.

The

Peruzzi Chapel presents a

difficult

of combining fresco and a secco was, for
here,

and instead the

entire surface

problem. The usual technique

some unexplained

was covered with

reason, not used

a secco painting over a

light underpainting in fresco. In place of the relatively small plaster sections,

Chapel are each

typical of the fresco technique, the pictures in the Peruzzi

divided into

two

on which the

large sections, corresponding to the level of the scaffolding

painters

worked. The dividing

line runs horizontally

through

the middle of the pictures, at the level of the figures' heads. 53 Because of the

poor durability of the
original top layer.

a secco technique, there

great

number

some

left

of the

of the pictures can only be recognized in

the outlines of the underpainting, but there are
to give

hardly anything

still

enough coloured
As

idea of the original appearance of the work.

parts

in the Bardi

Chapel, the structure of the individual scenes, the formal substance of the
compositions,

is still

clearly discernible.

Although the present condition of both chapels
is

not so bad

lished

as to

make

rather unsatisfactory,

a stylistic judgment impossible.

What

has to be estab-

not only the relative stages of development that the two fresco cycles

represent,

and the dates of

the extent of Giotto's

their composition,

own

but

also,

and more important,

share in the design and execution. This question

has not yet been seriously considered

historians because of the authorita-

tive nature of the sources attributing the Santa

answer, and the reasons for

it,

Croce

Our

frescoes to Giotto.

cannot be expounded here in

full detail,

and

furthermore does not purport to be a complete solution to the numerous
related problems. 54

It is

intended

an encouragement to

critical discussion

and unbiased examination of the original works.

Our

considerations so far have brought us to the

Giotto's
clearly

development from the beginning to

his

view

that the course of

maturity can be traced

today than was possible even a short while ago. But the path ends

with the frescoes in the Arena Chapel in Padua, and only the Ognissanti

Madonna, and possibly the Navicella mosaic in Rome, give a
of

its

further direction. For the rest, a period of

the story

obscure, and

we have few

facts to

slight indication

more than twenty-five

go on.

years,

We possess many work-

shop products of the period, uneven and dubious works preserved haphazardly;
but from

this

comparatively rich store

even indirectly, about Giotto's
his style in those decades.

own

it is

not possible to draw conclusions,

development and the

This means that Giotto's share

characteristics of
in the

two Santa

107

Giotto

and

his pupils

Croce cycles can be determined only on the
earlier

must remain open for the time being except

basis of

our knowledge of

in so far as

can be answered

this basis.

Outwardly, what distinguishes the Santa Croce frescoes from those

Arena Chapel

much

their

Whereas

larger size.

life-size,

tures are in three

rows one above the other, and

The

pictures in the Bardi

fill

life-size.

However,

Chapel are even larger than those

there

Giotto's

marked trend towards

bottom zone

move more

are heavier

The

in the Peruzzi,

minimum.
Padua

In the

size.

three zones are the same,

The

figures in the

it is

now makes

which

whole

use of the

converted into pictorial space, although,

space limited in depth, rather like a

This

relief.

and the Mocking of Christ,
an architectural setting, but the same basic

especially true of scenes like Christ before Caiphas,

where the action
characteristic can

takes place in

be observed in the Crucifixion scene. Thus in Padua Giotto's

development was

in the direction of greater

ed by means of added spatial
is

all

increasing monumentality.

entire surface

always with Giotto,

pic-

and more massive than those above, and yet they

freely in the pictorial field,

available surface.

monumentality does not depend on

although the dimensions of the pictures in

The

the side walls of the chapels.

extending further downwards and with frames reduced to a

cycle,

in the

Padua are

the figures in

those in Santa Croce are almost

only about half

his

works, and therefore the crucial question of their attribution to Giotto

and

monumentality, which he achiev-

plastic values in his

an interplay of depth and surface. The surface

fied, are

compositions. There

effects, far

from being

nulli-

heightened by the three-dimensional values. Furthermore, every pic-

ture has a subtle pattern of linear
in correct

and surface

proportion to the whole, and each

relationships, each part being
line

emerge

able position. These characteristics also

having

its

precise unalter-

distinctly in the Ognissanti

Madonna, which consistently continues the same trend.

The

dom

figures in the Peruzzi

Chapel

looser connection
pictures.

frescoes

The
is

The

IX) move with greater

pictures are larger

between the frames and the

free-

and there

architectural features in the

severe surface uniformity characteristic of the Arena Chapel

here replaced by flowing rhythms that enliven the pictorial planes,

and divide them into

distinct sections.

compositions that consist of
ple, the Birth

two

This can be seen most clearly in the

scenes with different settings, for

and Naming of St John, and

the scene of the Annunciation

and the design

exam-

Herod's Feast (pi. 71a). Similarly, in

Zachariah there are

standing freely one beside the other.
108

(pis 70, 71,

than those in the Padua frescoes.

The

two compact

pictorial space

unconstrained but firmly organized.

full of

structures

animation,

new freedom

This

of composition

which

cation of perspective,

ings and no longer confined,
walls. In

wider appli-

Arena Chapel, to the receding

as in the

his pupils

and are therefore shown without foreshortening.

which the action

though rhythmically constructed

line.

former direction.

Two large structures

gate and the choir of a

customary

manner, to

the crucial point of the

comits

extend above the wall, a twin-towered

domed

strengthen

takes place recedes in a

position the wall takes a right-angled turn to the front, and then resumes

city

Giotto

and

side

Croce thev are markedly oblique. In the scene of the Raising

Drusiana, the city wall in front of
sharp,

Padua the horizontal cornices on the front of the buildings are gen-

erally parallel to the frame,

In Santa

due to

to a large extent

also used in the frontal representations of build-

church, which arc used, in Giotto's

and accentuate the grouping of the

figures.

The Assumption of St John (pi
composition.

its

The

with one of the

aisles

part of the nave

rises

building
cut

71 b)

away

up to Christ and the Apostles,
is

even richer and more elaborate

view of the

to give a

open, and from the

upwards movement

a three-aisled basilica seen

tomb

who

lean

first

interior. In addition,

down

towards him. The flowing

convincingly portrayed, and has only one precedent

Arena Chapel. Giotto was

to recapture the technique of depicting convincingly scenes in

the laws of nature are suspended.
into

the side,

in the floor of this aisle St John

in post-classical painting, the Allegory of Hope in the

the

from

The

which

witnesses to the miracle are divided

two wonderfully compact and yet animated groups. The drama is accenby means of the distribution of the colours, which in the present state

tuated

of the picture can only be reconstructed in their
is

a delicate pink

in robes of
lessness.

fected

with light blue

sleeves,

main

tones. St John's cloak

and Christ and the Apostles are clad

pink and pale yellow ochre, colours that give an

Strong tones are used for those spectators

by the

event.

The

on the

figure trembling

red cloak, and the upright figure beside

who

floor

group

most

visibly af-

wrapped

him was probably

blue. Various shades of red are used in the

in the left.

weight-

effect of

are

in a rich

painted in a dark

the right the

colours fade into the yellow-white surplices of the deacons, and this colour
also

used for the architectural features framing the pink surfaces.

In
inate.

all

the other pictures light colours, darkened only occasionally,

The musician

lighter stripes,

Herod's Feast

(pi.

and with the delicacy of

70), painted in

a watercolour,

predom-

pale grey with

placed in front of

The stripes on the drapery continue
hand. The proportions of this figure, one

move-

the pink wall of the tower.

the

ment

of the best

of the musician's

preserved in the Peruzzi Chapel, are typical: a heavy7 head and broad face,

109

Giotto

and

his pupils

wide shoulders and

hips, large

and block-like, and

heavy folded draperies
of the figures.

hands and

full

Every figure

essence of the picture,

and

movement

retains

action,

oped on the firm foundation of

The

feet.

overall impression

its

The

and

their outlines simple

They

are

heavy

wrapped

but always keeping to the contours

separate physical identity; they are the

grouping and composition are only devel-

these individual figures.

that nothing here

figures are generally

large.

manifestly inconsistent with

Arena Chapel. The looser structure of the composition, the
colours, paler and yet more effectively used, the increased weight of the inthe style of the

dividual figures and their heavier proportions,

development of the Arena Chapel
also participated in the Peruzzi

Giottesque.
ship

Chapel

we must

be taken

all

as a later

likely that assistants

it is

frescoes, the style appears distinctly

However, before attempting

and dating,

may

Although

style.

to resolve the question of author-

consider the other cycle in Santa Croce.

In the Bardi Chapel, surface effects predominate.

compositions are constructed symmetrically

(pi.

6ga).

portions, the figures appear small in relation to the

far as possible the

Owing

whole

to their pro-

picture, but in fact

they are even larger than those in the Peruzzi Chapel. Their heads are small

and narrow, and

their

movements sharp and

angular. Striking gestures, like

those of the sultan in the Ordeal by Fire, or of St Francis in the Stigmatization

produce the curiously unreal
figures can be impressive

by such
stract

effect of a surface pattern,

enough,

their

extrinsic factors as the requirements of pictorial

geometric design.

figure

free in space. Furthermore,

than in Assisi or Padua.

and

fit

most of the

The

pictures present a stage-like space

architectural

Such an extension beyond the

a sense of the space

mode

beyond.

would not have been

of representation predominant

Bardi Chapel.

As regards the

colours, only a general description

their present condition.

The

can no longer be assessed.

Stronger colours, such

possible

on account of

chromatic composition, the distribution of accents,

The

as the

blue, applied a secco,

frequently missing.

brick-red of the disbelieving

kneels at St Francis' bier, are rare, and a
is

greater degree

forms appear slender and insub-

limits of the picture

suited to the abstract, two-dimensional

much

closely into the frames, whereas in the Peruzzi Chapel, roofs

and towers are intersected by the frames, to give

in the

symmetry and ab-

hardly ever seen in the round, standing

with the figures and action related to the foreground to a

stantial,

and although the

composition seems to be determined

creamy white with

nobleman

cool, faint

who

shadows

used extensively. Most of the scenes are dominated by the dull tones of the

monks'

habits,

brown and

olive grey.

The

flesh-tints are pale

and

clear,

and

some

occasionally even brownish; in
in lively contrast to the light
lines of the
teristic

green underpainting. The dark outlines and the

Giotto

and

his pupils

drawing predominate. The powerful sculptural contours, charac-

of the figures in the Peruzzi Chapel, are absent here and the draperies

lack the plastic fullness
lightly

of the heads the pink cheeks stand out

and

The

rich modelling.

draperies, like the faces, are

modelled to conform to the surface pattern, except for the averted

figures of the Saracens in the scene of the Ordeal by Fire; but even there the
figures appear in frontal relief
is

of the Ordeal by Fire
is

and not

in the round. 50

The

flat linear

design

particularly apparent in the painting of the sultan on his throne in the scene

and of the angry father

in the Renunciation scene,

thus sharply and characteristically distinguished

corresponding scene

The comparison with
in the Giotto

model

which
in

the

Assisi

generally illuminating.

model

as the

for

all later

The

older St Francis

versions of the

theme

workshop, and sometimes exact though

inferior copies

in Pistoia. 56 In the

Bardi Chapel,

were made, for example
however,

its

at Assisi (pi. V).

legend was naturally taken

produced

from

San Francesco

find a deliberate attempt to break away from the model,

and to create something entirely new. Comparison with the corresponding
scenes illustrates the striking plastic content of the Assisi compositions,
reveals the deliberate attempt in the Bardi
effect of linear surface pattern.

One

and

Chapel to produce an opposite

further example will serve to illustrate

this.

The

scene of the Apparition oj St Francis

Aries posed a difficult

for a painter concerned with representing the event convincingly.

problem

The monks

are gathered in the chapter-house of the Franciscan monaster)" in Aries to listen

to a

sermon by

Friar Antonius of Padua.

During the sermon one of the monks,

Monaldus, and he alone, perceives St Francis hovering

saint

the

and

at the entrance of the

and blessing the brothers with outstretched arms, although

hall

was

a great distance

monks and Monaldus'
at Assisi this

away. 57
vision,

Two

in fact the

independent events, the sermon to

must therefore be depicted simultaneously,

successfully achieved (pi. 59).

The

left

side-wall of the

chapter-house and the ceiling supported by arches are visible exactly
as the apex.

The

as far

room is cut away, but can readily be completed
The monks sit in rows at the feet of the preacher, listening

front of the

in the imagination.

who

by himself in the left corner, his
eyes fastened on the vision of the saint. The cloister outside, covered by a
simple lean-to roof, is seen through the door and the windows. The position
attentively, except for

Monaldus,

sits

of the chapter-house next to the cloister,

and the arrangement of the door

with two flanking windows, are in accordance with the ancient custom. The

111

Giotto

and

his pupils

same realism

setting has the

as the rest of the scene; the story

could not be

more vividly.
The spatial arrangement of the corresponding scene in the Bardi Chapel
(pi. 6ga) would not be easy to understand without knowing the story and
without the assistance of the representation at Assisi. The setting is reversed.
The view is from the cloister garden through the intervening cloister into
the chapter-house. The cloister also has a lean-to roof, which is seen in crosssection where the two side wings are cut off. Most of the monks sit on benches
in the cloister, and only a few are in the chapter-house, where Friar Antonius
preaches. St Francis is seen in the doorway, standing firmly on the raised
told

floor of the chapter-house.

made out on
This highly
the scene,

Behind him,

traces of a Crucifixion scene

artificial,

one might almost say cryptographic, presentation of

which nevertheless remains the same

as that in the Assisi picture,

clearly reveals the stylistic peculiarity of the Santa

there

and symmetry of

the emphatic frontality

Croce

frescoes. In addition

their composition,

surface pattern of the

monks

doorway. His

arms and the curve of the arch form

raised

dimensions, in contrast to
door-posts.

The

in the cloister

Assisi,

and the figure of

where the

saint's

numerous

successive layers,

two-dimensional

which only the tops of the heads

shown

almost ludicrous

effects. The way in
monks seated inside the chapter-house
6gb). The virtuosity displayed in the use of

produces

of the

(pi.

perspective with an apparently

flat

surface design evokes a subtle charm,

a tension similar to that of the

The Bardi Chapel

scene has none of the naive freshness and narrative

are looking towards St Francis,

Monaldus,

sermon,

Antonius,
tive

who

as there

who

and

alone sees the vision.

It is

power
monks

impossible to distinguish brother

not even clear that

hardly any connection between the

seen through the

window. Such

are present

monks and

Friar

indifference to the narra-

typical of an eclectic, mannerist stage of stylistic development.
is

and

composition of the Baroncelli Altar. 58

of the Assisi fresco. Contrary to the tenor of the legend, most of the

concern

two

a circle in

arms extend beyond the

and produces the most unexpected overlapping

pattern,

at a

and the

St Francis in the

in strange contradiction to the severe

structure of the space, arranged in

one behind the other,

are

can be

the rear wall.

The

not with the content but with the aesthetic aspect, which has great

beauty, though of a cool and abstract kind, giving the impression of a vision
rather than a drama.

method

The powerful

effect that this peculiar

of representation can produce

evident in the

two-dimensional

title

scene of Santa

Croce, The Stigmatization of St Francis, above the chapel's entrance arch and
112

visible

from

b9
the entrance to the church (pi. 68).

hlftifr

Castelscprio, Santa

Maria

foris portas

•

The Journey

Bethlehem

•

San Vinccnzo

Crucifixion

3 a

Rome, Temple

of Fortuna Virilis

St John Receiving the Aposth

b
Rome, San Clemente
Lower Church
3

Ascension (detail)

Galliano, San Vincenzo

•

The Prophet Jeremidi

Sant'Aneelo in Formis

•

Christ Enthroned

Sant'Angelo in Formis

a Christ

and

the Adultress

b Christ Healing

Sant'Angelo in Formis

the Blind

•

The Archangel Michael

Rome, San Clemente,

Church- The

Miracle of St Clement

Nepi, Sant'Elia

•

The Elders of the Apocalypse

ion

Tuscania, San Pietro

Meeting of SS. Peter and Paul

•

->.

10 b

Rome, San Giovanni

Porta Latina

Creation of

Adiii.

Tuscania, San Pietro

•

Ascension (detail)

Tivoli, Cathedral

•

Triptych

(side panels)

Sutri, Cathedr.il

Christ Enthroned

lfm*Z

^^^^B

Jj^
/

\
i

Civate, San Pietro

Monte

a Angels Fighting the Apocalyptic

b Christ Enthroned

Dragon

New Jerusalem

Civate, San Pietro

Monte

•

Angels

i6a,b

Aquileia, Cathedral, Crypt

•

Paintings in the ambulatory and decoration on the dado

Aquileia, Cathedral,

Crypt

•

St Peter Ordaining St Hiermagoras

ilS

Rome,

SS. Quattro

Con

St Sylvester

Chapel

Entry of St Sylvester into

Rome

;

HrVmSf

/ ^H

^^^tt>

Jir"*t^!

jh9
1

B^I
JBhS(d
fl
^
•»

BbV

OK
Ha
l^sk
Hiw,

^^HK
1BB&
vH

~
.

^1^1 L
k

Grottaferrata,

Abbey Church

Moses with

lie

Snake

19 b
(detail

19 c

Pietro Cavallini Apostles

(detail

from the

Last Judgment)

'IHI

>.*

^Lb^Blv

19.1

j^M

)|V-

i^^H

Pietro CAVALLrNi Hearf of Christ

from the

Rome,

Last Judgment)

Santa Cecilia

Rome,

Santa Cecilia

20 a

Pietro Cavallini

J-SISTTT VR
20 b

Birth of the

'irgin

Rome, Santa Maria

Trastevcrc

•'j

Pietro Cavallini Prest

ntation in the

Temple

Rome,

Santa Maria in Trastevcrc

21 a

JACOPO TORRITI

Coronation of the I 'irgin
Rome, Santa Maria Maggiore

21 b

Roman,

1290, Prophet

Rome, Santa Maria Maggicre

Crucifix,

second

half

12th century

•

Pisa,

Museo Nazionale

Crucifix, first quarter of 13th century

•

Pisa,

Museo Nazionale

24 b

Women

at Christ's

detail of pi. 23)

24a

fl \nliiiit

of the Feet (detail of pi. 22)

Head

of Christ (detail of pi. 23)

-I

27
26

"irgin (detail

of pi. 27)

Assisi,

Giunta Pisano

Crucifix

Santa Maria degli Angeli

Albertus (1187) Crucifix

Spolcto,

Cathedral

(detail)

Berlinghiero Crucifix

(detail)

Lucca, Pinacoteca

30 a

Sermon

to the Birds

(detail of pi. 31)

30b

Healing

of the

Lame

(detail of pi. 31)

BONAVENTURA BERLINGHIERI
St

Francis

•

Pescia,

(1235)

San Francesco

School or Lucca

(c.

1260)

Madonna

West Germany,

private collection

Coppo di Marcovaldo
Madonna del Carmine

Florence, Santa Maria

Maggiore

Wffi*

34 a

Master of the Biga. o

Florence,

34b

Opera

Detail of

del
pi.

Duomo

St Zenobius Altarpiece (detail)
3.S

Coppo

Marcovaliki Madonna

Orvicto, Santa Maria dei Servi

Guido da Siena Maesta

Siena, Palazzo Pubblico

j> r

37a

37 b

"~
'

—

#»

;

Guido da Siena

Rotable

Siena, Pinacotcca

St John the Evangelist (detail of pi. 37

Guido da Siena Ann;

iation

Princeton, University Gallery

Cimabue Angel

(detail of pi. 40)

Cimabue

Santa Trinita

Mado

Florence, Uffizi

Duccio

(1285) Rucellai

Madonna

Florence, Santa Maria Novella

42 a

Cimabue

42 b

CORSO

St John Raises
(detail

and

Prophet (detail of

BUONO

pi.

(1284)

Two Dead Men

from The

Sorcerer Aristodemus

the Proconsul)

Montelupo, San Giovanni

40)

Duccio Angel

(detail of pi. 41)

Cimable

Crucifix

nee,

Museo

di Santa

Croce

Cimabue

St John (detail of pi. 44)

Assisi,

San Francesco, L pper Church

Choir and transept

Assisi,

San Francesco,

Upper Church
47 b

•

Nave

St Francis Legend

.rifif i«n

mi ii .i. a iimXkLUJUJl^UM.mt^.tt.
i

Cimabue Women Lamenting

(detail of pi. 49)

Cimabue

Crucifixion

Assisi,

San Francesco

Cimabue Angels

(detail of pi. 49)

Cimabue

Spectators at the Cross (detail of pi. 49)

Filippo Rusuti The Creation

•

Assisi,

San Francesco

\
TC

Filippo

Rusuti Head of the Creator (preparation,

cf.

pi. 52)

•

Assisi,

San Francesco

Giotto Esau and

Isaac

Assisi,

San Francesco

Giotto Head of Esau

(detail of pi. 54)

IBwi

Giotto Sermon

Birds

Assisi,

San Francesco

Giotto Confirmation of the Rule of the Order

•

Assisi,

San Francesco

Giotto

ather (detail of pi.

Giotto Apparition of

St Francis at Aries

Assisi,

San

Frai

Giotto

Crucifix

Santa Maria Novella

Detail of pi. 60

62 a

62 b

Giotto Enthroned Madonna

Florence, San Giorgio

alia

Costa

Giotto Madonna

Assisi,

San Francesco

Giotto

Ognissanti

Madonna

Florence, Uffizi

Giotto

detail of pi.

62 b

Giotto

detail of pi. 63

66 a

Giotto

Flight into Egypt

Padua, Arena Chapel

66 b

Giotto

Christ before Caiphas

Padua, Arena Chapel

Detail of

pi.

66 b

69 a, b

Master of the Bardi Chapel
Apparition of St Francis at Aries
Florence, Santa Crocc

Master of the Bardi Chapel

Stigmatization of St Francis (detail)

Florence, Santa Grace

Giotto Musician

(detail of pi.

71a)

71b

Giotto Herod's Feast
71 a
Giotto Assumption of St John

;

Santa Crocc

Santa Croce

Bernardo Daddi

(1333)

Madonna

with

Two

Donors (centre panel of

triptych)

Florence, Bigallo

All these are features that can hardly be ascribed to Giotto at
his extensive

development. They would be

pired to and accomplished in the

first

a negation of

half of his

and

life,

and

are deeply rooted in Giotto's earlier works,

Giotto

and

his pupils

and

also of the free

The

elevated style he achieved later in the Peruzzi Chapel.

any stage of

everything he as-

Peruzzi frescoes

products of the post-Padua

period are a completely consistent development. But along the route between
the Arena Chapel and the Peruzzi Chapel there

Chapel

Could they possibly be

frescoes.

This could only be so
eclecticism

Such

if,

end of

at the

later

his life,

and himself became the creator of

a supposition cannot be entertained.

do not

frescoes

and that

fit

analysis

into Giotto's

work

for the Bardi

Giotto had turned to a refined
a 'Giotto mannerism'.

It is

our conviction that the Bardi

either before or after the Peruzzi

grounds alone makes

stylistic

no place

than those in the Peruzzi Chapel?

clear that they

Chapel
cannot

be attributed to him. The types and proportions of the figures are not

nor are the technique and colours compatible with

heavy and opaque and the

are too

was never heavy, and
ment,

became

lines

too hard and

Giotto's style

brittle.

Peruzzi Chapel shows, in spite of

as the

steadily lighter

and

his,

his practice: the colours

easier in later years.

The

disfigure-

its

style

and even

the types of figures of the Bardi frescoes could possibly be accounted for

attributing the execution to assistants, as evidently several hands participated

work. But the designs and

in the

The

either.

spirit

pictorial ideas as a

whole

and rhythm of the compositions are

are not Giottesque

different

from

and are not the product of the elemental force of a unified sense of
informs Giotto's
teristic

ceuvre.

The Bardi Chapel

the start,
life

that

frescoes are the first great, charac-

manifestation of the spirit of the following generation.

Giotto's pupils
ers of the great

were born into

a situation similar to that in

High Renaissance masters found

which the follow-

themselves.

The towering
shadow

figure of Giotto, like Michelangelo's in the late Renaissance, cast a

over

ment

all

was the

work and inhibited the creation
new artistic synthesis. Until the end

their

of a

new

style or the

lost its freshness

archaic, or

was reduced, for

The master

and became
a time, to a

of the Bardi Chapel

was

develop-

of the Trecento, Giotto's style

inevitable point of departure for his successors,

work

their

of a

with the

result that

and

artificially

formalistic, eclectic,

premature, undisciplined naturalism.

a formalist.

He was

familiar with the

methods of three-dimensional representation devised by Giotto, but he used

them
a

for quite contrary purpose. For

him

the illusion of depth

was merely

piquant feature added to his elaborate surface pattern to give an even

artiheial effect.

available,

The

extension of the pictures to the limits of the wall space

and the primary concern with surface

effects are characteristic of

185

Giotto

and

his pupils

mid-Trecento painting. Formally

The

composition.

this

meant the reversion

tension between surface and depth

ately for artistic effect, as for instance in the

important pupil of Giotto, who,

was one of the founders of

this

coes,

workshop, he

was done

the Bardi Chapel

many

Altar and

oncelli

probably considerably

window

trayed in the

however,

date,

The
fres-

Although trained

style.

to Giotto. It

in Giotto's

indeed probable that

later

than 13 17, the date given by historians
in

Bar-

like the

his

work. The date of the frescoes

as Giotto's

which Louis of Toulouse, who

as the
is

por-

wall of the Bardi Chapel, was canonized. Such an early

quite unacceptable.

others.

Chapel

other works, and was therefore regarded

That was the year

earliest possible.

new

one of Giotto's commissions,

contemporaries, and by Ghiberti,
is

also used deliber-

Orcagna and

believe, painted the Bardi

Orcagna than

closer to

work

to two-dimensional

was

The

reorientation

stylistic

which we

have attempted to describe above indicates a date around 1330. 60

the

other hand, the Peruzzi Chapel, which really seems to give an example of

was probably

Giotto's late style,

reflection of Giotto's great figurative

Andrea Pisano's

also painted

depicting the

life

not

much

earlier

and dramatic innovations

on the bronze doors of the Baptistry

reliefs

than 1330-

Naples in about 1328. 61

precisely, before Giotto's departure for

found

in Florence,

John the Baptist. Andrea Pisano, who shortly afterwards
on the Campanile after Giotto's designs, was already under

executed the

reliefs

his influence

while working on the bronze door. 62 For these scenes he drew

the iconography of the Peruzzi Chapel frescoes,

bears the stamp of the Giotto model.

The

their richly folded draperies are Giottesque

and the

style of his

work

strongly modelled figures with

forms translated into the

medium

of bronze sculpture, although Andrea, following the current fashion, accen-

tuated the flow of the folds, and at times lapsed into
tality.

But the grouping, the

architectural

restrained drama, the

and landscape motifs are

possible that the single source of this

Chapel
is

that

Chapel

frescoes,

done

at a

much

all

inspired

and completed
struction

ornamenclarity of
is

hardly

earlier date.

far

style,

likely supposition

which the Peruzzi

been an example. The bronze doors were begun in 1330,

in 1336.

Andrea became Giotto's

closest associate in the

and sculptural decoration of the Campanile, and

he was appointed

linear

dominant influence was the Arena

Andrea was inspired by Giotto's current

may have

mere

economy and
by Giotto. It

con-

after Giotto's death

his successor to the office of supervisor of the cathedral

works. 63
Ghiberti attributes the earliest Campanile

186

Whatever

Giotto's share

may

reliefs

have been, these

to Giotto

reliefs are

and Andrea. 64

even closer to the

style of the Peruzzi

Chapel frescoes than are the bronze doors. This

support for the view that the frescoes represent Giotto's

Andrea Pisano could
If

our analysis

traced

from

his

added

Giotto

which

and

his pupils

refer directly.

development can

correct, the course of Giotto's

beginnings in Assisi until the

of the Peruzzi Chapel

last

years of his

life.

now

The

style

an organic continuation of the Padua period. The

principles of design clearly recognizable in

dom

late style, to

Padua have acquired

new

free-

without abandoning the distinctive structures of Giotto's pictorial con-

and rhythm the pictures surpass the Padua frescoes. Preform and economy of means, the governing principles of his earlier
works, have given way to volume and size. Giotto has achieved that synthesis
of monumentality and grace, the combination of autonomous individual

ception. In beauty
cision of

figures

and an unconstrained compact whole, that

classical art. It

that

was

was only

in his later years that

constitutes the essence of

he became the creator of

a style

to persist for centuries, the foundation of the Italian style of the

High Renaissance.
If
its

the internal logical consistency of this development

controlled genius recognized, a

new

becomes

yardstick

ing Giotto's doubtful works. These will be seen

understood, and

available for assess-

as a reflection

of the great

personality of Giotto; and the peculiarities of his individual pupils, and their

new

emerge more

aspirations, will also

Like San Francesco at

Assisi,

ciscan church in Florence,
pupils.

distinctly.

Santa Croce, the great simple, spacious Fran-

monument

of the fresco art of Giotto and his

Apart from the two chapels to the right of the choir, which

already discussed, there are five others in the transept

where the

have been preserved. Three of these were painted by

frescoes

were actually pupils of Giotto. In addition, there

the

have

original

who

artists

main choir chapel

with a cycle of the legend of the Holy Cross painted by Agnolo Gaddi, a
second-generation pupil, and the sacristy with a variety of frescoes by masters

more or
-

now

less

dependent on Giotto. Finally on the end wall of the refectory

the Santa Croce

Gaddi and

his pupils.

museum - there

Two

an impressive work by Taddeo

other chapels contained paintings by

Taddeo

Gaddi, 65 and in the Tosinghi and Giugni chapels there were the fresco cycles,
previously mentioned,

not

all.

The

by Giotto,

and was lined with

altars

umental paintings. Large
also

all

which

are

now

lost.

And

that

was

wall enclosing the monks' choir extended well into the nave,

and chapel-like

extended along both walls

structures, also decorated

with

mon-

few fragments remain,
of the nave, among them a major work by

frescoes, of

which only

187

Giotto

and

his pupils

Orcagna which we

shall refer to later.

gives an idea of the scale

The mere enumeration

end of the Trecento. All the works

active until the

of these

works

and exuberance of the Giotto school, which remained

in the course of three generations,

were concentrated

have described, done

in a single,

though very

important church. The Dominican Church of Santa Maria Novella was just
as heavily decorated,

Most

smaller.

but there the share of Giotto and

of the frescoes

were done

school was

his

much

about the middle of the Trecento

by Orcagna and his circle.
The decoration in these two churches, unlike that in the Upper Church at
Assisi, was not the result of a unified plan, but grew mainly from donations
by wealthy families. In spite of this a remarkably uniform effect was achieved
in Santa Croce. One part at least was properly planned, namely the huge
east wall at the

The model

end of the centre

for this

aisle

with

opening to the choir chapel.

its

was probably the triumphal arch walls

of the

decorated with mosaics or paintings. In Santa Croce

basilicas

worked out

an entirely

new and

original

this

Roman

motif was

way. The upper part of the wall,

flanking the choir, has splendid stained-glass Gothic windows, opening to the

Beneath these windows, and above the two

outside.

pictures of the Assumption of the Virgin

There

a close connection

side chapels, are the

and the Stigmatization of St

between the

subjects of these

two

Francis.

pictures: in

on 15 August, the day of Mary's Assumption, St Francis withdrew to
the solitude of Monte La Verna where the winged Crucifix from which he
received the stigmata appeared to him on 14 September. 66 Hence the facade
1224,

of the choir

became the focus

space of Santa Croce. 67

of the varied decorative

The dominating

importance painting had achieved

The monumental

painting

Croce similarly produces the
a large

in the arts

the

entire

shows the new

- originating with Giotto.

end wall of the south transept

effect of a

in Santa

kind of internal facade, through which

Gothic arched arcade leads to the Baroncelli Chapel. The decoration

of the wall surrounding the arch

designed like a frame surmounted by a

great frieze of consoles painted in perspective.

on the

the areas
pictures.

was

scheme and the

role of the pictures

The

sides of the archivolts,

Huge

figures of prophets

fill

and beneath these there are smaller

creator of this impressive picture wall

was Taddeo Gaddi,

who

also responsible for the frescoes inside the chapel. In the past the frescoes

were mistakenly connected up with records indicating
and 1337, but in fact they could have been begun
any case during Giotto's life-time. 68 Taddeo Gaddi,

workshop

for

many

artistic personality,

years,

who

emerges here for the

between 1332
early as 1328, and in
a date

who worked

first

time

in Giotto's

an independent

quite deliberately overstepped the stylistic boundaries

imposed by Giotto. 69 In the scenes from the
of the chapel

(pi. 73),

he abandoned to

life

Mary, on the

a large extent the classical

left

wall

rhythm

composition and the idealized types to which Giotto always adhered, and
painted instead colourful and animated crowds of people, boldly foreshor-

tened architecture, and a steeply ascending, naturalistic mountain landscape.

There are contemporary elements

and birds nest

a high gallery,

topping a wall. These are

all

in the drapery, spectators

in the carefully

drawn

down from

look

foliage of trees over-

features that Giotto rigidly excluded

from

his

monumental

pictorial world.

mated

Expulsion ofJoachim from the Temple, nor did he indulge in such

as the

never painted a scene

as passionately ani-

graceful interplay of foreshortening and intersection of lines as in the temple

Taddeo Gaddi is at his boldest in the Presentation
Temple, where the intricate construction of the building

architecture of that picture.

of the Virgin
in a

number

in the

of ascending levels results in a very unconventional distribution

of the figures. 70
a

earlier painter

had dared

to separate the participants in

ceremonial event by such distances, with the extreme reduction in

some

of the figures that this involved.

arc

size of

reminded of Mannerist three-

dimensional representations of the sixteenth century. Taddeo Gaddi's great
Sienese contemporaries engaged in ventures of similar boldness, but

them diverged from
as

he did

the recognized principles of design to the

in this early

phase of his independent activity. 71

Inside the chapel, the side wall
frescoes are

than those

(pis 74, 75 a).

This

later pictures.

ciation to

The

be decorated. These

especially noticeable in the treatment of the draperies

wall are simpler and

which begin

more generous and powerful Taddeo Gaddi's

to resemble those in
finished until

around 1335,

con-

the absence of complete uniformity in the decorative

on the window wall -from the AnnunKings are more mature and monumental than

six narrative scenes

the Adoration of the

uneven

clearly the first to

The work was probably not

clusion supported

the

window

in the types of figures,

scheme. 72

was

more closely related to Giotto in many of their individual forms
on the window wall, where a new independent style is evident

- which in the

and

none of

same extent

on the other wall depicting the

series

life

of the Virgin, although

even here Taddeo Gaddi did not confine himself to the Giottesque method
of spatial representation.

Above
and

all,

original.

however,

pictures always corresponds

and

in his

Taddeo Gaddi's treatment

with the actual sources of light

find this theory of the Giotto school

manual for

of light thac

have already noted, the direction of the light

painters. 73

new

in Giotto's

in the

room;

propounded by Cennino Cennini

Taddeo Gaddi, however, used

the actual lighting

Giotto

and

his pupils

Giotto

and his pupils

of the Baroncelli Chapel to create a

new and

very special

effect.

started

with the assumption that the light from the only window, on the south

produced an

effect of darkness

this in several pictures

on the surrounding

by the

Kings

light,

such

angels in the Annunciation scenes, and the

from the Christ Child hovering

light

and compensated for

wall,

by introducing supernatural sources of

the ray of light emitted

side,

in the sky,

who

appears to the Three

in place of the traditional star. In the Annunciation to the Shepherds

(pi. 74), a

yellowish light illuminates the darkness, and shines softly on the

mountain landscape. The Three Kings are similarly bathed

in divine light.

These supernatural sources of light are rendered with remarkable naturalism.

The

natural light in all the pictures comes, of course, from the direction of
window, and in the allegorical figures in the medallions on the vaults,
which are lit from the window and from below, the fall of this natural light

the

accentuated and has a striking illusionistic
In

its

overall results this solution

suggestive of

new

possibilities that

della Francesca, in his

effect.

had such
it

served as

model

major work, the fresco cycle

supernatural source of light to illuminate the
Constantine's

logical consistency

and was so

for centuries. Piero

Arezzo, used a similar

window

wall in the scene of

Dream. Raphael took up the same problem

in the Liberation

of St Peter in the Stanze of the Vatican, and found a classical solution which

became the
It

inspiration for a

whole

line of

Baroque

painters.

seems that the impetus for these important developments was given by

Taddeo Gaddi, and not by Giotto

opened the way

himself. Giotto

to the

representation of light and developed the essential technique, but he never

explored
stinct

its

possibilities to the

warned him

artistic

same extent

as his pupil,

because his sure in-

against the inevitable naturalistic consequences. Giotto's

theory was universal, systematic, and concerned with the harmonious

balance of

all

the elements, like the summa, or universal systems, of the great

High Middle Ages. It was only the younger generation
who seized on isolated, specific problems, and pursued them

theologians of the
of his pupils

without regard for the relationship of the whole.
In the history of medieval thought, mysticism co-existed with the study of

the natural sciences with

which Franciscan

scholasticism, for example,

was

concerned. This was no accidental dichotomy but a deliberate attempt to

maintain an unbridgeable gap between the temporal and spiritual world, and
to accept the contradiction

between the two. There

a parallel in

Trecento

painting where naturalistic and mystical elements co-exist, and are often found
side

190

side

even in the work of the same painter.

outlook, which was becoming increasingly

It is

common,

in keeping with this
to hear that

when

Taddeo Gaddi developed eye trouble from observing an eclipse of the sun
in a letter to a clerical friend, Fra Simone Fidati, for spiritual

he appealed
help.
it,

but

This would not be in accord with Giotto's personality

very characteristic of

it is

most devoted

his

his pupils

we know

who became

pupil,

Giotto

and

the

75
leading Florentine painter during the three decades after the master's death.

The

Baroncelli Chapel

far the

most important of Taddeo Gaddi's

surviving works, and historically the most interesting.
of experiment, of bold ventures in unexplored fields,

soon

after the

completion of the frescoes. In

monumental, and the

and

Ins school,

became more

that the size

and quantity of

But

course of the Trecento.

growth. The

intrinsic

classical style rests,

numbers, show that

and

his position as

established.

personally a

importance

an independent form.

pictorial cycles increased

their

more than ever

in the

monumentality did not keep pace with

his pupils. Instead,

emerged, which was not

mere

this

own

monumentality, on which the greatness of Giotto's

an autonomous

derivative of

monu-

was not beneath Taddeo Gaddi's dignity to execute
long sequence of narrative panels, which because of their small

mental fresco painting.

cannot be viewed from any distance. Framed in Gothic quatrefoils, they

once decorated the doors of the
panels

and two crowning

some depicting

the

Croce. Twenty-six

sacristy closet in Santa

scenes, in the shape of quadrants,

life

of Christ and

some

have been preserv-

the St Francis legend. 77

The

and are

skil-

scenes contain a fine variety of compositions of simple design
fully set in the intricate

with

its

inscribed

ing, often

Gothic frames. The ornamental

rhombus extends

and chromatic

tive play of line

with gay heraldic

tints,

in the master's frescoes. Surface
naturalistic

modes

of the progessive

intimate style of

to the pictures

silhouette.

The

effect of the quatre-

and evokes an

colours are

and sometimes,

Christ, the pictures are illuminated

and

in wall-painting but rather the reverse, in

was never achieved by

style of panel-painting

foil

Taddeo

indicative of the change in artistic attitude soon after Giotto's death,

Outwardly there was no decline

ed,

inten-

panel paintings of

in relatively large

that panel-painting gained increasing

size

The

radical tendencies as his personal style

all

custodian of the Giottesque heritage
It is

beauty. 76

which have survived

he relinquished

Croce refectory

fresco of the Crucifixion in the sacristy

harmony and

composition of classical

end

to an

works he reverted to

his later

traditional ways. His Last Supper in the Santa

tionally

represents a phase

which came

as in the Transfiguration

by the same yellowish

light

noticed

and three-dimensional elements, and formal

of representation, are mingled in a

movement

attrac-

smooth and glow-

in the Trecento.

Undoubtedly,

new way
this

Taddeo Gaddi reached such maturity only

typical

very personal,

after the

com-

191

Giotto

and

his pupils

pletion of the Baroncelli Chapel,

assumed. 78

The

and fashioned into

in these small panels,

process was

and not

earlier, as historians

a personal,

have hitherto

Chapel was put to use

practical experience of the Baroncelli

independent

style.

The

typical of post-Giottesque painting.

Bernardo Daddi,

also a pupil of Giotto

The only

and one of

his closest associates,

monumental works by his hand
are two frescoes in a chapel in Santa Croce, showing the martyrdoms of
St Stephen and St Lawrence. The events are depicted with true Florentine
followed a similar path.

realism, in a style that

Giotto's

Padua

affiliation

and of

frescoes.

surviving

angular and brittle and goes back to the period of

Only

the extension of the pictorial stage indicates an

with subsequent development. The technique

dry and

precise,

a plain, craftsmanlike character.

This style and technique were better suited to panel-painting. Bernardo

Daddi

left

many

folding panels,

all

altarpieces, including a

number

of small tabernacles with

some time in the
employ an ever increasing number of assistants
thanks to him and his workshop that in the fourteenth

painted between 1328 and 1348, and at

1330s he must have begun to
for such work. 79

century the

and

new

It is

type of small devotional pictures, single panels, diptychs

became popular

triptychs,

They were used
rank, and they

in Florence,

for domestic worship

were

also in

demand

and soon appeared further

and

for the

as travelling altars for

numerous convents

all

afield.

people of

over the

country and the religious associations in the cities. At the beginning of the century

Duccio had introduced

this pictorial

type in Siena, and produced small de-

votional pictures of high artistic quality. This

development, which extended
referred to again later. Also

far

from

One

of his

which immediately enjoyed great pop-

most charming works of

by Taddeo Gaddi, correct

craftsmanship,

which became Daddi's

Giotto-workshop

an important

beyond the Trecento, and which will be
Bernardo Daddi received some in-

nacle dated 1333 in the Loggia del Bigallo in Florence
a year later

start of

Siena,

spiration for his fine miniature altars,
ularity in Florence.

was the

tradition, reached

its

this kind, a taber-

(pi. 72),

to the last detail. 80

was reproduced

The

perfection of

special care in the preservation of the

height in these small precious objects;

they clearly reveal his forceful, precise, sculptural style and formal language.
Daddi's colours, deep in earlier years, later

show

that he

his style

was based on

become

increasingly lighter and

painting.

that of his teacher, Giotto,

and

was influenced by Sienese

young man he had worked on the

frescoes in the

the whole, however,
it is

possible that as a

Arena Chapel. This would

be consistent with the tradition claiming that he was ten years older than
I9 2

Taddeo Gaddi and thus born

about 1290.

Both

these artists

the other hand,

in Naples,

were members of the older generation of Giotto's

Maso

was one of

his

Banco, who,

have seen, had

assisted

pupils.

Giotto

and

his

pupib

youngest pupils. Apart from the fragments in Naples,

Maso's only surviving works are one fresco cycle in Santa Croce, painted

around 1340, and a few panel-paintings. 81 Although

oped under Giotto's teaching he was no immature

his

powerful

copyist.

style devel-

emerges

as a

vigorous though not very versatile personality, with a strong feeling for the

monumental and
of the master.

a far greater

independence

appeared at a stage

when

esque tradition was no longer possible.

artist

than the older pupils

a direct continuation of the Giott-

have seen that Giotto himself

gradually outgrew Ins time, or rather lost touch with contemporary- trends.

With

the exception of

Andrea Pisano, who was not

had no emulators. The true modern

style

a painter, Giotto's late

style of the

time was not that of

the Peruzzi Chapel, but that of the contemporaneous or slightly later Bardi

Chapel. There had been a return to the two-dimensional

young man had

mode

of represen-

on
a higher level, for Giotto's innovations could not be ignored. The most
powerful effects the master of the Bardi Chapel achieved arose from the
tation,

which Giotto

as a

superseded, but

was

a return

tension between two-dimensional and three-dimensional vision. Giotto's

meth-

ods were employed, but for contrary purposes.

Maso

This was also the point of departure for
his

way

Banco, but

add to the existing problems. The main feature of

was not

his art

was

solemnity, an almost sombre suppression of

mood and

mere

must have been repugnant

virtuosity in the use of artistic effects

him, a far greater mastery of the
is

modern methods

emotion. Although
to

of spatial representation

concealed behind the compact texture of his frescoes than in the works of

Bernardo Daddi, or even the apparently progressive Taddeo Gaddi. In one
of his pictures
in a

Roman

he goes beyond Giotto himself, conveying the

gaping windows evoking a
thing entirely new.

lost

With Giotto

grandeur
there

and he never imparted

to the present,

Maso does much more than
events of the legend he

set the

(pi.

this

sorcerers

who had

few symbolic

102a). This

mood was some-

kind of significance to a

Rome:

would have been

The

the pope, St Silvester,

Romans, and brings

been poisoned by the dragon's breath.

features. In

setting.

necessary scene for the narrative.

depicting take place in

fourteenth-century painter
a

of ruins

past; everything relates palpably

binds the dragon that had been harassing the

two

mood

landscape, with decayed buildings of magnificent simplicity, the

to life the

Any

other

satisfied to indicate the locale

Maso's picture the event becomes almost subor-

dinate to the striking effect of the setting.

The

figures are skilfully related to the

193

Giotto

and

his pupils

architectural elements, but the resulting interplay of depth

and surface

diminishes the dramatic content of the story, which in Giotto's hands

effects

would

have been enhanced.
In Maso's

landscape

work

the scenery remains predominant even

when

the open

almost completely obstructed by buildings. In the lunette picture

of the Baptism of Constantine , the figures are placed within such a closely inter-

movement

locking complex of buildings that their freedom of
restricted.

The

importance of the figures,

their small scale,

further reduced

by the

which

style,

severely

already diminished

The autonomy

architecture.

forms, the basis of Giotto's dramatic narrative

of the

sacrificed, as in the

Bardi Chapel, to the encroaching principle of abstract composition. Yet the
separate figures are
(pi.

102 b).

individually characterized here than in Giotto's

thus find in the

work

of Maso, possibly Giotto's

portant pupil, an illustration of the same contradictory
as

stylistic

work

most im-

development

have previously noticed.

But something much more
in the spirit of the age.

The

significant

lofty plane

becomes apparent,

on which Giotto had

profound change
set

human

action

and emotion could no longer be maintained by the generation that immediately
followed him.
teristics,

resorted to artistic virtuosity, attention to individual charac-

and ultimately to the acceptance of new formal

restrictions.

These are

stylistic

well as intellectual

elements which do not exclude but rather

complement and depend on each

other. Giotto

was not concerned with the

individual, but with the essential qualities of recognized types,
this that

gave

to perceive
artistic

194

his figures their

autonomous

existence.

and

The diminished

was

ability

and render typical form was the underlying reason for the changed

direction in the decades after Giotto's death.

Duccio

When

theless

continued to exercise a forceful influence, Florentine painting found

itself

turned

away from

Giotto,

whose superior

an oddly self-contradictory situation, which became most clearly

apparent in the middle of the Trecento in the
before dealing with this
century,

consistent style never-

when

the

new

we must

return once

Trecento sense of

style

work of Andrea Orcagna. But
more to the beginning of the
became predominant throughits supremacy. In Pisa and

out northern Tuscany, and Florentine art asserted

Lucca

the older artistic traditions

all

two

the energies of these

cities,

were

spent,

and

especially in painting

once so immensely productive, were ex-

hausted.

Only

brilliant

achievement of Giovanni Pisano; however, he produced

Pisan sculpture experienced a

important works in Siena, and not in
reserve the Gothic ideal of form,

excitingly
all

modern

traces of the local

in Siena can

The

his native city.

his

most

accepted without

which was spreading from the north. In

his

influenced

In Siena the course of development

Only

burst of creativity in the

by current trends and yet highly personal,
pre-Gothic tradition were lost. In painting, no equals
emerged for the time being.

style,

to this vigorous style

last

one

talk of a

was

different

from

that in Florence.

genuine continuity, an organic development

was Duccio

Buoninsegna.

His Madonna Rucellai of 1285 has already been mentioned, 1 and

we remarked

of tradition.

that this

work

great painter responsible for this

manhood appears modern and progressive beside
Madonna of Cimabue. A first step towards over-

of his early

the similarly constructed

coming the dependence of the Duecento on the

archaic,

reveals faint traces

of the Gothic style but at the same time belongs to the 'maniera greca'. 2

195

Duccio was not

Duccio

new

and gave no

a revolutionary artist.

created

no new

system,

artistic

pictorial interpretation of reality. His virtue lay in

main-

taining the heritage of Byzantine art, thus preserving a valuable part of the

medieval

and passing

spirit

to the

new

His Madonnas are

era.

full

the melancholy, the solemnity, and the mature oriental beauty of the

Although he modernized the

zantine world.

chromatic

effects,

timeless, undramatic,

us under

powerful

its

The

spirit

and content of

and devoted

spell.

all

time in Sienese painting, and
this that distinguished Sienese

other Italian schools until well into the sixteenth century',

Sodoma and Beccafumi,

as far as

remained unchang-

emotion that places

capacity for religious fervour

tins

a long

frequently rose to the level of ecstasy.

from

his art

to a single, strong

This passion,

and mystical absorption survived for
painting

the technique, and the

he adhered closely to Byzantine models, especially those in

manuscript illuminations.
ed

style,

By-

so long as a Sienese school of any significance

remained in existence.

The conservatism

characteristic of Duccio's

tinuation of established tradition. His style

and sources are
and
his

difficult to

him with Guido da

most important predecessor, although there does not seem

in the Assisi frescoes can

no documentary evidence

that

of the large

The

and

whom he

name

in wall-painting.

drew some inspiration
from clear. Yet another
glass

and the designs were probably by Duccio, but un-

of the artist

who

created

them

paintings depict the Death, Assumption,

in addition the

nation scene, there

Four Evangelists, and four

half-length

not noted

in the

and Coronation of
saints; 4

the

although there

Madonna, especially in the Coro-

hardly anything that links them with the Assisi frescoes.

Madonna

figure

in Siena, also recalls the Rncellai
figures. His

arguments, 3 for there

doubtless
also far

are unmistakable affinities with the Rncellai

The

Siena,

have been

whether Duccio made the designs for the stained

in 1287-8,

fortunately the

Virgin,

round window of the choir of Siena Cathedral. This work was

commissioned

records.

stylistic

Duccio was ever engaged

from

without being fundamentally influenced,
is

con-

between them. Attempts to detect Duccio's hand

be supported only by

His relationship to Cimabue,

unresolved question

original. Its origins

determine, but the essential lyrical strain in his art

adherence to Byzantine models associate

his

a real pupil-master relationship

work was not merely

was decidedly

pure personal

from Crevole, now

Madonna, but

in the

Opera

del

Duomo

lacks the fluid line of Duccio's

only in two small panels, painted
They are devotional pictures, the
Kunstmuseum in Bern, 5 and the Madonna

style appears again

almost with the delicacy of miniatures.

Madonna Enthroned
196

with Angels in the

with Three Franciscan

Monks

in the Siena

Pinacoteca Nazionale, both fervent

and mystical

mood and

content.

mood, but

The

Bern Madonna, doubtless belonging

Byzantine influence in

in the 1290s, displays a strong

also has a free, graphic

and

pictorial style, especially apparent in

the deeply emotional figure of the

Madonna,

The

qualities

Madonna

Siena

and was probably done

Commissioned

Cathedral.

the master's

workshop

clasping the Child to her

more mature

bosom.

stylistic level,

after the turn of the century.

work

Duccio's major

same

has the

the Maesta, painted for the high altar of Siena

in 1308

and completed

to the Cathedral in

in 13 11,

was carried from

solemn procession to the accom-

paniment of drums and trumpets and the jubilation of the populace. 6

now

in the

from each

among

Opera

del

Duomo

in Siena, the front

other. Parts of the predella

and rear

It is

sides separated

and the crowning panels are dispersed

foreign collections. 7

Maesta, Majesty,
still

Duccio

solemn melancholy

its

found

the vernacular for the tabernacles and devotional pictures

in the streets

and public places of

God was

Italian cities, referring in partic-

Enthroned Madonna. In Siena the Mother of

ular to representations of the

revered as sovereign in a special sense: in gratitude for the victory

of Montaperti in 1260 the city submitted

eignty of the

by solemn

itself

Heavenly Queen. Duccio created

this

work

act to the sover-

for the Cathedral

dedicated to her, as the highest tribute art could offer to her glorification.

The Madonna

seated

on the throne, the divine Child

ed by angels, apostles and

The oblong

saints.

in her arms,

surround-

panel, raised in the centre,

treated as a single undivided surface, a bold undertaking for such a large

and one

picture,

that

ponding uniformity
unites the figures
is

had no

parallel for a

their

common

and individual, and

distinct

long time, but there

in the handling of the three-dimensional space.

beauty and sensuous quality

relationship to the

Madonna. Each

corres-

What
figure

depicted with unconcealed pleasure in

(pi. 76),

and yet together they form

its

a rhythmic,

two-dimensional pattern. The grouping of the figures, arrayed towards the
centre,

masterly: the four patron saints of Siena8 kneel in the foreground

and the other figures stand
female saints on each
the centre.

rows behind and above one another. The two

side, in fine

However, one has

flowing Gothic draperies, also face towards

the impression that the

continue indefinitely to the sides and upwards - which

rows of
is

figures could

keeping with the

celestial setting.

The

perspective plane

also applies to the

pictures

much

therefore fluid and without firm boundaries; this

smaller narrative scenes

accompanying the main

and to those painted on the back of the panel. The predella depicted

the story of the Birth and

Childhood of

Christ.

Above

the

main panel were

197

Duccio

from

scenes

the latter part of the Virgin's

now

Assumption,

The back

lost.

gave an account of the

Life,

life,

probably concluding with an

of the panel, like a

huge page of miniatures,

Death and Resurrection of Christ

(pi. yy),

with

emphasis on the Passion. The sequence of the narrative, in four rows,

special

from the bottom, the Appearances of Christ after the Resurrection filling the whole of the upper zone. In the centre is the Crucifixion, prominent
on account of its size. The numerous figures and subsidiary scenes on the
starts

front of the panel

form an unusually

and yet they convey no
events

rich composition, but the

abundance of

and the variety of events portrayed on the back are overwhelming;

figures

all

seem

to be

effect of

drama or even of

epic narrative, for the

contemporaneous without any chronological order or

specific locale. Landscapes, cities,

and

a diversity of buildings provide settings

for the individual scenes, foreshortened

and drawn with careful attention to

the architectural detail. Occasionally a

view

given into the interior of a

building, as in the Temptation of Christ on the roof of the Temple. 9
this there

a lack of logical coherence.

The

settings are

But

mere backdrops

all

for

the figures: the landscapes, with rocks stylized in the Byzantine manner, are
unrealistic,

and the walled

the Temptation of Christ on the Mountain,

cities, as in

resemble the completely interchangeable towns in medieval illuminated books.

Yet there are

also

some

surprisingly successful

scenery in front of the city gate in the Entry
the outdoor scene of Peter denying Christ
interior scene
If

we were

think that he

any

rule,

effect

there

above

and advanced

solutions: the

into Jerusalem,

and the way

connected by a

staircase to the

of Christ before Annas. 10

not aware of the rich tradition behind Duccio's

worked

no system. His work does not seem

and although the

detail

art,

conform

often original and arresting, the overall

unsystematic, diffuse and without plan. Yet in each of the

many

scenes

and sometimes more than one, Christ or some other

a focal point,

principal figure, or

we might

even a group of

figures.

The dominant motif is based on
by Byzantine art

the figures, delineated according to the formulas prescribed
for centuries. 11

From

Duccio derived complete, richly

these,

articulated con-

figurations independent of the pictorial context as a whole, like the standard-

ized exempla of medieval

with

their

own

tural settings.

linear

They

and

are

significance

198

Sometimes they

One

The

are single figures, or groups

or sometimes landscapes or architec-

seldom more than

ally entire compositions.

which, Duccio worked.

art.

spatial unity,

isolated details,

figures are always primary,

which can be interpreted

characteristic, the expression of

and only occasion-

could reconstruct the book of patterns from

as action;

and have an inherent

but above

all is a

an intellectual content. As a

result,

permanent
the scenes

are not dramatic.

The

pictorial space

not fundamental,

as it

and the form and boundaries of the perspective plane are not the
for the composition but

which the
with very

little

more or

its

framing

figures are frequently

jrom

crowded

and the mass of each

theme of the

together,

one head next

human forms seem

determined solely by

lopsided.

to the other,

and

The

with the

to displace

relative

its

space,

importance in the

picture.

There would be no point
features

scenes are overloaded,

the Cross, the distribution

only a few showing. The

feet of

Duccio

are placed next to each other

Many

indicative of this.

in others, as in the Descent

The way

accidental outcome.

less

on the back of the panel

pictures

with Giotto,
starting point

drawing attention

all

these purely medieval

they did not stand side by side with the new, rational

mode

by Giotto. The Arena Chapel had been completed
when Duccio began his Maesta. Duccio's art is unmonumental and he has no

representation evolved

understanding of structure. The influence of his style was confined almost
entirely to his native

town, Siena, and

immediate domain. Nevertheless

its

undoubtedly one of the great masters of

him with high

esteem, and refers to

him

all

time.

Even Ghiberti

recalls

as a 'nobilissimo pictore'.

Duccio's continued undisputed eminence derives from the virtues of

which owed

ieval art,

its

greatness to a creative conservatism, that

the preservation of a genuine living tradition. These virtues

with an original

to the highest degree, together
sensibility

and vivid perception,

qualities that

scribed or analyzed. This aspect of his art
ours, 12

which glow

artistic

Duccio possessed

temperament, acute

directly revealed in his col-

against the bright ground, especially the red tones, cherry-

red and carmine, threaded with the gold of the hems. These are used in
bination with deep blue, a wide range of closely related colours
to violet

and pale

blue,

and

a cool clear sea-green.

which has

the underpainting of the flesh,

and

a strong

by means
ling,

brownish

male

tint in the

of colour rather than

and thus the

pink

figures.

Everything

by the use of white

plastic values

Green

also

tint in the
is

found

softly

all

moulded

highlights for the

appear animated, and not abstract
I

com-

from pink

female figures

works of the Florentine masters. Although most of the tones
effect

med-

to say,

can be sensed but hardly de-

most

model-

as in the

are cool, the

of rich glowing colour, and the overall impression that of a

work

mosaic or precious enamel. Duccio could justifiably claim to have a close

affinity

with the painters of an older culture, the masters of Byzantine sacred

Compared with Giotto's rational system of representation, ordered in
every detail, his method seems arbitary; and yet it followed the guiding
principle, inherent in medieval painting and persisting in Eastern Orthodox

art.

199

Duccio

religious art almost

to our

concrete pictorial terms.

own
had

It also

embodying

time, of

a spiritual vision in

certain characteristic formal elements: a

two-dimensional pattern, ornamentality, the main figures presented frontallv,

and corporeal and

values expressed simultaneously

spatial

from multiple

viewpoints.

This method of representation enabled Duccio to incorporate a mass of
observation, and

realistic

gives his art

its

fairy-tale,

dream-like quality, with

and mystery intermingled. The narrative scenes are

reality

and suffused with

passionate in expression,

sensitive,

in spite of this they are never realistic. Duccio's

What

life,

often

and vet

feeling;

Madonnas, though they bend

tenderly over the Child, and gaze with mild penetration

not mortal creatures.

full

human

realism they have

on the

subsidiary.

faithful, are

Duccio appeals

direcdy to the emotions, and himself creates emotionally; and any attempt
to interpret his
tral

works by

rational analysis cannot

So personal

a style could not, like Giotto's,

extensive school. Artists wanting to

nounce
true of

their

two

whom

own

personalities

elegant, 13

and follow him

third

somewhat

artist,

known

who

show

that

to re-

precisely

Buonaventura, both

style of their

the Master of Citta di Castello after his

in the

with the sharpness of

we have

adhered to Duccio's earlv

stvle.

greater

church of Badia a

Isola,

here the

stvle

work

line

and the hard vitreous

of a gifted eclectic painter,

who

and long remained unaffected by the master's

development. 10

Duccio died
work.
tions,

This

used very archaic elements with striking precision

lucidity. This, together

later

as disciples.

even more externalized

a Maesta, has an

not far from Siena,

and

the foundation of an

and Segna's smoother and more

harsher,

importance was the painter of the Madonna

colours,

become

model themselves on Duccio had

Ugolino da Siena and Segna

of his pupils,

major work,

in 1318 or the first half of 1319.

The Maesta

his last

dated

He lived to see the rise of younger masters in Siena with new aspirawho outgrew the world he was familiar with. Two great artistic in-

fluences

now

imposed themselves with increasing

monumental

new Gothic

effect

on Sienese painting:

by Giotto in neighbouring Florence, and the
which spread through Italy from various sources. The

style created

style,

cathedral in Siena

itself,

under construction already for

claimed the triumph of the

200

to penetrate this cen-

had only one ambition, to acquire completely the

master. Ugolino's style

the

hope

core of his creative impulse.

the cathedral's facade and

new

its

Gothic

style.

half a century, pro-

Giovanni Pisano, the creator of

grandiose sculptural decoration, had long been

working

in Siena,

the Ile-de-France. 16

and provided

But the

a direct link

with the source of the Gothic,

builders of the cathedral

in their acceptance of the Gothic.

Apart from the cathedral, churches and

secular buildings, simpler but equally Gothic in style,

and

Duccio

were by no means alone

were

Pubblico, under construction since 1297, was

Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, begun a year

built in Siena,

The Palazzo
much more Gothic than the

an increasing extent determined the character of the

city.

later.

201

9 Simone Martini

took an exceptionally long time for Sienese painting to come under the

pervading influence of the Gothic

style.

Duccio shows only

faint traces of the

Gothic, which did not affect the fundamental character of his

second decade of the Trecento there was

Simone Martini's
13 15,

But

in the

fresco in the Palazzo Pubblico, a Maesta painted in about

permeated with Gothic sentiment

art.

sudden change.

(pi. 78).

The throne

of the

Queen

of Heaven, a delicate structure of pure Gothic form, stands beneath an airy

The figure of
crown and wide, gold-embroidered

baldachin supported by slender vertical posts.
herself,

with

dently based

fleur-de-lis

the

Madonna

cloak,

evi-

Gothic model, probably of northern France. Slender and

proud, and displayed in richly plastic draperies with linear folds, she
in truly royal state,

conforming to the courtly

Western world. The

in the art of the entire

facial types of the

Child bear no resemblance to the Byzantine.
saints

kneel in the front row,

as in

Madonna and
and

large retinue of angels

surrounds the throne in a well-composed semicircle.

saints of Siena

sits

time

ideal celebrated at that

The four patron

Duccio's Maesta, but

this

the

only tangible link with the older master's work, completed a bare four years
earlier.

The two

bowls of

roses

lilies,

are a

angels holding gold vases with
their reverent postures

and

new
lilies

motif. Giotto

and

offerings are

Maesta there are indeed some that

had

much more

Among

recall the old

applies only to the faces; the figures themselves

imbued with

the

new

Gothic rhythm.

also assigned

roses to his Ognissanti

kneeling angels strike a true Gothic note.

202

up
two such

angels kneeling at the steps of the throne and holding

and

Madonna, but

restrained; Simone's

the other figures in his

Byzantine type, but

and the draperies are

this
all

These

traces of

Byzantine types and several other indications suggest that

Simone Martini came from Duccio's workshop.
with

that

size of his

Maesta, with figures larger than

had hitherto been customary

new

the elements in the
possibly

obvious,

less

If so,

style

in Siena.

life-size,

The Gothic

monu-

exceeds anything

trend

only one of

encountered here. Equally important, though

the affinity with Giotto. Already, in this

work, Simone shows that he could handle

first

thought

major

with the

spatial representation

logical consistency of Giotto, for a great deal of rational

concealed

behind the apparently loose arrangement and general tapestry-like

The

Simone Martini

he made the break

very quickly and determinedly. The sheer

his master's ideals

mental

effect of

from below, is clear and
convincing, and the distribution of the figures in receding rows is accomplished with equal skill. Closer examination reveals an ordered symmetry in
the apparently informal arrangement. The spatial problem is handled with
greater ease than one finds in Giotto's work, but it was the pictorial system
of representation created by Giotto that made the animated rhythmic solution possible. In addition, the lighting of the figures from the direction of
the window conforms to the rule established by Giotto. The carefully delineated
frame, also lit from the same side, is separated from the picture by a frieze of tiny
consoles, foreshortened in perspective when seen from the middle and from
below. This perspective system and centralized method of representation could
not have been derived from Duccio nor from any impetus received from
French art. It could have come only from Giotto, and there is no doubt
that at this early stage, before 13 15, Simone was already familiar with and

the Maesta.

versed in the
sidered

perspective of the baldachin, seen

new

style of Florentine painting.

one of Giotto's pupils

too strong for

him

in the

narrow

Obviously he cannot be con-

sense.

Simone's personality was

be content with mere emulation of the master.

sought, and already realized in his Maesta, a synthesis of the Duccio legacy

and Giotto's

deliberate, systematic style.

Emotional fervour, graceful and some-

times passionate linear expressiveness, delicate and sensuous beauty of colour

were the heritage of
tality, rational

order,

his Sienese origin.

probably sensed in Gothic

art,

transcendental elements, and

Gothic of

his

From

and the new unifying

which

was

also

Giotto he derived
vision.

combined

perfectly natural for

time and environment for the Byzantine

renunciation of local tradition, but indeed the only

Through

deep affinity with the

Italian city in the

new

style,

Siena

monumen-

Something of both he
rational order

him
style.

way

with

to substitute the

This was not a

of preserving

it.

became the most 'Gothic'

fourteenth century, and Simone Martini

disciple in painting.

its most ardent
At the same time he was the most systematic and logical of

203

Simone Martini

and the only one of them whose fame,

Sienese painters,

like that of the Flor-

beyond the boundaries of his native city.
Simone Martini was summoned to Naples by King Robert of Anjou more
4
than a decade before the same distinction was conferred on Giotto. In 13 17,
entine Giotto, soon spread far

or shortly

he completed

after,

Toulouse, the king's brother,

now

picture,

who had

political ges-

having himself renounced the crown of Naples, places

shown on

the head of the king,

much

thus legitimizing the coronation

The

just been canonized (pi. 79).

Naples Museo di Capodimonte, was also a

in the

ture: the saint,

Naples in honour of Louis of

a large panel in

smaller scale kneeling beside him, 5

beyond any

worldly protest.

possibility of

At that time the secular power of a dynasty was

closely related to

still

its

divine authority. Beneath his magnificent bishop's cope the saint wears a

Franciscan habit tied with a cord.
ance,

The

by no means handsome yet

eyes in the pallid, enraptured counten-

full

of inner fervour, are fastened

things not of this world; and in the presence of this fixed and lustreless gaze

by
The irregular features are stripped of
Though it is certainly not an actual portrait, it
portrait-like representation. The glitter of the
the splendid trappings so lavishly displayed

the painter lose

liance.

all

play, the almost barbaric

an extremely personal and

gold, the rich Gothic linear

abundance of ornamental and heraldic motifs, do

not detract from the central religious significance of
uralistic

and decorative elements,

are used side

this saintly figure.

intensified to a degree hitherto

The two belong

side.

their bril-

all

conventional stylization.

Nat-

unknown,

together because the desired effect

achieved through the tension between the real and the unreal, the temporal

and the divine. There

hardly another

work

of painting in

of saintliness has been realized so convincingly in the
figure,

human and

which the essence

form of an

historical

frail.

Simone Martini produced other works
Neapolitan painting.

in Naples; but as

none has survived

by inference from occasional indications in
The clearest is an apparently reliable copy of a Madonna

our only knowledge of them

Domenico in Naples. 6 The original was presumably the archetype of a new kind of Madonna that Simone repeated on the portal of Avignon
Cathedral. The Madonna is no longer shown in state on a high throne, but

panel in San

seated

a cushion

on the

floor,

where she nurses the Child. Thus the old

Byzantine interpretation, which conceived the
as the

humble mother

Madonna not

Western, pictorial type of the Madonna deU'Uniilta. This
characteristic

204

as a ruler,

but

of the Divine Child, appears here in the new, purely

and intimate theme of the

new

possibly the

most

devotional pictures of the Tre-

cento, produced for purposes of private worship. All the indications suggest

Simone was

that

throughout

the creator of this

above

Italy,

all

decades of the fifteenth century.

Madonna

sentations of the

in the Berlin Staatliche

new

pictorial type,

seated

floor in Siena

Museen, done by one of

the 1333 Annunciation,

Simone Martini

until the first

doubt Simone produced similar repre-

on the

which

will

itself.

small picture

his closest associates,

particularly unpretentious, expressive version of the
stylistically to

which soon spread

Tuscany, and remained popular

same theme, belonging

be referred to

later.

A multi-panelled altarpiece from Santa Caterina in Pisa, now in the museum
there, gives

an idea of the style of the master and

around 1320. 8 Between 1322 and 1326 there
Siena,

his

workshop

no evidence of

and presumably during those years he was engaged on

in the years

his presence in

major work,

his

the frescoes in the St Martin Chapel in San Francesco at Assisi (pis 80, 82c,

82A, X). 9
chapel,

The harmony between

this

painting and the architecture of the

and the uniformity of the whole conception, represent an unparalleled

achievement in

Everything in

stylistic synthesis.

perspective of the legendary scenes to the

last

this

unique room, from the

decorative motif,

done with

careful attention to the structure of the Gothic building. Like the great architects of

the

the French Gothic,

geometric ground-plan
the

Simone Martini combined

most refined sensuousness and

still

tween the
its

thought with

no way

from

detracts

the animation of the

room,

abstract illusionism of the painting does not impair the consistent

surface design.

tains

logical

a sure sense of the organic. Just as the strict

The

delicate chromatic pattern, extending like tapestry be-

pillars of the

chapel and the groins of the ceiling, everywhere main-

independent consistency. Simone's

work

Gothic. As a pictorial interpretation of a Gothic

The south

facing chapel, filled with

warm

light,

one of the peaks of

room
is

has

entered

from

Italian

equal.

the

gloomy

nave of the Lower Church of San Francesco. The Gothic architecture, of

warmth and life from the alternatThe forepart, rectangular in plan, has

noble, almost classical, proportions, gains

ing red and yellowish-grey stone-work.

The

a plain, arched vault.
walls, containing the

inner portion has a five-ribbed vault, and

windows, form

three sides of an octagon.

its

end

The keystone

marks the approximate centre of the room, from which the frescoes are intended to be viewed.

The legendary

scenes are placed in pairs next to each

other along the side walls, and the viewpoint for the architectural structures

within the scenes

lies

in each case

on the

central dividing line of the wall,

except for the single scenes at the top of each wall. Altogether there are ten
scenes, five
is

on each

produced by

there

wall.

illusionistic

the wall opening to the nave a surprising effect

means: painted above the Gothic arched arcade

a kind of gallery that has the appearance of a bridge over the

opening

205

Sitnone Martini

below.

this gallery,

Gentile da Montefiore

The

forceful prelate,

His cardinal's hat

bending

down

lies

beneath a baldachin, the donor of the chapel, Cardinal

accustomed to authority,

on the balustrade next

to the kneeling

and

fastness, kindliness

kneels before his patron saint, St Martin. 10

(d. 13 12),

man, has

religious zeal.

all

depicted with bold realism.

to him.

The

face of St Martin,

the features of true piety, stead-

Behind the two figures on the gallery

background of the sky. The perspective of the baldachin,

stretches the blue

though not of the

figures,

viewpoint. As in Giotto,

correct for a scene high above the spectator's

this

not true

painting but only a

illusionistic

demonstration of the principle of illusionism, the employment of a central
viewpoint. Even the half-length figures of saints painted in Gothic niches in

window recesses are included in the perspective system, so that they are
correct when viewed from the centre of the chapel. The direction of the light
in the picture also follows a uniform rule: it falls from the window wall in
the

the scenes in the chapel

itself,

and

in the figures of saints in the

which they

the nave and in the painted Gothic arcades in

here, as in the legendary scenes, the light in the pictures falls

the donor group above the arch

Oddly enough,
whether because

this

is lit

from the

archway

stand.

from

Whereas
the side,

front.

elaborate scheme has hardly been remarked upon, 11

was considered too obvious to be worth mentioning, or

because the observance of such rules was taken for granted. But neither of
these views

justified: at the

time

when

the frescoes

were done the system-

method employed here represented a significant
ment. Simone Martini is once more following Giotto's

lead,

independent

artistic

atic

freely

artist,

and creatively interpreting the

intellectual

achieve-

but again

theory of the

Florentine master. Occasionally, as in the perspective of the gallery with the

donor groups, and of the niches

window

in the

ther than Giotto, while at other times he
tive scenes,

the

first

he goes

much

fur-

restraint. In the narra-

with the exception of the two upper ones, which were evidently

to be painted, the perspective lines, although clearly indicating the

oblique view,

looked

recesses,

shows greater

all

run in the same direction

at in pairs in

order to

elicit

the

(pi. 80).

common

The

pictures

must be

viewpoint. This was done

deliberately so that the consistency of the surface effect should not be

more than

im-

on the other hand, preferred a centralized
recession of lines for each of the scenes at Assisi, and also in the Arena Chapel.
It was only in the Peruzzi Chapel, presumably for reasons similar to Simone
paired

Martini's, that

necessary. Giotto,

he reverted to receding

Two conclusions
206

can be drawn

first,

lines

running more or

that Simone's art

was

less parallel.

essentially based

Giotto's achievement, and second, that he nevertheless emerges as an artist

Simone Martini,

St Martin Rejecting the

Weapons

Assisi,

San Francesco

independent and playing a creative part in elucidating the ra-

intellectually

tionale of Trecento painting at that stage of

to centralize the composition,
point,

development. The tendency

its

which manifests

itself in

the strict single view-

keeping with the main aesthetic feature of the chapel and with

the principles of Gothic architecture in general. In a Gothic building
parts are related to a central axis,
is

Simone Martini

and so

all

the

Simone's fresco cycle everything

organized from a central point and referred,

as far as possible

within the

limitations of the technique available at the time, to a spectator standing in

the middle of the
In

room.

comparison with

this basic affinity to

features of the frescoes,

The magnificent

ary importance.

harmony, the

Yet they too contribute

whole work. The same
which

all

unique compact

to the

not, as in Giotto, based

effect of the

on form, but on

visual, external

Although, unlike Giotto, Simone Martini was not primarily con-

of recognized types.

work,

However,

Thus

own compendium

a youthful figure of almost childlike delicacy recurs

reflecting the current courtly aspect of the

side

ized characters,

side

men

(pi. 80),

contemporary

style.

with these idealized types, he depicts highly individual-

and

fat

thin, knights

and commoners, elegant

world and humble monks. The musicians

the

superficial features

applies to the specifically 'Gothic' naturalism of this

cerned with standardized and accepted form, he had Ins

in his

the other

but simply the expression of the underlying

sense of style.

basis

all

Gothic, are of second-

decorative quality, the two-dimensional

and not the

aspects.

exquisite silky texture of the colours are

in themselves,

painting,

the Gothic approach,

which are usually described

men

in the Knighting of St Martin

the chanting clergymen in the Service for the Dead, are portrayed

with a penetrating realism which was not seen again

until a century later in

Jan van Eyck and Pisanello. In depicting such figures, Simone Martini was
not subject to the restrictions that Giotto imposed on himself. Nevertheless,

throughout the entire pictorial sequence he preserves a pious, charming, legendary tone and a sparkling fairy-tale quality, which

still

lend an

air of

enchantment to the peaceful chapel.

On his

return to Siena,

in the Palazzo Pubblico,
in

theme and

character.

Simone Martini painted another fresco (dated 1328)
on the wall opposite his Maesta, but quite different

It is

a tribute to the victorious general of the Sienese

Republic, Guidoriccio da Fogliano. 12
single continuous landscape, a
a castle, a tented

camp and

gaze,

and baton

rocky region,

a stockade.

but not a single combatant.

The long

The only

in hand, rides in the

horizontal picture shows a

which stand

There are lances and
figure

a walled city,

fluttering banners,

the general

who, with fixed

foreground of the landscape, which

209

Simone Martini

The gold

seen through his eyes, the eyes of a soldier.

with a bizarre pattern,

charger, inlaid

landscape, the oppressiveness of
like effect of the precise

which

only partly alleviated by the toy-

Gothic drawing.

eliminating

all

distractions the

primarily the representation of an individual, and anticipates

skill. It is

Whether

subsequent developments in portrait painting.
is

unpeopled

the fascinating distinctive personality of the general with su-

artist displays

preme

saddle-cloth of his

like a fanfare in the bleak,

it is

an actual likeness

impossible to sav, but in any case only the general characteristics of the

subject are delineated. 13

At about

same time Simone probably

the

also painted the altarpiece for

Sant'Agostino in Siena, with St Agostino Novello

rounded by four scenes from

his

life.

The

height in the Assisi frescoes begins here to give

and
are

as the

way

to a

each other.

in simple

The

harmony, but

are skilfully

severe

their

movement and

sharp edges of the architecture. Although the general effect has

tion

and the

effects

to accentuate

with die gold ground and die smooth surfaces and

fluid outlines contrast

abstract

its

manner

and depth

combined

have become more massive, and

figures

figure, sur-

had reached

a denser disposition of the pictorial elements. Surface

no longer

main

airy quality- that

pictorial structure

become more

taut, the realism of the representa-

actually increased. In the legendary scenes, the scale of the figures to

the architecture

Simone

natural than in Assisi.

Martini's development

thus took a similar turn to that observed in Florentine painting around 1330,

though

in his

work

manifested

quite differently.

itself

ing, in this respect, to place the Sicnese master,

figures of his time,

may seem

surpris-

one of the great creative

a level with an eclectic artist like the painter of the

Bardi Chapel. However, the formative influence of the contemporary

predominant
ciation

all

of 1333

(now

of this style, even

The

in the Ufrizi in

though

style,

on him. His famous AnnunFlorence, pi. Si) is a splendid example

over Europe, also had

its

effect

could have been painted nowhere but in Siena. 15

slender, fragile figures are

by no means incorporeal images on the conmovement resulting from
:

trary they are conceived with a fine feeling for

accurate observation of anatomical relationships. Unlike Giotto's figures,
over, tiieir artistic vitality does
in the

flowing linear

its

realitv. In this the}

ern

one example, the

art,

as.

to give only

affinities

expresses their inner

resemble such works of northstatues of the Apostles installed

Cologne Cathedral shortly before

Reference to these

means give

how-

source in physical action, but

movement imposed on them, which

emotions and gives them

in the choir of

210

not have

i3^2. 16

with the northern Gothic does not by any

complete description of Simone's complex

style.

He made

full

use of Giotto's new, three-dimensional, pictorial

which has the appearance of an

ciation,

In fact

Simone

creates a pictorial relief with

ary, noticeable here at the sharp line

ground. The background
that lies in front of

fills

method even
and

entirely linear
its

Anmin-

Simone Martini

composition.

characteristically abrupt

where the marble

bound-

floor meets the gold

four-fifths of the pictorial area, but everything

has a distinctive spatial character.

perspective of the throne

in the

flat

The

and the golden amphora containing

carefully
lilies

drawn

shows

how

thoroughly Simone had mastered the representational method created by

The

Giotto.

subtle relationship of the Virgin to the angel, expressing both

her attraction and her withdrawal, also postulates an understanding of Giotto's
sense of the dramatic, even

only in the general presentation of an active

To Duccio such a relationship was hardly
known. Needless to say, however, Simone's treatment of it is quite different
from Giotto's. Instead of restrained power and slight yet positive action,
Simone depicted hesitation and cautious insistence on the part of the angel,
and in the Virgin stifled alarm merging into deep humility; in place of straightforward drama there is an ambiguity of gesture and lightness of movement,
between the

interplay

as of figures

figures.

mysteriously arrested in motion.

used to produce
the gold ground

this effect,
is

tive of their spatial relationship,
at

the various formal devices

one of Simone's most important means of expression.

There are similar tensions between

the subtle tension between the visual space and

by sharp

times intersected

forms that are close to

different parts of the surface area, irrespec-

and between
silhouettes,

in colour.

With

linear elements.

The gold ground

and occasionally

great

skill

merges with

and imagination Simone

has assembled a variety of different hues of gold, especially in the figure of
the angel, in his wings and flowing cloak, and used glazed colours and various

ornamental techniques. As a

result, the figure of the angel,

an emissary of

appears to be part of the gold ground in concentrated form.

heavenly

light,

There

the furdier tension between the real and the unreal,

from which
Few works

derive the impulse and constant unrest of the mystic perception.

of pictorial art have expressed this mystic quality as directly as Simone's

Annunciation.

The last stage of Simone's development is seen in a picture, now in the
Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, depicting the Return of the Young Jesus from
the Temple (pi. &3)¥ The figures are more compact than in the Annunciation, and the forms more severe and almost too sharply chiselled. Although
1

there

greater stress

on the dramatic aspect of the event, the

to be acting not of their

compulsion.

The

own

volition, but

figures appear

under an anguished hypnotic

tension between the space occupied

the figures and the

211

Simone Martini

gold ground

heightened to become a violent, acute contrast, and except

embossed on the gold ground there is no transitional area.
The strong colours - three different shades of red in the figures of Joseph and
the young Jesus - have an overheated quality, and stand out sharply against

for the haloes

The

the shining gold.
outlines,

Only
she

whose

figures themselves

seem confined

in the figure of the

Virgin are the contours gentler and

firmly fixed in her position in the lower

seated curiously close to the

ground

as in the

left

contemporary devotional pictures

own

dark

fluid;

but

corner of the picture,

Madonna deW Uniilta. The char-

appearance of the whole composition

acteristic petrified

in their

any freedom of movement.

abstract, wilful contours inhibit

which the

reminiscent of the

were

simplified forms

raised

to a kind of symbolic level. This attempt to transform an intimate, individual

mould was bound

narrative scene into a standardized
cative of the spirit of the time,
actual subject

The

picture

which always sought

in the vestibule of

a synthesis

work

in these last years

Ins life

was the

of St George and the Dragon,

from

tympanum

They were

of the

lifted

from

unfortunately

indi-

between the

and where he

fresco decoration

main

lost,

part, a representation

but remnants of the paint-

portal and the gable above

it,

have sur-

the wall in 1961-2, and the preliminary

were revealed underneath

work had

it is

Avignon Cathedral, Notre-Dame-des-Doms, presumably

commissioned by Cardinal Jacopo Stefaneschi. The main

ings

but

dated 1342, and was therefore probably painted in Avignon,

died in 1344. His major

ings in the

fail,

and the idealized type.

where Simone was summoned towards the end of

vived.

in several layers,

one above the other

drawas the

The layers were successfully separated and removed
These monumental drawings are of unique beauty, and their

progressed.

the wall. 20

sequence enables us to follow the creative process by which Simone Martini
arrived at Ins final design.
Christ in Benediction,
sinopia

The

gable above contained a half-length figure of

surrounded by angels. The face of Christ preserved

combines sublimity and Gothic

in the

sensitiveness.

Madonna dclfUmilta, 21 a pictorial
type probably originating, as mentioned above, with Simone Martini himself. But on account of the dominant position in which the picture is placed,

The theme

of the

tympanum

picture

Madonna nursing the Child
The Child sits upright in her lap. An angel kneels on each side:
one commends the donor, whom he supports with a gentle movement of his
the excessively intimate aspect of the motif of the

avoided.

right

arm; the other draws aside the curtain of the throne with a wide and

reverent gesture.

212

might appear

The

elegance and true Gothic sweetness of

all

the forms

to be in strange contrast to the severity of the small Liverpool

picture; but the surviving parts of the coloured top layer

same goldsmith-like

precision of contour, and the

The ornamentation

ling as the panel painting.

similar severe elegance. 22 This

show

the

same

Simone Martini

and smooth model-

of the surrounding arch has a

not, therefore, an

finish

example of

a late stylistic

phase in the usual sense, implying a loosening of the linear structure and a
decrease in opacity.

It is

rather a final stage in

opaque metallic corporeality

work

have already observed

a small polyptych, of

Simone

and

Martini's

each approximately

six panels are preserved,

25 cm. high and painted with the delicacy of miniatures.

figures in the Annunciation

show

scenes

from

Two

must

of the panels

Christ's Passion. 23

strongly modelled like painted statues in front

of the gold ground, give an idea of the appearance the frescoes
of the Cathedral

development

at this late stage of the master's

which

depict the Annunciation, and the others

The

linear severity

are combined.

Another work plainly done

was

which the

originally have had.

The

scenes

on the portal

from the Passion

(pis

82a, 82b) are densely filled with expressive figures, often passionately ani-

mated. The stocky proportions, the detailed execution of the numerous faces

crowding one beside another, the violent pathos of the
jostling,

gestures,

all

add to the

overcrowded impression. The colours, bright and jewel-like, seem

exaggerated and outdo each other in intensity. Although the details are plastically conceived,

everything

restricted to the surface of the picture

without

regard to depth or volume. In one scene, the Descent from the Cross, the gestures of the
is

crowd surge

in a

common

a confusion of isolated motifs,

ing

glass.

each as

direction, but for the
if

most part there

seen separately through a magnify-

To some extent this is due to the small size of the panels; but it
new pursuit of realism that did not hesitate to multiply closely

also indicates a

observed and unexpected

detail,

and attached importance to the

realistic

Simone was as yet unable
uniform vision. But his minute

trayal of each separate facet of the subject.

mute

the mosaic of details into a

por-

to trans-

pictures

germ of the revolution in painting that occurred in the
fifteenth century. The radiant, poetic naturalism of the Assisi frescoes gives
way in these later works to a more radical, realistic secular conception. It
is therefore no accident, but a logical and characteristic development, that the
awakening realistic painting of the north repeatedly drew on works of Simone's last phase. The composition of the Road to Calvary was reproduced
already contain the

with

fair

accuracy

as late as the

second decade of the fifteenth century in the

Book of Hours, the Tres
important work of Franco-Flemish
Chantilly

Riches

Hemes

of the

Due du

Berry. This

court art also contains a copy of

Gaddi's fresco of the Presentation of the Virgin

in the

Temple. 2* That a

Taddeo

work

213

Simone Martini

monumental painting, no doubt transmitted only

Florentine

an inspiration for northern

a drawing, could serve as

should warn us

art

Avignon,

against over-estimating the influence of the Italian masters active in

and should remind us that there were

tween north and south, including
It is

wrong

also

still

The main

Giotto

as those in Italy itself:

was the only, or even the

currents in

Europe have the

the key figure.

Between him and

a definite connection,

implications. 26

It is

medieval realism of Simone Martini's

last

longer comprehend

and

direct access across the passes of the Alps.

north. 25

on the

Eyck brothers there

the van

channels of communication be-

to suppose that Sienese painting

principal, influence

same source

many

its

complex

responsive chord in the northern painters, but this
Italian inspiration.

More important was

although

property of

years struck a particularly

was by no means the only

the control of space and the strict

Western painting

all

Another work of Simone Martini's
ably done at Avignon.

shows Virgil accompanied by
:

Laura, painted for

who

clear

him by Simone,

In another passage Petrarch links

which

skilfully painted in pastel shades,

lived in

from
Eclogues and

characters

peasants at work, a reference to the

It is

prob-

a miniature,

commentator Servius and

his

the Georgics. Presumably Petrarch,
subject of the illustration.

content,

the frontispiece of a Virgil manuscript,

poems Aeneas, and two

form and

in the fifteenth century.

that has survived

was owned by Petrarch. 27 The miniature,
his

can no

began with Giotto and was to become the

to say, the innovation that

common

true that the unsystematic

organization of the pictorial composition into a unity of
that

through

indirectly

Avignon, himself chose the

from the two sonnets

to the portrait of

he knew and admired the painter.

that

Simone with Giotto among

the greatest

painters of the age. 28

The

portrait of Laura

was

carte,

The Virgil miniature is
same time more delicate, than any
miniature.

tors of the time,

and yet

flourish

would be

painters, the
in

214

we have

in line

thus also a

bolder, and at the

works of the professional illumina-

were more miniatures by Simone's hand done

possible that the art of

around 1400 owed much more

slender evidence
It

of the

it is

does not give the impression of an isolated pro-

duction. Presumably there

Avignon, and

on parchment, and

c.,

exceptional in that

Books of Hours

that

began to

him than can be deduced from

the

today.

with

this

surmise that one of the best Italian miniature

Master of the St George Codex, was a pupil of Simone Martini
his name is a life of
One of the miniatures is a youthful

Avignon. The manuscript from which he derives

George written by Cardinal

idealization of the cardinal

Stefaneschi. 29

composing

his

work. The miniature depicting

St George and the Dragon
as

was

already noted,

The common

Simone's fresco at Avignon, which,

a reflection of

patron, the resemblance to the fresco and, finally, the style of

between the two

the miniatures suggest a close relationship
of the St

George Codex, however,

miniature

style,

which

It is

The master

A series of small panels,

attributable

delicate, slender figures

with gentle

with dainty, naive figures.

and

child-like expressions, soft, pale colours,

ambience.

artists.

translated Simone's style into a typical

him, reveal the same characteristics:

Simone Martini

probably commissioned by Cardinal Stefaneschi.

also

a dream-like

and rather precious

tempting to associate these works with the International

Style,

emerged around 1380 in the Parisian court and in the tapestries
of the Angers Apocalypse. However, the true Trecento slenderness and elegance
first

of the figures, and, for
tion, leave

no doubt

been done

much

all its

delicacy, the rigorous structure of the

as to the true

later

than the middle of the

George Codex probably returned

composi-

They could not have
century. The Master of the

date of the works.

Simone Martini's

to Italy after

death.

This painter of miniatures was one of the most gifted and original of Si-

mone's

pupils.

More famous, but not

who, together with

mature works seem to be derived

was Lippo Mernmi,

made

a full-scale

copy

hall as early as 13 17.

30 All

di Filipuccio,

Gimignano town

of Simone's Maesta in the San
his

so independent,

Memmo

his father,

in greater or lesser

degree from Simone's

models, which he reproduced faithfully, though without deep feeling. Nevertheless, his graceful

characteristic

and decorative Madonnas are among the

works of Sienese

signed by Lippo

Memmi,

its

lined with ermine,

which forms the

most

works of

of the

successful

The

painting.

with

finest

and most

small panel in Altenburg

(pi.

84),

subdued colours and gleaming brocade
transition to the gold

his eclectic art.

There

background,
is

one

hardly any other

period in which devoted craftsmanship reached a level where

approached

so closely to true artistic genius.

Another pupil of Simone Martini, and
the painter of the fresco scenes

Church

of San

Ghiberti,
clear. 32

Gimignano

from

the

much

New

His name, Barna, handed

(pi. 83).

not completely authenticated, but

Like Lippo

Memmi, he

stronger personality, was

Testament in the Collegiate

adopted

down by

his artistic characteristics are

a style based

a relatively early style

of Simone's. His simple spatial presentation, with a relief-like quality,

bined with strong emphasis on two-dimensional elements; vanishing

which occur frequently,

are incorporated in the surface pattern, thus

taining a firm link with the picture surface.

ments of
their

his figures are also

powerful

plasticity

drawn

comlines,

main-

The harsh and angular move-

into the two-dimensional scheme, and

neutralized

the predominant abstract linear

215

Simone Martini

structure. Barna's gripping, robust style

of Simone's

work

removed from

far

in Assisi, but his frescoes are

among

the

the airy delicacy

few examples

monumental style essential to wall-painting.
Barna's San Gimignano frescoes were probably not done before the middle
of the century and show that Simone Martini's influence in Siena was still
effective long after his departure. In Avignon, on the other hand, although
Simone left works that were later to have important consequences, he founded
no school and had no direct followers.
Sienese painting of the true

Before Simone's death in 1344, Matteo Giovannetti of Viterbo, a painter of
an entirely different character, had already become prominent

numerous
1300, he

1343
still

among

the

Avignon. 33 Born probably about

already mentioned in papal letters in 1322 and again in 1328; in

him

hear of
is

for the

first

time in Avignon. His

work

there,

was followed, probably around
and

a pictorial cycle in the chapel of St John,

a series of

earliest

the decoration of the chapel of St Martial in the Papal Palace,

lively narrative legendary scenes. This

1347,

extant,

with

working for the Curia

artists

twenty figures of prophets

later, in

in the vault of the

Finally, there are the paintings in the Carthusian

about 1353,

Audience

Hall.

monastery of Villeneuve-

les-Avignon, which are also attributable to him. According to documents
published
chapel,

some time ago but only

Matteo painted these works

non have made

panel paintings. 34

recently connected with the Villeneuve
in 1355-6.

These wall paintings

possible to recognize Matteo's style in a small

died in 1368 or 1369 in

by Pope Urban V for work
Whereas Simone Martini

Avig-

number

Rome, where he was summoned

in the Vatican.
still

conformed

to the last phase of the

High

Gothic, to the courtly, idealized style of the beginning of the fourteenth
century, Matteo Giovannetti's encounter with Gothic art and the influences he

was

subject to during his early years in Italy

pears to have been quite unaffected

The dominant

experimental style

national atmosphere in

were

entirely different.

were the work of Simone Martini,

in his early years in

Orvieto and

Assisi,

and the

of Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti. The

which he found himself

intensified these features of his style

ap-

Giotto's regularizing concept of art.

influences in his formation

which he must have known
versatile,

at the

inter-

Papal Court in Avignon

and he seized eagerly on the naturalism

of the Late Gothic. His strong and very modern interest in physiognomy led
him to create types of figures, gestures and heads types that broke all current conventions. They are less portrait-like than was previously thought, but were
conceived as somewhat anecdotal popular folk-types, often bordering on

216

caricature, like characters in Boccaccio.

These odd, animated figures are placed

which

in boldly designed spatial settings, in

surprising perspective effects are

Simonc Martini

The multiplicity of motifs frequently appears confused and unsystemand the mixture of stylistic elements is somewhat hybrid. His style,

achieved.
atic,

which

and yet

neither French nor Italian,
it is

very personal and

the

first

attractive. It

example of International Gothic,
reached

its

peak

in the hurried,

nervous intonaco drawings for the Crucifixion in Villeneuve. 35 Compared with
the carefully

coes

worked monumental drawings

Simone Martini

on the portal of Notre-Dame-des-Doms, they

are,

for his fres-

however, mere hasty

improvisations.

217

Ambrogio

io Pietro and

Lorenzetti

The brothers Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti, more or less contemporaries
of Simone Martini and of equal artistic stature, worked in Siena quite independently of him. 1 Little

known

of their lives. Their dates of birth, like

Simone Martini, can be determined only approximately, between 1280
and 1295. Pietro was probably a good deal older than Ambrogio, perhaps by
that of

much

this

no more than

some

as ten years.

them

Both may have been victims
a conjecture.

ment

is still

still

now

number

lost,

are

of their works,

known from

and Vasari. Nevertheless, the course of

a subject of controversy.

problems

relatively large

dated, have survived; others,

descriptions of Ghiberti

listic

of the plague of 1348, but

The numerous

the

their develop-

chronological and sty-

requiring solution can be considered here only in broad

outline. Furthermore, the question of the brothers' intermittent collaboration

and the
this

between them cannot be resolved here. But

artistic relationship

fundamentally of secondary importance. The

artistic personalities

all

both brothers are well established, and their position in Trecento painting
can be precisely defined.

The

earliest datable

altar of the
2
87, gi a).

work by

Pietro Lorenzetti

the polyptych of the high

Arezzo parish church, which was commissioned

The

in 1320 (pis 86,

Madonna surrounded by a number
of saints, also in half-length figures but varying in size. Above the Madonna
is a delicate and tranquil Annunciation scene, and also an Assumption. The
centre-piece

a half-length

basic elements of Pietro's style are clearly revealed here: his indebtedness to

Duccio, the deep and deliberate study of Giotto, and finally a very personal

Giovanni Pisano,

affinity, surprising in a painter, to the passionate style of

the greatest of the contemporary sculptors. Pietro himself had a passionate,

emotional temperament. The demeanour and expression of

no doubt

that he was fascinated by
works of the Pisan master. We are witnesses to

Mother and Child
lationship, but

tion of the future

218

first

convey

Ins

Madonna

the sculptures of Siena Cathedral

that has

a silent dialogue

between

none of the warmth and intimacy of human

suffused with awareness of divine

supra-human

tins in Ins

leave

and other

sacrifice

and

passion.

power and

re-

the premoni-

Giovanni Pisano was the

Madonnas, and Pietro Lorenzetti

translated

into

the

medium

of paint.

the other

ments of the
bishop's

staff,

hand the types of the

saints are a heritage

movefirm
grip
hands
grasping
figures, and in the
of the
a book or
or gathering up a piece of drapery. The hands of the Madonna,

of Duccio. Giotto's influence

perceptible in the free yet determined

Pietro

and Ambrogio
Lorenzetti

boldly but not quite successfully foreshortened, are no longer referable to

Duccio, nor to the Gothic; the crucial feature
sional vision, which,

the

new

concept Pietro brought

feverish sensibility

the functional, three-dimen-

once again, could have been derived only from Giotto.

and agonized

own

his

personal contribution, an almost

intensity of expression.

It is this

that sharply

from those of Giotto; they are completely lacking in
and tranquillity of Giotto's monumental forms. They are

distinguishes lus figures

the self-sufficiency

always tense, and in constant acute agitation,

with the inward glow of

filled

dominant emotion. Contact with Florentine

a single

this central Sienese

pervades

all

his later

mood, which

works and gives

art

had no

effect at all

the essence of Pietro's creations.
his

style

its

unmistakable personal

character.

The only

larger picture attributable with certainty to an even earlier phase

development than the Arezzo polyptych

of Pietro's

the cathedral of Cortona.
Its

was painted around

only reference to Giotto, whose influence

the

Duccio

much

in-

stronger, especially in the angels beside the throne,

sonal emotion. In tins early

work

gentleness

most impressively. The apparently Gothic

glow

of his per-

and restrained passion are mingled
linear effect

full

of vibrant ten-

emotion and energy.

The unmistakable
sent in the

earlier.

Madonna. The

but the traditional forms are here already imbued with the

sion, uncontrolled

panel in

yet barely apparent,

the classic and quite non-Byzantine youthful face of the

fluence of

Madonna

13 15, or even slightly

characteristics

Arezzo polyptych

more pronounced

emerging

in this painting,

an established

in Pietro's later

mode

and already pre-

become

of expression,

work. Surviving records show

that in

1329 he was paid for a grand altarpiece in the Carmelite Church in Siena. 3

The

centre panel,

seated,

now in the

Siena Pinacoteca Nazionale, depicts the

Madonna

with proudly raised head, on a simple, solidly designed throne. Four

angels, St Nicholas,

and the prophet

symmetry. The Child, with

Elias are

arranged around her in

strict

turns towards Elias

somewhat awkward, constrained movement,
and blesses him. The prophet and the bishop, both in

long draperies with

stiff,

corners like
frontal.

two sturdy

vertically falling, tubular folds, stand at the front

fluted columns.

The approximately

The whole

design

regular and

square ground plan of the pictorial stage

clearly

apparent, but the two-dimensional pattern nearly obliterates the depth effects.

219

Pietro

and Ambrogio
Lorenzetti

The unusual shape
is

of the panel, almost square,

surely not accidental,

clearly related to the centralized tapestry-like composition.

The

and

entirely

and the Florentine master of the

different starting points, the Sienese painter

Bardi Chapel arrived at surprisingly similar
time.

From

results at

more or

less

the

same

question arises whether this was only a prevailing contemporary

trend, a latent intrinsic logic of development, or
actual connection

between the two

Florence and Siena at

Ambrogio

Lorenzetti,

this

was

artists.

time were plainly

it is

evidence of an

between

fairly close. Pietro's brother,

and presum-

between 1327 and 1332. The

resulting in-

several occasions

fluences

on
were

reciprocal, like those

decades

earlier.

whether

artistic relationships

active in Florence as early as 1320,

ably again

Pietro's Carmelite

The

between Cimabue and Duccio a few

shall revert to this at a later stage.

Madonna, a Maesta of solemn, formal character, was

progressive work, in the forefront of the contemporary trend, and stylistic-

advance of the 1320

ally far in
earlier

The

works

is still

figures are

altarpiece.

But the

restrained tension of his

maintained and, in purely formal terms, even increased.

strict

and compact

in contour,

more economic

ment, and the forms have become more severe and ample. The
acquire a distinct abstract expressiveness

beyond

move-

resilient lines

their organic relationships.

Tins becomes even clearer in three panels of a polyptych, dated 1332, also
in the Siena Pinacoteca Nazionale. 4 In particular the half-length figure of

St John the Baptist (pi. gi b) invites
in

Arezzo

trapostal

(pi.

91a).

movement,

Whereas

in the

comparison with the corresponding figure

Arezzo figure there

the 1332 St John

rigid,

pronounced con-

almost like a figure in an icon.

His look and gesture, directed to the Christ Child in the centre panel,
lost,

appear cramped and exaggerated.

in the folds of the drapery; in the

and

flexible,

few, parallel
solid, rigid

The same

now

transformation can be seen

Arezzo polyptych they are

relatively full

flowing in wide Gothic curves; here they are hardened into a
sets

of lines,

which

intersect the bodily

forms and give them

appearance.

Thus Pietro Lorenzetti's work shows a development similar to that of
Simone Martini and of Florentine painting from about 1330. The free movement, and the organic and functional concept of the human body that had
already been achieved, are abandoned and replaced by an abstract crystalline
rigidity.

The

lively, well-articulated

forms become

stiff

and hard. The

vitality

of the figures and the subtle tension of their emotions disappear in the deter-

mination to achieve solid compactness and an emphatic fixed expression. Just
as the figures

220

as a

whole

have become standardized, almost formalized, the composition

also frequently reverts to a

symmetrical and ornamental formula.

It is

true that the faculty of representing three-dimensional space, having been

Pietro

acquired, could not be ignored, and together with the two-dimensional effects,

and Ambrogio

bold and surprisingly successful experiments in perspective appear; but the

Lorenzetti

tension between surface and depth

brought to

not always successfully controlled or

Because of

satisfactory artistic expression.

this,

there

a curiously

contradictory element in the general aspect of Sienese painting in the second
quarter of the Trecento, winch has resulted in a striking uncertainty

number

present-day historians with regard to the dating of a

works of

From

that time

in particular

the observations

emerge

stages

and

some

of the

of important

works of Pietro

have already made, two

among

Lorenzetti.

distinct chronological

departure for our study of Pietro's development:

as points of

by the Arezzo polyptych begun

the style of the early 1320s, represented

1320, and the group of pictures painted in Siena between 1329 and 1332. This
latter

group includes the predella panels of the Carmelite

scenes in

which

the severity of

form and stereometric

space are as evident as in the Carmelite Madonna. 5

help of these

two

fixed starting points the

Altar, five narrative

elucidation of pictorial

believe that with the

most controversial question regard-

ing Pietro's work, the dating of his Assisi frescoes, can be answered. 6 For
this

purpose

we must

return once more, and for the

last

time, to the

monu-

mental pictorial complex of San Francesco. Pietro was entrusted with the

Lower Church, which required a relife, from the Entry into Jerusalem
to the Resurrection, as the logical complement to the frescoes of Ins Birth
and Childhood in the north transept. The recent cleaning of Pietro's frescoes
decoration of the south transept of the

presentation of the

last stages

of Christ's

has exposed their high artistic quality anew, and enabled their

and

many

absorbing

original details to be appraised at their true worth.

Consideration of a purely external factor, indispensable for the clarification
of their sequence

and chronological order,

a necessary preliminary to the

study of Pietro's frescoes. In the decoration of the transept
start

from the

and the

saint's

crossing,

tomb and

ciscan Allegories
started

frescoes

on
is

;

The

the vault

which

stretches

in hand,

and possibly even

luxuriant decorative

same general character

as the

was natural

above the high

can therefore be assumed that

was already

his section.

of the

e.,

altar

work on the Franwhen Pietro

finished,

framework surrounding

his

borders of the frescoes in the

centre vault, and corresponds almost exactly - with the addition of a few,

unimportant embellishments - to the scheme of the north transept. Although
it

cannot be established with certainty, the close ornamental similarity be-

tween these

parts

makes

probable that

all

three sections

were done at approx-

imately the same time, or at least in close succession. As regards the sequence

221

Pietro

and Ambrogio
Lorenzetti

of the frescoes in the south transept,

almost certain

reasons, the scenes at the top of the barrel-vaulting

that, for practical

were done

These

first.

by most of the earlier critics to be the work
himself. However, as the entire programme

are the Passion scenes, considered

of assistants and not of Pietro

was uniformly planned by
the frescoes

the

Pietro, there

scenes in the cycle.

last

Even

of the execution of the frescoes
in

was no reason for him

on the

assume that he entrusted a large part

St Francis legend

the

work

this

at first

much

his as the

monumental drawing on

the pictorial surface

too would normally begin at the apex of the vault.

and

with pictures only

filled

frescoes (pis 88, 8g, go a, gob,

at a later stage

XI and

would

was left completelv

therefore be entirely artificial to assume that the upper zone

empty
The

of Giotto. 'Design' in relation to Trecento wall-

painting practice refers to the

and

would

vaults to his pupils, the design

any case have been done by him; and these frescoes are

itself,

to start with

the side walls and lower zones of the vaults, since they are

Pietro's pupils.

XII), abundant in detail and col-

ourful as a fairy-tale, begin the story with true Sienese delight in narrative.

and excitedly out of the

In the first scene the people rush joyfully

welcome

the Lord

and heard by

all,

his Entry into Jerusalem.

But

the Pharisees are already inveighing against

and Judas, evil-eyed and tight-lipped, the only
close

city to

crowd,

in the midst of the

disciple

Him

without

gob),

(pi.

walks

a halo,

behind Christ's donkey. The next scene, the Washing of the

Feet,

filled

with apprehensive whispers and anxious, questioning looks; Judas, the be-

withdrawn into the corner, broods menacingly.

trayer
(pi.

XI), the uneasiness

alleviated.

for a piece of bread that Christ

not so

much with

aspects

In the Last Supper

among the disciples and reaches
handing him. The painter was absorbed

Judas

sits

the psychological content of the scene as with

the festively

lit

round

table, the landlord

and

external

its

his servant, the

cook

the blazing log-fire conversing with his mate as he cleans the plates.
close attention to ancillary matters, trivial

profanation; but there

and incidental

details,

The

almost a

an astonishing freshness of observation, and the re-

presentation of the scene, the interior of a hexagonal room, and the treat-

ment
a

of the lighting, are also very unusual. There

hexagonal

room

in the

whole

was no other example

the end of the thirteenth century. 7 Possibly Giotto's Wedding at

Arena Chapel could be regarded

may have

Taddeo Gaddi

now

lost,

also portrayed a

small panel in Santa Croce, the Presentation

222

Cana

as a hesitant step in this direction;

been another picture by Giotto,

ulus for Pietro, as

range of Italian painting of interiors since

in the

doubt that despite the novelty and daring of

in the

and there

which provided

a stim-

hexagonal building in a
Temple. There can be

Pietro's perspective technique

Pietro Lorenzetti The Last Supper

•

Assisi,

San Francesco

in this picture,

he could not have succeeded without Giotto's prior example.

Apart from the hexagonal shape of the room, the composition

and so too

Giottesque,

the positioning of the building in the picture, with the

narrow

strips of

night sky at the top and along the right side. Pietro has added only

the stars

and crescent moon, and heightened the

Pietro

and Ambrogio
Lorenzetti

effect of the artificial light,

coming from no visible source in the room, to an extent far beyond anything
that Giotto would have considered acceptable: Giotto's treatment, for example,
in the scene of Christ before Caiphas in the

Arena Chapel

(pi.

66b),

infinitely

and unobtrusive. Giotto's self-imposed restraint, his economy
the use of illusionistic techniques - the secret of the grand style - are here

discreet

abandoned

as heedlessly as in

Faithfulness to

Taddeo Gaddi's

frescoes in the Baroncelli Chapel.

way

achieved at the cost of monumentality in a

life is

that

jeopardizes the dignity of the holy scene.

The

scene of Christ's Apprehension

Stooped, but with a large purposeful

suffused with uncontrolled passion.

stride,

who

Judas approaches Christ,

turns only slightly away, not resisting the traitor's kiss. Peter approaches

Malchus threateningly while the
face to look back once

disciples flee,

one of them turning

more. The agonizingly

a formal, stage-like Flagellation.

The

realistic

scene

scene takes place in a

his fearful

followed by

low room, with

sumptuous but somewhat petty decoration. The curious, over-large roof
and a young

tracts the eye; a child

high above, are playing with a
the cornice.

charm, and

The

girl,

monkey

who

that runs at the

lucid, playful fantasy of the

its artistic

look out of a Gothic

end of

chain along

its

whole scene has considerable

excellence cannot be denied. Finally, in the

Calvary, the over-ornate description of the city again distracts

from

theme, but some of the figures are of great beauty, and the event
is

dis-

window

Road
the

as a

main

whole

vividly depicted.
In the Crucifixion,

far,

which

four times larger than the scenes described so

the story finally rises to the height of tragedy.

Here too there

an almost

unmanageable crowd, above which the bodies of the crucified

men

rise

monumental
Son of God. They

against the deep ultramarine of the sky. For the first time in a

composition the two robbers are shown together with the

hang on

their crosses

exposed. 8

with arms distorted

Twelve mourning

angels, each of

agony, their nakedness

them

a shrill lament,

pitilessly

hover over

The dying Saviour, with closed eyes and
bowed in pain, is here transformed from Christ
in Agony to Christ Triumphant. He becomes the mighty symbol of redemption. The restless crowd at his feet, the many horsemen with their gleaming
the

huge

central figure of Christ.

noble countenance deeply

weapons and colourful costumes, the

grief, the hatred, the indifference

and

22 5

Pietro

and Amhrogio
Lorenzetti

the doubt,

Not one

all

detail there

ception.
ters

and

pale and dwindle in the presence of the tremendous sacrifice.

of the
is

numerous

Many

and

in the

mass of

realistic

North, but none of them

by Trecento painis

filled

with such

and such consciousness of the solemn significance of the

as Pietro Lorenzetti's fresco.

the wall opposite the Crucifixion, and in close inward relationship with

the Stigmatization

it,

superfluous,

other versions of Calvary were produced

later painters in the

feverish agitation

event

figures

nothing that does not contribute to the grand and simple con-

style, as

of St Francis

painted in the same intense linear

an addition to the cycle of the Passion. The cyle concludes with the

on the end wall of the transept, the Descent from the Cross, the
Entombment, the Descent into Hell, and the Resurrection. Here again the
emphasis is on the central tragedy, and all ancillary distractions are avoided.

pictures

In the

endeavour to achieve monumentality the forms have been enlarged

and simplified, and the

spatial illusion

from

the Cross (pis 88, 89), with

lines,

its

reduced

as far as possible.

The Descent

pain-racked figures interlocked by sharp

thoroughly two-dimensional composition, in front of an empty

background. In the powerful movement of the

with a pair of

pliers to free the feet of the

man

vigour with which Judas approaches Christ in the
soldier pushes

back the

concept and of

women

in the

movement and form

pulling out the

dead body,

Road

last nail

recognize the same

Mount of Olives, or the
The uniformity of

to Calvary.

underlying the whole pictorial cycle

unmistakable, and yet the painter appears to have undergone a profound

change since the time he started work in the vault with the Entry into Jerusalem.

It is as

to illustrate.
it

assumed

(pi.

though he was deeply

From

affected

by the moving events he had

then on his style never lost the harsh, agonized character

in Assisi.

The Madonna

with St Francis and St John the Evangelist

go a), on the north wall of the transept, next to the Crucifixion,

infused with the

gilded ground
sition. It

same mood. The three half-length

also

figures in front of the

monumental retable for an altar that stood at this po9
last work Pietro did in Assisi.
would appear that Pietro's Assisi frescoes were designed

form

evidently the

In this respect

according to a uniform plan, and executed in their narrative sequence and

without notable contribution from

226

assistants.

The development which we

them could only have taken place in the period between 1320 and about 1330. The Passion scenes at the top of the vault postulate
the existence of the style of the Arezzo polyptych. 10 The only fresco of Pietro
in Assisi that was probably done before the Arezzo polyptych is the Madonna
with St John the Baptist and St Francis in the St John Chapel on the south side

profess to recognize in

of the transept,

which we have not yet mentioned. 11

on the north wall

half-length figures, like the picture
pictorial surface

marks the point of

Stylistically this fresco triptych

Giotto, and at the

same time

shows an

clearly

still

in the cathedral at Cortona. Pietro

compositon of

into three painted arcades.

affinity

few

of the Passion cycle.

Lorenzetti

with the Madonna
in Assisi

years later, perhaps immediately

now

The path

that led

from Arezzo

be clearly traced. The Descent from

to the Carmelite

the Cross in Assisi

was another interruption

there

and those on the end

in his

wall, but there

work between

Madonna

marks the turn-

ing point, the reversion to a two-dimensional, severely linear

and Ambrogio

completing the Arezzo polyptych, in order to undertake the execution

after

The

Pietro

approach to

Pietro's closest

must therefore have already been

before 1320; he probably returned

can

manner

divided in the Cosmati

It is a

just described, but the

style.

Perhaps

on the

the frescoes

explanation of the change in Pietro's style can be found in Assisi

was the

result of his struggle

also of the impression

with the great monumental

made on him by

which were constantly before

task,

itself.

and probably

the older frescoes in San Francesco,

The somewhat

his eyes.

sional character of the last scenes,

vaults

no compelling reason for this assumption.

though

the time, can nevertheless be attributed to

in line

artificial

two-dimen-

with the general trend of

some extent

to such impressions.

This development could have taken place within the space of a few years,

probably

still

in the first half of the 1320s.

The Arezzo polyptych, commis-

sioned in 1320, was presumably finished within a year or two.
that the Carmelite altar

there

started

It is likely

Pietro in 1328, or even earlier, and

evidence that in 1326 he painted four historical scenes, probably

frescoes, in Siena.

1324.

was

According to a doubtful record he was

also in Siena in

follows that the years 1322-3, and possibly 1325 or 1327,

have been the periods available for the
to regard the frescoes as having been

Assisi frescoes. It

done

two

would

possible, therefore,

stages. In

find ourselves in the third decade of the Trecento, to

Maestro

any

case,

which the Franciscan

delle

Vele are usually also assigned. Furthermore,

would be the most fitting
which Simone Martini and his

date for the frescoes in the north transept, in

allegories of the
this

pupils participated. 13

Pietro Lorenzetti's naturalistic experiments in the Passion scenes thus take
their

proper place in the overall development of Tuscan painting - prior to

Taddeo Gaddi's work on the same
fluence has always been assumed.

ment,

lines

around 1330, for which Sienese in-

They followed

directly

Giotto's achieve-

an inevitable consequence, once the aesthetic boundaries he had

imposed were no longer respected.
feeling for

monumentality and

raised

a painter not endowed with a natural
on Duccio's undramatic simultaneous

227

Pietro

and Ambrogio
Lorenzetti

new modes

narrative style, Giotto's

temptation.
is

The somewhat

of pictorial expression

were

dangerous

archaic character of Pietro's compositions in Assisi

noticeable not only in their abundance of closely observed details, but also

formal relationship of the

in the

the pictorial space,

by Giotto

lished

which

in the

still

size of the figures to the architecture

corresponds approximately to the

Arena Chapel. This

and to

norm

estab-

relationship only changes funda-

The figures
more open spaces. The
excessive decorative detail gives way to an almost ascetic economy of architectural forms, and the landscape takes on a large uniform aspect. 14
The Assisi frescoes also provide us with a valuable guide to the rest of
Pietro Lorenzetti's works. The severe, expressive fresco of the Crucifixion in
mentally in the predella scenes of the Carmelite altar of 1329.

become

smaller and

move more

freely in the larger,

San Francesco in Siena could only have been done

and more animated version of the theme
because the style of the figures
figures in the Descent

from

still

velopment reached

The

frescoes in Santa

much

richer
later

and the Entombment; the composition,

also corresponds to the last stage of de-

in the Assisi frescoes.

Maria dei

himself, are undoubtedly later.
tecture

after the

though not much

bears a close resemblance to that of the

the Cross

monumental and two-dimensional,

in Assisi,

Servi,

The

approximately the same

probably not executed by Pietro

relationship of the figures to the archias

that in the Carmelite predella.

The

appearance of isolated motifs from Giotto's frescoes in the Peruzzi Chapel
gives further support for a date around 1330 at the earliest.

major joint work of the Lorenzetti brothers, four frescoes depicting

scenes

from

the

life

of the Virgin,

done

in 1335, decorated the facade of the

Ospedale della Scala in the cathedral square of Siena. Their destruction
the eighteenth century

was one of the worst

losses suffered

Sienese painting

in general. They can, however, be reconstructed with
some accuracy from later copies. 15 A panel-painting by Pietro, the Birth of
the Virgin, in the Opera del Duomo in Siena, dated 1342, appears to have
preserved the main features of the monumental version 16 which, according
to Ghiberti, was done by Ambrogio. 17 This would account to some extent
for the idyllic mood, unusual in Pietro's work, although, on the other hand,
the subject itself demands this kind of treatment. The rich warm beauty of
the colours, the harmony of yellow, vermilion and pale blue in the left side
of the picture, and the dark lilac and ochre of the mother's gown, may have
been derived from Ambrogio's fresco. The arrangement of the pictorial space,
which takes up an idea that was partly realized by Pietro in the Annuncia-

and Trecento painting

228

tion scene of the

Arezzo polyptych,

of special interest: the actual frame of

the panel

used

as part of

the structure of the open front of the buildings

seen in the picture. In the Annunciation of 1320
is

two

divided into only

sections,

and the rooms adjoining the frame are of

simple rectangular shape, the principle

steps,

not

ideas.

There

initiated. Pietro

an imitator, but
is

Pietro

and Ambrogio
Lorenzetti

nevertheless clearly displayed. Giotto

does not seem to have been familiar with

with the developments he

87), although the panel

(pi.

this device,

but

quite in line

it is

again following in Giotto's foot-

an original and consistent interpreter of

reason, therefore, to assume that

Ambrogio was

his

the orig-

inator of this device, especially as Ins picture of the Presentation in the Temple
of 1342, arranged in a similar

tween the

way, does not show the same connection be-

pictorial architecture

sections are rather sharp
Virgin, handles tins

and the frame.

and unaesthetic.

Pietro,

the contrary the inter-

however,

in the Birth of the

with great virtuosity; the Gothic forms of the frame

rooms

the shape of a triptych continue the vaults of the painted

in the

most

natural manner: one of the posts of the frame cuts across the figure of the

guest beside the bed, so that a direct effect of spatial depth
of the picture, the

left side

view opens into

character, probably a palace courtyard.

the pictorial illusion
painting. Jan
Altar,

The

much

an idea that was to have far-reaching

van Eyck took

in the

Weyden with

great

skill

and

room

loftier

created.

the

of Gothic

incorporation of the frame into
effects

on Western

Annunciation scene in

Robert Campin and Konrad Witz made use of

van der

it,

his

Ghent

and so did Rogier

striking effect in his Altarpiece of the

Sacraments.

Two further works of Pietro done at this time give a good idea of the course
which corresponds

of his development,

Europe towards increased

Madonna

rigidity of

closely to the prevailing trend in

form and

with Angels, bearing the date 1340

tautness of line.

(as far as it

They

are the

can be deciphered), and

the altar panel of the Beata Umilta dated 1341, both

now

in the Uffizi in

Florence. 18

The Madonna, though barely life-size, gives the appearance of a
highly monumental work owing to the simple pyramidal structure and compact outlines together with equally compact rounded bodily forms, winch
are also noticeable in

arrangement of the
blue), the simple

solemn

effect.

Simone Martini's work

forms of the throne,

This was the

new

was

to reach

its

add to the

all

ideal that

the middle of the century, in architecture

Pietro Lorenzetti

of that time.

The symmetrical

figures, the cool colours (especially the

emerged

shades of

in Trecento art

and sculpture

was one of the leading

many

crystalline, timeless

and

towards

well as in painting.

figures in this

movement, winch

maturity with Orcagna and his

figure of the Beata Umilta the flow of the lines

circle in Florence. In the

and the modelling of the bodily

229

Pietro

and Ambrogio
Lorenzetti

forms

attain

an almost metallic hardness and smoothness. Together with in-

creased stylization there

legendary scenes

and

(pi.

also a trend

towards naturalism, and

There

a conflict

The

plasticity, severe

simple architectural and landscape elements, and the refined,
skill in pictorial

com-

pious tone of the legend, and the asceticism of cloistered

manner

are so aptly expressed that the apparently archaic

mistaken for a genuine archaic

Roman

produces a curious

this

between the harsh

psychologically acute art of narrative and sophisticated
position.

this re-

irreconcilable, contradiction. In the small

91c) surrounding the main figure

attractive tension.

line, deliberately

was

and almost

suited in a noticeable,

The opinion

style.

numerals (and renewed), should be read

still

life

sometimes

that the date, written in

as 13 16, has its

supporters

even now. 19 However, a comparison of the two interiors in the legendary
scene

(pi.

that such
is

due

91c) with those in the Arczzo Annunciation of 1320

an early date

indefensible.

That

and

to the characteristics of Pietro's late style,

tendency beginning in Trecento painting

Ambrogio

sensitivity

and a

does not appear to have

gentler,

felt

(pi.

kind

87) shows
possible

to the general eclectic

at that time.

younger of the two brothers, had an

Lorenzetti, probably the

even greater

a mistake of this

pliant

temperament than

Pietro. 20

the burden of tradition, so that there

need for him to struggle laboriously to free himself from

it.

His

was no

earliest sur-

viving work, a Madonna of 13 19 in Sant'Angelo in Vico l'Abate (near Greve,

south of Florence), shows that at

and confident

He had

left

artist perfectly

Decades before

his

time he was already an accomplished

Duccio's world far behind him, and although Giotto's

was well known
ration',

this

adjusted to the spirit of the age (pis 92, 93).

to him,

his

he did not allow

to divert

new

art

his course.

brother Pietro and the other masters of the 'second gene-

he reverted to the severer solemnity of the Duecento, while retaining

modern

outlook, his subtlety and sensitivity.

almost completely

filling the

narrow frame,

The Vico

presented

the plump, motionless Child in her powerful hands.

geometric form,

arms

him from

l'Abate Madonna,

full face,

The

and holds

throne, of simple

three-dimensional, but also seen frontally, with seat and

Ambrogio avoids the slight obliquity that
Madonna paintings to accentuate the three-dimen-

in steeply rising perspective.

Giotto introduced into his
sional effect.

Only

the

Madonna's

left

knee

slightly raised

and turned out-

wards, and the lines of the neck and the top of the dress waver from their

XII

230

Pietro Lorenzetti Crucifixion (detail)
Assisi, San Francesco

;

an inimitable, circular movement. These are the sole sources

rigid course in

of vitality in this mature female figure.

The

proud face

full,

immobile, but

not with the supra-natural solemnity characteristic of the popular craftsmanlike

Pietro

and Ambrogio
Lorenzetti

Madonnas of the Magdalene Master and the Master of Bagnano, although
no doubt that Ambrogio had those works in mind when he

there can be

painted his picture. His style

he does not abandon

archaicizing, but in a very sophisticated

own

his

However, Ambrogio's

austerity.

nor relapse into an

special qualities

interpretation in this picture

way:

artificial

unique and

was never repeated.

The Madonna

in the chapel of the Archbishop's

Seminar in Siena, done

Ambrogio was attempting
Madonna nursing the Child immediately creates an entirely different atmosphere from that
of Pietro's Madonnas. The prevailing mood, intimate and human, expresses
about ten years

later,

suggests that at that time

to emulate the severer style of his brother, but the motif of the

maternal care and tenderness, childish innocence and lack of

and

a faint

self -consciousness

melancholy pervades the scene. Pietro's passionate temperament,

his alert, tense spirituality,

were

Ambrogio. Whenever he

alien to

achieve the same effects as Pietro, for example in the triptych of the

Two

with
is

Saints in half-length figures,

uneven.

The

Ambrogio

of an altarpiece that

There are four more panels
the

which

same time

inative spatial

also

as the

more im-

did in 1332 for San Procolo in Florence. 21

in the Uffizi

with scenes from the legend of St

arrangement and architectural features are similar to those of

from the

scenes

Ambrogio's handling of perspective
pecially in the scene of the harbour,
its

and ornament

the faces. These three panels are part

come from San Procolo, and were probably done at
triptych. The scenes are vividly depicted, and the imag-

Simone Martini's legendary

with

in the Uffizi in Florence, the result

exquisite preciousness of colour

pressive than the harsh expressions

Nicholas,

now

tries

Madonna

high horizon, anticipates

illusion

life

of St Agostino Novello.

even freer than Simone's,

es-

busy with ships and rowing-boats, which,

effects

not found again until the fifteenth

century.

early as 1327

sicians

lived
is

Ambrogio was admitted

and apothecaries, to which painters

and worked

questionable;

in Florence for the required five years,

it is

was within easy reach of
dicates that at

and there

into the Florentine guild of

also belonged.

likely that

Siena.

The

Whether he
from 1327 to

phyreally

1332,

he frequently stayed in Florence, which
style of the

Vico l'Abate Madonna in-

an early stage he had first-hand knowledge of Florentine

support for

to refer to him. 22

this in a

documentary record of 1321

art,

that appears

233

In spite of this relatively firm evidence of his association with Florence,

Pietro

and Ambrogio
Lorenzetti

by no means clear, for it is diffidetermine what each owed, and what each contributed to the other.

Ambrogio's relationship to Florentine
cult to

Ambrogio's

San Francesco

frescoes in

his stay in Florence in 1332,

by no means

certain.

figure of the sultan

art

may have

in Siena

been done before

although the traditional date for them, 133 1,

In the Martyrdom of the Franciscans in Ceuta, the central
his

throne

very similar to that

in the fresco of the

much richer, livelier compowork. It may have been known to

Ordeal by Fire in the Bardi Chapel. Ambrogio's
sition

appears to be the

original

the painter of the Bardi Chapel through a drawing, but
that a lost fresco

by Giotto was the

The counterpart

common

likely

source of both works. 24

of the Martyrdom in Ceuta

the Admission of St Louis of

Toulouse into the Franciscan Order (pis 94, gs). Before the assembled curia and

King Robert of Naples, the saint kneels to
It was a memorable scene from recent

in the presence of his brother,

Pope Boniface VIII and takes his vows.
history,

with the lay witnesses

in realistic

contemporary

dress

crowding into

The two linked youths, one with
folded arms, on the left are evidently taken from the two spectators in Herod's
Feast in the Peruzzi Chapel (pi. 71 a). 25 The design of the room corresponds,
the side aisle of the hall behind the partition.

but in reverse, to that in the predella picture depicting the Confirmation of the
Carmelite Order, painted, as previously mentioned,
1329.

But Ambrogio

be standing

opposite

aisle.

left

out the front

in a position

The

aisle,

so that the observer feels himself

corresponding to that of the spectators in the

pictorial idea,

exploit in his predella panel,

which Pietro made use

much

no firm conclusion can be drawn, because there
were other,

panel

itself

now

lost,

later

earlier

and that the predella

monumental model.

Ambrogio's works presents further

picture of his development

would

this

than 1329. But again

always the possibility that

interpretations of this idea,

was derived from an

The chronology

of but did not fully

here developed most effectively; and

could in fact suggest a date for the fresco not

there

by Pietro Lorenzetti around

certainly be clearer

Our

difficulties.

the frescoes

the

facade of the Ospedale della Scala, which he did in conjunction with his

brother in 1335, had survived. 26
the Maesta of Massa Marittima,

longs to the same period. 27
the

in three

234

The oblong

Madonna Enthroned with

by angels and numerous
sional

An important panel painting by Ambrogio,
now in the Municipio there, probably be-

saints.

rctable,

the three theological Virtues and surrounded

The

figures,

rows behind and above each other,

form

of composition,

over two meters wide, shows

crowded

together, are arranged

a curiously abstract,

which reduces the

two-dimen-

effect of the three-dimensional

elements in the foreground. Such crowded pictorial surfaces are not found in
Sienese painting in the 1320s.

Many

of the individual forms, especially those

of the angels playing musical instruments and offering flowers, appear heavy

and opulent,

Ambrogio's mature works. Other

as in

Pietro

and Ambrogio
Lorenzetti

features, like the draper-

of the seated Virtues, are hard and brittle. This unconventional picture

ies

can thus be given

towards the end of the master's middle

a relatively late date,

period.

Ambrogio's

best

known

frescoes are in the Sala della Pace - so-called after

s
the frescoes - in Siena's Palazzo Pubblico (pis 96, g~j)r Their date, 1338-9,
is

authenticated

there

by documents recording payments made.
,

enthroned male figure,

Buoti Governo,

group of captured evil-doers;

wolf suckling the twins, the ancient

Wisdom and
a

huge

supported by Concord,

pans of a gigantic pair of
Justice.

One

From

the

rulers of the city, a procession of

the she-

of government,
at the

which

extreme right

of the picture, inspired by

holds her rather drastic attribute,

Two

held by

scales,

of the angels hands out

upholds the rule of law.

left side

who

on her knee.

carpenter's plane,

Governo

at the feet of the

Roman emblem

the Virtues, appears again in the

in a colossal

of Magnanimity. 29 Soldiers

medieval Siena had also adopted. Justice, already shown

among

the rear wall

accompanied by the seven cardinal

by the addition

Virtues, here increased to eight

guard

an elaborate allegory of Good Government symbolized

angels lean outwards

Wisdom, and kept

from

the

in balance

reward and punishment, while the other

symbol of Justice

men

twenty-four

long cord leads to the

in the apparel of notables

and important burgesses. In the middle of the picture the goddess of Peace,
holding an olive branch, reclines on a richly decked couch, wearing a

white robe that

falls in

narrow

walls, illustrating the results of
full

as a

terraces,

side

gy), with its tiers of brick-red houses, its high towers and airy
its busy life, and girls dancing in the streets, is the most vivid and
life left

opposite wall, preserved only in fragments,

Here the principal figure

to us
is

by the Middle Ages.

Tyranny, surrounded by Vices. At her

in chains. Fear, a half-naked hag, reigns

Security,

who

prepares a gallows for the

able naturalism

The

the

feet Justice

over the devastated landscape,

w rongdoers,
T

hilly Sienese countryside

ruled

while under her

protection the farmers cultivate their fields, and the merchants
business unmolested.

the allegory of Bad Government.

whereas in Good Government the flourishing countryside around Siena

classical

on one of the

(pi.

complete picture of contemporary

lies

fresco

town and country, gave
story-teller. The view of Gothic

good government

scope for Ambrogio's sensuous talent

Siena

The

folds (pi. g6).

go about

their

depicted with remark-

and extends into distances not previously represented by any

235

Pietro

and Ambrogio
Lorenzetti

painter.

with

There

no work

this fresco of

of secular

Ambrogio

or in the artistry of

monumental painting

that can

compare

Lorenzetti in historical and documentary value,

interpretation of the spirit of the Italian city-republics

its

of the Trecento.

The Madonna with SS. Mary Magdalene and Dorothy, three fragments of an
altarpiece

Petronilla in Siena,

was probably painted only

nale,

1340.

from Santa

now

in the Siena Pinacoteca

Nazio-

Pubblico frescoes, about

after the Palazzo

Despite the division of the surface into separate panels, the three

movement form together a single group owing to the
new three-dimensional, which prevails over the traof the polyptych. The reverent upwards gaze of the two

plastic figures in fluid

painter's feeling for the

ditional partitioning
saints,

both

but in quite different postures,

in three-quarter profile

Trecento, and goes beyond

in the

unique

conventional rules; and the splendid

all

handling of the colour, of great beauty and delicately harmonizing with the

warm glow

Two

of the gold ground,

also

very personal to the

other panel paintings have inscriptions dating

them

artist.

in the first half

of the 1340s: the Presentation in the Temple of 1342, in Florence (already
tioned),

and the Annunciation of 1344,

displays a

time.

knowledge of perspective

But

arrived at

in Siena. 31 In

that again seems to be in advance of his

misleading, for in both cases the perspective

by empirical means, and has no mathematical foundation. This

the appearance

evident in the scene of the Presentation
aisled

men-

both pictures Ambrogio

Gothic building, above which

rises

in the

Temple: although the three-

dome, recedes

the exterior of a high

into considerable depth, the various architectural

components

are not in proper

proportion, and the figures are placed only in the foreground. In the Annunciation the

perspective

quite different:

of the floor,

which ends abruptly

tiled floor

drawn

it is

at the

restricted to the representation

gold ground.

peated assertions to the contrary, the vanishing

one point, nor are the
tened.

opment

The

pattern of this

in centralized foreshortening, but notwithstanding re-

distances

between the

are dealing, therefore, not

lines

do not meet exactly

transversals accurately foreshor-

with an elementary stage

in the devel-

of the system of central perspective invented in the Early Renaissance,

but with an astonishingly close approximation achieved, however, by purely
empirical means. 32
in perspective,

The

resulting tension

and the large

nounced and disquieting than
of the

two

236

Simone Martini's

figures are also harsher,

and massive, than

between the

tiled surface,

areas of the gold ground,
late

conceived

even more pro-

works. The contours

and the figures themselves more

in Simone's small panel in Liverpool.

The

solid

characteristic

tension and the heaviness of the form, clearly deliberate, are in keeping with

mood

the deep, melancholy

the level of the
in

and powerful urgency that

Ambrogio's work

and

difficulty.

new,

Two
Siena,

further

asserts itself there for the last

Meanwhile the forms have become

hieratic severity

works belong

increasingly

dis-

Pietro

and Ambrogio
Lorenzetti

time and

rigid,

apparent in the whole composition.

to the late period of

Madonna

the lunette fresco of the

tivity:

Vico l'Abate has thus not

since the early stage of

appeared in the 1344 Annunciation, but

with

raise the events to

symbolic and the permanent. The personal note that persisted

Ambrogio's creative ac-

with Saints in Sant'Agostino in

discovered about twenty years ago, and the frescoes in the round

chapel of Montesiepi near San Galgano, south-west of Siena, which have been

known

longer. 34

much

for

The

fresco in Sant'Agostino

Virgin enthroned in the midst of eight kneeling
adoration.

The

which

painting, parts of

could have been executed by an
siepi frescoes

also a Maesta.

humanity whose
gazes coolly

wall on the right.
St Galganus

the picture.

The two

The main theme

group of

saints

done by an

the left of the

fill

the lunette above the

window, and beneath

restored

and repainted

as early as the

were detached from the wall

frescoes

the Maesta,

came

and perhaps the most ingenious of

the brush,

drawings hitherto discovered.

arricciato

discloses

to light.

fourteenth

in 1966,

drawn with

by an

Monte-

inferior hand, the legend of

on the

altered

of the

Virgin's feet Eve, the type of sinful

the preliminary design

was

turn to her in

mighty wings outstretched. Facing the angel was the

Madonna Annunciata, badly
century.

the left wall,

illustrated.

kneels an angel with

who

was expiated through the Virgin and her divine Son,

guilt

from

saints,

with the

a Maesta,

retain their original freshness,

still

assistant.

At the

whereby

quick sketch

all

monumental
idea, which

Ambrogio's original

insignificant painter of the next generation

- probably be-

cause the design of the Virgin appeared too bold and unusual. Greatly astonished at the sight of the angel, she
ately to a

Martini,
ciation

slim column. In

who had

draws

tins respect

herself together

Ambrogio goes

and

far

clings desper-

beyond Simone

AnnunMadonna, the kneeling angel, a figure of inspirhover in spite of his monumentality - an achieve-

already represented the frightened Virgin in his

of 1333. 35 Unlike the

ing simplicity, appears to

ment possible only for a great artist. The other frescoes are also much damaged
and over-painted, and in addition have faded badly during the last decades;
but the better preserved parts, like the figure of Eve in the centre picture,

show

to be a

work

the time. In spite of the
visible,

Ambrogio,

assisted

pupils after the

damage, the boldness of the composition

custom of

is still

clearly

not only in the Maesta but also in the preserved part of the lunette

above the right wall. The master's individuality

also apparent in the type

237

Pietro

and Ambrogio
Lorenzetti

and posture of many of the

figures.

curve of a neck, the

in the delicate

fervent, devoted spirit

lifted profile of a

eyes gleam with cunning and unfathomable
style so light

and grandiose

The

None

of the great masters,

Ambrogio

whose work

was the same

situation in Siena
until the

Lorenzetti

dated

though

exhausted; and the limitations of

first

artists

stood in the

half of the century. It

mode

naturalistic representation

character of the style

of representation,

had become apparent. Above

possible in the field of perspective

without jeopardizing the monumental and

itself.

The

and forms, once wrested

inspired formulas.

was

result

directly

The only scope

a resort to the established

from

so that in this respect a decline set in that lasted
eclectic art,

to a character of

its

keeping

own, and

itself alive

mode

conven-

The presentation

till

the end of the century.

a great tradition, can aspire

more marked. The

return to a formal,

of representation brought about a stylistic standardi-

zation in Sienese painting towards the middle of the Trecento, and also
to eliminate to a large extent the old contrast
artistic relations

fruitful

between the two

the greater contribution, Siena

breath of the Byzantine

spirit,

now
its

were never

closer

assumed the leading

was sought,

were more

in order to express the

Three-dimensional

effects

Siena.

and more

made

role. Its technical

grace and idealism, which preserved a

than the cool formalism of Florence.

238

cities

seemed

between Florence and

than between 1330 and 1360, and whereas Florence had hitherto

excellence and sense of colour,

this art,

of real-

in interpretation,

in the absence of outstanding personalities the

prevailing style of the time becomes

two-dimensional

idealistic

for the expression of individuality lay in

was quantitatively enriched, without any essential change

But even an

all,

and

nature, deteriorated into un-

the choice and application of the prescribed material.

The

was

new pictorial style had been explored and
the new style and the hazards of an excess-

no further important advances were

ity

era

the

the possibilities of the

ively individualistic

tion,

new

now on

Florence since the death of Giotto

as that in

the towering personalities of the

all

November

laid the foundations of a

end of the Trecento, and a generation beyond,

shadow of

evidently

died shortly after, possibly in 1348, the year of the plague.

Western painting, survived the middle of the century. From

Ambrogio's

skill.

documentary reference

last

He must have

Nowhere

as in the best parts of these frescoes,

painted rapidly and with great

1347.

evil.

discernible

youthful face, and Eve's

satisfying to the needs of the time

A new

specifically religious painting

re-awakened sense of mysticism and

and dramatic

situations

piety.

were no longer required of

but sublimity of theme and confirmation of the validity of the mys-

tical vision.

This

what

tradition they
in

Sienese art had to offer, and

newly acquired range

the

had

had no

difficulty in

renouncing

of representational possibilities. Supported

inherited,

even

artists

of only secondary rank

by the

now succeeded

Pietro

and Ambrogio
Lorenzetti

producing important works, and the level of pictorial production was

higher here than in any other Italian

city.

We have

many

pictures

from

that

time of high technical standard together with numerous names and dates,
but

it is

shall
all

difficult

mention

in detail

The

now

to distinguish the individual artistic personalities.

briefly only the

would involve

relatively

more important

of these.

characterize

us too deeply in specialized research.

important and independent painter usually

Master of the Madonna

them

San Pietro

a Ovile, in Siena,

known

as the

belonged to the

circle

He may have been the painter Bartolomeo Bulgarini,
mentioned in the records. 36 He was active between the second

of Pietro Lorenzetti.

fre-

quently

and

third quarters of the century.

contemporary of

his,

Lippo Vanni, was an

whose eclectic style showed the influence of the Lorenzettis and that
of Simone Martini. Another artist, Niccolo di Ser Sozzo Teghacci, well
known as a painter of manuscript miniatures since 1336, emerged as a distincartist

tive artistic personality. His panel-paintings
as

had considerable influence

in Pisa

well as in Siena. Closely associated with him, and slightly younger, was

37
di Tomme.
The last generation of Treby Andrea Vanni, Bartolo di Fredi and Paolo
di Giovanni Fei. Although all three did not die until 1410, they were not
able to free themselves from the representational methods of the Trecento.
The first artist to accomplish this was Taddeo di Bartolo, born about 1362.

the technically accomplished

cento painters

His

Luca

represented

work marks the transition to the International Style, the last Gothic
movement of European importance, which injected new spirit into

stylistic

the lustreless, anaemic painting of Siena and indeed of
a

new

Europe.

offered

interpretation of reality, although obscured for the time being

by the

all

pervasive ornamentality of line and the abstract standardized modelling of

all

the forms. Taddeo's Adoration of the Shepherds of 1404, in Santa Maria dei
Servi in Siena,

typical of this discordant style,

beyond the Trecento
of Montepulciano,

tradition. In his

Taddeo included

huge

winch nevertheless went

far

altarpiece of 1401, in the cathedral

a remarkable likeness of himself in the

figure of his patron saint, the apostle St Thaddaeus. 38 This

the earliest sur-

viving genuine self-portrait in painting, a significant sign of the profound

change

in the artists'

view

of themselves,

which had begun with Giotto.

239

Orcagna and

his circle

Giotto's supremacy, and the absence of

ready recognized in Florence in the

any comparable

latter part of the

successor,

were

al-

Trecento. In one of his

short stories Franco Sacchetti gives a lively account of a meeting of Florentine
painters in the

Convent of San Miniato above the

Andrea Orcagna, puts the question, 'Who
Giotto?'

The aged Taddeo Gaddi

present, that the art of painting
is

resolved with a joke

One

city.

of the masters,

the greatest painter next to

expresses the opinion, plainly shared
is

daily declining. Eventually the

the best painters are the Florentine

women, who with

the aid of cosmetics are able to repair the errors of the greatest painter of

the

who

Cione, called Orcagna,

was

the others in Sacchetti's story,

The

whom

several brothers, of

two

Orcagna himself was

others,

little later.

life

workshop, but few of

his

that can be attributed to

of the Virgin.

own works
him with

not known,
the eldest of

Nardo and Jacopo

active as a sculptor

and

1359 he completed the splendid marble Tabernacle

scenes in relief of the

He was

date of his birth

but he died in the second half of 1368, or a

painters.

merely mentioned along with

the outstanding artistic personality in Flor-

ence in the middle of the Trecento. 2

a painter

Cione, were also

architect as well,

commissioned
perfection,

in 1354.

it is

the

istic

situation that

The

figures

still

position as a

most important

he was head of a busy

have survived. The only panel painting

certainty

the altarpiece, dated 1357, in

conform

whole

though

deviates

The work was

an achievement of absolute technical

illustration

we have

of the singular styl-

two decades after Giotto's death.
the canon laid down by Giotto, but the comradically from the Giottesque principles. The

had evolved

forms have a metallic
as

Admirable

and

San Michele with

the Strozzi Chapel in Santa Maria Novella (pis 10 j, 105 a).

240

all,

Lord Himself. 1

Andrea

all

problem

in Florence

stiffness

and

in the absence of

any

severity,
spatial

and

a peculiarly abstract plasticity,

medium.

would be

pointless to

attempt to discover the source of the light that moulds the hard, glassy forms

and gives the colours

glow.

their intense

rigorous geometric

form keeps

Orcagna

and

his circle

the figures firmly in a two-dimensional plane and overcomes any tendency

towards

The

spatial illusion.

uniting the three

main

composition

basis of the

and the kneeling, voluminous figures

an equilateral triangle

surrounded by an aureole of angels,

figures, Christ

and St Thomas

in profile of St Peter

Aquinas. St John the Baptist stands behind St Peter, staring fixedly to the

same way

front in the

shown

and

left.

central design

relaxed in

All the figures, except the

shown without

effect of

the other hand, there

in the figures,

saints, arc related to the

in their draperies.

depth that might be described

good

and overlapping

a sure instinct

mode

salient or

of spatial re-

Giotto, but he tried to create a kind of non-

perspective space governed, as

art of referring

as pictorial relief.

and changing directions and sometimes violently

presentation introduced

With

gold

piece of brocade,

deal of foreshortening

receding forms. Orcagna could not entirely disclaim the

world.

foreshortening, serves as a floor for the figures, and prevents

even the limited

Virgin,

two kneeling

ground through the gold interwoven

brought to-

figures are

commending St Thomas,
severe and immobile. The rigidity
the two pairs of saints on the right

The

in three-quarter profile, equally

marks the

that

two

as Christ, so that these

gether in a separate spiritual association.

were, by rules not applicable to a

everything in the picture to a single

human

viewpoint, and

therefore deliberately and patently rejected Giotto's three-dimensional
of representation.

What

Orcagna attempted

finite

he seems to have sensed the danger to religious

method

pre-Giottesque painters did naturally without

to achieve

calculated

artifice,

means and consciously conserv-

ative intellectual effort: the creation of a transcendental reality superior to
that of the
it

temporal world. The success of the style he evolved shows that

satisfied a

deep need of

The development

tunately only be inferred

back to

this later.

his time.

of Orcagna's stylistic aims in wall-painting can unfor-

from fragmentary remnants, and we

By good

been preserved that conforms in general

style to

the decoration of the Strozzi Chapel in Santa

not by Orcagna himself but by

The

entire decoration

Ins

brother

Orcagna's principles;

Nardo

was doubtless based on

Cione

1354-7.

The

the

window

chapel of the Strozzi family
its

large walls

wall,

it is

was executed

(pis

106 a, io6h)?

Maria Novella.

uniform plan, and the

coes were probably painted in the same years as the altarpiece, that

and each of

come

shall

chance, however, one complete fresco cycle has

fres-

to say,

in the south transept of the church,

covered by a single picture, a Last Judgment on

and representations of Paradise and of Hell on the

side walls.

241

and

Orcagna

The

his circle

and indeed the Paradise scene has the

subject

itself is

erable figures.

form

appropriate to a two-dimensional

The

effect of a

Blessed, arranged in regular

occupy the greater part of the

picture.

High

huge

of representation,

innum-

tapestry with

rows one above the other,
and

in the centre,

in scale

match-

ing their importance, Christ and the Virgin are seated on a throne of Gothic
design.

The

disproportionate size of this group produces an effect of reversed

perspective: even

the other, the

the rows of the Blessed are seen in recession one behind

two main

plane. This artificially
spirit of

Orcagna's work, and

by him. However,

ment

figures place everything firmly

imposed two-dimensional pattern

may have

on the foreground

completely in the

been based on a design prepared

closer examination of the apparently schematic arrange-

of the Blessed reveals a surprising

freedom of movement and

softness

removed from Orcagna's severe manner. In many cases
figures
combine
the
to form lively groups, and spatial effects emerge, but
the composition as a whole has no unified perspective. Nardo di Cione was
an artist of much gentler, more pliant temperament than his brother, and tins
abstract pictorial schematism appears even more forced in his work, as if it
were a burden unwillingly accepted.
of line and form, far

This contradiction between the natural inclination of the
stylistic rule

imposed on him becomes apparent

in a

most

in the counterpart of the Paradise scene, the picture of Hell. It

with small animated
able

most of which

figures,

knowledge of the human form and

are naked.

and the

artist

manner

interesting

They

crowded

reveal a remark-

possibilities of expression

its

- quite

contrary to what would be expected in view of the two-dimensional character of the composition as a whole.

The complicated movements

picted with apparent ease, and impinge

on the

Hovering

effect (pi 106b).

figures, running, falling,

with each other, pass across the picture

are de-

surface with three-dimensional

and violently entangled

like a flight of birds;

was within

the almost unlimited capacity of this Trecento painter to illustrate every
aspect of the torments of the

damned. Time and again he succeeded

in creat-

ing isolated scenes that have the atmosphere of Dante's Inferno, although he
lacked the poet's comprehensive vision to give unity and order to his
position as a whole.
ferno, after

Inferno.

The fresco

Even for

most impossible
the

242

same time

image of

also possible that

he did not wish to shape

com-

his In-

Dante's model, into an intelligible and transparently clear spatial

presentation.
4

It is

Hell.

in fact a 'detailed

a Renaissance painter,

and

faithful illustration' of Dante's

however,

would have been an

task to illustrate such a profusion of separate scenes,

to give a

The

and

al-

comprehensive single view of Dante's funnel-shaped

failure to

accomplish

this

here cannot be attributed simply

Nardo

to lack of artistic ability.

Cione

structure of the infernal landscape with
is

depicts

numerous

scenes, isolated

punishment separated by narrow rocky ridges; and the

places of

But

also indicated.

circular

Orcagna

and

his circle

zones rising one above the other

its

depth was hardly possible

a greater recession in

the

compactness of the huge surface pattern was to be preserved, and therefore

on
knowledge

the only practicable solution was the development of individual motifs
the same plane. In these separate scenes the painter reveals that his

was much more extensive and sophisticated than the

of spatial representation
tapestry-like,

seemingly primitive, view of Hell would lead one to suspect.

surely not a coincidence that these tensions

It is

masked by the

marked

in a representation of Hell.

in Giotto's

and contradictions, usually

contemporary

style,

similar manifestation

work: uncontrolled demonic and human

all stylistic

ment.

idealizing tendencies of the

of the

damned

Although there are precedents

passions, breaking

The crude

previously attempted.

by the

tent necessitated

An abundance

beyond anything

intensity of the description

which had no place

was

even more remarkable

subject, but

movement and

some ex-

the licence

naturalistic detail.

of realistic observations, imaginative features, and expressive

There

power was

in his high formal style, are here displayed,

anywhere

clearly than

imposed on himself
ative

through

medieval and Byzantine iconography,

Giotto permitted himself in the rendering of

tal style.

are illustrated with frightening realism.

Giotto's representation of Hell achieves a degree of realism

reveal

became

already seen

conventions, emerge in the scenes of Hell in the Padua Last Judg-

The torments

motifs,

produce

good

else the

degree of

artistic discipline

his distinctive creation, the grand,

and

Giotto

monumen-

deal of additional evidence to prove that his imagin-

far greater than his

executed works might suggest.

The

painted choirs in the Arena Chapel indicate that he could easily have created
a

complete perspective

his 'vision'.
torial

The

illusion.

world are only

in a loss of

'style'

can in no sense be equated with

powers

winch he constructs

his pic-

conventional vocabulary, chosen according to the re-

quirements of his monumental
his artistic

His

representational elements with

style.

What Dante

called tliefreno d'arte kept

and any infringement of

in check,

this principle resulted

monumentality. 5

In his scenes of Hell,

Nardo

Cione goes

far

beyond Giotto

in the free

and imaginative handling of form. The Padua Inferno appears archaic and
inhibited beside the Strozzi
vistas,

occasioned

here on a small scale and
centuries later

Chapel

fresco.

The

figurative motifs

and

spatial

the special requirements of the subject, that are realized

on the grand

a Trecento painter, are only encountered again

scale in

Mannerist and Baroque

art. It is as

though

243

and

Orcagna

the natural, unaffected vision of the painter

his circle

acteristic

forms of the monumental

were glimpsed behind the char-

style ; verse

transformed into free-

The contrast between these two modes of represensharper
had
become
in the two decades since Giotto's death. This is
tation
clearly apparent when one compares Nardo's scenes of Hell with the other
flowing, expressive prose.

Chapel frescoes and with

Strozzi

more
depth.
a

own

panel paintings, 6 which are even

consciously primitive than the works of the contemporary Sienese

Nardo

masters.

his

Cione

meticulous in avoiding any suggestion of spatial

Chapel

in Orcagna's Strozzi

the floors are usually indicated

altar,

two-dimensional brocade pattern, and

never possible to

it is

supports the seated figures; at best a piece of brocade implies
throne.

The

deliberate renunciation of perspective devices

final conclusion. In the mild,

vacant faces there

tell

some

what

sort of

carried to

its

sign of the rich range

of expression that the painter demonstrated in the scenes of Hell in his fresco.

unrealistic,

and

Nazarene calm and impersonal

sense that the painter

expressing.

mood

envelops these pictures,

not conveying everything he

capable of

unquestionably an example of the impoverishment that

It is

ways follows when the wheel
art ceases to

of progress

be a natural product of the

and archaicizing and
;

loses

its

life

turned back.

around

it, it

substance as soon as

Whenever

al-

religious

becomes retrospective

no longer employs the

The painting of the Orcagna circle is a striking
early example of this phenomenon in the history of post-classical art.
In view of the problematic nature of Nardo di Cione's style, it is the more
regrettable that Orcagna's major monumental work, the decoration of the

full artistic

capacity of

its

time.

main choir chapel of Santa Maria Novella, has been almost
ated.

received this commission in 1350,

an experienced and recognized master. 7
the Virgin, and

famous

when he must
was

entirely obliter-

already have been

a cycle depicting the life of

was replaced towards the end of the Quattrocento by the

frescoes of Ghirlandaio.

Only

number

of medallions containing

half-length figures, part of the vault decoration, have recently

The

solid, powerful forms are clearly distinguishable

delicate

work

Nardo

di Cione. It

come

from the

to light.

softer,

very unlikely, however, that they were

executed by Orcagna himself. 8

The huge fresco of the Crucifixion in the refectory of Santo Spirito in Flor9
The comis a work of high, though somewhat cold, monumentality.
position of this large and powerful work is based on the contrast between
the compact mass of scarcely articulated figures and the empty background,
visible over a large area. The figure of Longinus on one side, and that of
ence

244

the centurion with his distinct, sweeping gesture,

on the

other, are deliber-

Both

ately introduced as effective features.
haloes. 10 Figurative

and

are

mounted and shown with

and two-dimensional elements dominate the composition,
and the

the recession of the landscape

are hardly perceptible.

rising slope of the hill of

Orcagna
and

his circle

Golgotha

seems that Orcagna was responsible for the general

11
conception, but here again the execution must be ascribed to his pupils.

There

another major

work

Orcagna which must have been much more

impressive than the Crucifixion, with
ting.

Unfortunately

its

impersonal

mood

and contrived

set-

has survived only in fragmentary condition. Three large

frescoes extended along the wall of the south aisle of Santa Croce, depicting

related subjects: the

Triumph of Death, the Last Judgment, and the

Inferno.

numbered them among Orcagna's works, and Vasari's description,
linking them together with very similar representations in the Campo Santo
12
However, at about the time
in Pisa, attributes both groups to Orcagna.
the enlarged edition of his Lives appeared, Vasari recklessly sacrificed Orcagna's frescoes in Santa Croce, as well as a number of other important TreGhiberti

cento works, in favour of a plan of his

own

for the redecoration of the church.

This was carried out between 1566 and 1584.

works

of art,

The

furnished with the Late Renaissance altars that are

few

specially valuable

traces of

monuments

was discovered behind one of

of beggars vainly invoking
of the Inferno

and

(pi.

Death

whitewashed and

aisles

still

there today.

of the Early Renaissance

Orcagna's frescoes seemed to have been

the Triumph of Death

(pi.

104).

numerous

screen, containing

was demolished, 13 and the walls of the

lost,

Only

were spared. All

until a

fragment of

Vasari's altars: the

second fragment, the

group

left half

105b), was found, badly damaged, behind another altar,

after careful search

All these fragments are

remnants of the painted frame were also uncovered.

now

in the

Museo

Santa Croce. 14 These parts of

the original frescoes, together with Vasari's description and the analogous
representations in Pisa, enable us to reconstruct the

monumental

'triptych'

with some accuracy. The entire work was seven meters high and not

less

than eighteen meters wide. Great painted columns, strongly plastic on account
of their spiral shafts, divided the pictorial surface, in the
into three sections. It

had used

the

same

illusionistic architectural

Cosmati manner,
motif that Giotto

Orcagna further heightened the
by omitting the frames alongside the columns, so that the

in the St Francis legend at Assisi.

illusionistic effect

scene appears to continue without interruption behind them.

produced by the bizarre shape of the columns
far as

The

solid effect

strongly emphasized, but as

can be gathered from the fragments, there was hardly any spatial depth.

whose feet the dead lie in a tangled mass, are surrounded by
empty background, and their bold abstract forms are combined

beggars, at

large areas of

245

and

Orcagna

with the inscription, written diagonally across the surface, into a two-dimen-

his circle

sional entity.

The composition seems

have been entirely confined to the

figures placed in the foreground. In the Inferno, a certain degree of spatial

depth was unavoidable owing to the scenic elements, but even here the nonperspective picture-book character

still

Cione's scene of Hell. Orcagna's version

Chapel both

fresco in the Strozzi

marble

as a sculptor in

as a

which have

in the scenes of torture,
is

more distinct than in Nardo di
more primitive than his brother's

whole and

detail, for

its

example

a crude savagery. Orcagna's experience

seen in the powerful modelling of the nude figures

and the angular, unconventional movements. Strident colours, shining out
against the prevailing chalky, stone and earth tones accentuate the infernal

negation of the divine order and the general impression of violence. Here
also there

a deliberate renunciation of idealized forms, justified

winch

of the subject,

releases the artist's creative force

powerful temperament. The

ally

'prose' style

mic,

Nardo

di Cione's style

much

by the nature

reveals his natur-

vivid and elemental, and

Arena Chapel

directly reminiscent of Giotto's scenes of Hell in the

In comparison

and

softer,

flexible

in Padua.

and rhyth-

capable of genuinely poetic effect: and he alone of the Trecento

painters succeeded in finding a language for his vision of Hell that does not

appear ill-judged or pedestrian beside Dante's poem.

was mainly one of temperament, but
that in Ins conception

doubt the difference

impossible to avoid the conclusion

Nardo had progressed

far

beyond Orcagna.

can be judged, therefore, from the surviving frescoes, Orcagna's

far as

frescoes in Santa
in Santa

it is

Croce are

some

Maria Novella, but in

respects

archaic than those of

spite of this they

seem

Nardo

to have been

done

possibly in the 1360s. 15

Compared with that of the Strozzi Altar Orcagna's style had now become freer and more versatile, and his grasp firmer
and more realistic. He commanded a wider range of expression, not necessarlater,

ily just dictated

by the very

The Triumph oj Death

different subject-matter.

in Santa

Croce was not the

first illustration

of this

theme, but was probably derived from the frescoes by Francesco Traini in
the

Campo

Santo in

Pisa,

the Santa Croce beggars
it

becomes

considerable

which
(pi.

16
will be discussed in the next chapter.

104) are compared with those in Pisa

and
246

100 a),

Orcagna drew

None

of this affected

artistic inspiration

from

the Pisan master.

as a painter

second half of the Trecento. His grave

his characterization of types,

the weaker

When

clear that in addition to iconographic elements

Orcagna's dominant influence, both
art of the

(pi.

artists

were

and

a sculptor,

on Florentine

virile style, his austere

forms,

provided a firm foundation on which even

able to build.

The Triumph

of Death

Orcagna's presentation of the Triumph of Death corresponds to a comparatively
familiar pictorial type in Trecento art.

Francesco in Lucignano

La Morte,

figure,

female form,

savage features and

fresco of Bartolo di Fredi in

San

fair hair

placed in the centre of the picture, with

streaming in the wind, galloping on a black

draws her bow, and

horse. She

model of the complete composition. 1 The main

arrow

levels the fatal

two fashionably
Under the

dressed youths strolling unsuspectingly in the hilly countryside.
horse's hooves

the

left

lie

strewn the dead bodies that have already fallen to her.

of the picture, beggars vainly entreat the ferocious rider for death.

The beggars and

the dead are strikingly similar to those in Orcagna's picture.

In another fresco, in the Sacro Speco monastery near Subiaco, the direction of the

movement

by her long flowing

reversed. 2 Death, a skeleton characterized as a

towards the young

hair, rides

men

woman

standing at the

left

of the picture, while the beggars remain behind her to the right; dead bodies

with OrAs already
mentioned, Orcagna himself did not invent the motif, but took it from an

again

lie

in heaps

on the ground. Although

there

direct link

cagna's fresco, the elements of the representation are the same.

existing model, the fresco in the

Campo

Santo in

Pisa,

where he had already

found the allegory of Death associated with the Last Judgment and the Inferno.

provided
It is

theme.

was
it

gave the allegory

this association that

with the religious justification necessary

The concept

Death

female figure

as a

warriors,

were familiar

figures in

in the Trecento, describes
fair hair,

Death

which we noticed

Campo

Keres,

and

itself is

not a Christian

of classical origin.

The

snatched the souls of fallen

Greek mythology and Horace, well known
;

as a

in the

goddess hovering on sable wings.

The

Lucignano fresco and which reappears

Santo fresco, also has a

classical derivation,

Proserpina, mistress of the underworld.

Death are found

who

significance,

at the time. 3

often forgotten that the Triumph of Death in

gruesome harbingers of Death, the

the

its full

in the art of the Early

the other

the golden hair of

hand no prototypes of

and High Middle Ages. The death

body had little importance for the faithful, whose eyes were fastened
eternal life. They knew that the final decree, life or death, would be made
when the Lord returned on the Day of Judgment, and their fear was only of
of the

the 'second', the ultimate death, the everlasting damnation of the soul. For

247

The Triumph
of Death

this

reason references to death are found only in association with the Cruci-

sometimes

fixion, a skull at the foot of the cross,

rare occasions, a

demonic figure with the

ism was quite different from that of the
cation

was

that Christ

was no way

inscription

whole

later allegories of

had conquered, and death had

which medieval

art

skeleton, or,

Mors* But

the symbol-

Death: the impli-

lost

its

sting.

There

could conceive the representation of death

except in the role of the vanquished.

The

vivid and terrifying scenes of death depicted in Trecento art were

therefore a startling innovation.
to the people of that period.

1348, the Black

Death

Death swept over

depopulating whole

Time and

its

most

again,

Italy

fearful

above

in the dreadful year

claiming thousands of victims and

This wholesale slaughter

cities.

forms was no stranger

all

impressively described

by Boccaccio with grandiose realism at the beginning of the Decameron. Yet
this was not a pessimistic book; on the contrary, it expressed a new worldliness in which every aspect of human reality was described in colourful
anecdotal or sober
of

realistic

terms, including death, the

most inexorable

fact

all.

The

by no means fully accounted for by
The new image of death had deeper

allegories of death are therefore

the terrible experience of the plague.
roots;

human

was the counterpart of the increasing awareness of the value of

life,

which made the prospect of death correspondingly more

frightening.

The

signs of this

real

and

change can be seen throughout Europe from

the beginning of the fourteenth century, especially in the field of sepulchral
art.

The

youthful, idealized images of the dead 'sleeper' that adorned most

tombs were increasingly replaced by
the middle of the century, even
sition of the flesh. 5

necessity for

actual likenesses,

and

in time,

representations suggesting the

soon

after

decompo-

Although elements of the Christian admonition of the

self-communion and soul-searching were

also involved, a

new

and unmistakable emphasis was placed on the physical aspect of death. In the
early

Middle Ages there had been no need

life,

since the only real existence lay

draw

attention to the transience

beyond the grave.

Independently of the change manifested in sepulchral

without any religious connotations,

The most popular
in Italian art

motif, the Dance of Death,

art,

death in

the concept of death

was

of northern origin,
6

and appears
It

should be

demonstrates that the secularization of

phenomenon common

Taddeo Gaddi

itself,

a subject for pictorial art.

only in the third quarter of the fifteenth century.

mentioned here, however, because

248

now became

to the

Frescoes of the Baroncelli Chapel

•

whole of Europe.
Florence, Santa Croce

74 Taddeo Gaddi
Annunciation to the Shepherds
Florence, Santa Croce

75 a Taddeo Gaddi Allegory of Poverty
Florence, Santa Croce
75 b

Taddeo Gaddi

(detail of the

Shepherd with His Flock

Annunciation

Florence, Santa

Croce

to Joachim,

cf.

pi.

73)

Duccio

Siena,

Opera

St Catherine (detail of the Maesta)

del

Duomo

Duccio Women

Tomb of Christ
Opera del Duomo

at the

Siena,

Simone Martini Maesti

79
Siena, Palazzo Pubblico

Simone Martini
Naples,

St Louis of Toulouse
di Capodimonte

Museo

Simone Martini

77j<

Knighting of Si Martin

•

Assisi,

San Francesco

.si

Simoni Maui

ini

(1333) Angel (detail of the Annunciation)

•

lorencc, Uffi

82a-d Simone Martini a Road to Calvary Paris, Louvre b Descent from the Cross- Antwerp, Muse'e Royal
d St Martin Shares His Clnk with a Beggar (sinopia and fresco) Assisi, San Francesco

•

Simone Martini

(1342) Return of the Young Jesus from the Temple

Liverpool Musei

l
.

> .i—»

tj&ms

-CO

Lippo

Staatliches

Memmi

Enthroned Madonna
Lindcnau-Museum

Altcnbure,

Barna da Siena Road to

Calvary

San Gimimiano, Colle^iata

PlETRO L.ORENZETTI (1320) Madonna
Arezzo, Picve di Santa Maria
86

Pietro Lorenzetti (1320) Annunciation
Arezzo, Pieve di Santa Maria

Pietro Lor£

Descent from the Cross- Assisi, San Francesco

Detail of pi. 88

90a
90 b

Fietro Lori
Fietro Loren

Madonna

with SS. Francis and John the Evangelist

Entry into Jerusalem (detail)

Assisi,

San Francesco

Assisi,

San Francesco

91 a

PlETRO LORI.N/I

St John the Baptist (1320)

Arezzo, Pieve di Santa Maria
91 b

PlETRO LORENZETTI

John

the Baptist (1332)

Siena, Pinacotcca

91 C

PlETRO LORENZETTI

Legend of the Beata Umilta
Bcrlin-Dahlcm, Staatlichc

Gemaldegalcrie

Ambrogio Lorenzetti

(13 19)

Madonna

Vico l'Abate, Sant'Angelo

Detail of pi. 92

Ambrogio Lorenzeti

Admission of St Louis of Toulouse

into the Franciscan

Ordir

Siena, San Francesco

King Robert of Naples (Detail of

pi.

94)

ifl

HUTOT-yjwv tMtf.H

Ambrogio Lorenzetti

Siena, Palazzo Pubblico

uiMHffl

bp7

Allegory of Peace

'.'..n

^j.

Ambrogio Lorenzetti

1 7ne 0/ Siena (detail)
Siena, Palazzo Pubblico

98
Pisa,

Francesco Traini The Three

Museo Nazionale

Living and the Three

Dead
99

Dct.iil of pi.

ioo a, b Francesco Traini a Group of Beggars
(detail of Triumph of Death)
Pisa, Museo Nazionale
b Temptation of a Hermit (sinopia) Pisa, Museo Nazionale
•

Francesco Traini Details of the
Triumph of Death and The Last Judgment
Pisa, Museo Nazionale

101 a,b

io2.i

Maso

Banco

Legend of St Sylvester
Florence, Santa

102 b

Detail of

pi.

102

103

Andrea Orcagna

(1357) Strozzi Altar

•

Florence, Santa Maria Novella

104

Andrea Orcac.na

Beggars (detail of

Triumph of Death)

•

Florence,

Museo

di S.uu.i

Crocc

Andrea Orcagna

Si Peter (detail of pi. 103)

iosb

Andrea Orcagna Inferno
Museo di Santa Croce

Florence,

(detail)

^TWU^\

ertttA^

io6a,b Nardo di Cione Head of Christ and
The Damned (details of The Last Judgment)
Florence, Santa Maria Novella, Strozzi Chapel

107

Andrea da Firenze

Resurrection

Florence, Spanish Chapel

ioS

Andrea da

Firenzi;

(detail of the

Triumph of the Church)

Florence, Spanish Chapel

109

Andrea da Firenze

Dancers (detail of the Triumph

oj the

Church)

Florence, Spanish Chapel

Giovanni da Miiano

Christ

with the Virgin and St

Martha

(detail)

Florence, Santa Croce

1 1 1

Giovanni da Milano

Birth of the

"irgi

•

Florence, Santa Croce

112

GHERARDO Starnina

St Benedict (fragment)

•

Florence. Santa Maria del

113 a

Agnolo Gaddi

Carmine

Florence, Santa Croce

Legend of the Holy Cross
11

Detail of

pi.

113 a

SK££

114

Riminese Master (c

Pomposa, Refectory
114b Riminese Master

The Last Supper

(c. 1310-20)
The Last Judgment
Rimini, Palazzo dell'Arcngo
Sant'Agostino)

(detail),

(from

13 17)

115

Riminese Master

1310-20)
Temple
Rimini, Sant'Agostino
(c.

Presentation in the

116

Riminese Master

(c.

1330)

mtion and Lamentation (from an altar-retable)

•

Rome, Palazzo Barberini

ii7

Paolo Veneziano

Coronation of the Virgin

Venice, Accademia

1 1

Vitale da Bologna

Madonna

'dei

Denti' (1345)

Bologna, Gallcria Davia Bargellim

ijftWiBQfc.

P
T $JS*@ &*&&t*-

ii9

Vitale da Bologna

Legend of St Anthony
Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale

«,

:f#A
*c

120

Vitale da Bologna

ifity (detail)

•

Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale

wm^*

121

Barnaba da Modena

(1369)

Madonna

Formerly Berlin, Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum

122

Tomaso da Modena

(1352). Albertus

Magnus

Treviso San Niccolo

123

Tomaso da Modena Madonna

Karlstein Castle near Prague

124

Tomaso da Modena
Museo Civico

Trcviso,

Legend

'rsula

125

Guariento Angel

•

Padua,

Musco Civico

126

Alticiiicro Crucifixion

(left side)

•

Padua, Santo

127

Altichiero Beheading of St George

Padua, Oratorio di San Giorgio

128

Altichieri

ation in the

Temple

Padua, Oratorio di San Giorgio

Literary models of the Dance of Death motif occur as far back as the thirteenth

century. In

way

form

original

its

was

procession of living people

man

to death, their leader not Death, but a

recurring theme was Vado mori.
presentatives of

walks of

all

inevitability of death

for the wretched - that in death

Another motif

and

social
all

political

The

their

The Triumph
of Death

constantly

and

re-

The emphasis on

the

led the dance,

followed behind them.

life

had the

already dead.

Pope and Emperor

connotation - cold comfort

arc equal.

the Encounter of the Three Living and the Three Dead. This

allegorv appeared in the cathedral of Atri and in other places in southern
Italy as early as the

in the north.

shown
dead
are,

middle of the thirteenth century, and soon afterwards

Three kings while out hunting come upon three dead men,

or half-decayed corpses. In the words addressed by the

as skeletons

to the living there

were; what

in literary

are

no suggestion

you

will be',

of a spiritual message.

'What you

the formula used, with variations,

works from the eleventh century onwards. Oriental epigrams

since

pre-Islamic times contain references to the allegory of the encounter the dead, 8

and

its

form

early appearance in southern Italy, as well as the pictorial

took, could indicate an Eastern derivation.

Memento

mori,

original significance

without any Christian implication.

made

attempt was

Its

to turn

was only

later that

by the inclusion

into a Christian motif

was simply
an

of the

hermit, St Macarius.

The

third of these pictorial types, the

Triumph

Italian creation, of classical origin as already

that

Death spares the wretched

who

was

of Death,

purely

mentioned. Furthermore the view

long for him, and carries off the young

instead, also has a classical tradition. 9 Strange to say, the

and healthy

ingly typical medieval picture of death ruthlessly taking

life

its

seemprime,

humanism, not only because of

its

general

sense of a secular approach to the conception of death, but also in

its

explicit

actually a sign of the revival of

reference to classical motifs.

However,

the artistic

form

assumed was not

in the least classical, but distinctly medieval, of the Trecento.

one

work, Petrarch's poem,

literary

Triumphal Procession,
Triumph

Death,

Trionfi, in

which

There

a classical

only

form, the

given to the allegory of Death. The name, the

taken from

this

poem, although

able to fourteenth-century painting.

was only

that pictorial art also adopted this classical motif,

it is

not

strictly applic-

the fifteenth century

and showed Death, among

other allegorical figures, driving her chariot in a triumphal procession.

The most

splendid Trecento pictorial representation of the allegory of Death

Campo

was

in the

The

frescoes

Santo in Pisa until the end of the Second

were badly damaged

in the fire of 1944,

World War. 10

which destroyed the

305

The Triumph
of Death

roof of the famous building, and the entire huge pictorial cycle had to be
removed from the walls to prevent its complete deterioration. At least the
most important part of the frescoes, the Triumph of Death, can now be
seen in the Museo Nazionale di S. Matteo in Pisa, in addition to the Last

The transfer has been
damage and, even

Judgment, the Inferno, and the Anchorites of the Tliebaid.

remarkably

more important,
irrevocably

However,

but the

successful,

fire

caused considerable

the effect of the frescoes in their original setting has been

lost.

this disaster

involving one of the great works of Italian

mental painting had one unexpected beneficial

result.

of the frescoes, the large preliminary drawings have

markably

clear

and complete condition.

monu-

Beneath the upper layer

come

These have

also

to light in a re-

been transferred,

museum, where they can be compared directly with the paintings under which they had been concealed. They are strikingly fresh and bold
brush drawings, sketched with sparse strokes, yet monumental and powerful.
in part, to the

Together with

their

siderable delicacy

woman

monumentality and emotional content they have con-

and elegance,

(pi.

ioob). 12 Their graphic style has

great confidence and seemingly effortless power.

designs and the finished paintings, for the
is

The

disparity

between these

most part executed by

plain to see. These finds in Pisa clearly confirm the

creative function of the

young

as for instance in the figures of the

vainly trying to seduce a hermit

assistants,

view of the important

monumental drawing in Trecento painting already
method of work. The illustrative material
Pisa covers an uninterrupted period from the middle

discussed in connection with Giotto's
in the

Campo

Santo in

of the Trecento right into the second half of the Quattrocento, that
to

Benozzo Gozzoli's

frescoes in the north arm.

It is

long the old type of monumental drawing continued in

drawn

designs,

directly

on the

to say,

how

surprising to see

wall, are usually fresher

Even Gozzoli's

use.

and more impressive

than the finished painting, which shows that the making of monumental

drawings was not an occasional practice but the normal and traditional procedure.

It is also

apparent, however, that Gozzoli's drawings are far

umental than those of the older masters, and
the original design

owed

its

and the

sureness of style,

pictorial surface, to

was

lost in the

of the preliminary drawings are the ones

less

that the direct link

mon-

between

which Trecento wall-painting

Quattrocento.

The most

done for the early

effective

frescoes painted

shortly after the middle of the Trecento.

The marble
form
306

ters

buildings of the

Campo

Santo, situated next to the cathedral,

the cloistered quadrangle of the cemetery, 126 meters long and 52

wide. The windowless walls, more than nine meters high

me-

in the interior

and protected by the roof of the
frescoes than

found

walls with pictures

only

at the

was

cloister,

cover these immense

end of the Middle Ages. The work extended over more than

fully completed.

The

left

fresco sequence stretched

around the four arms of the

earliest paintings

were

in the south-east corner of the

the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, and the Ascension

now

usually

known

Campo

Santo:

the east wall, and the

The

Last Judgment cycle at the beginning of the long south wall.

done.

read, until

up with the beginning.

the final scenes joined

unfinished, the Renaissance faith-

huge picture-book compiled for those unable to

cloister, like a

The Triumph
of Death

which could have been contemplated

a gigantic task,

hundred years, and what the Trecento had

The

provided a more extensive area for

even the largest churches.

fresco that

Triumph of Death was evidently the first to be
Italian iconography of death

as the

combines the two principal motifs of the

the encounter of the three living and the three dead

(pi.

g8),

and the gruesome
and

figure of Death, with great bat's wings, hovering over a pile of corpses

wielding her murderous scythe. Behind her a crowd of beggars and invalids,
vainly craving for death, present an unforgettable picture of

and

a fashionable

group,

full of life,

gossipping and playing music

elaborate and dramatic Memento

by
in

a Last Judgment,

done according

10 lb).

The

Him on

(pi.

101a). This
is

followed

to the old medieval formula: Christ

his right

and the

Damned on

sits

his left (pi.

Virgin, given equal prominence with her Son, and seated next
the

same

side as the Blessed,

traditional representation.
'Ite

suffering

are gathered,

mori, painted in strident colours,

judgment, with the Blessed on

human

Death her next victims

utter despair (pi. 100 a). In front of

Maledicti', has

The

gesture with

such menace that

new

feature introduced into the

which Christ damns the

sinners,

even inspired Michelangelo's magnifi-

cent conception of the wrathful figure of Christ the Judge in the Sistine

Chapel.

The

third picture in the series

the Inferno, a crude catalogue of the

Damned, dominated by the colossal, grotesquely repulsive
13
Satan.
The arrangement is thus similar to that of Orcagna's three

tortures of the

figure of

frescoes in Santa Croce, except for the addition of the allegory of the

of the dead and the living.

the right of the Inferno there

large picture, the Anchorites of the Thebaid.
picture, in
in active

from

which the theme

life.

meeting
a fourth

the counterpart of the

first

the danger of sudden death to those engaged

Withdrawal from

death. This

It is

was

life

and pious contemplation take the

was the answer offered by the Middle Ages

sting

to the inev-

itability of death.

But the dominant theme
of death

was the

real

the one stated in the

innovation in the

series,

first

picture.

The horror

and must have deeply

affected

307

The Triumph
of Death

and gripped people

he so strikingly portrayed - kings,

life

The

riding.

orative form.

life,

The

abounded

subjected,

The same

unanimous

chorus.

cavaliers,

and fashionable

however, to

virility

virile,

a highly disciplined sence of dec-

seen in the group of beggars

lament echoes

shrill

out

ladies

vivid colours, rounded contours and taut lines display a

joyous love of

their

One feels that the painter himself was pasmuch with death as with the flamboyant cavalcade

at that time.

sionately concerned not so

(pi.

iooa);

wailing of a Greek tragic

like the

sharp contrasts between the rich and the wretched in which

life

depicted without compassion, and the scenes of

at the time, are

misery with dead bodies piled carelessly on top of each other are taken directly

from contemporary

records that

experience. There

the circumstances in

tells

which

nothing in the contemporary

these frescoes

came

to be painted

or give any clue to their authorship. Vasari's attribution to Orcagna has long

been recognized

untenable.

recent studies have associated the frescoes

with an altarpiece from Santa Caterina in

Pisa,

signed

the Pisan painter

Francesco Traini, and completed, according to documentary evidence, in 1345.

The

now

panel,

from

his life.

in the Pisa

The same

Museum,

passionate

Dominic and

depicts St

temperament

eight scenes

revealed in these scenes,

despite their small, almost miniature, size, as in the Triumph of Death and the

three adjoining pictures in the

Campo

Santo in

Pisa.

Notwithstanding con-

of assistants

group
to this

controversial problem. 14
in the

to the time of their composition, a date roughly

middle of the 1350s could be appropriate. They must have been painted

some time

after the St

Dominic

panel, because the style of the frescoes, despite

the close affinity with the panel,

precise

and ornamental. Orcagna's

cycle in Santa Croce, undoubtedly a later work, affords
for the

Campo

Santo frescoes. 15

in Santa Croce, refer

external evidence

the earliest of
of the

and

working under him remains the most convincing solution

trary opinions, the attribution of the frescoes to Francesco Traini

Campo

The

which

no firm

latest

date

are in part repeated

only to the subject-matter of the paintings. 16

Some

Campo

Santo,

possibly provided

which

inscriptions,

dated 1359.

by the tombstones
seems that about

Santo began to be used for

burials.

in the

this

time the grounds

But whatever answers

are

given to the question of dating and attribution, the painter of these frescoes

Campo Santo was one of the great artistic personalities of the Trecento.
He may appear somewhat provincial beside Orcagna, and almost crude and
in the

rustic beside the Sienese masters, to
all

his

around him.
308

whom

owed much,

but he surpassed

contemporaries in elementary vigour and comprehension of the

life

The end

The apparent paradox,
for

reflects the

life,

that the representation of death expresses a

ambiguous character of an age

intellectual activity in

trammels.

of the Trecento in Florence

many

and yet was unable

fields,

The new awareness

life

that

and

confined to the introduction of novel subjects.

complement, the description of

pictorial

life as it

to rid itself of medieval

its

The

was then

themes that evidently aroused general

and formally they were firmly linked to

zest

was gradually emerging could ex-

press itself only within the traditional forms,

its

new

saw the spread

that

lived,

interest,

tradition,

innovations were

first

allegory of Death and

were indeed new

but iconographically

and therefore could not

be presented otherwise than in conjunction with the Last Judgment, the Christian

concept of the hereafter. Thus they were given a kind of indirect sanc-

by official ecclesiastical doctrine. Above all, the gradually awakening
humanism was for many generations incapable of evolving an adequate artistic form of expression. That was accomplished only in the Early Renaissance,
tion

almost a century after Giotto's death, and until then the
of painting, the categories of artistic concepts,

design remained essentially unaltered.

stylistic

foundation

and the standards of formal

Even though Orcagna reversed the

elements of the Giottesque style and turned them into a system of tensions

between depth and
limits established

new

surface, and other masters attempted to go beyond the
by Giotto by extending the pictorial depth and introducing

motifs, fundamentally his spatial relief, abstract plasticity

figurative types
local variations

within the

remained valid

until the

as a

set limits,

but in general the Giottesque canons

end of the Trecento,

either because they persisted

conscious tradition, or simply because they appeared

effective in

existed

and standardized

remained unchanged. Naturally there were individual and

comparison with older forms.
local school of painting

anywhere

more modern and

the middle of the century there
in Italy that

was not

some

309

The end
of the Trecento

extent influenced, at least in outward form,

the Tuscan style that Giotto

had originated.

in Florence

Strictly speaking,

completes the

this

development which

artistic

we have

sought to elucidate. There was no substantial advance in medieval painting
in Italy after the

middle of the Trecento. The gradual decline of the Giottesque

whose

tradition

was

The new

characteristics that occasionally manifested themselves at the

a process

details are a subject for specialized research.

the Trecento and the beginning of the Quattrocento
significance.

come

They were

the medieval

hesitant, sporadic beginnings of

which was both

alent character of the time,

their part in the birth of the Renaissance

importance was the International

The

Style,

its

an attempt to over-

and progressive,

traditionalistic

was

Of much

negligible.

which originated not

Italian painting,

greater

in Italy but at

intrusion of this international stylistic

although disrupting the course of
the re-awakening of

end of

little historical

conventions, and although indicative of the ambiv-

stylistic

the court of France.

were of

movement,

prepared the ground for

which occurred with the ab-

intrinsic creative forces,

on entirely different prindrew on the great native
tradition, and was indebted to Agnolo Gaddi, two generations older than
himself, and above all to Giotto. But this was a purely personal predilection,
a deliberate recourse to a past age, and not the organic outcome of a live
ruptness of a revolutionary upheaval, and was based
ciples of representation. It

and continuing

tradition.

seemingly permanent

true that Masaccio

That

status,

tradition, in spite of

its

tenacious hold and

was already condemned to extinction by the

middle of the Trecento.

The

inner exhaustion of

Giottesque tradition.
paintings
ings

The

as in Florence

larger than ever before,

increased; but the

more and more

immediacy

eclectic.

patrons.

ments

were
place.

industrial scale.

of perception

to say,

The

size of the paint-

was

lost,

there was,

and the

style

significant that the stimulus

was given by

became

was confined to icono-

ecclesiastical

was

fre-

or even secular

Throughout the Middle Ages artists had accomplished creative achieve-

iconography: the small devotional pictures of the early Trecento

in the first place products of a vivid imagination that succeeded in giving

pictorial

310

the fountainhead of the

and the variety of the decorative schemes

What development

graphical motifs, but even here

quently external, that

itself,

painting of large fresco cycles continued, and panel

were produced on an almost

became

the second half of the Trecento

artistic forces in

was nowhere so pronounced

form

to certain religious conceptions.

Art became the

ancilla

striking

change

now

took

theologiae in the service of learned allegory,

illustrating intellectual concepts rather

representations began to appear

than visual themes. Didactic pictorial

customary Biblical and

in addition to the

legendary pictures, especially in the churches and monasteries of the Mendicant Orders.

The

movement

Franciscans had initiated this

half of the century.

already in the

Tree of

the

tree has

life

twelve branches, each bearing four

Life, after the

book

to illustrate pictorially.

The

idea did not lend

that artists

now

tried

made comprehen-

only by means of numerous inscriptions. The most detailed representa-

tion of this specifically Franciscan

Buonaguida,

and

to pictorial description,

itself

but required a kind of allegorical diagram, which could be
sible

2).

fruits representing events in

was the arrangement of the book

of Christ. This

in Florence

first

of St Bonaventure entitled Lignum Vitae (see the Revelation of St John 22,

The

of the Trecento

was the Tree of

typical motif in their monasteries

St Bonaventure, Christ's cross represented as the

The end

his

now

workshop produced

fectory,

and succeeded

shaped like

theme

tendrils,

by Pacino di
Taddeo Gaddi

in a panel painting

in the Florence Galleria dell'Accademia.

monumental version

for the Santa

Croce re-

to a remarkable degree in integrating the branches,

and the profusion of

inscriptive scrolls into a highly

decorative pattern. 3 But even Gaddi could not create a real picture out of
this non-pictorial

theme.

even more elaborate, didactic scheme was produced by the Dominic-

ans for the decoration of the chapter-house in Santa Maria Novella, called

the Spanish Chapel since the sixteenth century. 4

The

frescoes, painted

Andrea da Firenze between 1366 and 1368, are a penetrating, well-devised
illustration of Dominican ecclesiastical doctrine, with the Dominican Order
represented as the most important organ of the
itual

guidance and religious teaching, having

of the story of the Salvation.

The

as the logical structure of the
artistic entity,

its

Church

for purposes of spir-

roots in the principal events

uniform and compact

artistic realization is as

theme. Architecture and painting form a single

and doubtless the building was designed from the

the pictorial decoration in mind.
cross-vault supported

The

by powerful

large, plain

ribs.

The

room

pictures,

start

with

roofed by a single

framed by wide orna-

mental borders, extend over the whole surface of the walls, and also cover
the four

huge

vaults.

The complete domination of the room by the paintings
known until then. The whole work has undeniable

goes beyond anything

verve, and the confident handling of the

The

style of the frescoes,

personal academic
patrons.

The only

skill

winch

enormous

are well preserved,

surfaces

remarkable.

the product of an

im-

placed unconditionally at the service of the theological

personal

trait is a certain brittleness

dry and sober beside Giotto's monumental vet lively

of forms,
stvle,

which appear

and even beside

311

The end
of the Trecento
in Florence

Orcagna's austerity. The purpose of the frescoes

predominantly

illustrative;

although thematically they are wholly devoted to expounding the theolog-

Dominican Order,

doctrine and mission of the

ical

formal terms they

reveal a rapidly encroaching secularization of artistic expression.

no longer

by the

inspired

one considers the heavy load of

The Triumph

The form is
when

not surprising

with which the pictures are burdened.

ideas

of St Thomas Aquinas,

which

the work,

spirit of

the

left

wall,

schematic arrangement

of allegorical figures. Fourteen female figures, personifying the Liberal Arts

and the

Spiritual

and Temporal Sciences, are seated on thrones one beside
- a subject that would

the other, each with her leading exponent at her feet

have taxed the capacity of greater

on the opposite

wall, in

vation, also remains cold

cluded in

this

artists

than Andrea da Firenze.

The

picture

is shown the path to faith and salNumerous additional themes were in-

which mankind
and

rigid.

densely packed composition

at the

top

the Saviour in Glory

with choirs of angels and the symbols of the evangelists;
representatives of the religious

at the

and secular vocations arranged

bottom the

in strict order

of rank in front of a Gothic church, an idealized version of Florence Cathedral
as it

was then planned.

inicans

the

Finally, in the

same

picture, a

major

also depicted, their struggle against the heretics (pi. 108).

Dominicans dispute with the

infidels,

have penetrated the fold of the

faithful. It

unobtrusive charm to the dance of the young

The

life (pi.

upon

the wolves

the harshness of the style

that produces the gripping effect of this representation,

to the joys of worldly

girls,

and even gives an

abandoning themselves

log).

front wall of the chapter-house, interrupted

opening of the small sanctuary,

below by the arched

also treated as a single surface, depicting

the events of the Crucifixion and containing a multitude of figures.

begins in the lower

left

While

white and black spotted dogs, the

domini canes, hurl themselves, in a vividly symbolic attack,
that

Dom-

task of the

corner with a Road

Calvary,

The

and ends with

Descent into Hell, in the lower right. In the vaults there are four scenes
the

New

walls below.

The

Resurrection (pi. 107) in a

new

iconographic conception,

a strict hierarchical structure,

the Crucifixion. 5 In the right vault, above the picture of the
the Navicella, the small ship of the church, tossed

saved by Christ from drowning.

Holy Ghost

at Pentecost,

the divine

The

left

placed above

Church

Militant,

by the storm, with Peter

vault contains the Descent of the

complement

to the

Glory of St Thomas,

the inspired teacher of the church. Finally, above the entrance-hall and

312

site

from

Testament, corresponding in subject to the respective scenes on the

symmetrical in form and with

story

Christ's

the Crucifixion,

the Ascension of Christ.

The

oppo-

white-clad, hovering figure

of Christ thus appears twice, in the Resurrection scene and in the Ascension,

each time on the central axis of the room.
the inner logic of the

work

as a

The main emphasis

whole, and the real merit of the painter lay

room with

in the co-ordination of the architectural features of the

plicated

The
was

placed

the

The end
of the Trecento
in Florence

com-

scheme devised by the theologian.

chancel of the sacristy of Santa Croce, the so-called Rinuccini Chapel,

also decorated

Chapel, and there

with a fresco cycle
is

vanni da Milano, was working on
story of

about the same time

Spanish

as the

Lombard painter, Giocommission. The left wall depicts the

evidence that in the year 1365 a
this

Joachim and Anna and the

life

of the Virgin

to her marriage,

and on the right wall the legend of Mary Magdalene and the Raising of
Lazarus.

The

evangelists are portrayed

on the

vaults

and figures of

saints

the curve of the entrance arch. Giovanni da Milano, however, did not finish

The

the cycle.

frescoes

the lower zone are

by an anonymous successor of

Orcagna, the Master of the Rinuccini Chapel, 7 and are dry, unimaginative,

and technically mediocre, while Giovanni's contribution ranks with the best

work produced

in Florence at that time.

and ornamental

talent for decoration

His style displays the north Italian

pictorial construction, together

sensitive feeling for colour. His narrative scenes

quality (pis 110, 111), the

tours

surface.

ary

life,

Even

movements

and remaining arrested

The

spell

which

silent,

with a

undramatic

fusing with the gentle flow of the con-

in the dense texture of the delicately

chromatic

not broken even by the motifs taken from contempor-

are completely transposed into the prevailing poetic

in the Expulsion of Joachim

numerous

have a

figures, the

from

mood.

the Temple, a large lunette fresco

dramatic element

is still

with

subordinate to the formal pre-

sentation.

Although the severe
less

hierarchical structure, intended to emphasize the time-

nature of the events, was in conformity with the prevailing

Giovanni's personal contribution, the legacy of his

Lombard

be underestimated. The exquisite glowing colours of
tinguish

them from

all

them animation and
rounded

stylistic trend,

origin,

must not

his panel paintings dis-

other Florentine productions of that time, and give

a delicately substantial quality in

linear contours.

The

Milano painted for the high

harmony with

richly articulated polyptych that

Church

altar of the Ognissanti

the

Giovanni da

in Florence

unfortunately preserved only in part. Five of the original six side-panels together with their predella pieces are in the Uffizi.
centrepiece are

lost.

The

impression

this

The

have made beside the works of Orcagna's followers
that

made by

sixth panel

and the

magnificent All Saints' Altar must

Gentile da Fabriano's altarpieces

two

may

be compared to

generations later beside

313

The end
of the Trecento
in Florence

those of Bicci

Lorenzo. But there was

appeared in Florence

same time

at the

had no contemporary of comparable

made no

noticeable impact

stature.

on Tuscan

difference,

this

as Gentile,

Masaccio

that

whereas Giovanni da Milano

His north Italian sense of colour

painting.

In the second half of the Trecento the weight of tradition lay heavily
Florentine painting,

where Giotto's

petrifying effect. Already in the

strictly

generation of his followers

first

evident that Giotto's idealized, self-sufficient style

open for development. Every 'system'
measure of perfection
is

ordered world of form had a

only few

left

became

possibilites

prone to stagnation. As soon

as a

achieved further development stops, and instead there

until the system is ousted, overcome and replaced by
would have required another creative personality of Giotto's
But Orcagna had constricted and formalized Giotto's system still
and transposed it into a personal idiosyncrasy. The essence of Or-

only reproduction,

another. This
stature.

further,

cagna's Giotto-interpretation was the internal tension, and

relaxed
the

work

di Cione.

remained was the formalization. This

that

all

of Jacopo di Cione, the

produced

number

when

this

was

seen very clearly in

younger brother of Orcagna and Nardo

of altarpieces and small devotional pictures

between the 1360s and the end of the century. 8 The

severity of his forms,

which the types developed in the Orcagna workshop were reproduced,
has a charm of its own, but only rarely is the emptiness of this eclectic style
in

concealed, as in the large Coronation of the Virgin of 1373,
Galleria deH'Accademia,

now

in the Florence

and severity of the overall decor-

the splendour

ative effect.

With Giovanni

Biondo, whose work, covering a wide range of sub-

del

jects,

extended from 1356 to 1392, the Orcagna manner was

to a

mere

technical

gaiety of colour

may

skill.

have been

the critical approach to art

even in secular

The

circles.

irritating

had become

finally

reduced

fixed expression of his figures and careless

have

even to the people of

steadily

a drastic

his time, for

discerning since Giotto,

contemporary verdict on another

painter of the end of the century, Niccolo di Pietro Gerini, in a letter of the

year 1395, which says of his figures that they look

with an

axe'.

if it

so well

drawn

had been drawn by Giotto

one of the chief representatives of the
be seen from
in Florence. 12

314

its

though they were done

Naturally the painter did not share the opinion of his patron.

says that his Crucifix

'even

'as

his cold, classic

could not have been better

himself.' 11

Niccolo Gerini was in fact

still

that

surviving maniera giottesca, as can

Entombment of Christ,

San Carlo dei Lombardi

This tenacious adherence to a tradition that had long since

vitality inevitably

brought about

a reduction of

lost

monumentality. This

;

clearly seen in the frescoes in the sacristy of Santa

Taddeo Gaddi

Calvary,

which were placed around the

the Resurrection , and the Ascension of Christ,
earlier Crucifixion of

Croce - the Road

about 1400. All three were probably

The end
of the Trecento
in Florence

13
Beside Taddeo Gaddi's austere
painted by Niccolo Gerini and his pupils.

seem paltry

and

strictly tectonic Crucifixion,

done

and

restive, a decorative surface

ornament without monumental power.

There

and

livelier

half a century before, they

another Florentine master of the late Trecento whose style
less

constricted, although he too was a second-generation pupil

Agnolo Gaddi, the son of Taddeo, could with justification consider
himself heir to the Giottesque workshop tradition, and Cennino Cennini, his
14
Agnolo's style, however, was
pupil, expressly emphasizes this relationship.
of Giotto.

far less subject than

the other

Niccolo Gerini's to the dictates of the Giottesque formula

hand there

Agnolo's major work

no doubt

as to its derivation

from Taddeo Gaddi.

the imposing, well-preserved fresco decoration of

main choir chapel of Santa Croce, done in about 1380, a huge work depicting in a manner more epic than dramatic the whole detailed Legend of
the Holy Cross (pis 113a, 113b). It consists entirely of a succession of crowd
the

scenes

shown,

as in a

book

ground and extending
depth until
stage

it is

of pictures, within landscapes rising in the back-

in considerable depth.

The

finally lost in the distant darkness.

light penetrates into the

The Giottesque

pictorial

substantially enlarged, but remains essentially unaltered. Space

figures are not

and

brought into harmony; the various elements have only a sur-

face unity like that of a tapestry, without tension or contrast. These frescoes
are

monumental only

eries,

in actual size.

The

supple

lines, the

flow of the drap-

and the bright colours are already suggestive of the new decorative

sense of the International Style. This tendency

even more pronounced in the

frescoes portraying the life of the Virgin, in the cathedral of Prato, the last

work

Agnolo Gaddi and

his

workshop

(1392-5).

Agnolo died

in 1396,

and had he lived longer, he might well have associated himself with the new
stylistic

movement

of the International Gothic.

Camaldolensian monk, Lorenzo Monaco, to take
This brings us to the limits of our enquiry.

The

was

left to his pupil,

this step.

the

International Style in paint-

ing was not just the end of the Trecento tradition, but something entirely

new:

was the

first

for the time being

the

way

attempt to unify

still

all

the elements of a picture, though

based on a single ornamental motif. This prepared

which
from a

for the next, truly revolutionary step, the optical unification,

treats the picture as a section of infinite,

single viewpoint.

homogeneous

space, seen

We have previously noted that Giotto had already established

the foundation for

this,

but he had stopped in midstream.

never discarded

315

The end
of the Trecento
in Florence

the medieval hierarchy o£ pictorial values that

matter. For

merely

him

the primary element

ancillary. It

reversed: space

was prescribed by the

was the

only in the Early Renaissance that

becomes the given medium,

this relationship

which everything

subject-

which space was

figure, to

basically

of equal value.

This

what we mean when we

talk of the consistently traditional Giottes-

que character of Florentine painting up to the end of the Trecento. There

were of course

differences in personal styles

may

passing generations, although these

and changing trends with the

examination, and sometimes only to the experts. In

names would have

several other

who

reveal themselves only
tins

kind of approach

to be mentioned: Niccolo di

Tommaso,

painted amiable, naive frescoes in Pistoia in the Convento del T; the

presumably Venetian Antonio Veneziano, whose
trasts

with that of

Ins Florentine

who

Spinello Aretino,

painted

con-

soft lethargic style

contemporaries; the prolific and versatile

many

frescoes

and panels

Lucca, Pisa,

Florence, Siena, and in his native Arezzo. 16
Finally

most
to

should mention a great

The few remnants

entirely lost.

show

that grave nobility

disappeared even in this

last

artist,

that

whose work unfortunately

al-

have survived, however, are enough

and true monumentality had not completely

phase of post-Giottesque painting. In 1404 Ghc-

rardo Stamina completed a fresco cycle in the chapel of St Hieronymus in
Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence. All that has been recovered of these
frescoes are fragments of isolated figures (pi. 112). 11

The

light colours, al-

ready touched with the sweetness of the International Style, and the large

powerful forms, reveal a true painterly
nique of Agnolo Gaddi,

who was

style,

probably

and the precise hatched tech-

his teacher,

overcome. Beside these fragments, preserved by chance,
in Florence since

Orcagna seems

standard

we must go

Maso

Banco. There

tion: in the

insignificant.

del

the painting

done

virile of Giotto's pupils,
itself

on our

atten-

Carmine, Masaccio painted

frescoes. It

was from Stamina,

his

indeed

Masaccio could have learnt to construct form from colour

alone, without linear contours (as Alberti later

namentation. 18

all

works of comparable

another comparison that forces

major work, the Brancacci Chapel
that

find

back to the most disciplined and

same church, Santa Maria

from anyone,

almost completely

would

certainly be

wrong

demanded) and without or-

to regard

Stamina

as a

founder

or even a precursor of the Renaissance, but in a general sense he was one of
its

spiritual ancestors.

and Masaccio,
316

ing,

its

great

stands at a critical point in time

between Giotto

custodian of the most valuable heritage of Florentine paint-

monumental

tradition.

14 Trecento painting outside Tuscany

whose rise and decline we have here traced over a
more than two centuries, only the two most important still sur-

the Tuscan schools,

period of

vived

eve of the Renaissance, those of Florence and Siena. All the other

at the

Tuscan

including the once powerful and prolific Pisa, had sunk in the

cities,

course of the Trecento to provincial insignificance. Except for Francesco
Traini,

who was

had

Italy

probably a native of the

city, painters

be engaged for the decoration of the

from other

Campo

parts of

Santo in Pisa:

Taddeo Gaddi, Andrea da Firenze, Antonio Veneziano, Spinello Arctino and
Benozzo Gozzoli. The conquest of Pisa by the Florentines in 1406 only put
the final seal on a course of development that in the artistic field had long
since

come

an end. Outside Tuscany,

peninsula, Giotto's ideas

ing to the receptiveness of the local

had

a far-reaching effect.

modes

Under

soil.

Rome. The

place,

new Tuscan

Italian

accord-

and the frescoes

style, local

and though they

as the dialects of a

however, where Giotto's seed

Navicclla mosaic

fruit

In addition, the Sienese influence

the impact of the

bore the same relation to each other

There was one
in

north and south of the

of expression evolved especially in northern Italy,

differed, they

in the

had been planted, germinated and borne

fell

language.

on barren ground

in the Lateran

and the choir

evoked no noticeable response. In 1309 the papal court had
Avignon, and in its absence almost the entire artistic life of Rome

of St Peter's

moved

withered throughout the whole century.

Martin

The
pressed

in 1420, that art too

situation in Naples
its

was only with the return of Pope

was restored

to the city.

was more favourable. The House of Anjou ex-

authority in splendid ecclesiastical and secular buildings, and Italy's

317

Trecento painting
outside

Tuscany

most famous painters were brought to adorn them

and Giotto. 1 All three were active

tini,

helped by

whom

some

assistants,

whom

receive

number

of years,

they brought with them, and others

they probably trained in Naples

behind them a syncretic kind of

Simone Mar-

Cavallini,

in Naples over a

itself.

They made

deep mark, and

continued even in the

art that

later

left

Trecento to

new stimuli from the north. The most important creations of Neapolitan
on the

painting in the third quarter of the Trecento are the frescoes

vaults

of Santa Maria Incoronata, representations of the Seven Sacraments and the

Triumph of Religion. 2 Nothing
frescoes.

One

style

them was

known

of the

artists

possibly Roberto di Oderisio,

who

painted these

whose

style

known

a signed panel painting, a Crucifixion, in Eboli near Naples. 3 His

from

to us

with local features barely noticeable, a description

basically Sienese

that applies in greater or lesser degree to everything painted in Naples during

the Trecento.

oped above

Even the exuberant spread of marble

all

in the royal

Notwithstanding
as art

its

tombs,

political

kingdom

importance, the

which devel-

sculpture,

Tuscan masters.

essentially attributable to

concerned, only a colony, and on the whole

of Naples was, as far

did not alter

this status

during the period of the Renaissance.
Further north
did not

rise

also, in

above

Latium, Umbria and the Marches, Trecento painting

a provincial level. Regional characteristics

almost exclusively to iconographic motifs, and in these

were confined

where piety

districts,

tended towards mysticism, some individual, sensitive pictorial themes were
evolved, especially in connection with the cult of the Virgin, and in representations of the Birth of Christ.

Stylistically this art received

inspiration

its

mainly from Siena. Further north, notably in the Marches, Florentine influence

workshop,

in the school of

winch never conceals
but

who was

was dominant. Allegretto Nuzi,

third quarter of the Trecento,

this

active in Fabriano in the

was doubtless apprenticed

Bernardo Daddi or of Maso

provenance,

similar to that of

in a Florentine

Banco. 4

Nardo

also has distinctive personal characteristics. His soft lines,

colours,

and

quiet, reticent

temperament

Flis style,

Cione,

mild sweet

anticipate the art of Gentile da

Fabriano, his junior by a generation or two.

The

between them was

link

and follower of Allegretto Nuzi, Francescuccio Ghissi, who
left a number of Madonna panels, all of the Madonna deH'Umilta type. They
are true devotional pictures, homely and pious, and most of them, still in
possibly a pupil

their original settings, are

worshipped

well-defined school with

or in the Marches. But in

318

its

Romagna,

proper local school established

to this

own

itself at

day by the

character never

local inhabitants.

emerged

Umbria

the region north of the Marches, a

an early

stage,

and

as far

back

1300

find there a gifted painter of miniatures, Neri da Rimini, a follower of

the Bolognese tradition of manuscript illumination. This school received a
further stimulus

from

be evolving in the

Assisi,

a unified Italian style

masters. This

might well have come about

not impelled painting in an unswerving direction along
path. Rimini

Tuscany

seemed already to

decade of the Duecento out of the encounter between

last

Roman and Tuscan

where

Trecento painting
outside

was one of the

places

where he worked,

his

Giotto had

own

prescribed

read in the con-

temporary chronicle of Riccobaldo da Ferrara. 5 The frescoes Giotto painted
there for the Franciscans probably perished

cesco was converted into the

Tempio

wood

earlier,

which,

mentioned

by Giotto immediately
This

raises the

be natural to

and

takes

its

place

was doubtless

has shown, there

must have been
commission

a specific

lists

Giotto's

Arimini Padue

also lost,

and

is still

works done

the

to be seen there.

all

would

with the assumption that the Crucifix was painted in Rimini, 8

Romagna

that

works

The

'in

eclesiis

good

deal of evidence

before his stay in Padua. 9

brought him

fresco cycle for the Franciscans in Rimini. Perhaps

'Assisij

among

after the turn of the century, 7

as recent Italian research

Riccobaldo

Church of San FranThe Crucifix painted on

their

chronological question of Giotto's presence in Rimini.

start

indicating that Giotto
It

when

Malatestiano. 6

it is

minorum

there,

probably the

not by accident that

in the following order,

frescoes painted for the Franciscans in

work

that remains of the

some

Padua are

scant remnants in the

chapter-house of the 'Santo' (the church and monastery of St Anthony),
to Giotto himself. 10 If this trail has

which cannot be attributed
aright, Giotto's activity in

Rimini can be placed in the

Trecento, and his 'Rimini

style', like that

Tempio

Malatestiano,

would

that acceptance of this

five years of the

exemplified by the Crucifix in the

take an intermediate place between his Assisi

and that of the upper zone

style

first

been followed

in the

Arena Chapel in Padua.

chronology would throw

new and

believe

valuable light on

the development of Riminese painting, but specialized research has so far not

attempted to draw the conclusions from
It

this

well-grounded hypothesis. 11

has hitherto been assumed that the earliest products of Riminese panel

painting were at the same stylistic stage of development as the
in Assisi in

early

Riminese panels

Museum
Urbino.

in Boston)
It

works done

about 1300 or shortly thereafter. The major example of these
is

altar dossal

from Urbania,

(now

in the Isabella Stewart

Gardner

the former Castel Durante, not far

from

bears the date 1307 and the signature of Giuliano da Rimini, 12

and depicts the enthroned Madonna, adored by kneeling women, flanked by
eight saints beneath painted arcades in the Cosmati style.

elements are combined in

this

work

in a

Roman and Tuscan

way found only

in Assisi

- except

319

Trecento painting
outside

Tuscany

coming from Rome soon

that here Giotto,

after

may

1300,

himself have

introduced both elements to Rimini, in which case his 'Rimini

have been Giuliano's direct

inspiration. It has

of the Boston dossal closely resembles the figure of the

for these

in Assisi. 13

Chapel

St Nicholas

two

One may

same

common

postulate a

who

figures, for the painters

saint in the

Riminese model

executed the frescoes of the St

Nicholas Chapel in 1306 or slightly later were presumably Giotto's

not only in Padua, but also

earlier in

much

to support the hypothesis that Giotto

he went to Padua.

ing.

The

did in Assisi,

However,
and

where

long

though

was only for

the centre.

Its

and for

what mannered, but

was brought

its

drew on Roman-Florentine

verticals,

be,

e.,

the style

on Riminese paint-

work on
an early

to bear at

long time, never completely determined the character

looked to those north

become

effect

pupils of the Giotto school continued to

Giotto's influence,

of Riminese painting.

have a marked

in turn to

may

this

Rimini before

for several decades.

lasted for a

local school

once established, seems to have persisted for some time, just

link,

new commissions
stage

was

the other hand, Giotto's Padua style,

of the Arena Chapel, was

assistants

Rimini, and had available to them

examples of both phases of the master's development. However
there

would

style'

been observed that the St Clara

stock of forms that the distinctive

art.

For

general

its

artistic

predilection for elongated proportions
abstract, intersecting diagonals,

also give

character

which Venice was

Italian stylistic trends of

make

dignity and elegance

(pi.

later to

and numerous

this style

116).

some-

They

are

devices that appear later, in a completely different stylistic context, in Tintoretto

and Veronese. All the constituent elements serve to hold the compo-

sition in a

two-dimensional plane, and Giottesque

able, are re-interpreted

values.

The

and white,

ideas, frequently

by the Riminese masters back

cool colours, carmine and sea-green,

produce

also

lilac

The

a detached shallow effect.

recogniz-

into two-dimensional

and pale blue, pink
inclination to

two-

dimensional design was thus not a sign of an archaicizing approach, but a
lasting indigenous feature.

borrowed forms
ginal

are only the

way. Oddly enough

who

those painters

Nor

can

raw

this art

material,

this style

be accused of eclecticism, for the

which

treated in a highly ori-

was employed with most assurance by

adhered closely to Giotto. The

artist,

who

frescoes of the life of the Virgin in the chapel beneath the

painted the

Campanile

Sant'Agostino in Rimini, was doubtless at one time a pupil and assistant of
Giotto; this

clear

rative motifs. 14

320

And

dimensional design.

from

his technique, the

type of his figures, and his deco-

yet without effort he transposes everything into a

The

severe verticality of his

composition

two-

reminiscent

of the solemn remoteness of Byzantine mosaics, and his pictorial space achieves

an indeterminate, suspended quality. The transparent and
rical architecture

of the temple in the Presentation

seems to conform closely to Giotto's 'Rimini
gated, to be intermediate between the

the

symmet-

strictly

Temple

Tuscany

115)

(pi.

and, though over-elon-

style'

abstract architecture in the last scenes

and the economically constructed buildings

of the St Francis legend

Trecento painting
outside

in the

upper zone of the Arena Chapel. The huge fresco of the Last Judgment, which

removed from Sant'Agostino

has been
is

done

first

Both works were probably

style.

second decade of the Trecento, possibly even in the

in the

of the

to the Palazzo dell'Arengo (pi. 114b),

pre-Padua

also reminiscent of Giotto's

decade.

from

Sant'Agostino, scenes

hand the

the other
the

life

of St John the Evangelist, are

mental, and appear to have been done

last

years

frescoes in the choir chapel of

later.

The

less

monu-

diffuse, prolix narrative,

the reversion to a scale of sizes to indicate the relative importance of the
figures, the

continuous progression of the scenes without separation on the

large picture surface,

show

these are old-fashioned

all

and provincial

a lack of understanding of Giotto's stylistic principles.

features,

The

and

Enthroned

Madonna, on the rear wall of the choir, seems to have been derived from
Giottesque model, but

The

style also indicates a later date.

its

Pomposa Abbey
Romagnese monumental style, showing

frescoes in the refectory of

the early

also traces of Cavallinesque types. 16 In
ciples are

gathered for the Last Supper

and

light,

'about 13 17', suggested
literated,

and the

by an

and

one of the scenes Christ and the

dis-

at a

round

and

table. Figures

table are

The colours
technique remarkably bold. The date,
(pi.

114a).

inscription of doubtful authenticity,

now

ob-

seems entirely convincing. 17

All the other surviving

monumental works

Romagna

belong, without

The

exception, to the second or even third quarter of the century.
in Santa

work

are yet another

influences of Giotto

united in a two-dimensional pattern of circling lines
are unusually cool

Chiara in Ravenna,

They show

painted in the 1330s.
the vaults, after the

now

model

evangelists

and other

New

frescoes

were possibly

and Fathers of the Church on

of the Doctors' Vault at Assisi,

a Crucifixion of deep pathos,
teristic style

the chapel of the Almshouse,

Testament

and

scenes.

in addition

The

charac-

of these paintings justifies their attribution to Pietro da Rimini,

whose style is known to us from a large signed crucifix in Urbania. 18
The chapel of St Nicholas in Tolentino is the counterpart of the Spanish
Chapel

in Florence in the shape of the

although the scheme

room and

the profusion of pictures,

not so systematic and uniform. The representations

consist of the life of the Virgin, the life of Christ,

and the legend of St Nicholas,

321

Trecento painting
outside

Tuscany

with a Doctors' Vault above. The frescoes have
details,

but

many charming

individual

now it is clearly apparent that the first fruitful impact of the Roman-

Tuscan sense of form on north

had lost its force, and with
mannered and provincial elements predominated.
More important on account of their distinctive character and severity of
Italian painting

the passing of time

form were

the frescoes in Santa Maria in Porto, near Ravenna, unfortunately

World War. But from

destroyed in the Second

date proposed

would be

for the implication

had already reached

full

the

stylistic

'between 13 14 and 13 19',

local historians,

evidence, the

much

too early,

that the specific features of the Riminese style

maturity in the second decade of the Trecento. 19

In panel painting the best

work

of this

Romagnese school was done

its

very small-scale productions. The polyptych form was only rarely used for
altarpieces,

and for

numerous

separate pictures,

long time the old-fashioned square

was

preferred.

paliotto,

divided into

In addition there

were small

diptychs and tabernacles, and also triumphal crosses painted
in

type to Giotto's Crucifix in San Francesco in Rimini.

known

to us

by name.

on wood,

Few

of the

In addition to Giuliano and Pietro da Rimini

similar

artists

are

we should

mention Giovanni Baronzio, whose signature, with the date 1345, is found
a retable in the Urbino Gallery. Some important authorities contend that

who

San Francesco

the artist

in that

same year painted the

in Mercatello,

not been established. 20

and signed

the other hand,

large Giottesque crucifix

'Johannes pictor', but tins has
there

unsigned altarpiece in the same church in Mercatello

Urbino
and

retable.

his signature

covered the work of several

numerous panel paintings

not yet been

satisfactorily classified

its

The

no doubt

that

the

closely related to the

Perhaps Giovanni Baronzio was head of a busy workshop,

the relatively

their dates.

that

artists.

Despite intensive

have survived

efforts,

Romagna have

according to their authorship or even to

local tradition of this

remote

craftsmanlike character, had died out

district, especially

notable for

by the end of the Trecento.

Bologna, the capital of Emilia, north-west of Romagna, was closely connected

with Tuscany in the thirteenth century. Altar panels and crucifixes in Bologna's churches

wall-paintings
specific

came from

the

workshops of

were done by Tuscan

Bolognese school

artists.

Pisa,

Lucca and Florence, and

In wall-

and panel-painting no

discernable in the Duecento.

Only manuscript

illumination achieved a degree of importance through the encouragement

received

law
322

faculty.

declined.

which was famous throughout Europe for its
From the turn of the century Tuscan influence in Emilia gradually

from
It is

the university,

true that as late as 1330 the altarpiece bearing Giotto's signature,

which was mentioned

was commissioned

earlier,

Maria degli Angioli in Bologna, but

on the whole Giotto's

new Tuscan
and

painters

style

art

found

this

was only

had remarkably
its

way

for die
a

Church

of Santa

workshop product, and

influence in Bologna.

little

Trecento painting
outside

Tuscany

The

there only indirectly through Riminesc

an attenuated, provincial form. 23

emerged for the first
Romagna. The first local artist
da Bologna, who is known to have worked in

In the second quarter of the Trecento a local style
time, closely dependent at
of great stature

San Francesco

was

on the

first

Vitale

as early as 13 30.

His

style of

earliest

known work,

the fresco of The

now

Last Supper, preserved in a fragmentary condition, and

in the

Bologna

Pinacoteca Nazionale, was also originally in San Francesco, and can be related
to a

payment voucher

of 1340.

Another painting by

Vitale,

an authenticated

major work signed and dated 1345, is the Madonna dei Dcnti, in the Museo
Davia Bargellini in Bologna (pi. 118). 20 It has a grave demure charm. The
Gothic type of figure has undergone an odd transformation, and has

delicate

acquired a quality not merely bourgeois but almost rustic, revealing a highly

power. The angular, strongly modelled forms, the awkward
movements of the Child, and the lively rhythm of the Madonna's
all seem to be a reaction against the courtly elegance and remote idealism

original creative

yet vigorous
cloak,

of the Gothic style. In a later work, the polyptych of 1353 in San Salvatore
in

Bologna, Vitale painted

and

grace.

The

with moving restraint
rhythm of this picture is difficult to
1345 Madonna, and even more with

a Coronation of the Virgin

sweet, melodic linear

reconcile with the austere style of the

the

vehemence of expression

in the four panels depicting the legend of St

Anthony, which were transferred from Santo Stefano
coteca Nazionale

119).

(pi.

Yet

to the

Bologna Pina-

crowded legendary

these small,

scenes reveal

the characteristic style of Vitale at every point, and the dispute over their
attribution to

him

Denti.

They seem

as a

unfounded.

difficult to

sition

determine, but

the other

it is

hand

their chronological

probably close to the Madonna

have been done soon

after 1345, at

podei

about the same time

wall-painting that belongs to the same extremist stage of the master's

development. The huge fresco, The Nativity, from the desecrated church
of Santa Maria (or Sant'Apollonia) di Mezzaratta,

Pinacoteca Nazionale

movement. The bold
tuates the gable form
relation to

by the

it;

(pi.

120),

now

also in the

triangular composition of the principal scene accen-

style

may

and can be understood only in

also

have been partly determined

would have in its setting in the room at
however, this work reveals the presence of a

effect the fresco

Bologna

spirited figures in graceful, dramatic

of the entrance wall

and the animated

height. Primarily,

shows

a considerable

creative talent

323

Trecento painting
outside

Tuscany

expressing

itself

with,

remarkable freedom, and makes other paintings in Flor-

seem

ence of that time

Tintoretto again suggests

dimensional

effect,

and

dull

artificial in

comparison. The analogy with

not only in the linear structure and two-

itself,

but also in the direct affinity of

scenes along

its

side walls

temperament.

artistic

was continued with narrative

In the 1350s the decoration of Mezzaratta

pupils and followers of Vitale. 26 Vitale himself

seems to have participated only intermittently. In 1348-9 he was in Udine,

where he decorated

St Nicholas.

the exuberant

temperament

now on

but from

a trace remains,

1351),

now

Mezzaratta fresco hardly

light

warm

and

emerge with
colours,

the St Eustace scenes in the abbey church of

as in

and

in the

his painterly qualities

creasing strength. His frescoes take

impasto,

with scenes from the legend of

a chapel in the cathedral

in the frescoes in Santa

Maria dei Servi

and

insoft

Pomposa (about

Bologna, unfortunately

very bad condition; 28 so that the San Salvatore altarpiece of 1353

by no means unique

its

exquisite decorative effect. In his last years Vitale

produced works of rarefied beauty, for example the small panel of the Ador-

now

ation of the Kings,

which the

figures

in the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh,

with

two-dimensional pattern.
left a

their gentle gestures are incorporated into a strict

When

he died, between 1359 and 1361,

his style

deep impression on Bolognese painting.

Among

the painters of the younger generation

di Francesco,

who

should note Jacopino

emulated the personal and expressive linear

style

evolved

Vitale in his Mezzaratta frescoes. 29 Jacopino's polyptych containing a

Coronation of the Virgin,

No. 161

in the

Bologna Pinacoteca Nazionale, has an

animation unusual in Trecento works: flashing glances and abrupt turnings
of the head,

and

stiff

and haughty elegance of

features.

The

nique

The

tech-

lush and sensuous, and the colours strong and passionate - glaring

brown, and nacreous

red, yellow, white, a harsh

flesh tints.

The brownish
Bolognese

underpaint,

evident everywhere,

school.

also present in their wall-painting as a base for the strong col-

It is

ours, the rosy flesh tones,

found

The

Bologna

characteristic of

surviving

the entire

work

monumental painting

but in the abbey church of Pomposa,

ancient building, dating

remote lagoon
far

itself,

and the white highlights.

The most comprehensive

district, is

from

not

east of Ferrara. 30

the early Middle Ages and situated in a

a large basilica with a lofty campanile visible

from

away. The decoration, covering the whole of the nave, the apse and the

entrance wall, was done around 13 51 by various Bolognese masters,

324

have a

figures

hieratic dignity, and are presented frontally in the archaic manner.

them,

as already

among

mentioned, Vitale. Taken separately, the frescoes often have

but they are drawn together by a single gold-brown tone,

a rustic crudeness,

and the overall
tation

The iconography

impressive.

of the apse represen-

and the huge Last Judgment on the west wall suggest

was only
century.

The division of the
The solid, robust

walls of the nave

reminiscent of Sant'Angelo

odd

and

effect,

hardly concealed by the decorative unity of the

Tuscany

work

narrative painting of the Bolognese Trecento

thus interpolated in the medieval scheme produces an

the anachronism

that the

Trecento painting
outside

an older decorative scheme, possibly of the eleventh

a restoration of

in Formis.
artists

effect

work

a whole.

The second

half of the

productions, and

frames

still

di Paolo,

the

many

survive.

The

and Lippo

common

Trecento

Bologna was

prolific in craftsmanlike

multi-panelled polyptychs with elaborately carved
painters,

Simone and Cristoforo da Bologna, Jacopo

Dalmasio show

character of the school -

little
its

individuality, but they

display

all

heavy, prosaic temperament, sturdy

forms, and earthy colours. 32

The

style of

Barnaba da Modena

similar,

though

originated in a differ-

combined

ent background. Emilian ponderousness and earthiness are

work with

a precise

knowledge of Sienese

sense of the Byzantine tradition,
in

northern

Italy.

which

painting, and even

at that

persists in the

Madonnas, although the opulent splendour of the

his

gold highlights and the indiscriminate solidity of the colours have

common

with Byzantine

The downright,

art (pi. 121).

earthy feature of Emilian art was essentially

Trecento. In the hands of one of the leading

was

little

and forward-looking than anything produced

realism

time had not yet been forgotten

Something of the solemnity of the old icons

measured rhythm of

in his

more with

raised to a high creative level. 34 In

more modern

in other parts of Italy in the

Tomaso da Modena,

artists,

Tomaso's

this

frescoes in the chapter-

house of San Niccolo in Treviso, dated 1352, the characterization of the figures
is

so penetrating that at

first

glance they might appear to be the

fifteenth- rather than a fourteenth-century artist.
in as

are
cell.

many

forty variations: the principal figures of the

shown reading,
The ability' to

ternal

symbolism

art,

work

of a

presented

Dominican Order

writing, or meditating, each seated in a narrow,

wooden

depict the nature of the intellectual activity without ex-

even more remarkable than the

jective facial characteristics (pi. 122).

medieval

The same theme

The theme

skill in

itself

representing ob-

was an old one

repeated thousand of times in pictures of the evangelists and

portraits of authors in

manuscript illumination. Medieval

artists

knew how

to illustrate vividly the intellectual stature of such figures, but the specific

nature of the intellectual activity was always indicated

by purelv

external

325

;

Trecento painting
outside

Tuscany

means, for instance by the act of writing, or of sharpening the
Doctors' Vault in

Romagna

Assisi,

and

quill.

In the

especially in the emulation of this motif

by the

school, such external symbols

dena's portraits of the Dominicans,

towards the portrayal of

Mo-

were prominent. Tomaso da

on the other hand, were

intellectual activity

a decisive step

without symbolism, of an in-

ward psychological process. It would be wrong to see the new realism only
as a more acute observation of the external aspect of reality, although in
this,

too,

Tomaso

surpassed

all

his predecessors. Occasionally

examining the

to the old motifs of writing or

quill,

resorted

still

but he gave a

new and

lively interest to these practical tasks.

In the naturalism of his painting and
depths,

Tomaso da Modena

its

penetration to

new

psychological

resembles his great and enigmatic fourteenth-

century contemporary, Theodoric of Prague, whose half-length figures of
saints

and Fathers of the Church

in the

Castle are comparable achievements.

Chapel of the Cross

in Karlstein

was probably not mere coincidence

Emperor Charles IV also provided Tomaso da Modena with commisTwo of his works are still in Karlstein, a triptych showing the Madonna
and two saints, and another Madonna (pi. 123) and an Ecce Homo, probably
that

sions.

designed

and not,

as a diptych,

sometimes thought, the remnants of a

Tomaso presumably executed these works in his home town
Bohemia seems very unlikely. 35 On the other hand Theodoric

larger altarpiece.

a journey to

might well have

visited

northern

Italy,

and possibly

was he

who

established

Tomaso and the emperor. It is tempting, however, to
course Bohemian and German painting might have taken if

the contact between
speculate

on the

Tomaso had

himself

worked

seems to have been familiar with the courtly atmosphere. In

the legend of St Ursula,

mood and
It

Prague and painted a large fresco cycle

now

in the

Museo Civico

sensuous enjoyment of contemporary

brings to

mind

than a century

life

his fresco of

worldly

in Treviso, a

predominate (pi 124).

the famous St Ursula legend painted

later,

there.

by Carpaccio more

and the voluptuous female types are

like a

Trecento

preparation for the figures of Palma Vecchio and Sebastiano del Piombo.

The

fashionable 'miparti' of the draperies and the splendid brocade designs,

now

badly damaged, must originally have been highly decorative. The col-

ours, as far as they can be seen in the present state of the pictures, are bright

and warm,

already infused with Venetian light, 36 and the linear

and the two-dimensional unity of the forms

number

have

the horizontals. 37

The wide

neckline of the

rhythm

a Venetian appearance.

of figures, or heads, are often brought together

simple large contour.

326

also

women's

Tomaso, who attached such importance

by means

of a

dresses emphasizes

to two-dimensional

unity in his pictures, was not greatly concerned with depth

Dominicans

in the portraits of the

San Niccolo, the

have unwittingly been converted into the diagonals of
in the frescoes of the St

Already

effects.

lines of perspective

Trecento painting
outside

Tuscany

and

a surface pattern,

Ursula legend the three-dimensional elements have

diminished even further. However, the natural mobility of the figures, and
their

inward

respect

life

and

have increased, and

fine psychological gradations

Tomaso da Modena, who

gressive artists of the century.

one looks for

in this

died in 1379, was one of the most pro-

comparable achievement

can be found once again in Bohemia: the busts of Peter Parler in the

tri-

forium of Prague Cathedral, done between 1379 and 1393. Naturally there
is no question of an actual connection, but the comparison clearly demonstrates that the highest

half of the
art,

achievements of north

Italian painting in the

second

Trecento were superior to and more advanced than those of Tuscan

which had stagnated

new

In addition to the

its

own

great tradition.

progressive aspects discussed above,

Tomaso da Mo-

dena's style exhibited with exceptional purity those characteristics of north
Italian painting that

were

to be present for centuries.

and of decorative surface

and

values,

fine sense of colour

a feeling for beautiful materials, are

generally considered to be the special and permanent attributes of Venetian

But

painting.

these 'Venetian'

have a history of

their

Italian

mainland

shows

that at the beginning

way

as in

Venice

parallel to that of other

tine tradition

grounded

was nowhere

in history

looked to the

East,

latest

itself.

its

recognizable from the Renaissance on,

their origin

and

development took

north

its

a course of

Italian districts.

much on

nowhere

associations.

sanctuary of St

Mark

its

own,

The adherence

so close as in Venice, and

art, visible

found

to be

the

glance at Trecento painting in Venice

and contemporary

Byzantine monumental

The

traits,

own, and

Byzan-

else so

firmly

For centuries Venice

possessed a major

work of

proof of the long historical connection.

medieval mosaics in St Mark's, those in the baptistry and the

chapel of San Isidro in the north transept, were done only in the middle of
the Trecento, in a strange and often contradictory mixture of eastern and

western

stylistic

elements.

And

long before

this,

the collaboration

between

Byzantine mosaicists and their local pupils had evolved a 'syncreticism of
typical Venetian character'. 38 Panel painting followed a similar course, but
as its

took

models icons and manuscript illuminations, which were technically more

closely related to

figure type, the

than mosaics.

smooth

From

these

models

derived the Byzantine

metallic modelling, the cold refined colours,

the brownish flesh tints over green under-paint.

and
327

Trecento painting
outside

Tuscany

Paolo Veneziano, the leading Venetian painter of the

conformed

cento,

closely to the Byzantine

in spite of this the essentially Italian,

of his style

of his works, but

and more particularly Venetian, character

communicated

Romagna. One example

ters of

Venice and

Byzantine was a

now

in all likelihood

his altar dossal,

came under

at its

of the Death of the Virgin, of 1333, in the

the

through the pain-

dated 1321, originally in a

in Istria. 39 His leaning

Dignano

development seen

later

Tre-

half of the

first

some

unmistakable. In the early part of his career he

influence of Giotto's ideas,

church

models

most pronounced

museum

towards the

in the painting

of Vicenza.

Still later,

became increasingly important. In the Coronation of the
painted around 1350, in Venice (formerly in the Brera Gallery,

Italo-Gothic influence
Virgin (pi. 117),

Milan),

two

posture that

angels playing musical instruments kneel in the foreground in a
also

linear style of the

Gothic rather than
spread

flat

work of Vitale da Bologna. 40 The flowing
hems of the gowns draping the principal figures is also
Byzantine. The decorative splendour of the gold pattern,
found

in the

across the draperies without regard to the flow of the folds,

truly

Madonna

Car-

Venetian, although

follows the Byzantine manner. In the

pineta near Cesena (1347), a delicate enchanting figure, the robe and mantle

and jewelled arabesques

are decorated with gold

to the pale colours. 41 This

the master,

minor

who

works of

part.

who was

active in the third quarter of the Trecento,

the encroachment of the International

ering of the Gothic,

Keys

that give a precious quality

typical 'Venetian Gothic'. In the last

died between 1358 and 1362, Byzantine influence plays a

Lorenzo Veneziano,

St Peter, in the

Style, the last

Museo Correr

Europe. 42

It is

one of the

movement, which spread through

once again

a specifically

the

warm

1370 with

in Venice, a panel of

transparent colours and undulating play of line,
of this stylistic

and most opulent flow-

already perceptible. His Enthroned Christ handing the

earliest

examples

whole of western

Venetian interpretation: the broadly

conceived pattern of Christ's gown, sprinkled with gold, envelops the forms
in a glittering aura, quite unrelated to the actual

atmosphere of Venice.

rather the mysterious lustre of the mosaics in St Mark's that

tured

by means

when Venetian
city

of a completely different technique.
painters discovered the essentially

and illuminated

their pictures

And

even

much

selves

The

account for the subsequent

later,

watery atmosphere of their

with the golden light of Venice, the deep

glow of these mosaics remained the source of their inspiration.
But the influences and conditions we have just described do not
328

It is

here recap-

brilliant

them-

development of Venetian painting.

contribution of the mainland was necessary to give Venetian art

its full

lasting radiance.

Bergamo,

Many

greatest masters

its

from

or, like Titian,

came from Veneto, Verona and

the lower Alps, and even in the Trecento

there are instances of painters being

summoned from

the mainland to

who

Virgin in the Palazzo

Ducale between 1365 and 1368, came from Padua, 43

known

in Venice.

died around 1370, possibly

however, into graceful and elegant forms. The

translated,

from

work.

in Guariento's style

charming blend of the various

major work

Madonna and
in

art are also

stylistic

elements

displayed in a series of panels, remnants of the

the Cappclla Carrarese,

depicting the

Eremitani,

Venice had on him, and the influence of Byzantine

clearly seen in his

ceiling

since 1338.

His style plainly shows the influence of Giotto, whose powerful

monumentality he
effect that

painted the huge fresco of the Coronation of the

worked

to have

Tuscany

work

in Venice. Guariento,

where he

Trecento painting
outside

now

in the

Museo Civico

the divine hierarchy of the angels

(pi.

wooden

in Padua,
125).

His

Padua was the decoration of the main choir chapel in the

which was unfortunately badly damaged

in the last

war. 45

The

decoration of the base, with representations of the planets and the ages of

man
the
is

painted in

monochrome,

which

left wall,

is still

probably attributable to

the

hand of

matched

The narrative scenes on
somewhat crude, and their execution
assistants. The composition, however, reveals
The figures and the groups are convincingly
are particularly fine.

standing, are
his

a confident artist.

to the skilfully foreshortened buildings,

prisingly progressive. These frescoes
of the 1360s,

and they served

and the perspective

were probably painted

sur-

in the first half

to demonstrate Guariento's qualifications for

the large commission in the Palazzo Ducale in Venice. His fresco of Paradise

with the Coronation of the Virgin

on Venetian

painting.

Although

in the centre

now

made

a lasting impression

very poor condition,

shows

that

more restrained and more
monumental. 46 The types of the figures had become almost classical, very
different from the mobile Gothic figures of his earlier works. The large beautiful Madonna in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, expressing warm, reGuariento's style in

its

final

phase had become

strained feeling, also probably belongs to this late phase of the master's

work. 47

After Guariento's death another master appeared in Padua, Giusto de'

Menabuoi,

also called Giusto

basic elements of his style

Padovano. 48

were formed

He came from

there.

There

Florence, and the

some

evidence, un-

authenticated yet credible, that in 1376 he completed the decoration of the
Baptistry in Padua, one of the most ambitious undertakings of Italian

monu-

mental painting. 49 The Romanesque structure encloses a large square room,
vaulted with a dome.

the top of the vault Giusto designed a colossal half-

length figure, in the Byzantine manner, of Christ the Redeemer, surrounded

329

Trecento painting
outside

Tuscany

by the heavenly host
characterized as

Prominent among them is the Virgin

in concentric circles.

Queen

Heaven

Western fashion by her cloak and crown,

but her demeanour, that of Maria orans, conforms to the Eastern type.

The

profusion of figures and the almost uninterrupted sequence of scenes from
the

Old and

New Testaments

and overcrowded
given so

little

decorating.

effect. It

in the

dome and on

the walls give an oppressive

strange that this Florentine painter should have

room he was
from each other by very narrow painted
define them as separate pictures, and even less

consideration to the architectural structure of the

The

scenes are divided

frames, quite inadequate to

adequate for the purpose of giving a firm structure to the general decoration

room. And yet there

of the

Chapel
full

in Padua, Giusto

supreme example of

value to both

room and

pictures. It

of his frames in the Peruzzi Chapel,

more two-dimensional

lighter,

had before him

a masterpiece of painted

Arena

that give

true that Giotto reduced the width

and

in the

frameworks

that his followers preferred an even

treatment; but even the two-dimensional,

highly decorative painted - and again very wide - borders used by Andrea

da Firenze in the Spanish Chapel are conceived in relation to the architecture

and the
at the

setting; they give

same time

of this kind,

emphasis to the dynamic structure of the

ribs,

and

clearly define the pictorial surfaces. Giusto attempted nothing

and

his

treatment

feeble

and uninspired.

trying to achieve an effect similar to that of a Byzantine

He was apparently
room entirely dec-

orated with mosaics, which ignore the architectural features and produce the
effect of a

uniform and continuous

surface.

However,

its

hard opaque colours,

earthy shadows, and brittle Florentine style vitiate any idea of a
in mosaics.

The

details, too,

room worked

frequently give the impression of a mixture of

elements that have not been fully integrated. Although there

stylistic

siderable

charm

some

ized and yet sensitive Annunciation scene, the overall effect
In his representation of interiors Giusto

found some

unconvincing. 50

modern soautonomy and

compactness in the individual scenes. 51 Giusto was important

mediary
ing,

who

con-

surprisingly

but they lose their effectiveness owing to the lack of

lutions,

of the compositions, for example in the highly styl-

transmitted Florentine

stylistic

as the inter-

elements to north Italian paint-

but he was not capable of achieving a proper synthesis.

There was, however,
of Verona. Influenced

a painter

who had

this ability, Altichiero, a native

the painting of Giotto, and possibly also that of

which were
north Italy's greatest contribution to Trecento painting. In fifteenth- and
sixteenth-century sources he is mentioned together with Jacopo Avanzo,
Giusto, he produced in Padua

330

whose

actual role

works of

disputed. Altichiero

true monumentality,

was evidently the

principal master

with overall responsibility, and Avanzo only one of the collaborators, whose
different style appears here

Both were done

and there

in the 1370s

and

coes in the chapel of St James,
the

first

in the

'80s,

now

two surviving

one shortly

San

fresco cycles. 52

Felice, in the 'Santo' in

payment

to be painted. Altichiero received

The

after the other.

The arrangement of the
The room is rectangular in

the final payment, in 1379.

for this

Trecento painting
outside

Tuscany

fres-

Padua, were

work, possibly

was dictated by

pictures

by three
from the legend
of St James. Only one of the end walls provides space for two more scenes
on rectangular surfaces. On the main wall, facing the entrance arcades, which
open into the church, is a large Crucifixion divided into three sections. Whereas the legendary scenes were plainly executed by assistants acting more or
the architectural design.

shape, spanned

cross-vaults with eight ogival lunettes containing scenes

less

independently, the Crucifixion

painted in a grave mature style that can

be attributed only to Altichiero himself. Even the colour tones are different
here from those in the legend scenes where bright local colours, such

yellow and carmine, are applied on
fixion

such contrasts arc avoided, and everything

light green,

and

mild yellow, orange, pink and

warm

solid white.

Blue

to excess. Altichiero

lilac in

and

rich gradations,

where

applied crudely

equally restrained in his use of gold patterns, which

Venice tended to be displayed on an extravagant

of high rank

trans-

harmony, and blended

introduced with marked restraint,

in contrast to Giusto's frescoes in the Baptistry,

and

and more

lighter

parent. Soft tender colours are used with a fine sense of
to give a firm texture

a rather dull turbid base. In the Cruci-

scale.

a colourist

in this respect the true precursor of the great Venetians.

was concerned not merely with the

material, absolute beauty of colour as

such, but also with the creative use of colour, the mastery over a rich range

of graduated shades

and

those hidden values that

their overall effect;

come

to light only

and he succeeded

through

evoking

proper relationship of

chromatic tones.

The advanced

stage he reached in his treatment of colour

cipation of future achievements can be seen clearly in

Padua

and

itself.

his anti-

The

fres-

by the young Titian in 151 1 in the Scuola del Santo leave no
there was a close connection here. Titian made a thorough study

coes painted

doubt that

of Altichiero's painting, and not only with regard to his handling of colour.

The massive proportions

of the figures, their broadly conceived,

slow-flowing contours reappear in Titian's work. There
in the

was

rhythm

even a similarity

of the grouping, an aspect of composition in

which Altichiero

also a precursor in his time: his

plastic,

somewhat

groups are two-dimensional rather than

but within the general structure of the pictures they are each indi-

331

Trecento painting
outside

Tuscany

vidually defined and full of vitality. In the grouping of his figures he shows

command

a subtle

colour.

harmony

of composition that matches his feeling for

The group

women

could be an invention of the High Renaissance, and indeed the
it still

seems alive

with the

precisely

tell

and

how much

how much
However,

of colour and form.

merely to

of this

due

emerged

no doubt. His

a native sense

develop-

in the

specifically painterly

not found in any Venetian Trecento painter,

and yet firmly contained

Venice only

in the surface pattern.

still less

Altichiero's second fresco cycle in

which stands beside the Scuola
a barrel-vaulted,

view

These features

and from the

in the course of the fifteenth century,

High Renaissance onwards they have been regarded

and

importance

mastery of monumental composition - the easy rhythm of the pictorial

structure, fluid

to actual continuity

artistic affinity

as to Altichiero's

of Venetian painting there can be

treatment of colour
his

woman

child.

recollection,

ment

where the

in profile looks like a paraphrase of Altichiero's

impossible to

It is

and

memory

in Titian's Presentatioti of the Virgin in the Temple,

Anne

figure of St

in the left of the Crucifixion fresco (pi. 126)

Padua

in the

as typically

del Santo in the forecourt of the 'Santo'. It

oblong symmetrical room, designed from the

to the fresco decoration.

Altichiero received final

The

payment

with

start

building was begun in 1377, and in 1384

for the frescoes,

tapestry. 53

with the uniformity of a

Venetian.

Oratory of St George,

The upper

which cover

two

of the

all

four walls

pictorial courses

Arena Chapel, into the barrel vault, divided into
by wide borders containing medallions. However, the painted
borders, unlike Giotto's in the Arena Chapel, which extend right down to
partially extends, as in the

three sections

the floor, are limited to the vault region.

With

the exception of the

end

wall,

which has two painted columns, there are no special illusionistic elements in
the framework of the frescoes. On the other hand, the pictures themselves
have

many

richly developed architectural motifs,

and

also an internal archi-

tectural structure that gives pictorial expression to the
solidity of the walls.

The stocky

a large, simple contour,

even

compact

figures, like Giotto's, are

when

surfaces

and

always outlined

they are in vigorous

movement

strongly foreshortened. Emphatic verticals and horizontals provide the surface
pattern.
Christ,
is

The

design for the entrance wall, five scenes

from the Annunciation

particularly uniform.

from the childhood of
Temple (pi. 128),

to the Presentation in the

Compared with

Giotto's corresponding compositions,

the scale of the figures in relation to the landscape and architecture has plainly

become more
332

correct

and

realistic.

Altichiero

knew how

to enlarge the spatial

values without impairing the compactness of the picture surface.

Here too

work

his

and can be considered

entirely in line with Giotto's,

continuation of the development

we have

temple in the Presentation scene,

The

face.
is

Trecento painting
outside

Tuscany

and structure of the building are

and yet everything remains firmly related

to the picture sur-

receding lines are hardly apparent, and the facade of the building

presented as a

design,

flat

The

position as a whole.

which imposes

on the

side walls,

are illustrated.

The

powerful rhythm on the com-

and the Adoration of the Kings

elaborate architectural features arc
of Sts George, Catherine and

all

the scenes, but the general design

whole work were undoubtedly

his.

innovation such

motionless upright lances in the Beheading of St George
presence of an

artist

some

and
the

127) reveals the

(pi.

The

of the highest rank and originality.

portrait-like character of

Lucy

wall has a Coronation of the Virgin and a Crucifixion.

Altichiero did not himself execute
spirit of the

where the legends

altar

stable in the Nativity

follows the same principles. Even
seen

Gothic design,

a three-aisled basilica of

a masterpiece of perspective: the depth

perfectly clear,

as a direct

observed in the Arena Chapel. The

surprisingly

of the figures that has been frequently noticed

example, in the Burial of St Lucy) does not disturb the harmony of the
grand, tranquil style of the whole work, and they too display a true sense of
(for

monumentality

from
is

well as of realism.

The

use of colour differs considerably

that in the Crucifixion fresco in the chapel of

San

Felice.

greater part

played by the duller, brownish-yellow, and smoky-grey tones, to which

added the white and pink of the architectural

are

colour in the earlier

work

The wealth of
some differ-

features.

rarely evident. Nevertheless, despite

ences in scale of certain scenes, and the variety and turbulence of the events

portrayed, a

homogeneous

too. Everything

surface uniting

all

the pictures

achieved here

related to the surface, the figures, the buildings,

the landscape features. This

the art of northern Italy, and yet

and even

it falls

propounded by Giotto. No Trecento artist ventured
ahead of Giotto as Altichiero, and still remained so faithful to him.
the definition

Altichiero had
cither in

when

Verona or

direct followers.

in Padua.

spell of this courtly

decorative character and playful,

else. Its

left

no school

Verona, Milan and Venice.

and

find

works

It is

so far

of any importance

in other parts of Italy, there

the International Style prevailed in the north,

completely under the

that

within

where

was an interlude

artists

came more

French movement than anywhere

mannered grace were eagerly taken

only in the middle of the Quattrocento

that are a belated vindication of

realized within the limitations of his age.

what

Some

Altichiero aspired
of Jacopo Bellini's

drawings, with their architectural vistas and spatial depth, preserving nevertheless

surface

unit)-,

could have been derived directly from Altichiero's

333

Trecento painting
outside

Tuscany

frescoes.

There

only one novel aspect of

Altichiero: the representation of space

his art in

by means

which

the Venetian masters of the Early Renaissance took the
ciples of spatial representation

Altichiero

art,

to be

334

same sense

Venetian

merged more and more with the main stream

of Italian

stylistic

work

unity

its

special heritage,

and

this

was

of Altichiero. Italian painting had achieved

by the end

of the Trecento. That the struggle

was due solely to the
by the explosive development that was to take place in Florence.

resumed again

pressure exerted

Florentine prin-

in the

pictorial conception.

nevertheless succeeded in retaining

almost complete

new

But

When

largely attributable to the

had

and re-interpreted them,

had re-interpreted Giotto's

painting subsequently

Bellini surpassed

of central perspective.

in the following century

Notes on the text

Abbreviations of the works most frequently referred to

Anthony: Edgar Waterman Anthony, Romanesque
Princeton 195
Bologna: Ferdinando Bologna, La pittura
Frescoes,

dellc origini,

italiana

Rome/Dresden 1962

Borsook: Eve Borsook, The Mural Painters of Tuscany from Cimabuc to Andrea del Sarto, London
i960
Brunetti/Sinibaldi:

Pittura

italiana

Duecento

del

Catalogo della Mostra Giottesca di

Trecento,

Firenze del 1937, a cura di Giulia Sinibaldi e
Giulia Brunetti, Florence 1943
Coletti: Luigi Coletti, I Primitivi. Vol. I.: 'DalFartc
benedettina a

Senesi c

Giotto",

Giottescln,

Novara 1941; Vol. II: 'I
Novara 1946; Vol. Ill:

Padani\ Novara 1947
Edward B. Garrison, Italian Romanesque
Panel Painting, an Illustrated Index, Florence 1949

Garrison:
Ghiberti:

Lorenzo

Commentarii),

Ghibertis

edited

Denkwiirdigkeiten
Julius

von

Schlosser,

Berlin 1912

des

San Francesco

toskanischen

nich 1962
Kleinschmidt: Beda

Hochaltarretabels,

Kleinschniidt

M.,

MuDie

Assisi,

vols, Berlin

1915-28; Kleinschniidt, Die Wandmalereien der
Basilika San Francesco in Assisi, Berlin 1930
Ladner: Gerhart Ladner, 'Die italienische Malcrei

11. Jahrhundert', in Jahrbuch der Kunsthisto-

Sammlungen

rischen

193

P-

Wien,

new

series, vol.

33#

van Marie: Raimond van Marie, The Development
of the Italian Schools of Painting, 19 vols,

Hague 1923-38 van Marie, Le scuole
;

italiana,

vols

1, 11,

The

della pittura

& 1934
A Critical and HisPainting, New York

L'Aja/Milan 1932

Ofmer, Corpus Richard Ormer,
:

Corpus of Florentine

torical

I930#
Salvini:

Roberto

Salvini, Giotto, Bibliografia,

1938
Toesca, Storia: Pietro Toesca, Storia
liana I, II Medioevo, Turin 1927

Rome

dell' arte

Toesca, Trecento: Pietro Toesca, Storia delVarte
liana II, II Trecento,

Gnudi: Cesare Gnudi, Giotto, Milan 1958
Hager: Hellmut Hager, Die Anfange des italienischen
Altarbildes / Untersuchungen
zur Entstehungsgeschichte

Basilika

Vasari: Le

vite de

tettori serine

ita-

Turin 195

piu eccellenti pittori scultori ed archi-

da Giorgio Vasari, 9 vols, edited

Gaetano Milanesi, Florence 1878-85
Wilpert: Joseph Wilpert, Die romischen Mosaiken
und Malereien der kirchlichcn Bauten vom IV. bis
XIII. Jahrhundert, 4 vols, Freiburg 1916

Notes on the text

Introduction
i

(p. 9)

The

evidence for Giotto's influence on

earliest

the painting of the north

art

monumental copy

the

Strasbourg of
about 1320 (W. Korte, Oberrhcinische Kunst X, 1941,
p. 97). In the third decade of the 14th C. (1324-9)
Giottesque compositions from the Padua frescoes
were reproduced on the altar wings of Klosterncuburg

cf.

of the Navicella in Jung-St Peter in

For the genesis of Vasari's

Kunstge-

(O. Pacht, Ostcrreichische Tafehnalerei der Gotik, 1929).

Vasari, Kunstlcr der Renaissance, edited

by H. Sieben-

hiiner, Leipzig 1940 (selected biographies in

6 (p. 12)

pi. 4).

(p.

11) Salvini

No.

19. Filippo Villani's

biographies

libro

Antonio

Billi,

Berlin

Qnellenbuch

Schlosser,

also in
892, p. 73
zur Kunstgeschichte des
1

translation

by A.

New Haven

1932-3

Ilg, Quellenschriftenf.

(2 vols).

Cologne 1958,

p. 47ff. ('Das Tafelbild des FriihmittelHager, p. 33 ff.
7 (p. 12) See especially Wilpcrt; also van Marie I (1923)
and his Italian edition he scuole della pittura italiana,

vol.

11)

note

Milan 1932;

(p. 13)

Goctz,

35.

Schlosser,

The theory

2), p. 375.

Qnellenbuch

Italien

(p. 14) J. v.

Schlosser, Quellcnbuch

in den

(p. 14) J. v. Schlosser,

The
i5)Wilpert

53-74; Wilpert
Maria Maggiore
around the mid- 4th C. Presumably, however, they
were done at about the same time as those on the triumphal arch, which have an inscription dating them in the
(p.

p. 413

fF., Ill,

pis 8-28,

reign of

Pope

Sixtus

III

(432-40). This date

also

(cf.

note

2), p. i^gff;

Rheinlanden, Dusseldorf 1916,

pp. 15, 16.

(cf.

dates the mosaics in the nave of Santa

im Mittelalter, 2 vols, Leipzig

La pittura e la miniatura nella Lombardia,
Milan, 1912, p. 40 note 40 and p. 60 note 4. For a
detailed account see P. Clemen, Die romanische

of the three periods of

Anthony; for the nth C.

also P. Toesca,

Monumentalmalerei

Ghiberti p.

also

1942.

Vienna 1871.
(p.

see Ladner.

German

Kunstgeschichte

Kollwitz, 'Zur Friihgcschichte der Bilder-

altcrs').

abendland. Mittelalters,

D.V.Thompson,

German

verehrung', in Rbmische Quartalschrift , vol. 48, 1953,
p. iff. H. Schradc, Vor- und fruhromanische Malerei,

;

Vienna 1896, p. 27ff(p. n) Salvini No. 17. Cennino d'Andrea Cennini,
II libro dell'artc, text and English translation edited by

series, vol.

with detailed introduction).

translation

Austrian panel-painting in the Staatliche Gcmalde-

tit.,

new

schichte,

of painters are reprinted in their entirety in C. Frey,

his sources sec

Kallab, Vasaristudien, Quellenschriften

There are Giottesque elements in the stained-glass
windows of Konigsfelden in Switzerland of about the
same date, c. 1325-30 (cf. M. Stettler, Konigsfelden,
Farbenfenster des XIV. Jhs, Laupen near Bern 1949).
Berlin-Dahlem (c. 1350) is derived from
the composition of the Nativity in Padua (Pacht op.

Abbreviations).

(cf.

work and

1908. See also

galerie in

Stuttgart 1953, p. 12.
(p. 11) Vasari, Milanesi's edition

XV, Vienna

can be traced back from Ghiberti to the Trecento,
W. Paatz, Die Kunst der Renaissance in Italien,

Qnellenbuch

early

proposed by R. Komstedt,

Augsburg 1929,

(cf.

note

2), p. 188.

Middle Ages

Vormittelalterliche Malerei,

p. I4ff. (with

an impressive analysis

of the style). Finally for the dating, see G. Matthiae,
I (secoli IV-X), Rome
with additional literature (C. Cecchelli,

Pittura rontana del medioevo,

1965, p.

i,6ff.

P. Kiinzle).

;

337

Notes on the text

The

(p. 15)

known through

copies commissioned

(Wilpert

Cardinal

Francesco Barberini in

p. 565^!).

The

frescoes of

Old

1634

St Peter's are recorded

commissioned around 1610 by the papal
notary Giacomo Grimaldi, and made before the
in drawings,

demolition of that part of the basilica (Wilpert I,
drawings are now in the Vatican
Library. Cf. J. Garber, Wirkungen der friihchristl. GemaldezYkleii der altcn Peters- und Pauls-Basilikcn in
Rom, Berlin/Vienna 191 8; Garber, like E. Miintz
before him, started with the assumption that both
p. 376ff.); all the

were done

cycles

in the

i.e.

at the time of Pope Leo I (440-61),
middle of the 5th C., and showed that they

were restored

in part

by Cavallini

end

at the

of the

two

op.

cit.

original

Peter's;

Wilpert,

cf.

fragments

these

Wilpert

G. P. Bognetti, A. de Capitano d'Arzago,
G. Chierici, Santa Maria di Castelseprio, Milan 1948
(the basic work that proposed a date around the middle

8 (p. 16)

of the 7th C. for the frescoes). For other opinions
see following note.

(p. 17)

Cf. G. P. Bognetti, Castelseprio,

artistica,

Guida storicoVenice i960. B. gives a concise and lucid

account of the controversy and the conclusions of

pi.

G. Matthiae, Pittura romana

who

treats the

problem

and

critical reservation.

(p.

15)

(cf.

note

di pittura laziale
1,

(p. 16)

63^

(p. 16)

(cf.

note

1), p. S7Jf.,

Leo dating with lucid

The most important examples

Garber
195

of the

are listed

Also G. Matthiae, 'Note
del Medioevo', in Bollettino d''Arte 36,
2), p. 28ff.

2) p. 44/45.

B's

"Die

numerous bibliographical

may

Weitzmann's book

Cycle

of S.

C); Meyer Schapiro
in

stressed:

Maria di
(dating them in the second

Fresco

Castelseprio, Princeton 195 1

quarter of the 10th

The Art

Bulletin

(discussing
34,

1952,

p. 147JF.) places the frescoes in the second half of the
8th
C. R. Morey in Tlie Art Bulletin 34, 1952,

i"T$jf.:

second half of the 7th

A. Grabar in

Gazette des Beaux-Arts 1950, p. I07jf. comes closest
to Weitzmann's view; according to him the Castelseprio style should be regarded as an early stage of

denkmiiler,

- Kleinschmidt

de Griineisen, Sainte-Marie-Autique,

Geneva 1906-10. For

und

Malerei in Munster-Miistair', in Frithmittelalterliche
Kunst, Akten zutn III. Internationalen Kongrefi fur Friihmittelalterforschungen,

Olten and Lausanne 1951, pp.

167-252.

Geza de Francovich, 'II ciclo pittorico della
Chiesa di San Giovanni a Miinster (Mustair) nei
Grigioni', in Arte Lombarda II, 1956, pp. 28-50.
12 (p. 18) For Milan as the probable centre, see Francovich op. cit., p. 36.
13 (p. 18) G. Panazza, 'Le scoperte in S. Salvatore a
Brescia', in Arte Lombarda V, i960, p. ijff. G. Panazza,
11 (p. 17)

'La Chiesa di S. Salvatore in Brescia', Atti dell'ottavo

II,

di studi sull'arte dell'alto

Milan 1962. Panazza

decoration of the centre

Rome

discoveries since 1947

see L. Birchler, 'Zur karolingischen Architektur

Congrcsso

H2jf.

Garber (cf. note
- also cf. p. 56.

From

references (p. 66ff.) the following

in Mitt, der Schweiz. Ges. zur Erhaltung histor. Kunst-

frescoes

ments date from
Toesca (Scoria, p. 1034 note 38) associates them with
Jacopo Torriti. For the frescoes of the nave of St Peter's
see Garber op. cit. p. 27/f! who dates them in the time
of Leo the Great. Waetzoldt (op. cit. p. 70) considers
the time of Pope Formosus (891-6) more probable;
also

des

zur Wende des 8. Jhs., Diss. Munich 1934. P. Romanelli and P. J. Nordhagen, S. Maria Antiqua, Rome
1964. G. Matthiae, Pittura romana (cf. note 1), p. n6_/f
6 (p. 16) Wilpert IV, pis. 133, 134.
7 (p. 16) Wilpert IV, pi. 135; Anthony pi. 25.
7. bis

were

p. 402^".;

144; the fragthe third quarter of the 13th C;
I,

p. i7ff., pis 23-31.

Illustrations

Muhoz in Nuovo Bullettino di Archeologia

Cristiana, 1913, p. 175;

653^ Anthony

the Renaissance in the middle of the Byzantine period,
and not as a parallel or derivative.
10 (p. 17) For earlier discoveries see J. Zemp &R. Durrer,
'Das Kloster St. Johann zu Miinster in Graubiinden',

and pis 465-472.

p. 66jf.,

Die romische Malerei vom Beginn

K. Weitzmann,

II,

baroque period: S. Waetzoldt, 'DieKopien des 17. Jhs.
nach Mosaiken und Wandmalereien in Rom', .Rom.
Forschungen der Bibliotheca Hertziana, vol. XVIII,
Vienna/Munich 1964. According to Waetzoldt
(p. $6ff.) the paintings found by Cavallini in the nave
of St Paul's had probably been restored once in the
early Middle Ages, c. 700, closely following the
originals of the 5th C. Cavallini, too, evidently
remained faithful to the iconography of the older paintings, which were apparently in need of renovation,
though by no means completely obliterated. Grimaldi
also commissioned copies of the St Peter cycle in the

published by A.

338

Kitzinger,

current research.

vestibule

comprehensive catalogue has
13th C. Cf. p. 59.
recently been published, of the copies done in the

Waetzoldt

1911. Wilpert

frescoes in St Paul's, destroyed in the fire

of 1823, are

aisle

Medioevo [1959], vol.

p. nojf.) dates the
'soon after 816'. H. Torp's

(op.

cit.,

attempt to date the paintings of San Salvatore in the

The

third quarter of the 8th

i.e.

date

in the

still

Langobard period, has met with strong opposition
(H. Torp, 'II problema della decorazione originaria del
Tempietto Langobardo di Cividale del Friuli - La
data ed i rapporti con San Salvatore di Brescia', in
Quademi della FACE No. 18, Udine 1959). For a
discussion of these theses see following note.

(p. 18)

G. de Franco vich prefers

vol.

Medioevo,

1962, p. 6sff.

Seep. -joff.
The monastery was destroyed by the Saracens
in 882; only scanty remnants of the nine churches and
chapels that existed at that time have been preserved.
The frescoes are in the cruciform Lawrence Chapel,
now half underground, on the left bank of the

15 (p. 18)

(p. 18)

1962, p. 66, note 117).

H. Belting, Die Basilica dei SS. Martiri in
und ihr fruhmittelalterlichcr Freskenzykltis,
Wiesbaden 1962.
19 (p. 19) H. Belting op. cit. p. 132/f.
20 (p. 19) J. Wettstein op. cit. (cf note 16), p. %2Jf.:
'2nd half of 9th C. or beginning of ioth' (also
further information).
however, the earlier
See,
dating by Bologna, p. 26ff. (with 3 colour pis): 'c.

dam
L'art

(Vitzthum- Volbach,
Wildpark-PotsToesca, Storia, p. 4o8ff. E. Bertaux,

dcr Kunstwisscnschaft
u. Plastik d.

Mittelaltcrs,

1924, p. 49ff.).
dans LTtalie meridionale

M. Avery, The
1936, 13

ills,

Paris

1904,

p. 93_/f.

Exultet Rolls of South Italy, Princeton

pis

CXC-CXCIV.

affreschi della Cripta di S.

Volturno' (report on
dell'Istituto

Centrale

Lorenzo

C. Brandi, 'Gli
a S.

Vincenzo

state of preservation) in Bollettino
del

No.

Restauro,

31/32,

1957,

p. 93 ff. Janine Wettstein, Saiit' Angela in Formis et la

peinturc medievale en Campanie,
(detailed

description and

Geneva i960,

discussion).

Gabinetto Fotografico Nazionale,

p. 6gff.

Photographs:

Rome; and

Soprin-

tendenza, Aquila.

(p. 20) P.

bardia,

Toesca, La pittura

Milan 1912,

Colour

(p. 19)

plate in

Wilpert IV,

pi.

56; Ladner p. 90Jf. and pi. 53;
G. Matthiae, Pittura romana {cf. note

pi.

plates

on pp.

(p. 19)

210; van Marie

Anthony
1), p.

pi.

46;

223; colour

228, 232.

A. Muiioz,

Restauro del Tenipio della Fortuna

Rome

1925. Ladner p. 9^ff., pis 54-59; van
Marie, Italian edition vol. I, p. 14; Anthony p. 68,
Virile,

pis 59,

60; G. Matthiae, Pittura romana

(cf.

note

1),

and fragments were published
together for the first time by Jacqueline Lafontainc,
'Peintures medievales dans le temple dit de la Fortune

p. 228ff. All 25 scenes

Virile

Rome'

Etudes de philologie,

d'histoire anciennes publiies

d'archeologie

par Vlnstitut Historique Beige

de Rome, vol. VI, Brussels-Rome 1959. The increasing
atmospheric danger to the frescoes has recently

necessitated their
It

removal from the temple's walls.
where they will be kept

has not yet been decided

in future.

2
1

19)

762-800'.
21

Volturno, near Castellone, north-west of Isernia. A
by G. Graf Vitzthum

Handbuch
Die Malerei

van Marie I, p. 122$., especially p. 126.
(p. 18)
H. Belting has pointed out that the representation
of the Crucifixion goes back to Carolingian models
(Die Basilica del SS. Martiri in Cimitilc, Wiesbaden

18 (p.

vivid description and evaluation
in

Middle Ages

Cimitile

a later date, see Atti

dell'ottavo Congresso di studi sull'arte dcll'alto

early

p. 42ff.

e la miniatura nella

Ladner,

p. i2Sff.

The eleventh and

Lotn-

Anthony,

p. 9$ff., pis 149-154. G. R. Ansaldi, Gli affreschi della
Basilica di S. Vincenzo a Galliano, Milan 1949; also

detailed study of the paintings in the

cenzo, which Ansaldi dates in the

nave of

nth

Vin-

C. (the
story of Samson, legends of SS. Christopher, Vincent,
and Margaret, unfortunately preserved only in incomplete state). Discussion by C. R. Morey in The
Art Bulletin 34, 1952, p. 163, and by A. Grabar in
Cahiers archeologiques VI, 1952, p. 177/f. (according
to Grabar the paintings in the nave could possibly
also have been done as early as the beginning of the
last

twelfth centuries

nth C). G. de Francovich, 'Arte carolingia ed ottoniana in Lombardia', in Rom. Jahrb. f Kunstgeschichte
VI,

1942/44,

113 ff.

(for

Galliano p.

158,

159).

Bologna p. 32jf., pis 8-11.
2 (p. 20) At the founding of S. Vincenzo Aribert was
sub-deacon of S. Ambrogio. His portrait as donor
holding a model of the church was in the apse and
is now in the Ambrosiana in Milan (Anthony, pi. 154).
3 (p. 20) The words petici(o) and postulatio are allusions
to Psalms 119, V, 169, 170; cf. H. Schrade, Vor- und
friihromanische Malerei, Cologne 1958, p. 247. The
line-drawing of the apse representation in Schrade,
is not complete because it omits the figures

p. 245,

339

Notes on the text

standing on the

(p. 21)

left

of the archangel Michael;

hand Schrade

the other

first in

(526-30), Wilpert

pi.

ioj and Anthony

Cosma

the apse of SS.
III,

pi.

102;

Anthony

cf.

pi.

20;

(p.

21) S. Bastianello

P. Baldass, 'Disegni della

(p. 22) Cf.

(p.

in F.', in

Formis,

Naples 1962 (with numerous

Cava

dei Tirreni/

colour). Janine Wettstein, Sant' Angelo in Formis

notes 13, resp. 4).
about this time.

(p. 23) Cf.

des

said

affreschi

v. Schlosser,

abendland.

Qucllenbuch zur Kunst-

Mittelalters,

Vienna

1896,

p. 20off.

(p.

23)

A. Boeckler, Abendlandische Miniaturen bis
der romanischen Zcit, Berlin and Leipzig

zum Ausgang
340

1930, p.

74^

Brussels 1930, p. 26off.
(p. 24) The fresco was in danger of deterioration and

M. Bonicatti, 'Considerazioni su alcuni
medioevali della Campania', in Bollettino

24) Cf.

(p.

edition of this

were

still

book

that the frescoes in the

part of the original structure

had already sugC. for the artistically
inferior hermit scenes on the curved surfaces on the
(p.

24) Toesca (Storia, p. 936/37)

gested a date in the

13 th

sides of the vestibule.

(p.

27)

Cf.

Bettini, Pittura dclle origini cristiane,

Novara 1942; and
20

(p.

27) Cf. esp.

Coletti

van Marie

I,
I,

V.ff especially

pis 71, 72.

Ladner

p. tfff.

D. M. In-

p. I2gff., also L. Coletti,

'Arte benedettina' in Enciclopedia Cattolica
col.

\22.<,jf.\

cf.

II (1949),
the qualifying remarks of E. Carli

('Affreschi benedettini del XIII secolo in Abruzzo',

Le Arti I, 1932, p. 442/f.) who says: a true
dictine 'style' has never existed.

the 'Chronicon monasterii

Mustair,

For the iconography of S. Angelo in Formis
F. X. Kraus, Die Wandgemalde der St.Sylvester-Kapelle zu Goldbach am Bodensee, Munich
1902. Supplementing Kraus and Dobbert (cf. note 9):
G. de Jerphanion, La voix des monuments, Paris and

(p. 27)

Bene-

A. Boeckler, (Abendlandische Miniaturen, 1930

p. 72) sees in the oldest Exultet Rolls of the

from

preserved during the restoration.
18

to have been

77 and
The decoration can also be dated

the extracts

Casinensis' in
geschichte

John

also

vestibule

peinture medievale en Campanie,

church. In 1089 the church
'nuper constrncta' (Morisani, Gli

early as about 800 in St

(p. 23)

first

et la

Geneva i960 (with
a complete description of the frescoes and full
discussion of the research up to date).
10 (p. 23) Ascended the papal throne in 1086 unter the
name Victor HI but died in 1087. Sant' Angelo in
Formis was given to the convent on 1072, and Desiderius immediately began the building of the new

generally accept

circular wall surface had been heightened to connect
with the pointed arch vaulting. The joint was hidden
by the fresco. This invalidates the speculation in the

mostly in

illustrations

inscription identify-

now

d 'Arte XLIII, 1958, p. 12 ff. After the removal of the
fresco plaster it was revealed that the original semi-

p. 76ff. Anthony p. 9oJf. O. Morisani, Bisanzio e la
pittura
Cassinese,
Palermo 1955; Morisani, Gli

Angelo

7 ff.

affreschi

pp.14, 337, notes 9, 10.