Memoirs of the early Italian painters / by Anna Jameson; thoroughly revised and in part rewritten by Estelle M. Hurll.
- Anna Brownell Jameson
- Date:
- 1899
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Memoirs of the early Italian painters / by Anna Jameson; thoroughly revised and in part rewritten by Estelle M. Hurll. Source: Wellcome Collection.
53/335 page 19
![which, as a first endeavor to give variety of expression and attitude to a number of persons — all seated, and all but two actuated by a similar feeling — must still be regarded as extraor- dinary.1 The pope, Boniface VIII., hearing of his marvellous skill, invited him to Rome; and the story says that the messenger of his Holiness, wishing to have some proof that Giotto was indeed the man he was in search of, desired to see a specimen of his excellence in his art: hereupon, Giotto, taking up a sheet of paper, traced on it with a single flourish of his hand a circle so perfect that “ it was a miracle to see ; ” and (though we know not how or why) seems to have at once converted the pope to a belief of his superiority over all other painters.2 This story gave rise to the well-known Italian proverb, “Pin tonto che P 0 di Giotto ” (rounder than the 0 of Giotto), and is something like a story told of one of the Grecian painters.3 But to return. Giotto went to Rome, and there executed many things which raised his fame higher and higher; and among them, for the ancient basilica of St. Peter’s, the famous colossal mosaic of the Havicella, or the Barca, as it is some- times called. It represents a ship, with the Disciples, on a tempestuous sea ; the winds, personified as demons, rage around it. Above are the Fathers of the Old Testament; on the right stands Christ, raising Peter from the waves. The subject has an allegorical significance, denoting the troubles and triumphs of the Church. This mosaic has often changed its situation, and has been restored again and again, till nothing of Giotto’s work remains but the original composition. It is now in the vestibule of St. Peter’s at Rome. (It is over the arch facing the principal door, so that you must turn your back to the door to see it.) For the same Pope Boniface, Giotto painted the Institution of the Jubilee of 1300, which still exists in the portico of the Lateran at Rome. 1 The large refectory of Santa Croce is now a [museum], and Giotto’s Cena- colo fills up one side. It is in a most ruined condition, and I find that it has lately been attributed to Taddeo Gaddi, one of the best pupils of Giotto; 2 “He was probably guided by the safer evidence of Giotto’s fame,” says a late critic. 3 [For a discussion of the question as to whether this incident applies to Giot- to’s summons from Boniface VIII. or from Benedict XI., vide Crowe and Caval- easellc. Hiilofy of Painting in Italy, vol. i. p. 271.]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24877888_0053.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
