rrorized Italy during the Mediaeval
Period. The people were ignorant, the rulers treacherous, the passions
strong, and yet out of the Dark Ages came light. In the thirteenth
century the light grew brighter, but the internal dissensions did not
cease. The Hohenstaufen power was broken, the imperial rule in Italy
was crushed. Pope and emperor no longer warred each other, but the
cries of "Guelf" and "Ghibelline" had not died out.

Throughout the entire Romanesque and Gothic periods (1000-1400) Italy
was torn by political wars, though the free cities, through their
leagues of protection and their commerce, were prosperous. A
commercial rivalry sprang up among the cities. Trade with the East,
manufactures, banking, all flourished; and even the philosophies, with
law, science, and literature, began to be studied. The spirit of
learning showed itself in the founding of schools and universities.
Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, reflecting respectively religion,
classic learning, and the inclination toward nature, lived and gave
indication of the trend of thought. Finally the arts, architecture,
sculpture, painting, began to stir and take upon themselves new
appearances.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: In painting, though there were some portraits
and allegorical scenes produced during the Gothic period, the chief
theme was Bible story. The Church was the patron, and art was only the
servant, as it had been from the beginning. It was the instructor and
consoler of the faithful, a means whereby the Church made converts,
and an adornment of wall and altar. It had not entirely escaped from
symbolism. It was still the portrayal of things for what they meant,
rather than for what they looked. There was no such thing then as art
for art's sake. It was art for religion's sake.

The demand for painting increased, and its subjects multiplied with
the establishment at this time of the two powerful orders of Dominican
and Franciscan monks. The first exacted from the painters more learned
and instructive work; the second wished for the crucifixions, the
martyrdoms, the dramatic deaths, wherewith to move people by emotional
appeal. To offset this the ultra-religious character of painting was
encroached upon somewhat by the growth of the painters' guilds, and
art production largely passing into the hands of laymen. In
consequence painting produced many themes, but, as yet, only after the
Byzantine style. The painter was more of a workman than an ar