er church of S. Francesco at Assisi is a crucifix by his hand
painted in the Byzantine style, on a beam which spans the church. All
these works were greatly prized by the people of the time, although
they are not valued to-day, except as being curious on account of
their age; indeed they could only be considered good in an age when
art was not at its zenith, as it is to-day. Margaritone also paid
some attention to architecture, although I have not mentioned any
things made from his designs because they are of slight importance.
However, I must not forget to say that he designed the palace of the
governors of the city of Ancona, as I have found, in 1270, in the
Byzantine style; and what is more, he carved in sculpture eight
windows for the facade, each of which has two columns in the middle,
which support two arches. Over each window is a representation in
half relief, occupying the space between the arches and the top of
the window, of an Old Testament subject, carved in a species of stone
found in the country. Under the windows and on the facade are some
letters, the purport of which must be conjectured, so badly are they
done, which give the date and time at which the work was executed.
The design of the church of S. Ciriaco at Ancona was also by his
hand. Margaritone died at the age of seventy-seven, regretting, it is
said, that he had lived long enough to see the changes of the age and
the honours accorded to the new artists. He was buried in the old
Duomo of Arezzo, in a tomb of Travertine, which has been destroyed in
our own time by the demolition of that church. The following epitaph
was written for him:

Hic jacet ille bonus pictura Margaritonus,
Cui requiem Dominus tradat uhique plus.

Margaritone's portrait was in the old Duomo by the hand of Spinello,
in the Adoration of the Magi, and was copied by me before the church
was pulled down.

Giotto, Painter, Sculptor, and Architect of Florence.

The debt which painters owe to Nature, which serves continually as an
example to them, that from her they may select the best and finest
parts for reproduction and imitation, is due also to the Florentine
painter, Giotto; because, when the methods and outlines of good
painting had been buried for so many years under the ruins caused by
war, he alone, although born in the midst of unskilful artists, was
able, through God's gift in him, to endow art with a proper form
after it had been revived in a