to which they have
attained in our own time. And again, if ever it happens, which God
forbid, that the arts should once more fall to a like ruin and
disorder, through the negligence of man, the malignity of the age, or
the ordinance of Heaven, which does not appear to wish that the
things of this world should remain stationary, these labours of mine,
such as they are (if they are worthy of a happier fate), by means of
the things discussed before, and by those which remain to be said,
may maintain the arts in life, or, at any rate, encourage the better
spirits to provide them with assistance, so that, by my good will and
the labours of such men, they may have an abundance of those aids and
embellishments which, if I may speak the truth freely, they have
lacked until now.

But it is now time to come to the life of Giovanni Cimabue, who
originated the new method of design and painting, so that it is right
that his should be the first of the Lives. And here I may remark that
I shall follow the schools rather than a chronological order. And in
describing the appearance and the arts of the artists, I shall be
brief, because their portraits, which I have collected at great
expense, and with much labour and diligence, will show what manner of
men they were to look at much better than any description could ever
do. If some portraits are missing, that is not my fault, but because
they are not to be found anywhere. If it chance that some of the
portraits do not appear to be exactly like others which are extant,
it is necessary to reflect that a portrait of a man of eighteen or
twenty years can never be like one made fifteen or twenty years
later, and, in addition to this, portraits in black and white are
never so good as those which are coloured, besides which the
engravers, who do not design, always take something from the faces,
because they are never able to reproduce those small details which
constitute the excellence of a work, or to copy that perfection which
is rarely, if ever, to be found in wood engravings. To conclude, the
reader will be able to appreciate the amount of labour, expense, and
care which I have bestowed upon this matter when he sees what efforts
I have made in my researches.

VASARI'S LIVES OF THE PAINTERS.

Cimabue, Painter of Florence.

The endless flood of misfortunes which overwhelmed unhappy Italy not
only ruined everything worthy of the name of a building, but
completely extinguishe