ch had been forgiven,
this gift is also first given; and as the first witness of the truth,
so she is the first messenger of the Gospel. To the Apostles it was
granted to proclaim the Resurrection to all nations; but the Magdalen
was bidden to proclaim it to the Apostles.

In the chapel of the Bargello, Giotto has rendered this scene with yet
more passionate sympathy. Here, however, its significance is more
thoughtfully indicated through all the accessories, down even to the
withered trees above the sepulchre, while those of the garden burst
into leaf. This could hardly escape notice when the barren boughs were
compared by the spectator with the rich foliage of the neighbouring
designs, though, in the detached plate, it might easily be lost sight
of.

* * * * *

XXXVII.

THE ASCENSION.

Giotto continues to exert all his strength on these closing subjects.
None of the Byzantine or earlier Italian painters ventured to
introduce the entire figure of Christ in this scene: they showed the
feet only, concealing the body; according to the text, "a cloud
received Him out of their sight." This composition, graceful as it is
daring, conveys the idea of ascending motion more forcibly than any
that I remember by other than Venetian painters. Much of its power
depends on the continuity of line obtained by the half-floating
figures of the two warning angels.

I cannot understand why this subject was so seldom treated by
religious painters: for the harmony of Christian creed depends as much
upon it as on the Resurrection itself; while the circumstances of the
Ascension, in their brightness, promise, miraculousness, and direct
appeal to all the assembled Apostles, seem more fitted to attract the
joyful contemplation of all who received the faith. How morbid, and
how deeply to be mourned, was the temper of the Church which could not
be satisfied without perpetual representation of the tortures of
Christ; but rarely dwelt on His triumph! How more than strange the
concessions to this feebleness by its greatest teachers; such as that
of Titian, who, though he paints the Assumption of the Madonna rather
than a Pieta, paints the Scourging and the Entombment of Christ, with
his best power,--but never the Ascension!

* * * * *

XXXVIII.

THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

This last subject of the series, the quietest and least interesting in
treatment, yet illustrates s