_Anderson_

THE BODY OF S. FRANCIS BEFORE THE CHURCH OF S. DAMIANO

(_After the fresco of the_ Roman School. _Assisi: Upper Church of S.
Francesco_)]

After these works, departing from Florence in order to go to finish in
Assisi the works begun by Cimabue, in passing through Arezzo he painted
in the Pieve the Chapel of S. Francesco, which is above the place of
baptism; and on a round column, near a Corinthian capital that is both
ancient and very beautiful, he portrayed from nature a S. Francis and a
S. Dominic; and in the Duomo without Arezzo he painted the Stoning of S.
Stephen in a little chapel, with a beautiful composition of figures.
These works finished, he betook himself to Assisi, a city of Umbria,
being called thither by Fra Giovanni di Muro della Marca, then General
of the Friars of S. Francis; where, in the upper church, he painted in
fresco, under the gallery that crosses the windows, on both sides of the
church, thirty-two scenes of the life and acts of S. Francis--that is,
sixteen on each wall--so perfectly that he acquired thereby very great
fame. And in truth there is seen great variety in that work, not only in
the gestures and attitudes of each figure but also in the composition of
all the scenes; not to mention that it enables us very beautifully to
see the diversity of the costumes of those times, and certain imitations
and observations of the things of nature. Among others, there is one
very beautiful scene, wherein a thirsty man, in whom the desire for
water is vividly seen, is drinking, bending down on the ground by a
fountain with very great and truly marvellous expression, in a manner
that it seems almost a living person that is drinking. There are also
many other things there most worthy of consideration, about which, in
order not to be tedious, I do not enlarge further. Let it suffice that
this whole work acquired for Giotto very great fame, by reason of the
excellence of the figures and of the order, proportion, liveliness, and
facility which he had from nature, and which he had made much greater by
means of study, and was able to demonstrate clearly in all his works.
And because, besides that which Giotto had from nature, he was most
diligent and went on ever thinking out new ideas and wresting them from
nature, he well deserved to be called the disciple of nature and not of
others. The aforesaid scenes being finished, he painted in the same
place, but in the lower church, the upper part