gony as he wished to paint. When the Pope saw the picture he
was so pleased with it that he wished to have it for his own chapel; then
Giotto confessed what he had done, and showed the body of the dead man.
The Pope was so angry that he threatened the painter with the same death,
upon which Giotto brushed the picture over so that it seemed to be
destroyed. Then the Pope so regretted the loss of the crucifix that he
promised to pardon Giotto if he would paint him another as good. Giotto
exacted the promise in writing, and then, with a wet sponge, removed the
wash he had used, and the picture was as good as before. According to
tradition all famous crucifixes were drawn from this picture ever after.

When Boniface VIII. sent a messenger to invite Giotto to Rome, the
messenger asked Giotto to show him something of the art which had made him
so famous. Giotto, with a pencil, by a single motion drew so perfect a
circle that it was thought to be a miracle, and this gave rise to a
proverb still much used in Italy:--_Piu tondo che l'O di Giotto_, or,
"Rounder than the O of Giotto."

Giotto had a wife and eight children, of whom nothing is known but that
his son Francesco became a painter. Giotto died in 1337, and was buried
with great honors in the Church of Santa Maria del Fiore. Lorenzo de
Medici erected a monument to his memory. The pupils and followers of
Giotto were very numerous, and were called Giotteschi; among these TADDEO
GADDI, and his son AGNOLO, are most famous: others were MASO and BERNARDO
DI DADDO; but I shall not speak in detail of these artists.

While Giotto was making the art of Florence famous, there was an artist in
Siena who raised the school of that city to a place of great honor. This
was SIMONE MARTINI, who lived from 1283 to 1344, and is often called
SIMONE MEMMI because he married a sister of another painter, LIPPO MEMMI.
The most important works of Simone which remain are at Siena in the
Palazzo Pubblico and in the Lower Church at Assisi. There is one
beautiful work of his in the Royal Institution, at Liverpool, which
illustrates the text, "Behold, thy father and I have sought Thee,
sorrowing."

While the Papal court was at Avignon, in 1338, Simone removed to that
city. Here he became the friend of Petrarch and of Laura, and has been
praised by this poet as Giotto was by Dante.

Another eminent Florentine artist was ANDREA ORCAGNA, as he is called,
though his real name was ANDREA ARCAGNUOLO DI C