Part 5 (1/2)

The Soldan, with an ordinary opera-glass, you h; and I think it will be first well to notice soin on the stairs of the temple reminded you of one composition of titian's, this Soldan should, I think, rereatest in titian; so forcibly, indeed, that for my own part, if I had been told that a careful early fresob titian had been recovered in Santa Croce, I could have believed both report and my own eyes, more quickly than I have been able to adreat that--had its principles been understood-there was in reality nothingto be invented afterwards, except Dutch effects of light

That there is no 'effect of light' here arrived at, I beg you at once to observe as athe Soldan's Magi,--fire-worshi+ppers--to pass with hi red at his feet It is so hot that the two Magi on the other side of the throne shi+eld their faces But it is represented si forht whatever There is no ruby colour on anybody's nose: there are no black shadows under anybody's chin; there are no Res of sword-hilt and arnorance, think you, in Giotto, and pure artlessness? He was now a , and professedly, and als as he saw theht?--and he the friend of Dante! who of all poets is the ht--though he has been thought by the public to know that of fire only Again and again, his ghosts wonder that there is no shadow cast by Dante's body; and is the poet's friend, _because_ a painter, likely, therefore, not to have known that ht? Nay, the passage in the 'Purgatorio' where the shadows fro sunshi+ne make the flames redder, reaches the accuracy of Newtonian science; and does Giotto, think you, all the while, see nothing of the sort?

The fact was, he saw light so intensely that he never for an instant thought of painting it He knew that to paint the sun was as i to find out ways of see to do what he did not I can paint a rose,--yes; and I will I can't paint a red-hot coal; and I won't try to, nor seem to This was just as natural and certain a process of thinking with _him_, as the honesty of it, and true science, were impossible to the false painters of the sixteenth century

Nevertheless, what his art can honestly do to make you feel as much as he wants you to feel, about this fire, he will do; and that studiously

That the fire be _luminous_ or not, is no matter just now But that the fire is _hot_, he would have you to knoill you notice what colours he has used in the whole picture First, the blue background, necessary to unite it with the other three subjects, is reduced to the srey, for that is his dress; also the attendant of one of the Magi is in grey; but so warm, that, if you saw it by itself, you would call it brown The shadow behind the throne, which Giotto knows he _can_ paint, and therefore does, is grey also The rest of the picture [Footnote: The floor has been repainted; but though its grey is now heavy and cold, it cannot kill the splendour of the rest] in at least six-sevenths of its area--is either crie, purple, or white, all as warm as Giotto could paint them; and set off by minute spaces only of intense black,--the Soldan's fillet at the shoulders, his eyes, beard, and the points necessary in the golden pattern behind And the whole picture is one glow

A single glance round at the other subjects will convince you of the special character in this; but you will recognize also that the four upper subjects, in which St Francis's life and zeal are shown, are all in comparatively warm colours, while the ter ones--of the death, and the visions after it--have been kept as definitely sad and cold

Necessarily, youfull of monks' dresses Not so Was there any need for Giotto to have put the priest at the foot of the dead body, with the black banner stooped over it in the shape of a grave?

Might he not, had he chosen, in either fresco, have ht not St Francis have appeared in the centre of a celestial glory to the drea through more radiant clouds? Look, however, how radiant, in the small space allowed out of the blue, they are in reality You cannot anywhere see a lovelier piece of Giottesque colour, though here, you have to mourn over the smallness of the piece, and its isolation For the face of St Francis himself is repainted, and all the blue sky; but the clouds and four sustaining angels are hardly retouched at all, and their iridescent and exquisitely graceful wings are left with really very tender and delicate care by the restorer of the sky And no one but Giotto or Turner could have painted them

For in all his use of opalescent and warm colour, Giotto is exactly like Turner, as, in his swift expressional power, he is like Gainsborough

All the other Italian religious painters work out their expression with toil; he only can give it with a touch All the other great Italian colourists see only the beauty of colour, but Giotto also its brightness And none of the others, except Tintoret, understood to the full its symbolic power; but with those--Giotto and Tintoret--there is always, not only a colour harmony, but a colour secret It is not low, but to re king, that Giotto covers the ith purple and scarlet;--and above, in the dispute at assisi, the angry father is dressed in red, varying like passion; and the robe hich his protector e the peace of Heaven, Of course certain conventional colours were traditionally employed by all painters; but only Giotto and Tintoret invent a symbolism of their own for every picture Thus in Tintoret's picture of the fall of the ure of God the Father is entirely robed in white, contrary to all received custo the rock, it is surrounded by a rainbow Of Giotto's syiven account elsewhere [Footnote: 'Fors Clavigera' for September, 1874]

You are not to think, therefore, the difference between the colour of the upper and lower frescos unintentional The life of St Francis was always full of joy and triu, weariness, and extreme hu, he is seen in the chariot of fire; dying, he submits to more than the common sorrow of death

There is, however, much more than a difference in colour between the upper and lower frescos There is a difference in ular difference in skill,--indicating, it see before the others, and afterwards united and hareneral reader to pursue this question; but one point he can notice quickly, that the lower frescos depend much on a mere black or brown outline of the features, while the faces above are evenly and completely painted in thethe ement of the draperies, contains much interest for us

Giotto never succeeded, to the very end of his days, in representing a figure lying down, and at ease It is one of thewhich he could study fro he never can paint; while subtleties of foresture, which depend absolutely on their momentariness, and actions in which no model can stay for an instant, he seizes with infallible accuracy

Not only has the sleeping Pope, in the right hand lower fresco, his head laid uncomfortably on his pillow, but all the clothes on hiles, even Giotto's instinct for lines of drapery failing hiure But look at the folds of the Soldan's robe over his knees None could be ht; and it is to s should be within even twenty years of each other in date--the skill in the upper one is so suprereater We shall find, however, more than mere truth in its casts of drapery, if we exaure of the Soldan, that we do not think of them;--we see hiures of the discoes these, indeed,--with trains, it appears, four yards long, and bearers of them

The one nearest the Soldan has done his devoir as bravely as he could; would fain go up to the fire, but cannot; is forced to shi+eld his face, though he has not turned back Giotto gives hinity he can;--a man faithful to his profession, at all events

The next one has no such courage Collapsed altogether, he has nothing s the cloak upon hi, but with ludicrous narrowness of fold Literally, he is a 'shut-up' Magus--closed like a fan He turns his head away, hopelessly And the last Magus shows nothing but his back, disappearing through the door

Opposed to the as high as he could in his sandals, contei the door No such thing, says Giotto A soh in presence-even in feature; I do not understand his gesture, pointing to his forehead--perhaps , 'my life, or my head, upon the truth of this' The attendant monk behind him is terror-struck; but will follow his i show no ee their masters' trains as usual, and decorously sustain their retreat

Lastly, for the Soldan himself In aat St Francis with his eyebrows up, or frowning thunderously at his Magi, with theo

Neither of these aspects does he bear, according to Giotto A perfect gentlei with quiet eyes of decision; he is h an infidel, the true hero of the scene, far more than St Francis It is evidently the Soldan whom Giotto wants you to think of mainly, in this picture of Christian ether take the view of the Heathen which you would get in an Exeter Hall norance, their blackness, or their nakedness Does not at all think of the Florentine Islington and Pentonville, as inhabited by persons in every respect superior to the kings of the East; nor does he i-worshi+p Probably the people who really worshi+p logs--whether in Persia or Pentonville--will be left to worshi+p logs to their hearts' content, thinks Giotto But to those orshi+p _God_, and who have obeyed the laws of heaven written in their hearts, and numbered the stars of it visible to theher God be revealed

You are to note, therefore, that Giotto's Soldan is the type of all noblest religion and law, in countries where the name of Christ has not been preached There was no doubt what king or people should be chosen: the country of the three Magi had already been indicated by the ion and morality of Zoroaster were the purest, and in spirit the oldest, in the heathen world Therefore, when Dante, in the nineteenth and twentieth books of the Paradise, gives his final interpretation of the law of huospel of Christ--the lower and enslaved body of the heathen being represented by St Philip's convert, (”Christians like these the Ethiop shall condemn”)--the noblest state of heathenism is at once chosen, as by Giotto: ”What s?”

Compare also Milton,--

”At the Soldan's chair, Defied the best of Paynim chivalry”