| The great flood of misfortunes, by which poor Italy had been afflicted
and overwhelmed, had not only reduced to ruins all buildings of
note throughout the land, but what was of far more importance,
had caused an utter lack of the very artists themselves.
At this time, when the supply seemed entirely exhausted, in the
year 1240, by the will of God, there was born in the city of Florence,
Giovanni, surnamed Cimabue, of the noble family of that name,
who was to shed the first light on the art of painting. He, as
he grew, being judged by his father and others to possess a fine
acute intellect, was sent to S. Maria Novella to be instructed
in letters by a relative of his who taught grammar to the novices
of that convent. But instead of attending to his lessons,
Cimabue spent all the day in painting on his books and papers,
men, horses, houses, and such things. To this natural inclination
fortune was favourable, for certain painters of Greece, who had
been summoned by the rulers of Florence to restore the almost
forgotten art of painting in the city, began at this time to work
in the chapel of the Gondi in S. Maria Novella; and Cimabue would
often escape from school and stand all day watching them, until
his father and the painters themselves judging that he was apt
for painting, he was placed under their instruction. Nature, however,
aided by constant practice, enabled him greatly to surpass both
in design and colouring the masters who had taught him. For they,
never caring to advance in their art, did everything not in the
good rnanner of ancient Greece, but after the rude manner of those
times.
He painted in churches both in Florence and Pisa, and made the
name of Cimabue famous everywhere, on which account he was summoned
to Assisi, a city of Umbria, to paint in company with some Greek
masters the lower church of S. Francis. For in those times the
order of the Minor Friars of S. Francis having been confirmed
by Pope Innocent III, both the devotion and the numbers of the
friars grew so great not only in Italy, but in all parts of the
world, that there was scarcely a city of any account which did
not build for them churches and convents at great expense. Two
years before the death of S. Francis, while that saint was absent
preaching, Fra Elia was prior in Assisi, and built a church for
our Lady; but when S. Francis was dead, and all Christendom was
coming to visit the body of a saint who in life and death was
known by all to have been the friend of God, and every man at
the holy spot was making gifts according to his power, it was
ordained that the church begun by Fra Elià should be made
much larger and more magnificent. But there being a scarcity of
good architects, and the work needing an excellent one, for it
was necessary to build on a very steep hill at the roots of which
runs a torrent called Tescio, after much consideration they brought
to Assisi, as the best architect that could then be found, one
Master Jacopo Tedesco. He having considered the site, and heard
the will of the Fathers, who held a chapter general for the purpose
in Assisi, designed a very fine church and convent, making in
the. model three storeys, one below ground, and two churches,
one of which on the first slope should serve as the vestibule,
having a very large colonnade round it, and the other for the
sanctuary. And he arranged that you should go up from the first
to the second by a most convenient order of stairs, which wound
round the larger chapel, dividing into two, to enter the
second church. To this he gave the form of a T, making it five
times as long as it was wide.
In the larger chapel of the lower church was placed the altar,
and below it, when it was finished, was laid with solemn ceremonies
the body of S. Francis. And because the tomb which encloses the
body of the glorious saint is in the first, that is the lowest
church, which no one ever enters, the doors of it are walled up,
and around the altar are gratings of iron, with rich ornaments
of marble and mosaic. This work was brought to a conclusion in
the space of four years, and no more, by the skill of Master Jacopo
and the careful labours of Fra Elia. After his death there were
made round the lower church twelve fine towers, and in
each of them a staircase from the ground to the top, and in time
there were added many chapels and many rich ornaments. As for
Master Jacopo, by this work he acquired such fame through all
Italy that he was called to Florence, and received there with
the greatest honour possible, although according to the habit
the Florentines have (and used to have still more) of shortening
names, they called him not Jacopo but Lapo all the days of his
life.
So in the lower church Cimabue painted in company with the Greeks,
and greatly surpassed the Greek painters. Therefore, his courage
rising, he began to paint by himself in fresco in the upper church,
and painted many things, especially the ascent of the Virgin into
heaven, and the Holy Spirit descending upon the apostles. This
work, being truly very great and rich and well executed, must
in my judgment have astonished the world in those days, painting
having been so long in such darkness, and to myself, who saw it
in the year 1563, it appeared most beautiful, and I marvelled
how Cimabue could have had such light in the midst of such heavy
gloom. Being called to Florence, however, Cimabue did not continue
his labours, but they were finished many years after by Giotto,
as we will tell in its place.
After his return to Florence he made for the church of S. Maria
Novella a picture of our Lady, which work was of larger size than
those that had been made before that time, and the angels that
stand round, although they are in the Greek manner, yet show something
of the modern style. Therefore this work caused such marvel to
the people of that time, never having seen a better, that it was
borne in solemn procession with trumpets and great rejoicing from
the house of Cimabue to the church, and he himself received great
honours and rewards. It is said, and you may read it in certain
records of old pictures, that while Cimabue was painting this
picture, King Charles of Anjou passed through Florence, and among
other entertainments provided for him by the people of the city,
they took him to see Cimabue's picture; and as no one had seen
it before it was shown to the king, there was a great concourse
of all the men and women of Florence to see it, with the greatest
rejoicing and running together in the world. From the gladness
of the whole neighbourhood that part was called BorgoAllegri,
the Joyful Quarter, and though it is now within the walls of the
city, it has always preserved the same name.
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