This could not fail to lead to a rapid deterioration ; accordingly, the great :era of this school lived and died in a manner with its founders, and was of very short du ration.
The earliest of the Florentine masters who made the important step of shaking off the trammels of established style was Cimabue ; although, in all likelihood, instructed by that class of Greek and Italian masters, whom the Senate of Florence had drawn to their city for the purpose of encouraging the arts. He had the boldness to consult nature. So much were the people astonished at the gran deur of a colossal picture which he painted of the Ma donna, surrounded by angels, nothing of the kind having appeared before to equal so high a flight of genius, that they accompanied the transportation of this picture from Cimabue's house to the church with shouts and music, like a triumph. His works, although they called forth the admiration of his contemporaries, were, when com pared with the subsequent attainments of the art, very rude indeed. They were stiff, dry, and monotonous, but ivith somewhat more of truth than his predecessors. He excelled particularly in the countenances of old men, where some expression, though of a hard and severe kind, was discernible ; he had little pretension to grace or ease of any kind, and his prim starched madonnas and angels can rarely boast of any beauty. Cimabue was, notwith standing, a man of aspiring genius, and aimed at perfections far above the grasp of his contemporaries. There are two colossal madonnas of this master at Florence, painted in a grand style ; but his talent is displayed to better pur pose in his fresco paintings at the church of Assisa, which represent various subjects of sacred history. These are conceived in a bold style, and disposed with good effect; they are likewise colossal, and possess considerable vi gour of colouring. The applause which attended Cima bue's labours stirred up a desire for improvement, and was a great means of removing the languor which had so settled on the art.
His scholar, Giotto, took a different view of the subject from the grand and severe style of hia muster ; preferring gracefulness and ease of outline, with a more delicate style of colouring. The sharp elongated hands and straight
.pointed feet, seemingly so ill adapted for the support of the figure ; the ghastly staring eyes, which still partook of the barbarous taste, began to disappear under the pencil of Giotto. He is reported to have been a shepherd boy, and to have been discovered by Cimabue as he employed himself scratching upon a slatestone the figure of a sheep, in which he exhibited an address indicative of strong natural genius. And, much to the honour of Cimabue, whom Giotto was destined to excel, he obtained permission to take the boy under his own guidance, and trained him up in all the learning of the clay. In his works, Giotto distinctly shows that he had not seen in vain the morsels of ancient sculpture preserved at Florence, and particu larly in the 'blow of his draperies, which partake of the ancient taste. He painted at Assisa a series of pictures, descriptive of the life of St. Francis, where it is singular to observe the progressive improvement of the artist. As he advanced in his subject, we discover a more graceful composition, with increasing address in the execution ; he seems to have taken courage, with every additional stroke of his pencil, t9 aim at bolder flights and more vigorous expression, particularly in a picture, where a man. in the frenzy of thirst, throws himself upon a spring of water, which he seems that moment to have discovered.
Although Giotto's pictures still partook of the confined awkwardness of the age, and the great imperfection in the extremities of the figures, yet, as a first step towards improvement, he discovers his having been aware of the defect, as, where it is practicable, he never fails to conceal the feet and hands under the drapery of his figures. His works were in very great request in Italy, so that we find the same subject often repeated in different churches. They are easily distinguished from the dry angular per formances of his predecessors, by an improved softness of colouring and outline, and by an air of graceful ease, the very reverse of which was the character of the earlier works. Ile was the first painter, after the revival of the art, who employed his pencil on portrait.