PAINTING DURING THE GOTHIC PERIOD.
Up to the period under consideration the art of painting in its various branches had been so entirely devoted to the service of religion that it had acquired no independent position: its value consisted in its portrayal to the faithful of the mysteries and doctrines of Christianity and of episodes in religions history. In this reflex of higher lights lay .its great strength. But with the changes that occurred at this time came a fore taste of the Renaissance, when art was to discard its dependence on religion. During the Gothic period, however, this spirit hardly showed itself, the main difference from the previous period being an advance in artistic perfection.
The airy Gothic cathedrals, in which wall-space was reduced to a minimum and the entire structure was a gigantic system of frame work, dealt the deathblow to the rising art of fresco-painting, which at the close of the twelfth century had begun to give signs of decided improvement. Fortunately, the architecture which Italy adopted did not entail such disastrous consequences, and she became the birthplace of the revival in monumental painting. But before passing to a detailed account of Italian painting a few words will be devoted to the various branches of the art which flourished in the rest of Europe during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
most important of the subordinate branches was glass-painting, which was carried to a degree of perfection never equalled in any other period. Without it the Gothic cathedrals would lose the greater part of their grand interior effects, which depend so much on the rich tone given by the harmony of the immense windows. But, however perfect glass-painting became, it always remained a more or less mechan ical assemblage of pieces of colored glass, and could never become the medium of expression of a great artist.
similar judgment must be pronounced regarding miniature-painting; it is important whenever there exist no other memo rials of the art of the period, but it is altogether inadequate as a means of artistic expression. The art of miniature-painting was carried to a very high degree of excellence, especially in France during the thir teenth century, but it had no influence on the development of painting in general. In the rare cases where fresco-painting was employed—
as, for example, in the choir of the Cathedral of Cologne—the influ ence of the miniatures is apparent, and outside of Italy there appears to have been no monumental painting of importance.
Painting in the thirteenth century Italy for the first time produces a number of laical painters who, unlike the humble artists of the monastic orders, sign their names to their works and claim celebrity, though their merit is but slight. It is the most flourishing period of that so-called Italo-Byzantine school, which delighted in those uncouth and deformed crucifixes of which the of Lucca and Margaritone of Arezzo have left so many examples.
Formation of Local the beginning the political sub divisions which originated in the local patriotism and love of freedom of every Italian community favored the formation of local schools. At Rome we find the mosaicists belonging to the so-called "Cosmati" school; at Siena, to the school of Guido and Diotisalvi; in Umbria, of Salsternns and Oderisio; at Bologna, of Ventura; at Florence, of Fra Jacopo and Fra Mino, Bartolommeo and AIargaritone; at Pisa, of Giunta; at Lucca, of the Berlinghieri, etc.
Cimabue and of these artists possessed any great degree of merit, and we must approach the close of the thirteenth century and reach the border-line which separates the old school from the new one founded by Giotto to find two great artists—Cimabue of Florence and Duccio of Siena—who, although still keeping in the line of the traditional school, so transfigured its style as to stand apart and above all former masters. The enthusiasm excited in Florence when Cimabue's picture of the 17,:cin and Cid p 2;, J . 7) was carried in procession to Santa laria Novella amid the acclamations of the populace is well known. .\ few ears later the rival of Florence, Siena, inaugurated with almost equal pomp the great altar-piece painted for the cathedral by Duccio di Buoninsegna.