tion: A "Throne."

CHAPTER III

INFLUENCES OF UMBRIA AND VERONA

Gentile da Fabriano, the Umbrian master, when he reached Venice in the
early years of the fifteenth century, was already a man of note. He had
received his art education in Florence, and he brought with him fresh
and delicate devices for the enrichment of painting with gold, which,
derived as it was from the Sienese assimilation of Byzantine methods,
was very superior in fancy and refinement to anything that Venice had
to show. He was a man of a gentle, mystic temperament, but he was
accustomed to courts, and a finished master whose technique and artistic
value was far beyond anything that the local painters were capable of.
He spent some years in Venice, adorning the great hall with episodes
from the legend of Barbarossa; one of these, which is specially cited,
was of the battle between the Emperor and the Venetians. Gentile was
working till about 1414, and the walls, finished by Pisanello, were
covered by 1416. After this Gentile remained some time in Bergamo and
Brescia, and settled in Florence about 1422. The year after reaching
Florence, he painted the famous "Adoration of the Magi," now in the
Florentine Academy. Even after leaving Venice his fame survived;
pictures went from his workshop in the Popolo S. Trinita, and he sent
back two portraits after he had returned to his native Fabriano.

We have no positive record of Gentile and Vittore Pisano, commonly
called Pisanello, having met in Venice, but there is every evidence in
their work that they did so, and that one overlapped the other in the
paintings for the Ducal Palace.

The School of Verona already had an honourable record, and its Guild
dates from 1303. The following are its rules, the document of which is
still preserved, while that of Venice has been lost:

RULES OF THE VERONESE GUILD (_abridged_)

1. No one to become a member who had not practised art for
twelve years.

2. Twelve artists to be elected members.

3. The reception of a new member depends on his being a senior.

4. The members are obliged in the winter season to take upon
themselves the instruction of all the pupils in turn.

5. A member is liable to be expelled for theft.

6. Each member is bound to extend to another fraternal
assistance in necessity.

7. To maintain general agreement in any controversies.

8. To extend hospitality t