son that although Cimabue was, as it were, the first cause of the
renovation of the art of painting, yet Giotto, his pupil, moved by
laudable ambition and assisted by Heaven and by nature, was he who,
rising higher with his thought, opened the gate of truth to those who
have brought her to that perfection and majesty wherein we see her in
her own century, which, being used to see every day the marvels, the
miracles, nay, the impossibilities wrought by the craftsmen in that art,
is now brought to such a pitch that nothing that men do, be it even more
Divine than human, causes it in any way to marvel. Well is it with those
whose labours deserve all praise, if, in place of being praised and
admired, they do not thereby incur blame and many times even disgrace.

The portrait of Cimabue, by the hand of Simone Sanese, is to be seen in
the Chapter-house of S. Maria Novella, made in profile in the story of
the Faith, in a figure that has the face thin, the beard small, reddish,
and pointed, with a cap according to the use of those times--that is,
wound round and round and under the throat in lovely fashion. He who is
beside him is Simone himself, the author of that work, who portrayed
himself with two mirrors in order to make his head in profile, placing
the one opposite to the other. And that soldier clad in armour who is
between them is said to be Count Guido Novello, then Lord of Poppi.
There remains for me to say of Cimabue that in the beginning of our
book, where I have put together drawings from the own hand of all those
who have made drawings from his time to ours, there are to be seen
certain small things made by his hand in the way of miniature, wherein,
although to-day perchance they appear rather rude than otherwise, it is
seen how much excellence was given by his work to draughtsmanship.

[Illustration: CIMABUE: MADONNA AND CHILD

(_Florence: Accademia 102 Panel_)]

ARNOLFO DI LAPO

LIFE OF ARNOLFO DI LAPO,

ARCHITECT OF FLORENCE

[NOTICE TO READERS IN THE LIFE OF ARNOLFO.--The said Arnolfo began,
in S. Maria Maggiore in Rome, the tomb of Pope Honorius III, of the
house of Savelli; which tomb he left imperfect, with the portrait
of the said Pope, which was afterwards placed with his design in
the principal chapel of mosaic of S. Paolo in Rome, with the
portrait of Giovanni Gaetano, Abbot of that monastery. And the
marble chapel, wherein is the Manger of Jesus C