y 8, 1337.

Giotto was also a great architect, as is well known from his tower in
Florence, for which he made all the designs and a part of the working
models, while some of the sculptures and reliefs upon it prove that he was
skilled in modelling and carving. He worked in mosaics also, and the
famous "Navicella," in the vestibule of St. Peter's at Rome, was
originally made by him, but has now been so much restored that it is
doubtful if any part of what remains was done by Giotto's hands.

[Illustration: FIG. 30.--GIOTTO'S CAMPANILE AND THE DUOMO. _Florence._]

The works of Giotto are too numerous to be mentioned here, and his
merits as an artist too important to be discussed in our limits; but his
advance in painting was so great that he deserved the great compliment of
Cennino, who said that Giotto "had done or translated the art of painting
from Greek into Latin."

I shall, however, tell you of one excellent thing that he did, which was
to make the representation of the crucifix far more refined and
Christ-like than it had ever been. Before his time every effort had been
made to picture physical agony alone. Giotto gave a gentle face, full of
suffering, it is true, but also expressive of tenderness and resignation,
and it would not be easy to paint a better crucifix than those of this
master.

In person Giotto was so ugly that his admirers made jokes about it; but he
was witty and attractive in conversation, and so modest that his friends
were always glad to praise him while he lived, and since his death his
fame has been cherished by all who have written of him. There are many
anecdotes told of Giotto. One is that on a very hot day in Naples, King
Robert said to the painter, "Giotto, if I were you, I would leave work,
and rest." Giotto quickly replied, "So would I, sire, _if I were you_."

When the same king asked him to paint a picture which would represent his
kingdom, Giotto drew an ass bearing a saddle on which were a crown and
sceptre, while at the feet of the ass there was a new saddle with a
shining new crown and sceptre, at which the ass was eagerly smelling. By
this he intended to show that the Neapolitans were so fickle that they
were always looking for a new king.

There is a story which has been often repeated which says, that in order
to paint his crucifixes so well, he persuaded a man to be bound to a cross
for an hour as a model; and when he had him there he stabbed him, in order
to see such a