at the Porta Reale." At another time the King,
fearing that he would injure himself by overworking in the hot season,
said to him, "Giotto, if I were in your place, now that it is so hot, I
would give up painting for a time, and take my rest." "And so would I
do, certainly," replied Giotto, "were I the King of Naples." One day the
King to amuse himself, desired Giotto to _paint his kingdom_. The
painter drew an ass carrying a packsaddle loaded with a crown and
sceptre, while a similar saddle, also bearing the ensigns of royalty,
lay at his feet; these last were all new, and the ass scented them,
with an eager desire to change them for those he bore. "What does this
signify, Giotto?" enquired the King. "Such is thy kingdom," replied
Giotto, "and such thy subjects, who are every day desiring a new lord."

GIOTTO AND DANTE.

The children of Giotto were remarkably ill-favored. Dante, one day,
quizzed him by asking, "Giotto, how is it that you, who make the
children of others so beautiful, make your own so ugly?" "Ah, my dear
friend," replied the painter, "mine were made in the dark."

DEATH OF GIOTTO.

"Giotto," says Vasari, "having passed his life in the production of so
many admirable works, and proved himself a good Christian, as well as an
excellent painter, resigned his soul to God in the year 1336, not only
to the great regret of his fellow citizens, but of all who had known
him, or even heard his name. He was honorably entombed, as his high
deserts had well merited, having been beloved all his life, but more
especially by the learned men of all professions." Dante and Petrarch
were his warm admirers, and immortalized him in their verse. The
commentator of Dante, who was cotemporary with Giotto, says, "Giotto
was, and is, the most eminent of all the painters of Florence, and to
this his works bear testimony in Rome, Naples, Avignon, Florence, Padua,
and many other parts of the world."

BUONAMICO BUFFALMACCO.

The first worthy successor of Giotto in the Florentine school, was
Buffalmacco, whose name has been immortalized by Boccaccio in his
_Decameron_, as a man of most facetious character. He executed many
works in fresco and distemper, but they have mostly perished. He chiefly
excelled in Crucifixions and Ascensions. He was born, according to
Vasari, in 1262, and died in 1340, aged 78; but Baldinucci says that he
lived later than 1358. His name is mentioned in the old Book of the
Company of Painters, und