, on more
scientific principles. He was the first who attempted the difficult task
of foreshortening. He also succeeded better than any of his
cotemporaries in giving expression to his heads, and a less Gothic turn
to his figures. He acquired a high reputation, and executed many works,
in fresco and distemper, for the churches and public edifices of
Florence, Rome, and other cities, all of which have perished, according
to Lanzi, except a picture of the Virgin and Infant Christ in the Campo
Santo at Pisa. He died in 1350.

GIOTTINO.

Tommaso Stefano, called II Giottino, the son and scholar of Stefano
Fiorentino, was born at Florence in 1324. According to Vasari, he
adhered so closely to the style of Giotto, that the good people of
Florence called him Giottino, and averred that the soul of his great
ancestor had transmigrated and animated him. There are some frescoes by
him, still preserved at Assissi, and a Dead Christ with the Virgin and
St. John, in the church of S. Remigio at Florence, which so strongly
partake of the manner of Giotto as to justify the name bestowed upon him
by his fellow citizens. He died in the flower of his life at Florence in
1356.

PAOLO UCCELLO.

This old painter was born at Florence in 1349, and was a disciple of
Antonio Veneziano. His name was Mazzocchi, but being very celebrated as
a painter of animals, and especially so of birds, of which last he
formed a large collection of the most curious, he was called Uccello
(bird). He was one of the first painters who cultivated perspective.
Before his time buildings had not a true point of perspective, and
figures appeared sometimes as if falling or slipping off the canvass. He
made this branch so much his hobby, that he neglected other essential
parts of the art. To improve himself he studied geometry with Giovanni
Manetti, a celebrated mathematician. He acquired great distinction in
his time and some of his works still remain in the churches and convents
of Florence. In the church of S. Maria Novella are several fresco
histories from the Old Testament, which he selected for the purpose of
introducing a multitude of his favorite objects, beasts and birds; among
them, are Adam and Eve in Paradise, Noah entering the Ark, the Deluge,
&c. He painted battles of lions, tigers, serpents, &c, with peasants
flying in terror from the scene of combat. He also painted landscapes
with figures, cattle and ruins, possessing so much truth and nature,
tha