the sky. And no one but
Giotto or Turner could have painted them.

For in all his use of opalescent and warm colour, Giotto is exactly like
Turner, as, in his swift expressional power, he is like Gainsborough.
All the other Italian religious painters work out their expression with
toil; he only can give it with a touch. All the other great Italian
colourists see only the beauty of colour, but Giotto also its
brightness. And none of the others, except Tintoret, understood to the
full its symbolic power; but with those--Giotto and Tintoret--there is
always, not only a colour harmony, but a colour secret. It is not merely
to make the picture glow, but to remind you that St. Francis preaches to
a fire-worshipping king, that Giotto covers the wall with purple and
scarlet;--and above, in the dispute at Assisi, the angry father is
dressed in red, varying like passion; and the robe with which his
protector embraces St. Francis, blue, symbolizing the peace of Heaven.
Of course certain conventional colours were traditionally employed by
all painters; but only Giotto and Tintoret invent a symbolism of their
own for every picture. Thus in Tintoret's picture of the fall of the
manna, the figure of God the Father is entirely robed in white, contrary
to all received custom; in that of Moses striking the rock, it is
surrounded by a rainbow. Of Giotto's symbolism in colour at Assisi I
have given account elsewhere.[22]

You are not to think, therefore, the difference between the colour of
the upper and lower frescos unintentional. The life of St. Francis was
always full of joy and triumph. His death, in great suffering,
weariness, and extreme humility. The tradition of him reverses that of
Elijah: living, he is seen in the chariot of fire; dying, he submits to
more than the common sorrow of death.

There is, however, much more than a difference in colour between the
upper and lower frescos. There is a difference in manner which I cannot
account for; and above all, a very singular difference in
skill,--indicating, it seems to me, that the two lower were done long
before the others, and afterwards united and harmonized with them. It is
of no interest to the general reader to pursue this question; but one
point he can notice quickly, that the lower frescos depend much on a
mere black or brown outline of the features, while the faces above are
evenly and completely painted in the most accomplished Venetian
manner:--and another, respecting