not refuse to comply with the wishes of Piero Saccone, who had ever treated him with great kindness, and therefore painted a fresco for him in the principal chapel of the Episcopal church. The subject is St. Martin dividing his mantle in half, and bestowing one of the portions on a beggar, who stands before him almost entirely naked.[1] Having then executed a large Crucifixion, in distemper, on panel, for the abbey of Santa Fiore, which is still in the middle of that church,[2] he returned at length to Florence, where, among many other works, he painted pictures, both in distemper and fresco, for the convent of the Nuns of Faenza, all of which have been lost in the destruction of that convent. In the year 1322, his most intimate friend, Dante, having died, to his great sorrow, the year preceding ; Giotto repaired to Lucca, and, at the request of Castruccio, then lord of that city, which was the place of his birth, he executed a picture, in the church of San Martino, representing Christ hovering in the air over the four saints, protectors of Lucca, namely, San Piero, San Regolo, San Martino, and San Paulino ; they appear to be recommending to him a pope and an emperor, who, as many believe, are Frederick of Bavaria and the antipope, Nicholas V. Many also maintain that at San Frediano, in this same city of Lucca, Giotto likewise designed the castle and fortress of Giusta,[3] which is impregnable.
Some time after this, and when Giotto had returned to Florence, Robert, king of Naples, wrote to his eldest son Charles, king of Calabria, who was then in Florence, desiring that he would, by all means, send Giotto to him at Naples, he having just completed the convent and church of Santa Clara, which he desired to see adorned by him with noble paintings.[4] Giotto, therefore, being thus invited by so great and renowned a monarch, departed with the utmost readiness to do him service, and being arrived, he painted various sub-
- ↑ In the time of Bottani, this picture was still in existence, though much decayed ; but the latest Florentine edition of Vasari declares it to have perished.
- ↑ This work is still in good condition.
- ↑ Properly called Augusta, and corrupted to Gosta or Giusta.—Ed. Flo. 1846.
- ↑ Vasari has here omitted to mention, that Giotto, in his way to Naples, went to see the sculptures in Orvieto,—and what resulted from that visit, which is afterwards alluded to in the lives of Agostino and Agnolo of Siena.—Ed. Flor. 1846.
