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xxiii. 5. "braccia," may be considered roughly to represent about two feet; literally translated it means an arm.
7. 6. "fresco," Painting al fresco, upon fresh or wet ground is executed with mineral and earthy pigments upon a freshly laid stucco ground of lime or gypsum.—Fairholt.
9. 28. "old king Charles of Anjou," the brother of St Louis,
crowned king of Sicily in 1266.
10. 10. "tempera," a method in which the pigments are mixed
with chalk or clay and diluted with size.
11. 19. "Credette," etc.
"Cimabue thought
To lord it over painting's field; and now
The cry is Giotto's, and his name eclips'd."—Cary.
15. 13. "drawings." It is stated that the knight Gaddi sold five volumes of drawings to some merchants for several thousands of scudi, which composed Vasari's famous book, so often referred to by h m. Card. Leopold de' Medici collected several of those by the most famous artists. This collection was sent to the Uffizi gallery in 1700, where they are merged with the other drawings.
25. 11. "bridge which still bears his name." M. Rubaconte was podesta of Florence in 1237 and in addition to laying the foundation stone of this bridge, he also caused the city to be paved. Villani, vi. 26. The bridge is now known as the Ponte alle Grazie.
45. 32. "Frederick Barbarossa." Impossible, for Barbarossa died two centuries before. Perhaps Vasari means the Emperor Frederick III.
51. 31. "Ser Ciappelletto," the hero of the first story in Boccaccio's Decameron, forger, murderer, blasphemer, fornicator, drunkard and gambler, "he was probably the worst man who was ever born," to crown all, he so deceived the priest to whom he confessed that he was canonised.
55. 23. "S. Giovanni." Bk. i., cap. 42. Villani states that it was originally built by the Romans in the time of Octavian as a temple to Mars.
67. 25. "M. Farinata degli Uberti."Cf, p. 30 above. After the battle of Montaperti in 1260, in which the Sienese aided by the Ghibelline exiles of Florence won a complete victory over the Florentines, a council was held in which it was proposed to destroy Florence utterly. The project was defeated by Farinata, one of the most prominent of the victorious Florentines. Villani, bk. vi., cap. 81. Cf, Dante Inferno, x. 1. 92.
75. 19. "M. Forese da Rabatta," Decameron, 6th Day, Novella 5.
81. 23. "life of the patient Job." It is now a well established fact that these frescoes were painted by Francesco da Volterra in 1371, several years after Giotto's death.
85. 10. "Oh dissi lui," etc.
"Oh," I exclaimed,
"Art thou not Oderigi, art not thou
Agobbio's glory, glory of that art
Which they of Paris call the limner's skill?
Brother, said he, with tints that gayer smile,
Bolognian Franco's pencil lines the leaves.
His all the honour now; mine borrowed light."
—Cary.
102. 4. "Franco Sacchetti," born at Florence in 1335. His
Novelle were considered the best after those of
Boccaccio.
110. 24. Where the Giglion joins the Chiassa
There did my ancestors flourish
Who bear six golden stones on azure ground.
151. 14. "An eagle on the back of a lion." The bishop was a prominent Ghibelline, whose figure was the imperial eagle, while the lion signified the opposing Guelph party. Buffalmacco as a Florentine would belong to the latter faction.
155. 5. "Voi che avvisate," etc.
Ye who behold this painting
Think, weigh and consider
Upon the merciful God, supreme creator,
Who made all things in love.
He fashioned that angelic nature in new orders,
In that resplendent empire of heaven.
Motionless Himself yet the source of all motion
He made everything good and pure.
Raise the eyes of your mind,
Reflect upon the ordering
Of the entire globe and reverently
Praise Him who has created so well.
Think that you also may taste the delight
Of living among the angels, where all are blessed.
In this scene also we see the glory of the world,
The base, the mean, and the lofty.
188. ii. "arts of Florence." The arts or guilds of Florence formed the basis of the government of the city. They were of two orders, the greater and the lesser. The seven greater arts were: Lawyers (St Luke), the Calimara or dealers in foreign cloth (St John Baptist), money-changers (St Matthew), woollen manufacturers (St Thomas), physicians (Virgin Mary), silk manufacturers (St John the Divine), and the furriers (St James). The lesser arts were fourteen in number, including armourers (St George), locksmiths (St Mark), farriers (St Eloi), drapers (St Stephen), shoemakers (St Philip), butchers (St Peter). They were admitted to the full citizenship in 1378.
199. 21. "Da che prosperitade," etc.
"Since every happiness has abandoned us,
Come death, the cure of every grief,
Come and give us our last meal."
200. 3. "Ischermo di saveri," etc.
"Knowledge and wealth,
Birth and valour, all
Are alike powerless against his strokes."
212. 10. "the Duke of Athens." Walter de Brienne, a Frenchman, elected captain and protector of Florence in June 1342;. he endeavoured to become master of the city, but was expelled in the popular rising referred to.
239. 31. "the Bavarian." Louis of Bavaria, the emperor who died in 1347.
241. 3 "a secco." Fresco painting in secco is that kind which absorbs the colours into the plaster and gives them a dry sunken appearance.—Fairholt.
263. 31 "affair of the Ciompi": the name given to the rising of the lesser people against the powerful guilds, resulting in a wider distribution of the powers of government. The lower classes won and appointed Michele del Lando as their Gonfaloniere. Ciompi means the lowest classes.
265. 14. "200,000 scudi," worth about £44,444, 9s.