St. Francis then made the sign of the Cross and sent the birds north, south, east, and west to carry the story of the Cross to all mankind.
When Giotto, who painted this picture of "St. Francis Preaching to the Birds," was a little boy, he took care of his father's sheep in the fields. One day a noted painter, Cimabue, found Giotto drawing a sheep on a flat rock with colored stones. The picture of the sheep was so lifelike that the great man asked the boy, Giotto, to go with him and become an artist. He went, and one day years afterward the pope sent to Giotto for a sample of his work. Giotto sent him a big round O. It pleased the pope to find a man so original, and he gave Giotto many orders for pictures. To-day the saying is "Round as Giotto's O."
Courtesy of Pratt Institute
Fig. 38. St. Francis Preaching to the Birds. Giotto. Upper Church, Assisi, Italy
THE GOVERNESS
Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin (1699-1779)
