“Strong Cimabue bore up well
Against Giotto.”
It is most satisfactory to have original works by all these three. The Margheritone is a thoroughly Byzantine saint, with a gold background and an expression certainly best characterized by the word “infastidito.” Next comes the Cimabue triptych: its central Madonna has some resemblance to the Borgo Allegri picture on a small scale. The Giottos show some such advance of art in his hands as Dante described. There is an apparently genuine Filippo Lippi, which must be of no small value.
The drawings are most beautiful. The small Lionardo head and the large Madonna are unmistakable and beyond praise, and may be contrasted with a singularly beautiful head which displays his taste for “monsters,” and the portrait of Ludovico Sforza is excellent. There are two drawings by Masaccio, and the Titian Landscapes are capital. The visitor should not miss the red chalk head attributed to Gentile Bellini, we suppose rightly: it is hard to say who else, except his son, could have done it.
To give an account of the portraits in the Hall would set us adrift on general history. Locke and the Marquis of Wellesley, the two Sir Joshua bishops, Cyril Jackson looking forth at a world he knew the worth of, Wolsey and Henry VIII.—founders, crowned heads, members of the foundation—survey the College dinner like guests departed. They are forgotten, or their remembrance is like his that tarrieth but a day.
Note on the Date of the Cathedral.
Mr. J. Park Harrison has most kindly enabled me to give his conclusions on the dates of the cathedral in his own words. Having inspected the building with him, I entirely adhere to them. I think they are fully borne out by the remains of the old building, and scarcely to be got over when one has seen the joints and ornamentation inside, and the foundations without.
1. “The commonly-assigned date of the cathedral, 1160-1180, is absolutely incorrect.
2. “The late Norman work, attributed with much probability to Prior Robert of Cricklade, is an addition to the old church restored by Guimond in the earlier part of the twelfth century.
3. “There is no document, or anything tending to show that the original fabric, as restored by Ethelred, was ever rebuilt on a new plan.