File:Giotto (1905) (14774108254).jpg

Identifier: giotto00dese (find matches)
Title: Giotto
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors: De Selincourt, Basil, 1876-
Subjects: Giotto, 1266?-1337
Publisher: London : Duckworth and Co. New York, C. Scribner's Sons
Contributing Library: Harold B. Lee Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Brigham Young University

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may be of value inguiding the mind to the central idea, and may oftenawaken associations of the most far-reaching kind, butif the realisation of the central idea itself is incomplete,no combination of accessories, however ingenious, canproduce a genuine work of art. The equipment ofGiottos Fortitude could hardly be made more sug-gestive than he has made it. A lion-skin is tiedby the paws about her waist and shoulders, and thejaw rests as helmet upon her head; her tower-likeshield presents a lion rampant to the foe whose arrowsand javelins it has already shattered; heavily coatedwith steel and leather, she stands on the watch, withweapon prepared to strike. Yet fortitude is not theeffect conveyed: the face is of a brutal type, and theform so large and coarse as to command horror ratherthan respect. This seems the figure of one for whomdanger can have no meaning, rather than of one whoestimates it at its true worth. Yet Giottos intentionbecomes clearer after consideration of the vice he
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Photo, Ali7iari\ \_Arena Chapel TEMPERANCE To face p. 155. THE ARENA CHAPEL AT PADUA 155 opposes to Fortitude, which is not Fear or Cowardice,but Inconstancy. He pictures her in the attempt tobalance herself upon a wheel that rolls down a slopepaved with smooth marble; a part of her dress iscaught up by the wind into the likeness of a secondwheel behind her head; she throws one arm up, theother down, in a futile effort to gain the equilibrium;her limbs are limp, and the expression of her facevacant. This is clearly the image of one who is at themercy of every breath of circumstance, whereas Fortitudestands rooted to earth with a rock-like resolution. Temperance and Wrath. Giotto is not content to follow the custom of histime and suggest a Temperance opposed only toGluttony, bearing a pitcher of water in her hand: hisconception, as Ruskin points out, is far nearer to theGreek a-wtjipoavvn, moderator of all the passions. Heuses a delicate and complex symbolism to enforce thisidea. A bit

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