[Footnote 52: We may observe, that Malvasia is the champion, not only of Bologna, but of Italy, and of all Europe. At page 11, volume first, he has quoted a passage from Filibien, which proves that design always maintained itself in France, even in rude ages, and that at the time of Cimabue it was there equally respectable as in Italy.] [Footnote 53: A catalogue of them is given in P. della Valle, in his history of that Church, and is republished in the Sienese edition of Vasari, at the end of the second volume.] [Footnote 54: This place, which will ever do high honour to the magnificence of the Pisans, would be an inestimable museum, if the pictures there, executed by Giotto, by Memmi, by Stefano Florentino, by Buffalmacco, by Antonio Veneziano, by the two Orcagni, by Spinello Aretino, and by Laurati, had been carefully preserved; but the greatest number having been injured by dampness, were repaired, but with considerable judgment, within the century.] [Footnote 55: Plin. xxxv. 9.] [Footnote 56: Zanet. p. 3.] [Footnote 57: It was a very ancient practice of Christian worship to place the silver, or ivory dittici, upon the altars during the service of the mass, and when the sacred ceremony was over, they were folded up in the manner of a book, and taken elsewhere. The same figure was retained, even in the introduction of the largest altar pieces, which likewise consisted of two wings, and were portable. This custom, of which I have seen few remnants in Italy, has been long preserved in the Greek church. At length, by degrees, artists began to paint upon one whole panel. (_See Buonarroti Vetri Antichi_, p. 258, &c.)] [Footnote 58: In Torrello, one of the Venetian isles, there is an ancient image of St. Hadrian, which is tolerably carved, and around it the history of the saint is depicted: the style is feeble, but not Grecian.] [Footnote 59: I notice this peculiarity, because the histories, either painted or engraved, belonging to those early times, are apt to perplex us; nor can they be cleared up without having recourse to books of fiction, which were, in those less civilized periods, believed. In the acts of our Saviour, and of the Virgin, it may be useful to consult Gio. Alberto Fabrizio, in the collection entitled "_Codex Apocr. Novi Testamenti_;" in the acts of the apostles and martyrs, it is not so much their real history, as the legends, either manifestly false or suspected, as recounted by the Bollandisti, that will throw light upon the subject.] [Footnote 60: See Vasari in the life of Spinello Aretino: "Simone Cini, a Florentine, carved it, it was gilt by Gabriello Saracini, and Spinello di Luca of Arezzo, painted it in the year 1385." A similar signature may be seen in Pittura Veneziana, page 15.] FLORENTINE SCHOOL. EPOCH I. _Florentine Painters who lived after Giotto to the end of the fifteenth century._ SECT. II.