himself as to the nature of it.  Not troubled by critics either; satisfied that his work was well done, and that people would find it out to be well done; but not vain of it, nor more profoundly vexed at its being found fault with, than a good saddler would be by some one’s saying his last saddle was uneasy in the seat.  Not, on the whole, much molested by critics, but generally understood by the men of sense, his neighbours and friends, and permitted to have his own way with the walls he had to paint, as being, on the whole, an authority about walls; receiving at the same time a good deal of daily encouragement and comfort in the simple admiration of the populace, and in the general sense of having done good, and painted what no man could look upon without being the better for it.

Thus he went, a serene labourer, throughout the length and breadth of Italy.  For the first ten years of his life, a shepherd; then a student, perhaps for five or six; then already in Florence, setting himself to his life’s task; and called as a master to Rome when he was only twenty.  There he painted the principal chapel of St. Peter’s, and worked in mosaic also; no handicrafts, that had colour or form for their objects, seeming unknown to him.  Then returning to Florence, he painted Dante, about the year 1300,[9] the 35th year of Dante’s life, the 24th of his own; and designed the facade of the Duomo, on the death of its former architect, Arnolfo.  Some six years afterwards he went to Padua, there painting the chapel which is the subject of our present study, and many other churches.  Thence south again to Assisi, where he painted half the walls and vaults of the great convent that stretches itself along the slopes of the Perugian hills, and various other minor works on his way there and back to Florence.  Staying in his native city but a little while, he engaged himself in other tasks at Ferrara, Verona, and Ravenna, and at last at Avignon, where he became acquainted with Petrarch—­working there for some three years, from 1324 to 1327;[10] and then passed rapidly through Florence and Orvieto on his way to Naples, where “he received the kindest welcome from the good king Robert.  The king, ever partial to men of mind and genius, took especial delight in Giotto’s society, and used frequently to visit him while working in the Castello dell’Uovo, taking pleasure in watching his pencil and listening to his discourse; ‘and Giotto,’ says Vasari, ’who had ever his repartee and bon-mot ready, held him there, fascinated at once with the magic of his pencil and pleasantry of his tongue.’  We are not told the length of his sojourn at Naples, but it must have been for a considerable period, judging from the quantity of works he executed there.  He had certainly returned to Florence in 1332.”  There he was immediately appointed “chief master” of the works of the Duomo, then in progress, “with a yearly salary of one hundred gold florins, and the privilege of citizenship.”  He designed