Chap. V. EARLY SIENNESE ART. 177 ductions of those early workmen who in 1237 executed, in the palace of the Podesta at S. Gimignano, the incidents of a hunt of which some vestiges still exist, •— men of small attainments, and more rude in talents than those who painted the central aisle of the lower church of Assisi. 1 At Sienna, the parent stock of S. Gimignano, art shared the mediocrity of Pisa and of Lucca. In the oldest example of a school which was afterwards to occupy the second rank in Italy, — a lunette fresco of-the Saviour, with one arm raised, and the other holding a scroll, in the front of the church of S. Bartolommeo, the slight figure, regular head, and sharp features, — the straight draperies and stippled execution, betrayed no characteristics by which the painter could be distinguished from those of his class elsewhere. In a Virgin and child preserved at the ora tory of S. Ansano in Castel Vecchio, the system of mixed relief and painting betrayed a community of thought and education between the artist and those of neighbouring cities. The execution was feebler indeed than that of the crucifix of the earlier period at Lucca; yet if it were true that this Virgin was produced in commemoration of the decisive battle of Monte Aperto (1260), it might be considered that the painter was one of the ablest of his time. The Madonnas of Tressa, of the Carmine, and of Betlem, of which so much has been said, and to so little purpose, may be passed over, as no excuse is needed for withholding an opinion upon works so extensively repaired, but others of the early part of the thirteenth century only confirm the belief that Siennese art shared the common degeneracy. The custom of combining the plastic and pictorial was maintained; and altarpieces are preserved in the Academy of Arts sufficient to demonstrate the poverty of that species of production. Without multi- this picture are light, gay, and shot with gold. 1 In November 1237, a number of young Florentines obtained per mission to hunt in the woods of the “Comune” at S. Gimignano; and the expense was borne by the city. See Pecori (Can 0 . Luigi) Sto- ria della Terra di S. Gimig nano. 8°. Flor. 1853. p. 565. 12 VOL. I.
