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parts of France; the truth being that no trace of Giotto’s pre sence has ever been discovered out of the Italian Peninsula. It may have been after the failure of this plan that Giotto left Florence (circa 1305) and proceeded to the North of Italy. It happened, says Benvenuto of Imola, that, whilst Giotto was painting at Padua a chapel erected on the site of the old circus, Dante visited that city and was received with honour by the painter at his own house. 1 In 1301 Enrico Scrovegno, a rich citizen of Padua, had been raised to the rank of a noble by the republic of Venice. 2 He devoted some portion of the wealth accumulated by his father 3 to the erection of a chapel which was completed in 1303 and dedicated to the annuntiate Virgin. 4 The painter employed to adorn its walls was Giotto, as Benvenuto da Imola distinctly states; and, as the date of Dante’s visit to Padua has been accurately ascertained, that of Giotto’s labours may be inferred. Dante lodged in the contrada San Lorenzo at Padua in 1306, 5 having left Bologna in January of that year. 6 It might be diffi- gendum martyrorum liistorias accit ingeti precio. Morte interveniente, opus omisit.” 1 Benvenuto da Imola, in Mu- ratori, Antiquitates Ital. Tom. I. p. 1186. s Pietro Brandolese Pit- ture, &c. di Padova, 8”. Pad. 1795. p. 213. 3 Reginaldo Scrovegno is con signed to the Inferno by Dante on account of his usury and ava rice. Inferno. Canto XVII. v. 64. 4 “L’anno 1303, istituita di M. Enrico de’ Scrovegni-Cavalier.” Anonimo, del Morelli (Jaco po.) Bassano. 1800. 8°. p. 23, and p. 146, as follows: “Fu eretta la chiesuola nel 1303, di che ne fa fede l’iscrizione presso lo Scar- deone.” See the inscript, in Scar- deone. B. Hist. Patav. p. 378 of Vol. VI. p. III. Thes. antiqui- tatum, J. G. Grsevii, Lugd. Batav. 4°. 1722. A record proves that VOL. I. the consecration took place only in 1305. Vid. Selvatico. Scritti. Flor. 1859. p. 284. 5 “Dantino, quondam aligerii de Florentia nunc stat Padua: in contrata Sancti Laurentii,” says a public record or affidavit pub. in “Novelle Letter. Flor.” 1748. p. 361. quoted in Kosini ub. sup. p. 245, and in Balho, Vita diDante. 6 Vasari affirms that Clement the V th , having succeeded Benedict the XI th at Perugia, forced Giotto to accompany him to Avignon. The transfer of the papal court to Avignon took place in 1305. There fore Giotto must have travelled into this and other parts of France in or after that year (Vas. Vol. I. p. 303). This alleged journey and the assertion that Giotto painted many frescos and panels at Avig non and in other parts of France, is proved to he deserving of no cre dit. Besides, in 1306 Giotto was 18