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Chap. I. SPINELLO OF AREZZO. 7 ' Of Daddi’s paintings on tlie gates of Florence hardly a vestige remains, and tlie fragments only suffice to convince the spectator that they were of Daddi’s time. Spinello of Arezzo was in every sense superior to Jacopo di Casentino and Daddi. Issued from a Ghibeline family which had taken refuge at Arezzo about 1308, he nevertheless devoted himself to painting; and though his father Luca Spinelli 1 did nothing for his education, and allowed him to learn the rudiments alone, he rapidly attained proficiency, so that after a slight course of in struction under Jacopo di Casentino, he turned out at the age of twenty a better painter than his master. He was a man of great merit, following the style developed by Jacopo and Daddi; but he rose above them by studying pure Giottesque models from which, aided by indubitable vigour and energy, he formed a manner bold, animated and picturesque. He represented the spirit of Giotto at the close of the fourteenth century better than any artist of that time; and he undoubtedly played in painting the greatest part of that period. His style may be studied to the best advantage at S. Miniato outside Florence, in the Campo Santo of Pisa, and above all, in the public palace of Sienna. His altar- pieces and pictures are less favorable to his greatness than his wall paintings; but in this he shared a pecu liarity common to all the Florentines. Many galleries have pictures inscribed with his name; but these are mediocre when compared with his frescos; and it would be evident from a glance, were it not proved in other ways, that he trusted much of this species of work to assistants. Taking therefore his wall paintings , for a guide, one can see that he possessed Giotto’s maxims of composition, and that he distributed his subjects grandly and broadly. He proved himself at times, however, buried, says theAretine, inS.Feli- cita. 1 In the inscription of Spinello’s pictures, and in the records re specting him, he is called Spinello Lucre, which confirms Vasari’s statement. That his father Luca was a Ghibeline of the Spinelli family is only affirmed by the latter.