for twelve years, and that his father Tacldeo taught
him, and this Taddeo again was taught by his god-
father Giotto, as we have said, during the space of
twenty-four years ! That, indeed, was a long disciple-
ship, and gave amjjle opportunity for handing down all
Giotto's ideas.
This first chapter being then successfully finished,
the second, composed only of a few lines, tells us how
some follow the art of painting from poverty and
necessity, but some from love of the art and true
nobility of mind. These latter delight to seek out a
master, and ' they gladly dispose themselves to obey
him, being ni servitude, that they may carry their art
to perfection.' Cennino was thinking of his own will-
ing servitude of twelve years with Agnolo, which had
not been for gain, but from true nobility of mind.
In the third chapter we hear what is further neces-
sary for the aspirant for art, namely, this vesture : ' love,
reverence, obedience and perseverance,' and having
|)ut on this garment, he says that we shall learn as
much in the following pages of his book as he learnt
from his master, and this refrain is very touching,
coming from the old man who, as he writes, still
almost fancies himself the disciple of the Agnolo who
lies sleeping peacefully in his grave.
So much for the opening of the Treatise, which
contains in the Tambroni edition 171 chapters and 5
books, but whether Cennino himself made these
divisions is a little uncertain. The text, however,
treats of everything connected with all the then
known branches of his beloved art, and though for the
general reader these details would prove a little un-
interesting, yet even to one who knows or cares no-
thing about pigments, tempera, and the grinding of
colours, the perusal of the Ti'eatise will provide amusing-
facts about the manners and customs of this same
fourteenth or fifteenth century, and Cennino's quaint
remarks on them cannot fail to call up a smile.
In the first book the art critic discourses on the
rudiments of design and drawing ; how stiles should
be made and used with or without bone dust, and how
charcoal outlines should be set so as not to rub out.
He even mentions the paper, made of cotton and
imported from the Levant, for paper made of rags was
not then in use.
In the second book we have a great deal about grinding of colours and making brushes of minever and hog's bristles.
In the third book he talks of fresco-painting and of the proportions of the human body. In the fourth, of painting in oil on walls, or on iron or stone, 'or on anything you please,' plainly showing that oil painting was by no means unknown at that time, and that Van Eyck can only claim the invention of a special mixture or varnish which after a time was made known to Italy, and that country can now point to Cennino's own words to prove they knew about oil colours, and a great deal about mediums too, before Van Eyck's time.
Then next come minute directions for gilding and engraving on gold, of ])ainting in various styles on one picture. This relates to imitating, as Count Cicognera tells us in Sloria di Sciillure, velvet and various stuflfs, and of ornamenting pictures with precious stones, such as we can still see examples of in the National Gallery. But on the vexed question of the varnishing of finished paintings, Cennino fails us, for he does not give us the recipe, Avhich would have been of value, though he wisely recommends waiting some time before varnishing.
In the fifth book we have a great deal about mediums, and the rest of the Treatise is taken up by minute instructions on the taking of plaster casts, on the laying of mosaics, and on different modes of painting common in his day ; and by all this we see how really thorough he was, and how, in spite of traditional narrow-mindedness, secrecy, and prejudice of his time, Cennino, despising professional secrets, wished the world to know all he knew.
So much then for the real matter of this treatise of painting, and artists who study it for themselves will note how majiy things which Cennino says are the counterparts of what they teach their pupils, — some things, however, which are now taught Cennino expressly says are bad ; but for the ordinary reader we must make a few extracts which are not strictly about art, but which Cennino puts down with the same earnestness as he displays when he tells us about that grinding of colours which was such an essential part of the duties of the patient disciple.
For instance, Cennino gives very special instruction about the manner in which drawing on panels should be begun ; bone dust must be used (and we must recollect that the artist has to pulverise the bones himself) to prime the canvas, and mixed with saliva ! He gives you no choice about this little ceremony, and after the mixture is ready it must be spread on with the finger ; but, continues the old man, ' you must now know what bones are proper for this purpose ; take the bones of the ribs and wings of fowls and capons, and the older they are the better.'
But these bones are to be found under the table, and by this touch we can at once recall the customs of that time, and w-e can see the artists doubtless picking their bones with thumb and forefinger, and then throwing them under the table, and in due time the faithful disciples of the great painters had to stoop down under the tables in order to hunt for the ' proper bones,' namely the rib and wing bones of fowls and capons, and the older they were, so much the better !
Further on, however, Cennino, fearing to make his disciples too dainty, says the bones of the leg and shoulder of mutton were good enough for the purpose. Other four-footed creatures were also called in to help the artist, for he was to spread his varnish over his parchment with a hare's foot, and it was this same varnish which writers spread over their parchment before beginning to write thereupon. EsME SlUART.
