This monument remains in her own monastery of San Biagio alla Guidecca, long held in veneration, even after the body of the blessed saint had been removed, in the year 1297, into an urn of stone. There are there represented San Biagio, the titular saint of the church, San Cataldo, the bishop, and the blessed Giuliana, the two former in an upright, the latter in a kneeling posture; their names are written in Latin, and the style, although coarse, is nevertheless not Greek. Probably that of the painter is also in the same corner, a picture of whom, a Pietà, has recently been discovered by the Ab. Boni, who considers him a new Cimabue of the Venetian art. As it has already been described by him in his Florentine collection of "Opuscoli Scientifici,"^[7] I shall not extend my account of it; for the reader will there find other names, as will afterwards be shewn, recently discovered by the indefatigable author of some early Venetian writers, until this period unknown to history. Among these are Stefano Pievano, of S. Agnese, a picture by whom, dated 1381, is described; Alberegno, belonging to the fifteenth century, and one Esegrenio, who flourished somewhat later, to which time we may refer two fine and highly valued figures of holy virgins, not long since discovered, of Tommaso da Modena, and which, from the disputes they have elicited, have been subjected to experiments at Florence, to ascertain whether they are painted in oil or distemper—experiments that tend only to prove that this Tommaso was unacquainted with the art of colouring in oil.

It was only subsequent to the year 1300, that the names, united to the productions of the Venetians, began to make themselves manifest; when, partly by the examples held out by Giotto, partly by their own assiduity and talent, the painters of the city and of the state visibly improved, and softened the harshness of their manner. Giotto, according to a MS. cited by Rossetti,^[8] was at Padua in 1306; according to Vasari, he returned from Avignon in 1316; and a little while afterwards he was painting at Verona, in the palace of Can della Scala, and at Padua, employed on a chapel in the church of the titular saint. He adds, that towards the close of his days he was again invited there, and embellished other places with his pieces. Nothing, however, remains of him in Verona; but in Padua there still exists the chapel of the Nunziata all'Arena, divided all round into compartments, in each of which is represented some scriptural event. It is truly surprising to behold, not less on account of its high state of preservation, beyond any other of his frescos, than for its full expression of native grace, together with that air of grandeur which Giotto so well knew how to unite. With respect to the chapel, it is believed that Vasari was less accurately informed, inasmuch as Savonarola, who has been cited by Sig. Morelli,^[9] relates that Giotto ornamented the little church of the Arena, capitulumque Antonii nostri, and the chapter of our St. Antony. And in fact, in the apartment of the chapter house, there yet remain several traces of ancient painting, though turned white with age. In a very ancient MS., of the year 1312,^[10] there is made mention of his also having been employed in Palatio Comitis, which others suppose ought to be read Communis, intended to apply to the Saloon, of which I shall shortly have to give some account.

To Giotto succeeded Giusto Padovano, so called from the place of his naturalization and usual residence; being, in truth, a Florentine, sprung from the family of the Menabuoi. As a disciple of Giotto, Vasari attributes to him the very extensive work which adorns the church of St. John the Baptist. In the picture over the altar, if it be his, Giusto has exhibited various histories of St. John the Baptist; on the walls are represented both scriptural events and mysteries of the Apocalypse; and on the cupola he has drawn a Choir of Angels, where we behold, as if in a grand consistory, the blessed arrayed in various garments, seated upon the ground; simple, indeed, in its conception, but executed with an incredible degree of diligence and felicity. It is mentioned in the Notizia Morelli, that formerly there was to be read there an inscription over one of the gates—Opus Johannis et Antonii de Padua,—probably companions of Giusto, and, probably, as is conjectured by the author of the MS. above alluded to, the painters of the whole temple. This would seem to augment the number of the Paduan artists, no less than the imitators of Giotto; since the works, already described, are equally as much in his manner as those by Taddeo Gaddi, or any other of his fellow pupils in Florence. The same commendation is bestowed upon Jacopo Davanzo, of whom I treat more at length in the school of Bologna. A less faithful follower of Giotto was Guariento, a Paduan, held in high esteem about the year 1360, as appears from the honourable commissions he obtained from the Venetian senate. One of his frescos and a crucifixion yet remain at Bassano;^[11] and in the choir of the Eremitani, at Padua, there are many of his figures now retouched, from which Zanetti took occasion to commend him for his rich invention, the spirit of his attitudes, and the felicity with which, at so early a period, he disposed his draperies. At Padua there is an ancient church, dedicated to St. George, erected about 1377, which boasts some history pieces of St. James, executed by the hand of Alticherio, or Aldigieri, da Zevio in the Veronese; and others of St. John, the work of one Sebeto,^[12] says the historian, a native of Verona. These, likewise, approach pretty nearly the style of Giotto, and more especially the first, who painted also a good deal in his native place.

To these two I may add Jacopo da Verona, known only by his numerous paintings in fresco at San Michele of Padua, which remain in part entire; and Taddeo Bartoli, of Siena, who has shewn himself ambitious at the Arena, of emulating the contiguous labours of Giotto, without attaining the object in view. Another production of the same period is seen in the great hall at Padua, reported to be one of the largest in the world, consisting, as it does, of a mixture of sacred historic pieces, of celestial signs borrowed from Igino, and of the various operations carried on during the respective months of the year, besides several other ideas certainly furnished by some learned man of that age. It is partly the work, says Morelli in his Notizia, upon the authority of Campagnuola, of an artist of Ferrara, and partly that of Gio.