TREES IN PAINTING 213 



illustrate the development of tree-painting, to 

 begin with, from the work of the Florentines. 

 Giotto and his school occupy practically the 

 whole of the fourteenth century. Their repre- 

 sentation of trees shows only a slight advance 

 on the earlier work. Still, for the most part, 

 they are made little if any more than the height 

 of the men and women who move amongst 

 them ; there is but slight feeling for mass, 

 which is rendered, if at all, as in '* The Triumph 

 of Death" in the Campo Santo at Pisa, by 

 the laborious painting of a large number of 

 separate leaves. Generally, we have single 

 trees, with one straight stem, few branches, 

 and a symmetrical, flat oval head, composed of 

 leaves too large in relation to the size of the 

 tree. The subtleties of rendering, mentioned 

 above, are entirely wanting. 



In the fifteenth century there is a marked 

 advance in the rendering of landscape, and of 

 trees as a principal feature in it. Fra Angelico, 

 though holding back from much in the art 

 movement of his time, was a leader in this 

 respect. He observed the gradations of tone 

 in the sky. His trees, though still stiff and 

 symmetrical, and of small size, have a feeling 



