ANIMAL LIFE IN ITALIAN PAINTING 



description of quarry — kites, herons, partridges, and what 

 not — was welcomed by him, and the more hawks were 

 flying at the same time the better he was pleased. . . . 

 There were always," adds Hubertus, "so many falcons 

 in the air, and so many swift hounds upon the ground, 

 that it was barely possible for any heron to escape ; and 

 they often captured more than a hundred birds." ^ 



" Clement V. protested in a bull against the intro- 

 duction of hounds and hawks into the sanctuary," says 

 Mr. Coulton, " and Gerson, a century later, complained 

 of the same practice : adding that such animals showed 

 no more respect for the sacred places than mere pro- 

 testant beasts. Yet, at the very time when Gerson was 

 thus complaining, the Mdnagier de Paris was advising 

 good folk to bring their hawks to church, that they 

 might thus grow used to crowds of men, and lose their 

 native shyness ; and the editor points out in a footnote 

 how certain canonries carried with them the express 

 right of bringing hawks into church." ^ 



It is easy, then, to see the significance of Giotto's 

 falcon here, and the reason of its frequent introduction 

 into later painting. 



In the upper church Giotto painted, about the year 

 1300, eighteen scenes from the legend of the saint. 



* Mrs. Henry Cust, Gentlemen Errant, I909) P- 256. 

 ^ G. G. Coulton, From St. Fratids to Dante, 2nd ed., 1906, p. 339. 



16 



