ANIMAL LIFE IN ITALIAN PAINTING 



painted the open ark in perspective, with ranges of 

 perches in the upper part, divided into regular rows 

 for the birds, of which various kinds are seen to fly 

 out in flocks. Sir Charles Holroyd says that the only 

 relics of his passion for birds "are to be found in the 

 cloister of Sta. Maria Novella, especially in the scene 

 that once represented the Deluge : unfortunately they 

 are very much decayed, but there may still be deciphered 

 individual details of great beauty worthy of the study 

 of the curious." ^ 



At Padua, Uccello fell into a mistake which recalls 

 vividly the empirical methods of the Middle Ages. He 

 was decorating the Arch of the Peruzzi in fresco, and 

 in the corners of the design he "placed one of the 

 four elements, accompanied by an appropriate animal. 

 To the earth, for example, he gave a mole, to the water 

 a fish, to the fire a salamander, and to the air the 

 chameleon, which lives on the air and can take every 

 colour. But as he had never seen a chameleon he 

 painted a camel, which he has made with wide open 

 mouth, swallowing the air, wherewith he fills his belly. 

 And herein was his simplicity certainly very great, 

 taking the mere resemblance of the camel's name as 

 a sufficient representation of or allusion to an animal 



' The National Gallery, Ce7itral Italian Schools, p. xiii. 

 28 



