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DEDICATED, BY PERMISSION, TO HER MAJESTY.

BIOGRAPHY

OR

Third Division of "The English Cyclopædia,"

CONDUCTED BY

CHARLES KNIGHT.

VOLUME III.

LONDON:

BRADBURY, EVANS, & CO., 11, BOUVERIE ST., FLEET ST., E.C.

SCRIBNER, WELFORD, & CO., 654, BROADWAY, NEW YORK.

1867.

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The names of those living at the time of the continuous publication of the English Cyclopædia of Biography,' are preceded by an asterisk.

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GADDO GADDI, the contemporary and friend of Andrea Tafi and Cimabue, was born at Florence in 1249, according to Vasari. Gaddo was a painter and mosaic-worker, and assisted Tafi in the mosaics of San Giovanni. He executed alone the mosaic of the Coronation of the Madonna,' in Santa Maria del Fiore, which is still extant. This work obtained him a reputation all over Italy, and he was ordered in 1308 by Clement V. to Rome, to execute some mosaics in the new church and palace of San Giovanno in Laterano, which was rebuilt after the fire of 1307. He executed other works in St. Peter's, and in Santa Maria Maggiore, which last still exist. There is also a Madonna by him in mosaic in the cathedral of Pisa. He executed some paintings in 'tempera,' but they have all perished. He died in 1312, and was buried in Santa Croce, where his son Taddeo painted his portrait beside that of Andrea Tafi, in a 'Marriage of the Virgin' in the Capella Baroncelli. TADDEO GADDI, born in 1300, was a much more able man than his father, after whose death he lived twenty-four years with Giotto, who was his godfather. He was the most distinguished of Giotto's scholars and imitators.

Vasari mentions the paintings of the sacristy of Santa Croce in Florence, as Taddeo's first works; the altar-piece, however, of this chapel is altogether similar to the other paintings, and it bears the date of 1378, which was some years after the death of Taddeo: the portion which Vasari attributes to Taddeo are the five subjects from the life of the Magdalen. The frescoes of the Baroncelli (now Giugni) chapel in the same church, representing the life of the Virgin, also by Taddeo, according to Vasari, are in a different style, and in one which assimilates more with the characteristic style of the period. Taddeo enlarged somewhat upon the style of Giotto; he gave more bulk and motion to his figures. The frescoes of this chapel are perhaps the best of his works that remain: they have been engraved by Lasinio. Taddeo painted also in Santa Maria Novella and other churches at Florence, and at Arezzo, and in 1342 at Pisa; but little remains of his works besides those mentioned above, and a few small altar-pieces in tempera, in the gallery of the academy at Florence and at Berlin.

In Santa Maria Novella, Taddeo painted in fresco a wall and the ceiling of the Capella degli Spagnuoli, formerly the chapter-house. The ceiling represents the Resurrection and the Ascension of Christ, the Descent of the Holy Ghost,' and 'Peter saved from Shipwreck : in the Resurrection' light proceeds from the body of Christ. The painting of the wall is apparently an allegory to the glory of St. Thomas Aquinas, commemorating his extensive knowledge and his great services to the church. The other walls of the chapel were painted by Memmi at the same time as the works of Taddeo were executed, but are much inferior to them; on one of the walls are the reputed portraits of Petrarch and Laura. Taddeo's works in this chapel are the most considerable efforts in painting of the 14th century; but they are not in a sufficient state of preservation to judge adequately of their merits, though sufficient to justify his reputation as the best craftsman of his age or century. In composition he was symmetrical and crude, in character natural, and in expression not superior but equal to Giotto. Taddeo was likewise a distinguished architect; he built the present Ponte Vecchio in 1345, and the Ponte della Trinità, which was destroyed by the flood of 1557, and was replaced by the resent bridge by Ammanati.

BIOG. DIV. VOL. III,

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GAERTNER, JOHANN ANDREAS.

Taddeo Gaddi amassed great wealth, by means of which he established his family, and the Gaddi have been for many centuries one of the most distinguished families of Florence. It is not known when Taddeo died, but Rumohr has shown that he was still living in 1366. He was buried near his father in Santa Croce.

His most distinguished scholars were Giovanni da Milano and Jacopo da Casentino, to whom he intrusted the care of his sons Giovanni and Angelo. Giovanni died young, after giving great promise as a painter.

ANGELO GADDI was born about 1326, died in 1389, according to Vasari and Baldinucci. He excelled in colour, and generally in the technical practice of the period, which appears to have been thoroughly established in his time. He executed several great works, especially in Santa Croce, where he painted the history of the Discovery of the Cross; but they are all in imitation of Giotto and his father, though he was inferior to both in expression and to his father in design. He executed many works in Florence in various churches; and he visited Venice not only in the capacity of a painter but as a merchant also. He established a commercial house there, together with his sons, and realised a great fortune: his sons devoted themselves exclusively to mercantile pursuits.

Angelo left two distinguished scholars-Stefano da Verona, and Cennino Cennini, who is the author of the earliest known treatise on painting-Trattato della Pittura,' Rome, 1821: it was written in

1437.

(Vasari, Vite de' Pittori, &c.; Speth, Kunst in Italien; Rumohr, Italienische Forschungen.)

GADEBUSCH, FREDERIC CONRAD, a learned German, born in 1719, in the island of Rugen. After having studied at different universities of Germany, he went, in 1750, to Livonia, where he remained till his death in 1788. He was a very laborious writer, and left several works in German, which throw considerable light on the history of the Baltic provinces of Russia. His principal works areMemoir on the Historians of Livonia,' Riga, 1772; Livonian Bibliotheca,' Riga, 1779; Essays on the History and Laws of Livonia,' Riga, 1777-85; Annals of Livonia, from 1030 to 1761,' 8 vols. in 8vo, Riga, 1780-83.

GAERTNER, or GÄRTNER, JOHANN ANDREAS. Descended himself from a family of architects, Johann Gärtner claims notice both on account of his own professional talents, and as being the father of the celebrated FRIEDRICH VON GAERTNER, noticed below. Johann Andreas was the son of a former Andreas, a Dresden architect and artist of considerable reputation in the early part of the last century; and was the nephew of Johann Gärtner, a clever architect of the same period and the same place. He was born at Dresden in 1743, and was at first more inclined towards the military profession; but going to Poland he was induced by Count Minitszek not to give up architecture entirely, but rather to apply himself to engineering also, and he was employed by that nobleman to erect various buildings upon his estates. After that he visited Vienna, Berlin, and Paris, in which last capital he remained nine years, when he was invited to Coblenz, to finish the Residenz or electoral palace there. He next entered the service of the Prince-bishop of Würzburg, being glad to quit Coblenz (where his son Friedrich was born), the disturbances arising out of the French Revolution having both rendered that city an insecure place of abode, and cut off all prospect of professional employment. He erected several buildings at Würzburg and in its neighbourhood, all of which display superior talent and taste; among others the theatre, the restorations

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