BEAUTIFUL BOOK MAKING 
sketches on rocks in the fields with a piece of flint 
and recognized at once that here was an example of 
fine power over line drawing. After some years 
with Cimabue, Giotto's fame spread until it reached 
Rome where the pone was redecorating the old 
church of St. Peter's which after the fire was re- 
placed hy the present great church, Michelangelo’s 
creation. Wishing to be sure that the young artist 
would be worthy of an invitation to do some decora- 
tion for St. Peter's, Pope Benedict IX sent a mes- 
senger to Florence requesting Giotto to give him a 
drawing to bring to His Holiness that might afford 
a sample of his powers. Giotto noted for his cour- 
tesy took a sheet of paper and a pencil dipped in red 
color, according to the story, then resting his elbow 
on his side with one turn of the hand he drew a circle 
so perfect and exact that it was a marvel to behold. 
When the pope received it and above all after he 
submitted it to his art advisers and they were told 
the circumstances of its drawing, all agreed that 
Giotto deserved an invitation to Rome. He received 
it and painted the scene of Peter's Bark still to be 
seen in mosaic in the portico of the new St. Peter’s, 
the only relic of old St. Peter's that remains. 
This is the story of the famous O of Giotto 
demonstrating how much high technical skill was 
appreciated in the days of great religious Art. As 
Miss Stokes says: 
“To draw a circle unaided by the compass, 1s a 
feat only to be accomplished by an eye and hand in 
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