The Lives of the Painters, Sculptors & Architects, Volume 1 (of 8)Vasari, Giorgio
History
The Lives of the Painters, Sculptors & Architects, Volume 1 (of 8)
Vasari, Giorgio
Art, Italian; Artists -- Italy -- Biography
other with the naked rapiers which they hold in their disengaged
hands; their faces and all the movement of their limbs show the
desire of victory, their proud spirits being without fear and of the
highest courage. Also among those who are fighting on horseback there
is a finely executed knight who is fastening the head of an enemy to
earth with his lance, the other having fallen backward from his
terrified horse. Another scene shows the saint presented to the
Emperor Diocletian, who is questioning him about the faith, and who
afterwards consigns him to the torture, putting him in a furnace in
which he remains uninjured, whilst the servants who are very ready on
every side are burned in his stead. In short, all the acts of the
saint are shown, to his beheading, after which his soul is carried to
Heaven. The last scene shows the transportation of the bones and
relics of St Petitus from Alexandria to Pisa. The whole work in its
colouring and conception is the finest, most finished, and best
executed of Spinello's paintings, and this is shown by its present
excellent state of preservation, for its fresh appearance excites the
wonder of everyone who sees it. When this work in the Campo Santo was
completed, Spinello painted in the church of S. Francesco, in the
second chapel from the high altar, many stories of St Bartholomew, St
Andrew, St James, and St John the apostles, and he might perhaps have
remained longer at work in Pisa, because his paintings were admired
and rewarded there, but seeing the city thrown into an uproar and
turned upside down through the murder of M. Pietro Gambacorti by the
Lanfranchini, who were Pisan citizens, he once more removed to
Florence with all his family, for he was by this time an old man. He
remained there for one year only, and in the chapel of the
Macchiavelli in S. Croce, dedicated to SS. Philip and James, he did
many stories of the life and death of those saints. The picture of
the chapel he did at Arezzo, and sent it on from there in the year
1400, for he was anxious to return to his native place, or, to speak
more correctly, to the place which he looked upon as such. Having
thus returned thither at the age of seventy-seven or more, he was
lovingly received by his relations and friends, and remained there,
much loved and honoured, until the end of his life, which was in the
ninety-second year of his age. Although at the time of his return to
Arezzo he was quite an old man, and had enough property to enable him
to live without working, yet he could not remain idle, since he had
always been accustomed to work, and undertook to do some stories of
St Michael for the company of S. Agnolo in that city. These are
roughly drawn in red on the plastered wall, as was the most ordinary
method of the old artists, and as an example he did a single scene in
one corner, colouring it entirely, which gave considerable
satisfaction. Having afterwards agreed upon the price with the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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