Chapter VII: General Character (1)

In addition to the long list of frescoes and paintings which we have already considered and about which we have been able to obtain contemporary information, there still remains to be noted a small number of minor works, of but little relative value as examples of his art, but bearing some historical importance.

_Alinari photo_ _Monte Oliveto, near Siena_

HEAD OF SODOMA

(From the Life of St. Benedict)]

Chief among these are the various portraits of himself. The only thoroughly authenticated one is that of Monte Oliveto, painted, as we have seen, when five-and-twenty years of age, at the epoch of his first important commission. It is a young, rugged face, with blunt, plebeian features, full, however, of intelligence and some wistful thoughtfulness lying behind the eyes, in spite of the evident self-consciousness induced by the new clothes. There is a small panel portrait in the Uffizi, said to be his by some critics. The technique is heavier than was usual with him in middle life, but it is not altogether unlike the Monte Oliveto fresco, allowing for the face to have matured. The hair is long, in curls around the neck, and the short beard untrimmed. A dress of black, mingled with crimson velvet, the fine white shirt just showing at the throat, and a dark velvet cap, are set against a background of dark, sombre sky. It is a face grown thin, without refinement, a mouth still full and sensual in spite of the deep hollows under the eyes, as of one who had suffered from neuralgic pain; but the eyes have the same look that they had in youth; there is the old contradiction in the face, even as in the work, the dual elements eternally at war.

_Alinari photo_ _Uffizi Gallery, Florence_

PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST]

The bearded head of the old man in the Pitti (No 382), also said to be a portrait of himself, is not recognised by critics of authority, nor does it bear much resemblance to the other two.

Local tradition has further associated his name with the peering head wedged in between the two tree trunks in his famous “Adoration of the Magi,” made for the brothers John and Arduino Arduini. Unlike their fellow-townsmen, these gentlemen were none too generous in their remuneration to the painters, and Bazzi, never having laid by a penny in his life, and possibly being in debt into the bargain, began the famous lawsuit against the Arduini.

This picture, so singularly fitted for the consideration of students, for it illustrates all his more noticeable characteristics, is still in the Piccolomini chapel of the church of Sant’ Agostino at Siena. The head above referred to is that of one of the shepherds, a subordinate personage rendered suddenly striking by some peculiar realism in its treatment.

It is neither a beautiful face nor a good face which looks from between the tree trunks away from the Madonna and towards the gaily harnessed horses led by negro slaves. But it is undoubtedly a portrait, and there are many who accept it as Sodoma’s own, in spite of its sharper features. But the Italian countenance, often full and puffy in early youth, is apt to assume in later life a sharpness of outline almost unrecognisable. Della Valle speaks of two portraits of himself, one of them signed Giovanni Antonio da Vercelli, where he also declares the honour of his Siennese citizenship, and Vasari mentions that in the perished fresco at San Francesco, of which there only remains the fragment now in the Siena Gallery, Sodoma had drawn his own likeness, clean-shaven and with flowing hair.

Above the gate of San Viene we have another version of himself in his old age, bearing a brush in his hand, which points towards a _cartellino_ with the words “Fac tu.” These various portraits, alternately with and without beard, but show that the painter was a close observer of current fashion, as befitted a Chevalier of the Pope’s creation and a Knight-at-arms, and they also enable us to follow his changeful physiognomy throughout a variety of phases.

There is a good deal of his work in England, chiefly in private collections. Our National Gallery is unfortunate in having but two very small and very poor specimens of the master’s work. They are not in any way representative. The “Madonna under the red canopy with the kneeling monk presented by St. Peter” is probably one of his late “pot-boilers.” It was originally in the Rosini collection at Pisa, and may have been painted there during the last years of the artist’s life, while he was working at the choir decorations in the cathedral.

The head of Christ, crowned with thorns, was probably part of a much larger picture, and has been remounted. It is evidently the central figure of a procession to Calvary, for the head is bent under the weight of a large cross, the eyes are downcast, and the hands uplifted as if in prayer. Nevertheless, it is quite shallow in sentiment, and has none of that peculiar pathos and intensity with which his sincerer work is imbued.

There is, however, another fragment by Sodoma in the National Gallery,--the Child in Signorelli’s large altar-piece of the Circumcision. It appears that the Franciscan brothers, for whom this panel was painted, objected to Signorelli’s treatment of the infant Christ, and, on the plea of it having been spoiled by the damp (!), caused it to be repainted by Sodoma, who also touched up the Virgin’s face. Vasari gives the historical basis for this theory,[51] and upon a closer examination of the picture itself we may see that the attitude of the Child’s legs has been altered, the old outline showing through the Madonna’s robe, and the whole modelling is obviously by another hand.

It is to be regretted that our public galleries possess no worthier specimen of Sodoma’s work.

A very beautiful and highly-finished drawing is to be found, however, in the British Museum; in the same case as the four authentic Leonardos. It is in black chalk touched with white in the high lights, and represents the head of a youth, evidently a portrait. The nimbus, and the letters I.O. which have converted it into a saint are thought to be a later addition. The trustees of the Museum regard it as the portrait of Timoteo Viti by Raphael--probably because it was at one time in a private collection at Urbino, but Morelli has pointed out to us the fact that it is probably by Sodoma, and a careful examination of it, and the chalk drawing in the Uffizi of the young man crowned with laurel, will, I think, show the same characteristics of line and shading.

Signor Morelli had himself two fine panels of Sodoma’s, which he left, together with the rest of his collection, to the public gallery at Bergamo. One of these is a “Madonna and Child” in the orthodox Lombard manner, so entirely Leonardesque in treatment that it was formerly counted among that master’s work. The other, a male head in oils, has traces of a certain Flemish tendency, a peculiar manner of laying on the colour which we may observe in the Frankfort portrait and in his early _tondi_ at Siena. Besides these there are two drawings in red chalk, one for the figure of Christ in the “Resurrection,” the other of “St. Christopher crossing the stream.”

Signor Enrico Costa of Florence has a late work, a small panel depicting the half-length figure of the dead Christ upheld by the Virgin and Magdalen, a subject which Sodoma never approached in his early period, but which we find frequent after 1525.

In the sacristy of San Tommaso, Milan, there is a somewhat similar panel; and we have already described that belonging to Dr. Richter.

The public gallery of Genoa has possessed for some years a “Holy Family” classified among Sodoma’s late work. It formed part of a small collection left to the city by Prince Oddone di Savoia, brother of the late King; and Lady Layard has at Venice, among the collection of her late husband, a small panel of the “Virgin and Child surrounded by a glory of angels.”

_Brogi photo_ _Uffizi Gallery, Florence_

CHALK DRAWING OF A HEAD]

In the vaulted offices under the great Hospital at Siena, now belonging to the Societa di Eseguzione di Pia Disposizione, is to be found a “Madonna and Child with St. John,” painted on panel, a charming little picture of his late middle period, but which has been spoiled by the little St. John having been retouched and the flesh tints varnished until they are far too yellow. The Virgin holds the infant Christ, who playfully toys with St. John’s cross. St. Joseph in a yellow robe is seen behind the Virgin’s right shoulder, and to her left is an airy landscape, such as Sodoma loved to paint, with winding river, distant town upon the water’s edge with all its minutiæ--turret, buttress, and bridge.

Perhaps one of his most genial characteristics is this great delight in landscape, which was but another and probably less developed form of his love for nature shown in the fondness for animals. The tendency to look more and more at the external world was a growing one in his day, and painters of such opposite schools as Perugino, Leonardo, and Titian united in their poetic appreciation of natural scenery and their recognition of its harmony with man.

In Sodoma the natural beauty seems sometimes to outweigh the human interest, especially in much of his later work, where the figures are carelessly done. His stretches of country are nearly always painted with tenderness and care, as if in age he had grown weary of his intercourse with men and turned to the mute life of hill and lake and wind-swept plain for refreshment.

There is, finally, a small number of pictures by him quoted by early writers, which have either altogether disappeared, or else exist in remote corners under other names.

There are two early panels mentioned by Della Valle done for the Savini family, for which Antonio Barili carved the frames; the “Virgin and Child with St. Joseph holding a vase,” and a “Virgin and Child with St. Joseph, St. John Baptist, and St. Catherine of Siena.”

Then there was the small panel for the organ of San Francesco, of the “Virgin nursing her Child,” recently found by Mrs. Richter, and Della Valle also tells of a _cassone_, or marriage chest, decorated for one of the brides of the Saracini household, with scenes relative to the Judgment of Paris.

The picture representing Phaeton falling from the chariot of the Sun has already been mentioned (see p. 85).

Vasari, speaking of Sodoma’s friendship with James V. of Piombino, distinctly says that he painted sundry pictures for him, and in the correspondence between that Prince and the _Signoria_ of Siena, we remember that James gives as an excuse for Sodoma’s delay in returning that he was so absorbed in the picture he was painting for him that he could not tear himself away from it. But we are not told the subject.

Baron Rumohr[52] speaks of having found at Siena certain fragments by Sodoma treating the metamorphoses of Cephalus, but I have not been able to trace them; and in the records of that lawsuit between the painter and the brothers Arduini we remember that part of Biringucci’s verdict was that the Arduini should restore to Sodoma a round panel representing the “Virgin and Child, with St. Joseph and St. Elizabeth.”

It is, on the whole, not easy to justly estimate the artistic position of a man so productive as Sodoma, and so extraordinarily unequal in his productions, without falling either into the error of viewing him too completely in the light of his inferior work, and so underrating his masterpieces, or that of extending an unmerited value to all that came from his hand. He has suffered from literary injustice in Vasari’s biassed criticism, he has suffered from technical contempt through his own defect of over-production, and consequent inequality. The mere fact that his life was a long one, and his paintings far too numerous, has crowded out, in popular estimation, the memory of those few works of absolute genius on which his higher reputation rests.

And much that has been put down to Sodoma’s wayward individuality may, in reality, be attributed to the general tendencies of his age and the society in which he lived. It is undeniable that the really great man, the hero, guides, rather than is guided by, his environment; but we have not claimed for Sodoma a position among the greatest.

And one has to bear in mind, also, that what his contemporaries sought in art was less the edification of the mind than the pleasure of the eye. The sensuousness that had entirely taken possession of Italian literature was spreading now into the more lately developed field of painting, and the criticism of either art was directed rather towards its beauty of form, pleasing line or ringing metre, than to the idea or sentiment expressed. Painting especially, in seeking thus exclusively for mere plastic beauty, was losing touch more and more with thought, and, as it became less intellectual, beginning to lose also some of the highest qualities of beauty.

The whole of Siennese art had been from the beginning less thoughtful, less literary than the Florentine; it was the emotional expression of simpler natures not trained in the subtleties of feeling which the combined influence of the Florentine scholastics and Greek revivalists had brought about. Siena awoke late to a knowledge of the classics, and suffered much less than Florence and Venice from that form of religious eclecticism which ended in artistic insincerity. But even Siena on her hill-tops could not escape the general tide of thought which was sweeping over Europe, and in the transition from the mediæval to the modern standpoint, she, too, passed through her phase of uncertainty and affectation.

Sodoma came at the beginning of this phase. What was best in him held to the old tradition, the sincerity of the Middle Ages. The practical side of him, the obvious need of bread, carried him along with the tide; and the sincerity which is found in modern art, the poetry of realism, was as yet undiscovered. Hence the anomalous character of his painting, the indecision of his mental bias.

He left a great deal that was showy and trivial; he was often unequal in the different parts of a picture itself, frequently throwing all his skill into the working of a central figure and dashing in the subordinate subjects hurriedly, as in St. Anna in Creta; or else working but half-heartedly at the ostensible _motiv_, and concentrating his energy upon the perfection of some lesser group, as in the Descent into Hades. He had all the advantages and all the defects of an over-rich artistic imagination, and a bias towards the subtle and mystic which often degenerated into the production of what was merely weak.

The sensuality with which not only Vasari but contemporary poems tax him was probably an integral part of his character, the ardent, fiery, impressionable artist-nature, as quick to throw itself into extremes of degradation as to rise to sublimest heights of intuitive faith.

It is the same temperament which we find in St. Augustine, St. Francis, and St. Bernardino, the vitality which, ill-directed, secures us the libertine, and, chastened and inspired, supplies the saint.

Sodoma did not become a saint; he remained a sinner and a reprobate to the end of his life, and died poor and neglected in the public infirmary. What in others developed into a feverish and ardent piety, in him remained forever merely potential. It sufficed, however, to give a particular character to his art. His strength can never be said to have lain in dramatic grouping or even in proportion of composition. His abundant fancy led him often to overcrowd his canvas, and a violent two-fold action going on at the same time induces a great feeling of restlessness in most of his larger works. He was at his best in the portrayal of single figures, overwhelmed by some profound or subtle emotion; St. Catherine swooning in the excess of her religious fervour, Eve bewildered as she first steps into the light of day, St. Sebastian uplifted in the wonder of his martyrdom, or, most profound of all, Our Lord in the hands of the scourgers. If he could not invest his Madonnas with the great purity of Perugino or Botticelli’s solemn thoughtfulness, he could at least paint men and women under the influence of strong and exalted passion, the mysterious sweetness of whose faces haunts one with persistent power. Unfortunately, Sodoma, as Rio observes, was too often content to sacrifice quality to quantity, and, amid all his work, there are only some five or six of his paintings which can take their place among the great works of the century.

But it is through the merits of these that his claim to greatness lies, and one has grown to associate with his name a sense of the dignity of suffering and the majesty of human nature at its moments of martyrdom and sacrifice.

Wherever humanity has escaped from its daily round to reach a supreme crisis of noble emotion, the artist became, as it were, inspired by his subject and rose to the occasion in art that was both spiritual and strong.

CATALOGUE OF THE WORKS OF

SODOMA

ARRANGED ACCORDING TO THE GALLERIES
IN WHICH THEY ARE
CONTAINED

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

BUDA PESTH, ESTERHAZY COLLECTION.

Pen drawing of ROXANA as a nude standing figure.

Attributed by von Pulsky to Raphael. _Hungarian National
Gallery_, p. 41-47.

VIENNA, ALBERTINA.

CHRIST CROWNED BY THORNS. Charcoal drawing.

Attributed to Leonardo.

PORTRAIT OF A MAN. Charcoal drawing.

Attributed to Raphael.

Red chalk drawing of figures for MARRIAGE OF ALEXANDER.

“Ce dessin que Rubens avait acheté à Rome, passa depuis dans
la possession du Cardinal Bentivoglio, qui en fait présent au
graveur en médailles Mélan, Crozat l’eut ensuite au sortir
de la collection Vanrose, et le Duc Albert de Saxe-Teschen
l’acquit d’un amateur. Il porte aussi l’estampille du prince
Charles de Ligne.”--Passavant, ii. 441. Quoted by Morelli.

VIENNA, BELVEDERE.

HOLY FAMILY. Panel.

Virgin and Child with infant St. John and St. Joseph.

“The space too much filled up by the heads, disposed in
pairs in a not very happy manner. The drawing is inaccurate,
but the modelling obtained with vigorous light and shade.”
Frizzoni, _Arte Italiana del Rinascimento_, p. 181.

BRITISH ISLES.

LONDON, NATIONAL GALLERY.

MADONNA AND CHILD WITH SAINTS. Panel, 1 ft. 7 in. × 1 ft. 2 in.
No. 1144.

The Virgin is seated on a throne under a canopy, the curtains
of which are drawn back by two angels. The infant Christ upon
her knee blesses a kneeling monk, who is presented by St.
Peter.

_Purchased at Florence in 1883 from Mr. C. Fairfax Murray._

_Formerly in the Rosini Collection at Pisa._

HEAD OF OUR LORD. Canvas. 1 ft. 3 in. × 11 in. No. 1337.

A life-sized head and shoulders in white drapery. The head
bent and eyes downcast, crowned with thorns.

Probably part of a once larger picture.

_Purchased in 1891 from Herr Eduard Habich of Cassel._

BRITISH MUSEUM (PRINT ROOM).

YOUNG MAN IN BLACK CAP. Charcoal drawing. Nimbus and letters I.
O. have probably been added later.

Attributed to Raphael.

_From Antaldi Collection, Urbino._

OXFORD, CHRIST CHURCH LIBRARY.

Pen drawing for ROXANA’S COUCH.

WINDSOR.

(_a_) A sheet containing four pen drawings for the HEAD OF
LEDA, back and front. Hair closely plaited into spirals.

Attributed to Leonardo. All shadows reversed.

(_b_) Pen drawing of LEDA, standing, with one _putto_ beside
her.

Attributed to Raphael.

SIR FRANCIS COOK, DOUGHTY HOUSE, RICHMOND.

ST. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON. Panel. 4 ft. 8 in. × 3 ft. 3 in.

The saint is mounted on horseback and transfixes the dragon
with his long lance. The Princess, in crimson robes, stands
in the left foreground with hands clasped in terror. A
characteristic landscape, with a castle on a hill, winding
river, bridge, rocky hills and delicately foliaged trees,
places it in date between 1520-25.

_From the Earl of Shrewsbury’s Collection._

_Originally at Siena._

WALTER SICHEL, ESQ., 50 EGERTON GARDENS, S.W.

HOLY FAMILY. Panel. 2 ft. 2 in. × 1 ft. 6 in.

Seated Virgin holding the infant Christ on left knee, and
behind Him is seen the little St. John. In left background an
aged saint (perhaps St. Jerome).

A genuine but damaged early work.

_Formerly belonged to the Rev. A. E. Clementi-Smith._

DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE, CHATSWORTH.

Pen drawing for Borghese LEDA, kneeling, with her arms around
swan.

Attributed to Leonardo.

CAPTAIN HOLFORD, DORCHESTER HOUSE, PARK LANE, LONDON.

HOLY FAMILY. Circular panel. 42 in. in diameter.

The Virgin kneels in adoration before the infant Christ.
Behind her St. Joseph leans upon his staff. The little St.
John and two kneeling angels are beside the Christ Child.
Landscape background.

COLONEL H. CORNWALL LEGH, HIGH LEGH HALL, KNUTSFORD.

HOLY FAMILY AND ST. JOHN. Circular panel. 3 ft. 7 in.

The Virgin is seated on the ground, the infant Christ
reclining at her feet, asleep. On the left St. Elizabeth,
nursing the little St. John, on the right, behind the Virgin,
St. Joseph. Landscape background with castle.

Early work, but the same period as the Scarpa and Dorchester
House pictures.

DR. RICHTER, 14 HALL ROAD, ST. JOHN’S WOOD, LONDON.

DEAD CHRIST. Panel. 1 ft. 7 in. × 1 ft. 1 in.

Half-length figure of Christ supported by two angels.

On the back is written: 115. _Opera del Sodoma. Al.
Reverentissime Piccolomini. A. G. E. D. i. p. poito_--(sic).

_Bought from Genovesi, Venice, in Sept. 1891._

_Formerly in possession of Pope Gregory XVI., or Clement
XIII._

VIRGIN AND CHILD.

Earliest work at Siena. (See page 10.)

_From San Francesco._

EARL OF WEMYSS, GOSFORD HOUSE, SCOTLAND.

HOLY FAMILY AND ST. JOHN. _Tondo_, 2 ft. 9 in. diameter.

The Virgin is seated and St. Joseph standing, looking over on
to the two children, who are nude and on the ground.

FRANCE.

PARIS, LOUVRE.

DRAWINGS.--No. 87, 88, 94.

CHAMBERY, MARQUIS COSTA DE BEAUREGARD.

CHRIST BEARING CROSS, UPHELD BY TWO FIERCE EXECUTIONERS. Panel.

Three heads, probably one of the Virgin, still visible; the
picture has been chopped about, and two entire figures are
gone. In the right hand corner is the following inscription
in five lines:

Io. Au. Cavalier De Vercei 1500 C. V. Destructa Fuisset
Maserius Reparavit 1541.

This is however, most probably by the hand of a restorer who
made a mistake in its date, for Sodoma was not made Cavalier
till 1505.

GERMANY.

BERLIN, GALLERY.

CHARITY. Panel. 0.87 × 0.49 = 2.10 × 1.7.

A tall female figure in drapery, and loose hair, standing in
an open field, with a nude child in her arms and two others
clinging about her skirts. Landscape background.

FRANKFORT, STAEDEL INSTITUTE.

FEMALE PORTRAIT. Panel.

Young woman in satin dress, richly braided, with puff sleeves
and hanging laces, elaborate jewellery. Gloves in right hand,
left arm rests on table and holds a sort of mace. Through an
open window is seen a mountain landscape, with river.

Attributed to Sebastiano del Piombo. 1504?

HANOVER, GALLERY.

LUCREZIA.

_From the Kestner Collection._

HAMBURG, HERR COUNCILLOR WEBER.

LUCREZIA.

MUNICH, GALLERY.

MADONNA AND CHILD WITH ST. JOSEPH. Panel. 0.70 × 0.48 = 2.4 ×
1.8. [No. 1073.]

A replica of the “Holy Family” in Turin, but, says Frizzoni,
superior in freshness of execution.

(PRINT ROOM.)

Drawing, washed with water colour, of Diana, surrounded by
her companions and chasing into the forest a satyr and his
companions.

Attributed to Maturino.

Drawing, washed with colours, but much restored, representing
Assumption of the Magdalen.

WEIMAR, PALACE.

Pen drawing for LEDA, kneeling; swan on her left, children to
right.

Attributed to Leonardo. (Braun 148).

ITALY.

ASINA-LUNGA, COLLEGIATA.

MADONNA ENTHRONED. Panel.

Madonna with infant Christ upon her knee, to whom the little
kneeling St. John presents his cross. Standing to the right
Saints Sebastian and Anthony, to the left Saints Louis and
Roch.

About 1537-40.

BERGAMO, BIBLIOTECA LOCHIS.

MADONNA AND CHILD. Panel. 0.32 × 0.42 = 1.3 × 1.4. [No. 136.]

Dark in tone and modelling.

Attributed formerly to Leonardo.

MALE HEAD.

In the manner of Franz Hals.

_Formerly in the Morelli Collection._

BERGAMO, MORELLI COLLECTION.

ST. CHRISTOPHER WITHIN A NICHE. Red chalk drawing.

RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. Red chalk drawing.

FLORENCE, UFFIZI.

ST. SEBASTIAN. Oil on canvas. 2.04 × 1.45 = 6.10 × 4.11. [No.
1279.]

The saint bound to a tree pierced with arrows, and looking
upwards to an angel who brings him a jewelled crown.

MADONNA IN GLORY WITH SAINTS.

This picture is painted on the back of the “St. Sebastian.”

The Madonna is seated upon a cloud, while below her are St.
Roch, St. Sigismund of Hungary, and six white-robed brothers
of the Order, kneeling, with uplifted eyes.

PORTRAIT OF THE PAINTER. Panel. 77 × 60 = 2.6 × 2.0. [No. 282.]

Head and shoulders of a man in the prime of life. Black
and crimson dress, black velvet cap, long hair. Landscape
background.

Frizzoni doubts the identity of this portrait.

DRAWINGS. In upper room:--

421. Madonna and Child with cat in His arms. Attributed
to Leonardo.

563. Silver point. Madonna seated, with dead Christ on
her knee. Study for “Madonna del Corvo” in Via
Stalloreggi, Siena.

565. Pen and ink. Three female figures, first sketch for
“The Vision of St. Catherine.”

566. Pen and ink and water colours. Young man in fur
cloak crowned with laurel.

1479. Pen and ink. Nude figure of Roxana with _putti_.

1506. Pen and ink. Two nude figures, with _putti_ and
various heads.

1507. Pen and ink on grey paper. Two nude figures
upholding a female form. Study for “The Vision
of St. Catherine.”

1644. Pen and ink. Ceiling study for the myth of Phaeton.

1936. Red chalk. St. Christopher, with bare legs, staff in
hand and Child on shoulder. Upper portion treated
separately. Study for the picture in the Spada
Gallery, Rome.

1937. Red chalk. St. James robed as a pilgrim.

1938. Red chalk on yellowish paper. “Rape of the Sabines.”

1939. Red chalk. St. Victor with raised sword.

1943. Pen and ink on greenish paper. Design for the
decoration of one of the chapels of the SS.
Annunziata.

In engraving department:--

1932. Pencil on tinted paper. Figure of man, apparently
St. Jerome.

1935. Red Chalk. Two sleeping soldiers, evidently study
for “Resurrection” at Siena.

1944. Pen drawing, washed with colour and Chinese
white. Christ going to Calvary.

1945. Pen and Chinese white on yellow paper. Pietà.
Dead Christ on the knees of Eternal Father;
Holy Spirit above, two saints and various women.

1942. Pen and ink on yellowish paper. “St. Catherine’s
Vision.”

Finished drawing with date 1526 on pillar. Doubtfully
ascribed to Sodoma.

FLORENCE, REFECTORY, MONTE OLIVETO.

THE LAST SUPPER. Fresco.

Our Lord seated at table with four of the disciples. St. John
asleep upon his bosom, St. Peter to right, Judas on nearer
side of the table looking towards spectator and another
disciple near him. 1515.

FLORENCE, SIGNOR ENRICO COSTA’S COLLECTION.

PIETÀ. Panel.

Half figure of dead Christ upheld by Virgin and Magdalen.
Late.

FLORENCE, PITTI PALACE.

PORTRAIT OF A MAN IN RED CAP.

PIETÀ.

GENOA, GALLERY.

HOLY FAMILY. Panel.

_Left to the city by Prince Oddone di Savoia._

SAN GEMIGNANO, PRISON CHAPEL.

ST. IVES. Fresco, in Monochrome.

A scene in two compartments divided by a pillar. To the left
St. Ives at a canopied desk administering justice to a crowd
of petitioners. Two _putti_ holding the Macchiavelli shield.
In the compartment to the right five male figures waiting.
1507.

SAN GEMIGNANO, ON THE WALL OF LOGGIA OPPOSITE COLLEGIATA.

VIRGIN ENTHRONED. Fresco.

Madonna and Child, who turns His head towards Saint
Gemignano. On the other side, St. Nicholas of Bari. Above
are two flying angels, the best preserved part of the whole
fresco.

MILAN, BRERA.

MADONNA AND CHILD. 60 × 53 = 2.1 × 1.10.

The Virgin seated on a bank with infant Saviour, who turns to
caress a lamb. Landscape background with lake, mountains, and
river; vivid sunset colouring. Transparent shadows and warm
flesh-tints.

Early.

_Sold by auction at Cologne in 1890 to Herr Eduard Habich of
Cassel, and by him to the Brera Gallery._

MILAN, DR. FRIZZONI.

PENITENT MAGDALEN. Panel. 67 × 64 = 2.7 × 2.1.

A dark figure in white vest, holding vase of ointment.

In chiaro-oscuro. Very square in drawing.

Middle period.

Drawing.

MILAN, GINOULHIAC FAMILY.

MADONNA AND CHILD. Panel. 87 × 65 = 2.11 × 2.2.

The Virgin has muslin sleeves gathered at the wrists and dark
drapery over shoulders and head, fastened by brooch. Hands
long and tapering, eyes narrow.

In chiaro-oscuro.

Middle period.

MILAN, AMBROSIANA.

Drawing. MAGDALEN BEFORE OPEN BOOK.

MAGDALEN BEFORE CROSS.

Red chalk drawing. HEAD OF LEDA.

MILAN, SAN TOMMASO.

PIETÀ.

NAPLES, GALLERY.

RESURRECTION. Panel. 2.80 × 2.00 = 9.3 × 6.8.

A replica of the fresco at Siena. Three soldiers in act of
awaking, two _putti_ leaning and seated on sepulchre. An
angel flies above Christ.

In cartellino at foot, Io. Ant. eques. Ve. Auct. F. A. 1535.

PISA, CATHEDRAL.

SACRIFICE OF ISAAC. Canvas. 1.97 × 1.35 = 6.7 × 4.6.

Abraham in blue robe and flying crimson mantle brandishes his
knife over the head of Isaac. An angel seizes the knife and
points downward to the ram caught in a thicket.

1541-42.

PIETÀ. Canvas. 2.10 × 1.74 = 7.6 × 5.9.

Our Lord supported by St. John and the Magdalen. Group of
Maries to the left, three men to the right.

Very darkened.

1541-42.

PISA, MUSEO CIVICO.

VIRGIN AND SAINTS. Canvas. 2.88 × 1.67 = 9.7 × 5.7.

Madonna enthroned; to her right St. John Baptist and St.
Peter, to her left St. Sebastian and Magdalen and St.
Catharine of Alexandria.

1542.

_From church of Madonna della Spina._

ROME, CAMERA DELLA SEGNATURA, VATICAN.

DECORATION OF CEILING, EXCEPT THE PANELS. Fresco.

Within an octagon in the centre of ceiling twelve putti in
various attitudes of joy, support a round disc containing
the arms of the Della Rovere. Around them eight scenes in
grisaille.

1507.

ROME, VILLA BORGHESE.

PIETÀ. 0.69 × 0.58 = 2.4 × 1.11. [No. 462.]

Dead Christ supported by Virgin and Saints.

Once attributed to school of Leonardo.

Late.

LEDA. Panel. 1.12 × 0.86 = 3.9 × 2.10. [No. 434.]

Attributed to school of Leonardo.

Thought by Morelli to be a Sodoma till Richter suggested a
copy of an original work now lost.

HOLY FAMILY. Panel. 0.75 × 0.67 = 2.6 × 2.3. [No. 459.]

Madonna with rich head draperies holds divine Child, while
St. Joseph, behind her right shoulder, offers Him a rose.

“Execution good, but vigour and freshness of his early
Lombard days no longer apparent.”--Morelli.

ROME, BARBERINI GALLERY.

A MADONNA, much repainted, bears the name of Bazzi, but is
probably by a Bolognese.

ROME, VILLA FARNESINA.

MARRIAGE OF ALEXANDER. Fresco.

Open colonnade with landscape background, carved bed,
on which Roxana is seated, with attendants and _putti_.
Alexander in centre of composition, and behind him two genii.

1514.

THE FAMILY OF DARIUS BEFORE ALEXANDER. Fresco.

Alexander stands before a tent to receive the kneeling mother
of the Persian. His wife and family stand behind. Group of
soldiers in right middle distance. Landscape background.

1514.

“These frescoes are not exempt from an excess of plentitude,
but a freshness and rarity of effect which Raphael himself
could not obtain.”--Burckhardt, _Cicerone_.

ROME, DONNA LAURA MINGHETTI.

HOLY FAMILY. Round panel.

The Virgin, with flowing parted hair, bends over the two
children. Little St. John holds his cross, and two saints
watch from behind.

Early.

ROME, PALAZZO CHIGI.

THE PERSECUTION OF RHEA SILVIA? Panel.

A composition of small figures struggling around a woman, two
children clinging about her lead to the supposition that it
may represent the casting out of Rhea Silvia and Romulus and
Remus.

ROME, PALAZZO SPADA.

ST. CHRISTOPHER. Panel.

St. Christopher crossing the river with infant Christ upon
his shoulders.

A red chalk drawing for this exists in the Uffizi.

SIENA, GALLERY.

DEPOSITION. Tempera, on wood. 4.56 × 2.71 = 15.3 × 9.0. [X. 13.]

The body of Our Lord being lowered from the Cross by St.
Peter and Joseph of Arimathea. Beneath, a group of women
about the fainting Virgin, the centurion, and a soldier.

1502(?).

_From the Cinozzi chapel in San Francesco._

NATIVITY. Circular panel in tempera. 1.11 = 3.10. [X. 11.]

Before a shed of broken brickwork kneel the Virgin and St.
Joseph, with an angel holding the infant St. John, adoring
the Christ Child laid upon the hem of His mother’s robe.

Early.

_From the Monastery of Lecceto._

GETHSEMANE. Fresco. 2.36 × 1.17 = 7.11 × 3.11. [X. 2.]

Our Lord kneels in prayer upon a little mound, beside which
are the three disciples sleeping. An angel brings Him the cup.

1525.

_From the suppressed Compagnia di Sta. Croce._

DESCENT INTO HADES. Fresco. 2.36 × 1.60 = 7.11 × 5.4. [X. 46.]

A curved piece of fresco painting, removed from a niche.

The Risen Christ, holding a banner and robed in white, bends
towards Abel, whom He raises from the earth. Behind Him stand
Adam and Eve (the latter a very beautiful figure) and other
Old Testament characters.

1525.

_From the suppressed Compagnia di Sta. Croce._

CHRIST BOUND TO THE COLUMN. Fresco. 1.35 × 1.01 = 4.7 × 3.4.
[VIII. 27.]

The figure is semi-nude, crowned by thorns, and bound to
a porphyry column, which formed part of a colonnade. Two
fragments of gross red arms are all that remain of the crowd
of tormenting soldiers. A faint landscape of sea-shore with
the sun drawing water is visible.

This fresco is one of Sodoma’s masterpieces, and rivals the
St. Sebastian in expression.

Date uncertain, between 1510 and 1515.

_Brought in 1842 from the cloister of San Francesco._

JUDITH. Tempera, on wood. 0.84 × 0.47 = 2.9 × 1.6.

The figure of the girl, clad in orange and electric blue,
stands in a wintry landscape grasping the head of Holofernes
in her left hand and holding a dagger in her right.

Late.

ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA. Panel. 0.39 × 24 = 1.3 × 1.0. [VIII. 32]

The black and white robes of the nun are relieved by a
brilliant yellow glory behind her, in which angel faces are
faintly suggested. She reads from a book which is resting
upon a skull held in her left hand.

FOUR PANELS BELONGING TO A BIER. Tempera.

(_a_) Virgin and Child holding bird in left hand; two figures
in background crowned with vine and shamrock.

(_b_) Dead Christ supported by two female figures.

(_c_) Virgin holding playful Child; two angels adoring.

(_d_) Two green-robed brothers kneeling beside jewelled
cross; five angel heads in cloud above.

1527.

SIENA, ST. AGOSTINO.

ADORATION OF THE MAGI. Tempera, on wood. 3.34 × 2.02 = 11.0 ×
6.9.

Beside a ruined shed the Virgin holding her Child, before
whom kneels the aged king, Baldassare. Gaspar and Melchior
stand behind him, offering vases of ointment, and followed by
a crowd of servants and horses. St. Joseph stands behind the
Madonna.

Inscription: _Ascanius Piccolomineus Archiepiscopus Senarum
quintus_.

1518.

SIENA, SAN BERNARDINO.

THE PRESENTATION OF THE VIRGIN. Fresco. 2.78 × 2.88 = 9.3 × 9.7.

Under an open colonnade, at the top of a low flight of steps,
the high priest bends to receive the Child, who turns back
towards St. Anna. The foreground filled with two groups of
figures, women to the left, a group of men to the right,
headed by a stalwart youth in orange red.

1518.

THE SALUTATION. Fresco. 2.78 × 2.88 = 9.3 × 9.7.

Within the temple, before an alcove, St. Elizabeth bows
before the Virgin, who gently raises her. An elderly male
figure, probably Zacharias, poses the left hand upon St.
Elizabeth’s shoulder. To right and left groups of women and
children.

1518.

THE ASSUMPTION. Fresco. 2.78 × 2.88 = 9.3 × 9.7.

Around a golden glory a semicircle of angels support and
uplift the white-robed figure of the Virgin. Immediately
below her the open tomb, filled with flowers, and engraved
upon it, _Si cor non orat, invanum lingua laborat_. To right
and left are grouped the apostles; to right St. Thomas
receives the girdle which the Virgin lets fall.

1532.

THE CORONATION. Fresco. 2.78 × 2.88 = 9.3 × 9.7.

The Virgin kneels in the centre of the picture, while Our
Lord places the crown upon her brow. Behind Him are Adam,
Eve, and other Biblical characters. To the left hand, St.
John Baptist, etc. Above, two groups of angels play musical
instruments, and a circle of _putti_ play round the central
glory where hovers the dove.

1532.

ST. LOUIS OF TOULOUSE. Fresco. 2.78 × 1.26 = 9.3 × 4.3.

Within a painted niche the French bishop stands reading an
open book, crozier in hand and mitred. His robe is blue,
spotted with the _fleur-de-lys_.

ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA. Fresco. 2.78 × 1.26 = 9.3 × 4.3.

Under a similar niche is seen the Franciscan in his brown
robes, holding a book in his right hand and a flaming heart
in the left. In the clouds appears the half figure of the
Madonna and Child. A few leafless trees behind.

ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. Fresco. 2.78 × 1.26 = 9.3 × 4.3.

Under a tufty tree the saint stands, clasping a book and
cross, and looking upward to a child angel.

(IN SACRISTY.)

STANDARD. Oil, on canvas. 1.58 × 1.02 = 5.3 × 3.4.

Madonna in red and blue robes. Six cherubs around her, one of
whom holds crown above her head.

Very much retouched.

SIENA, CHURCH OF THE CARMINE.

BIRTH OF THE VIRGIN. Panel. 1.51 × 1.46 = 5.1 × 4.10.

St. Anne in bed, to whom two women present dishes of food,
while three others dress and tend the child, and a man,
evidently Joachim, gazes from behind a curtain.

Very dark and much damaged.

Late.

SIENA, SAN DOMENICO.

THE VISION OF ST. CATHERINE. Fresco. 3.79 × 1.92 = 12.8 × 6.4.

Between two heavily carved and gilded columns the saint, in
her ecstasy, sinks back into the arms of two Dominican nuns
who support her. A distant background with river, ruins and
small circular temple. The figure of Christ, pierced with
the stigmata, which repeats itself upon the person of St.
Catherine, hovers above.

“The beauty of the faces, the expression of tender anxiety
and reverence of the nuns, the divine languor on the pallid
features of St. Catherine, render this fresco one of the
marvels of art.”--Mrs. Jameson.

1526.

THE COMMUNION OF ST. CATHERINE. Fresco. 3.79 × 1.92 = 12.8 ×
6.4.

St. Catherine, in her white and black robes, kneels between
two sisters. An angel brings her the Host with the form of
Christ upon it, and above are seen the Madonna and Child,
Eternal Father, and Holy Spirit.

1526.

THE PRAYER OF ST. CATHERINE. Fresco. 4.96 × 5.04 = 16.6 × 16.9.

A crowded scene, in the centre of which the executioner holds
aloft the dripping head of the thief, while three angels
above receive his penitent soul. St. Catherine kneels praying
in the left foreground, behind the centurion directing the
execution.

1526.

(IN SACRISTY.)

BANNER. Oil, on canvas. 1.90 × 1.37 = 6.3 × 4.6.

The Madonna, in blue robe, ascends from her open tomb
surrounded by flying angels, who scatter pink roses. A golden
glory surrounds her. Beneath is a view of Siena.

(CAPPELLA DEL ROSARIO.)

ALTAR-PIECE. Panel. 2.98 × 2.00 = 9.3 × 6.8.

On high, the Eternal Father, with globe in left hand. St.
Catherine, with dove, and St. Sebastian, bound, on right side
of picture; on the left, St. Dominic, with book in left hand
and right upraised. Above him, a young saint, with crown.
Town of San Gemignano below.

Colouring very dark and heavy.

The fifteen little scenes illustrating the mysteries of
the Rosary, which form the predella, are not recognised by
Frizzoni as Sodoma’s, but considered to be by a scholar.

The centre of this picture has been cut out for a Votive
Madonna.

SIENA, SAN GIOVANNI AND GENNARO.

FOUR PANELS BELONGING TO A BIER. Tempera, glazed. 0.56 × 0.45 =
20 × 18.

(_a_) Dead Christ supported by two angels.

(_b_) Madonna with Child on right arm.

(_c_) St. John Baptist.

(_d_) S. Bernardino of Siena.

1527.

SIENA, SALA DEL MAPPAMONDO, PALAZZO PUBBLICO.

ST. ANSANO. Fresco. 3.15 × 2.27 = 10.6 × 7.7.

Within an elaborately ornamental niche St. Ansano stands,
baptizing a nude figure of a neophyte. Two others kneel and
stand behind him, while a cherub pours water into a vase.

1529.

ST. VICTOR. Fresco. 3.15 × 2.68 = 10.6 × 8.10.

Within a similar niche stands the colossal saint in armour,
holding a naked sword above his head. A cherub clasps his
helmet, and another holds an olive branch and a blue shield,
bearing the word _Liberta_.

1529.

ST. BERNARDO TOLOMEI. Fresco. 3.15 × 2.41 = 10.6 × 8.0.

Under a painted portico stands the saint in white robes,
looking downwards; in his right hand a crozier, in his left a
red book. A group of _putti_ play above the architrave.

1534.

(CHAPEL.)

MADONNA AND ST. LEONARD. Panel. 1.91 × 1.67 = 6.5 × 5.6.

In the midst of an exceeding beautiful landscape, with ruins
of the Colosseum, is seated the Madonna, holding the divine
Child, who turns towards St. Leonard, trying to seize his
Cross. To the left St. Joseph reading.

Perhaps the finest specimen of Sodoma’s late work.

1537 (?).

_From the altar of St. Calixtus in the cathedral._

(SALA DEI MATRIMONI.)

MADONNA AND SAINTS. Fresco. 1.72 × 1.32 = 5.8 × 4.3.

The Virgin, in a blue cloak, caresses the infant Christ,
who looks down towards little St. John. Behind her are St.
Ansano, in red drapery, and St. Galgano, leaning upon his
sword.

1535.

(SALA DEL PRESIDENTE.)

RESURRECTION. Fresco. 2.45 × 1.93 = 8.3 × 6.4.

Our Lord arising from the sarcophagus, over which two angels
bend. Three soldiers asleep in the foreground. A varied
landscape of rock and tree and town.

1535.

(CAPPELLA DEI NOBILI.)

VIRGIN SURROUNDED BY SAINTS. Fresco. 3.87 × 2.50 = 12.10 × 8.4.

Madonna and Child, in red and blue robes, surrounded by
SS. Ansano, Victor, Augustine, and James, and a number of
_putti_. In the lunette of arch the Eternal Father surrounded
by angels, right hand raised in blessing and left grasping a
globe.

Inscription: _Ad honorem Virginus Mariæ Io Antonius Sodona
eques et Comes Palatinus faciebat_ MDXXXVIII.

SIENA, SPANISH CHAPEL, SAN SPIRITO.

A group of paintings consisting of:

Lunette--

ST. JAMES ON HORSEBACK. Fresco. 1.02 × 4.19 = 3.4 × 13.9.

The saint, mounted on a white charger, rides over the bodies
of five prostrate Turks, slashing at them with his sword.

At right hand side--

ST. ANTHONY THE ABBOT. Fresco. 1.85 × 0.44 = 6.3 × 1.5.

The aged saint, in black robe, leans on his staff, with his
pig at his feet.

On left hand--

ST. SEBASTIAN. Fresco. 2.12 × 0.57 = 7.0 × 1.10.

A nude figure bound to a broken marble column and pierced by
arrows.

Lunette above altar--

MADONNA INVESTING ST. ILDEFONZO. Canvas. 1.54 × 2.03 = 5.1 ×
6.10.

The Virgin stoops to throw a white chasuble over the Spanish
saint, who kneels before her with clasped hands. Two angels
stand behind her, and St. Lucy and St. Rosalie kneel at the
sides.

On right hand--

ST. MICHAEL SLAYING THE DRAGON. Canvas. 1.79 × 0.55 = 5.11 ×
1.10.

On left hand--

ST. NICCOLÒ TOLENTINO. Canvas. 1.75 × 0.55 = 5.11 × 1.10.

SIENA, HOSPITAL.

HOLY FAMILY. Panel. 0.78 × 0.46 = 2.7 × 1.6.

Madonna holding Child upon her knee, who turns towards St.
John Baptist and dallies with his cross. St. John stands
behind the Madonna’s right shoulder. Landscape background to
left.

SIENA, PORTA SAN VIENE.

NATIVITY. Fresco.

On soffit of arch a glory, with cherub in centre; three
angels on either side singing and pointing downwards to
centre of fresco, where, before a classic temple, kneels the
Madonna with clasped hands, adoring her Child. Groups of
angels on either side and above her.

Inscription: _Deiparæ Virgini pro victoria, libertate et
salute hujus urbis, populus senensis ejus nomini devotus._
A.D. MDXXXI.

“Very ruined, but fine.”--Burckhardt.

SIENA, CASA BAMBAGINI.

PIETÀ. Fresco.

Madonna, in faded blue, with dead Christ upon her knee;
angels’ heads around her.

A very fine drawing for this exists in the Uffizi.

SIENA, ARTE DEI CALZOLAI, PIAZZA TOLOMEI.

MADONNA AND SAINTS. Fresco.

The Virgin and Child, with Saints Francis, John, Roch, and
Crispin with a shoe in his hand.

Quite invisible through dirt and smoke.

1530.

SIENA, VILLA GRICCIOLI. (Formerly the Monastery of S. Eugenio.)

PROCESSION TO CALVARY. Fresco. 2.38 × 1.62 = 7.11 × 5.4.

Our Lord in red, with crown of thorns. Simon bearing the end
of the Cross. St. Veronica kneels to the right, lifting her
handkerchief. Behind her stands the Madonna. In background a
crowd of soldiers.

Faces of Christ and St. Veronica very much restored.

1525. This fresco also came from the Compagnia di Sta. Croce.

SIENA, ST. ANNA IN CRETA.

THE MIRACLE OF THE LOAVES AND FISHES. Fresco.

Our Lord blessing the five loaves which a child presents to
Him. Group of disciples behind Him. Landscape background with
Roman arch.

To right--

GROUP OF DISCIPLES. Fresco.

To left--

CROWD OF MEN AND WOMEN WITH EMPTY BASKETS. Fresco.

Above the entrance--

PIETÀ. Fresco.

To right--

ST. ANNE ENTHRONED. Fresco.

Beneath her, the Virgin and Child, flanked by two Olivetan
brothers.

Very much injured.

To left--

A BISHOP STANDING AMID SIX KNEELING OLIVETANS. Fresco.

In soffit of arch--

MEDALLION WITH BUST OF OUR LORD. Fresco.

SIENA, MONTE OLIVETO, MAGGIORE, CLOISTER.

A series of frescoes representing--

1. ST. BENEDICT LEAVING HOME.

St. Benedict, in blue robe and orange drapery, sets off upon
a white horse for the School of Rome, accompanied by his
nurse in pink, mounted upon an ass. His mother and father
stand to the left, and the town of Norcia lies perched upon a
hill in the right middle distance.

2. THE ROMAN SCHOOL.

The students, ranged on either hand under an open colonnade,
are instructed by a professor from a raised throne in the
centre. St. Benedict turns away in disgust to the right.

3. THE MIRACLE OF THE SIEVE.

To the left, within the house, the saint and his nurse are
praying over the broken sieve. Outside, a group of six men
and a child, among whom is the portrait of Sodoma himself
with a crow and two badgers. The mended sieve hangs on the
columns of a temple in the background.

4. ST. BENEDICT TAKING THE MONASTIC HABIT.

In the middle distance to the left the saint is seen
approaching in his blue and yellow robes. In the foreground
is the monk Romano who invests him with the white habit which
was the earliest dress of the Benedictines. To the right he
is seen in his new garb, meditating.

5. ST. DEODATO FEEDS ST. BENEDICT.

At the entrance to a cell, in a clump of rocks, St. Benedict
kneels in prayer. From above, the hermit lets down a basket
of bread with bell attached. The devil, in form of a snake,
glides up to break the cord. Landscape background.

6. ST. BENEDICT’S EASTER DINNER.

A window breaks into the middle of this fresco. In the right
section is seen the priest in red, cooking his Easter meal,
and in the foreground receiving the heavenly instruction to
carry it to the saint. To the left he has spread the meal
upon a rough stone table, and he and his servant wait upon
the saint.

7. ST. BENEDICT PREACHING TO THE SHEPHERDS.

Seven peasants are grouped around him; one, in red cloak
and cap, is seated. An old man in white undershirt carries
a basket of cherries. To the right, a youth, clad in skins,
leans listening upon his staff, a dog at his feet. Landscape
background.

8. ST. BENEDICT’S TEMPTATION.

To the left, the saint sits at the entrance of his cell, a
red Bible on his knee. To the right, he has thrown off his
garments and is rolling in the bed of thorns. A broad plain
with winding river behind.

9. THE HERMITS VISIT ST. BENEDICT.

Six brown hermits kneel, beseeching the saint to become their
leader. In middle distance, to the right, he is seen arriving
at the hermitage.

The heads are full of humour and expression, evidently
portraits.

10. THE ATTEMPT TO POISON THE SAINT.

Beneath an open colonnade St. Benedict, seated at table,
breaks the glass of poisoned wine which five of the
rebellious hermits offer him. To the right he is seen leaving
the hermitage for ever.

11. THE BUILDING OF SUBIACO.

To the right, St. Benedict, with white hood drawn up and
staff in hand, directs the building of the cloister. Two
monks accompany him. A dark man in the foreground is breaking
stone.

12. SS. MAURUS AND PLACIDUS BROUGHT TO THE SAINT.

A very crowded composition, about thirty-three figures
in foreground. To the left, St. Benedict blesses the two
children, who are presented by their fathers, in green and
blue robes. A boy in smart parti-coloured hose and slashed
sleeves looks on, and a centurion in green dress and blue
mantle leans upon his spear to the right.

There is much colour in this fresco, and several men on
horseback.

13. THE HEALING OF A BOY POSSESSED.

A distinctly naïve presentment. Under an altar St. Benedict
and two monks are seen kneeling, while a devil leads away
one of the brothers. Outside, the figure of St. Benedict is
repeated, slashing the shoulders of the truant monk, while
the evil spirit flies away in the air.

14. ST. BENEDICT RAISING WATER FROM THE ROCK.

In background a steep rocky hill. The saint, kneeling, prays
for water, which gushes out of the rock. To the left, he
receives the thanks of a group of kneeling monks.

15. THE MIRACLE OF THE HATCHET.

St. Benedict kneels on a promontory in the middle of lake,
accompanied by young monks, fishing for the hatchet. On
shore, to left, an old monk also fishes. In left distance St.
Benedict blesses two young brothers.

16. MAURUS SAVING THE LIFE OF PLACIDUS.

Under a loggia to the left Maurus relates how his companion
has fallen into the river. On the right, Maurus, sent by St.
Benedict, walks upon the water to save Placidus. Tufty shrubs
grow on the banks.

17. THE THEFT OF THE WINE AND BREAD.

This fresco is broken by a door into two compartments. To the
left, St. Benedict confides flask to kneeling youth in orange
robes; to right, the same youth goes into the wilderness.

This fresco has more colour than those immediately preceding
it.

18. FIORENZO’S ATTEMPT TO POISON ST. BENEDICT.

To the left Fiorenzo confides the poisoned roll to a servant,
who, in the foreground, presents it to the saint, who is
seated at table, being served by the brothers with wholesome
viands, while a crow on the floor eats the roll.

19. FIORENZO INTRODUCES WICKED WOMEN INTO THE CONVENT.

To left, a group of monks with an ass; to right, a crowd of
women, the foremost in shot crimson and green, the second
in sky blue, the third in blue robe with orange mantle, the
fourth in black. St. Benedict, from a loggia above, preaches
repentance to them.

20. THE PEASANT LIBERATED.

St. Benedict, with open book on lectern, raises his left hand
to free a peasant from the ropes by which he has been bound
by two knights. To right, a boy, in red, yellow, and white
hose, orange doublet, and black cap, holds white horse.

21. THE MONK PURSUED BY A DRAGON.

To the left, St. Benedict, with cowl drawn over his face, and
accompanied by three monks, pardons kneeling monk, who, at
right, is represented as being chased by a dragon.

22. DEATH OF ST. BENEDICT.

To the right, a Benedictine gives the Host to a priest, and,
to the left, the same priest, with five white-robed boys
following, lays the Host on the dead body of the Saint.

23. THE FUNERAL MASS OF ST. BENEDICT.

In centre a classical colonnade represents church with gilt
Gothic altar-piece. Three priests in cloth of gold say Mass;
to right, a choir chants from book on lectern. In foreground
kneels a group of women in bright gowns and with elaborately
braided hair. Six men sit on a bench to the right, and, to
the left, two nuns are seen slinking down the stairs.

24. APPARITION OF ST. BENEDICT.

Two monks in bed to the left; St. Benedict bends over them
with model of monastery in his hand. In the open air, to
the right, are seen men building up the red walls of the
monastery.

25. THE MULTIPLICATION OF BREAD.

To the left, St. Benedict and three monks blessing sacks of
flour; beautiful sunset over purple hills seen through open
door. In refectory, to right, six monks at table. A seventh
serves them, and above, from a pulpit, another reads aloud.

26. THE BURNING OF MONTE CASSINO.

In middle foreground, a number of Gothic knights and horses
in gay robes and caps, servants and pages. To right, a
somewhat confused crowd of wrestling figures. In right
background, the Goths are seen scaling the walls of Monte
Cassino and carrying faggots to fire it. To the left, the
tents of the Goths stretch across the country.

Very full of colour.

On stairs--

CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN.

Within a _vesica_ composed of tiny cherub heads, Our Lord in
mauve and red, places the crown upon the head of the Virgin.

On cloister arch--

ST. BENEDICT INSTITUTING HIS ORDER.