Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 4.djvu/278

 258 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE. tainty, under which is a representa- tion of the torments of the wicked, and below this, under a canopy, the ground of which is diapered with roses within quatrefoils, is a figure of the Virgin, with the infant Savi- our at the breast. She is seated, and in front of her has been a kneel- ing figure of Joseph. Over her head is a mutilated figure of an angel, stretching out her hand to a small kneeling figure on the left hand of the Virgin. The whole is much mutilated, but is interesting from the diaper, which is very simi- lar to what we find in sculpture about the same period, " This painting again, was in the fifteenth century entirely covered over, and another subject painted in its stead, which was the very usual one of St. Michael the archangel, weighing the souls of the just and the wicked ; it consisted, as usual, of the figure of St. Michael with his scales, and the Virgin on his left hand assisting the righteous, while Satan with all his might is endeavouring to pull down the other; this painting in the desire to set at liberty the lower one, was almost entirely destroyed, the only part now remaining being the scale of the wicked. The tile paving represented in this paint ing is singular, being of a kind which frequently appears in paintings or illuminations, but is seldom or never found in real pavements, consisting of what might be heraldically described as " per bend sinister, argent and sable, a roundel counter changed." The back-ground was likewise dia^iei'ed