Page:Cyclopedia of painters and paintings (IA cyclopediaofpain03cham).pdf/449

 *ger in his breast, points to the ground, where the first word of the creed is written in the sand; near him, the two murderers; in middleground, to right, the companion friar fleeing; in background, a grove where woodmen fell trees and herdsmen tend flocks, with hills in distance; above, God the Father with winged children and cherubim.—C. & C., N. Italy, ii. 505.

By Titian, burned in the Chapel of the Rosary, in SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Venice, Aug. 16, 1867; wood (transferred to canvas in Paris in 1799), arched at top, H. 16 ft. 8 in. × 10 ft. The Saint wounded, lying prostrate at the edge of a wood, the hired murderer grasping his mantle and bending over to strike the fatal blow with his sword; to the left, the Saint's companion flying in terror; to the right, in the distance, the suborner of the murder in armour on horseback, with a satellite hurrying from the scene; above, two angels with the palm of martyrdom; background, a mountain landscape. St. Peter Martyr, born in Verona about 1205, was director of the Inquisition in N. Italy under Gregory IX. and Innocent IV., and persecuted the heretics of Milan with so much zeal that they assassinated him. This was one of the great masterpieces of the world. The dramatic power of the figures, the ineffable charm of the descending angels, the grandeur of the landscape background, and the incomparable harmony of tone can never be forgotten by those who were privileged to see it. It was painted in 1528-30, in competition with Palma Vecchio and Pordenone, for the brotherhood of St. Peter Martyr, and placed, April 27, 1530, over their altar in SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Venice; carried by the French to Paris, where it was transferred to canvas; returned to the church in 1816; removed temporarily in 1867, during repairs in the church, to the Chapel of the Rosary, and burned there, in the night of Aug. 16, with other valuable pictures. Copy by Cardi da Cigoli, once in the Uffizi, now in the original picture's place in the church. Another old copy in S. Domenico, Ancona. Engraved by Rota, Lefebre, Laurent, Zuliani, and others.—Vasari, ed. Mil., vii. 439; C. & C., Titian, i. 328; Boschini, Navegar Pittoresco, 12; Zanotto, Pinacoteca Veneta; Musée français, i.; Filhol, ii. Pl. 138; Landon, Musée, iii. Pl. 17; Klas. der Malerei, i. Pl. 57.

Death of St. Peter Martyr, Titian.

PETERS, ANNA, born at Mannheim, February 28, 1843. Flower and landscape