Page:The painters of Florence from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century (1915).djvu/82

60 of S. Ranieri in the Campo Santo, while the last-named writer considers the subjects on the roof to be the work of Antonio Veneziano, the master who completed the series of Andrea's frescoes at Pisa. The general scheme was evidently carefully drawn up by the Prior of the convent, and probably several different artists were employed to carry out his ideas. None of these were masters of the first rank, but the whole effect is fine and imposing, and affords a curious and characteristic illustration of contemporary theology. The Ship of the Church, a repetition of Giotto's Navicella, the Resurrection, Ascension, and Descent of the Holy Ghost, are represented on the four compartments of the ceiling, and a crowded composition of the Crucifixion covers the wall above the altar. But the glorification of the Dominican Order was the real object in view, and the chief interest centres in the two large allegorical frescoes on the East and West walls, in which the mission of the Dominicans in teaching and saving souls is set forth. On the East wall, to the right of the entrance. Pope Benedict XI. and the Emperor Henry VII. are enthroned, as representatives of the spiritual and temporal power, attended by cardinals and courtiers, while the flock of the faithful slumber peacefully at their feet, watched over by black and white dogs—Domini canes, or hounds of the Lord. Behind, a model of Arnolfo's Duomo and Giotto's Campanile appears, and Dominican friars are seen preaching to heretics, who tear up their false books, while black and white dogs drive away the wolves that devour Christ's flock. On the wall above, symbolising