Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 1.djvu/150

136 had great facility in design, as may be seen in our book before cited, where, in a drawing by his hand, there is the transfiguration, sketched as he executed it in the cloister of Santo Spirito, and done in such a manner that he must, in my opinion, have been a much better designer than Giotto. Stefano subsequently repaired to Assisi, and in the lower church of San Francesco, in the apsis of the principal chapel, which forms the choir, he commenced the painting, in fresco, of a “ Celestial Glory.” This work he did not complete; but from what is done, we perceive that he was proceeding with extraordinary care and ability. In this unfinished painting is a circle of saints, male arid female, exhibiting the most charming variety in the countenances, whether in youth, in middle age, or advanced years, so that nothing better could be desired. There is, moreover, such sweetness of expression and harmony in those blessed spirits, that their being done in the time of Stefano might well be considered impossible, although they certainly were by his hand. Of the figures that form this circle, however, the heads only are finished, and above them hovers a choir of angels, in various attitudes, gracefully bearing theological symbols in their hands, and all turning towards a figure of Christ crucified, who is seen in the midst of the picture, above the head of a St. Francis, whom numerous saints are attending. In addition to these figures, he placed angels in the border surrounding the work, each of whom holds one of those churches described by St. John the Evangelist in the Apocalypse; and these angels are drawn with so much grace, that it amazes me to find any one in that age capable of so much. Stefano evidently commenced this work with the purpose of completing it in the utmost perfection; and he would have succeeded, had he not been compelled by certain important affairs to return to Florence, and leave it unfinished. Whilst detained by these matters in Florence, he employed the time in painting a small oratory, for the Gianfigliazzi, in an angle of the Lung ’Arno, between their houses and the bridge of the Carraja. He