Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 1.djvu/281

Rh the armies which are to proceed against the Christians; and, once again, when Christ appears to him as he rides forth on horseback, and showing him a white cross, commands him not to persecute the followers of that ensign. In another story, the angel of the Lord is seen giving to the Saint, who is still on horseback, the banner of the Faith, a white cross on a field of red—Epiro having prayed of God to give him a sign, that he might carry it against his enemies—which cross has been the banner of the Pisans from that time to the present. Near this story is another, wherein Sant’ Epiro is exhibited doing battle against the pagans. The combat rages fiercely, but armed angels are contending on the side of the saint, to assure him the victory. In this work Spinello produced many results which merit high commendation, when it is considered that in those days the art had not yet acquired its full force, nor attained to any sufficient method of vividly expressing, by colours, the movements of the soul. Among many other instances of what is here alluded to, may be mentioned the two soldiers who, having seized each other by the beard with one hand, hold their naked swords in the other, each seeking to deprive his antagonist of life; the whole face and every movement of each manifest his eager desire for victory: their proud defiance, and the courage by which they are animated, could not possibly be expressed with greater truth. Among those who fight on horseback also, there is a knight, admirably well done, he is transfixing his opponent, who has fallen backwards from his terrified horse, and is pinning his head to the earth with his lance. In another story, Sant’ Epiro is again seen to appear before the Emperor Diocletian, who examines him respecting his faith, and afterwards commands him to be put to the torture; he is placed in a fiery furnace, wherein he remains unhurt, while the ministers of the emperor’s will, who are represented in most life-like motion on every side, fall a prey to the fury of the flames. All the history of the saint in brief, is here depicted, to his decapitation, after which his soul is borne to heaven: the last picture, showing the bones and relics of San Petito, when they are carried from Alexandria to Pisa. The whole work, whether as