Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 1.djvu/410

396 their works. Some short time after, Parri di Spinello, moved by the great veneration which he bore to the holy man San Bernardino, pourtrayed that saint, in fresco, on one of the. large pillars of the Duomo Vecchio; and in the same place, in a chapel dedicated to San Bernardino, he painted that holy person glorified in heaven, and surrounded by a vast concourse of angels, with three half figures, one on each side, representing Patience and Poverty, and one above representing the figure of Chastity, three virtues with which that saint had held close companionship even to his death. Under the feet of San Bernardino were several bishops’ mitres and cardinals’ hats, to intimate the scorn in which the saint had held worldly things, and his contempt for such dignities. Beneath these pictures was the city of Arezzo, depicted as it appeared at that time. For the Brotherhood of the Annunciation, Parri painted, in fresco, in a little oratory or “maesta,” without the Duomo, Our Lady receiving the Annunciation from the angel: terrified by his approach, the Virgin turns away from the sacred messenger. In the centre of the ceiling, which is cross-vaulted, the master has painted angels, two in each angle; they hover in the air, and, sounding various instruments, one might almost believe one heard the soft harmony of the music. On the walls are four saints, two on each side. But the power possessed by this master of varying the expression of his conceptions is most vividly expressed in two pictures, one on each of the piers by which the arch, once the entrance to this tabernacle, is supported. These represent, on one side, a figure of Charity suckling one infant, with most affectionate expression, while she caresses a second, and holds a third by the hand. On the other side is Faith, depicted in a manner entirely new, having in one hand the chalice with the cross, and in the other a cup of cold water, which she pours on the head of a boy, thus rendering him a Christian. These figures are, without doubt, the best executed by Parri Spinelli in his whole life; and, even when compared with modern works, are considered wonderfully fine.