Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 1.djvu/84

70 cis, which was afterwards reconstructed on a larger scale, and with increased magnificence, near the castle, receiving the name of. When these buildings had been commenced, and had made a certain degree of progress, Giovanni left Naples to return into Tuscany ; but, having reached Siena, he was not suffered to go farther, being called on to give a plan for the façade of the cathedral of that city, which was then constructed, after that model, with extreme splendour and magnificence. In the year 1286, the people of Arezzo were building their cathedral, from the designs of, an architect of that city, when Giovanni was summoned thither from Siena, by Guglielmino, Bishop of Arezzo, for whom he executed the table of the high altar, in marble : this he covered with figures, foliage, and other ornaments, in relief. The whole work was divided into compartments by fine mosaics, and enamels on plates of silver, fixed into the marble with great nicety and care. In the centre is a figure of the Virgin, with the infant in her arms ; on the one side stands St. Gregory the pontiff (whose face is the likeness of Pope Honorius, IV) ; and on the other is the figure of St. Donatus, bishop and protector of the city, whose remains, with those of Sant’ Antilla and other saints, repose beneath that altar. And since the altar itself stands apart from the walls, Giovanni adorned the sides wdth small figures in bassorilievo, representing passages from the life of St. Donatus ; and the crown of the whole work is a series of tabernacles filled with marble figures in high relief, all of exquisite workmanship. On the breast of the above-named Madonna, is an ornament of gold in form of a casket, which is said to have contained jewels of great value ; but during the wars, these were carried off, as were also various small figures placed around, and on the summit of the whole ; by soldiers, as is believed, who do not often show respect even to the most holy sacrament itself. On this altar, according to records still remaining, the people of Arezzo spent thirty thousand florins of gold ; nor does this seem improbable, since the work was the most rare and precious that