Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 2.djvu/109

Rh mirable effect, all the difficulties incident to the subject being handled with infinite judgment.

On his part Maestro Domenico depicted the Visit of Joachim to his wife Santa Anna, and beneath this is the birth of Our Lady; the place represented being a chamber, decorated with great splendour. In that picture is a beautiful Child, striking on the door of the room with a hammer: the action of this figure is full of grace. The Marriage of the Virgin follows, and in this part of the work are many portraits from the life, among them those of Messer Bernardetto de’ Medici, constable of the Florentines, wearing a red barett-cap or morion; of Bernardino Guadagni, who was Gonfaloniere; and of Folco Portinari, with other members of his family. The master has likewise presented a Dwarf breaking a staff, and in this action also there is extraordinary animation displayed; there are besides several female figures, wearing vestments such as were customary at the period, all painted with exceeding grace and beauty: this work, however, remained unfinished, for causes which will be related hereafter.

Andrea, meanwhile, had painted the Death of Our Lady in oil on the front of the Chapel; and, whether moved by emulation of Domenico, or simply by the desire to make himself known for the able artist that he certainly was, he bestowed inexpressible care and pains on the work, more particularly on the bier, foreshortened, within which the Virgin is seen lying dead, and which, though not more than a braccio and a half in length, appears to be fully three. Around the bier are the Apostles; and these figures are treated in such a manner, that, although the satisfaction they feel at seeing their Madonna borne to heaven by Jesus Christ is manifest in their faces, there is yet to be perceived the bitterness of their regret at being left on earth without her. Among these figures of the Apostles are mingled Angels, who bear lighted torches; they have beautiful ex-