Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 2.djvu/200

192 Annunciation, by Matteo Lappoli, with the four Evangelists, in fresco, on the ceiling, very well and carefully executed. In another chapel, on the left, as we enter by the side door of the church, is a fresco by the hand of this master, representing Our Lady, with the Angel of the Annunciation; in the figure of the Angel is the portrait of Giulian Bacci, then a youth, and of a most beautiful aspect. Above the same door, on the outside, Matteo painted another Annunciation, with St. Peter and St. Paul on each side. The face of the Madonna is the portrait of the mother of Messer Pietro Aretino, a poet of great renown. In San Francesco, Matteo Lappoli painted a picture for the chapel of San Bernardino, in which is a figure of that saint, which almost seems to be alive, and is so beautiful that it must be considered the best this artist ever executed. In the cathedral also Matteo painted a picture in tempera, for the chapel of the Pietramaleschi family, wherein he depicted a Sant’ Ignazio, most admirably executed; and in the Capitular Church, on entering by the upper door, which opens on the Piazza, there are figures of Sant’ Andrea and St. Sebastian; both by this master. For the brotherhood of the Trinity, Matteo Lappoli executed a work which may be counted among the best he ever performed; it was painted at the command of Buoninsegna Buoninsegni, of Arezzo. This was a Crucifix for an altar; on each side stood San Rocco and San Martino, and at the foot were two figures kneeling; one of these was a poor man, meagre and haggard, and wretchedly clothed; from his breast proceeded a sort of radiation, the rays of which went directly towards the wounds of the Saviour, on whom the eyes of the saint were earnestly fixed. The other was a rich man, clothed in purple and fine linen, with joyous and rubicund face, but the rays proceeding from him while adoring Christ, appeared, although they also came from his heart, as did those of the poor man, not to go directly to the wounds of the Saviour, but to be scattered and dispersed over a broad landscape, exhibiting fields covered with corn