Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 2.djvu/339

Rh the paintings executed by him in fresco were the best that, up to that time, had ever been executed in those parts. The first works of this master were performed in the transept of the church of Sant’ Antonio in Verona, at the extremity of the wall on the left, and immediately beneath the arch of the vault: the subject is a Madonna, with the Infant in her arms, San Jacopo is on one side, and Sant’ Antonio on the other. This work is still considered very beautiful in that city, the figures having a certain animation of character, more especially in the heads, which Stefano painted with much grace. In San Niccolo, a parish church, also in Verona, this artist painted a figure of the titular saint, San Niccolo, in fresco, which is most beautiful; and on the wall of a house in the Via San Polo, which leads to the gate of the Episcopal Palace, he painted a Virgin with angels, which are also very beautiful, together with a figure of Cristofano. In the Via del Duomo, over the wall of the church of Santa Consolata, Stefano Veronese painted a Madonna in a recess, with various birds, more particularly a peacock, which was the device of this artist. In Santa Eufemia, a convent of the Eremite monks of Sant’ Agostino, he depicted the figure of that saint over the side-door, with two other saints, and beneath the mantle of Sant’ Agostino are several monks and nuns of his order. But the most beautiful part of this work are two prophets, half-length figures of the size of life: these are the most beautiful and most animated heads ever painted by Stefano; the colouring of the whole work, having been executed with extraordinary care, has remained fresh and beautiful even to our own days, although it has been much exposed to rain, wind, and frost: and this is the result of their not having been retouched a secco, the artist having taken great care to paint the wliole well a fresco; insomuch that these works, had they been under shelter, would have been still as fresh and lively as they were when they first proceeded from his hands; as it is, they are now somewhat faded. Within the church, in the chapel of the Sacrament namely, this master painted angels flying around the taber-