Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 2.djvu/357

Rh therein, and, in short, throughout every part of the work: in the hand of the archangel he has placed a balance, or pair of scales, in which the nude forms, some rising as the others sink, are foreshortened to admiration, and, among other ingenious things in this picture is a nude figure, most skilfully transformed into a fiend, with a lizard sucking the blood from a wound in its body. The Madonna is also present, with the Divine Child in her arms: Our Lady is accompanied by San Stefano, San Lorenzo, and Santa Caterina: there are, besides, two angels, one of whom is playing on a lute, the other on a small cithern, or rebeck. All these figures are so beautifully clothed, and adorned in a manner so judicious, that they awaken the utmost admiration. But the most extraordinary part of this painting is the predella, which is covered with small figures representing the Monks of St. Catherine. In Perugia, also, Luca Signorelli executed many works; among others, one in the cathedral, painted by command of the Bishop, Messer Jacopo Vannucci, of Cortona: in this picture is the Virgin, with Sant’ Onofrio, Sant’ Ercolano, San Giovanni Battista, and San Stefano: there is also an exceedingly beautiful angel tuning a lute. In the church of San Francesco, in Volterra, this master painted a fresco, representing the Circumcision of Christ: this also is considered a wonderfully beautiful picture, but the Child having been injured by the damp, was repaired by Sodoma, whereby the beauty was much diminished. And, of a truth, it would often be much better to retain the works of excellent masters, though half spoiled, than suffer them to be retouched by less capable artists. In the same city Luca Signorelli painted a picture in tempera, for the church of Sant’ Agostino, and covered the predella with small figures representing the Crucifixion of Christ: this work has ever been considered to be one of extraordinary beauty. At Monte-a-Santa Maria