Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 2.djvu/485

Rh succeeded so well. Beneath the door of the Sacristy there are two paintings by his hand, the one represents the Pope St. Gregory, reading mass, when Christ appears to him, an imdraped figure, the blood flowing from the side, and the cross borne on the shoulders; the Deacon and Sub-deacon, in their proper costume, are “serving the mass,” while two angels hold thuribles whence incense ascends over the figure of Christ. In a chapel lower down the church, this master painted the Madonna with St. Jerome and St. Bartholomew, a work on which he certainly bestowed pains, and not a few. But his manner now deteriorated from day to day, nor do I know to what cause we are to attribute this misfortune, for the poor Raffaellino did not want knowledge of his art, and was careful and industrious; yet all availed him but little. It has sometimes been supposed that the support of his family taxed his resources too heavily; being compelled to live in disheartening dependence on the gains of the day, his courage failed him, he probably accepted works at diminished prices, and thus became constantly more degenerate: there is nevertheless always a something of good to be seen in his works.

For the monks of Cestello, Raffaellino painted a large historical picture in fresco, on the wall of their refectory, and in this work he depicted the miracle which was performed by Our Saviour, with the five loaves and two fishes, satisfying therewith five thousand persons. From the Abbate de’ Panichi, this artist received a commission to paint the picture of the high altar for the church of San Salvi, which stands near the gate of Santa Croce; the subject chosen is the Madonna with San Giovanni Gualberto,