Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 3.djvu/434

426 Count Ercole to wear; a very beautiful portrait it is, as may be seen in the house of the Count Giusto his son.

Domenico Moroni was born at Verona, about the year 1430; he learned the art of painting from certain artists who were disciples of Stefano, and from such works as he saw and copied of the above-named Stefano, of Jacopo Bellini, of Pisano, and of other masters. 1 make no mention of certain pictures which he executed after the manner of those times, and which are in monasteries and private houses, but will not omit to record that he decorated in chiaro-scuro of terra verde the façade of a house on the Piazza called that of the Signori in Verona, and which belongs to the municipality of that city. Here Domenico represented numerous stories in the ancient manner, with figures and vestments very well arranged in the fashion of former days and a vast number of ornaments. But the best work to be seen by the hand of this master is in the church of San Bernardino: the subject of this picture is Christ led to the Cross; it comprises a large mass of people and many horses, and will be found on the wall above the chapel of the Monte di Pieta, where Liberale painted his picture of the Deposition from the Cross, and the Weeping Angels.

The chapel next to that was also painted by the same master at great cost; it was richly decorated with gold inside and out, by command and at the expense ' of the Cavaliere Messer Niccolo de’ Medici, who was at that time considered to be the most wealthy man in Verona; he spent much money in this and other pious works to which he was inclined by nature. This gentleman, after having built many churches and monasteries, and leaving scarcely any part of the city wherein he had not expended large sums to the honour of God, selected the above-named chapel for his burial-place, and in the decoration of the same he availed