Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 3.djvu/80

72 calcined silver, which has very much the colour of bole, and which he applies somewhat thickly; this, when placed in the fire, melts, on the glass, to which, when perfectly fused, it attaches itself, penetrating the substance of the glass, and imparting a very beautiful yellow to the same. With these modes of proceeding no master was better acquainted than the Prior Guglielmo, nor did any artist apply them with more skill and judgment than himself: and herein consists the difficulty, seeing that to paint or tinge the glass in colours, with oil or other vehicles, is of little or no moment, nor is it of great importance that the glass should be clear or transparent; but to heat them with fire and so to manage that they shall resist the effects of rain, and shall be capable of perpetual endurance, this indeed is a labour which merits commendation. Highly worthy of praise, therefore, is this excellent master, seeing that there is no one in that vocation who has effected so much as himself, whether we consider his powers of invention, design, colour, or the general excellence of the work.

In the same Episcopal church, Guglielmo executed the large rose window whereon is depicted the Descent of the Holy Spirit, with the Baptism of Jesus Christ by St. John. The master has here represented Christ as standing in the Jordan awaiting St. John, who has taken a vessel of water into his hand, with which he is about to baptize the Saviour. An old man, already divested of his clothing, is standing near in the act of taking off his shoes; angels are preparing the vestments of Christ, and above all is the Almighty Father, who sends down the Holy Spirit on