Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 4.djvu/137

Rh wife and children of St. Sigismond to be cast into a well; San Domenico burning the Books of the Heretics; Christ presenting to Santa Caterina of Siena two Crowns, the one of roses, the other of thorns; and San Bernardino of Siena preaching on the public Piazza of that city, to a vast multitude of people assembled there.

The fame which Domenico acquired by this work caused him to receive the commission for a picture to be placed in the church of the Carmine, the subject chosen being St. Michael conquering Lucifer; in this work the artist, as an ingenious and fanciful person, resolved to make manifest, by a certain originality of treatment, the extent of his inventive power, and the tine thoughts of which he was capable. By way of showing Lucifer and his followers, therefore, expelled, as they were from Heaven for their pride, he depicted a shower of nude figures, which is exceedingly beautiful, although it is true that the excessive pains which Domenico has taken with it have resulted in rendering the work somewhat confused. This picture being left unfinished at the death of the master, was then taken to the Great Hospital, and placed on the ascent of a staircase, near the high altar, where it still remains, and is regarded with admiration by all beholders, on account of certain foreshortenings of the nude figures, which are exceedingly fine. In the church of the Carmine meanwhile, where the above-named picture was to have been placed, there has been appended another, in the upper part of which is the figure of the Almighty Father, beheld amidst the clouds, and surrounded by numerous angels, very gracefully depicted. In the middle of the picture is the Archangel Michael, wearing his armour, and pointing to Lucifer, whom he has driven to the centre of the earth; burning buildings, a fiery gulf, and a sea of flame, also make part of the picture, with angels in various attitudes, and the souls of the condemned, which are represented bjr nude figures, floating and struggling amidst the torments of that sea of fire. All this is delineated with infinite beauty of manner, and in that admirable work, which has ever been accounted a very extraordinary performance, the darkness appears to be illumined by the fire of the gulf.