Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 4.djvu/333

Rh point of each window namely; and these support most beautiful garlands of fruits, foliage, and flowers, which pass from window to window, the fruits and flowers being so arranged that they symbolize the periods of human life, as well as the seasons of the year; these the boys sustain on their shoulders, while other children in various attitudes are placed in the central or pendant portion of each festoon.

Beneath this frieze, and in the seven spaces which are between the upper windows, Cristofano depicted the seven Planets, with the seven celestial signs above them, as a finish and ornament. Beneath the cornice of those windows are figures of the Virtues, placed two and two, and supporting two large oval medallions, within which are depicted stories significant of the Seven Ages of Man, each age being accompanied by the virtues which are considered the most appropriate to it: under the ovals which are between the spaces of the lower windows, are the three Theological and the four Moral Virtues. On the frieze above the door and the windows of the lower range, which are furnished with curved gratings, are the seven Liberal Arts, each being in a line with the oval which contains that portion of the Life of Man to which it is considered the most appropriate; while in the same line, and ascending upwards, are the Moral Virtues, the Planets, and the Zodiacal Signs, all the symbols used being in exact correspondence. Between the grated windows is furthermore depicted Life, active and contemplative, with appropriate stories and figures, even to the last scene of our death, the Descent to the lower regions, and our final Resurrection.

The entire cornice, the festoons, the children, and the seven Signs of the Zodiac, were executed by Cristofano almost entirely alone; then beginning with one side, he first depicted the Moon, painting as her representative a figure of Diana, with her lap full of flowers, as Proserpine is frequently delineated, and bearing a moon on her head; while over all is the Sign of the Crab. The oval beneath is that which contains the story of Infancy, or the Birth of Man, and here are represented nurses suckling infants, while the women who have given birth to those infants are seen in their beds; all depicted by Cristofano with infinite grace and propriety. This oval is supported by one figure only, that of Determina-