Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 5.djvu/459

Rh appearing to them; and opposite to this is the Tibertine Sybil, showing to the Emperor Octavian the Virgin in Heaven with the Son born to her; both are adorned with figures and coloured ornaments of various kinds, among which is the head of Alexander the Great, with the Portrait of Alexander Cardinal Farnese. At the Sesta is the circumcision of Christ; and in the figure of Simeon we have a likeness of Pope Paul III.; portraits of Mancina and Septimia, gentlewomen of Rome, of great beauty, are also to be found in the story itself. A beautifully formed decoration surrounds this and the next picture, which represents St. John baptizing Christ, and wherein are exhibited many nude figures.

For the Nones we have the Adoration of the Magi, with the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon opposite thereto, and both together have a framework, at the foot of which is the whole Festival of the Testaccio, represented in figures not so big as ants; a thing which cannot be seen without amazement, that the point of a pencil can have been made to produce such perfection in objects so minute: this is indeed one of the most extraordinary works ever effected by mortal hand, or seen by eye of man. All the colours or liveries given by the Cardinal Farnese to his people on that occasion are clearly to be distinguished in this singular production. At Vespers we have the Flight into Egypt, with the Submersion of Pharaoh in the Red Sea on the opposite side, the framework exhibiting much and varied beauty of ornament. For Complins there is the Coronation of Our Lady in the Heavens, with a multitude of Angels, opposite to which is the Story of Esther crowned by Ahasuerus, the framework of both being appropriately decorated.

At the Mass of the Madonna, Don Clovio has given us a framework painted to imitate Cameos, and representing Gabriel announcing the Word to the Virgin; the pictures within are. Our Lady with the Infant Christ in her arms, and God the Father creating the Heavens and the Earth. Opposite to the Penitential Psalms is the Battle in which Uriah the Hittite was exposed to death by command of King David; and here there are horses and riders with the warriors wounded and dead, depicted in a manner that is