Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 5.djvu/530

518 that I should paint a picture for his Church in Florence, Sant’ Apostolo namely. Messer Bindo had repaired to Camaldoli for the purpose of procuring a large quantity of fir-trees, required in the fabric of San Pietro, and which were supplied by the Celia di Sant’ Alberigo, a place belonging to those fathers, whence they were conveyed to Rome by the Tiber; but before his departure I received from him the commission for that picture.

Having then completed the façade of the Chapel at Camaldoli, which I painted in fresco, and where I made experiments on the union of oils with that manner—succeeding very nearly to my satisfaction—I departed from the Hermitage and went to Florence, where I executed the picture in question. But I had not before painted a work of the kind in that city, and desired to give a specimen oi what I could do, the rather as I had many rivals, and was infinitely desirous of reputation. I therefore disposed myself to put forward my best efforts; and, to obtain freedom of mind for my work, I first married my third sister; I also bought a house, which was in course of construction at Arezzo, with the site for laying out beautiful gardens in the suburb of San Vito, one of the best positions for purity of the air to be found in that city.

In October of the year 1540, then, I began Messer Bindo’s picture; the subject selected being a Conception of the Virgin, because such was the designation of the Chapel for which it was intended. But the due treatment of that subject appeared to me to present certain difficulties; wherefore Messer Bindo and I, taking counsel of such among our common friends as were men of letters, determined finally to arrange it as follows.

The Tree of the Original Sin was represented in the centre of the painting, and at the roots thereof were placed nude figures of Adam and Eve bound, as being the first transgressors of God’s commands. To the principal branches were then also bound Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, David, and the rest of the kings, lawgivers, &c., according to their seniority, all fastened by both arms, excepting only Samuel and San Giovanni Battista, who are bound by one arm only, to intimate that they were sanctified before their birth. At the trunk of the Tree, and with the lower part twining about it, is the Old Serpent, but the upper part