likeness Benozzo had previously taken in Rome; with the portrait of the artist himself on horseback, the figure being that of an old man with shaven beard, and wearing a black cap, in the fold of which there is a white paper, perhaps intended as a sign or token; or it may be that Benozzo had intended to inscribe his name thereon.[1]
In the same city of Pisa, in a convent on the bank of the Arno belonging to the nuns of San Benedetto, Benozzo Gozzoli painted a series of stories exhibiting the various events of the life of that saint; and in the house of the Brotherhood of the Florentines, which then stood where the monastery of San Vito now is, he painted the Altar-piece, with many other pictures.[2] In the cathedral, behind the seat of the archbishop, Benozzo executed a small picture in tempera; the subject of this work is St. Thomas Aquinas surrounded by numerous learned men, who dispute concerning his works: among these is the portrait of Pope Sixtus lY., with several cardinals, and many chiefs and generals of different religious orders. This is the best and most finished work ever executed by Benozzo.[3] In Santa Caterina, a monastery belonging to the Preaching-Friars in the same city, this master painted two pictures in tempera, which may be easily recognized by the manner; and in the church of San Niccolo, another in like manner; with two in Santa Croce, without the gates of Pisa.[4] While still a youth[5] Benozzo worked in the Capitular church of San Gimignano, where he painted the altar-piece for the altar of San Bastiano, which stands in the middle of the church, opposite to the principal chapel;[6] and in the
- ↑ The story of the Queen of Sheba is among those that have suffered most. An engraving of it will be found in Rosini, pl.xliii. This he has taken from an old coloured drawing, now in the Academy of the Fine Arts in Pisa, and which some believe to be the original design.
- ↑ The frescoes of San Benedetto have perished. Of the works executed in San Vito, nothing certain can be ascertained. In San Domenica, at Pisa, is a picture of the Forty Martyrs, by this master, with one of theVirgin and Child, attended by four Saints, in the Gallery of the same city.
- ↑ This work was sent to the Louvre in the year 1812, but is said to be no longer discoverable in that Gallery.
- ↑ Of the five pictures here described, as executed in Pisa, no authentic account is now to be obtained.
- ↑ He was not then a youth, but a man of forty.
- ↑ This fresco is still in existence.
