of those buildings. In the centre of this gallery the bishop intended to have his tomb constructed in the manner of a chapel, proposing to be buried therein, but his death took place before the work could be completed, and it consequently remained unfinished; for although he left orders that the work should be continued by his successor, yet nothing more was done; and so it happens for the most part to such undertakings as are left to be completed by others after the death of their projector.[1] The abbot decorated a large and beautiful chapel in the cathedral for the same bishop; but as this work had but a short existence, I need not speak further concerning it.[2]
In addition to the works here enumerated, Don Bartolommeo executed many others for different places in all quarters of the city; among them were three figures in the chapel of the nuns of Sant’ Orsina,[3] in the convent of the Carmine. At Castiglione, in the Aretine territory, this master painted a picture in tempera for the chapel of the high altar in the capitular church of San Giuliano. This work contains a singularly beautiful figure of the Virgin, with San Giuliano and St. Michael the archangel; both finely executed and delicately finished, more particularly the San Giuliano; his eyes are fixed on the Divine Child, which is in the arms of Our Lady, and the thought of his having killed his father and mother[4] seems to be deeply afflicting him. In a chapel near this is a painting which was formerly on the door of an old organ, whereon is depicted a San Michele, considered most admirable, and an Infant, also in the arms of a woman,[5] which seems absolutely alive.
- ↑ The Loggia was enlarged in the last century, by the Bishop Benedetto Falconcini. The Bishop Gentile was buried in the cathedral, and his arms only now occupy the place designed for his tomb. —Ed. Flor., 1832-8.
- ↑ The ancient cathedral of Arezzo, which was without the city, was abandoned in 1203. Yet various works of art were executed therein, down to a late period, and these were, for the most part, destroyed in 1561. —Ibid.
- ↑ The paintings of Sant’ Orsina, as well as those of the Carmine, have ceased, to exist.
- ↑ This parricide was involuntary: for the Legend of the Saint (St. Julian Hospitator), the English reader is referred to Mrs. Jameson.— Poetry of Sacred and Legendary Art, vol. ii. p. 393.
- ↑ The woman here alluded to is Theodora Visconti, who is presenting her son to St. Michael. The picture is now in the Sacristy.
