suing from the church with the Becchim, men whose office it is to bury the dead, following the cross and proceeding to the interment; all exhibiting perfect truth to nature, as do other figures, who are expressing the amazement they feel, or the happiness they experience, from the event they have' just witnessed. In this picture are the portraits of Maso, degli Albizzi, Messer Agnolo Acciaiuoli, and Messer Palla ^ Strozzi, all eminent citizens frequently cited in the history of, Florence.
A second picture represents St. Francis, when, in the presence of the vicar, he refuses to accept the inheritance devolving on him from his father, Pietro Bernardone, and assumes the habit of penitence, wffiich he binds around him with the cord of discipline; in another compartment the same saint is depicted as proceeding to Rome, where he obtains from Pope Honorius the confirmation of his rule, and presents to that Pontiff, roses blooming in the middle of January. In this story the master represents the Hall of the Consistory with the Cardinals seated around it, a flight of steps leads up into the hall; and, leaning on the ballustrade, are the halflength figures of various persons portrayed from the life. Among the portraits in this work is that of the illustrious Lorenzo de’ Medici the elder. The master likewise depicts St. Francis receiving the Stigmata; and in the last of the series here described, he represents the Saint dead, with his Monks mourning around him. One among them kisses the hands of the departed, and the expression in his case could not possibly be rendered more perfect by the art of the painter. There is also a bishop, in his episcopal vestments and with spectacles on his nose; he is chanting the prayers for the dead; and the fact that we do not hear him, alone demonstrates to us that he is not alive, but merely painted.[1] On each side of the altar-piece are two compartments, in one of which Domenico painted the likeness of Francesco Sassetti on his knees; and in the other that of Madonna Nera his wife, with their children (but these last are in the story above, when the child is restored to life), and some other
- ↑ Manni considers Ghirlandajo to have been one of the first masters, if not the very first, who ventured to paint a figure wearing spectacles. — Ed. Flor., 1832-8.
