was ever in close connexion with the Signori della Scala, and who painted, among many other works, the great Hall of their Palace, which is now inhabited by the Podesta. Here he depicted the Siege of Jerusalem, as it has been described by Josephus, a work in which Aldigieri displayed infinite ability and judgment, representing one historical scene only on each wall of the apartment, and adding to each a frame or decoration, which surrounded it on all sides. On the upper part of this decoration, and, as it were, to finish all, he placed a range of medallions, in which, as it is believed, there are the portraits of many distinguished persons, taken from the life, more especially those of men belonging to the Della Scala family: there is, nevertheless, but little certainly known concerning them. Of those portraits, therefore, I will say nothing further; but I will not omit to remark that, in this work, Aldigieri proved himself to possess genius, judgment, and invention, having neglected no one point that ought to be considered in the representation of a violent and obstinate conflict. The colouring, moreover, has maintained its freshness exceedingly well, and there are many portraits of renowned and learned, or otherwise distinguished men, among which that of Messer Francesco Petrarca may be found.
In the works of this Hall, the Bolognese painter, Jacopo Avanzi, took part with Aldigieri: beneath the above-named pictures, and, like them, in fresco, he painted two very beautiful triumphal processions, executed in so good a manner, and with such consummate art, that Mantegna, as we are assured by Girolamo Campagnuola, commended them as pictures of extraordinary beauty.[1] In Padua, Jacopo Avanzi assisted, with Aldigieri and Sebeto[2] of Verona, to paint the chapel of San Giorgio, which stands beside the church of Sant’ Antonio, a work executed according to the
- ↑ Vasari appears to have taken the principal part of the notices of Lombard painters here given, from the letter of Campagnuola to Leonico Tomeo, See ante, the life of Mantegna, p. 263.
- ↑ Brandolese conjectures, and perhaps with some reason, that this Sebeto, who was unknown to Maffei and Lanzi, as well as to himself, never had existence. He believes that Vasari has mistaken Jebeto, the Latin form adopted by the writer for Zevio, the birth-place of Aldigieri, which was once called Jebetum, for the name of a person instead of a place.—See Lanzi, History of Fainting, vol. ii. p. 76.
