The figure supports itself on the right foot, the left leg being foreshortened, and the head raised towards an angel who is placing a crown on the head of the Saint. This work is a truly beautiful one, and is worthy of the highest commendation; on the reverse of the banner is Our Lady with the Divine Child in her arms, while beneath are San Gismondo and San Rocco, with some Flagellants who are kneeling on the earth. It is said that certain merchants of Lucca would have given the men of the Brotherhood three hundred gold crowns for the picture, but could not obtain it even for that sum, the Company not being willing to part with so admirable a work.[1]
And of a truth II Mattaccio, whether by care, by favour of fortune, or by chance, did in some of his performances acquit himself exceedingly well, but of these works he produced very few; there is one of them in the Sacristy of the monks of Mount Carmel, a Nativity of Our Lady, with nurses variously occupied standing around, this is exceedingly beautiful. At the corner of the Piazza de Tolomei also 11 Mattaccio painted a fresco of the Madonna with the Divine Child in her arms, for the guild of the Shoemakers; San Giovanni, San Francesco, San Rocco, and San Crispino, who is the advocate of the men of that trade, are also depicted in that work, the last-mentioned Saint holding a shoe in his hand. In the heads of these figures, as well as in every other part of the picture, Giovan-Antonio has here also acquitted himself exceedingly well.[2]
For the company of San Bernardino of Siena, whose house is beside the church of San Francesco, this master painted stories in fresco, which he executed in competition with the Sienese painter Girolamo del Pacchia,[3] and with
- ↑ ince the year 1784 this beautiful picture has adorned the Public Gallery of Florence, where it will be found in the larger Hall of the Tuscan School.— Masselli.
- ↑ The picture called the Madonna of the Shoemakers has hitherto maintained its condition admirably well, but is now rapidly deteriorating from the effects of the smoke and other exhalations arising from the shop of a metal-founder, whose furnaces are immediately beneath it. — Ed. Flor. 1832-8.
- ↑ Lanzi and other authorities consider the painter here meant to be probably Pacchierotto, but that artist was called Giacomo and not Girolamo.
