have much at heart. Having made my arrangements, with a hundred crowns which Pope Pius sent me for that purpose, and sending the picture before me, I repaired to Rome accordingly,[1]where, after I had remained a month, and had held much discourse with His Holiness, advising him not to permit that any changes should be made in the plans of Michelagnolo for the construction of San Pietro, and preparing certain designs which he required, I received his commands to paint, for the High Altar of the above-named Church at the Bosco, not a picture such as is usual, but an immense construction, in the manner of a Triumphal Arch,[2] with two large paintings, one before, the other behind, and about thirty stories in smaller pictures,[3] all of which were brought to completion with tolerable success.
At this time I obtained from His Holiness the gracious favour of his permission to erect a chapel and decan ate in the Deanery of Arezzo, and he sent m.e the Bull free of cost in the kindest manner. It is the principal chapel of that Church, and is placed under the invocation of my patron Saint, and that of my house: it was endowed by myself, and painted with my own hand, being offered as an acknowledgment (although it be but a small one) of the Divine Goodness, and an evidence of my thankfulness for the infinite favours and benefits which the Supreme Ruler of all things[4] hath vouchsafed to confer upon me.
- ↑ Where he arrived in February, 1567; Vasari found the Pope much pleased with the picture, and was commanded to examine, not only the works of San Pietro, but the Sistine Bridge, which was showing symptoms of weakness and decay. See Carteggio inedito, vol. iii. p. 233.
- ↑ Which no longer exists.
- ↑ In one of these pictures is a Last Judgment; this may still be seen in the Choir of Santa Croce del Bosco, the church in question. Vasari makes mention of the same in a letter to the Prince Francesco, as also in two others, one to Concino, the second likewise to Don Francesco. See Carteggio, &c., vol. hi. pp. 237, 239, 241.
- ↑ The expression here used by Vasari is, “His Majesty,” a phrase which, like that of Messer Domeniddio (see ante^ p. 133), I should have been unwilling to disturb in its simplicity, had it not been for the fact that this phrase, then of such high and solemn import,has now become a comparatively common-place one, a mere title. Its use, as synonymous with “The Host,” will be fnmihar to such of our readers as are acquainted with Spain and the Spaniards, “Su Majestad” being the words by which they intimate that portion of the Sacrament permitted to the use of the laity. Vasari was a true “Conservative” of his day, a profound lover of order, and he could find no term more vividly expressive of his deep adoration than that wliich he here adopted.
