Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 1.djvu/252

and church of Sant’ Agostino to be erected by Moccio, a sculptor and architect of Siena. Many of the Aretine citizens had constructed chapels and burial-places for their families in the side aisles of the church; and in one of these chapels— that dedicated to San Jacopo, namely—Berna painted various frescoes from the life of the saint.^[1] Among these was most vividly depicted the story of the smuggler Marino, whom avarice had tempted to give his soul to the devil, with whom he had made a written compact to that effect. He is here seen in the act of supplicating San Jacopo to liberate him from the consequences of his promise, but on the other hand is placed the devil—hideous to a miracle—who is pleading his rights with great animation before the saint, and exhibiting the written agreement, which fills Marino with the most deadly terror. The various emotions of all the figures in this work have been admirably expressed by the artist; the face of Marino, more especially, betrays the fears that devour him, but the faith and trust which give him hope of deliverance from San Jacopo are also visible; and the latter, after having inspired him with a true repentance of his sin, and sorrow for the promise he has made, delivers the culprit and restores him to God. Berna painted this same story, according to Lorenzo Ghiberti, in the church of Santo Spirito, in Florence, before the church was burnt; it was in a chapel of the Capponi, dedicated to St. Nicholas. After this the painter executed a large picture of the Crucifixion, for Messer Guccio di Vanni Tarlati, of Pietramala, in one of the chapels of the episcopal church of Arezzo: he here depicted the Virgin, with St. John the Evangelist and St. Francis, at the foot of the cross, in an attitude of the deepest grief; St. Michael, the archangel, is also present. The whole work merits no slight praise for the care with which it was executed, and more particularly because the colours have maintained themselves so admirably well, that the picture might seem to have been finished yesterday. Lower down is the portrait of the above-named Guccio, armed, and kneeling at the foot of the cross.^[2] In the

1. These works have also been destroyed in the rebuilding of the church.
2. This painting is still in good preservation, in the cathedral of Arezzo; it has been retouched of late years. Montani has a remark, to the effect that the portrait of Guccio—whom the commentators command