seraphim, the whole group is surrounded by a brilliant light; and among other peculiarities of this picture may be remarked the art and judgment displayed in the Dragon, which is beneath the feet of Santa Margareta, a monster of aspect so horribly strange and loathsome, that one sees clearly the abode of venom, fire, and death in that frightful figure.[1] The whole of the work is, moreover, remarkable for the freshness and animation of the colouring, qualities for which it merits the highest praise.[2]
Filippino also executed paintings in Lucca; among these is a picture for one of the chapels in the church of San Ponziano, belonging to the monks of Monte 01iveto.[3] In the centre of this chapel there is also a very beautiful relief by the hand of that most excellent sculptor, Andrea Sansovino; it is within a recess, and exhibits the figure of Sant’ Antonio.
- ↑
“Maiden Mergrete the’ [then]
Loked her beside,
And sees a loathly dragon
Out of an him [corner] glide,
His eyen were ful griesly,
His mouth opened wide,
And Margrete might no where flee
There she must abide.
“Maiden Margrete
Stood still as any stone,
And that loathly worm,
To her-ward gan gone,
Took her in his foul mouth,
And swallowed her flesh and bone.
Annon he brast—
Damage hath she none!
Maiden Mergrete,
Upon the dragon stood;
Blythe was her harte
And joyful was her mood.”—Auchinleck MSS. as quoted by Mrs. Jameson. — See Poetry of Sacred and Legendary Art, vol. ii. p. 130, et seq.
- ↑ This fresco is still in existence, but has been much injured, and more by the barbarous treatment it has received than by time. The dress of the Virgin in particular having been scraped away for the purpose of abstracting the ultra-marine with which it was painted.
- ↑ The church has been suppressed, but we gather from the guides compiled by Trenta and San Quintino, that this picture was not to be found in the building even at the time of its suppression.
