In the second picture I endeavoured to produce variety; whether as regarded the heads, the draperies, the buildings, or other parts; but more especially did I seek to express the affection with which our Saviour Christ instructed Mary, and the prompt devotion of Martha in arranging her feast and attending her guest, while she complains of being left by her sister to all the weight of those ministrations: to say nothing of the feelings evinced by the Apostles, or of many other things, which I laboured to set forth in that picture as was befitting. As to the third Story, I depicted the three Angels (I do not myself know how it occurred to me), in the midst of a celestial light which seems to emanate from themselves, while the rays of the Sun fall brightly on a cloud which surrounds them. The old Abraham is paying his adorations to one, although he sees three; while Sarah stands laughing and marvelling how that which has been promised to her shall come to pass; Hagar, meanwhile, is departing from the house bearing Ishmael in her arms. The light from the Angels illumines the servants who are preparing the meal; and some of these, unable to endure the splendour of the rays, place their hands before their eyes, seeking to cover them from the too great brightness; this variety, seeing that the deep shadow and the strong light give force to a picture, caused the one now in question to show more relief than did the other two; the effect of each was indeed quite unlike that of the other two. But very different would all have been, could I but have found power fully to express my thoughts, seeing that both then and afterwards, I was constantly seeking, with new inventions and phantasies, to accomplish the difficult and laborious in Art.
This work, then, whatever it may be, was completed in the space of eight months, with a Frieze ornamented in fresco,[1] architectural embellishments, carved seats, tables, and every other ornament or requisite for the whole work and for the use of the Refectory; and for the price of the whole I contented myself with two hundred crowns, as being one who aspired to glory rather than to gain; for which
- ↑ The Frieze is still in the Refectory; the two pictures of Christ in the house of Mary and Martha, and St. Gregory at Table, are in the Gallery of Bologna; the latter bears the following inscription:—Giorgio Aretino faceva. cdxl.
