Gruner, Ludwig; Hittorff, Jacques Ignace [Editor]: Fresco decorations and stuccoes of churches & palaces, in Italy, during the fifteenth & sixteenth centuries with descriptions (London, 1844)

LIBRARY OF THE CATHEDRAL OF SIENA.

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A, shows the arabesques in the ceiling on the long side of the hall.
B, are two of the painted pilasters between the historical subjects ; the infants are the natural
colours, as are also the arms.
C, is the section of the hall, with the entrance from the church, and the book-cases.
D, is the fourth-part of the ceiling to show the arrangement of the colours in thg spandrils,
soffits, etc. etc.
The finest of the missals now existing in the Libreria are by Fra Benedetto di Madera, who
flourished from 1475 to 1490.
The group of the three Graces in the centre of the hall is one of the masterpieces of the Grecian
chisel : it was there at the time of Raphael, who studied its exquisite outlines, and Marc Antonio engraved
it. See Bartsch’s Peintre-graveur, Y. 14, N°. 340. Amongst the prints representing the historical
compositions, those by C. Lasinio, in his “Raccolta delle più celebri pitture di Siena,” are the best. Fo
the design and the colours of the pavement, see Key to the Colouring, N°._XII.