Phillipps, Evelyn March: The frescoes in the Sixtine chapel (London: John Murray, 1901)

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THE WALL FRESCOES

Of the two remaining frescoes there is
little to be said. The life and death of
Moses was followed by his burial upon
Mount Nebo, and Francesco Salviati illus-
trated it by the legendary incident of the
contest over his body between the archangel
Michael and Satan, a circumstance which
is related by St. Jude in his Canonical
Epistle. It is impossible to say if it ever
had any merit, but any that it may have
had was destroyed at its restoration by
Matteo da Lecce.
On the other side, the Resurrection, by
Ghirlandaio, no doubt once formed a fitting
climax to the Life of Christ. It is a matter
for deep regret that what was almost
certainly a beautiful concluding scene
should have entirely perished. While
Gregory XIII. was celebrating Mass on
Christmas Day, 1562, the architrave fell,
crushing to death two of the Swiss Guard,
and so damaging the fresco that it had to
be entirely repainted, and the choice of
Arrigo di Malines, a second-rate Flemish
artist, for the purpose, cannot be looked