DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.57409#0409
EARRI SPINELLI.
393
with which he saw them daily occupied, although they never
resolved on any thing that was not to the injury of the city,
Tommasuolo waited until the whole council had assembled,
when he gathered a vast mass of burning brands into the
folds of his vestment, and entering the hall wherein the sixty,
with all the other magistrates of the city were seated, he
threw the whole among their feet, boldly exclaiming “ Look
to yourselves, rulers of Arezzo; the fire is among you; be-
ware of your ruin;” this said, he departed. But such was
the effect of his simplicity and zeal that, as it pleased God,
these words and this action of the holy man accomplished
what all his preachings and threatenings had hitherto failed
to do; insomuch that the counsellors becoming thenceforward
more united in purpose, ruled the city for many years in
great concord, to the peace and quiet of the whole com-
munity.
But to return to Parri Spinelli: having completed the fres-
coes of the Duomo Vecchio, he painted a chapel, in fresco, in
the church belonging to the hospital of San Cristofano, beside
the Brotherhood of the Annunciation. This work was exe-
cuted at the cost of Mona Mattea dei Testi, wife of Carcascion
Florinaldi, who left a very handsome revenue to that little
church : the subject is Christ crucified; while around and
above are many angels hovering about in the darkened air,
and weeping bitterly. At the foot of the cross, on one side,
are seen Mary Magdalene and the other Maries, who hold
the fainting Mother of Jesus in their arms, with San Jacopo
and San Cristofano, on the other side. On the walls around,
Spinelli depicted Santa Caterina, San Niccolo, the Annunci-
ation, and Jesus Christ bound to the column; and in the arch
above the door of the same church was a Dead Christ, with
Our Lady and St. John: but the paintings of the chapel are
ruined, and those over the door of the church were destroyed
when the door was replaced by one of modern workmanship,
in macigno, the revenues of the brotherhood being alienated
* In San Cristofano—now the church of the Oblate of Santa Caterina,
transferred thither two years since. The only work now remaining
by Parri Spinelli, is that of the high altar, which represents Christ
crucified, with angels weeping around, and the Maries at the foot of the
cross. Beneath are the following words:—
“ HOC OPUS FACTUM FUIT ANNO DOMINI MCCCCXLIV DIE IV MENSIS
DECEMBRIS.”—Ed. Flor. 1846-9.
393
with which he saw them daily occupied, although they never
resolved on any thing that was not to the injury of the city,
Tommasuolo waited until the whole council had assembled,
when he gathered a vast mass of burning brands into the
folds of his vestment, and entering the hall wherein the sixty,
with all the other magistrates of the city were seated, he
threw the whole among their feet, boldly exclaiming “ Look
to yourselves, rulers of Arezzo; the fire is among you; be-
ware of your ruin;” this said, he departed. But such was
the effect of his simplicity and zeal that, as it pleased God,
these words and this action of the holy man accomplished
what all his preachings and threatenings had hitherto failed
to do; insomuch that the counsellors becoming thenceforward
more united in purpose, ruled the city for many years in
great concord, to the peace and quiet of the whole com-
munity.
But to return to Parri Spinelli: having completed the fres-
coes of the Duomo Vecchio, he painted a chapel, in fresco, in
the church belonging to the hospital of San Cristofano, beside
the Brotherhood of the Annunciation. This work was exe-
cuted at the cost of Mona Mattea dei Testi, wife of Carcascion
Florinaldi, who left a very handsome revenue to that little
church : the subject is Christ crucified; while around and
above are many angels hovering about in the darkened air,
and weeping bitterly. At the foot of the cross, on one side,
are seen Mary Magdalene and the other Maries, who hold
the fainting Mother of Jesus in their arms, with San Jacopo
and San Cristofano, on the other side. On the walls around,
Spinelli depicted Santa Caterina, San Niccolo, the Annunci-
ation, and Jesus Christ bound to the column; and in the arch
above the door of the same church was a Dead Christ, with
Our Lady and St. John: but the paintings of the chapel are
ruined, and those over the door of the church were destroyed
when the door was replaced by one of modern workmanship,
in macigno, the revenues of the brotherhood being alienated
* In San Cristofano—now the church of the Oblate of Santa Caterina,
transferred thither two years since. The only work now remaining
by Parri Spinelli, is that of the high altar, which represents Christ
crucified, with angels weeping around, and the Maries at the foot of the
cross. Beneath are the following words:—
“ HOC OPUS FACTUM FUIT ANNO DOMINI MCCCCXLIV DIE IV MENSIS
DECEMBRIS.”—Ed. Flor. 1846-9.