DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.57409#0410
394
LIVES OF THE ARTISTS.
at the same time, to establish a convent of one hundred nuns.
Now for this convent Giorgio Vasari had made a well and care-
fully constructed model; but it was afterwards altered, or rather
transformed into a miserable failure, by those who most unwor-
thily received charge of the building. For it often happens that
one stumbles upon crafty or conceited men, who are for the
most part thoroughly ignorant, but who give themselves airs
of pretence, and arrogantly presume to attempt the erection
or superintendence of buildings, thereby frequently ruining
the arrangements, and spoiling the models of men who have
consumed their lives in the study and practice of the art, and
who are fully capable of constructing judiciously such works
as they undertake. These things occur, to the serious
injury of posterity, which is thus deprived of the utility, con-
venience, beauty, and grandeur proper to all important
fabrics, but more especially requisite to those which are to be
used for the public service.
Parri Spinelli worked also in the church of San Bernardo,
a monastery of the monks of Monte Oliveto, where he painted
two chapels, being those immediately within the principal
door, and standing one on each side of it. In that on the
right hand, and which is dedicated to the Holy Trinity, the
master painted a group, representing God the Father, who
supports the body of Christ crucified in his arms; and above
this is the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, surrounded by
a choir of angels. On one of the walls of the same chapel
he also painted figures of saints, in fresco, which are admi-
rably done. The second chapel is dedicated to Our Lady,
and here Spinelli has represented the Nativity of Christ,
wherein are certain women who wash the Divine infant in a
little wooden vessel; and in depicting this circumstance the
artist has pourtrayed the figures with a feminine grace of
action which is charming. There are also numerous shep-
herds in the distance, guarding their flocks: they are clothed
in the rustic habiliments proper to that time, are full of life,
and listen with the utmost attention to the words of the angel,
who is commanding them to repair to Nazareth. On the
opposite wall is the Adoration of the Magi; and here are de-
picted carriages of various kinds, with camels, giraffes, and
all the camp and followers of those three kings; the latter,
reverently offering their treasures, adore the infant Christ,
LIVES OF THE ARTISTS.
at the same time, to establish a convent of one hundred nuns.
Now for this convent Giorgio Vasari had made a well and care-
fully constructed model; but it was afterwards altered, or rather
transformed into a miserable failure, by those who most unwor-
thily received charge of the building. For it often happens that
one stumbles upon crafty or conceited men, who are for the
most part thoroughly ignorant, but who give themselves airs
of pretence, and arrogantly presume to attempt the erection
or superintendence of buildings, thereby frequently ruining
the arrangements, and spoiling the models of men who have
consumed their lives in the study and practice of the art, and
who are fully capable of constructing judiciously such works
as they undertake. These things occur, to the serious
injury of posterity, which is thus deprived of the utility, con-
venience, beauty, and grandeur proper to all important
fabrics, but more especially requisite to those which are to be
used for the public service.
Parri Spinelli worked also in the church of San Bernardo,
a monastery of the monks of Monte Oliveto, where he painted
two chapels, being those immediately within the principal
door, and standing one on each side of it. In that on the
right hand, and which is dedicated to the Holy Trinity, the
master painted a group, representing God the Father, who
supports the body of Christ crucified in his arms; and above
this is the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, surrounded by
a choir of angels. On one of the walls of the same chapel
he also painted figures of saints, in fresco, which are admi-
rably done. The second chapel is dedicated to Our Lady,
and here Spinelli has represented the Nativity of Christ,
wherein are certain women who wash the Divine infant in a
little wooden vessel; and in depicting this circumstance the
artist has pourtrayed the figures with a feminine grace of
action which is charming. There are also numerous shep-
herds in the distance, guarding their flocks: they are clothed
in the rustic habiliments proper to that time, are full of life,
and listen with the utmost attention to the words of the angel,
who is commanding them to repair to Nazareth. On the
opposite wall is the Adoration of the Magi; and here are de-
picted carriages of various kinds, with camels, giraffes, and
all the camp and followers of those three kings; the latter,
reverently offering their treasures, adore the infant Christ,