All these methods, having never been seen before, may yet be perceived in his works, more particularly in the capitular church of Arezzo, on the front of the altar, where are passages from the life of San Donato, as well as in the churches of St. Agnes and St. Nicholas in the same city.[1]
Many of the works which Margaritone produced in his native city were sent to other places ; some of these are at Rome, in the churches of San Giovanni and San Pietro ; some at Pisa, in the church of Santa Caterina, where, on an altar in the transept,[2] is a picture of St. Catherine, with various passages of her life represented by small figures, together with a little picture of St. Francis, also containing many figures representing many passages of his life, on a gold ground. In the upper church of San Francesco d’Assisi is further to be seen a crucifix by this artist, painted in the Greek manner, on a beam which crosses the church,—all of which were highly valued in those days, although no longer esteemed in art, except for their antiquity, and as possessing merit for a period when art had not acquired the elevation to which it has now attained. Margaritone also gave his attention to architecture ; and although I have not specified any of the buildings constructed after his designs, because they are not of importance, yet I will not omit to add, that by what I am able to discover, it was he who gave the design and plans for the palace of the governors in the city of Ancona, built in 1270, after the Greek manner ; and, what is more, the sculptured ornaments of the eight windows in the principal front, are by his hand. These decorations consist of two columns in the middle of each window, supporting two small arches, above which are historical scenes in mezzo-rilievo, which occupy the space from the two little arches to the top of the window. These reliefs represent events of the Old Testament, cut in a sort of stone peculiar to that district. Beneath the
- ↑ These works are lost, with the exception of a small Madonna in St. Agnes.
- ↑ The Italian commentators, Bottari and Della Valle, explain the word “tramezzo,” as here used by Vasari, to mean a beam crossing the church between the choir and the nave ; but this explanation renders many passages unintelligible ; for how are chapels and altars, so frequently described as being “in the tramezzo,” to find place on a beam ? Vasari may have meant the rood-loft by this tramezzo. Schorn translates it the transept : or it may be the screen of the choir.
