Looking at this production as a whole, one sees that the original source from which its peculiarities are derived is that of Piero della Francesca; but it is evident also that Della Gatta instead of improving has sunk irrevocably into the common; that he has exchanged the gentleness of the first period for some of the vehemence of Signorelli, without gaining anything in strength. Other panels in the Pieve of S. Giuliano at Castel Fiorentino illustrate this change, and give a further insight into Don Bartolommeo’s character. In the sacristy, a female of noble family is represented with an infant in arms, kneeling before an erect archangel Michael who tramples on the dragon. Grotesque and affected as the Saint appears, his shape and air still remind one of Signorelli, whilst the head of the lady is Peruginesque in form. 1 But the handling of this and of two other pictures in the same edifice already points to the decline of Don Bartolommeo’s powers. 2 At times he more exclusively reproduces the exaggerated force of his self-elected model Luca, as one sees in the S. Francis receiving the Stigmata, which stands on an altar in the right transept of S. Francesco of Castiglione Fiorentino, and in a wasted S. Jerom penitent, a fresco now in the chapter-house of the episcopal palace at Arezzo. In both he has chosen a rugged landscape as the scene of the action, studying from nature, one should think, a nook in the rocky and wooded wilderness, which still exists in the neighbourhood of the monasteries of Vall- ombrosa and La Vernia. The figures, however, only reveal 1 A scutcheon at the feet of the female hears the arms of the Vis conti; and the annotators of Vas. (last edition) state that the lady is Teodora Visconti. A scroll on the picture contains the words: “Laurentia fecit fieri.” S. Michael, in armour, wears a white jacket over his breastplate. He gives a benediction with his left hand. The colour is lighter than inprevious ex am pies, and the execution is feebler. Vasari mentions the panel (V. 48). 2 l.In sacristy a Virgin of Mercy; 2. in the church, on the second al tar to the right as you enter, a Virgin and child and angels, and in front SS. Stephen and Bartho lomew. The first of these is much damaged, the second is all re painted, but is still reminiscent of Don B. and shows a mixture of Peruginesque elements, with the more usual ones of his later style.
