Chap. III. PIETRO CAVALLINI. Ill character from the paintings and mosaics of Rome. The Virgin sits on the right of an interior on a cushioned bench. Before her is the bending figure of the angel with a vase of lilies in front and traces of a kneeling person behind him. Above was no doubt the Eternal sending the dove of the Holy Ghost; whose ray alone may now be seen illuminating the Virgin’s forehead. This much damaged and repainted fresco might have been executed by a painter of the fourteenth century. The movement may even be said to display something in the intention that recals Angelico, though the work is possibly of an earlier period. The stature and forms of the figures are not without elegance; but the half closed eyes, the small mouth and chin, and the absence of all feeling betray a very inferior artist. 1 The miraculous annunciation of the S.S. Annunziata at the Servi of Florence is a repe tition of the fresco of S. Mark and seldom visible to profane eyes. 2 Hence the absence of an opinion upon it may be pardoned. A third annunciation at S. Basilio which doubtless perished in the demolition of that church (AD. 1785) completes the series of paintings at Florence to which Vasari alludes. Continuing his jour ney through Italy, adds Vasari, Cavallini painted in the north transept of the lower church of San Francesco at Assisi a crucifixion and other incidents of the Passion of the Saviour. 3 These are still in existence, but the bio grapher seems to have confounded Pietro Cavallini with Pietro Lorenzetti. The character of the painting is not Giottesque, either in distribution or in composition, or in 1 Not the slightest resemblance | rence was that the Virgin’s face can be traced in this annuneia- was painted by an angel. tion to those in the church of 3 Vas. Vol. II. p. 82. Richa, S. Maria in Trastevere at Rome. Chiese. Vol. I. p. 292. quotes I Ualdinueci who assigns to Pietro 2 Vas. Vol. II. p. 85. See also 1 Cavallini a fourth annunciate in Richa Chiese.Florentine. Folio. | Virgin preserved in the church Flor. 1754. Vol. VIII. p. 89, a 1 of Orbatello at Florence. Vas. chapter on this annunciation with I Vol. II. p. 83—4. He adds, the a supposed criticism by Michael I altarpiece bears the date of 1485, Angelo. The tradition at Flo-(which destroys the whole theory
