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140 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART. Chap. IV. The morta remains of that saint had originally (1221) been confined in a wooden bier, from which they were removed with considerable pomp, twelve years later, in presence of the archbishop of Eavenna and the magistrates of Bologna (May 23- 1233 1 ). Inclosed on this occasion in a simple urn of stone, they remained sealed until the completion of a marble sepulchre whose execution was entrusted to Niccola and Fra Guglielmo. The former, however, being bound by his contract at Sienna, can scarce ly have contributed more than the designs and composition of reliefs which were only completed in 1267. This work by Guglielmo comprised several incidents of the life of S. Dominick and his disciples on the sides of a quadrangular tomb. 2 In one of the fronts, the saint res tores to life the youth Napoleon; in the second the books of his doctrine are saved from the fire which consumed those of the manicheans of Languedoc, and between the two, a statuette of the Virgin and child. On the opposite front, three scenes of the life of the beato 'Reginald of Or leans — S. Dominick appearing in a dream to Pope Ho- norius the Third and supporting the falling church. Honorius examining and granting the rules of the order. On the short sides, S. Dominick receives the gospels from S. Peter and S. Paul, entrusts the same to his disciples; and angels bring food to the followers of the nascent brotherhood of the order. At the four angles are four doctors of the church. Fra Guglielmo in the execution of these subjects pre served, but enfeebled, the style of Niccola, — imparted to the figures but little character, expression, or design, — overcharged the draperies and crowded the groups. The tomb, as a monument of the time, was however no contemp tible proof of the extension of the influence of Niccola, who on the occasion of the transfer of the remains of S. Dominick succeeded in obtaining leave to be present at the ceremony. Guglielmo as a brother of the order naturally expected and received no pecuniary reward for his labour; 1 Padre Marchese. Memorie, &c. 8°. FI or. 1854. Vol. I. p. 70. 2 The tomb was completed with a cover by Maestro Niccola quon dam Antonii, of Apulia in 1469, with statuettes by later artists, and a base by Alfonso Lombardi. (Marchese ub. sup. p. 74—80.)