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Chap. XIII. CAPPELLONE DEI SPAGNUOLI. 371 painting of the ceiling and left side when the frescos in S. Spirito were exhibited, we should date the incident pre vious to Simone’s journey to Avignon in 1339- 1 Again, if the work had been completed previous to 1339, how could it have been left unfinished in 1355 at the time of Guidalotti’s death? But the doubts which are thus raised by the record of a few facts, acquire consistency from a consideration of the frescos themselves, which the reader, if he pleases, will find described in the following lines: The vast ceiling of the chapel is divided diagonally into four parts, as in most edifices of the time, and is devoted to the rescue of Peter from the waves, the resurrection of Christ, the descent of the Holy Spirit, and the ascension. Of these compositions, the finest is the rescue of Peter which, in the highest degree, combines the great laws of Giottesque composition. It may he said, indeed, to compensate for the loss of the mosaic of the Navicella executed by Giotto for S. Peter’s of Rome. 2 As the subject stands in the Cap- pellone dei Spagnuoli, so Giotto may have originally composed his. The apostles are visible in a tempest tossed vessel whose balloon sail is puffed out by the wind from the horns of two allegorical figures flying at its mouth. The painter here avoided the mistake prominent in the mosaic of Rome, where the symbolical figures of the winds are blowing from opposite sides of the compass, and ought al legorically to mean that the ship is hove to, which it obviously is not. This is a truthful representation of a hark tossed by the winds. The figures on hoard express the various feelings which agitate them. Some are calm, others alarmed; more in an agony of fear. Some of those hauling at the ropes, are in appropriate motion. At the helm is a proud and more confident figure. 3 One holds on to the sides of the bark with great force, and looks to wards the Saviour who treads securely on the waves; — a second sheds tears; — a third prays with joined hands. Here is a composition of the first order, and action vigorously and truthfully expressed. To the right, the Saviour rescues Peter. To the left, a figure angles in the water. 4 1 He then left Italy never to return. 2 That is, its loss by restoring. 3 Yet in a storm the tiller would hardly remain straight without an exertion of great strength. 4 The foreground and sky are repainted, and throughout, the flesh tints are damaged by damp.