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374 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART. Chap. XHI. If the figures in the ceilings be considered attentively, it will be seen that they are marked by weakness of features', length and slenderness of shape, a peculiarly close fit of costume, and a certain affected bend of body. They lack the masculine force, the broad and decisive mass of light and shade wdiich characterize the certain works of Taddeo Gaddi; whilst in the study of extremities, and in details of outline, more care was bestowed by the painter than is common in the works of Giotto’s first pupil. As regards colour, the boldness of hand which one might expect is less marked than a soft clear and careful manipulation. The compositions, which are Giot- tesque and may possibly have been those of Taddeo Gaddi, are evidently executed by another hand. Antonio Veniziano probably painted the Navicella, the resurrection and the descent of the Holy Spirit; —another pupil, the ascension, which is the lowest of the series in merit. 1 There is, indeed, in the figure of the Redeemer in the ascension, some points of resemblance -with that of the Saviour in limbo, in the crucifixion on the North wall of the chapel assigned by Vasari to Simone Martini. In the West face, assigned to Gaddi, the slender frames and close served figure. In the pinnacle stands a figure with her hand on her breast. Boethius pensive, leans his head on his hand and his arm on his knee. In the pinnacle, a child is held up by a female. Speculative theology holds a disk in which a figure with two heads is depicted. Peter Lombard, beneath, rests his two hands on the edge of a book. In both figu res the heads are preserved and the dress repainted. In the pin nacle a female gives alms to an aged man. Canon law holds in one hand a model of a church, in the other a wand; the back ground is repainted. In the pin nacle, a man points with one hand to money which lies in the palm of the other. The Pope gives the benediction, and holds the keys of S. Peter in his left. Civil law is a fine figure with the terrestrial globe in its left and a drawn sword held horizontally in its right. The head is preserved and the dress repainted. Justinian with a book and staff, in profile, is all repainted. In the pinnacle a woman, of grievous aspect, wrings her hands. Most of the nimbuses are removed by the repainting of the background. According to Richa (Chiese, &e. Vol. III. p. 88), these frescos were restored in his time by Agostini Veracini; but they had been retouched before, as the three hands of Cicero puzzle the ingenuity of the Abate Me- catti, who wrote in 1737. 1 See further the life of Antonio Veniziano.j
