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turies under the care of the descendants of that person. In the eleventh century one Michele dei Dagomari, pro ceeding with a hand of followers from Prato to the Holy Land, became enamoured of the daughter of the priest who possessed the relic, and obtained at once that sacred trea sure and a bride. He shipped both on board of a vessel which happily reached the shores of Italy, and by a very bold geographical error of Agnolo’s, he landed safely at Prato, where he lived for years, preserving with jealous care the holy girdle which had been the dowry of his wife. The relic was kept in a box beneath his bed, and it was frequently remarked by Michele’s domestics that two angels invariably removed him from his bed in the night and left him prostrate on the floor. Yet such was Michele’s reverence for the girdle and his anxiety lest it should be stolen, that he submitted to this nightly inconvenience patiently till the close of his days. Then, however, feeling his end approach, he sent for the priest of the church of Prato, gave him the girdle, on condition that it should be preserved in his na tive city, and it was carried with all honour to a fit place in the cathedral. The relic was transferred to the chapel of the Sacro Cingolo in 1395. 1 The subjects derived by Agnolo from tbis legend are painted in tbe end of one of the transepts to the right of the principal entrance. In the lunette is the marriage of Michele dei Dagomari and the transfer to him of the girdle. In the next lower course, the happy pair has arrived and landed at Prato; and the miracle of the angels raising Michele out of bed is repre sented. In the lowest course the death of Michele and the procession of the relic are depicted. In the last remain ing lunette, Agnolo further depicted the Saviour in the act of benediction; in the vault of the entrance the twelve apostles in medallions; in the diagonals of the first transept the four doctors of the church, and in that of the second transept the four evangelists. Judgment, talent and originality were expended by Ag nolo on this double series of paintings. The fresco of the expulsion is divided into three distinct groups each of which is well bound to the other, and cleverly arranged in the space. Giotto’s maxims evidently guided Agnolo in this, and the composition is more perfect in balance and therefore more pleasing than any of Taddeo’s. The 1 As appears from a modern inscription in the cathedral.