Chap. XXI. FRESCOS OF THE ALBERTI CHAPEL. 4Z1 of softness. Both are preferable to those of the chapel at Prato. The heads of the saints at the sides of the taber nacle are powerfully delineated, and the style generally indicates a contact with Spinello of Arezzo. In the choir of S. Croce at Florence, Agnolo, at the request of Jacobo degli Alberti, 1 painted in eight frescos the well known legend of the cross, from the moment when the Archangel Michael presents to Seth a branch of the tree of knowledge to that in which the Emperor Heraclius enters Jerusalem. In the first compartment to the right of the entrance, the archangel presents to Seth a branch of the tree of know ledge ; 2 whilst on the foreground Adam lies dead and Seth, in the presence of his relatives, plants the branch upon the tomb. Next appears the Queen of Sheba kneeling with her suite by the pool, at the opposite side of which car penters are at work striving to fashion the wood of the tree. Further on, the wood is sunk in the pool by order of Solomon. In the fourth compartment the Empress Helen kneels with two dames behind her in the midst of her guard, whilst the cross is taken up by three persons, and a sick youth rises in bed healed by its virtue. On the right again, the cross is erected by a number of men in natural motion, before the Empress. On the left side of the choir the subject is continued, the angel appearing to Heraclius being represented in the third fresco. In the fourth, the decapitation of Chosroes is depicted; and Hera clius enters Jerusalem carrying the cross on his shoulders. In the right hand corner of this fresco, near a gate, says Vasari, is a portrait of Agnolo Gaddi painted by himself in a red hood and with a small painted beard, according to the fashion of the time. 3 This figure still exists and may be seen near the Emperor Heraclius in the place mentioned by Vasari. Though a little younger than the likeness given by the Aretine in his lives, the features are the same in both, and the appearance of Agnolo is that of a man of fifty or fifty five. Between the windows of the choir are figures of saints, and above them angels and or naments. In the painted frames of the frescos are lozenges containing personages. In six triangular compartments of 1 Vasari. Vol. II. p. 152, and Richa, Chiese. Vol. I. p. 295. 2 The angel is newly repainted. 3 Vas. Vol. II. p. 159.