5G2 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART. Chap. XXVII. their vows. It might, however, be natural to expect two things at Foligno, if Fra Giovanni had been there: first that his master or masters should have left some trace of his or their labours, next, that some works of Giovanni himself should exist there. In reply to the first question it may be said that miniaturists need not of necessity leave traces of their works. The sequel may show whe ther it was possible for Giovanni to have been taught by miniaturists. As for the second question, it is speedily answered. Not a single work by Fra Giovanni either on panel or on the wall is to be found in Foligno or its neighbourhood. The influence of his school is evident in the neighbouring place of Montefalco, where Benozzo Gozzoli left a great example of his powers, and in the works of Pietro Antonio da Foligno better known as Mesastris, who left a name at the close of the fifteenth century by following Benozzo’s manner. 1 But all this is independent of Giovanni’s early career; and it may be safer to assume that his first years of monastic life were spent at Cortona. 2 Here miniaturists may have existed, although, as before remarked, Fra Giovanni could have learnt but little from them; but, otherwise, no painters and no school capable of giving instruction. Every thing therefore tends to confirm the belief that Fra Giovanni was already an artist when he joined the Dominicans. His works at Cortona which are numerous, and were still more so, have the freshness of youth, insofar as can be judged from the masterpieces of one who [preserved freshness to the last; and but one fresco remains there which appears to have been executed at a late period. This is in a lunette outside the portal of the church of 1 S. Thomas receiving the girdle from the Virgin (not, as Marehese supposes, an annunciation), a pic ture from S. Francesco of Monte falco, now in the Museum of S. Giov. Laterano at Rome, was long assigned to Angelico, but is now admitted to be by Renozzo Gozzoli. * Yet Padre Marehese insists (Vol. I. p. 212) that Fra Giovanni painted at Foligno. He can only mention as of that time an altar- piece in S. Domenico of Perugia, see postea and says, he cannot state that Angelico painted any thing for the convent at Foligno, or for others of Umbria. Vol. I. p. 217.
