260 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART. . Chap. IX. Piacenza, of which Bartolin seems a native boasts also of relics dating as far back as the close of the fourteenth and rise of the fifteenth century. Such are much repainted figures of saints on the pilasters of the church of S. Antonio, a picture in eight compartments 1 illustrative of the life of S. Anthony, protector of Pia cenza in the sacristy of the same church; two predellas with half length saints 2 in the Archivio Capitolare of S. Antonio, and frescos or rather remnants of the same, in the right transept of the cathedral, representing the Vir gin and child adored by a bishop presented by a fe male saint and S. Lawrence, another female and S. John the Baptist, the whole assigned to the above mentioned Bartolin. Passing from Lombardy to the province of Friuli, the reader of these pages may remember the paintings of Colalto near Conegliano, which are a mixture of the Florentine with the manner of Guariento. Maniago was able to describe early in our century a number of works in Aquileia, Grado, Sesto and Concordia. 3 The facade of the Duomo of Gemona, he adds, was covered with scenes from the legend of S. Christopher inscribed: “MCCCXXXI. Magister Nicolaus pintor me fecit. Hoc opus sub Johne Camerario quondam Petri Merisoni.” 4 They were much damaged, but clearly by the earliest artist on record in those parts. But next in interest to these were the frescos in the parish church of Venzone, celebrating the consecration of that building in 1338- We regret the loss of the wallpaintings by Nicolaus at Gemona, a loss caused by the reconstruction of the church front. But the frescos of Venzone are still in existence. This town is about five miles distant from Gemona, on the road to Tolmezzo. The church is of the * Of the close of the 14 th cen tury. 2 Of the rise of the IS 11 * cen tury, and very rude. 3 Maniago. Storia delle Belle Arti Friulane. 8°Udine 1823. p. 35. 4 Ibid, and Siruti. Notizie di Gemona, p. 119. ap. Maniago.
