Chap. XII. CASTAGNO’S ALLEGED CRIME. 307 at Florence, and to have furnished the “opera” with a design of a deposition from the cross for one of the rounds of the cupola. In 1446, he painted some of the panels of the organ of the cathedral, 1 and in 1455 he executed the portrait of Niccolo di Tolentino. 2 This equestrian likeness was to imitate statuary and to represent the military chief in full dress, with the batoon of command, on a sarcophagus resting on brackets against the wall. It has been since transferred to canvass and hangs in the cathedral, where it challenges comparison with Uccelli’s Hawkwood. It is a fine work for the period in which it was produced; being actively in motion, and true to nature; but it reveals in Andrea more vehemence than grandeur or dignity; and the forms of the horse lack the purity which characterizes that of Uccelli. The draperies are sculptural, and the laws of place are duly observed; the drawing is bold and broad, but the forms are heavy and somewhat coarse. 3 Four years previous to this time Andrea del Castagno had been commissioned to execute certain frescos for the hospital of S. Maria Nuova at Florence; 4 and after he had finished a S. Andrew in the cemetery and a Last Supper in the refectory, he began a sei’ies of frescos in the choir of the church; painting in one compartment the angel and the Virgin annunciate, in a second and third, the presentation and death of the Virgin. His rival in S. Maria Nuova was, according to Vasari, Domenico Veniziano, whose creations excited in Andrea such envy and invincible jealousy, that he waylaid the Venetian and murdered him at the corner of a street. 5 Vasari is so certain of Andrea’s guilt, that his narrative is everywhere coloured by undisguised indignation. In a preamble he balances the virtue of those whom generous 1 Ibid. p. 3. 2 See the original commission for this work, without the name of the painter, in Gaye, Car- teggio. ub. sup. Vol. I. p. 562. 3 An armed soldier stands at each corner of the sarcophagus. 4 “La cappella majore (S. M. Nuova, e mezza di Andreino e mezza di Dominico Veneto, benchfe alcune figure dinanzi siano per mano di Alex 0 Hal.” (Baldovinetti). Albertini, Mem. ub. sup. p. 13. 5 Vas. Vol. IV. p. 149. 20*
