eaven by angels, while that of the guilty
one is roughly dragged down by devils to hell. Simone has also shown
originality and judgment in the disposition and bitter weeping of
some angels about the cross. But most remarkable of all is the way in
which the spirits cleave the air with their shoulders, because they
maintain the movement of their flight while turning in a circle. This
work would supply much clearer evidence of Simone's excellence if, in
addition to the ravages of time, it had not been further damaged in
the year 1560, through the fathers who, not being able to use the
chapter-house on account of the damp, and throwing down the little
that remained of the paintings of this man, in replacing a worm-eaten
floor by vaulting. About the same time Simone painted in tempera on a
panel Our Lady and a St Luke with other saints, which is to-day in
the chapel of the Gondi in S. Maria Novella, signed with his name.
Simone afterwards did three sides of the chapter-house of S. Maria
Novella very successfully. On the first, that over the entrance door,
he did the life of St Domenic; on the next one towards the church he
represented the religious and order of that saint fighting against
the heretics, who are represented by wolves attacking some sheep,
these being defended by a number of dogs, spotted white and black,
the wolves being repulsed and slain. There are also some heretics who
have been convinced in the disputes and are tearing up their books,
and, having repented, they confess, and their souls pass to the gate
of Paradise, in which are many small figures doing various things. In
heaven is seen the glory of the saints and Jesus Christ. In the world
below the pleasures and delights are represented by human figures,
especially some ladies, seated among whom is Petrarch's Laura drawn
from life, clothed in green, with a small flame of fire between her
breast and her throat. There also is the Church of Christ, guarding
which are the Pope, the Emperor, the King, Cardinals, Bishops, and
all the Christian Princes, among them, beside a knight of Rhodes, M.
Francesco Petrarch, also drawn from life, which Simone did in order
to keep green the memory of the man who had made him immortal. For
the Church Universal he made the church of S. Maria del Fiore, not as
it stands to-day, but as he had taken it from the model and design
left by the architect Arnolfo in the Opera, as a guide to those who
were to continue the building aft