f to God, despairing of His
mercy; when, the above-named Saint praying for him on her knees, her
prayers were so acceptable to the goodness of God, that, when the
felon's head was cut off, his soul was seen ascending to Heaven; such
power with the mercy of God have the prayers of those saintly persons
who are in His grace. In this scene is a very great number of figures,
as to which no one should marvel if they are not of the highest
perfection, for the reason that I have heard as a fact that Giovanni
Antonio had sunk to such a pitch in his negligence and slothfulness,
that he would make neither designs nor cartoons when he had any work
of that kind to execute, but would attack the work by designing it
with the brush directly on the plaster, which was a strange thing; in
which method it is evident that this scene was executed by him. The
same master also painted the arch in front of that chapel, making
therein a God the Father. The other scenes in that chapel were not
finished by him, partly from his own fault, he not choosing to work
save by caprice, and partly because he had not been paid by him who
was having the chapel painted. Below this is a God the Father, who has
beneath Him a Virgin in the ancient manner, on panel, with S. Dominic,
S. Gismondo, S. Sebastian, and S. Catharine.

[Illustration: THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI

(_After the painting by =Giovanni Antonio Bazzi [Il Sodoma]=. Siena: S.
Agostino_)

_Alinari_]

For S. Agostino, in an altar-piece that is on the right hand at the
entrance into the church, he painted the Adoration of the Magi, which
was held to be, and is, a good work, for the reason that, besides the
Madonna, which is much extolled, the first of the three Magi, and
certain horses, there is a head of a shepherd between two trees which
has all the appearance of life. Over a gate of the city, called the
Porta di S. Viene, he painted in fresco, in a large tabernacle, the
Nativity of Jesus Christ, with some Angels in the air; and on the arch
of that gate a child in foreshortening, very beautiful and in strong
relief, which is intended to signify that the Word has been made
Flesh. In this work Sodoma made a portrait of himself, with a beard,
being now old, and with a brush in his hand, which is pointing to a
scroll that says "Feci."

He painted likewise in fresco the Chapel of the Commune at the foot of
the Palace, in the Piazza, representing there Our Lady with the Child
in her arms, upheld by