hreat of Leonardo
da Vinci to copy the head of Judas, in his celebrated last supper,
from the importunate Prior of S. Maria delle Grazie of Milan. Poor
Leonardo despaired of finding a model for the head of our Saviour; and
for more than a year was seeking the rabble for a fit subject whom he
might represent as Judas: meantime the Prior was continually worrying
him to finish the fresco. "In ogni caso poi" said he to Lodovico
Sforza, "faro capitale del ritratto del P. Priore, che lo merita
per la sua importunita e per la sua poca discrezione". The story of
Leonardo bears some resemblance to the manner in which Michelangelo
punished Biagio da Cesena Pontifical Master of Ceremonies, who
before Daniel of Volterra had acquired his well-known nickname of
_braghettone_ complained to the Pope, that the naked figures of
the last judgment were unworthy of a house of prayer. The artist
introduced his censor in his painting as Minos judge of the infernal
regions, with long ears like those of the other devils, and a
serpent's tail. Paul III when appealed to is said to have answered,
that if his Ceremoniere had been in Purgatory, he might have helped
him out, but out of hell there was no redemption. This Papal witticism
Platner could not find in any writer earlier than Richardson (See
Beschreibung der Stadt Rom) but _se non e vero, e ben trovato_.
Dante was not more scrupulous than Michelangelo about thrusting his
opponents into his _inferno_.

Pictoribus atque poetis
Quidlibet audendi semper fuit aequa potestas.
]

[Footnote 77: The mosaics with which it was adorned by Pope Leo III
are preserved in the great niche adjoining the _scala santa_.]

[Footnote 78: The Portuguese, Spanish and some other churches
are generally distinguished on this day by the brilliancy of the
illumination of their _sepulchres_.]

[Footnote 79: In the eighth century Pope Hadrian I, according to
Anastasius, suspended under the principal or _triumphal_ arch, as it
was called, a silver cross with 1365 or 1380 small lamps, which where
lighted at Easter and other great festivals. This was perhaps the
origin of the cross which used to be suspended in S. Peter's at this
season.]

[Footnote 80: We have already mentioned an ancient Christian fresco in
which an aspergillum is represented.]

[Footnote 81: Formerly, as Card. Borgia has proved (De Cruce Vaticana)
this ceremony was performed in S. Peter's on good Friday. In other
churches there were two