inely draped, the attitude most natural, and the whole figure is
one of the noblest and most sympathetic of all Signorelli's works, and
deserves to be better known. On the other side, and also as supporter of
the "Pieta," stands Faustinus, another patron saint of the city, also a
very beautiful figure, with features which recall the type generally
used by Signorelli for S. John. At his feet lies the millstone with
which he was drowned. On either side, in the thickness of the wall, is a
medallion in _grisaille_, containing the scenes of their deaths, very
powerfully painted.

This recess occupies more than one half of the space below "The
Resurrection," allowing room for only one portrait and two medallions.
The former Luzi has decided to be Lucan, and represents a beautiful
youth, with a mass of loose curling hair crowned with oak-leaves and
acorns. The scenes of the medallions are supposed to be from "The
Phaisalia." In that above three nude men fight with fists, one binds his
prostrate foe, and another bears off a slain body. In that on the right
four men fight with clubs and swords. All are powerful figures, painted
by Signorelli in his most characteristic manner. Below the portrait of
the poet is an inscription of 1667, honouring the memory of Signorelli,
and of Ippolito Scalza, the sculptor of the marble "Pieta."

The frescoes round the beautifully-proportioned entrance portal, being
on an inside wall, are in a state of better preservation than the rest,
and the colours brighter. They represent "The Signs of the Destruction
of the World." For imaginative power they can be compared only with the
woodcuts of Albrecht Duerer's "Apocalypse." To our right on entering, the
"Rain of Fire" shoots in heavy lines from the hands and bodies of demons
with outspread wings. The distraction of the people on whom it falls is
well rendered. In the foreground armed men on horse and foot seek wildly
to escape the shafts, which have already precipitated some to the
ground. In the middle distance the flames pursue a flying mob of
terrified women clutching their infants, and men trying to protect them;
while in the foreground old men, youths, and children, are struck down
in heaps, stopping their ears, and gazing up in panic at the unearthly
apparition.

On the opposite side the sun and moon are eclipsed, and a dark rain of
blood falls from the gloomy sky. An earthquake has shaken the city, and
its buildings totter and fall in fragmen