sses down along the length of the
nave, and has the high-altar standing isolated at the head and in the
centre. The chapel, then, is supported at the corners by four large
pilasters, which likewise uphold the great cornice that runs right
round, over which curve four semicircular arches that lie in line with
the pilasters. Of these arches, three are adorned in their central space
with windows of no great size; and over the arches curves a round
cornice that forms four angles between one arch and another at the
corners, while above it rises a vaulting in the form of a basin. After
the Frate, then, had made many ornaments of marble about the altar on
all four sides, he placed upon the altar a very rich and beautiful vase
of marble for the most Holy Sacrament, between two Angels of the size of
life, likewise of marble. Next, around the whole runs a pattern of
different kinds of stone let into the marble with a beautiful and
well-varied arrangement of variegated marbles and rare stones, such as
serpentines, porphyries, and jaspers. And in the principal wall, at the
head of the chapel, he made another pattern from the level of the floor
to the height of the altar, with similar kinds of variegated marble and
stone, which forms a base to four pilasters of marble that enclose three
spaces. In the central space, which is larger than the others, there is
in a tomb the body of I know not what Saint, and in those at the sides
are two statues of marble, representing two Evangelists. Above that
range of pilasters is a cornice, and above the cornice four other
smaller pilasters; and these support another cornice, which is divided
into compartments to hold three little tablets that correspond to the
spaces below. In the central compartment, which rests upon the great
cornice, is a Christ of marble rising from the dead, in full-relief, and
larger than life. On the walls at the sides the same order of columns is
repeated; and above that tomb, in the central space, is a Madonna in
half-relief, with the Dead Christ: which Madonna is between King David
and S. John the Baptist; and on the other side are S. Andrew and
Jeremiah the Prophet. The lunettes of the arches above the great
cornice, wherein are two windows, are in stucco-work, with two children
that appear to be adorning the windows. In the angles below the tribune
are four Sibyls, likewise of stucco, even as the whole vaulting is also
wrought in grotesques of various manners. Beneath t