that Gentile executed in this work--the crowd of galleys
engaged in battle; the soldiers fighting; the boats duly diminishing in
perspective; the finely ordered combat; the soldiers furiously striving,
defending, and striking; the wounded dying in various manners; the
cleaving of the water by the galleys; the confusion of the waves; and
all the kinds of naval armament--all this vast diversity of subjects,
I say, cannot but serve to prove the great spirit, art, invention, and
judgment of Gentile, each detail being most excellently wrought in
itself, as well as the composition of the whole. In another scene he
made the Doge returning with the victory so much desired, and the Pope
receiving him with open arms, and giving him a ring of gold wherewith to
espouse the sea, as his successors have done and still do every year, as
a sign of the true and perpetual dominion that they deservedly hold over
it. In this part there is Otto, son of Frederick Barbarossa, portrayed
from the life, and kneeling before the Pope; and as behind the Doge
there are many armed soldiers, so behind the Pope there are many
Cardinals and noblemen. In this scene only the poops of the galleys
appear; and on the Admiral's galley is seated a Victory painted to look
like gold, with a crown on her head and a sceptre in her hand.

The scenes that were to occupy the other parts of the Hall were
entrusted to Giovanni, the brother of Gentile; but since the order of
the stories that he painted there is connected with those executed in
great part, but not finished, by Vivarino, it is necessary to say
something of the latter. That part of the Hall which was not done by
Gentile was given partly to Giovanni and partly to the said Vivarino, to
the end that rivalry might induce each man to do his best. Vivarino,
then, putting his hand to the part that belonged to him, painted, beside
the last scene of Gentile, the aforesaid Otto offering to the Pope and
to the Venetians to go to conclude peace between them and his father
Frederick; and, having obtained this, he is dismissed on oath and goes
his way. In this first part, besides other things, which are all worthy
of consideration, Vivarino painted an open temple in beautiful
perspective, with steps and many figures. Before the Pope, who is seated
and surrounded by many Senators, is the said Otto on his knees, binding
himself by an oath. Beside this scene, he painted the arrival of Otto
before his father, who is receivin