illing himself after being overtaken by
some horsemen that are most beautifully painted there. And in the
recesses of the lunettes, also, are some little scenes very well
finished.

The excellence of this work was the reason that Domenico was recognized
as a rare painter by those who were then governing, and was commissioned
to paint the vaulting of a hall in the Palace of the Signori, to which
he devoted all the diligence, study, and effort of which any man is
capable, in order to prove his worth and to adorn that celebrated
building of his native city, which was honouring him so much. This hall,
which is two squares long and one square wide, has the ceiling made not
with lunettes, but after the manner of a groined vaulting; wherefore
Domenico executed the compartments in painting, thinking that this would
give the best result, with friezes and cornices overlaid with gold, and
all so beautifully, that, without any stucco-work or other ornaments,
they are so well painted and so graceful that they appear to be really
in relief. On each of the two ends of this hall there is a large picture
with an historical scene, and on each main wall there are two, one on
either side of an octagon; and thus the pictures are six and the
octagons two, and in each of the latter is a scene. At each corner of
the vaulting, where the rib is, there is drawn a round compartment,
which extends half on one wall and half on the other, so that these
compartments, being divided by the ribs of the vaulting, form eight
spaces, in each of which are large seated figures, representing
distinguished men who have defended their Republic and have observed her
laws. The highest part of the surface of the vaulting is divided into
three parts, in such a manner as to form a circular compartment in the
centre, immediately above the octagons, and two square compartments over
those on the walls.

In one of the octagons, then, is a woman with some children round her,
who holds a heart in her hand, representing the love that men owe to
their country. In the other octagon is another woman, with an equal
number of children, as a symbol of civic concord. And these are one on
either side of a Justice that is in the circle, with the sword and
scales in her hands, and seen from below in such bold foreshortening
that it is a marvel, for at the feet she is dark both in drawing and in
colour, and about the knees she becomes lighter, and so continues little
by little towar