hat of the Parable of the Mote and
the Beam. This is an early work, about 1375; it shows two gentlemen
in the costume of the period, arguing in courtly style, one apparently
declaiming to the other how much better it would be for him if
it were not for the mote in his eye, while from the eye of the
speaker himself extends, at an impossible angle, a huge wedge of
wood, longer than his head, from which he appears to suffer no
inconvenience, and which seems to have defied the laws of gravitation!

The renowned Matteo da Siena worked on the pavement; he designed
the scene of the Massacre of the Innocents--it seems to have been
always his favourite subject. He was apparently of a morbid turn.

In 1505 Pinturicchio was paid for a work on the floor: "To master
Bernardino Pinturicchio, ptr., for his labour in making a cartoon
for the design of Fortune, which is now being made in the Cathedral,
on this 13th day of March, 12 Lires for our said Master Alberto."
The mosaic is in red, black, and white, while other coloured marbles
are introduced in the ornamental parts of the design, several of which
have been renewed. Fortune herself has been restored, also, as have
most of the lower figures in the composition. Her precariousness
is well indicated by her action in resting one foot on a ball, and
the other on an unstable little boat which floats, with broken
mast, by the shore. She holds a sail above her head, so that she
is liable to be swayed by varying winds. The three upper figures
are in a better state of preservation than the others.

[Illustration: DETAIL OF PAVEMENT, SIENA; "FORTUNE," BY PINTURICCHIO]

There was also in France some interest in mosaic during the eleventh
century. At St. Remi in Rheims was a celebrated pavement in which
enamels were used as well as marbles. Among the designs which appeared
on this pavement, which must have positively rivalled Siena in its
glory, was a group of the Seven Arts, as well as numerous Biblical
scenes. It is said that certain bits of valuable stone, like jasper,
were exhibited in marble settings, like "precious stones in a ring."
There were other French pavements, of the eleventh century, which
were similar in their construction, in which terra cotta was employed
for the reds.

"Pietra Dura" was a mosaic laid upon either a thick wood or a marble
foundation. Lapis lazuli, malachite, and jasper were used largely,
as well as bloodstones, onyx, and Rosso Antico. In Florentine Pietra