they usually win fame and riches for themselves. This was the
case with Ambruogio Lorenzetti, painter of Siena, whose powers of
invention were fine and prolific, and who excelled in the arrangement
and disposition of the figures in his subjects. Evidence of this may
be seen at the Friars Minors at Siena in a very gracefully painted
scene by him in the cloister. Here he represented the manner in which
a youth becomes a friar, and how he and some others go to the Soldan,
and are there beaten and sentenced to the gallows, hung to a tree,
and finally beheaded, during the progress of a fearful tempest. In
this painting he has very admirably and skilfully depicted the
disturbance of the and the fury of the rain and wind, by the efforts
of the figures. From these modern masters have learned originally how
to treat such a scene, for which reason the artist deserves the
highest commendation. Ambruogio was a skilful colourist in fresco,
and he exhibited great address and dexterity in his treatment of
colours in tempera, as may still be seen in the pictures which he
completed at Siena in the hospital called Mona Agnesa, in which he
painted and finished a scene with new and beautiful composition. On
the front of the great hospital he did in fresco the Nativity of Our
Lady, and when she goes among the virgins to the temple. For the
friars of St Augustine in that city he did the chapterhouse, on the
vault of which are represented the Apostles holding scrolls
containing that part of the Credo which each of them made. At the
foot of each is a small scene representing the meaning of the writing
above. On the principal wall are three scenes of the life of St
Catherine the Martyr, representing her dispute with the tyrant in the
temple, and in the middle is the Passion of Christ with the thieves
on the Cross and the Maries below, supporting the Virgin, who has
fallen down. These things were finished by Ambruogio with
considerable grace, and in a good style. He also depicted in the
great hall of the palace of the Signoria at Siena the war of
Asinalunga, the peace following, and the events which then took
place, comprising a map, perfect for the time. In the same palace he
did eight scenes in _terra verde_ very smoothly. It is said that he
also sent to Volterra a picture in tempera, which was much admired in
that city; and at Massa, in conjunction with others, he did a chapel
in fresco and a picture in tempera, showing the excellence of his