o the Emperor Diocletian, and being made General of the
armies that were to march against the Christians; and also Christ
appearing to him as he is riding, showing him a white Cross and
commanding the Saint not to persecute Him. In another story there is
seen the Angel of the Lord giving to that Saint, who is riding, the
banner of the Faith with the white Cross on a field of red, which has
been ever since the ensign of the Pisans, by reason of S. Epiro having
prayed to God that He should give him a standard to bear against His
enemies. Beside this story there is seen another, wherein, a fierce
battle being contested between the Saint and the pagans, many angels in
armour are combating to the end that he may be victorious. Here Spinello
wrought many things worthy of consideration for those times, when the
art had as yet neither strength nor any good method of expressing
vividly with colour the conceptions of the mind; and such, among the
many other things that are there, were two soldiers, who, having gripped
each other by the beard with one hand, are seeking with their naked
swords, which they have in the other hand, to rob each other of life,
showing in their faces and in all the movements of their members the
desire that each has to come out victorious, and how fearless and fiery
of soul they are, and how courageous beyond all belief. And so, too,
among those who are combating on horseback, that knight is very well
painted who is pinning to the ground with his lance the head of his
enemy, whom he has hurled backwards from his horse, all dismayed.
Another story shows the same Saint when he is presented to the Emperor
Diocletian, who examines him with regard to the Faith, and afterwards
causes him to be put to the torture, and to be placed in a furnace,
wherein he remains unscathed, while the ministers of torture, who are
showing great readiness there on every side, are burnt in his stead. And
in short, all the other actions of that Saint are there, up to his
beheading, after which his soul is borne to Heaven; and, for the last,
we see the bones and relics of S. Petito being borne from Alexandria to
Pisa. This whole work, both in colouring and in invention, is the most
beautiful, the most finished, and the best executed that Spinello made,
a circumstance which can be recognized from this, that it is so well
preserved as to make everyone who sees it to-day marvel at its
freshness.

Having finished this work in the Campo