heavy, but it must
nevertheless be ranked high on account of the composition, and the fine
drawing and modelling of the foreground figures.

[Illustration: [_Santo Spirito, Urbino_

THE CRUCIFIXION]

To the following year, 1487, belong the series of eight frescoes painted
by Signorelli in the cloister of the Benedictine Monastery of Monte
Oliveto. Vasari writes: "At Chiusuri, near Siena, the principal
habitation of the monks of Monte Oliveto, he painted on one side of the
cloister eleven scenes of the life and work of S. Benedict."[56] Vasari
has mistaken the number of the paintings, for there were never more than
nine, even supposing the last, of which only a slight fragment remains,
to have been by him. To me it seems doubtful, but the fragments are in
so ruined a state, the fresco having been almost entirely cut away in
the enlarging of the doorway, that certainty one way or the other is
hardly possible. The remaining eight are for the most part in a
deplorable condition, both from the damage of time and neglect, and also
from repainting, the lower part of the foreground in all of them being
completely lost, and smeared over with a surface of thick green. The
paintings are very unequal, some being comparatively poor, while the two
last are exceedingly fine. The story begins in the middle of the Saint's
life. The first scene shows "How God punished Florenzo," a wicked rival
abbot, who had tried to poison S. Benedict, and to lead his monks
astray. In the background four grotesque devils are tearing down the
walls of his convent, with extraordinary energy of action, and three
others bear away the soul of the monk, whose body may be seen crushed
beneath the ruins. In the foreground the Saint listens to the tale, told
by a kneeling brother.

The scene is conceived in a spirit somewhat trivial for Signorelli, and
has but little of his usual stately strength. The composition is too
much crowded on one side, and, as far as can be judged from the state of
the fresco, the draperies of the monks are mechanically treated. The
parts most worthy of praise seem to be the vivacity of the devils, and
the effect of spacious distance, but it is in so damaged a condition
that it would be unfair to be over-critical.

The next is in an even worse condition. It illustrates "How S. Benedict
converted the inhabitants of Monte Cassino," to whom, supported by two
monks, he preaches in the foreground. In the middle distance others pull
d