he envy of certain malignant spirits to
depart and to leave that most honourable enterprise without carrying it
on further.

[Illustration: THE MIRACLE OF THE TRUE CROSS

(_After the panel by =Gentile Bellini=. Venice: Accademia, 568_)

_Anderson_]

Now Gentile, either because he had more experience and greater skill in
painting on canvas than in fresco, or for some other reason, whatever it
may have been, contrived without difficulty to obtain leave to
execute that work not in fresco but on canvas. And thus, setting to
work, in the first scene he made the Pope presenting a wax candle to the
Doge, that he might bear it in the solemn processions which were to take
place; in which picture Gentile painted the whole exterior of S. Marco,
and made the said Pope standing in his pontifical robes, with many
prelates behind him, and the Doge likewise standing, accompanied by many
Senators. In another part he represented the Emperor Barbarossa; first,
when he is receiving the Venetian envoys in friendly fashion, and then,
when he is preparing for war, in great disdain; in which scene are very
beautiful perspectives, with innumerable portraits from the life,
executed with very good grace and amid a vast number of figures. In the
following scene he painted the Pope exhorting the Doge and the Signori
of Venice to equip thirty galleys at their common expense, to go out to
battle against Frederick Barbarossa. This Pope is seated in his rochet
on the pontifical chair, with the Doge beside him and many Senators at
his feet. In this part, also, Gentile painted the Piazza and the facade
of S. Marco, and the sea, but in another manner, with so great a
multitude of men that it is truly a marvel. Then in another part the
same Pope, standing in his pontifical robes, is giving his benediction
to the Doge, who appears to be setting out for the fray, armed, and with
many soldiers at his back; behind the Doge are seen innumerable noblemen
in a long procession, and in the same part are the Palace and S. Marco,
drawn in perspective. This is one of the best works that there are to be
seen by the hand of Gentile, although there appears to be more invention
in that other which represents a naval battle, because it contains an
infinite number of galleys fighting together and an incredible multitude
of men, and because, in short, he showed clearly therein that he had no
less knowledge of naval warfare than of his own art of painting. And
indeed, all