ey left it unfinished from fear of plague, and it was
afterwards completed by Luca da Cortona,[3] a disciple of Piero, as will
be told in the proper place.

Going from Loreto to Arezzo, Piero painted for Luigi Bacci, a citizen of
Arezzo, the Chapel of the High-altar of S. Francesco, belonging to that
family, the vaulting of which had been already begun by Lorenzo di
Bicci. In this work there are Stories of the Cross, from that wherein
the sons of Adam are burying him and placing under his tongue the seed
of the tree from which there came the wood for the said Cross, down to
the Exaltation of the Cross itself performed by the Emperor Heraclius,
who, walking barefoot and carrying it on his shoulder, is entering with
it into Jerusalem. Here there are many beautiful conceptions and
attitudes worthy to be extolled; such as, for example, the garments of
the women of the Queen of Sheba, executed in a sweet and novel manner;
many most lifelike portraits from nature of ancient persons; a row of
Corinthian columns, divinely well proportioned; and a peasant who,
leaning with his hands on his spade, stands listening to the words of S.
Helena--while the three Crosses are being disinterred--with so great
attention, that it would not be possible to improve it. Very well
wrought, also, is the dead body that is restored to life at the touch of
the Cross, together with the joy of S. Helena and the marvelling of the
bystanders, who are kneeling in adoration. But above every other
consideration, whether of imagination or of art, is his painting of
Night, with an angel in foreshortening who is flying with his head
downwards, bringing the sign of victory to Constantine, who is sleeping
in a pavilion, guarded by a chamberlain and some men-at-arms who are
seen dimly through the darkness of the night; and with his own light the
angel illuminates the pavilion, the men-at-arms, and all the
surroundings. This is done with very great thought, for Piero gives us
to know in this darkness how important it is to copy things as they are
and to ever take them from the true model; which he did so well that he
enabled the moderns to attain, by following him, to that supreme
perfection wherein art is seen in our own time. In this same story he
represented most successfully in a battle fear, animosity, dexterity,
vehemence, and all the other emotions that can be imagined in men who
are fighting, and likewise all the incidents of battle, together with an
almo