On examining the figures I found them more heavily
constructed than Tabachetti's are, with smaller holes for taking out
superfluous clay, and more finished on the off-sides. Marocco says
the sculptor is not known. I looked in vain for any date or
signature. Possibly the right-hand figures (for the left-hand ones
can hardly be by the same hand) may be by some sculptor from Crea,
which is at no very great distance from Oropa, who was penetrated by
Tabachetti's influence; but whether as regards action and concert
with one another, or as regards excellence in detail, I do not see
how anything can be more realistic, and yet more harmoniously
composed. The placing of the musicians in a minstrels' gallery
helps the effect; these musicians are six in number, and the other
figures are twenty-three. Under the table, between Christ and the
giver of the feast, there is a cat.
The fourteenth chapel, the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, is without
interest.
The fifteenth, the Coronation of the Virgin, contains forty-six
angels, twenty-six cherubs, fifty-six saints, the Holy Trinity, the
Madonna herself, and twenty-four innocents, making 156 statues in
all.
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