Those on the altar wall are now covered by angels bearing the
instruments of the Passion of Christ, parts of the great fresco of the
Last Judgment, finished by Michael Angelo thirty years afterwards. At
Oxford there are two drawings after these two destroyed frescoes of the
Ancestors of Christ series. Fourthly, at the four corners the four great
Deliverances of the Chosen People, emblems of the Redemption; fifthly,
below, between the windows, a row of the figures of the Popes by Sandro
Botticelli and others; these are still in existence, except the three that
were on the wall of the high altar, now occupied by the Last Judgment.
They were the earliest of the Popes, St. Peter probably in the centre.
Lastly, below again, the great series of frescoes of the History of Christ
and the History of Moses by Sandro Botticelli, Domenico del Ghirlandaio,
Cosimo Rosselli, Pietro Perugino, Bernardino Pintoricchio, Luca
Signorelli, and Bartolomeo della Gatta. This splendid series forms a
worthy predella to the epic work of Michael Angelo above; that they are
worthy the one of the other is the highest compliment that can be paid to
either. These stories well repay prolonged study, and help to keep our
mind fresh to enjoy the idea of the advance Michael Angelo made in the art
of painting. It is very instructive to compare his work with these
frescoes of men who were almost his contemporaries. Above the altar three
of this series were destroyed to make way for the Last Judgment; they were
all three by Perugino, and represented the Assumption of the Virgin in the
centre, the Nativity on the right, and the finding of Moses on the left.
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