[52] All the emblematic heraldry of the city may be followed on this big doorway. The three patron saints of the city, S. Ercolano (Herculanus), S. Costanzo, and S. Louis of Toulouse stand in the centre. The last of these was the son of Charles II. of Naples, and a great grandson of Louis IX. of France. The Perugians, who were always strong Guelphs, chose him as their patron saint when Robert I. King of Naples, and brother of Louis, took arms against the Ghibellines at Genoa. S. Louis was also the particular patron of the Palace of the Priori. The two lions who support the pillars of the doorway are symbols of the Guelph cause.
[53] It is said that Fiorenzo painted this fresco to commemorate the fact that he had been himself a Priore in 1472.
[54] We would point out that, as far as prisons are concerned, the nineteenth century has certainly improved in cleanliness and decency upon its predecessors. We visited the dungeons in the Via della Gabbia, one bitter winter afternoon, and left them shuddering. The following day we were taken through the wards of the unromantic modern building which stands—a veritable eyesore to the artist—on the southern slope of the city. Civilisation has brought great good in certain things, if not more beauty for humanity. The modern prisons of Perugia are given over to the care of Belgian nuns. There seemed to be a scent of freshest lavender in the long cool rooms where the prisoners sleep and work, and we left them we may almost say with comfort, or, at least, with far happier feelings than those which had saddened us the night before in the gruesome cells of the Palazzo Pubblico.
[55] Fra Bevignate was a Sylvestrian monk. Pascoli says that he died in 1350, at the age of ninety-five, in which case he was but a youth when he designed the fountain.
[56] For full account of the fountain, see Mariotti, “Lettere Pittoriche,” and Gio. Battista Vermiglioli’s admirable work on the subject. The latter is splendidly illustrated.
[57] Some years ago a gentleman of Perugia bought from a grocer in the town for the sum of twenty-five centimes the original drawing of Baroccio’s “Deposition.” (See No. 9, Gabinetto della Torre, Pinacoteca.)
[58] See model in the Museum of the University.
[59] The stone is probably some rare form of agate. It is transparent and takes many lights; the colour is a faint yellowish blue. The people of the place have strange fancies about its colour. Before we had seen it we asked of others what it looked like. “Ah,” answered the small son of the sacristan, “it is white, and it is not white. It has no given colour. It is impossible to describe it, for nothing else is like it.” Goldoni, in his memoirs, gives the following description of it:—“The ring with which St Joseph wedded the Virgin Mary is made of a transparent blue stone, and is a circle of some thickness; thus it appeared to me, but they say that the ring changes its colour and form miraculously, according to the various persons who approach it.”
[60] A picture capable of working miracles.
[61] To those who only search for art, its picture by Perugino will seem the chief attraction. This is, however, a poor bit of the master’s work with many of his later affectations.