6. The Sacrifice of Abel.
7. Another woman, seated, with a child.
A great procession runs all round these, composed of men and women of all ages, shown in half-length, representing
The Children of Israel seeking the Promised Land.
All these designs were the work of Domenico di Jacopo di Pace Beccafumi, called Il Mecharino, and we read in Alfonso Landi’s Descrizione del Pavimento and in the notes of Abate Faluschi[118] that they were executed between the years 1544 and 1546. The writers refer to (as their authority) the Libro Giallo dell’ Assunta of the Cathedral Archives, and state that the artist received 8,004 lire 19 c. for his work. The subjects chosen fitly complete the general scheme of the floor, surrounding, as they do, the Altar, with symbolical imagery from the Old Testament. The repentant Adam and Eve, the three Typical Sacrifices, Prophets, Virtues, the Guardian Angel, and around the whole a host of believers hastening to the Promised Land. Some of the drawing is very beautiful and extremely decorative, notably the frieze. The beautiful figure of Eve, indeed, has been even attributed to Giovanni Antonio Bazzi (Il Sodoma), who is known to have received a commission to make at least one design for this floor.[119] This, however, is wholly uncertain, and cannot now be verified. The workmen employed here, and the sums they received respectively, we learn from the above sources and from Milanesi.[120] They were Bernardino di Giacomo, who received for his labour 475 scudi, and Pellegrino di Pietro, 151 sc., 1. 4. These men were probably masons in the regular employ of the Cathedral, for Bernardino, at least, seems to have been employed on all the work done at this time.
Descending three steps we come to Domenico del Coro’s design of David, to which we have had occasion to refer already more than once.
David as King and Psalmist, and David and Goliath.
In a circular panel, David, as King, sits on a throne with a sort of zither on his knee, while, with his right hand, he points to an open book of Psalms, propped upon a lectern by his side. Around him stand four courtiers holding each a primitive musical instrument:—a small organ, a tambourine, a mandoline, and a viol. The whole picture is surrounded by a graceful cornice of leaves. On either side of the central picture, in a lozenge-shaped space, is a single figure; on the one side is the youth David slinging his stone, and upon the other the giant Goliath falling backwards. It is curious that Goliath has a hole in his forehead, although the stone has not reached him; while, at the same time, the stone is both still in David’s sling and in the air above Goliath. The figures in the central composition are fine, but much altered by restoration. Those of David and Goliath are more original, and have probably suffered less. These designs are undoubtedly the work of Domenico del Coro, executed during the Rectorship of Bartolommeo Cecchi: and the cornice and frieze work around them is that of Agostino da Niccolo, for we read special notice of this fact in a memorandum of payment to the latter, dated June 6th, 1423.[121]
Below another step we come to the largest and most pretentious of Beccafumi’s designs.