18
THE CATHEDRAI..
Three monumental paintings (if they may be so call¬
ed) possess much interest on account of the individuals
whom they commemorate. Near the side entrance door,
on the north wall, is the portrait of Dante, generally,
but erroneously, attributed to Orgagna. The poet is re¬
presented in a long red robe, the countenance grave and
beautiful, the head crowned with laurel: in features and
costume it seems the pattern of the generally adopted idea
of Dante, familiarised to us by Flaxman’s designs. On
the right hand are Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, in
small groups; on the left is Florence, as enclosed within
its turreted circle of walls.
Above the lateral door to the left of the front, or,
west entrance, is the monumental fresco painting of Sir
John Hawkwood. The name of this celebrated knight is
with some difficulty discerned in its Italian version, —such
as Giovanni Aucobedda, Falcon del Bosco, Giovanni Aculo,
or Aculus, the last being here adopted in the inscription
to his memory.
Sir John was the son of a tanner, one Gilbert Hawk-
wood, and born at Sible-Hedingham, in the county of
Essex.
He was first bound,” says Fuller, “to a taylor in
the city of London ; but soon turned his needle into a
sword, and his thimble into a shield, being pressed in
the service of King Edward III. for his French wars,
who rewarded his valour with knighthood........ Great the
gratitude of the State of Florence to this their general
Hawkwood, who, in testimony of his surpassing valour
and singular faithful service to their State, adorned him
with the statue of a man of arms, and sumptuous monu¬
ment, wherein his ashes remain honoured at this present
day. Well it is that monument doth remain: seeing his
cěnotaph, or honorary tomb, which sometime stood in the