SANTA MARIA NOVELLA. 
455 
attached to it, divided the church in half, and separated the 
male from the female worshippers.1 By order of Cosimo I., 
Vasari destroyed this screen, and added the chapels along 
the aisles. The so-called Italian-Gothic style of the interior of 
Santa Maria Novella is not correct according to architectural 
rules, but is nevertheless extremely beautiful. 
On either side of the central door are frescoes, transferred 
to their present position from the former screen. That to the 
right, facing the spectator, is an early Florentine representation 
of the Annunciation. Beneath, in three compartments, are 
the Nativity, the Baptism of our Lord, and the Adoration of 
the Magi. The fresco to the left is a very remarkable painting 
by Masaccio (1401-1428). The subject is the Holy Trinity, 
but it has been much injured. The Saviour on the Cross is 
supported in the arms of the Eternal, who is seen beneath an 
arch resting on Ionic columns and pilasters; the dove hovers 
over the head of the Saviour. The Virgin, who is represented 
advanced in life, points to her Son; St. John, on the other 
side, stands with his hands clasped; in front is the donor, in a 
red cap and Florentine mantle, and his wife dressed in black. 
The expression of these four heads, and the arrangement of 
their drapery, which falls in large folds, is very grand. 
Above the central door is a large wooden Crucifix, attributed 
to Giotto (1266-1336) and his pupil Puccio Capanna, but 
Giotto is in reality supposed to have had very little, if any, 
hand in it. Below is a mosaic representing the Holy Family 
in the Stable of Bethlehem; above the Crucifix is the rose- 
window of stained glass, which has a Coronation of the Virgin, 
surrounded by a garland of angels. 
The late Mr. Charles Heath Wilson, who devoted some time 
to the study of the painted glass windows in Florence, considered 
this rose window as one of the wonders of the world for its 
•This is still to be seen in the Church of San Zenone at Verona, where 
the ascent to the choir is by a numerous flight of steps. 
See Crowe and Cavalcaselle, vol. i. p. 543.