_Garofalo_ (Ferrarese: 1481-1559). _See 81._
This fine picture was originally the principal altar-piece of
the church of San Guglielmo (St. William) at Ferrara. Hence the
introduction of that saint (on our left)--a beautiful face, into which
the artist has put, one may think, all his local piety. The saint
is in armour, for William--the institutor of the hermit order of
Guglielmites--was originally a soldier, and was "given," says one of
his biographers, "unto a licentious manner of living, too common among
persons of that profession." It was to escape from such temptations
that he became a holy penitent, and fought thenceforward in mountain
solitudes, as a soldier of Christ against the flesh and the devil.
Beside him stands St. Clara, "the very ideal of a gray sister, sedate
and sweet, sober, steadfast, and demure." She gazes on a crucifix, for
she too had renounced the pomps and vanities of the world. Her wealth
of golden hair was cut off, it is said, by St. Francis; her fortune she
gave to hospitals, and herself became the foundress of the Order of
"Poor Clares." St. Francis stands on the other side of the throne, and
besides him is "good St. Anthony" (see under 776).