1498 . . .
il Conte di (Misocho?)
There are also other dates - 1627, 1633, 1635, 1626; and right
across the fresco there is written in red chalk, in a bold
sixteenth or seventeenth century handwriting -
"Il parlar di li homini da bene deve valer piu che quello degli
altri."
- "The word of a man of substance ought to carry more weight than
that of other people;" and again -
"Non ha la fede ognun come tu chredi;
Non chreder almen [quello?] che non vedi"
- "People are not so worthy of being believed as you think they
are; do not believe anything that you do not see yourself."
Big with our discoveries, we returned towards our inn, Jones
leaving me sketching by the roadside. Presently an elderly English
gentleman of some importance, judging from his manner, came up to
me and entered into conversation. Englishmen do not often visit
Mesocco, and I was rather surprised. "Have you seen that horrid
fresco of St. Christopher down at that church there?" said he,
pointing towards it. I said I had. "It's very bad," said he
decidedly; "it was painted in the year 1725." I had been through
all that myself, and I was a little cross into the bargain, so I
said, "No; the fresco is very good. It is of the fifteenth
century, and the facciata was restored in 1720, not in 1725.
