The following complete list of the subjects will at once enable the reader to refer any of them to its place in the series, and on the walls of the building; and I have only now to remind him in conclusion, that within those walls the greatest painter and greatest poet of mediaeval Italy held happy companionship during the time when the frescoes were executed.  “It is not difficult,” says the writer already so often quoted, Lord Lindsay, “gazing on these silent but eloquent walls, to repeople them with the group once, as we know, five hundred years ago, assembled within them:  Giotto intent upon his work, his wife Ciuta admiring his progress; and Dante, with abstracted eye, alternately conversing with his friend, and watching the gambols of the children playing on the grass before the door.”

* * * * *

SERIES OF SUBJECTS.

 1.  The Rejection of Joachim’s Offering.
 2.  Joachim retires to the Sheepfold.
 3.  The Angel appears to Anna.
 4.  The Sacrifice of Joachim.
 5.  The Vision of Joachim.
 6.  The Meeting at the Golden Gate.
 7.  The Birth of the Virgin.
 8.  The Presentation of the Virgin.
 9.  The Rods are brought to the High Priest.
10.  The Watching of the Rods.
11.  The Betrothal of the Virgin.
12.  The Virgin returns to her House.
13.  The Angel Gabriel.
14.  The Virgin Annunciate.
15.  The Salutation.
16.  The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds.
17.  The Wise Men’s Offering.
18.  The Presentation in the Temple.
19.  The Flight into Egypt.
20.  The Massacre of the Innocents.
21.  The Young Christ in the Temple.
22.  The Baptism of Christ.
23.  The Marriage in Cana.
24.  The Raising of Lazarus.
25.  The Entry into Jerusalem.
26.  The Expulsion from the Temple.
27.  The Hiring of Judas.
28.  The Last Supper.
29.  The Washing of the Feet.
30.  The Kiss of Judas.
31.  Christ before Caiaphas.
32.  The Scourging of Christ.
33.  Christ bearing his Cross.
34.  The Crucifixion.
35.  The Entombment.
36.  The Resurrection.
37.  The Ascension.
38.  The Descent of the Holy Spirit.

* * * * *

I.

THE REJECTION OF JOACHIM’S OFFERING.

“At that time, there was a man of perfect holiness, named Joachim, of the tribe of Juda, and of the city of Jerusalem.  And this Joachim had in contempt the riches and honours of the world; and for greater despite to them, he kept his flocks, with his shepherds.

“...  And he, being so holy and just, divided the fruits which he received from his flocks into three parts:  a third part—­wool, and lambs, and such like—­he gave to God, that is to say, to those who served God, and who ministered in the temple of God; another third part he gave to widows, orphans, and pilgrims; the remaining third he kept for himself and his family.  And he persevering in this, God so multiplied and increased his goods that there was no man like him in the land of Israel....  And having come to the age of twenty years, he took to wife Anna, the daughter of Ysaya, of his own tribe, and of the lineage of David.