has Perugino painted the Madonna so finely. There is a celestial beauty upon her face, and her hands and robe are depicted with the utmost skill and care. The angels are somewhat loosely drawn, insipid in countenance, and lacking in proportion, especially in their attenuated legs, and in the large size of their hands; but the artist's main attention has been given to three points in the picturethe figure of the Virgin, the four figures on the ground, and the landscape in the rear. Crowe and Cavalcaselle speak of the four attendant saints as 'magnificent as isolated creations,' and the words are none too strong."(G. C. W.)

Two of the most remarkable works in the gallery are the portraits of the Abbot Baldassare and Don Biagio Milanesi—that Perugino also painted at Vallombrosa.

"They are painted with the lightest of touch and with extraordinarily little colour. The tone is that of old yellow parchment, and each picture contains only the upturned head and a few inches of the brown monastic robe; but the effect is perfect. The marvellous feature, however, of each portrait is its absolute truth and its perfection of modelling. There is no accessory; there is no cap, or hood, or costume; there is only a plain brown background: but the effect is that of living, breathing life. The task was a stern one, uncompromising in its severity; but it is nobly executed and two delineations of character are presented."-(G. C. W.)

Christ Praying on Praying on the Mount the Mount of Olives shows all the characteristics of Perugino. The landscape is of great beauty and the figure of the sleeping St. John on the left reminds one of Raphael.

"In the immediate foreground are the three disciples sound asleep in the attitudes that convince you of heavy slumber. In the centre of the picture is Our Lord kneeling on a hillock deeply engaged in prayer, and above

is an angel flying towards him bearing the chalice of sorrow. Below and still further removed from the eye of the spectator are groups of soldiers on the one hand and of priests and people on the other rapidly moving towards the central figure. Their proportions are finely adjusted to their distance and position, and there is an admirable sense of movement in all. Beyond them are the distant town, the hills, the country, and above with its depth and arch and vastness, suggested in most subtle manner by the light fleecy clouds and by the very curves of the angels' figures and the movement of his wing, rises the blue vault of the heaven."-(G. C. W.)

The Pietà is a work of the same period.

The dead Saviour lies in the lap of the Virgin, supported by the head on the shoulders of Joseph, by the feet on the knees of the Magdalen, whilst St. John the Evangelist looks up in prayer to the left, and another saint on the right. In its present condition one hardly recognizes the probable beauty of the original colour. Much repainted." (C. and C.)

The Virgin Appearing to St. Bernard shows all the qualities of Fra Bartolommeo, his lofty feeling, imposing draperies and symmetrical arrangement. St. Bernard kneels before his prie-dieu with St. Benedict and John the Evangelist behind him.

"Here the group of angels round the Madonna is composed with the usual severe symmetry, but very beautifully placed in profile, or three-quarter view, while at the same time their floating is expressed with as much lightness as dignity." (J. B.)

Another interesting work by Fra Bartolommeo is Savonarola as St. Peter Martyr, which explains the cut in his head. The features are plain, but the expression is devout.

Of Albertinelli's works, The Trinity is the

most celebrated. It was painted after he left Fra Bartolommeo, but still shows his influence. Originally the background was gold. The picture is notable for its fine modelling and strong colour.

"The face of the Eternal is fine and well preserved. Two angels at his feet are pleasing. The arrangement is on Fra Bartolommeo's principles; the drapery broad, but the colour is of the same kind as in the Annunciation.”(C. and C.)

Lorenzo di Credi's Nativity is beautifully painted, particularly the landscape in the foreground. The shepherd with the lamb in his arms is greatly admired.

"In this picture there is something of the superfluous sentiment so prominent in the Peruginesque School (see the youth with the lamb), only that one forgets this as well as the slightly artificial arrangement of the group in the enchanting beauty of most of the figures."—(J. B.)

The Baptism of Christ is perhaps the only authentic work extant by Andrea Verrocchio, the master of Leonardo da Vinci, who is said to have painted the beautiful angel on the left; and it is said that when Verrocchio saw this beautiful figure he never touched colours again. John the Baptist remains unfinished. Leonardo's angel has been termed a ray of sunlight on a faded page.

"Verrocchio's modelling is conscientious and endeavours to sound all the secrets of anatomy as well as chiaroscuro; but with all this it is remarkable how lifeless the drapery still remains. The angel painted in by Leonardo shows a sweeter type of head, which, indeed, was not unfamiliar to Verrocchio as a worker in bronze.”—(J. B.)

THE PITTI PALACE

FLORENCE

ALTHOUGH the Pitti contains about five hundred works, their excellence is so great that it may be considered a gallery of masterpieces. Most of the pictures belong to the golden age of Tuscan art, from Botticelli to Andrea del Sarto; but there are fine works of earlier masters. The collection was made chiefly by the Medici family, who brought the pictures scattered in their various villas and palaces to Florence about 1640, after they had become sovereign princes, and placed them in the Pitti Palace, which was then converted into a royal residence. Vittoria della Rovere, daughter of the Duke of Urbino, brought a fine collection on her marriage to the Grand Duke Ferdinand II., who removed from the Uffizi to the Pitti many of the pictures collected by his father, Cosimo II., and acquired many others from churches in Tuscany and by purchase. The collections of the Cardinals Leopold and Giovanni de' Medici came into the Pitti at their deaths; and Francis I. also added a number of works. The sixty pictures carried off by Napoleon's army were returned.

The rooms in which the pictures are hung are beautifully decorated with allegorical paintings and take their name from the subjects on the ceiling, viz., Sala di Venus, Sala dell' Iliade, Sala di Saturno, Sala di Marte, etc., etc.

The Pitti is especially rich in works of Raphael,

Titian and Andrea del Sarto; and contains many portraits of great reputation.

The gems of the gallery are Raphael's Madonna della Sedia, Leo X. and two Cardinals, the Madonna del Gran' Duca, and Angelo Doni and his wife; Titian's La Bella; and Giorgione's Concert.

The Madonna della Sedia, or Seggiola, so called from the sedia, or chair in which the Virgin is seated, is only a little over two feet in diameter. It is the most popular of all Raphael's works. It was exhibited in the Tribuna as early as 1589.

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Seated in a chair (sedia), the Virgin holds the Infant Jesus close in her arms. They are both looking at the spectator, and are radiant with beauty against a sombre background. Beside them appears St. John in the ecstasy of prayer and contemplation. Nothing can be simpler, nor at the same time more striking. It is only the Infant in the arms of his Mother, with another child beside them. "If La Fornarina is behind the Virgin of the Chair, there is nothing less than a world that separates them. The two beauties are measured by the two lives: terrestrial love put into Raphael's hand the brush that painted the portrait of the Barberini palace; divine love armed the master with sufficient power to produce the Madonna of the Pitti Palace.

"The Virgin of the Chair raises us directly to God by the tenderness with which she surrounds and seems to want to protect Him who protects all; but she is richly adorned, and she seems to belong to the world by the external splendour with which the world surrounds her. She belongs to it especially by the love that she gives to Him and by the internal sentiment that stamps compassion upon her beauty; compassion the kin to sadness. Her head bends gently towards the Saviour's head, on which it rests. The hair, rather chestnut than blonde, is divided in slightly waved bands and completely exposes the ear and the cheeks. The brow is beautifully proportioned: it is lower than in the Umbrian faces, and higher