5. _Children healed by the garments of S. Philip_, which are held by a priest, standing before an altar, the women and their children kneeling in front of him. The grouping is symmetrical, the figures lifelike, but not refined, round-cheeked buxom women, and rough, human men's faces, bespeak Andrea as the painter of reality rather than ideality; there is vivid life in every attitude, but the life is not high caste. A fine old man, leaning on his staff, is a portrait of Andrea della Robbia, whose son Luca stands near. For all these Fra Mariano paid only ten scudi each, and Andrea, feeling the remuneration not equal to the merit of the work, would have left off here, but the Frate held him to his bond. Two more lunettes yet remained to finish, but as these were of a later date, we will reserve them for a future chapter. He also painted in the _orto_, or garden, of the convent, the now perished fresco of the _Parable of the Vineyard_. Meanwhile, the rival friends had changed lodgings; they left the Piazza del Grano, and took rooms in the Sapienza, a street between the Piazza San Marco and the S. Annunziata. Andrea chose this because it was near his work, and also because his great friends, Sansovino and Rustici, already lived there. Commissions began to pour in on him, which he fulfilled, while still at work at the Servi. Judging from the style of his early manner, we may date at this time a _Virgin and Child, with S. John and S. Joseph_, now in the Pitti. It is painted "alla prima," _i.e._ a quick method of giving the effect in the first painting,--and is probably the one spoken of by Vasari as painted for Andrea Santini; it formerly belonged to Francesco Troschi. [Footnote: _Life of Andrea del Sarto_, vol iii, p. 193.] A _S. Agnes_, in the palace of the Prince Palatine, at Düsseldorf, is in this early style. He also painted some frescoes at San Salvi, _SS. Giovanni Gualberto and Benedict resting on clouds_; they ornamented the recess where the _Last Supper_ was placed at a later period. In a narrow alley, behind the church of Or San Michele, is a tabernacle on the wall beneath an ancient balcony. Here the architect, Baccio d'Agnolo, commissioned Andrea del Sarto to paint an _Annunciation_. It is so much injured as to be almost indistinguishable now, but was much admired at the time, though some say it was too laboured, and so wanting in ease and grace. [Footnote: Biadi, 26; Vasari, vol. iii, p 189.] It is more likely that it was one of his early works, and should be classed before the frescoes of the Scalzo, for it is said that he was living at the time with his father, whose shop was over the archway, and that he had adorned the inner walls of the house with two frescoed angels. [Footnote: _Firenze antica e moderna_ Ed. Flor. 1794, vol. vi, p. 216.] These have perished completely. CHAPTER III. SOCIAL LIFE AND MARRIAGE. A.D. 1511-1516.