Sandro's drawings were extraordinarily good, and so many, that for some time after his death all the craftsmen strove to obtain some of them; and we have some in our book, made with great mastery and judgment. His scenes abounded with figures, as may be seen from the embroidered border of the Cross that the Friars of S. Maria Novella carry in processions, all made from his design. Great was the praise, then, that Sandro deserved for all the pictures that he chose to make with diligence and love, as he did the aforesaid panel of the Magi in S. Maria Novella, which is marvellous. Very beautiful, too, is a little round picture by his hand that is seen in the apartment of the Prior of the Angeli in Florence, in which the figures are small but very graceful and wrought with beautiful consideration. Of the same size as the aforesaid panel of the Magi, and by the same man's hand, is a picture in the possession of Messer Fabio Segni, a gentlemen of Florence, in which there is painted the Calumny of Apelles, as beautiful as any picture could be. Under this panel, which Sandro himself presented to Antonio Segni, who was much his friend, there may now be read the following verses, written by the said Messer Fabio: INDICIO QUEMQUAM NE FALSO LAEDERE TENTENT TERRARUM REGES, PARVA TABELLA MONET. HUIC SIMILEM AEGYPTI REGI DONAVIT APELLES; REX FUIT ET DIGNUS MUNERE, MUNUS EO. [Illustration: THE CALUMNY OF APELLES (_After the panel by =Sandro Botticelli=. Florence: Uffizi, 1182_) _M. S._] FOOTNOTES: [26] See note on p. 57, Vol. 1. [27] Mourner, or Weeper. BENEDETTO DA MAIANO LIFE OF BENEDETTO DA MAIANO SCULPTOR AND ARCHITECT