Lastly, in the regular features of the St. Francis in the background, we have Francia’s own likeness (which he has here introduced in the form of his patron saint), whose expressive face and refined air correspond exactly with contemporary descriptions. Two angels kneel in lowly adoration on either side of the child, who lifts his head and raises his tiny hand in benediction, while a bullfinch perched on a twig at his feet looks reverently towards him and almost seems to join in the act of worship. As a rule Francia’s landscapes are simple in character, generally consisting of a rocky foreground and broad valley opening beyond, such as we often see in the Apennines near Bologna; sometimes in his later works they are more distinctly Umbrian, but the background of this “Nativity” is remarkable for an unusual degree of beauty and variety. The rocky steep with its solitary pine-tree is still on our right, but in the centre of the picture, above the heads of the kneeling saints, a lovely expanse of park-like scenery unfolds itself before us. There we see a broad sunny river winding its way between grassy glades and forest avenues, cattle are feeding, and human life is stirring on its banks, a church tower and cottage roofs peep out from among the trees, and far away in the distance a line of blue hills rises in soft undulating lines. The whole of this pastoral scene is charmingly conceived and painted, and forms a poetic background to one of Francia’s most graceful compositions. It was for this picture that Costa painted his predella of the “Adoration of the Magi,” now in the Brera, one of the many tokens of the friendship which continued to exist between the two artists. [Illustration: MADONNA AND CHILD WITH A BIRD. BY FRANCIA. _In the Dresden Gallery._]