I have been so fortunate as to trace three more of the Urbino pictures of this master, hitherto unnoticed. At the devolution of the duchy to the Holy See, they found their way into the possession of Urban VIII., and now adorn the private apartment of his successor, Prince Barberini, at Rome, where they pass under the name of Mantegna. The first, a portrait of Duke Federigo and his son, has been already described. Having been executed about 1478, when Guidobaldo was five or six years old, and when the painter, according to Vasari, was above eighty, it would afford conclusive evidence against the hitherto received date of Pietro's birth.[152] The other two are companion pictures, and though hung too high, appear in excellent preservation. Both are architectural designs on panel, one representing the court of a palace, the other a basilicon-like interior, with elaborate plastic decorations and very clever perspective; a variety of figures are introduced, but the subjects are not known.[*153] To these, and still more to some of his earlier productions, may be applied the observation of Fra Castiglione, that "the works of Pietro, and those of his contemporary, Melozzo da Forlì, with their perspective effects and intricacies of art, are appreciated by connoisseurs rather than admired by the uninitiated."[*154] [Footnote 151: Passavant conjectures this group to be a satire upon three neighbouring princes who were Duke Federigo's enemies, and seems to consider the picture influenced by some Flemish master. If painted after the visit of Justis of Ghent, it can hardly represent Oddantonio. See below, ch. xxx.] [Footnote 152: It is very unsatisfactorily engraved in BONNARD'S _Costumes du Treizième au Quinzième Siècle_.] [Footnote *153: None of these three belongs to Piero.] [Footnote *154: It is a curious comment on this that a man like Mr. E.V. Lucas, certainly not "a connoisseur," tells us in his book, _A Wanderer in London_ (Methuen, 1906), that he "once startled and embarrassed a dinner table of artists and art critics by asking which was the best picture in the National Gallery. On my modifying this terrible question to the more human form--Which picture would you choose if you might have one? and limiting the choice to the Italian masters, the most distinguished mind present named at once Tintoretto's _Origin of the Milky Way_.... After very long consideration," he continues, "I have come to the conclusion that mine would be Francesca's _Nativity_. Take it for all in all, I am disposed to think that Francesca's _Nativity_ appeals to me as a work of compassionate beauty and charm before any Italian picture in the National Collection."]