Having thus traced the advance of painting in the duchy of Urbino, from Oderigi da Gubbio, the friend of Dante, to Raffaele Sanzio, its _facile princeps_, it might be well to pause, and leave its rapid descent under a new dynasty of dukes to be followed in a future portion of our work. Yet there are still some native names, belonging to the better period both by date and by merit. Of these the principal was TIMOTEO VITI, who was born of reputable parentage in Urbino about 1470, and whose mother Calliope was daughter of Antonio Alberti of Ferrara, by whom the Giottesque manner had been brought to that city. Timoteo was sent to Bologna to profit by the instructions of Francesco Francia, and remained there from 1490 to 1495. The Christian painters of that city had chosen for their Madonnas a peculiar type, which, after being transmitted through several artists, attained its perfection from Francia's pencil. It may be distinctly traced in the best remaining specimen of Lippo Dalmasio, of whom we have already spoken,[192] a lunette in fresco, representing the Madonna and Child between two saints, which is over the door of S. Procul at Bologna. There we find a pensive cast of head gently bent on one side in dreamy contemplation,--the sweetly naïve features, with less indeed of a divine or seraphic expression than we see in those imagined by the Florentine and Sienese masters, but whose look seems to indicate that, though of earth, their owner was not earthy,--though a child of fallen humanity, she had not tasted of actual guilt. Those who know the Madonnas of Francia need not be told that they resemble sinless women more than beautiful beings. Somewhat of the same sentiment may be traced in the earlier productions of Timoteo Viti. Thus his Magdalen, which, though now in the Pinacoteca of Bologna, was painted for Urbino, is a grand figure in red drapery largely cast, standing in front of a wide cavern. Her girlish countenance appears too pure and gentle to have felt carnal passion, too placid to have wept over human sin; her reverential attitude aspires heavenward, without, like most of her class, appearing to loathe the earth. The mild character of Timoteo, as well as his promising talents, established him in the friendship of his master, whose diary touchingly records the affection with which he bade god-speed to his pupil, on quitting his studio.[193] [Footnote 192: See above, p. 161.] [Footnote 193: "On the 4th April, 1495, my dear Timoteo went away, to whom may God grant all good and success." He seems to have been received at first into Francia's "workshop" as a goldsmith, to work for the first year without pay, the second at sixteen florins a quarter, the last to be free, working by the piece. This indenture was, however, broken by mutual consent after fourteen months, on his wish to pass into the painters' studio.] [Illustration: _Alinari_ ST. SEBASTIAN _From the picture by Timoteo Viti in the Palazzo Ducale, Urbino_]