PORTRAIT OF THE ABBOT BALDASSARE OF VALLOMBROSA] They are painted with the lightest of touch and with extraordinarily little colour. The tone is that of old yellow parchment, and each picture contains only the upturned head and a few inches of the brown monastic robe; but the effect is perfect. The marvellous feature, however, of each portrait is its absolute truth and its perfection of modelling. There is no accessory; there is no cap, or hood, or costume; there is only a plain brown background: but the effect is that of living, breathing life. The very slightest touches reveal the bones of the face and the corresponding hollows of the tightly-drawn skin. The bare, shaven head, with its narrow tonsure, allowed no opportunity for careless drawing. There was no hair with its rich shimmering colour to hide inaccuracies of line or to cover up faults in execution; but the master needed none of these excuses. The task was a stern one, uncompromising in its severity; but it is nobly executed, and two delineations of character are presented. Already allusion has been made to the portraits of Francesco delle Opere and of the artist himself, and if to them be added these two, and the faces of the standing figures in the Vallombrosan altar-piece, a careful student can hardly fail to acknowledge that the artist was, above all, a portrait-painter in the truest sense of the term. [Illustration: _Alinari photo_] [_Accademia, Florence_ PORTRAIT OF DON BIAGIO MILANESI OF VALLOMBROSA] There is a very puzzling picture which was probably painted at about this time, and which was executed for San Francesco in Perugia and hangs now in the Vatican Gallery. Vasari ascribes it to Perugino. Orsini suggests that Raphael had a hand in it. Crowe gives it entirely to Raphael as a very early work, and Morelli ascribes it entirely to the hand of Lo Spagna. In the midst of so many conflicting theories it may be allowable for me to agree with Vasari. It is not very likely that in all his work Perugino would preserve the same level of beauty. The master had, as was most natural, his successes and his failures. At times his commissions were so numerous that some of them were carelessly executed; at another time a subject was given him which did not altogether appeal to his mind; at another he worked _con amore_, and put his whole soul into his labour. We see fine results in the Cambio, and in the Vallombrosan pictures, and I take it these are followed by this "Resurrection," which is weak and unsatisfactory, and by others which are even at a lower level. Later on we shall see important work at Rome, in the Louvre, and at Città, followed by poor, inadequate work at Spello. Then comes a recrudescence, of which the great altar-piece at St. Agostino is the result, and this is followed by final work which is weak and monotonous, but which still retains the perfume of the master's nobler days.