[187] I cannot bring myself to accept Mr. Pater's reading of the Madonna's expression. It seems to me that Botticelli meant to portray the mingled awe and tranquillity of a mortal mother chosen for the Son of God. He appears to have sometimes aimed at conveying more than painting can compass; and, since he had not Lionardo's genius, he gives sadness, mournfulness, or discontent, for some more subtle mood. Next to the Madonna of the Uffizzi, Botticelli's loveliest religious picture to my mind is the "Nativity" belonging to Mr. Fuller Maitland. Poetic imagination in a painter has produced nothing more graceful and more tender than the dance of angels in the air above, and the embracement of the angels and the shepherds on the lawns below. [188] In the Academy of Fine Arts at Venice. I do not mention this picture as a complete pendant to Botticelli's famous _tondo_. The faces of S. Catherine and Madonna, however, have something of the rarity that is so striking in that work. [189] I might mention stanzas 122-124 of Poliziano's _Giostra_, describing Venus in the lap of Mars; or stanzas 99-107, describing the birth of Venus; and from Boiardo's _Orlando Innamorato_, I might quote the episode of Rinaldo's punishment by Love (lib. ii. canto xv. 43), or the tale of Silvanella and Narcissus (lib. ii. canto xvii. 49). [190] I hope to make use of this passage in a future section of my work on the Italian Poetry of the Renaissance. Therefore I pass by this portion of Piero's art-work now. [191] Uffizzi Gallery. [192] See the bas-relief upon the pedestal of his "Perseus" in the Loggia de' Lanzi. [193] In the National Gallery. [194] His family name was Domenico di Currado di Doffo Bigordi. He probably worked during his youth and early manhood as a goldsmith and got his artist's name from the trade of making golden chaplets for the Florentine women. See Vasari, vol. v. p. 66. [195] What, after all, remains the grandest quality of Ghirlandajo is his powerful drawing of characteristic heads. They are as various as they are vigorous. What a nation of strong men must the Florentines have been, we feel while gazing at his frescoes. [196] In many houses he painted roundels with his own hand, and of naked women plenty. CHAPTER VI PAINTING Two Periods in the True Renaissance--Andrea Mantegna--His Statuesque Design--His Naturalism--Roman Inspiration--Triumph of Julius Caesar--Bas-reliefs--Luca Signorelli--The Precursor of Michael Angelo--Anatomical Studies--Sense of Beauty--The Chapel of S. Brizio at Orvieto--Its Arabesques and Medallions--Degrees in his Ideal--Enthusiasm for Organic Life--Mode of treating Classical Subjects--Perugino--His Pietistic Style--His Formalism--The Psychological Problem of his Life--Perugino's Pupils--Pinturicchio--At Spello and Siena--Francia--Fra Bartolommeo--Transition to the Golden Age--Lionardo da Vinci--The Magician of the Renaissance--Raphael--The Melodist--Correggio--The Faun--Michael Angelo--The Prophet.