This Giovan Battista was Giovanni Battista di Girolamo Sozzini, brother of Alessandro Sozzini, Diarist of the last Siege of Siena. He was a pupil of Beccafumi’s, and of his work, Scipio Bargagli in his _Imprese_ speaks in high praise, specially mentioning some _mandorle_ designed by him, “placed _near_ the grand works of the great Mecarino.”[133] To add to these facts, we know that Sozzini retained in his possession many drawings by Beccafumi, and among them his cartoons for the floor. These designs he sold to the architect Tiburzio Spannocchi, and it is recorded in the Archives of the Duomo,[134] that the Cathedral authorities endeavoured, but apparently unsuccessfully, to recover them. Some of these have now, as we know, found their way into the Public Picture Gallery. These six designs differ in treatment from Beccafumi’s other work, and the drawing and composition of them is not so striking. The large hexagons represent: 1. _The Compact between Elijah and Ahab_ (in the centre). (Ill. XIX.) No. 42.[135] 2. _Ahab’s Sacrifice_ (to the left). No. 44. 3. _Elijah’s Sacrifice_ (above). No. 41. 4. _The Slaughter of the Prophets of Baal_ (to the right). No. 43. The small ones: 5. _Ahab comes to meet Elijah._ No. 46. 6. _Elijah sends Obadiah to fetch Ahab._ No. 45. It does not seem to me, however, that the learned writer of the above-referred-to article brings forward any _real_ ground for doubting Beccafumi’s authorship of these designs. The Document quoted, and Scipio Bargagli, both speak of “_mandorle_,” which appears to have been the technical expression for the _lozenges_ filling up the great hexagon, in contradistinction to the words “_tondo_” or “_esagono_,” used to describe the larger sections. The documents dated 6th of September, 1521, and 18th of June, 1524, together expressly mention four _tondi_ and two _mandorle_, which exactly accounts for the designs in question. It seems unnecessary, therefore, to strain the word _mandorle_ to mean something else than its more obvious meaning: and it is surely much more probable, that the document and quotation, both refer to designs for the remaining four _mandorle_, which are generally supposed to have been filled in by Carlo Amidei, and Matteo Pini in 1780.[136] However this may be, the smallness of the sum paid for the designs, 75 soldi, makes the idea, that it was a payment for drawings of any size, even more improbable and absurd. [Illustration: ALINARI PHOTO.] [DESIGNED BY DOMENICO BECCAFUMI XIX. ELIJAH’S COMPACT WITH AHAB (No. 42)]