There are at Ragusa several pictures by foreign painters, but with few exceptions they are of little merit. The most interesting is undoubtedly the small triptych in the cathedral by a Flemish artist, which was carried by the Ragusan ambassadors when they went to Constantinople with the tribute to the Sultan as a portable altar. The subject is the Adoration of the Magi. In the centre panel the Virgin is seated with the Child on her lap: He is kneeling and extending His right hand to the oldest of the kings, who has placed his sceptre and gifts at the feet of the Saviour; behind Him is another king also offering gifts, and through the arches at the back one sees a landscape. On the left-hand wing stands the third king, a Moor, and behind him is a group of figures and a landscape. On the right is a bald-headed man in a rich robe, probably the donor, with a castle in the background. This work is undoubtedly of the Flemish school, and, according to Eitelberger,[523] is reminiscent of Memling. “The technique,” he says, “is extraordinarily careful, and the picture, in spite of having been damaged by wax candles, is yet so well preserved that it needs only the hand of a good restorer for it to make a great impression even on the uninitiated. The head of the Virgin has an expression of lovingness and purity such as is peculiar to the Flemish school alone.” As to how it found its way to Ragusa we know nothing. Eitelberger conjectures that it must have come from Naples, as the Republic was in constant intercourse with that city, which in its turn had connections with Flanders, and the Neapolitan painters were greatly under the influence of Flemish art. But it is quite possible that it came direct from the Low Countries to Ragusa, where, as we have seen, there was a colony of Flemish merchants. Of the other foreign paintings at Ragusa the following deserve notice: a head of Christ by Pordenone; a head of St. Catherine by Palma Vecchio; four pictures by Padovanino of second-rate interest; an Assumption of the Virgin attributed to Titian, but certainly not genuine, though possibly by a pupil; a spurious Andrea del Sarto, and an equally spurious Raphael. All these are in the Duomo. In the Dominican church is a St. Mary Magdalen, attributed to Titian, and probably that master’s genuine work. One or two more Titians of very questionable authenticity may be seen at the Isola di Mezzo and at Cannosa.