"On the 24th day of August the old Signoria and the new, with the officers and orders of the city and with the greater part of the People, went to the Duomo and heard the High Mass, together with the Cardinal of Siena, the nephew of Pope Pius of the House of the Piccolomini. And when Mass had been said, Frate Mariano da Genazzano, of the Hermit Order of St Augustine, made a fine sermon. And when the sermon was ended, the Signoria, Cardinal, canons, and all the clergy and all the People went to the altar of the Madonna. After certain prayers, the Prior of the Signori, in the name of the magnificent Commune of Siena, offered up the keys of the City of Siena upon the altar of the said Madonna. Lorenzo d'Antonio di Ser Lorenzo was the old Captain of the People, and Andrea di Sano Batteloro was Prior, and Crescenzio di Pietro di Goro the new Captain. Then the _Te Deum Laudamus_ was sung; and of all these things the deed was drawn up by Ser Giovanni Danielli. The Cardinal took the keys as Procurator, and in the name of Our Lady gave them into the hand of the Prior of the Signori, recommending to him the city, that he should hold and govern it in the name of Our Lady, and that he should make no other contract concerning it. Then the Prior gave to each Gonfaloniere his keys."[147] Perhaps in the two following years, stormy and blood-stained for Siena, it was not thought safe to venture upon politics in painting; at least the tavolette of 1484 and 1485, by Guidoccio Cozzarelli, represent purely religious scenes--the Presentation of Mary in the Temple and the Sacrifice of Isaac. Then in 1487 we have an allegory (ascribed by Mr Berenson to Fungai) of the triumphant return of the Noveschi--the Sienese ship of State guided into harbour by the Madonna herself. For the Gabella of 1489 we have another political religious allegory, the officials beseeching the Madonna and Child to visit their city once more. The Tavoletta di Biccherna of 1497 represents a band of horsemen entering Siena--probably either the escort of the French ambassador or (I would suggest) the _provvisionati_ who were hired by the Balìa in that year to support the prepotency of the Monte de' Nove. The Tavoletta di Gabella of 1499 (perhaps by Guidoccio Cozzarelli) represents St Catherine receiving the Stigmata, and reflects the suddenly revived cult of her which was curiously noticeable--as a kind of protest against the corruption of the Curia--during the jubilee of the following year. For the Gabella of 1526 we have the splendid victory of Camollia, ascribed to Giovanni di Lorenzo Cini. For 1542--painted for the Camarlingo di Gabella, Conte del Rondina--is an allegory of the reforms attempted by Granvelle and Sfondrato. The Sienese ship of State is borne safely to port over perilous seas by a great sail (_gran vela_), with a leafless tree (_sfrondato_) for mast, while her predecessor has been shattered to pieces upon the rocks.[148] The Tavola di Biccherna of 1548 is a