ion, and has none
of the academic dryness with which he treated the same subject in Borgo
San Sepolcro. The fine grouping, the restraint with which the sorrow is
rendered, the real pathos of the scene, give the picture dignity and
solemnity, and the glow of colour, obtained by the lavish use of gold
in the embroideries, add to its richness and decorative beauty. The
Virgin is nearly the same figure as in the Orvieto fresco, and in
feature recalls the San Sepolcro "Crucifixion," and the Magdalen is
almost identical with the altar-piece of the Opera del Duomo, just
considered, although here painted with more refinement and grace. In the
background is one of those vivid scenes of crowded movement, which occur
so often at this period of the master's development--a group of excited
soldiers pressing round the Cross, with fluttering pennons and prancing
steeds. The _predella_ hung just below, contains four subjects--"Christ
in Gethsemane," "The Last Supper," "The Betrayal," and "The
Flagellation." Unfortunately, both pictures are so badly lighted that it
is almost impossible except on a very bright day to appreciate the
colour. The scenes in this _predella_ are nearly the same as in that of
the Florence Academy, which hangs as part of the altar-piece, No. 164,
although it does not seem really to have belonged to it. The two
_predelle_ must certainly have been painted within a very short time of
one another. In both the composition of "The Last Supper" is precisely
the same, as well as "The Flagellation." In the "Betrayal" there is the
same violent crowd with spears and pennons, surging round the Christ. In
the Florence picture, however, there are only three divisions, "The
Betrayal" and "The Way to Calvary" forming the background to "The Agony
in the Garden," where Christ kneels before a little brook, with the
Apostles sleeping in rows behind Him. The broad impressionistic manner
in which they are painted is the same; and, coarse as is the brushwork,
dark and heavy as is the colour, especially in the flesh tints, they are
yet exceedingly fine examples of Signorelli's bold style and quick
resolute workmanship, and well illustrate his power of rendering violent
combined movement, in the crowds which throng round the betrayed Christ,
and march tumultuously on the way to Calvary.

The "Madonna and Saints" above this last _predella_ (No. 164) although
according to Signor Milanesi, not its altar-piece,[69] must certainly
have been