ese minor scholars is the unknown imitator who painted the
beautiful "Magdalen," of the Florence Academy. Executed on linen, and
evidently intended for a church standard, this is the most successful of
all the works in Signorelli's manner, which yet cannot be accepted as
genuine. The design of the principal figures in the foreground and
middle distance I believe to be by Signorelli himself, and the intensity
of emotion in the Magdalen, who has cast herself at the foot of the
Cross, and the impressive grandeur of the three figures to the right,
have lost none of the original spirit of the master. The colour is
entirely different, and would alone preclude the acceptance of the
painting as Signorelli's work, but, moreover, the general effect has so
little of his sweeping breadth, and the details of the shadowy landscape
are so poorly composed, that it is probable even the whole of the
drawing is not by him.

[Illustration: [_Gallery, Buda-Pesth_

TIBERIUS GRACCHUS]

An interesting picture in the Gallery of Buda-Pesth, there attributed to
Luca himself, connects the charming and mysterious "Griselda" series
(Nos. 912, 913, and 914), of the National Gallery,[92] with some
follower of Signorelli, for it is sufficient to glance at the background
of this "Tiberius Gracchus" to be convinced that its painter is the same
unknown master. In the "Griselda" pictures there is more evidence than
here of the influence of Pintorricchio, to whom they are, not
unnaturally, attributed; while in the "Tiberius," in the drapery of the
figure, and the type of the children who support the tablet, especially,
there is much of the real spirit of Signorelli, as well as a good deal
of his breadth and solidity of drawing. The painter must, for the
present, remain as an unknown Umbrian, almost equally influenced by
Pintorricchio and Luca, and with peculiar qualities of simple grace and
romance, which give his work an extremely individual character.

Very different is the imitation of Signorelli's mannerisms in such works
as "The Nativity," of the National Gallery, "The Madonna and Saints," of
the Gallery of Citta di Castello, and "The Abbondanza," of the Uffizi.
In these the imitation is mechanical, and without any comprehension of
the master's spirit. It would be useless to mention more of the
school-work, in which superficial excellences and defects are copied
with equal zeal.

On the other hand, the spiritual qualities which these mechanical
i