scene. Vasari writes of it: "At Volterra he painted in fresco"--(a
mistake--it is his usual oil medium)--"in the church of S. Francesco,
above the altar of the brotherhood, the Circumcision of our Lord, which
is considered marvellously beautiful; although the Child, having
suffered from the damp, was repainted by Sodoma much less beautiful than
it was before."[49] This unfortunate repainting, which has also
evidently included part of the Virgin's face, was more probably due to
the monks' dislike of Signorelli's type of child than to any damage by
weather, for it would be strange that a picture, otherwise so well
preserved, should be injured by damp nowhere but in the part most
protected by reason of its central position. To support this theory,
under the painting by Sodoma may be clearly seen (in the painting--not
in the photograph) the original legs of the Child of Signorelli, in a
totally different position, showing that Sodoma had made no attempt to
keep to the drawing. The monks, no doubt, preferred the more commonplace
infant of Sodoma, but we, while acknowledging that the children of
Signorelli are far from what they should be, may regret the loss, as did
Vasari, who adds this comment: "It would be better to retain the work of
excellent men, even though half spoiled, than to have it repainted by
one who knows less."

[Illustration: [_National Gallery, London_

THE CIRCUMCISION]

A very important group of paintings apparently of about this date, bear
the impress of the classic tastes of the Court of Lorenzo dei Medici,
for whom they seem to have been painted. It comprises the great picture
of "Pan," in the Berlin Gallery, the "Madonna," of the Uffizi Corridor,
and the Munich _Tondo_. I have been tempted to give them a much earlier
place, in the gap before the Perugia altar-piece, because they show so
much of the idealism and idyllic spirit, which seem properly to belong
to youth, but a careful comparison of them with that picture and the
Loreto frescoes, reveals a greater maturity of technique which makes so
early a placing not very probable. In all these three paintings there is
an appreciation of beauty for its own sake, and a true touch of the
Pantheistic spirit, combined with a melancholy grandeur, which is most
impressive.

The finest of the three, the great canvas of "Pan," now in the Berlin
Gallery, is the picture of which Vasari wrote: "He painted for Lorenzo
dei Medici, on canvas, some nude gods, which