aftsmen to marvel. By her hand are two panels in the
Church of that Convent of S. Caterina, of which the one with the Magi
adoring Jesus is much extolled. In the choir of the Convent of S. Lucia,
at Pistoia, there is a large panel, containing Our Lady with the Child
in her arms, S. Thomas, S. Augustine, S. Mary Magdalene, S. Catherine of
Siena, S. Agnese, S. Catherine the Martyr, and S. Lucia; and another
large panel by the same hand was sent abroad by the Director of the
Hospital of Lelmo. In the refectory of the aforesaid Convent of S.
Caterina there is a great Last Supper, with a panel in the work-room,
both by the hand of the same nun. And in the houses of gentlemen
throughout Florence there are so many pictures, that it would be tedious
to attempt to speak of them all. A large picture of the Annunciation
belongs to the wife of the Spaniard, Signor Mondragone, and Madonna
Marietta de' Fedini has another like it. There is a little picture of
Our Lady in S. Giovannino, at Florence; and an altar-predella in S.
Maria del Fiore, containing very beautiful scenes from the life of S.
Zanobi. And because this venerable and talented sister, before
executing panels and works of importance, gave attention to painting in
miniature, there are in the possession of various people many
wonderfully beautiful little pictures by her hand, of which there is no
need to make mention. The best works from her hand are those that she
has copied from others, wherein she shows that she would have done
marvellous things if she had enjoyed, as men do, advantages for
studying, devoting herself to drawing, and copying living and natural
objects. And that this is true is seen clearly from a picture of the
Nativity of Christ, copied from one which Bronzino once painted for
Filippo Salviati. In like manner, the truth of such an opinion is proved
by this, that in her works the faces and features of women, whom she has
been able to see as much as she pleased, are no little better than the
heads of the men, and much nearer to the reality. In the faces of women
in some of her works she has portrayed Madonna Costanza de' Doni, who
has been in our time an unexampled pattern of beauty and dignity;
painting her so well, that it is impossible to expect more from a woman
who, for the reasons mentioned above, has had no great practice in her
art.

With much credit to herself, likewise, has Madonna Lucrezia, the
daughter of Messer Alfonso Quistelli della Mirando