an Marco. She holds the book on her knees, and crosses her
hands on her breast; while the golden winged Angel, in its rose
coloured robe, with an arm curved in similar attitude of reverence,
sheds light around, as in the painting at Cortona. High up in the left
corner the hand of the Eternal Father sends down a ray of light, in
the midst of which the Holy Spirit is symbolized. In the background,
as in the Cortona picture, Adam and Eve are being expelled from
Paradise.

In the predella are some beautiful "stories" representing the
"Marriage of the Virgin," the "Salutation," the "Adoration of the
Magi," the "Circumcision of Christ" and the "Death of the Virgin."[24]

"But superior to all the other works of Fra Giovanni, and one in which
he surpassed himself, is a picture in the same church (i. e. San
Domenico at Fiesole), near the door on the left hand of the entrance:
in this work, he proves the high quality of his powers as well as the
profound intelligence he possessed of the art which he practised. The
subject is the Coronation of the Virgin by Jesus Christ: the principal
figures are surrounded by a choir of angels, among whom are vast
numbers of saints and holy personages, male and female. These figures
are so numerous, so well executed, in attitudes so varied, and the
expressions of the heads so richly diversified, that one feels
infinite pleasure and delight in regarding them. Nay, one is convinced
that those blessed spirits can look no otherwise in heaven itself, or
to speak under correction, could not, if they had forms, appear
otherwise; for all the saints, male and female, assembled here, have
not only life and expression, most delicately and truly rendered, but
the colouring also of the whole work would seem to have been given by
the hand of a saint, or of an angel like themselves. It is not without
sufficient reason therefore, that this excellent ecclesiastic is
always called Frate Giovanni Angelico. The stories from the life of
Our Lady and of St. Dominic which adorn the predella, moreover, are in
the same divine style; and I, for myself, can affirm with truth, that
I never see this work but it appears something new, nor can I ever
satisfy myself with the sight of it, or have enough of beholding
it."[25]

[Illustration: MUSEUM OF THE LOUVRE--PARIS.
THE CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN.]

The painting is now in the Louvre at Paris, having been taken from
Fiesole during the French invasion of 1812.

Under a ric