in its throat, so that it is sucking, not to say drinking, as
much blood as milk from that breast--an effect truly natural, and, being
wrought in such a manner as it is, able to kindle a spark of pity in the
coldest heart. There is also a soldier who has seized a child by force,
and while he runs off with it, pressing it against his breast to kill
it, the mother is seen hanging from his hair in the utmost fury, and
forcing him to bend his back in the form of an arch, so that three very
beautiful effects are shown among them--one in the death of the child,
which is seen expiring; the second in the impious rage of the soldier,
who, feeling himself drawn backwards so strangely, is shown in the act
of avenging himself on the child; and the third is that the mother,
seeing the death of her babe, is seeking with fury, grief, and disdain
to prevent the villain from going off scathless; and the whole is truly
more the work of a philosopher admirable in judgment than of a painter.
There are many other emotions depicted, which will demonstrate to him
who studies them that this man was without doubt an excellent master in
his time. Above this, in the seventh scene, which embraces the space of
two, and is bounded by the arch of the vaulting, are the Death and the
Assumption of Our Lady, with an infinite number of angels, and
innumerable figures, landscapes, and other ornaments, of which he used
to paint an abundance in his facile and practised manner.

[Illustration: THE BIRTH OF S. JOHN THE BAPTIST

(_After the fresco by =Domenico Ghirlandajo=. Florence: S. Maria
Novella_)

_Anderson_]

On the other wall are stories of S. John, and in the first is Zacharias
sacrificing in the Temple, when the Angel appears to him and makes him
dumb for his unbelief. In this scene, showing how sacrifices in temples
are ever attended by a throng of the most distinguished men, and wishing
to make it as honourable as he was able, he portrayed a good number of
the Florentine citizens who then governed that State, particularly all
those of the house of Tornabuoni, both young and old. Besides this, in
order to show that his age was rich in every sort of talent, above all
in learning, he made a group of four half-length figures conversing
together at the foot of the scene, representing the most learned men
then to be found in Florence. The first of these, who is wearing the
dress of a Canon, is Messer Marsilio Ficino; the second, in a red
mantle, with