are here, together with those of
certain Medici, for the youthful third king is none other than Piero's
eldest son Lorenzo. Among their followers are (the third on the left)
Cosimo de' Medici, who is included as among the living, although,
like the Patriarch of Constantinople, he was dead, and his brother
Lorenzo (the middle one of the three), whose existence is forgotten
so completely until the accession of Cosimo I, in 1537, brings his
branch of the family into power; while on the right is Piero de'
Medici himself. Piero's second son Giuliano is on the white horse,
preceded by a negro carrying his bow. The head immediately above
Giuliano I do not know, but that one a little to the left above it
is Gozzoli's own. Among the throng are men of learning who either
came to Florence from the East or Florentines who assimilated their
philosophy--such as Georgius Gemisthos, Marsilio Ficino, and perhaps
certain painters among them, all proteges of Cosimo and Piero, and
all makers of the Renaissance.

The assemblage alone, apart altogether from any beauty and charm
that the painting possesses, makes these frescoes valuable. But the
painting is a delight. We have a pretty Gozzoli in our National
Gallery--No. 283--but it gives no indication of the ripeness and
richness and incident of this work; while the famous Biblical
series in the Campo Santo of Pisa has so largely perished as to be
scarcely evidence to his colour. The first impression made by the
Medici frescoes is their sumptuousness. When Gozzoli painted--if the
story be true--he had only candle light: the window over the altar
is new. But think of candle light being all the illumination of these
walls as the painter worked! A new door and window have also been cut
in the wall opposite the altar close to the three daughters of Piero,
by vandal hands; and "Bruta, bruta!" says the guardian, very rightly.

The landscape behind the procession is hardly less interesting than the
procession itself; but it is when we come to the meadows of paradise,
with the angels and roses, the cypresses and birds, in the two chancel
scenes, that this side of Gozzoli's art is most fascinating. He has
travelled a long way from his master Fra Angelico here: the heaven
is of the visible rather than the invisible eye; sense is present
as well as the rapturous spirit. The little Medici who endured the
tedium of the services here are to be felicitated with upon such an
adorable presentment of glory.