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90 THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. Chap IV. assisted Ottaviano in the choir of S. Agostino, rests on very insufficient grounds; for Gentile would scarcely have been subordinate to Nelli after the first years of the century. There is, however, one fresco in S. M. della Piaggiola, outside Gubbio, of the Virgin and child adored by two angels, where, in spite of serious injuries attri butable to various causes, a more vigorous handling and better proportions are to be found than in the Madonna of S. Maria Nuova. It has been assigned to Ottavi ano, 1 and might indicate the presence of Gentile. In any case, this production, if truly by Nelli, would be his most successful effort. That Ottaviano had changed his re sidence from Gubbio to Urbino in 1420 is proved by co temporary records. His long intercourse with that capital and with the rulers of the duchy is illustrated by frag mentary evidence; by a memorandum of his connection with the Brotherhood of S. Croce (1428—32), 2 and by a letter in his own hand, addressed to Catharine Colonna, wife of Guid' Antonio di Montefeltro (1434), referring to the pictorial decoration of the church of S. Erasmo, about three miles from Gubbio. 3 Time has robbed us of all marks of his passage at Urbino; and the r frescos of S. Erasmo, if ever they were carried out, have ceased to exist; but Ottaviano had in 1424 been entrusted by Corrado de’ Trinci with a commission to adorn the chapel of his palace in Foligno, and the series of episodes derived from the legend of the Virgin, with which he filled the walls, still attests the mediocrity of his powers. 4 Were it not, indeed, that these dim and ill- recently recovered from white-1 wash in S. Agostino to the right of the portal, seems originally to have been painted at the same period as those of the choir, but by a more I careful hand. It is too much damag- ed to warrant an express opinion. 1 Huonfatti, ub. sup. 12. 2 Pungileoni. Elogio stor. di Gio. Santi, ub. sup. p. 50. He hired his lodging from them. 3 Gaye Carteggio. I. 130. 1. 2. 4 The chapel is rectangular; the walls (in courses) and ceiling all painted. In the four lunettes are: 1. the presentation of Mary in the temple; 2. her marriage; 3. the annunciation; 4. a votive fresco of the Virgin with a crowd of figures in the costume of the time, perhaps members of the Trinci family. Lower courses, in the same order: 1. the nativity and adoration of the Magi; 2. the visit of the apostles to