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4G8 THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY! Chap. XIII. With this, varied character and individuality of expression, perspective of atmosphere and of lines, massive transitions of light and shade, and a powerful tone in the key of a deep and sonorous bass. 1 Looking at the excessive skill of Fra Bartolommeo, and considering the grandeur of his performances in 151G, we should attribute to that time five lunette portrait-busts of Dominicans, in the lower dormitory of S. Marco at Florence; all of them superbly modelled and admirable specimens of stern gravity, though here and there injured by scratches, and not free from a certain vulgarity. 2 We should place in the same class as to date and merit the S. Mark and S. Vincent at the Pitti 3 and Academy, 4 both of wdiich are illustrations of the power with which a plas tic appearance may be given to the human shape by scientific calculation of light and shade, by select casts of drapery and vigorous tints. But, in addition to these we have the Holy Families of the Corsini Palace at Rome and of the Pitti at Florence, 1 In this panel the colour is all half body, through which the ground gesso appears, giving the whole its transparence. There are forty figures in all. The Eternal and the Procession at the church- door are barely sketched. Pur chased at Florence. There is another panel assigned to Fra Bartolommeo in this pre cious collection of Earl Cowper; subject, the Virgin, child, S. Jo seph and a female saint in profile, and the young Baptist kissing the infant Christ, a fine approxima tion by the Siennese Beccafumi to the manner of the Frate; sweet in colour and very freely handled. * There are eight of those fres cos in the dormitory, but three of them are modern. The first of those by Fra Bartolommeo is a friar with a star above his cowl and a lily in his left hand; with his right he orders silence. The second, with a red book and palm, is injured in the face by bayonet thrusts. The third reads in a red bound book. The fourth is preaching; and there are marks of an Eternal and angels having been on the back ground, near his head. The fifth and sixth are modern, the seventh is bare-head ed with rays diverging behind. The eighth is of the eighteenth century. Wo trust these injured masterpieces will be removed to a place of safety from their present dark recesses. Marchese mentions them (II. 131). 3 The S. Mark is No. 125, at the Pitti, in oil and on canvass (Vas. VII. 163). 4 The S. Vincent is No. 69. Ga- lerie des grands Tableaux, at the Academy of arts, wood, oil (Vas. VII. 162). Both were ori ginally in S. Marco, the latter now much dimmed.