of prosperity, lie remained consistently honest and con scientious in the pursuit of his art; and in spite of the numerous works which he had carried through, he showed no signs of relinquishing any of the diligence that had been so conspicuous in his first manhood. Of this we have a convincing proof in a Pieta of 1521, at S. Agos- tino of Colle di Valdelsa where the Saviour supported by the Virgin and Baptist, mourned by the Magdalen, and adored by SS. Jerom and Nicholas, discloses his talent in the same path as of old. Composition in the fashion of the Frate and Mariotto, refined forms, noble nude, and true harmony of keys exhibit the unaltered perfection of his style; and the sole difference that one perceives, is in the comparative lightness of tones which have lost some of the old richness and fullness. 1 With greater “bravura’’, but in the same system he furnished the dexterously handled Assumption of the Com- pagnia de’ Battilani at Florence, now in the Berlin Museum, in which the only fault that can be found, is slight emptiness of colour; 2 and we begin to perceive that Ridolfo is thinking of his ease and puts his confi dence in the aid of his disciple Michele. We then enter fully upon a period in which the vigour of the man seems on the wane, producing the flat and unrelieved S. Jerom penitent, 3 and the loosely executed Annunciation, at S. 1 Wood, oil, figures life size. In a predella are the arms of Mario di Niccolb Beltramini for whom the picture was ordered (Vasari annot. XI. 297), and the following subjects: No. 1. S. Nicholas visit ing the three youths in prison; 2. the decapitation of John the Bap tist; 3. the Resurrection; 4. S. Jerom in the desert; 5. the Com munion of the Magdalen. 2 Berlin Museum. No. 263, with a portrait of Ridolfo which was taken by Vasari for his lives (see also Vasari XI. 292. 3). The date of this piece may be fixed just be fore 1527. After the siege of Flo rence in that year Ridolfo re painted the lower part that had been spoilt. In truth the lower apostles are treated more frank ly than the glory, the latter being nearer in style to the Frate, the former to Sanzio. The portrait is the head of the saint next to S. John the Baptist. 3 Altar to the left. The colour is flat and yellowish, the surface pol ished. In the distance to the left, S. Francis receives the stigmata. To the right the angel leads Tobit. The panel has been scaled in part.