Chap. XVII. ANDREA DEL SARTO, 547 elsewhere, even for a minimum of wages. It was hinted meanwhile that if he refused so favorable an offer, Fran- cia Bigio would accept it, nay, had already consented to do so. This final 'argument appeared so conclusive to Andrea that he signed a contract for three frescos which he immediately began; and in a few months he had un covered: “S. Philip sharing his cloak with the leper”; “S. Philip cursing the gamblers”; “S. Philip restoring the girl possessed of a devil”. 1 Age has affected the episode of the saint and the leper, in which Andrea’s ability as a draughtsman and an imitator of easy motion is divulged in figures of good proportions. The Curse of the Gamblers is more spirited, and illustrates Andrea’s versatility in thought, as well as the power with which he gives life to every part of a vast landscape. The rabble of men at arms playing cards under a tree, has been overwhelmed or dispersed by a stroke of lightning at the moment when the saint turned to assure them of the wrath of God. The two attendant brethren have stopped because S. Philip halted. The muleteer in the distance hurries away as he looks back at the havoc; — the whole scene so vivid in its contrasts, so happily impulsive in their rendering, that little remains to be desired except perhaps some of that higher and less homely quality the lack of which makes Andrea take a place below Fra Bartolommeo. A ready action, variety of position, appropriate drapery, fine and accurate draw ing of frame and limb, disclose his inborn strength, as well as facility for making the best features of the great masters his own. Space, divided according to the rules of the best Florentines, is filled up with a sense of the undoubted dignity and earnestness of legendary history. In the groups, life, pulsation, and the boldness of Uccelli distinguish every personage. The execution is that of a man already confident in himself, uniting freedom with ra- i Vas. VIII. 255—6. 35*