erlocked with those of the
other, and wholly intent in contemplating fixedly with his eyes and
his mind the Virgin and her Son, he appears really to be breathing.
And no less beautiful is the S. James who may be seen beside the
others. Wherefore it is no marvel that this is the most beautiful
altar-piece that was ever executed by this truly rare painter.

I used to believe that it was after this work, and not before, that
the same Jacopo had painted in fresco the two most lovely and graceful
little boys who are supporting a coat of arms over a door within a
passage on the Lungarno, between the Ponte S. Trinita and the Ponte
alla Carraja, for Bartolommeo Lanfredini; but since Bronzino, who may
be supposed to know the truth about these matters, declares that they
were among the first works that Jacopo executed, we must believe that
this is so without a doubt, and praise Pontormo for them all the more,
seeing that they are so beautiful that they cannot be matched, and yet
were among the earliest works that he did.

But to resume the order of our story: after these works, Jacopo
executed for the men of Pontormo an altar-piece wherein are S.
Michelagnolo and S. John the Evangelist, which was placed in the
Chapel of the Madonna in S. Agnolo, their principal church. At this
time one of two young men who were working under Jacopo--that is,
Giovan Maria Pichi of Borgo a S. Sepolcro, who was acquitting himself
passing well, and who afterwards became a Servite friar, and executed
some works in the Borgo and in the Pieve a S. Stefano--while still
working, I say, under Jacopo, painted in a large picture a nude S.
Quentin in martyrdom, in order to send it to the Borgo. But since
Jacopo, like a loving master to his disciple, desired that Giovan
Maria should win honour and praise, he set himself to retouch it, and
so, not being able to take his hands off it, and retouching one day
the head, the next day the arms, and the day after the body, the
retouching became such that it may almost be said that the work is
entirely by his hand. Wherefore it is no marvel that this picture,
which is now in the Church of the Observantine Friars of S. Francis in
the Borgo, is most beautiful.

[Illustration: JOSEPH AND HIS KINDRED IN EGYPT

(_After the painting by =Jacopo da Pontormo=. London: National Gallery,
1131_)

_Hanfstaengl_]

The second of the two young men, who was Giovanni Antonio Lappoli of
Arezzo, of whom there has been an account i