hape and shade every minutest pebble and mote of
that shore of Jordan. Every one of them was worth painting, for
we are viewing them as in the light of His presence who made
them all and knew them all.

'And now let us pass to the other figures: to that living and
glowing angelic group in the left hand of the picture. Three of
the heavenly host are present, variously affected by that which
they behold. The first, next the spectator, in the corner of the
picture, is standing in silent adoration, tender and gentle in
expression, the hands together, but only the points of the
fingers touching, his very reverence being chastened by angelic
modesty; the second turns on that which he sees a look of
earnest inquiry, but kneels as he looks; and indeed that which
he sees is one of the things which angels desire to look into.
The third, a majestic herald-like figure, stands, as one
speaking, looking to the spectator, with his right hand on his
garment, and his left out as in demonstration, unmistakeably
saying to us who look on, "Behold what love is here!" Then,
hardly noticing what might well be much noticed, the grand dark
figure of the Baptist on the right, let us observe how
beautifully and accurately all the features of the landscape are
given.'

Of the same work another critic records: 'The attendant angels in this
work (signed by the artist) are of special interest, instinct with an
indefinable purity and depth of reverential tenderness elsewhere hardly
rivalled. But the picture, like that in S. Giovanni Crisostomo, with
which it is nearly contemporary, is almost more interesting from the
astonishing truth and beauty of its landscape portions. _These_ form
here a feature more important, perhaps, than in any work of that period;
the stratification and form of the rocks in the foreground, the palms
and other trees relieved against the lucid distance, and the
mountain-ranges of tender blue beyond, are as much beyond praise for
their beauty and their truth, as they have been beyond imitation from
the solidity and transparent strength of their execution! The minute
finish is Nature's, and the colouring more gem-like than gems.'

No praise can exceed that bestowed on Gian Bellini's colouring for its
intensity and transparency. 'Many of his draperies are like crystal of
the clearest and deepest colour,' declares an authority; and another
state