. Bernard
holding a pen and book. The painting is in a good state of preservation.

[Illustration: [_Pitti, Florence_

MADONNA AND SAINTS]

The rather insignificant type of head of S. Joseph occurs again in
another "Holy Family," which belongs approximately to the same
period,--that of the Rospigliosi Gallery in Rome. As far as beauty and
tender grace go, this is the most successful of all his Madonnas. The
daring repetition of the same features with darker colouring in the S.
John behind her, I have already drawn attention to. The draperies are
painted with great freedom, and a fine sweep of broad fold. They are
shot, as in the Corsini _Tondo_, with gold in the high lights.
Insignificant as is the Child in all these Holy Families, there is at
the same time something pathetic and winning in the earnest, careworn
little face.

[Illustration: [_Rospigliosi Gallery, Rome_

HOLY FAMILY]

Very different is the type Signorelli has adopted for the Christ in the
Uffizi "Holy Family," No. 1291, which must be placed somewhere about
this time, or a very little later. Here He is represented with a certain
nobility of feature and gesture, although self-conscious and
unchildlike. The Greek profile of the Virgin is almost identical with
that of the above-mentioned Rospigliosi picture, while the powerful head
of S. Joseph carries us back to the figures in the "Circumcision." The
Virgin sits uneasily, ill-balanced, and with badly-modelled feet, but
the beauty of the face makes amends for these defects. It is a picture
full of noble qualities, both of feeling and technique, and it has
besides a special importance by reason of the difference of colour, so
much less heavy than usual. The flesh tints are very pale, and the
shadows a silvery grey, and the whole tone is much lighter than in any
of the preceding pictures. The composition is specially fine, the
attention being concentrated without effort on the central figure of the
Child, to which the other two serve as a kind of frame.

[Illustration: [Uffizi, Florence

HOLY FAMILY]

I cannot leave this series of early works, which includes so many
_Tondos_, without drawing attention to the excellence of Signorelli's
composition in this difficult form. The figures fill the space naturally
and without any artificial bending of the heads to fit the shape; there
is a sense of space, and ease of grouping, and the large sweeping lines
of the draperies follow most harmoniously the curve