comes to a home, legend says, three beautiful young
girls come to take care of the baby all through its life, but no one
ever sees these young girls. Each one has a strange work to do. One,
called Clotho, carries a spindle on which is wound flax. The second,
named Lachesis, twists a thread from the spindle, called the thread of
life. And Atropos, the third, has a pair of shears ready to cut the
thread of life.

A funny story is told about Michael Angelo when he designed this
picture of "The Fates." An old woman annoyed the artist very much by
coming every day to see him. She insisted that he should appoint her
son a special place in the fighting line in the seige of Florence
(1529). Michael Angelo took revenge on the old woman by using her as a
model for all of the women in his "Fates." And that is why Michael
Angelo's fates are old women instead of young girls, as legend says
they are.

[Illustration: Courtesy of Pratt Institute

FIG. 12. THE FATES. MICHAEL ANGELO. PITTI PALACE, FLORENCE]

THE MADONNA OF THE CHAIR

RAPHAEL SANZIO (1483-1520)

We like to believe that Raphael, in one of his daily walks in the
country, really did see this mother and her two little boys sitting in
a doorway. Of course he must paint them, and having no paper with him
he rolled up a barrel and made a sketch on the head of it. The story
says that this barrel was once a part of a great oak-tree that stood
by the hut of an old man, a hermit up in the mountains. And the mother
of the two boys, when a little girl, used to go to see the old man. He
loved these two--the little girl and the big oak-tree--and called them
his daughters.

He used to say that some day they would both be famous. That was more
than four hundred years ago, and to-day this picture of "The Madonna
of the Chair" is one of the most famous Madonna pictures. It is found
in almost every home in America and is a treasure that belongs to all
of us though it hangs in a gallery at Florence, Italy.

We know, too, that Raphael did not let any of his helpers work on "The
Madonna of the Chair"--in Italian, "Madonna della Sedia." He painted
every brush stroke himself, which makes it still more dear to us.

[Illustration: Courtesy of Pratt Institute

FIG. 13. MADONNA OF THE CHAIR. RAPHAEL. PITTI PALACE, FLORENCE]

THE WOLF AND FOX HUNT

PETER PAUL RUBENS (1577-1640)

The stables of Peter Paul Rubens were known the country over. No
prince in the land had mor