ANDREA DEL SARTO (1486-1531)

One of the most beautiful pictures of "St. Agnes and her lamb" was
painted by Andrea del Sarto,--"Andrea the faultless," as he was
called. It is in the cathedral at Pisa.

St. Agnes was a Roman girl who lived three hundred years after the
birth of Jesus. Her father and mother were heathens, but their little
daughter became a Christian when a mere child. She did not tell her
parents that she loved Jesus, but when she refused to worship idols
they knew that she had become a disciple of the Master Christ. This
made them so angry that they handed her over to the Roman rulers to be
punished. These wicked men tried in every way to persuade Agnes to bow
down to their gods made of wood and stone. When she would not bow down
to them they tried to force her to worship the idols.

They gave her over to the soldiers and ordered them to take her
clothes away, but immediately her hair grew and covered her, and
angels came and gave her a shining white garment. She even refused to
marry the son of the Roman magistrate. The son thought that he could
compel her to consent to the marriage after she was persecuted, but he
was struck blind when he tried to see her.

When St. Agnes saw what great sorrow came to the home of the young
nobleman because he was blind, she prayed for him and his eyesight
came again. His father was so thankful that he pleaded for her life,
but the people said,

"She is a sorceress: she must die." Then they tried to burn her, but
the flames burned her tormentors and did her no harm. At last she was
killed with a sword. She is always represented with a lamb.

Michael Angelo wrote to Raphael about Andrea del Sarto: "There is a
little fellow in Florence who, if he were employed as you are upon
great works, would make it hot for you."

[Illustration: Courtesy of Pratt Institute

FIG. 43. ST. AGNES AND HER LAMB. ANDREA DEL SARTO. PISA CATHEDRAL,
ITALY]

WHISTLER'S MOTHER

JAMES ABBOTT MCNEILL WHISTLER (1834-1903)

The story about Whistler and his mother is rather a sad one. He went
to Europe when he was a young painter and told his mother as he
started that he would come home to her when he had made a success. But
he never made a success in money. He painted this picture of his
mother and for twenty years tried to sell it. He offered it to his own
country--the United States--for five hundred dollars. We were so
stupid that we did not know that the picture was a master