as drawn adorned with grass
and flowers, as though to denote that at the touch of the feet and
precious blood of Jesus Christ, the bare heights were reclad in rich
and verdant beauty. Although marred by restoration--for the eye is
offended by the inharmonious contrast of tints, the effect of
unskilful retouching,--we may consider this painting as one of the
most beautiful works which Fra Angelico has left us. Grandeur and
simplicity are marvellously blended with freshness of colour, and
correctness of design with most intense expression and pure sentiment."

The landscape in the background shows the usual defects of
perspective, but the mountains shade off delicately against the
distant blue of the sky, the plain is illuminated with infinite
flowerets, and a rich verdure clothes the summit of the sacred hill.
In the pilasters of the frame are small figures of Saints, some of the
best and finest that Fra Angelico ever painted, and in the gables
above the three arches Lorenzo Monaco has represented the "Noli me
tangere," the "Resurrection," and the "Maries at the Sepulchre."

Here the question naturally arises: Why should Lorenzo Monaco have
limited his work solely to the three little scenes in the gables of
the frame, while Fra Angelico has given us the beautiful little
figures of the pilasters which show all his peculiar grace and
refinement? Why did an artist capable of producing those admirable
saints, leave to Fra Lorenzo Monaco the office (all the worse if he
had been, as some say, his master) of finishing the work with only
those three insignificant little scenes? And can we suppose that Fra
Lorenzo Monaco, already at the apex of his fame, should accept, and,
still more strange, be content with a secondary part in Fra Giovanni's
work?

The answer is more simple than it at first appears. There is no doubt
that the scenes in the Gothic gables are the work of the Camaldolese
monk, and as we cannot logically infer that they were specially
painted by him for Fra Angelico's picture, we must suppose, and indeed
firmly believe them to have been added at a later time. In fact, the
form of the foliated Gothic decoration lacks character and does not
harmonize with the pilasters which clearly show, too, a subsequent
adaptation of the frame. The finials of the pilasters do not match the
style of the gables, in fact it is clear that the Gothic
ornamentation, taken from some painting by Lorenzo Monaco, was at a
more recent da