at their
feet and legs were lost to sight in the proportion required by the point
of view; and so, too, with the spoils, vases, and other instruments and
ornaments, of which he showed only the lower part, concealing the upper,
as was required by the rules of perspective; which same consideration
was also observed with much diligence by Andrea degli Impiccati[30] in
the Last Supper, which is in the Refectory of S. Maria Nuova. Wherefore
it is seen that in that age these able masters set about investigating
with much subtlety, and imitating with great labour, the true properties
of natural objects. And this whole work, to put it briefly, is as
beautiful and as well wrought as it could be; so that if the Marquis
loved Andrea before, he loved and honoured him much more ever
afterwards.

[Illustration: MADONNA AND ANGELS

(_After the panel by =Andrea Mantegna=. Milan: Brera, 198_)

_Alinari_]

What is more, he became so famous thereby that Pope Innocent VIII,
hearing of his excellence in painting and of the other good qualities
wherewith he was so marvellously endowed, sent for him, even as he was
sending for many others, to the end that he might adorn with his
pictures the walls of the Belvedere, the building of which had just been
finished. Having gone to Rome, then, greatly favoured and recommended by
the Marquis, who made him a Chevalier in order to honour him the more,
he was received lovingly by that Pontiff and straightway commissioned to
paint a little chapel that is in the said place. This he executed with
diligence and love, and with such minuteness that the vaulting and the
walls appear rather illuminated than painted; and the largest figures
that are therein, which he painted in fresco like the others, are over
the altar, representing the Baptism of Christ by S. John, with many
people around, who are showing by taking off their clothes that they
wish to be baptized. Among these is one who, seeking to draw off a
stocking that has stuck to his leg through sweat, has crossed that leg
over the other and is drawing the stocking off inside out, with such
great effort and difficulty, that both are seen clearly in his face;
which bizarre fancy caused marvel to all who saw it in those times. It
is said that this Pope, by reason of his many affairs, did not pay
Mantegna as often as he would have liked, and that therefore, while
painting certain Virtues in terretta in that work, he made a figure of
Discretion among the