kground one can
discern the prancing horses of the Magi's suite; a staircase with
figures ascending and descending; the rocks and trees of Tuscany;
and looking at it one cannot but ponder upon the fatality which seems
to have pursued this divine and magical genius, ordaining that almost
everything that he put forth should be either destroyed or unfinished:
his work in the Castello at Milan, which might otherwise be an eighth
wonder of the world, perished; his "Last Supper" at Milan perishing;
his colossal equestrian statue of Francesco Sforza broken to pieces;
his sculpture lost; his Palazzo Vecchio battle cartoon perished;
this picture only a sketch. Even after long years the evil fate still
persists, for in 1911 his "Gioconda" was stolen from the Louvre by
madman or knave.

Among the other pictures in this room is the rather hot "Adoration
of the Magi," by Cosimo Rosselli (1439-1507), over the Leonardo
"Annunciation," a glowing scene of colour and animation: this Cosimo
being the Cosimo from whom Piero di Cosimo took his name, and an
associate of Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Perugino, and Luca Signorelli
on the Sixtine Chapel frescoes. On the left wall is Uccello's battle
piece, No. 52, very like that in our National Gallery: rich and
glorious as decoration, but quite bearing out Vasari's statement that
Uccello could not draw horses. Uccello was a most laborious student
of animal life and so absorbed in the mysteries of perspective that
he preferred them to bed; but he does not seem to have been able to
unite them. He was a perpetual butt of Donatello. It is told of him
that having a commission to paint a fresco for the Mercato Vecchio
he kept the progress of the work a secret and allowed no one to
see it. At last, when it was finished, he drew aside the sheet for
Donatello, who was buying fruit, to admire. "Ah, Paolo," said the
sculptor reproachfully, "now that you ought to be covering it up,
you uncover it."

There remain a superb nude study of Venus by Lorenzo di Credi,
No. 3452--one of the pictures which escaped Savonarola's bonfire
of vanities, and No. 1305, a Virgin and Child with various Saints
by Domenico Veneziano (1400-1461), who taught Gentile da Fabriano,
the teacher of Jacopo Bellini. This picture is a complete contrast to
the Uccello: for that is all tapestry, richness, and belligerence,
and this is so pale and gentle, with its lovely light green, a rare
colour in this gallery.

CHAPTER X

The Uff