ce;
but there is one opposite by another hand which dwarfs it.

There is also a work of sculpture near it, in the same wall, which
draws away the eyes--Donatello's "Annunciation". The experts now think
this to belong to the sculptor's middle period, but Vasari thought it
earlier, and makes it the work which had most influence in establishing
his reputation; while according to the archives it was placed in the
church before Donatello was living. Vasari ought to be better informed
upon this point than usual, since it was he who was employed in the
sixteenth century to renovate S. Croce, at which time the chapel for
whose altar the relief was made--that of the Cavalcanti family--was
removed. The relief now stands unrelated to anything. Every detail of
it should be examined; but Alfred Branconi will see to that. The stone
is the grey pietra serena of Fiesole, and Donatello has plentifully,
but not too plentifully, lightened it with gold, which is exactly what
all artists who used this medium for sculpture should have done. By a
pleasant tactful touch the designer of the modern Donatello monument
in S. Lorenzo has followed the master's lead.

Almost everything of Donatello's that one sees is in turn the best; but
standing before this lovely work one is more than commonly conscious
of being in the presence of a wonderful creator. The Virgin is wholly
unlike any other woman, and She is surprising and modern even for
Donatello with his vast range. The charming terra-cotta boys above
are almost without doubt from the same hand, but they cannot have
been made for this monument.

To the della Robbias we come in the Castellani chapel in the right
transept, which has two full-length statues by either Luca or
Andrea, in the gentle glazed medium, of S. Francis and S. Bernard,
quite different from anything we have seen or shall see, because
isolated. The other full-size figures by these masters--such as
those at Impruneta--are placed against the wall. The S. Bernard,
on the left as one enters the chapel, is far the finer. It surely
must be one of the most beautiful male draped figures in the world.

The next chapel, at the end of the transept, was once enriched by
Giotto frescoes, but they no longer exist. There are, however, an
interesting but restored series of scenes in the life of the Virgin
by Taddeo Gaddi, Giotto's godson; a Madonna ascending to heaven,
by Mainardi, who was Ghirlandaio's pupil, and so satisfactory a one
that