oy, at that moment turning about to
receive some fruit presented by a child angel. There are two
duplicates of this picture in other galleries.

The Zingarella (the Gypsy) is so called from the gypsy turban worn by
the Madonna. The mother, supposed to be painted from the artist's
wife, sits with the child asleep on her lap. With motherly tenderness
she bends so closely over him that her forehead touches his little
head. It is unfortunate that this beautiful work is not better known.
It is in the Naples Gallery.

A comparison of these pictures discloses a remarkable variety in
action and grouping. On the other hand, the Madonnas are quite similar
in general type. With the exception of the Zingarella, who is the most
motherly, they are all in a playful mood. The same playfulness, but
of a more sweet and motherly kind, lights the face of the Madonna
della Scala. The composition is somewhat in the portrait style,
showing the mother in half length, seated under a sort of canopy. The
babe clings closely to her neck, turning about at the spectator with a
glance half shy and half mischievous. His coyness awakens a smile of
tender amusement in the gentle, young face above him.

The picture has an interesting history. It was originally painted in
fresco over the eastern gate of Parma, where Vasari saw and admired
it. In after years, the wall which it decorated was incorporated into
a small new church, of which it formed the rear wall. To accommodate
the high level of the Madonna, the building was somewhat elevated,
and, being entered by a flight of steps, was known as S. Maria della
Scala (of the staircase). The name attached itself to the picture
even after the church was destroyed (in 1812), and the fresco
removed to the town gallery. The marks of defacement which it bears
are due to the votive offerings which were formerly fastened upon
it,--among them, a silver crown worn by the Madonna as late as the
eighteenth century. Though such scars injure its artistic beauty, they
add not a little to the romantic interest which invests it.

[Illustration: CORREGGIO.--MADONNA DELLA SCALA.]

Beside such names as Raphael and Correggio, history furnishes but one
other worthy of comparison for the portrayal of the Mater Amabilis--it
is Titian. His Madonna is by no means uniformly motherly. There are
times when we look in vain for any softening of her aristocratic
features; when her stately dignity seems quite incompatible with
demonst