i family the altar-piece of the high-altar,
which is a large work with many figures, and much esteemed by everyone,
above all for its very beautiful landscape. Now a thing that has
happened very often in our own day has caused this work to be held to be
a marvel. There is a tree painted by Girolamo in the picture, and
against it seems to rest the great chair on which the Madonna is seated.
This tree, which has the appearance of a laurel, projects considerably
with its branches over the chair, and between the branches, which are
not very thick, may be seen a sky so clear and beautiful, that the tree
seems to be truly a living one, graceful and most natural. Very often,
therefore, birds that have entered the church by various openings have
been seen to fly to this tree in order to perch upon it, and
particularly swallows, which had their nests among the beams of the
roof, and likewise their little ones. Many persons well worthy of
credence declare that they have seen this, among them Don Giuseppe
Mangiuoli of Verona, a person of saintly life, who has twice been
General of his Order and would not for anything in the world assert a
thing that was not absolutely true, and also Don Girolamo Volpini,
likewise a Veronese, and many others.

[Illustration: MADONNA AND CHILD WITH SAINTS

(_After the painting by =Girolamo dai Libri=. Verona: Museo Civico,
290_)

_Brogi_]

In S. Maria in Organo, where was the first work executed by Girolamo, he
also painted two Saints on the outer side of one of the folding doors of
the organ--the other being painted by Francesco Morone, his
companion--and on the inner side a Manger. And afterwards he painted
the picture that is opposite to his first work, containing the Nativity
of Our Lord, with shepherds, landscapes, and very beautiful trees; but
most lifelike and natural of all are two rabbits, which are executed
with such diligence that each separate hair may actually be seen in
them. He painted another altar-piece for the Chapel of the Buonalivi,
with a Madonna seated in the centre, two other figures, and some Angels
below, who are singing. Then, in the ornamental work made by Fra
Giovanni da Verona for the altar of the Sacrament, the same Girolamo
painted three little pictures after the manner of miniatures. In the
central picture is a Deposition from the Cross, with two little Angels,
and in those at the sides are painted six Martyrs, kneeling towards the
Sacrament, three in each pictur