s, and
perspectives, and, what was much more important, free from censure,
and that the art which he had given up was quite the contrary of his
new one, since the former imitated flesh and blood, and the latter
made both blood and flesh; and now, having good wine, he heard
himself praised all day long, whereas before he used to hear nothing
but censure.

[Illustration: MARIOTTO ALBERTINELLI: THE SALUTATION

(_Florence: Uffizi, 1259. Panel_)]

However, having grown weary of this as well, and ashamed of the
baseness of his calling, he returned to painting, and executed
pictures and paintings for the houses of citizens in Florence. For
Giovan Maria Benintendi he painted three little scenes with his own
hand; and for the house of the Medici, at the election of Leo X, he
painted a round picture of his arms, in oils, with Faith, Hope, and
Charity, which hung for a long time over the door of their palace.
He undertook to make, in the Company of S. Zanobi, near the
Chapter-house of S. Maria del Fiore, a panel-picture of the
Annunciation, which he executed with great labour. For this he
caused special windows to be made, wishing to work on the spot, in
order to be able to make the views recede, where they were high and
distant, by lowering the tones, or to bring them forward, at his
pleasure. Now he had conceived the idea that pictures which have no
relief and force, combined with delicacy, are of no account; but
since he knew that they cannot be made to stand out from the surface
without shadows, which, if they are too dark, remain indistinct,
while, if they are delicate, they have no force, he was eager to
combine this delicacy with a certain method of treatment to which up
to that time, so it seemed to him, art had not attained in any
satisfactory manner. Wherefore, looking on this work as an
opportunity for accomplishing this, he set himself, to this end, to
make extraordinary efforts, which may be recognized in a figure
of God the Father, which is in the sky, and in some little children,
who stand out from the panel in strong relief against a dark
background in perspective that he made there with a ceiling in the
form of a barrel-shaped vault, which, with its arches curving and
its lines diminishing to a point, recedes inwards in such a manner
that it appears to be in relief; besides which, there are some
angels scattering flowers as they fly, that are very graceful.

This work was painted out and painted in again man