680 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1920. 



an expert in attributions one must have a knowledge of the weaving 

 of canvas in different ages and countries, of the growth and structure 

 of woods in various lands, of the idiosyncrasies of artists in the paint- 

 ing of ears and fingers and other nonessentials, in short, of a thou- 

 sand details which I do not possess. It is a science demanding the 

 study of a lifetime, and not a very exact one if we may judge by 

 the incessant controversies among its greatest exponents; and too 

 often the experts seem to lose all feeling for the beauty of the pic- 

 tures, and to consider them as coldly as if they were insects to be 

 classified. I shall accept the attributions given; and, after all, they 

 are not so important, for the work of art is the thing, regardless 

 of its origin. 



First in time, and to my heart always first in importance, is the 

 Italian school. 



A few years ago our people had scant appreciation of the Italian 

 primitives. When Jarvis brought over his extensive collection he 

 found no purchaser, and what would to-day make his fortune proved 

 his ruin. The larger part is now the pride of Yale University, 

 while the remainder draws visitors from distant lands to the Cleve- 

 land Museum ; but Jarvis had to let them go for debt. Now, thanks 

 chiefly to the influence and example of the late John G. Johnson, of 

 Philadelphia, Italian primitives are eagerly sought, and single pic- 

 tures in the Jarvis collection would probably bring as much as he 

 received for the whole. 



One of the most delicious of the Italian primitives is Bastiano 

 Mainardi, best known by his beautiful and gracious fresco of the 

 Madonna della Cintola in the Baroncelli Chapel in Santa Croce at 

 Florence, depicting the Madonna dropping her girdle to the adoring 

 disciples as she is borne to heaven by choiring angels. 



Mainardi continued to paint until 1513, and witnessed the revolu- 

 tion in art wrought by the genius of Leonardo, Michelangelo, and 

 Raphael; but the achievements of those supreme masters affected 

 him not at all, and to the last he continued to paint in the old sweet 

 primitive way of the early Florentines. 



Mr. Johnson has given us one of his most delightful and charac- 

 teristic pictures. It is a charming work in a marvelous state of 

 preservation, fresh as when it came from the master's easel. The 

 beautiful Mother, clothed in a robe of brilliant red with dark blue 

 embroidered mantle, holds the infant Christ on her lap, while with 

 the other hand she caresses the infant John the Baptist, whose hands 

 are clasped in adoration as he gazes upon the divine child. Jesus 

 lifts his little hands in blessing, while an angel bearing annuncia- 

 tion lilies is looking on. To the left there is a Florentine landscape. 



This picture is probably the original from which the larger and 

 more pretentious work in the Louvre was evolved. In repeating a 



