no THE FIRESIDE SPHINX 



In pictures of the Annunciation, the cat that oc 

 casionally lies curled at the Blessed Virgin s feet 

 lends to a subject, so fraught with spiritual signifi 

 cance, an air of homely simplicity. Her presence, 

 like that of the water jar, or the open basket heaped 

 with unfinished sewing, serves to indicate the modest 

 routine of daily life, interrupted so strangely by the 

 Archangel s message. There is an Annunciation 

 by Barocci which hangs in the Vatican Gallery, and 

 in which we see a fine grey cat sleeping undisturbed 

 upon the Virgin s work ; while in another painting 

 by the same artist at Budapest, a cat rests tran 

 quilly on a cushion, looking with half-shut, indiffer 

 ent eyes at the angelic visitor. Indifference is, in 

 fact, her role in art. The most riotous Annunciation 

 in all Christendom is a partly obliterated fresco by 

 Taddeo Zucchero, on the portico of the hospital of 

 Santa Maria Nuova in Florence. Scores of angels, 

 broad-pinioned, athletic, and, for the most part, 

 naked, accompany Gabriel on his mission. They 

 wing their tumultuous flight through the air, darting 

 hither and thither, playing clamorously upon every 

 kind of musical instrument, and circling about the 

 Blessed Maid, who stands, timid and frightened, in 

 the farthest corner of the room. On a chair close 

 at hand lies a cat, drowsily watching the celestial 

 multitude. She uncurls her limbs, and lifts her 

 head a little, as though startled from sleep, but that 



