Art and Science 



eleventh, the Nativity, though rather better, 

 is still not remarkable. 



The twelfth, the Purification, is absurdly 

 bad, but I do not know whether the expres- 

 sion of strong personal dislike to the Virgin 

 which the High Priest wears is intended as 

 prophetic, or whether it is the result of incom- 

 petence, or whether it is merely a smile gone 

 wrong in the baking. It is amusing to find 

 Marocco, who has not been strict about archaeo- 

 logical accuracy hitherto, complain here that 

 there is an anachronism, inasmuch as some 

 young ecclesiastics are dressed as they would 

 be at present, and one of them actually carries 

 a wax candle. This is not as it should be ; in 

 works like those at Oropa, where implicit re- 

 liance is justly placed on the earnest endea- 

 vours that have been so successfully made to 

 thoroughly and carefully and patiently ensure 

 the accuracy of the minutest details, it is a 

 pity that even a single error should have 

 escaped detection ; this, however, has most 

 unfortunately happened here, and Marocco 

 feels it his duty to put us on our guard. He 



explains that the mistake arose from the 



129 i 



