GARDENS OF FLORENTINE HUMANISTS 



family, in one great fresco of the Adoration of the 

 Magi. All through the summer months, while most 

 people were taking their ease in villeggiatura, Benozzo 

 toiled to satisfy the great man at Careggi, who called 

 him his amico singularissimo. The heat was intense 

 that August, and the precious ultramarine melted so 

 fast that the painter dared not leave his work for a 

 moment, even to go to Careggi. But sometimes of 

 an evening Piero would ride in to the city to see the 

 fresco, and offer a suggestion or make some criticism. 



" I am working with all my might," wrote Benozzo to 

 him, " and if I fail it will be from lack of knowledge, 

 not from want of zeal. God knows I have no other 

 thought in my heart but how best to perfect my work 

 and satisfy your wishes." 



On the chapel walls he set forth the great procession 

 winding its way across the Apennines, the Three 

 Kings and their glittering train in all the bravery of 

 rich attire and gallant bearing, with the white-walled 

 villas and bell-towers peeping out of the olive-woods 

 behind them. But he filled the sanctuary with troops 

 of bright angelic beings, with flower-like faces and 

 rainbow wings, chanting Glorias or kneeling in adora- 

 tion at the manger of Bethlehem. And in the back- 

 ground, instead of rugged Apennines and wooded 

 hillside, he painted stone pines and cypresses, growing 



tall and straight against the sky, a trellis laden with 



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