ANIMAL LIFE IN ITALIAN PAINTING 



to this description, but that in the foreground, though 

 long in the leg, has a conventional pattern suggestive 

 of tapestry. This, however, may be only a little joke 

 on Gozzoli's part. 



The cheetah or chita seems to be the animal 

 (lonza) mentioned by Dante in the beginning of the 

 Inferno, and translated "panther" by Gary — 



" Scarce the ascent 

 Began, when lo ! a panther, nimble, light, 

 And cover'd with a speckled skin, appear'd."^ 



In a fresco by Andrea da Firenze (Pisa, Campo- 

 santo), two cheetahs sit up to St. Ranieri in the 

 attitude of the denizens of the Noah's arks of our 

 childhood, but with the bended knee of the human 

 suppliant. The scene is laid in Nazareth, and the 

 beasts are described in the inscription as lonze feroce? 



In this picture of Gozzoli's it may be noticed that the 

 leopard's leash is tied round the keeper's right arm and 

 held in his left hand, so that by merely opening the 

 finders the straininof animal would be released. 



In India at the present day they are usually carried 

 on a light cart, and kept blindfolded until their prey 



^ Inferno, i. 28 — 



" Una lonza leggiera e presto molto 

 Che di pel maculato era coperta." 

 * A. Venturi, Storin dell' Arte italiatia, vol. v. p. 812. 



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