UMBRIA 



In the arabesques surrounding the Vatican frescoes are 

 rats and squirrels, birds and snakes. In the Vemis,Ju7io 

 and Ceres (Rome, Villa Farnesina) there is a good hawk 

 with outstretched wings and tail expanded like a fan. 

 Ordinarily he is not successful in his painting of birds in 

 flight, or not sufficiently rigorous in judging the work 

 of his assistants. In the Meeting of Rachel and Jacob 

 the animals are full of eager life, especially the rams 

 impatient for their turn to drink. The cranes in the 

 cartoon for the Miraculous Draught of Fishes (South 

 Kensington Museum), with their red-capped heads 

 bordered with white, are good. The fish also are more 

 than suggestions of fishiness in the grand manner ; 

 the skate and the dogfish are easily recognisable. 

 The goldfinch appears in the hand of the infant 

 Baptist in the painting which is usually called from it 

 the Madonna del Cardellino (Florence, Uffizi). A 

 supposed locust, inspired by a fatal curiosity, walks 

 up to St. John the Baptist in a school picture in the 

 same gallery. 



In Signorelli's Virgin and Child with Saints 

 (National Gallery) five goats are painted. One of 

 them stands up against a tree and tears at the wood 

 of a branch. It will be remembered that Margaritone, 

 more than two hundred years before, had noticed 



practically the same action. 



65 E 



