CRIVELLI TO VERONESE 



palace, chirping and twittering lustily. But Aldobran- 

 dino commanded his servants to hold the cage out of 

 the window, giving it a good swing before setting it on 

 the sill. Basso, terrified, shouted and bawled, but to no 

 purpose, and all the town rushed to the square to see so 

 joyful a sight. ^ 



In the picture of the Beato Ferretti there are two 

 ducks in a pool at the corner ; one is still a duckling, 

 and the downy little head is delightfully rendered. A 

 goldfinch is perching in a tree above in an unusual 

 position, foreshortened, just showing the bright colour 

 of the head over the back. One in exactly the same 

 position is to be seen in the St. John Baptist panel of 

 the composite altar-piece, No. 788. 



In another picture, the Virgin and Child between 

 Saints, or Madonna del/a Rondine, a swallow has 

 alighted on the upper ledge of the throne. The swallow 

 — and the martin, which is often confounded with it — 

 has always been affectionately regarded on account of 

 its faithful return to the old locality,^ and the care for its 

 young, which, from its social habit, is so easily observed. 



1 Novelle, No. VI. 



2 Countess Cesaresco mentions "the ancient custom of carrying a 

 wooden swallow from house to house and asking for largesse in honour 

 of the return of the spring." " I do not know," she says, " that there is 

 an older piece of folklore on record which is still in current usq."— Outdoor 

 Life in Greek and Rojnan Poets. 191 1. 



85 



