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 singnlarissimo. 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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