Page:The painters of Florence from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century (1915).djvu/102

78 slender form and expressive face are characteristic of Starnina's followers. Another Madonna at Munich belongs evidently to a somewhat later date, and resembles Gentile da Fabriano's work, both in the attitude of the Virgin, who, with one knee on the ground, adores the child whom she supports with her arm, and in the lavish use of gold embroidery on her robe. Both of these have the full rounded foreheads and placid gaze that distinguish all Masolino's figures.

About the year 1423, Masolino, who was then living in the parish of S. Felicità in Florence, was entrusted with the task of decorating a chapel in the Carmine, which had been lately built by Felice Brancacci. This eminent citizen was sent, in 1422, on an embassy to the Sultan of Babylon, to obtain certain privileges for Florentine merchants, and in a will which he made before his departure he speaks of his new foundation, but does not mention the frescoes, which were, apparently, not yet begun. During the next two years Masolino and his young assistant, Masaccio, decorated the roof and upper part of the chapel walls with frescoes of the four Evangelists and the Call, Denial, and Ship of St. Peter. These subjects, which adorned the ceiling and lunettes on the upper part of the walls, have been destroyed, while the twelve frescoes on the lower walls and pilasters remain. Three of these frescoes, the Fall of Adam and Eve, the Preaching of Peter, and the double subject of the Raising of Tabitha and Healing of the Cripple at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, have been ascribed by many of the best critics to Masolino, and certainly bear strong marks of his