Page:The painters of Florence from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century (1915).djvu/258

218 the simple charm and grace that are Filippino's most attractive qualities.

During the next few years, the young master painted several of his finest works. In 1486, he finished a large picture of the enthroned Madonna crowned by angels and attended by the patrons of Florence, St. Zenobius and the Baptist, St. Bernard and St. Victor, which is now in the Uffizi. A companion for this altar-piece, which was destined for the Chapel of St. Bernard in the Palazzo Pubblico, had been originally given to Leonardo as far back as 1478, but now that he had left Florence the task was assigned to Filippino. The Florentine arms appear in the upper part of the picture, which is remarkable for its clear, luminous colour and for the lovely angel-faces that Filippino loves to repeat. The same transparent hues, the same exquisite boy-angels, appear in the great picture of the Vision of St. Bernard, which he painted in 1480, for Piero del Pugliese's chapel in the convent church of Campora, belonging to the Badia of Florence. During the siege of the city, in 1529, this altar-piece was removed for safety to the Badia, where it is still the ornament of that ancient shrine. Here Filippino has far excelled his father's version of the same subject, and never succeeded in rendering so beautiful an expression as that of St. Bernard as, sitting at his desk, he gazes in love and yearning at the mild Virgin-face which has suddenly dawned upon his prayer. To the same date we may ascribe the Madonna in S. Spirito, with the fine portraits of the donor, Tanai de' Nerli, and his wife, who are presented to her by St. Martin and St. Katherine, and a distant view of the Porta