“Here it is!” and they paused before a large altar-piece.  “You at once feel the unique character of the Madonna; the stateliness of the composition, the exquisite harmony and strength of the color.—­What is it, Betty?”

“I was only whispering to Barbara that these lovely angels, with musical instruments, who are sitting on the steps of the throne are those that we have seen so often in Boston art-shops.”

“And they are indeed lovely!” replied Mr. Sumner.  “I will allow you to look at another picture in this room which I had forgotten as we came hither—­for it is by Carpaccio—­turn, and look! this Presentation in the Temple!  See those musical angels also, sitting on the steps of the Madonna’s throne!  I am sure the middle one is familiar to you all, for it is continually reproduced, and a great favorite.  Of what other painter do these angels remind you?”

“Of Fra Bartolommeo,” quickly replied two or three voices.

“And I am sure,” continued Mr. Sumner, “that Fra Bartolommeo never painted them until after he had visited Venice, and had learned from the study of these Venetian masters how great an aid to composition and what beautiful features in a picture they are.  And Raphael never painted them until he had seen Fra Bartolommeo’s work.

“But now look at Bellini’s Madonna” as he turned again to the picture, “for she is as individual as Botticelli’s, and is as easily recognizable.  Note her stately pride of beauty, produced chiefly by the way in which her neck rises from her shoulders, and in which her head is poised upon it.  Everything else, however, is in perfect keeping—­from the general attitude and lifted hand to the half-drooping eyelids.  Of what is she so proud?  She is holding her Child that the world may worship Him.  Of herself she has no thought.  Botticelli’s Madonna is brooding over the sorrows of herself and Son:  Bellini’s is lost in the noble pride that He has come to save man.  The color of the picture is wondrously beautiful.

“Please note in your little books this artist’s Madonnas in San Zaccaria and Church of the Frari, and go to see them to-morrow morning if you can; they are his masterpieces.  I will not talk any more now.  If you wish to stay here longer, it will be well to go back and look at the very earliest pictures again, or others that you will find by Carpaccio and the Bellini brothers.”

Not long after, they got together one evening to talk about Titian and Giorgione.  They had seen, of course, their pictures in the Florentine galleries, and Titian’s Sacred and Profane Love in the Borghese Gallery, Rome; and were familiar with the rich color and superb Venetian figures and faces.

“What a pity that Giorgione died so young!” exclaimed Margery.