qualities, which are specially appropriate to the character of the particular subject under consideration.  There is, indeed, a peculiar value in low relief, for purposes of idealization.  It has an effect of spiritualizing the material, and giving the figures an ethereal appearance.  Andrea profited by this advantage, and, in addition, showed great delicacy of judgment in subduing curves and retaining simplicity in his lines.

We may see all this in the popular tabernacle which he designed, and of which there are at least five, and probably more, copies.  The Madonna kneels prayerfully before her babe, who lies on the ground by some lily stalks.  In the sky above are two cherubim and hands holding a crown.  There is a girlish grace in the kneeling figure, and a rare sweetness in the face, entirely free from sentimentality.  A severe simplicity of drapery, and the absence of all unnecessary accessories, are points of excellence worth noting.  The composition was sometimes varied by the introduction of different figures in the sky, other cherubim, or the head of the Almighty, with the Dove.  Only second in popularity to this was Andrea’s circular medallion of the Nativity, with the Virgin and St. John in adoration.  There are two copies of this in the Florentine Academy, one in the Louvre, and one in Berlin.  The effect of crowding so many figures into a small compass is not so pleasing as the classical simplicity of the former composition.

[Illustration:  ANDREA DELLA ROBBIA.—­MADONNA IN ADORATION.]

Contemporary with the Della Robbias was another Florentine family of artists equally numerous.  Of the five Rossellini, Antonio is of greatest interest to us, as a sculptor who had some qualities in common with the famous porcelain workers.  Like them, he had a special gift for the Madonna in Adoration.  We can see this subject in his best style of treatment, in the beautiful Nativity in San Miniato, “which may be regarded as one of the most charming productions of the best period of Tuscan art."[5] The tourist will consider it a rich reward for his climb to the quaint old church on the ramparts overhanging the Arno.  If perchance his wanderings lead him, on another occasion, to the hill rising on the opposite side, he will find, in the Cathedral of Fiesole, a fitting companion in the altar-piece by Mino da Fiesole.  This is a decidedly unique rendering of the Madre Pia.  The Virgin kneels in a niche, facing the spectator, adoring the Christ-child, who sits on the steps below her, turning to the little Baptist, who kneels at one side on a still lower step.

[Footnote 5:  C.C.  Perkins, in Tuscan Sculptors.]

[Illustration:  LORENZO DI CREDI.—­NATIVITY.]