. Sacred and legendary art . e at her feet; on the rightof St. Barbara stands St. Catherine, and on the left St. MaryMagdalene. (Siena, San Domenico.) 4. Cosimo Roselli. St. Barbara, holding the tower in onehand, in the other the palm, stands upon her father, who isliterally sprawling on the ground under her feet; on one sidestands St. John the Baptist, on the other the is a strange, disa-greeable picture, verycharacteristic of the ec-centric painter : but forthe introduction of thetower, I should havetaken it for a St. Cath-erine trampling on theEmperor Maximin. [Inth
. Sacred and legendary art . e at her feet; on the rightof St. Barbara stands St. Catherine, and on the left St. MaryMagdalene. (Siena, San Domenico.) 4. Cosimo Roselli. St. Barbara, holding the tower in onehand, in the other the palm, stands upon her father, who isliterally sprawling on the ground under her feet; on one sidestands St. John the Baptist, on the other the is a strange, disa-greeable picture, verycharacteristic of the ec-centric painter : but forthe introduction of thetower, I should havetaken it for a St. Cath-erine trampling on theEmperor Maximin. [Inthe Academy, Florence.] 5. Michael Coxis. is representedholding a feather in herhand. In two pictures(old German) it is dis-tinctly a white ostrichfeather; in others, it isa peacocks feather. Ina Madonna picture byVan der Goes, the Virginis seated with the Childon her knee ; two angelscrown her ; on the right,St. Catherine, with thesword and part of the wheel lying before her, presents an apple to the Infant Christ;. St. Barbara (Cosimo Roselli) 488 THE VIRGIN PATRONESSES on the left is St. Bar-bara, with a book onher knee, and holdinga peacocks feather inher hand. The wholeexquisite for finish andbeauty of workmanship.(Uffizi, Florence.) It is usual in a sa-cred group {Sacra Con-veisazione) to find and St. Bar-bara in companionship,particularly in GermanArt; and then it is clearto me that they repre-sent the two powerswhich in the middleages divided the Chris-tian world betweenthem. St. Catherineappears as the patronessof schoolmen, of theo-logical learning, study,and seclusion ; St. Bar-bara as patroness of theknight and the man-at-arms — of fortitude andactive courage. Or, in other words, they represent the activeand the contemplative life, so often contrasted in the mediaevalworks of Art. ( Vide Legends of the Madonna.) There is a beautiful and well-known drawing by J. vanEyck, in which St. Barbara is seated in front, with outspreadample drapery and
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