. Francia's masterpiece; an essay on the beginnings of the Immaculate conception in art. com-parison. There is a certain similarity betweenthe heads in this and the long-forgotten lunetteat Lucca; the Crown of Thorns in both is in thesame style; but in the Saint Job picture the earis hidden. Whether by Francia or not one thingis certain: that this is the lunette which hasalways gone along with the tavola and course a lunette would certainly have beenordered from Francia, and if this is not his work,or the face only is his work, we can but concludethat he was prevented by death from
. Francia's masterpiece; an essay on the beginnings of the Immaculate conception in art. com-parison. There is a certain similarity betweenthe heads in this and the long-forgotten lunetteat Lucca; the Crown of Thorns in both is in thesame style; but in the Saint Job picture the earis hidden. Whether by Francia or not one thingis certain: that this is the lunette which hasalways gone along with the tavola and course a lunette would certainly have beenordered from Francia, and if this is not his work,or the face only is his work, we can but concludethat he was prevented by death from finishingthe commission. Once assured that the lunetteis not Francias, we should be justified in placingthe altar-piece in the last days of his life, perhapsin considering it his very last work.^ One other point connected with description. Itis singular that this noble and important pictureshould be unsigned. Francia signed his pictures ^ Francia died on the 5th January, 1517. I have unearthed,and shall presently produce evidence to show that this altar-piece was painted after THE CRUCIFIXION FROM ST. JOBS, BOLOGNA ATTRIBUTION OF THE PICTURE 9 freely, adding sometimes abundant detail, and notinfrequently dating. This altar-piece is certainlythe most considerable one of his without the picture is his there can, of course, be nomanner of doubt. It suffices, as Mazzarosa hasindicated, to compare the cherub at the feet of theEternal Father in this picture with the cherub atthe feet of the Crowning Saviour in his signedaltar-piece in the Duomo of Ferrara, to see atonce that the two works are by the same hand.^Look at the San Frediano altar-piece and see howawkwardly close the feet of the Franciscan are tothe bottom of the picture. And then look againat the Ferrara altar-piece and see how much the ^ A photograph of the Ferrara altar-piece is here reproducedso as to give the reader an opportunity of making the compari-son. Francias signature is on a small scroll
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectmaryblessedvirginsai
