_Gregorio Schiavone_ (Paduan: painted about 1470).
A picture of historical interest, as being the earliest in the
Gallery of the Paduan School. Gregorio, the Sclavonian (_i.e._
Dalmatian), though not, one must think, a very good artist, was proud
of his master, and this picture is signed (on the little card below
the throne) "the work of Schiavone, the pupil of Squarcione." That
master's style was distinguished by its _sculpturesque_ quality; and
in the works of a somewhat clumsy pupil like Gregorio ("this Dalmatian
clodhopper," Morelli calls him) one sees this tendency carried to
excess; the outline of the Madonna's face here, and still more in
904, is quite grotesquely sharp. Another characteristic of the school
is exemplified in both Gregorio's pictures--the choice, namely, of
antique embellishments, of bas-reliefs, and festoons of fruit, in the
accessories. Thus note here the bas-relief behind the Madonna's chair,
and in 904 the festoons of fruit upon the arch.