[Illustration: VEROCCHIO: BAPTISM (detail of Leonardo's Angel)]
The Burne-Jones type had rounder, more inquiring eyes, thinner
cheeks, a sadder mouth, a more willowy figure. It appears often in
long, flowing hair, with swirling drapery, and dramatic action. At
other times one sees it as a romantic type consumed by a fever of
passionate sentiment. The Annunciation shown herewith is not a very
good illustration of this. The Madonna has a dull stare in her eyes
as though she was something of an invalid, and even the angel has a
semi-malarious look. But the melancholy, the sadness, the morbidity,
so apparent in Botticelli are also apparent here. The picture is
a fine example of the painter's decorative sense. It has been put
together with much skill. Notice the architecture, the passageway at
back, the bas reliefs, the repeated lines of the draperies in both the
Madonna and the angel. One could almost wish it in stained glass, so
beautifully would it fill an upright window.
Every painter of Botticelli's rank in Italy had a score or less of
followers, and among them all there was never any dearth of sentimental
Madonnas and pathetic angels. Florence held no monopoly of the subject.