The _Madonna and Child and St. John_ (No. 1296), which was formerly
put forward by one critic as a “work of Botticelli’s early years, but
showing collaboration,” and which is still catalogued as being by the
master himself, is now generally recognised as a school picture only.
The background is formed by cypresses and rosebushes. The circular
panel (No. 1295), which is still credited officially to Sandro, is only
a copy of the _Madonna of the Magnificat_ now in the Uffizi at Florence
(No. 1267 _Bis_).
Authenticity cannot be claimed for the _Fragment of a Predella_ (No.
1300), containing the figures of St. Peter Martyr, the Virgin, St.
Elizabeth, Christ and the Magdalene, David, St. Francis, St. Dominic,
and St. John the Baptist. The _Scene from the History of Virginia_
(No. 1662A or No. 1662 _Bis_), a cassone front, and the _Portrait of
a Young Man_ (No. 1663), which was purchased in 1882 for £600, are
catalogued as being by an unknown Florentine painter. These have,
however, been included by Mr. Berenson among the numerous pictures
painted by the nameless imitator of Botticelli, whom the eminent
critic has identified under the significant name of “Amico di Sandro,”
_i.e._ “The friend of Sandro Botticelli.” The _Madonna and Child
adored by Angels_ (No. 1300A), bequeathed by the Baroness Nathaniel de
Rothschild, is regarded by the same high authority as a copy by Jacopo
del Sellaio (1442?-1493), a pupil of Fra Filippo Lippi and an imitator
of Botticelli, of a lost picture by “Amico di Sandro.” The unbeautiful
_Venus_ (No. 1299) from the Cardinal Fesch and Campana collections
(which is very similar to a picture (No. 916) in the National Gallery),
the _Esther crowned by Ahasuerus_ (No. 1643A), and the _St. Jerome_
(No. 1658), must also be included among the mediocre works of Sellaio.
In the same group of Florentine painters is placed Francesco Botticini
(1446-1497), who worked under and was influenced by Cosimo Rosselli
(1437?-1507); _the Virgin in Glory between the Magdalene and St.
Bernard_ (No. 1482) is by Botticini although placed under the name of
Rosselli in the Catalogue. Many pictures by Botticini pass in public
galleries under the more illustrious name of Botticelli.
From Cosimo Rosselli we naturally pass to his pupil Piero di Cosimo
(1462-1521), who derived great pleasure from the painting of such
scenes from classic fable as enabled him to depict grotesque monsters,
strange animals, and fantastic costume. At first sight it might be
assumed that the _Nuptials of Thetis and Peleus_ (No. 1416A and No.
1416B) were from his brush; but although these two panels pass under
his name in the Catalogue, they are, as we have seen, by “Alunno di
Domenico.” Piero is represented in the Louvre exclusively by religious
pictures, the most imposing of which is the _Coronation of the Virgin,
with St. Jerome, St. Francis, St. Bonaventura, and St. Louis of
Toulouse_ (No. 1416). An unpleasing _Madonna_ (No. 1662) has long ago
been assigned to Piero di Cosimo, who is also the author of a _St. John
the Baptist as a Child_ (No. 1274), which is labelled with the name of
Uccello. The two last pictures hang in the Long Gallery on either side
of the door leading into Room VII.
The authorities catalogue as the work of Raffaelino del Garbo
(1466-1524) the large _Coronation of the Virgin, with St. Benedict, St.
Salvi, St. John Gualberto, and St. Bernard degli Uberti_ (No. 1303),
which is in reality the centre part of a large altarpiece by Raffaelle
dei Carli (1470-1526?), who worked with Garbo and his group.
The great French Museum does not possess one of the only three easel
paintings which are now assigned by the safest critics to Michelangelo
(1475-1564), who as a painter is best known for his fresco paintings
in Rome. This collection is, however, fortunate enough to own the
two sculptures of the _Slaves_, represented as fettered and overcome
by grief at the death of Pope Julius II., for whose tomb they were
intended.