The Virgin Mary sits on the edge of an old-fashioned bedstead. Christ, with the marks of the wounds in breast and feet, faces her, and behind him is a great company of saints, kneeling. Highly finished throughout.
1282. SAN ZENOBIO RESTORING TO LIFE A DEAD CHILD.
Jacopo Chimenti da Empoli (Florentine: 1554-1640).
Chimenti, of Empoli, near Florence, was "an imitator of Andrea del Sarto, and distinguished for his Madonnas; he was distinguished also for his love of good eating, and acquired from his contemporaries the nickname of L' Empilo, instead of L' Empoli, which is as much as to say stewpan" (Wornum, Epochs of Painting, p. 356). He was largely employed in the churches of Florence and the neighbourhood. His best production is his "St. Ives" in the Uffizi: "in noble conception and truth and glow of colour it reminds us of the best of the old Florentine masters."
St. Zenobio (died A.D. 417) was a Bishop of Florence, famous in his time for his eloquence and good works, and a favourite saint with the Florentines in after ages. The following is the legend painted in this picture:—"A French lady of noble lineage, who was performing a pilgrimage to Rome, stopped at Florence on the way, in order to see the good bishop Zenobio, of whom she had heard so much, and having received his blessing she proceeded to Rome, leaving in his care her little son. The day before her return to Florence, the child died. She was overwhelmed with grief, and took the child and laid him down at the feet of St. Zenobio, who, by the efficacy of his prayers, restored the child to life, and gave him back to the arms of his mother" (Mrs. Jameson, Sacred and Legendary Art, p. 415).
1284. ST. FRANCIS AND ST. MARK.
Antonio Vivarini (Venetian: died 1470). See 768.
A companion panel to the one already in the Gallery; see 768. The design of the pedestal is, it will be seen, the same in both.
1285. PORTRAIT OF NAPOLEON I.
Horace Vernet (French: 1789-1863).