The Florentine government bought it for
300 ducats in 1512, to present to Jacques Hurault, Bishop of Autun, who
came to Florence as envoy of Louis XII. He left it to his cathedral at
Autun, from whence, at the Revolution, it passed to the Louvre. [Footnote:
Padre Marchese, _Memorie_, lib. iii. ch. iv. p. 77. Crowe and
Cavalcaselle, _History of Painting_, vol. iii. chap. xiii. p. 452.]
Before it was sent away, Fra Bartolommeo made a replica of it, which is
now in the Pitti Palace. There is his favourite canopy supported by
angels; in this case they are beautifully foreshortened. The Virgin is
seated on a pedestal, holding by one arm an exquisitely moulded child
Jesus of about four years old, who is espousing S. Catherine of Siena,
kneeling at His feet on the left. A semicircle of saints group on each
side of the Virgin, and two angels, with musical instruments, are at her
feet; the upturned face of one is exquisitely foreshortened. The S. George
in armour is a powerful figure; and in S. Bartholomew, on the left, is
the same grand feeling which he afterwards brought to perfection in S.
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