S. John the Baptist, S. Reparata, S. Zenobio, &c., stand in an
adoring group around the heavenly powers, S. Anna above the Virgin and
infant Christ forming a charming pyramidal group in the midst. The
whole thing is one of Fra Bartolommeo's richest compositions. The
centre of the three monks on the left is said to be a portrait of Fra
Bartolommeo himself, and to be the original from which the only known
portrait of him is taken (_see Frontispiece_). Fra Bartolommeo
left another work also unfinished, an apotheosis of a saint, which is
now at Panshanger. This is supposed to have been a small ideal prepared
for a picture to celebrate the canonisation of S. Antonino, which Leo
X. had almost promised the brethren of S. Marco on his triumphant entry
in 1515. The work, if it had been painted in the larger form, would
have been a perfect masterpiece of composition, "a very Beethoven
symphony in colour," if we may judge from the sketch at Panshanger,
where a living crowd groups round the bier of the archbishop, and life,
earnestness, harmony, and richness, are all intense.
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