Nos. 7 and 9 are pyramidal
compositions. The _Preaching of S. John_ is one of the best works,
and shows his most forcible style. S. John on a rock stands like a
pillar in the centre, the hearers are dressed in the "lucco" (a
Florentine cloak of the 15th century), the grouping following the lines
of the landscape. At the back Jesus kneels on a rising ground. Vasari
says the figures are from Albrecht Durer, whose works had made a great
impression on the southern world of art; but it is more probable that
they only show his influence, for the dress and style are Florentine.
No. 8, the _Baptism of the Gentiles_, is another of his best
style, and is, in the drawing of the nude figures, almost
Michelangelesque in power. This is one of his favourite "echo"
subjects, a group in the background of _John answering the Pharisees
_forming an echo to the principal subject. The muscular life of the
spirited crowd of nude figures is beautifully contrasted by the
graceful draped forms in the background. One of the baptized is the
same child whom he had modelled in the _Madonna_ of S.
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