5. _Children healed by the garments of S. Philip_, which are held
by a priest, standing before an altar, the women and their children
kneeling in front of him. The grouping is symmetrical, the figures
lifelike, but not refined, round-cheeked buxom women, and rough, human
men's faces, bespeak Andrea as the painter of reality rather than
ideality; there is vivid life in every attitude, but the life is not
high caste. A fine old man, leaning on his staff, is a portrait of
Andrea della Robbia, whose son Luca stands near.
For all these Fra Mariano paid only ten scudi each, and Andrea, feeling
the remuneration not equal to the merit of the work, would have left
off here, but the Frate held him to his bond. Two more lunettes yet
remained to finish, but as these were of a later date, we will reserve
them for a future chapter. He also painted in the _orto_, or
garden, of the convent, the now perished fresco of the _Parable of
the Vineyard_.
Meanwhile, the rival friends had changed lodgings; they left the Piazza
del Grano, and took rooms in the Sapienza, a street between the Piazza
San Marco and the S.
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