VI

The "Madonna del Sorriso" now lacked only the finishing touches upon the
exquisite central figure, which reached more nearly to the spiritual
ideal than anything that had ever come from the brush of the Veronese,
and already the Servite friars, in their long black robes and white
cowls, had visited the studio with suggestions many and fruitless,
serving only to arouse the artist's indignant protest and increase his
determination to image more perfectly the poetic vision that had been
vouchsafed to him.

"It hath not the beauty of the 'Venezia' in the palazzo," said one.

"And the church is dark," said another, "and the people like the red and
blue of the colors of the true Madonna."

"And a frate, of the Servi--since it hath been painted for the
convent--here--kneeling," suggested another, more timidly; for it was
known that the Veronese was not always docile in these days, since he
had become great.

"Nay, leave me," said the Veronese fiercely; "for this one thing I
_know_, and this will I paint, for the good of my soul, as mine art
shall prompt me and not otherwise. And if it please not him--Fra Paolo,
who hath given the order--I will bestow it elsewhere."

Then a friar habited like the others, who had stood apart and had not
spoken, came and threw back his cowl, dismissing the group with a