_Castelfranco Madonna_, but merely to the Pesaro family, so proud in
their humility as they kneel in adoration, with Jacopo Pesaro, Bishop of
Paphos (Baffo), at their head. The natural tie that should unite the
sacred personages to the whole outer world, and with it their power to
impress, is thus greatly diminished, and we are dangerously near to a
condition in which they become merely grand conventional figures in a
decorative ensemble of the higher order. To analyse the general scheme
or the details of the glorious colour-harmony, which has survived so
many drastic renovations and cleanings, is not possible on this
occasion, or indeed necessary. The magic of bold and subtle chiaroscuro
is obtained by the cloud gently descending along the two gigantic
pillars which fill all the upper part of the arched canvas, dark in the
main, but illuminated above and below by the light emanating from the
divine putti; the boldest feature in the scheme is the striking
cinnamon-yellow mantle of St. Peter, worn over a deep blue tunic, the
two boldly contrasting with the magnificent dark-red and gold banner of
the Borgias crowned with the olive branch Peace.[49] This is an
unexpected note of the most stimulating effect, which braces the
spectator and saves him from a surfeit of richness. Thus, too, Titian
went to work in the _Bacchus and Ariadne_--giving forth a single clarion
note in the scarlet scarf of the fugitive daughter of Minos. The writer
is unable to accept as from the master's own hand the unfinished _Virgin
and Child_ which, at the Uffizi, generally passes for the preliminary
sketch of the central group in the Pesaro altar-piece. The original
sketch in red chalk for the greater part of the composition is in the
Albertina at Vienna. The collection of drawings in the Uffizi holds a
like original study for the kneeling Baffo.

[Illustration: SKETCH FOR THE MADONNA DI CASA PESARO. ALBERTINA, VIENNA.
_From a photograph by Braun, Clément & Cie_.]