Christ and the Madonna, the staid grouping of the figures below,--the
winged cherubim,--the soft color!

"I have here two photographs," and he unfolded and passed one to
Margery, who was close beside him, "which I wish you to look at
carefully. They are of works painted very soon after the _Coronation_;
one, the _Marriage of the Virgin_, or _Lo Sposalizio_, is in the Brera
Gallery at Milan. It is as like Perugino's work as is the _Coronation_."

After a time spent in looking at and talking about the picture, during
which Bettina told the story of the blossomed rod which Joseph bears
over his shoulder, and the rod without blossoms which the disappointed
suitor is breaking over his knee, Mr. Sumner gave them the other
photograph.

"This," he resumed, "you will readily recognize, as you have so often
looked at the picture in the Pitti Gallery in Florence--the _Madonna del
Gran Duca_. This is the only Madonna that belongs to this period of
Raphael's painting, and the last important picture in the style. It was
painted during the early part of his visit to Florence."

"I never see this, uncle," said Margery, as she passed the photograph on
to the others, "without thinking how the Grand Duke carried it about in
its rich casket wherever he went, and said his prayers before it night
and morning. I am glad the people named it after him. Don't you think it
very beautiful, uncle?"

"Yes; and it is one of the purest Madonnas ever painted--so impersonal
is the face," replied Mr. Sumner.