at such pictures--they move us.

"Another characteristic of his work is the action--a vehement impetuous
motion. You will find this finely illustrated in his _Allegory of
Spring_, a very famous picture in the Academy. His type of figure and
face is most easily recognizable; the limbs are long and slender, and
often show through almost transparent garments; the hands are long and
nervous; the faces are rather long also, with prominent rounded chins
and full lips. He put delicate patterns of gold embroidery about the
neck and wrists of the Madonna's gown and the edges of her mantle, and
heaped gold all over the lights on the curled hair of her angels and
other attendants. You can never mistake one of these pictures when once
you have grown familiar with his style.

"I think you should study particularly his _Allegory of Spring_ in the
Academy for full length figures in motion. You will find the color of
this picture happily weird to agree with the fantastic conception. Then
in the Uffizi Gallery you will find several pictures of the Madonna;
notable among them is his _Coronation of the Virgin_, painted, as he was
fond of doing, on a round board. Such a picture is called a _tondo_.
Here you will find all his characteristics.

[Illustration: BOTICELLI. UFFIZI GALLERY, FLORENCE.

CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN.]

"Study this first; study figures, faces, hands, and methods of
technique; then see if you cannot readily find the other examples
without your catalogue. A noted one is _Calumny_. This exemplifies
strikingly Botticelli's power of expressing swift motion. In the Pitti