They are very real and lifelike, as one of the great
painter's pupils once learned to his cost. Filippino
had, of course, many pupils who worked under him.
They ground his colours and watched him work,
and would sometimes be allowed to prepare the less
important parts of the picture.

Now it happened that one day when the master
had finished his work and had left the chapel, that
one of the pupils lingered behind. His sharp eye
had caught sight of a netted purse which lay in a dark
corner, dropped there by some careless visitor, or
perhaps by the master himself. The boy darted
back and caught up the treasure; but at that
moment the master turned back to fetch something
he had forgotten. The boy looked quickly
round. Where could he hide his prize? In a
moment his eye fell on a hole in the wall,
underneath a step which Filippino had been painting in
the fresco. That was the very place, and he ran
forward to thrust the purse inside. But, alas! the
hole was only a painted one, and the boy was fairly
caught, and was obliged with shame and confusion
to give up his prize.

Scarcely were these frescoes finished when
Filippino was seized with a terrible fever, and he died
almost as suddenly as his father had done.

In those days when there was a funeral of a prince