figures in the window above do not appear. The Uffizi Gallery contains many original sketches for the fresco the figures, as was usual with del Sarto, being sketched nude. Here and there throughout Italy we come across copies of this work ; there is one in Bergamo, in the abbey of St Astino, by Bronzino ; another in the village church of Anghiari, in Tuscany, by Sogliani ; while in the chapter-room of the Carmine in Florence, there is an exact reproduction of the Cenacolo, but with striking and almost repulsive differences in the features and expressions of the Twelve, painted by Allori. The Birth of St John in the Scalzo was finished in 44 ANDREA DEL SARTO 1526;* it was the last, and, in some respects, the greatest fresco in the decoration of the cloister. It is not exaggerated praise to say that, as a composition in balance, in consummate power of drapery, as well as in the direct telling of the story, full of force and simplicity, this fresco could not be surpassed. Vasari thinks its power is due to the influence of Michael Angelo, and describes the figures as "most beautiful, exhibiting much greater ability, and being in much finer relief than those formerly executed " (vol. v. 45). But Andrea cannot in truth be said ever to have been under the influence of any painter, though being with single mind intent upon the perfecting of his art,