He  was  master  of  a  most  delicate  technique  in  fresco,
like  that  of  oil  painting,  or  water  color.  His  celestial
personages  are  beautiful,  not  corporeally,  but  lovely
from  their  pure  expression.  The  saintliness  of  the
man  was  infused  into  his  works,  and  he  sought  to
please  God  more  than  man  ;  but  the  burning  passion
of  love  that  possessed  St.  Francis  is  not  in  his  pictures,
in  which  is  a  heavenly  repose  of  holy  peace  and  joy.
He  used  to  say  that  ' '  he  who  practised  the  art  of
painting  had  need  of  quiet,  and  should  live  without
care  or  anxious  thoughts."  He  did  not  retouch  his
pictures.  The  severest  criticism  of  his  works  is  that
they  lack  breadth,  and  resemble  an  illumination  in  a
missal.  While  he  had  the  sense  of  beauty  so  that  it
was  said  of  him  that  '  *  he  must  have  paid  a  visit  to


PERUGINCTS  SUCCESSORS  91

Paradise  and  there  been  permitted  to  choose  his  mod-
els," yet  his  beauty  was  abstract  and  transcending
reality.  We  call  his  time  and  Giotto's  time  that  of
the  Dark  Ages,  but  great  thoughts  and  great  souls
were  born  in  it,  as  from  darkness  is  born  light.
To  pass  to  the  Sala  Bonfigli  we  find  the  pidlures  of
one  who  was  also  a  star  in  this  religious  school  yet
pointed  to  something  greater  and  freer.  Bonfigli,  or
Bonfiglio,  is  said  to  have  been  the  teacher  of  Perugino.
