tion of Lodovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. Some years earlier, this prince, who already had Leonardo in his service, asked his envoy in Florence to send him the names of the best painters to be found in the city. In reply he received the following note, which is curious, as showing how accurately the position and merits of the three chief Florentine masters at the close of the fifteenth century were judged by their contemporaries:—
"Sandro de Botticello—a most excellent master, both in fresco and tempera. His figures have a manly air, and are admirable in conception and proportion.
Filippino di Frate Filippo—an excellent disciple of the above-named, and a son of the rarest master of our times. His heads have a gentler and sweeter air, but in my opinion less art.
Domenico de Grillandaio—a good master in panels, and a better one in wall-painting. His figures are good, and he is an active and industrious master, who accomplishes a great deal of work."[1]
The result of this communication was that Lodovico Moro advised the monks of Pavia to engage Filippino, who, on 7th March 1495, entered into an agreement to paint a Pietà for the Certosa. But he never executed this commission, and, in 1511, long after the painter was dead and the Duke had been carried into captivity, another Florentine master, Mariotto Albertinelli, undertook the work which he had left undone.
Another important work which Filippino never accomplished was an altar-piece for the Hall of the Great Council, which he agreed to paint in 1498, but never began, and which was afterwards assigned to
- ↑ Professor Müller Walde, "Jahrbuch der K. P. Kunst," 1897.
