that his chief works are in spots little visited by the ordinary traveller. Lugano, Ponte, Monge, Luino, Saronno, pregnant with memories of Luini, are quite out of the beaten track of the ordinary globe-trotter; only the seeker for the real things of travel, the haunts of the people and the opportunity to study their ways, will find them out. The art-lover, however, could not regret the time spent in learning of the work of a painter so rich in loveliness, and in these simple north Italian towns lie riches of artistic merit, treasures for the eye greater than all the gems and gold of Golconda.

Who was Luini's master ?-for even the great must learn. As to where he learned the first principles of his art history is silent, but judging from his paintings, early in his career he was influenced by Foppa, Borgognone, and Bramantino. From Foppa, the only artist of the Lombard school who does not seem to have been influenced by Leonardo da Vinci, he gained the sturdy figures seen in many of his early paintings; Borgognone lent him the fashion of architectural backgrounds, as evidenced by the lovely Pietà in Sta. Maria del Passione (Milan); while to the influence of Bramantino is due the curious turbans

which many of Luini's women wear. One of the chief peculiarities of his work at this early period is the arrangement of the hair in the female figures. Parted in the centre and tied lightly at the back of the neck, the tresses fall on either side in loose ripples, floating down behind in charming disarray. This is noted specially in one of Luini's most beautiful pictures, the Entombment of St. Catherine. The picture bears the letters "C. V. S. X."-Caterina Virgo Spousa Christi. This canvas represents three angels bearing through the air the form of the dead saint to the marble tomb prepared for her on Mount Sinai. It is difficult to conceive of greater simplicity than that which marks the whole picture. In composition and detail there is nothing studied; all is natural, graceful, beautiful. The angels are reverently tender of the martyr's form, and their figures fairly seem to float through the air, their draperies borne out by the winds of heaven. One is golden-haired, the others have auburn tresses-lightly bound with golden fillets, and framing their child-like, earnest faces. The figure of St. Catherine is rarely beautiful. Her cloudy dark hair frames a face shadowed with a golden nimbus, the features are high-bred and intellec

The whole creation evinces the artist's reverent spirit. His work was, as Rio said, "the fruit of an inspiration so truly celestial that even the painter of Fiesole never conceived a figure more ravissante than that of St. Catherine carried by the angels to Mount Sinai."

Many of the artists of the Lombard school of painting had an especial fondness for St. Catherine of Alexandria, and Luin seems to have shared this feeling. There have come down to us a number of paintings of this great saint, and one at Alexandria represents her with book and palm, leaning upon her wheel, a tall, graceful figure, her costly raiment easily disposed, the coloring soft and rich. The expression of the face is thoughtful and refined; she is crowned, as befits a princess, yet wears a look of modest humility, a mark of the truly great. The St. Catherine at Milan wears

"An air divine,

Thro' which the mind's all gentle graces shine;
They like the sun irradiate all between,

The body charms because the soul is seen."

a

The Marriage of St. Catherine, at Milan, is one of Luini's best works, and also one of the finest representations of the saint. In the distance is seen, through an open window, dainty bit of landscape. The Blessed Virgin stands in the background looking down with a charming expression of motherly tenderness upon her Son. The figure of the Infant Christ rests

She ex

he is about to place upon the finger of the saint. tends her hand, an expression of sweetness and light dawning over her mobile features. She is richly clad, as are all of Luini's figures of the princess saint; her hair is loosely bound down in the true Luini fashion, her features are regular and classic, redeemed from severity by the softly rounded curve of the cheek and chin, and the upward turn of the full but delicately chiselled lips. The Baby Christ in the picture is a charming little fellow. Indeed, nearly all Luini's bambini are true babies, well rounded, perfectly modelled little creatures with delightful baby insouciance; yet always in the eyes and mouth is a certain wistfulness, a wisdom greater than childhood, and the combination of babyhood and the "Godhead's most benignant grace" makes Luini's Christ-Child wonderfully attractive. It is not surprising that the artist should have depicted childhood so admirably when one looks at his studies of children. preserved in the Ambrosian Library at Milan. They are excellently well done, and fragments though they are, they show the close attention to detail given by the master, and his flawless technique. A peculiarity of Luini seems to be that he never portrayed the Christ-Child alone, but always as the central object in a picture. The Baby Our Lord appears with his Mother, with St. Catherine, with St. John Baptist, or in groupsas the Nativity or the Adoration of the Magi.

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The artist seems to have had "Le sentiment chrétien qui domine le sentiment de l'art," and to have fully realized the position which should be occupied by the Christ, always "He to whom the world should turn."

In the Adoration of the Magi, in the Louvre, every eye falls upon the childish figure and rests there. The Blessed Mother, graceful and sweet; St. Joseph, humble and worshipful, in the background, with fatherly care watching over his foster-Child; the three Wise Men, regal of mien and splendid of attire-all these are wonderful accessories, but one feels instinctively that every knee should bow to the baby form held in His Mother's arms. The picture of the Magi is curious and interesting as well as artistically beautiful. The Adoration was a favorite subject with Luini, popular indeed with nearly all the Milanese school, since tradition stated that the Archbishop, St. Eustorgius, in 300 A. D. deposited in the church of Sant' Eustorgio, in

Milan, the relics of the "Three Kings" presented to him by the Emperor Constantine. When Frederic Barbarossa stormed the city, Archbishop Rinaldus carried the relics to Cologne, where they still rest.

Luini painted this subject many times, and several of the

Luino, and a fourth in the Louvre. In the last named the grouping of the Wise Men is especially noteworthy. According to legend, Balthasar represents Europe; Kaspar, Asia; and Melchior, Africa. Luini has represented Balthasar as kneeling in adoration, his gift at Jesus' feet, his crown cast down, significant of the fact that Europe had already knelt at the feet of Christ. Kaspar stands behind him, his hand raised to doff his cap, his face thoughtful, though somewhat doubtful yet, with a dawning of faith in his eager look. His crown is still on his head, yet his gift is outstretched as if Asia were trembling on the brink of accepting Christianity. Melchior, who represents Africa, stands quite in the background, his gift in his hand 'tis true, yet his turbaned head is half turned away, as if doubt still reigned within his soul.

The figure of Balthasar, a venerable form in superb erminetrimmed robes, is said to be a veritable likeness of Luini himself. The same features appear in several of the artist's paintings, in the picture of the Chaste Susannah, and in the fresco of the Disputatio at Saronno, in the Passion fresco in the Ambrosian Library. From a close comparison of the figure in these various pictures Luini would appear to have been a venerable old man, of a slightly Jewish cast of countenance, with snowy hair and beard. His face is heavily lined, showing thought and intellect in the broad brow and earnest eyes.

Not only in his portrayals of the Baby Our Lord does Luini show a skilled blending of the human with the divine. His portrayals of our Lord, the Boy Disputing with the Doctors, and the Youth in Argument with the Pharisees, or the young man in the picture in the Louvre, where He stands alone, or the matured Saviour of the World in the Cenacolo-all these show a wonderful spirituality. These pictures are interesting when compared, since they show Luini's close study of the development of Christ from the boy to the man. Christ Disputing with the Doctors is a large picture, the grouping excellent, with a better centralization than is always found in Luini's paintings. The Boy-Christ stands upon a raised dais in the centre of the canvas, one hand pointing aloft, his face-a long, pointed face with aquiline features-rather mature for a boy of twelve. The Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph appear to have just found him, and in the foreground to the left is that wise and benevolent