Phillipps, Evelyn March: The frescoes in the Sixtine chapel (London: John Murray, 1901)

CONTROVERSY

59

Chapel. They class this fresco in merit with
those of Botticelli and Perugino.1 A critic
of such weight as Morelli2 speaks unhesita-
tingly of his being represented in Rome by
this fresco, though he allows that Barto-
lommeo Della Gatta may have had a share
in it. Rumohr and minor critics accept the
attribution to Signorelli. On the other
hand, Mr. Berenson believes the whole
fresco to be by the hand of Don Barto-
lommeo Della Gatta.3 Miss Maud Crutt-
well, a critic of close observation, though
unwilling to pronounce a decided opinion as
to who did paint it, is certain it is not
by Signorelli; while Vischer4 maintains that
a great part of the execution reveals the
hand of Della Gatta. Unpublished criticism
by experts points in the same direction, and
the opinion prevails that though closely
resembling in style the work of this great
master, it is not executed by his hand.
If this painting is the work of Della
1 “History of Painting in Italy,” vol. iii. p. 8.
2 “ Italian Painters,” vol. i. p. 92.
3 “ Luca Signorelli,” M. Cruttwell, p. 6,
4 “Luca Signorelli,” p. 119,