Portraits of Dante. By R. T. Holbrook. (P. Lee Warner
for the Medici Society. 21s. net.)—This is an exhaustive and pains- taking inquiry into the subject of the authenticity of the portraits of Dante. Mr. Holbrook considers that the so-called Torrigiani death mask at the Bargollo has no claim to authenticity, and is probably the work of Tullio Lombardi. The chief reason for doubting this work is that it not only shows the hand of the Practised modeller, but that it does not correspond with the recorded measurements of the skull of Dante which was found in 3865 at Ravenna. On tho other hand Mr. Holbrook considers the fresco portrait in the chapel of the Bargello to bathe actual portrait of Dante painted by Giotto, and referred to by a contemporary writer,
Pucci, who describes the colour of the dress of Dante and men- tions that he carries a book. There is an inscription on the fresco which refers it to the year 1337, the last of Giotto's life, and, of eourse, after the death of Dante. Though critics do not agree in attributing this fresco to the master it is possible he may have had a hand in it. The figure is a, youthful one, and so must have been painted from memory or an early drawing. It is a tragic circumstance that this precious relic, which was recovered from beneath the whitewash in 1840, should have been at once destroyed by repainting. Not only was the damaged eye restored out of all recognition, but the general colours altered. The dress showed red, white, and green, but those being the colours of the risorgintento, this last colour was daubed over with chocolate to suit the political taste of the Grand Duke. Fortunately the Englishman Kirkup made a sketch and a tracing of the figure before its destruction, which were com- bined by him into a drawing, which was reproduced by the Arundel Society : its faithfulness is warranted by its close resemblance to a copy made at the same time by Faltoni. There still remains the question, which occupied Kirkup, whether or not the repainting could not be removed.
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