uplifted to the sky the hosts of the blessed, distributed in two
groups, adore and contemplate. On one side, are Moses, Saint John the
Baptist, the apostles, the bishops, and the founders of orders,
distinguished by some emblem, and for greater certainty bearing their
names inscribed around their nimbus, or upon the embroideries of their
vestments. Saint Dominick holds a branch of lilies and a book. A sun
forms the agrafe of Saint Thomas Aquinas's mantle; Charlemagne,
"_l'empereur à la barbe fleurie_," is recognizable by his crown of
_fleur-de-lis_. Saint Nicholas, bishop of Myra, has by his side the
three balls of gold, symbolic of the three purses which he gave to a
poor gentleman to dower his three daughters whose beauty exposed them to
dangers. On the other side, throng King David, apostles, martyrs, Saint
Peter the Dominican with his wounded head, Saint Laurence holding his
gridiron, Saint Stephen with a palm in his hand, and Saint George armed
from head to foot; then, in the foreground of the picture, is the
charming group of saints of perfectly celestial grace: the kneeling
Magdalen offers her vase of perfumes; Saint Cæcilia advances, crowned
with roses; Saint Clara gleams through her veil, constellated with
crosses and golden stars; Saint Catherine of Alexandria leans upon the
wheel, the instrument of her execution, as calmly and peacefully as if
it were a spinning-wheel; and Saint Agnes holds in her arms a little
white lamb, the symbol of innocent purity.

[Illustration: THE CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN.
_Fra Angelico._]

Fra Beato Angelico has given to these youthful saints a celestial and
ideal beauty, whose type exists not upon this earth: they are visible
souls, rather than bodies, they are thoughts of human form enveloped in
these chaste draperies of white, rose, and blue, sown with stars and