ART NOTES

Madonna in the Scripps Collection. Of this painting Mr. Berenson says: "We can scarcely hope at this late day to acquire for America anything like the great altarpieces which reveal Cima at his completest; but short of such masterpieces, he is already well represented in our collections, and happily with works of varying style, earliest as well as latest. The earliest painting by Cima that I have come across is a Madonna, in the Gallery at Detroit. The Virgin, a compact figure like a well-composed bust on a pedestal, is seen between a curtain and a parapet on which sits the Holy Child. He tries to attract her attention by touching her hands, folded in prayer. His halo is unique and singular, for it is made up of twigs. In the background appears a cliff of horizontal masses of rock. On the parapet we read in broad, square Roman capitals, 'Joannes Bta Con-