364 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA
model of Ragusa, in which one can make out three large towers and several small ones. The gold background has been restored, and is rather too garish.
    In a side chapel is yet another Ragueso—a Madonna and Child, supported by St. Julian, St. James, St. Dominic, and St. Matthew. The drawing is bold and strong, perhaps more so than in any of the artist’s other works, and some of the faces, especially that of the Child, very fascinating: the robes, as usual, are magnificent. That of the Virgin forms a curiously stiff platform, on which the infant Christ is standing. Below are two little angels, one holding a lily and the other roses. In the background is a faint suggestion of landscape. Unfortunately, the lower part of the picture has been barbarously mutilated to make room for a window.
   These, with the possible exception of one or two more paintings in the Isola di Mezzo, are the only known works of this artist. Who he was, what was his story, where he worked, remain a mystery. From the date on the Dance triptych we learn that he flourished at the beginning of the sixteenth century, and it is fairly certain that he must have studied in Italy. His style distinctly shows traces of the influence of Crivelli’s school, and in this, as in other arts, the Dalmatians continued to work in the older manner long after it had been abandoned in Italy. Professor Gelcich doubts if this painter were really a native of Ragusa at all, arguing that if he had been he would not have called himself Rhagusinus in his own city. It is of course unusual (though not unheard of) that an artist should call himself by the name of his own