The beauties as well as the defects of such compositions make us regret that Fra Filippo never found a more congenial sphere for his imagination.

As a painter of subjects half-humorous and half-pathetic, or as the illustrator of romantic stories, we fancy that he might have won fame rivalled only by the greatest colourists.

One such picture it was granted him to paint, and this is his masterpiece.

In the prime of life he was commissioned to decorate the choir of the cathedral at Prato with the legends of S.John Baptist and S.Stephen.All of these frescoes are noteworthy for their firm grasp upon reality in the portraits of Florentine worthies, and for the harmonious disposition of the groups; but the scene of Salome dancing before Herod is the best for its poetic feeling.

Her movement across the floor before the tyrant and his guests at table, the quaint fluttering of her drapery, the well-bred admiration of the spectators, their horror when she brings the Baptist's head to Herodias, and the weak face of the half-remorseful Herod are expressed with a dramatic power that shows the genius of a poet painter.