Three methods of modelling the Virgin's blue mantle in early Italian painting are discussed. The first is modelling in three values, mentioned by Cennino Cennini in Chapter CXLV of his treatise; the second is the two-value system, noted in Cennino's Chapter CXLVI; and the third is a schematic two-value method of indicating light and shade that was not mentioned by Cennino, but which appears in four late fourteenth century Sienese paintings. The author suggests that the latter technique originated in Siena and was a modification of earlier methods of depicting folds, such as are found on late thirteenth century painting. -- AATA