Chapter 6

Antonio, Painter of Venice.

There are many men who, through being persecuted by the envy and oppressed by the tyranny of their fellow-citizens, have left their native place and have chosen for a home some spot where their worth has been recognised and rewarded, producing their works there and taking the greatest pains to excel, in order, in a sense, to be avenged on those by whom they have been outraged. In this way they frequently become great men, whereas had they remained quietly at home they might possibly have achieved little more than mediocrity in their art. Antonio of Venice, who went to Florence, in the train of Agnolo Gaddi, to learn painting, so far acquired the proper methods that not only was he esteemed and loved by the Florentines, but made much of for this talent and for his other good qualities. Then, becoming possessed by a desire to return to his native city and enjoy the fruits of his labours, he went back to Venice. There, having made himself known by many things done in fresco and tempera, he was commissioned by the Signoria to paint one of the walls of the Council Chamber, a work which he executed with such skill and majesty that its merits should have brought him honours and rewards; but the rivalry, or rather the envy, of the other artists, together with the preference accorded by some noblemen to other and alien painters, brought about a different result. Hence poor Antonio, feeling himself repelled and rebutted, thought it would be as well to go back to Florence, deciding that he would never again return to Venice, but would make Florence his home. Having reached that city, he painted in an arch in the cloister of S. Spirito the calling of Peter and Andrew from their nets, with Zebedee and his sons. Under the three arches of Stefano he painted the miracle of the loaves and fishes, exhibiting great diligence and love, as may be seen in the figure of Christ Himself, whose face and aspect betray His compassion for the crowd and the ardent charity which leads Him to distribute the bread. The same scene also shows very beautifully the affection of an apostle, who is very active in distributing the bread from a basket. The picture affords a good illustration of the value in art of always painting figures so that they appear to speak, for otherwise they are not prized. Antonio showed this on the façade in a small representation of the Fall of the Manna, executed with such skill and finished with such grace, that it may truly be called excellent. He next did some stories of St Stephen in the predella of the high altar of S. Stefano at the Ponte Vecchio, with so much loving care that even in illuminations it would not be possible to find more graceful or more delicate work. Again he painted the tympanum over the door of S. Antonio on the Ponte alla Carraia. This and the church were both pulled down in our own day by Monsignor Ricasoli, bishop of Pistoia, because they took away the view from his houses, and in any case even if he had not done so, we should have been deprived of the work, for, as I have said elsewhere, the flood of 1557 carried away two arches on this side, as well as that part of the bridge on which the little church of S. Antonio was situated. After these works Antonio was invited to Pisa by the wardens of the Campo Santo, and there continued the series dealing with the life of St Ranieri, a holy man of that city, which had been begun by Simone of Siena and under his direction. In the first part of Antonio's portion of the work is a representation of the embarkation of Ranieri to return to Pisa, with a goodly number of figures executed with diligence, including the portrait of Count Gaddo, who had died ten years before, and of Neri, his uncle, who had been lord of Pisa. Another notable figure in the group is that of a man possessed, with distorted, convulsive gestures, his eyes glistening, and his mouth grinning and showing his teeth, so remarkably like a person really possessed that nothing more true or life-like can be imagined. The next picture contains three really beautiful figures, lost in wonder at seeing St Ranieri reveal the devil in the form of a cat on a tub to a fat innkeeper, who looks like a boon companion, and who is commending himself fearfully to the saint; their attitudes are excellently disposed in the style of the draperies, the variety of poses of the heads, and in all other particulars. Hard by are the maidservants of the innkeeper, who could not possibly be represented with more grace as Antonio has made them with disengaged garments arranged after the manner of those worn by the servants at an inn, so that nothing better can be imagined. Nothing of this artist gives more pleasure than the wall containing another scene from the same series in which the canons of the Duomo of Pisa, in the fine robes of the time, very different from those in use to-day and very graceful, receive St Ranieri at table, all the figures being made with great care. The next of his scenes is the death of the saint, containing fine representations not only of the effect of weeping, but of the movements of certain angels who are carrying his soul to heaven surrounded by a brilliant light, done with fine originality. In the scene where the saint's body is being carried by the clergy to the Duomo one can but marvel at the representation of the priests singing, for in their gestures, carriage, and all their movements they exactly resemble a choir of singers. This scene is said to contain a portrait of the Bavarian. Antonio likewise painted with the greatest care the miracles wrought by Ranieri when he was being carried to burial, and those wrought in another place, after his body had been deposited in the Duomo, such as blind who receive their sight, withered men who recover the use of their limbs, demoniacs who are released, and other miracles represented with great vigour. But one of the most remarkable figures of all is a dropsical man, whose withered face, dry lips, and swollen body exhibit with as much realism as a living man could, the devouring thirst of those suffering from dropsy and the other symptoms of that disease. Another marvellous thing for the time in this work is a ship delivered by the saint after it had undergone various mishaps. It contains an excellent representation of the activity of the mariners, comprising everything that is usually done in such case. Some are casting into the greedy sea without a thought the valuable merchandise won with so much toil, some are running to preserve the ship which is splitting, and in short performing all the other duties of seamen which it would take too long to tell. Suffice it to say that all are executed with remarkable vigour, and in a fine style. In the same place beneath the lives of the holy fathers painted by Pietro Laurati of Siena, Antonio did the bodies of St Oliver and the Abbot Paphnuce, and many circumstances of their lives, represented on a marble sarcophagus, the figure being very well painted. In short, all the works of Antonio in the Campo Santo are such that they are universally considered, and with good cause, to be the best of the entire series of works produced there by many excellent masters over a considerable interval of time. In addition to the particulars already mentioned, Antonio did everything in fresco, and never retouched anythinga secco. This is the reason why his colours have remained so fresh to the present day, and this should teach artists to recognise the injury that is done to pictures and works by retouchinga seccothings done in fresco with other colours, as is said in the theories, for it is an established fact that this retouching ages the painting, and the new colours which have no body of their own will not stand the test of time, being tempered with gum-tragacanth, egg, size, or some such thing which varnishes what is beneath it, and it does not permit the lapse of time and the air to purge what has been actually painted in fresco upon the soft stucco, as they would do had not other colours been superimposed after the drying. Upon the completion of this truly admirable work Antonio was worthily rewarded by the Pisans, who always entertained a great affection for him. He then returned to Florence, where he painted at Nuovoli outside the gate leading to Prato, in a tabernacle at Giovanni degli Agli, a dead Christ, with a quantity of figures, the story of the Magi and the Last Judgment, all very fine. Invited next to the Certosa, he painted for the Acciaiuoli, who built that place, the picture of the high altar, which survived to our own day, when it was consumed by fire through the carelessness of a sacristan of the monastery, who left the censer hung at the altar full of fire, which led to the picture being burnt. It was afterwards made entirely of marble by the monks, as it is now. In the same place this same master did a very fine Transfiguration in fresco on a cupboard in the chapel. Being much inclined by nature to the study of herbs, he devoted himself to the mastery of Dioscorides, taking pleasure in learning the properties and virtues of each plant, so that he ultimately abandoned painting and devoted himself to distilling simples with great assiduity. Having thus transformed himself from a painter into a physician, he pursued the latter profession for some time. At length he fell-sick of a disorder of the stomach, or, as some say, through treating the plague, and finished the course of his life at the age of seventy-four in the year 1384, when the plague was raging in Florence. His skill as a physician equalled his diligence as a painter, for he gained an extensive experience in medicine from those who had employed him in their need, and he left behind him a high reputation in both arts. Antonio was a very graceful designer with the pen, and so excellent in chiaroscuro that some sheets of his in our book, in which he did the arch of S. Spirito, are the best of the age. Gherardo Starnini of Florence was a pupil of Antonio, and closely imitated him, while another pupil of his, Paolo Uccello, brought him no small credit. The portrait of Antonio of Venice by his own hand is in the Campo Santo at Pisa.

Jacopo di Casentino, Painter.

As the fame and renown of the paintings of Giotto and his pupils had been spread abroad for many years, many, who were desirous of obtaining fame and riches by means of the art of painting, began to be animated by the hope of glory, and by natural inclination, to make progress towards the improvement of the art, feeling confident that, with effort, they would be able to surpass in excellence Giotto, Taddeo, and the other painters. Among these was one Jacopo di Casentino, who was born, as we read, of the family of M. Cristoforo Landino of Pratovecchio, and was associated by the friar of Casentino, then superior at the Sasso del Vernia, with Taddeo Gaddi, while he was working in that convent, in order that he might learn design and colour. In a few years he so far succeeded, that, being taken to Florence in the company of Giovanni di Milano, in the service of their master, Taddeo, where they were doing many things, he was asked to paint in tempera the tabernacle of the Madonna of the Old Market, with the picture there, and also the one on the Via del Cocomoro side of the Piazza S. Niccolo. A few years ago both of these were restored by a very inferior master to Jacopo. For the Dyers, he did the one at S. Nofri, on the side of their garden wall, opposite S. Giuseppe. While the vaulting of Orsanmichele, upon its twelve pillars, was being completed, and covered with a low, rough roof, awaiting the completion of the building of the palace, which was to be the granary of the Commune, the painting of these vaults was entrusted to Jacopo di Casentino, as a very skilled artist. Here he painted some prophets and the patriarchs, with the heads of the tribes, sixteen figures in all, on an ultramarine ground, now much damaged, without other ornamentation. He next did the lower walls and pilasters with many miracles of Our Lady, and other things which may be recognised by their style. This done, he returned to Casentino, and after painting many works in Pratovecchio, Poppi, and other places of that valley, he proceeded to Arezzo, which then governed itself with a council of sixty of the richest and most honoured citizens, to whom all the affairs of the state were entrusted. Here, in the principal chapel of the Vescovado, he painted a story of St Martin, and a good number of pictures in the old Duomo, now pulled down, including a portrait of Pope Innocent VI. in the principal chapel. He next did the wall where the high altar is, and the chapel of St Maria della Neve, in the church of S. Bartolommeo, for the chapter of the canons of the Pieve, and for the old brotherhood of S. Giovanni de' Peducci he did a number of scenes from the life of that saint, which are now whitewashed over. He also did the chapel of St Christopher in the church of S. Domenico, introducing a portrait of the blessed Masuolo releasing from prison a merchant of the Fei family, who built the chapel. This saint was a contemporary of the artist, and a prophet who predicted many misfortunes for the Aretines. In the church of S. Agostino, Jacopo did some stories of St Laurence in fresco in the chapel and at the altar of the Nardi with marvellous style and skill. Since he also practised architecture, he was employed by the sixty chief citizens mentioned above to bring under the walls of Arezzo the water which comes from the slopes of Pori, 300 braccia from the city. In the time of the Romans this water had been originally brought to the theatre, traces of which still exist, and thence from its situation on the hill where the fortress now is, to the amphitheatre of the city in the plain, the buildings and conduits of this being afterwards entirely destroyed by the Goths. Thus after Jacopo had, as I have said, brought the water under the wall, he made the fountain, then known as the Fonte Guizianelli, but is now called by corruption Fonte Viniziana. It remained standing from 1354 until 1527, but no longer, because the plague of the following year, and the war which followed, deprived it of many of its advantages for the use of the gardens, particularly as Jacopo did not bring it inside, and for these reasons it is not standing to-day, as it should be.

Whilst Jacopo was engaged in bringing water to the city he did not abandon his painting, and in the palace which was in the old citadel, destroyed in our day, he did many scenes of the deeds of the Bishop Guide and of Piero Sacconi, who had done great and notable things for the city both in peace and war. He also did the story of St Matthew under the organ in the Pieve, and a considerable number of other works. By these paintings, which he did in every part of the city, he taught Spinello of Arezzo the first principles of that art which he himself had learned from Agnolo, and which Spinello afterwards taught to Bernardo Daddi, who worked in the city and adorned it with many fine paintings, which, united to his other excellent qualities, brought him much honour among his fellow-citizens, who employed him a great deal in magistracies and other public affairs. The paintings of Bernardo were numerous and highly valued, first in St Croce, the chapel of St Laurence and those of St Stephen of the Pulci and Berardi, and many other paintings in various other parts of that church. At length, after he had painted some pictures on the inside of the gates of the city of Florence, he died, full of years, and was buried honourably in S. Felicita in the year 1380.

To return to Jacopo. In the year 1350 was founded the company and brotherhood of the Painters. For the masters who then flourished, both those who practised the old Byzantine style and those who followed the new school of Cimabue, seeing that they were numerous, and that the art of design had been revived in Tuscany and in their own Florence, created this society under the name and protection of St Luke the Evangelist, to render praise and thanks to God in the sanctuary of that saint, to meet together from time to time, remembering the welfare of their souls as well as of the bodies of those who might be in need of assistance at various times. This is still the practice of many of the Arts in Florence, but it was much more common in former times. Their first sanctuary was the principal chapel of the hospital of S. Maria Nuova, which was granted them by the family of the Portinari. The first governors of the company were six in number, with the title of captains, and in addition there were two councillors and two chamberlains. This may be seen in the old book of the company begun then, the first chapter of which opens thus:

"These articles and regulations were agreed upon and drawn up by the good and discreet men of the art of the Painters of Florence, and in the time of Lapo Gucci, painter; Vanni Cinuzzi, painter; Corsino Buonaiuti, painter; Pasquino Cenni, painter; Segnia d'Antignano, painter. The councillors were Bernardo Daddi and Jacopo di Casentino, painters. Consiglio Gherardi and Domenico Pucci, painters, the chamberlains."

The company being thus formed by the consent of the captains and others, Jacopo di Casentino painted the picture of their chapel, representing St Luke drawing a picture of Our Lady, and in the predella, all the men of the company kneeling on one side and all the women on the other. From this beginning, whether they meet or no, the company has existed continuously from this time and has recently been remodelled, as is related in the new articles of the company approved by the Most Illustrious Lord, Duke Cosimo, the very benignant protector of these arts of design.

At length Jacopo, overwhelmed with years and toil, returned to Casentino and died there at Prato Vecchio, at the age of eighty. He was buried by his relations and friends in S. Agnolo, an abbey of the Camaldoline order, outside Prato Vecchio. Spinello introduced his portrait into a picture of the Magi in the old Duomo, and his style of draughtsmanship may be seen in our book.

Spinello, Painter of Arezzo.

Upon one of the occasions when the Ghibellines were driven from Florence and when they settled at Arezzo, Luca Spinelli had a son born to him there, to whom he gave the name of Spinello. This boy had so much natural inclination to be a painter, that almost without a master and while still quite a child he knew more than many who have practised under the best teachers, and what is more, he contracted a friendship with Jacopo di Casentino while the latter was working at Arezzo, and learned something from him, so much so indeed that before he was twenty years of age he was a far better master, young as he was, than Jacopo, who was already an old man. Spinello's early reputation as a good painter induced M. Dardano Acciaiuoli to employ him to decorate the church of S. Niccolo at the pope's halls, which he had just erected, behind S. Maria Novella in the Via dei Scala, and there buried a brother who was a bishop. Here Spinello painted scenes from the life of St Nicholas, bishop of Bari, in fresco, completing the work in 1334 after two years of unremitting labour. In it he exhibited equal excellence as a colourist and as a designer, so that the colours remained in excellent preservation up to our own day, and the excellence of the figures was well expressed, until a few years ago when they were in great part damaged by a fire which unfortunately broke out in the church at a time when it happened to be full of straw, brought there by some indiscreet persons who made use of the building as a barn for the storage of straw. The fame of the work induced M. Barone Capelli, citizen of Florence, to employ Spinello to paint in the principal chapel of S. Maria Maggiore, a number of stories of the Madonna in fresco, and some of St Anthony the abbot, and near them the consecration of that very ancient church by Pope Paschal II. Spinello did all this so well that it looks as if it had all been the work of a single day and not of many months, as was actually the case. Near the pope is the portrait of M. Barone from life, in the dress of the time, excellently done and with good judgment. On the completion of this, Spinello worked in the church of the Carmine in fresco, doing the chapel of St James and St John, apostles, where, among other things, he has given a very careful representation of the request made of Christ by the wife of Zebedee and mother of James, that her sons should sit the one on the right and the other on the left of the Father in the kingdom of Heaven. A little further over one sees Zebedee, James and John leaving their nets and following Christ, done with wonderful vigour and style. In another chapel of the same church, beside the principal one, Spinello also did in fresco some stories of the Madonna and the Apostles, their miraculous appearance to her before her death, her death and her being carried to Heaven by angels. As the scene was on a large scale, and the chapel being a very small one of not more than ten braccia in length and five in height, would not take it all, especially in the case of the Assumption of Our Lady, Spinello very judiciously continued the scene to the vaulting on one of the sides at the place where Christ and the angels are receiving her. In a chapel of S. Trinita, Spinello made a very fine Annunciation and for the high altar picture of the church of S. Apostolo he painted in tempera the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles in tongues of fire. In S. Lucia de' Bardi he also painted a panel and did a larger one for the chapel of St John the Baptist, decorated by Giotto.

After these things, and on account of the great reputation which his labours in Florence had procured for him, Spinello was recalled to Arezzo by the sixty citizens who governed it, and was commissioned by the Commune to paint the story of the Magi in the old Duomo outside the city, and in the chapel of St Gismondo, a St Donate, who by means of a benediction causes a serpent to burst. Similarly he made some various figures on many pilasters of that Duomo, and on a wall he did a Magdalene in the house of Simon anointing Christ's feet, with other paintings which there is no need to mention, since that church is now entirely destroyed, though it was then full of tombs, the bones of saints and other notable things. But in order that the memory of it may at least remain, I will remark that it was built by the Aretines more than thirteen hundred years ago, at the time when they were first converted to the faith of Jesus Christ by St Donato, who afterwards became bishop of the city. It was dedicated to him, and richly adorned both within and without with very ancient spoils of antiquity. The ground plan of the church, which is discussed at length elsewhere, was divided on the outside into sixteen faces, and on the inside into eight, and all were full of the spoils of those times which had originally been dedicated to idols; in short, it was, at the time of its destruction, as beautiful as such a very ancient church could possibly be. After the numerous paintings which he had done in the Duomo, Spinello painted for the chapel of the Marsupini in S. Francesco, Pope Honorius confirming and approving the rule of that saint, the pope being a portrait of Innocent IV., he having by some means obtained the likeness. In the chapel of St Michael, the Archangel, in the same church in which the bells are rung, he painted many scenes relating to him; and rather lower down, in the chapel of M. Giuliano Baccio, he did an Annunciation, with other figures, which are much admired. The whole of the works in this church were done in fresco with great boldness and skill between the years 1334 and 1338. In the Pieve of the same city he afterwards painted the chapel of St Peter and St Paul, and below it that of St Michael the Archangel; for the fraternity of S. Maria della Misericordia he did the chapel of St James and St Philip; and over the principal door of the fraternity which is on the piazza, that is to say, in the tympanum, he painted a Pieta, with a St John, at the request of the rectors of the fraternity. The foundation of the brotherhood took place in this way. A certain number of good and honourable citizens began to go about asking alms for the poor who were ashamed to beg, and to succour them in all their necessities, in the year of the plague of 1348. The fraternity acquired a great reputation, acquired by means of the efforts of these good men, in helping the poor and infirm, burying the dead, and performing other kindred acts of charity, so that the bequests, donations and inheritances left to them became so considerable that they amounted to one-third of the entire wealth of Arezzo. The same happened in 1383, which was also a year of severe plague. Spinello then being of the company, often undertook to visit the infirm, bury the dead, and perform other like pious duties which the best citizens have always undertaken and still do in that city. In order to leave a memorial of this in his paintings, he painted for the company on the wall of the church of S. Laurentino and Pergentino, a Madonna with her mantle open in front, and beneath her the people of Arezzo, comprising portraits of many of the earliest members of the fraternity, drawn from life, with wallets round their necks and a wooden hammer in their hands, like those with which they knocked at the doors to ask alms. Similarly, in the company of the Annunciation he painted the large tabernacle which is outside the church, and part of a portico which is opposite it, and the picture of the company, which is an Annunciation, in tempera. The picture which is now in the church of the nuns of S. Giusto, where a little Christ, who is at His mother's neck, is espousing St Catherine, with six small scenes in little figures of the acts of that saint, is also a work of Spinello and much admired. Being afterwards invited to the famous abbey of Camaldoli in Casentino in the year 1361, he painted for the hermits of that place the picture of the high altar, which was taken away in the year 1539, when the entire church was rebuilt and Giorgio Vasari did a new picture, painting the principal chapel of the abbey all in fresco, the transept of the church in fresco and two pictures. Summoned thence to Florence by D. Jacopo d'Arezzo, Abbot of S. Miniato in Monte of the order of Monte Oliveto, Spinello painted the vaulting and four walls of the sacristy of that monastery, besides the picture of the altar, all in tempera, with many stories of the life of St Benedict, executed with much skill and a great vivacity in the colouring, learned by him by means of long practice and continual labour, with study and diligence, such as are necessary to every one who wishes to acquire an art perfectly. After these things the said abbot left Florence and received the direction of the monastery of S. Bernardo of the same order, in his native land, at the very time when it was almost entirely completed on the land granted by the Aretines, on the site of the Colosseum. Here the abbot induced Spinello to paint in fresco two chapels which are beside the principal chapel, and two others, one on either side of the door leading to the choir in the screen of the church. In one of the two, next the principal chapel, is an Annunciation in fresco, made with the greatest diligence, and on a wall beside it, is the Madonna ascending the steps of the Temple, accompanied by Joachim and Anna; in the other chapel is a Crucifix with the Madonna and St John weeping, and a St Bernard adoring on his knees. On the inner wall of the church where the altar of Our Lady stands, he painted the Virgin with the child at her neck, which was considered a very beautiful figure, and did many other things for the church, painting above the choir Our Lady, St Mary Magdalene and St Bernard, very vivaciously. In the Pieve of Arezzo in the Chapel of St Bartholomew, he did a number of scenes from the life of that saint, and on the opposite side of the church, in the chapel of St Matthew, under the organ, which was painted by his master Jacopo di Casentino, besides many stories of that saint, which are meritorious, he did the four Evangelists in some medallions, in an original style, for above the bust and human limbs he gave St John the head of an eagle, St Mark the head of a lion, St Luke that of an ox, while only St Matthew has a human face, that is to say an angel's. Outside Arezzo, he decorated the church of S. Stefano, built by the Aretines upon many columns of granite and marble, to honour and preserve the names of several martyrs who were put to death by Julian the Apostate. Here he did a number of figures and scenes with great diligence and such a style of colouring that they were in a wonderfully fresh state of preservation when they were destroyed not many years ago. But the really remarkable piece of work in that place, besides the stories of St Stephen, in figures larger than life size, is the sight of Joseph, in the story of the Magi, beside himself with joy at the coming of those kings, and keenly watching the kings as they are opening the vessels of their treasures and are offering them to him. In the same church is a Madonna offering a rose to the Christ child, which was and is considered a most beautiful figure, and so highly reverenced by the Aretines that when the church of S. Stefano was pulled down, without sparing either pains or expense, they cut it out of the wall, ingeniously removed it and carried it into the city, depositing it in a small church in order to honour it, as they do, with the same devotion which they bestowed upon it at first. There is no wonder that the work inspired such reverence, for it is a natural characteristic of Spinello to endow his figures with a certain simple grace, partaking of modesty and holiness, so that his saints and particularly his Virgins breathe an indefinable sanctity and divinity which inspire men with devotion. This may be seen also in a Madonna which is on the side of the Albergetti, in one on an outside wall of the Pieve in Seteria, and in another of the same kind on the side of the canal. By Spinello's hand also is the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, on the wall of the hospital of S. Spirito, which is very fine, as are the two scenes below representing St Cosmo and St Damian cutting a healthy leg off a dead Moor to attach it to a man whose broken limb they have removed. In like manner theNoli me tangerebetween these two works is very beautiful. In a chapel of the company of the Puracciuoli on the piazza of St Agostino he did a very finely coloured Annunciation, and in the cloister of that convent he painted a Madonna in fresco with St James and St Anthony and the portrait of an armed soldier kneeling there, with these words:Hoc opus fecit fieri Clemens Pucci de Monte Catino, cujus corpus jacet hic, etc. Anno Domini 1367 die 15 mensis Maii. The representations in the chapel of that church, of St Anthony and other saints are known by their style to be by Spinello's hand, and he afterwards painted the whole of a portico in the hospital of S. Marco, now the monastery of the nuns of St Croce as their original house, which was outside, was pulled down. The figure of St Gregory the Pope, among the many represented in this work, standing beside a Misericordia, is a portrait of Pope Gregory IX. The chapel of St Philip and St James at the entry into the church of S. Domenico in the same city, was done in fresco by Spinello in a fine and vigorous style, as was also a three-quarter length figure of St Anthony, painted on the wall of the church, which is so fine that it apes life. It is placed in the midst of four scenes from his life, and these and many other scenes of the life of St Anthony, also by Spinello's hand, are in the chapel of St Anthony, in the church of S. Giustino. On one side of the church of S. Lorenzo he painted some stories of the Madonna, and outside the church he painted her seated, doing the work very gracefully in fresco. In a small hospital opposite of the nuns of S. Spirito, near the gate on the road to Rome, the whole of the portico is painted by his hand with a representation of the dead Christ in the lap of the Maries, executed with so much skill and judgment that it proves him to have equalled Giotto in the matter of design and to have far surpassed him as a colourist. In the same place he has represented Christ seated, with a very ingenious theological signification, having placed the Trinity inside a Sun so that the same rays and the same glory issue from each of the three figures. But the same fate has befallen this work as has happened to many others, to the infinite loss of the lovers of this art, for it was thrown down to make way for the fortifications of the city. At the company of the Trinity may be seen a tabernacle outside the church, by Spinello very finely worked in fresco, comprising the Trinity, St Peter and SS. Cosmo and Damian dressed in the robes habitually worn by the physicians of the time. During the production of these works D. Jacopo d'Arezzo was appointed general of the congregation of Monte Oliveto, nineteen years after he had employed Spinello to do a number of things at Florence and at Arezzo, as has been said above. Being stationed according to the custom of the order, at Monte Oliveto the greater, of Chiusuri in the Siena district, as being the principal house of that body, he conceived a longing to have a beautiful picture made in that place. Accordingly he sent for Spinello, remembering how well he had been served upon other occasions, and induced him to do the picture for the principal chapel. Here Spinello produced a large number of figures in tempera, both small and great, on a gold ground, with great judgment, and afterwards caused it to be framed in an ornament in half-relief by Simone Cini of Florence, while in some parts he put an additional ornament with stucco of a rather firm glue, which proved very successful. It was gilded all over by Gabriello Saracini, who wrote at the bottom the three names: Simone Cini of Florence did the carving, Gabriello Saracini the gilding, and Spinello di Luca of Arezzo the painting, in the year 1385.

On the completion of this work, Spinello returned to Arezzo having received numerous favours from the general and other monks, besides his payment. But he did not remain long there for the city was in disorder owing to the feuds of the Guelph and Ghibelline parties and was just then sacked. He removed with his family and his son Parri, who was learning painting, to Florence, where he had a goodly number of friends and relations. In that city, in order to pass the time, he painted an Annunciation in a tabernacle outside the gate at S. Piero Gattolini on the Roman road, where the way branches to Pozzolatico, a work which is now half destroyed, and other pictures in another tabernacle, where the ruin of Galluzzo is. Being afterwards invited to Pisa to finish in the Campo Santo beneath the life of St Ranieri the remainder of other subjects in a blank space, in order to unite them to the scenes painted by Giotto, Simone of Siena, and Antonio of Venice, he there executed in fresco six stories of St Petitus and St Epirus. The first represents the saint as a young man, presented by his mother to the Emperor Diocletian, and appointed general of the armies which were to march against the Christians. As he is riding with his troop Christ appears to him, and showing him a white cross commands the youth not to persecute Him. Another scene represents the angel of the Lord giving to the saint, while he is riding, the banner of the Faith, with a white cross on a red field, which has ever afterwards constituted the arms of the Pisans, because St Epirus had besought God to give him a sign to wear against the enemy. Next to this is another scene of a fierce battle engaged between the saint and the Pagans, many armed angels fighting for the victory of the former. Here Spinello produced many things worthy of consideration in that day when art had not yet the ability nor any good method of expressing the ideas of the mind in colour in a lively manner. Among many other things in this composition are two soldiers, who have seized each other by the beard, and are endeavouring to kill each other with the naked rapiers which they hold in their disengaged hands; their faces and all the movement of their limbs show the desire of victory, their proud spirits being without fear and of the highest courage. Also among those who are fighting on horseback there is a finely executed knight who is fastening the head of an enemy to earth with his lance, the other having fallen backward from his terrified horse. Another scene shows the saint presented to the Emperor Diocletian, who is questioning him about the faith, and who afterwards consigns him to the torture, putting him in a furnace in which he remains uninjured, whilst the servants who are very ready on every side are burned in his stead. In short, all the acts of the saint are shown, to his beheading, after which his soul is carried to Heaven. The last scene shows the transportation of the bones and relics of St Petitus from Alexandria to Pisa. The whole work in its colouring and conception is the finest, most finished, and best executed of Spinello's paintings, and this is shown by its present excellent state of preservation, for its fresh appearance excites the wonder of everyone who sees it. When this work in the Campo Santo was completed, Spinello painted in the church of S. Francesco, in the second chapel from the high altar, many stories of St Bartholomew, St Andrew, St James, and St John the apostles, and he might perhaps have remained longer at work in Pisa, because his paintings were admired and rewarded there, but seeing the city thrown into an uproar and turned upside down through the murder of M. Pietro Gambacorti by the Lanfranchini, who were Pisan citizens, he once more removed to Florence with all his family, for he was by this time an old man. He remained there for one year only, and in the chapel of the Macchiavelli in S. Croce, dedicated to SS. Philip and James, he did many stories of the life and death of those saints. The picture of the chapel he did at Arezzo, and sent it on from there in the year 1400, for he was anxious to return to his native place, or, to speak more correctly, to the place which he looked upon as such. Having thus returned thither at the age of seventy-seven or more, he was lovingly received by his relations and friends, and remained there, much loved and honoured, until the end of his life, which was in the ninety-second year of his age. Although at the time of his return to Arezzo he was quite an old man, and had enough property to enable him to live without working, yet he could not remain idle, since he had always been accustomed to work, and undertook to do some stories of St Michael for the company of S. Agnolo in that city. These are roughly drawn in red on the plastered wall, as was the most ordinary method of the old artists, and as an example he did a single scene in one corner, colouring it entirely, which gave considerable satisfaction. Having afterwards agreed upon the price with the wardens, he completed the entire front of the high altar, representing Lucifer establishing his seat in the north, and the fall of the angels who change into devils as they rain upon the earth. In the air is St Michael fighting with the serpent of seven heads and ten horns, and in the middle of the lower part is Lucifer already changed into a hideous monster. It gave Spinello so much satisfaction to make him horrible and distorted that it is said (so great is the power of imagination) that the figure in the picture appeared to him in a dream, and demanded when the artist had seen him so ugly, asking why he did him so great an indignity with his brush. Spinello awoke from his dream speechless from fear, and shook so violently that his wife hastened to assist him. Yet he ran considerable risk of dying suddenly, through the failure of the heart, owing to this misfortune, and it caused his death a short while afterwards, until when he lived in an utterly dispirited manner with wide open eyes. He died greatly lamented by his friends, and left the world two sons—one called Forzore was a goldsmith, who did some admirable work innielloin Florence; the other, Parri, who followed his father and pursued the art of painting, far surpassing Spinello in design. The Aretines were much grieved at this sad chance, although Spinello was old, at being deprived of ability and excellence such as his. He died at the age of ninety-two, and was buried in S. Agostino at Arezzo, where there is a stone with a coat of arms made after a fancy of his own, containing a hedgehog. Spinello was far better able to design than to put his thoughts into practice, as our book of designs shows, which contains two Evangelists and a St Louis by his hand, all very fine. His portrait given above was taken by me from one which was in the old Duomo before it was pulled down. His paintings were executed between the years 1380 and 1400.

Gherardo Stamina, Painter of Florence.

Certainly those who travel far from home to dwell in other parts very frequently do so to the advantage of their temperament, for by seeing divers customs abroad, even if they be of rather an extraordinary nature, they learn to be reasonable, kind and patient with considerably greater ease than they would have done had they remained at home. Indeed those who desire to refine men in their worldly conversation need no other fire and no better cement than this, because those who are naturally rough become gentle, and the gentle become even more gracious. Gherardo di Jacopo Stamina, painter of Florence, though rather hasty than good-natured, being very hard and rough in his dealings, did more harm by this to himself than to his friends, and it would have been even worse for him had he not remained a long time in Spain, where he learned to be gentle and courteous, for he there became so changed from his former nature that when he returned to Florence a very large number of those who had mortally hated him before his departure, received him with very great friendliness and continued to cherish a great affection for him, so gentle and courteous had he become. Gherardo was born in Florence in the year 1354, and as he grew up and was naturally bent to the art of designing, he was put with Antonio da Vinezia to learn to design and to paint. In the space of many years he not only learned the art and practice of colours, but had shown his ability by some things produced in a good style; accordingly he left Antonio and began to work on his own account. In the chapel of the Castellani at S. Croce, which was given to him to paint by Michaele di Vanno, an honoured citizen of that family, he did in fresco many stories of St Anthony the abbot and of St Nicholas the bishop, in such a good style that they attracted the attention of certain Spaniards then staying in Florence on business, and ultimately led to his being invited to Spain to their king, who saw and received him very gladly, there being at that time a great lack of good painters in that country. Nor was it a difficult matter to induce Gherardo to leave his country, for as he had had hard words with some men after the affair of the Ciompi and the appointment of Michele di Lando as gonfaloniere, he was in considerable danger of his life. Accordingly he went to Spain and did many things for the king there, and became rich and honoured by the great rewards which he earned for his labours. At length becoming desirous of showing himself to his friends in his improved estate, he returned home and was warmly welcomed and received in a very friendly manner by all his fellow-citizens. It was not long before he was employed to paint the chapel of St Jerome in the Carmine, where he did many stories of that saint, and in the story of Paul, Eustace and Jerome he represented some of the Spanish habits of the day with very happy invention and an abundance of fashions and ideas in the attitudes of the figures. Among other things, in a scene where St Jerome is receiving his earliest instruction, he represented a master who has caused one boy to mount upon the back of another and strikes him with the whip in such a manner that the poor child is twisting his legs with pain and appears to be crying out and trying to bite the ear of the boy who is holding him. The whole is executed with much grace and lightness, and Gherardo appears to have delighted in these touches of nature. In like manner, when St Jerome, being at the point of death, is making his will, he has hit off some friars in a delightful and realistic manner, for some are writing, others listening attentively and looking about, observing all the words of their master with great earnestness. This work won Stamina much fame and a high rank among artists, and his courteous and mild manners gave him a great reputation, so that his name was famous throughout Tuscany and indeed in all Italy. Being at this time invited to Pisa to paint the chapter-house of S. Niccola in that city, he sent in his place Antonio Vite of Pistoia, because he did not wish to leave Florence. Antonio, who had learned Stamina's style under him, did the Passion of Jesus Christ there, completing it in its present form in the year 1403, to the great delight of the Pisans. Afterwards, it is said, he finished the chapel of the Pugliesi; and as the works which he did there at S. Girolamo greatly pleased the Florentines, because he had expressed in a lively manner many gestures and attitudes which had not been attempted by any painters before his time, the Commune of Florence in the year that Gabriel Maria, lord of Pisa, sold that city to the Florentines for 200,000 scudi (after Giovanni Gambacorta had stood a siege of thirteen months, although even he at length agreed to the sale), employed Stamina to paint on a wall of the Palazzo di parte Guelfa, St Denis the bishop, with two angels, and below it an accurate representation of the city of Pisa. In the execution of this he displayed such diligence in every detail, especially in the colouring in fresco, that notwithstanding the action of air and water and a northern aspect, the picture has always remained in excellent condition, and even now it has all the appearance of having been newly painted, an achievement worthy of high praise. Gherardo having by this and other works acquired a great reputation and much renown both at home and abroad, death, the envious enemy of virtuous deeds, cut off at the height of his powers the great promise of much better things than the world had yet seen from him; and having come to his end unexpectedly in the forty-ninth year of his age, he was buried with much pomp in the church of S. Jacopo sopra Arno.

The pupils of Gherardo were Masolino da Panicale, who was at first an excellent goldsmith and then a painter, and some others whom it is not necessary to mention, as they did not possess any remarkable talent.

The portrait of Gherardo occurs in the story of St Jerome, mentioned above; he is one of the figures who are standing about the dying saint, represented in profile with a hood about his head and a mantle buttoned about him. In our book are some designs of Gherardo done with the pen on parchment, which are of considerable excellence.

Lippo, Painter of Florence.

Invention has been, and always will be considered the true mother of architecture, painting and poetry, as well as of all the superior arts and of all the marvels produced by man. By its aid artists develop their ideas, caprices and fancies, and are able to display more variety, for all those who work at these honourable professions always seek after a laudable diversity, and possess the power of delicate flattery and of tactful criticism. Lippo, then, painter of Florence, who was as varied and choice in his inventions as his works were really unfortunate and his life short, was born at Florence about the year of grace 1354; and although he took up the art of painting somewhat late, when he was already a man, yet he was so far assisted by natural inclination and by his fine talents that he soon distinguished himself brilliantly. He first painted in Florence and in S. Benedetto, a large and fine monastery outside the gate of the Pinti belonging to the Camaldoline order, now destroyed; he did a number a figures which were considered very beautiful, particularly the whole of a chapel, which affords an example of how close study quickly leads to great performances in anyone who honestly takes pains with the desire for fame. Being invited to Arezzo from Florence, he did for the chapel of the Magi in the church of S. Antonio a large scene in fresco in which they are adoring Christ; and in the Vescovado he did the chapel of St James and St Christopher for the family of the Ubertini. All these things were very fine, for the invention displayed in the composition of scenes and in the colouring. He was the first who began, as it were, to play with his figures, and to awaken the minds of those who came after him, a thing which had never been done before, only attempted. After he had done many things in Bologna and a meritorious picture at Pistoia, he returned to Florence, where he painted the chapel of the Beccuti in S. Maria Maggiore in the year 1383 with scenes from the life of St John the evangelist. Following on from this chapel, which is beside the principal one, on the left hand, six scenes from the life of this saint are represented along the wall, by the same hand. Their composition is excellent and they are well arranged, one scene in particular being very vivid, namely, that in which St John causes St Dionisius the Areopagite to put his vest on some dead men, who come to life again in the name of Jesus Christ, to the great wonderment of some who are present who can hardly believe their own eyes. The foreshortening of some of the dead figures shows great art and proves that Lippo was conscious of some of the difficulties of his profession and endeavoured to some extent to overcome them. It was Lippo also who painted the wings of the tabernacle of the church of S. Giovanni, where are Andrea's angels and his St John, in relief, doing some stories of St John the Baptist in tempera, with great diligence. Being very fond of working in mosaic, he did some in that church over the door leading towards the Misericordia, between the windows, which was considered very beautiful and the best work in mosaic produced in that place with them. In the same church he further repaired some mosaics which had been damaged. Outside Florence, in S. Giovanni fra l'Arcora, without the gate leading to Faenza, he painted a number of figures in fresco beside Buffalmacco's Crucifixion, which was considered very beautiful by all who saw them. In certain small hospitals near the Fænza gate and in S. Antonio inside that gate near the hospital, he did some poor men, in fresco, in some varied styles and attitudes, very beautifully executed, and in the cloister within he made, with beautiful and new invention, the vision of St Anthony of the deceits of the world, and next to that the desires and appetites of men, who are drawn hither and thither to divers things of this world, the whole of the work being executed with much consideration and judgment. Lippo also did mosaic work in many places of Italy, and in the Guelph quarter at Florence he made a figure with a glass head, while Pisa contains a number of his productions. Yet in spite of all this he must be considered a really unfortunate man, since at the present time the greater part of his works have disappeared, having been destroyed in the siege of Florence, and also because his career was terminated in a very tragic manner; for being a quarrelsome man and liking turmoil belter than quiet, he happened one morning to say some very insulting words to an opponent at the tribunal of the Mercanzia, and that evening as he was returning home, he was dogged by this man and stabbed in the breast with a knife, so that in a few days he perished miserably. His paintings were produced about 1410. There flourished at Bologna in Lippo's time another painter whose name was also Lippo Dalmasi, who was a worthy man, and among other things he painted a Madonna in the year 1407, which may still be seen in S. Petronio at Bologna and which is held in great veneration. He also painted in fresco the tympanum above the door of S. Procolo, and in the church of S. Francesco in the tribune of the high altar, he made a large Christ, half length, and a St Peter and a St Paul, in a very graceful style. Under these works may be seen his name written in large letters. He also designed very fairly, as may be seen in our book, and he afterwards taught the art to M. Galante da Bologna, who afterwards designed much better than he, as may be seen in the same book in a portrait of a figure dressed in a short coat with wide open sleeves.

Don Lorenzo, Monk of the Angeli of Florence, Painter.

I believe that it is a great joy to a good and religious person to find some honourable employment for their hands whether it be letters, music, painting or other liberal and mechanical arts which involve no reproach but are on the contrary useful and helpful to other men, for after the divine offices the time may be passed with the pleasure taken in the easy labours of peaceful exercises. To these advantages we may add that not only is such a monk esteemed and valued by others during his life-time, except by such as are envious and malignant, but he is honoured by all men after his death, for his works and the good name which he has left behind him. Indeed whoever spends his time in this manner, lives in quiet contemplation without any danger from those ambitious stirrings which are almost always to be seen among the idle and slothful, who are usually ignorant, to their shame and hurt. If it should happen that a man of ability acting thus is slandered by the malicious, the power of virtue is such that time will reestablish his reputation and bury the malignity of the evil disposed, while the man of ability will remain distinguished and illustrious in the centuries which succeed. Thus Don Lorenzo, painter of Florence, being a monk of the order of the Camaldolines in the monastery of the Angeli (founded in 1294 by Fra Giuttone of Arezzo of the order of the Virgin Mother of Jesus Christ, or of the Rejoicing friars as the monks of that order were commonly called), devoted so much time in his early years to design and to painting, that he was afterwards deservedly numbered among the best men of his age in that profession. The first works of this painter monk, who adopted the style of Taddeo Gaddi and his school, were in the monastery of the Angeli, where besides many of the things he painted the high altar picture, which may still be seen in their church. When completed it was placed there in the year 1413 as may be seen by the letters written at the bottom of the frame. He also painted a picture for the monastery of S. Benedetto of the same order of the Camaldoli, outside the Pinti gate, destroyed at the siege of Florence in 1529. It represented the Coronation of Our Lady and resembled the one he had previously done for the church of the Angeli. It is now in the first cloister of the monastery of the Angeli, on the right hand side in the chapel of the Alberti. At the same time, and possibly before, he painted in fresco the chapel and altar picture of the Ardinghelli in S. Trinita, Florence, which was then much admired, and into this he introduced portraits of Dante and Petrarch. In S. Piero Maggiore he painted the chapel of the Fioravanti and in a chapel of S. Piero Scheraggio he did the altar picture, while in the church of S. Trinita he further painted the chapel of the Bartolini. In S. Jacopo sopra Arno a picture by his hand may still be seen, executed with infinite diligence, after the manner of the time. Also in the Certosa outside Florence he painted some things with considerable skill, and in S. Michele at Pisa, a monastery of his own order, he did some very fair pictures. In Florence, in the church of the Romiti (Hermits), which also belonged to the Camaldolines, and which is now in ruins as well as the monastery, leaving nothing but its name Camaldoli to that part beyond the Arno, he did a crucifix on a panel, besides many other things, and a St John, which were considered very beautiful. At last he fell sick of a cruel abscess, and after lingering for many months he died at the age of fifty-five, and was honourably buried by the monks in the chapter-house of their monastery as his virtues demanded.

Experience shows that in the course of time many shoots frequently spring from a single germ owing to the diligence and ability of men, and so it was in the monastery of the Angeli, where the monks had always paid considerable attention to painting and design. Don Lorenzo was not the only excellent artist among them, but men distinguished in design flourished there for a long time both before and after him. Thus I cannot possibly pass over in silence one Don Jacopo of Florence, who flourished a long time before D. Lorenzo, because as he was the best and most methodical of monks, so he was the best writer of large letters who has ever existed before or since, not only in Tuscany but in all Europe, as is clearly testified not only by the twenty large choir books which he left in his monastery, the writing in which is most beautiful, the books themselves being perhaps the largest in Italy, but an endless number of other books which may still be found in Rome and in Venice and many other places, notably in S. Michele and S. Mania at Murano, a monastery of the Camaldoline order. By these works the good father has richly deserved the honours accorded to him many years after he had passed to a better life, his celebration in many Latin verses by D. Paolo Orlandini, a very learned monk of the same monastery, as well as the preservation of the right hand which wrote the books, with great veneration in a tabernacle, together with that of another monk, D. Silvestro, who illuminated the same books with no less excellence, when the conditions of the time are taken into consideration, than D. Jacopo had written them. I, who have seen them many times, am lost in astonishment that they should have been executed with such good design and with so much diligence at that time, when all the arts of design were little better than lost, since the works of these monks were executed about the year of grace 1350, or a little before or after, as may be seen in each of the said books. It is reported, and some old men relate that when Pope Leo X. came to Florence he wished to see and closely examine these books, since he remembered having heard them highly praised by the Magnificent Lorenzo de' Medici, his father; and that after he had attentively looked through them and admired them as they were all lying open on the choir-desks, he said, "If they were in accordance with the rules of the Roman Church and not of the Camaldolines, I should like some specimens for S. Peter's at Rome, for which I would pay the monks a just price." There were, and perhaps still are, two very fine ones at S. Peter's by the same monks. In the same monastery of the Angeli is a quantity of very ancient embroidery, done in a very fine style, with excellent designs by the fathers of the house while they were in perpetual seclusion, with the title not of monks but of hermits, and who never came out of the monastery as the nuns and monks do in our day. This practice of seclusion lasted until 1470. But to return to D. Lorenzo. He taught Francesco Fiorentino, who, after his death, did the tabernacle which is on the side of S. Maria Novella at the head of the via della Scala leading to the Pope's chamber. He also had another pupil, a Pisan, who painted in the chapel of Rutilio di Ser Baccio Maggiolini, in the church of S. Francesco at Pisa, Our Lady, a St Peter, St John the Baptist, St Francis and St Ranieri, with three scenes of small figures in the predella of the altar. This painting, executed in 1315, was considered meritorious for a work done in tempera. In our book of designs I have the theological virtues done by D. Lorenzo's hand in chiaroscuro, with good design and a beautiful and graceful style, so that they are perhaps better than the designs of any other master of the time. Antonio Vite of Pistoia was a meritorious painter in Lorenzo's time, and is said to have painted, among many other things described in the life of Stamina, in the palace of the Geppo of Prato, the life of Francesco di Marco, who was the founder of that pious place.

Taddeo Bartoli, Painter of Siena.

Those artists who put themselves to a great deal of pains in painting in order to win fame, deserve a better fate than the placing of their works in obscure and unhonoured places where they may be blamed by persons whose knowledge of the subject is not considerable. Their productions ought to be so prominently placed with plenty of light and air that they may be properly seen and examined by every one. This is the case of the public work of Taddeo Bartoli, painter of Siena for the chapel of the palace of the Signoria at Siena. Taddeo was the son of Bartoli son of the master Fredi, who was a mediocre painter in his day, and painted scenes from the Old Testament on a wall of the Pieve of S. Gimignano, on the left hand side on entering. In the middle of this work, which if the truth must be told was not very good, the following inscription may still be read:Ann: Dom 1356 Bartolus magistri Fredi de Senis me pinxit. Bartoli must have been young at the time, for there is a picture of his of the year 1388, in S. Agostino of the same district, on the left hand side on entering the principal door. The subject is the Circumcision of our Lord with certain saints, and it is in a far better style both as regards design and colouring, some of the heads being really fine although the feet of the figures are in the ancient style. In fact many other works of Bartoli may be seen about that district. But to return to Taddeo, as the best master of the time, he received a commission, as I have said, to paint the chapel of the palace of the Signoria for his native place, and he executed it with such diligence, with consideration for so honoured a place, and he was so richly rewarded by the Signoria, that he greatly increased his glory and renown. Thus not only did he afterwards make many pictures for his native land, to his great honour and benefit, but he was invited and asked of the Signoria of Siena as a great favour by Francesco da Carrara, lord of Padua, to go there, as he did, and do some things in that most noble city. He did some pictures and other things there, notably in the Arena and in the Santo with great care, to his own great honour and to the infinite satisfaction of the said lord and of the whole city. Returning subsequently to Tuscany he did a picture in tempera in S. Gimignano, which is something in the style of Ugolino of Siena and is now behind the high altar of the Pieve facing the choir of the priests. He next went to Siena, but did not remain long there as he was summoned to Pisa by one of the Lanfranchi, a warden of the Duomo. Having proceeded thither he did for the chapel of the Nunziata the scene where the Madonna is ascending the steps of the temple, where the priest in his pontificals is awaiting her, a highly finished work. The face of the priest is the portrait of the man who had invited him, while his own is hard by. On the completion of this work, the same patron induced him to paint over the chapel in the Campo Santo, the Coronation of Our Lady by Jesus Christ, with many angels, in most beautiful attitudes and very finely coloured. For the chapel of the sacristy of St Francesco at Pisa, Taddeo also painted a picture in tempera of the Madonna and some saints, signing his name to it and the year 1394. About the same time he did some pictures in tempera at Volterra, and another picture at Monte Oliveto, while on the wall he did an Inferno, following the arrangement of Dante as regards the division of the damned and the nature of their punishment, but as regards the site he either could not or would not imitate him, or perhaps he lacked the necessary knowledge. He also sent to Arezzo a picture which is in S. Agostino containing a portrait of Pope Gregory IX., the one who returned to Italy after the papal court had been so many decades in France. After these things he returned to Siena, but did not make a long stay there as he was invited to Perugia to work in the church of S. Domenico. Here he painted the whole of the life of St Catherine in the chapel dedicated to that saint, and did some figures in S. Francesco beside the sacristy door, which may still be discerned to-day, and are recognisable as being by Taddeo, because he always retained the same manner. Shortly after, in the year 1398, Biroldo, lord of Perugia, was assassinated. Taddeo accordingly returned to Siena, where he devoted constant work and steady application to the study of art, in order to make himself a worthy painter. It may be affirmed that if he did not perhaps attain his purpose, it was not on account of any defect or negligence on his part, but solely because of an obstructive malady which prevented him from ever realising his desire. Taddeo died at the age of fifty-nine, after having taught the art to a nephew of his called Domenico. His paintings were done about the year of grace 1410. Thus, as I have said, he left Domenico Bartoli, his nephew and pupil, who devoted himself to the art of painting, and painted with superior skill. In the subjects which he represented he exhibited much more wealth and variety in various matters than his uncle had done. In the hall of the pilgrims of the great hospital of Siena there are two large scenes in fresco by Domenico, which contain prospectives and other ornaments, composed with considerable ingenuity. It is said that Domenico was modest and gentle and of a singularly amiable and liberal courtesy, which did no less honour to his name than the art of painting itself. His works were executed about the year of our Lord 1436, and the last were in S. Trinita at Florence, a picture of the Annunciation and the high altar picture in the church of the Carmine.

Alvaro di Piero of Portugal flourished at the same time, and adopted a very similar style, but made his colouring more clear and his figures shorter. In Volterra he did several pictures, and there is one in S. Antonio at Pisa and others in various places, but as they are of no great excellence it is not necessary to mention them. In our book there is a sheet of drawings by Taddeo, containing a Christ and two angels, etc., very skilfully executed.

Lorenzo di Bicci, Painter of Florence.

When those who excel in any honourable employment, no matter what, unite with their skill as craftsmen, a gentleness of manners and of good breeding, and especially courtesy, serving those who employ them with speed and goodwill, there is no doubt that they are pursuing to their great honour and advantage almost everything which can be desired in this world. This was the case with Lorenzo di Bicci, painter of Florence, born in Florence in the year 1400, at the very moment when Italy was beginning to be disturbed by the wars which ended so badly for her, was in very good credit from his earliest years; for under his father's discipline he learned good manners, and from Spinello's instruction he acquired the art of painting, so that he had a reputation not only of being an excellent painter, but of being a most courteous and able man. While he was still a youth, Lorenzo did some works in fresco at Florence and outside to gain facility, and Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, having remarked the excellence of his style, employed him to paint in the hall of the old house of the Medici, which afterwards was left to Lorenzo, natural brother of Cosmo the Ancient, after the great palace was built, all those famous men who may still be seen in a fairly good state of preservation. This work being completed, Lorenzo di Bicci was anxious, like the doctors who experiment in their art on the skins of poor rustics, to have practice in the art of painting in a place where things are not so closely criticised, and for some time he accepted everything which presented itself; hence, outside the gate of S. Friano at the ponte a Scandicci, he painted a tabernacle, as it may now be seen, and at Cerbaia under a portico he painted very agreeably a Madonna and many saints on a wall. Afterwards a chapel in S. Marco at Florence was allotted to him by the family of the Martini, and on the walls he painted in fresco a number of scenes from the life of Our Lady, and on the altar picture the Virgin herself in the midst of many saints. In the same church over the chapel of St John the Evangelist, of the family of the Landi, he painted in fresco the angel Raphael and Tobias. In the year 1418 for Ricciardo di M. Niccolo Spinello, on the piazza front of the convent of S. Croce he painted a large scene in fresco of St Thomas examining the wounds of Jesus Christ in the presence of all the other apostles who are kneeling reverently at the sight. Next to this scene and also in fresco he did a St Christopher, twelve and a half braccia high, which is a rare thing, because with the exception of the St Christopher of Buffalmacco, a larger figure had never been seen, and although the style is not good it is the most meritorious and best proportioned representation of the saint. Besides this the pictures were executed with such skill that although they have been exposed to the air for many years, and being turned to the north, they have suffered the violence of rain and storm, yet they have never lost the brilliancy of their colouring and are in no wise injured by these accidents. Lorenzo also made a crucifix with many figures inside the door which is in the middle of these figures, called the door of the knocker, at the request of the same Ricciardo and of the superior of the convent, and on the encircling wall he did the confirmation of the rule of St Francis by Pope Honorius, and then the martyrdom of some friars of that order, who are going to preach the faith to the Saracens. In the arches and on the vaulting he did some kings of France, friars and followers of St Francis, drawing them from life, as well as many learned men of the order, distinguished by their several dignities of bishop, cardinal and pope. Among these are the portraits from life of Popes Nicholas IV. and Alexander V., in medallions. For all these figures Lorenzo made the grey habits, but with variety owing to his skill in workmanship, so that they all differ from one another, some inclining towards red, others to blue, some being dark and others more light, so that all are varied and worthy of consideration. What is more, it is said that he produced these works with such facility and speed that when the superior, who paid his expenses in designing, called him one day, when he had just made the colour for a figure and was beginning it, he answered, "Make the soup and I will come when I have finished this figure." Accordingly it is said with a great show of reason that no one ever exhibited such quickness of the hands, such skill in colouring, or was so resolute as he. By his hand also is the tabernacle in fresco which is beside the nunnery of Foligno and the Madonna and saints over the door of the church of that nunnery, among them being a St Francis espousing Poverty. In the church of Camaldoli at Florence, he painted for the company of the Martyrs some scenes of the martyrdom of certain saints, and decorated the chapels on either side of the principal chapel. As these paintings gave considerable satisfaction to the whole city, he was commissioned on their completion, to paint a wall of the church in the Carmine for the family of the Salvestrini, now almost extinct, there being so far as I know, no other surviving member than a friar of the Angeli at Florence, called Fra Nemesio, a good and courteous monk. Here he did the martyrs, when they are condemned to death, being stripped naked and made to walk bare-footed on thorns sown by the servants of the tyrants, whilst they are on the way to be crucified, and higher up they are represented on the cross in varied and extraordinary attitudes. In this work, the largest which had ever been produced, everything is done with great skill and design, according to the knowledge of the time, being full of the expressions showing the divers ways of dying of those who are put to death with violence. For this cause I am not surprised that many men of ability have made use of some things found in this picture. After this Lorenzo did many other figures in the same church, and decorated two chapels in the screen. At the same time he did the tabernacle on the side of the Cuculia, and the one in the via de' Martelli on the wall of the houses, and over the knocker door of S. Spirito he did a St Augustine in fresco, who is giving the rule to his brethren. In S. Trinita in the chapel of Neri Capponi he painted in fresco the life of St John Gualbert. In the principal chapel of S. Lucia in the via de' Bardi he did some scenes in fresco from the life of St Lucy for Niccolo da Uzzano, whose portrait he introduced there from life together with those of some other citizens. This Niccolo with the assistance and model of Lorenzo, built his own palace near the church, and began a magnificent college or studium between the convent of the Servites and that of S. Marco, that is to say, where the lions now are. This truly magnificent work, rather worthy of a prince than of a private citizen, was not completed, because the immense sum of money which Niccolo left in his bank at Florence for the building and endowment of it were expended by the Florentines on war and other needs of the city. Although Fortune can never obscure the memory and greatness of the spirit of Niccolo da Uzzano, the community suffered a great loss by the non-completion of the work. Therefore, let anyone who desires to help the world in such a manner, and to leave an honourable memorial of himself, do so himself in his life-time, and not trust to the faithfulness of posterity and of his heirs, as it very rarely happens that a thing is carried out where it is left to successors. But to return to Lorenzo. Besides what has been already mentioned, he painted a Madonna and certain saints very fairly in a tabernacle on the ponte Rubaconte in fresco. Not long after, Ser Michele di Fruosino, master of the hospital of S. Maria Nuova at Florence, a building founded by Folco Portinari, citizen of Florence, proposed, as the property of the hospital had increased, to enlarge his church outside Florence, dedicated to St Giles, which was of small importance. Accordingly he consulted Lorenzo di Bicci, his close friend, and on 5th September 1418 he began the new church, which was completed in its present form in a year, and then solemnly consecrated by Pope Martin V. at the request of Ser Michele, who was the eighth master and a member of the family of the Portinari. Lorenzo afterwards painted this consecration, at the desire of Ser Michele, on the front of the church, introducing the portrait of the Pope and of some cardinals. This work was then much admired as something new and beautiful. For this cause Lorenzo was judged worthy to be the first to paint in the principal church of his native city, that is S. Maria del Fiore, where, under the windows of each chapel, he did the saints to which they are dedicated; and afterwards, on the pillars and through the church, he did the twelve Apostles with the crosses of the consecration, as the church was solemnly consecrated in that very year by Pope Eugenius IV. of Venice. In the same church the wardens, by a public ordinance, employed him to paint on the wall in fresco a deposition, finished in marble, in memory of the Cardinal de' Corsini, whose effigy is there, upon the sarcophagus. Above this is another like it, in memory of Master Luigi Marsili, a most famous theologian, who went as ambassador with M. Luigi Giuccardini and M. Guccio di Gino, most honoured knights, to the Duke of Anjou. Lorenzo was afterwards invited to Arezzo by D. Laurentino, abbot of S. Bernardo, a monastery of the order of Monte Oliveto, where he painted scenes from the life of St Bernard in fresco for the principal chapel for M. Carlo Marsupino. But as he was about to paint the life of St Benedict in the cloister of the convent, after he had painted the principal chapel of the church of S. Francesco, for Francesco de' Bacci, the elder, where he alone did the vaulting and half the tympanum, he fell sick of a chest affection. Accordingly he caused himself to be carried to Florence, and left instructions that Marco da Montepulciano, his pupil, should do these scenes from the life of St Benedict in the cloister, from a design which he had made and left with D. Laurentino. These Marco did to the best of his ability, completing them in the year 1448 on 24th April, the whole work being in chiaroscuro, and his name may be seen written there, with verses which are not less rude than the painting. Lorenzo returned to his country, and, having recovered, he painted on the same wall of the convent of S. Croce, where he had done the St Christopher, the Assumption of Our Lady surrounded in Heaven by a choir of angels, and below a St Thomas receiving the girdle. In the execution of this work, as Lorenzo was sick, he was assisted by Donatello, then quite a youth, and by means of such effective aid it was completed in the year 1450, so that I believe it to be the best work both in design and in colouring that Lorenzo ever produced. Not long after, being an old man and worn out, he died at the age of about sixty years, leaving two sons who practised painting, one of whom, named Bicci, assisted him in many of his works, and the other, called Neri, drew the portraits of his father and himself in the chapel of the Lenzi in Ognissanti, in two medallions, with letters about them giving the names of both. In this same chapel Neri did some stories of Our Lady, and took great pains to copy many of the costumes of his day, both of men and women. He did the altar picture for the chapel in tempera, and painted some pictures in the Abbey of S. Felice, of the Camaldoline order, on the piazza of Florence, as well as the high altar of S. Michele of Arezzo of the same order. Outside Arezzo, at S. Maria delle Grazie, in the church of S. Bernardino, he did a Madonna with the people of Arezzo under her mantle, and on one side St Bernardino is kneeling, with a wooden cross in his hand, such as he was accustomed to carry when he went through Arezzo preaching; and on the other side are St Nicholas and St Michael the Archangel. The predella contains the acts of St Bernardino and the miracles which, he performed, especially those done in that place. The same Neri did the high altar picture for S. Romolo at Florence, and in the chapel of the Spini in S. Trinita he did the life of St John Gualbert in fresco, as well as the picture in tempera which is above the altar. From these works it is clear that if Neri had lived, instead of dying at the age of thirty-six, he would have done many better and more numerous works than his father Lorenzo. The latter was the last master to adopt the old manner of Giotto, and accordingly his life will be the last in this first part, which I have now completed, with God's help.

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