 Section 15 of Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects. Volume 1. Life of Andrea Pisano, Sculptor and Architect. The art of painting never flourished at any time without the sculptors also pursuing their exercise with excellence, and to this the works of all ages bear witness for the close observer, because these two arts are truly sisters, born at one and the same time, and fostered and governed by one and the same soul. This is seen in Andrea Pisano, who, practicing sculpture in the time of Giotto, made so great improvement in this art that both in practice and in theory he was esteemed the greatest man that the Tuscans had had up to his times in this profession, and above all in casting in bronze. Wherefore his works were honoured and rewarded in such a manner by all who knew him, and above all by the Florentines, that it was no hardship to him to change country, relatives, property and friends. He received much assistance from the difficulties experienced in sculpture by the masters who had lived before him, whose sculptures were so uncouth and worthless that whosoever saw them in comparison with those of this man judged the last a miracle, and that these early works were rude witness is born, as it has been said elsewhere, by some that are over the principal door of San Paolo influence, and some in stone that are in the church of Agni Santi, which are so made that they move those who view them rather to laughter than to any marvel or pleasure, and it is certain that the art of sculpture can recover itself much better, in the event of the essence of statuary being lost, since men have the living and the natural model, which is wholly rounded as that art requires, than can the art of painting. It being not so easy and simple to recover the beautiful outlines and the good manner in order to bring the art to the light, for these are the elements that produce majesty, beauty, grace and adornment in the works that the painters make. In one respect fortune was favourable to the labours of Andrea, because there had been brought to Pisa, as it had been said elsewhere, by means of the many victories that the peasants had at sea, many antiquities and sarcophagi that are still round the Dromel and the Campos Santo, and these brought him such great assistance and gave him such great light, as could not be obtained by Giotto, for the reason that the ancient paintings had not been preserved as much as the sculptures, and although statues are often destroyed by fires and by the ruin and fury of war, and buried or transported to diverse places, nevertheless it is easy for the experience to recognise the difference in the manner of all countries, as for example the Egyptian is slender and lengthy in its figures, the Greek is scientific and shows much study in the nudes, while the heads have almost all the same expression, and the most ancient tuscan is laboured in the hair and somewhat uncouth. That of the Romans, I call Romans, for the most part, those who, after the subjugation of Greece, betook themselves to Rome, wither all that there was of the good and of the beautiful in the world was carried, that, I say, is so beautiful, by reason of the expressions, the attitudes, and the movements both of the nude and of the draped figures, that it may be said that they rested the beautiful from all the other provinces and moulded it into one single manner, to the end that it might be, as it is, the best, nay, the most divine of all. All these beautiful manners and arts being spent in the time of Andrea, that alone was in use which had been brought by the Goths and by the uncivilised Greeks into Tuscany, wherefore he, having studied the new method of design of Giotto, and those few antiquities that were known to him, refined in great part the grossness of so miserable a manner with his judgement, in such wise that he began to work better and to give much greater beauty to statuary than any other had yet done in that art up to his times. Therefore, his genius and his good skill and dexterity becoming known, he was assisted by many in his country, and, while still young, he was commissioned to make for Santa Maria Apponte some little figures in marble, which brought him so good a name that he was sought out with very great insistence to come to work in Florence for the Office of Works of Santa Maria Del Fiore, which, after a beginning had been made with the façade containing the three doors, was suffering from a dearth of masters to make the scenes that Giotto had designed for the beginning of the said fabric. Andrea then betook himself to Florence for the service of the said Office of Works, and because the Florentines desired at that time to gain the friendship and love of Pope Boniface VIII, who was then Supreme Pontiff of the Church of God, they wished that, before anything else, Andrea should make a portrait in marble of the said Pontiff from the life. Wherefore, putting his hand to this work, he did not rest until he had finished the figure of the Pope with the Saint Peter and the Saint Paul, who are one on either side of him, which three figures were placed in the façade of Santa Maria Del Fiore, where they still are. Andrea then made certain little figures of profits for the middle door of the said Church, in some shrines or rather niches, from which it is seen that he had brought great betterment to the art, and that he was in advance, both in excellence and design, of all those who had worked up to then on the said fabric. Wherefore, it was resolved that all the works of importance should be given to him to do, and not to others, and so, no long time after, he was commissioned to make the four statues of the principal doctors of the Church, Saint Jerome, Saint Ambrose, Saint Augustine, and Saint Gregory, and these being finished and acquiring for him favour and fame with the wardens of works, neighborhood the whole city, he was commissioned to make two other figures in marble of the same size, which were Saint Stephen and Saint Lawrence, now standing in the said façade of Santa Maria Del Fiore at the outermost corners. By the hand of Andrea, likewise, is the Madonna in marble, three-bratcher and a half-high, with the child in her arms, which stands on the altar of the little Church of the Company of the Misericordia on the piazza de Sant Giovanni in Florence, which was a work much praised in those times, and, above all, because he accompanied it with two angels, one on either side, each two-bratcher and a half-high. Round this work, there has been made in our own day a frame of wood, very well wrought by Maestro Antonio, called Il Carotta, and below, a pradella full of most beautiful figures, coloured in oil by Rodolfo, son of Domenico, girl, and Dio. In like manner, that half-length Madonna in marble that is over the side-door of the same Misericordia in the façade of the Child and I is by the hand of Andrea, and it was much praised because he imitated therein the good ancient manner, contrary to his want, which was ever far distant from it, as some drawings testify that are in our book, wrought by his hand, wherein are drawn all the stories of the Apocalypse. Now, seeing that Andrea had applied himself in his youth to the study of architecture, there came occasion for him to be employed in this by the Commune of Florence, for anulfo being dead and Giotto absent, he was commissioned to make the design of the Castle of Scarperia, which is in the Mugello, at the foot of the mountains. Some say, though it would not indeed vouch for it as true, that Andrea stayed a year in Venice, and there wrought, in sculpture, some little figures in marble that are in the façade of San Marco, that at the time of Mesa Piero Gradonego, doge of that republic, he made the design of the arsenal. But seeing that I know nothing about it, save that which I find to have been written by some without authority, I leave each one to think in his own way about this matter. Andrea, having returned from Venice to Florence, the city, fearful of the coming of the emperor, caused a part of the walls to be raised with lime, post-haste, to the height of eight vulture, employing in this Andrea, a section that is between Sangallo and the Porta Alpreto, and in other places he made bastions, stockades, and other ramparts of earth and of wood, very strong. Now, because three years before, he had shown himself to his own great credit to be an able man in the casting of bronze, having sent to the Pope in Avignon, by means of giotto, his very great friend, who was then staying at that court, a very beautiful cross cast in bronze. He was commissioned to complete in bronze one of the doors of the church of San Giovanni, for which giotto had already made a very beautiful design. This was given to him, I say, to complete by reason of his having been judged, among so many who had worked up to them, the most able, the most practised, and the most judicious master, not only of Tuscany, but of all Italy. Wherefore, putting his hand to this, with a mind determined not to consent to spare either time or labour or diligence in executing a work of so great importance, fortune was so propitious to him in the casting, for of those times when the secrets were not known that are known to-day, that within the space of twenty-two years he brought it to that perfection which is seen. And what is more, he also made during that same time not only the shrine of the high altar of San Giovanni, with two angels, one on either side of it, that were held something very beautiful, but also, after the design of giotto, those little figures in marble that act as a dormant for the door of the Campanile of Santa Maria del Fiore, and round the same Campanile in certain Mondore, the seven planets, the seven virtues, and the seven works of mercy, little figures in half relief that were then much praised. He also made during the same time the three figures, each four bracha high, that were set up in the niches of the said Campanile beneath the windows that face the spot where the orphans now are, that is, towards the south, which figures were thought at that time more than passing good. But to return where I left off, I say that in the said Bronze Door are little scenes in low relief of the life of St John the Baptist, that is, from his birth up to his death, wrought happily and with much diligence, and although it seems to many that in these scenes they do not appear that beautiful design, and that great art which I now put into figures, yet Andrea deserves nothing but the greatest praise, in that he was the first to put his hand to the complete execution of such a work, which afterwards enabled the others who lived after him to make whatever of the beautiful, of the difficult, and of the good, is to be seen at the present day in the other two doors and in the external ornaments. This work was placed in the middle door of that church, and stood there until the time when Lorenzo Ghiberti laid that one which is there at the present day, for then it was removed and placed opposite the misericordia, where it still stands. I will not forbear to say that Andrea was assisted in making this door by Nino, his son, who was afterwards a much better master than his father had been, and that it was completely finished in the year 1339, that is, not only made smooth and polished all over, but also gilded by fire, and it is believed that it was cast in a metal by some Venetian masters, very expert in the founding of metals, and of this there is found record in the books of the guild of the merchants of Calimara, wardens of the works of San Giovanni. While the said door was making, Andrea made not only the other works aforesaid, but also many others, and in particular the model of the church of San Giovanni at Pistoia, which was founded in the year 1337. In the same year on January the 25th, in excavating the foundations of this church, there was found the body of the blessed Atto, once bishop of that city, who had been buried in that place 137 years. The architecture, then, of this church, which is round, was passing good for those times. In the principal church of the said city of Pistoia, there is also a tomb of marble by the hand of Andrea, with the body of the sarcophagus full of little figures, and some larger figures above, to rest the body of Mesotino d'Angibulgui, Doctor of Laws, and a very famous scholar in his time, as Meso Francesco Petraca testifies in that sonnet, Piangete Donne Econvoi Pianga Amore, and also in the fourth chapter of the Triumph of Love, where he says, Ecosin de Pistoia, Gritondarezzo, Giedinon Esa Primo Partiera Agia. In that tomb, there is seen the portrait of Mesotino himself in marble by the hand of Andrea. He is teaching a number of his scholars who are round him, with an attitude and manner so beautiful that, although today it might not be prized, in those days it must have been a marvellous thing. Andrea was also made use of in matters of architecture by Gueltieri, Duke of Athens, and Tyrant of the Florentines, who made him enlarge the square and safeguard himself in his palace to secure all the lower windows on the first floor, where today is the Salade d'Ugento, with iron bars, square and very strong. The sed duke also added, opposite San Pietro Sheradio, the walls of rustic work that are beside the palace in order to enlarge it, and in the thickness of the wall he made a secret staircase in order to ascend and descend unseen, and at the foot of the sed wall there was a great door, which serves today for the customs house, and above that his arms, and all with the design and council of Andrea, and although these arms were chiseled out by the council of twelve, which took pains to efface every memorial of that duke, there remained none the less in the square shield the form of the lion rampant with two tails, as any one can see who examines it with diligence. For the same duke, Andrea built and made a magnificent beginning for the Porta Asan Friano and brought it to the completion that is seen, but also made the walls for the vestibules of all the gates of the city, and the lesser gates for the convenience of the people. And because the duke had it in his mind to make a fortress on the cost of Di San Giorgio, Andrea made the model for it, which afterwards was not used for the reason that the work was never given a beginning, the duke having been driven out of the city. Nevertheless, there was effected in great part the desire of that duke to bring the palace to the form of a strong castle, because to that which had been made originally, he added the great mass which is seen today, in closing within its circuit the houses of the Philipetri, the tower and the houses of the Amadei and Mancini and those of the Belalberti. And because having made a beginning with so great a fabric and with the thick walls and barbecons he had not all the material that was essential equally in readiness. He held back the construction of the Ponte Vettio, which was being worked on with all haste as a work of necessity, and availed himself of the stone hewn and the wood prepared for it, without the least scruple. And although Tadeo Gatti was not perhaps inferior in the matters of architecture to Andrea Pistano, the duke would not avail himself of his being a Florentine, but only of Andrea. The same duke Gualtieri wished to pull down Santa Cecilia in order to see from his palace the Strada Romano and the Mercato Nuovo and likewise to destroy San Pietro Ceragio for his own convenience, but he had not leave to do this from the Pope, and meanwhile, as it had been said above, he was driven out by the fury of the people. Deservedly then did Andrea gain by the honourable labours of so many years, not only very great rewards, but also the citizenship. For he was made a citizen of Florence by the Signoria, and was given offices and magistracies in the city, and his works were esteemed both while he lived and after his death, there being found no one who could surpass him in working, until there came Nicolo Aratino, Giacopo Delcurtia of Siena, Donatello, Filippo di Serb Brunellesco and Lorenzo Ghiberti, who executed the sculptures and other works that they made in such a manner that people recognised in how great error they had lived up to that time. For these men recovered with their works that excellence which had been hidden and little known by men for many and many a year. The works of Andrea date about the year of our salvation 1340. Andrea left many disciples, among others, Tomasso Pisano, architect and sculptor, who finished the chapel of the Campo Santo and added the finishing touch to the Campanile of the Duomo, namely that final part wherein are the bells. Tomasso is believed to have been the son of Andrea, this being found ridden in the panel of the High Altar of San Francesco in Pisa, wherein there is carved in half relief a Madonna with other saints made by him, and below these his name and that of his father. Andrea was survived by Nino, his son, who applied himself to sculpture and his first work was in Santa Maria Novella, where he finished a Madonna in marble begun by his father, which is within the side door beside the chapel of the Minna Betti. Next, having gone to Pisa, he made in the Spina a half length figure in marble of our lady who is suckling an infant Jesus Christ wrapped in certain delicate draperies. For this Madonna an ornamental frame of marble was made in the year 1522 by the agency of Mesa Jacopo, Corbini, and another frame, much greater and more beautiful, was made then for another Madonna of marble, which was of full length and by the hand of the same Nino. In the attitude of which Madonna the mother is seen handing a rose with much grace to her son, who is taking it in a childlike manner. So beautiful that it may be said that Nino was beginning to rob the stone of its hardness and to reduce it to the softness of flesh, giving it luster by means of the highest polish. This figure is between a Saint John and a Saint Peter in marble, the head of the latter being a portrait of Andrea from the life. Besides this, for an altar in Santa Catarina, also in Pisa, Nino made two statues of marble, that is, a Madonna and an angel who is bringing the Annunciation. Wrote, like his other works, with so great diligence that it can be said that they are the best that were made in those times. Below this Madonna receiving the Annunciation, Nino carved these words on the base, on the first day of February 1370 and below the angel these figures Nino made, the son of Andrea Pisano. He also made other works in that city and in Naples, whereof it is not needful to make mention. Andrea died at the age of 75 in the year 1345 and was buried by Nino in Santa Maria del Fiore with this epitaph. In Gentile Andrea's Jacet Hic Pisanus in Urna Marmore qui portuerait Sperantes to Carre Voltais at Simulacra dea Medeis Imponeri, Temples ex Aeri, ex Auro Candenti at Pulco Elefanto. End of section 15 Section 16 of Lives of the most eminent painters, sculptors and architects Volume I This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Lives of the most eminent painters, sculptors and architects Volume I by Giorgio Vasari Translated by Gaston de Verre Section 16 Life of Buonamico Bofalmaco Painter of Florence Part I Buonamico de Cristofano, called Bofalmaco Painter of Florence who was a disciple of Andrea Taffi and celebrated for his jokes by Messer Giovanni Boccaccio in his Decameron was, as is known, a very dear companion of Bruno and Calendrino painters equally humorous and gay and as may be seen in his works, scattered throughout all Tuscany, he was a man of passing good judgment in his art of painting. Franco Secchetti relates in his three hundred stories to begin with the things that this man did while still youthful, that Bufalmaco lived while a lad with Andrea and that this master of his used to make it a custom when the nights were long to get up before daylight to labor and to call the lads to night work. This being displeasing to Buonamico who was made to rise out of his sound of sleep, he began to think of finding a way whereby Andrea might gave up rising so much before daylight to work, and he succeeded for having found thirty large cockroaches or rather black beetles in a badly swept cellar. With certain fine and short needles he fixed a little taper on the back of each of the said cockroaches and the hour coming when Andrea was want to rise he lit the tapers and put the animals one by one into the room of Andrea through a chink in the door. He, awaking at the very hour and seeing those little lights all full of fear began to tremble and in great terror to recommend himself under his breath to God like the old gaffer that he was and to say his prayers or psalms and finally putting his head below the bed-clothes he made no attempt for that night to call Bufalmaco but stayed as he was ever trembling with fear of daylight. In the morning then having risen he asked Buonamico if he had seen as he had himself a thousand demons whereupon Buonamico said he had not because he had kept his eyes closed and was marveling that he had not been called to night-work. To night-work, said Tafo, I have had something else to think of besides painting and I am resolved at all costs to go and live in another house. The following night, although Buonamico put only three of them into the said room of Tafo, nonetheless, what with terror of the past night and of those few devils that he saw nay, no sooner was it daylight than he rushed from the house meaning never to return and a great business it was to make him change his mind. At last Buonamico brought the parish priest who consoled him the best that he could. Later, Tafo and Buonamico discoursing over the affair Buonamico said I have ever heard tell that the greatest enemies of God are the demons and that in consequence they must also be the most capital adversaries of painters because besides that we make them ever most hideous, what is worse, we never attend to ought else than to making saints, male and female, on walls and panels and to making men more devout and more upright thereby to the despite of the demons. Wherefore, these demons having a grudge against us for this as beings that have greater power by night than by day, they come and play us these tricks and worse tricks will they play if this use of rising for night-work With these and many other speeches Buonamico knew so well how to manage the business being borne out by what Sir Priest kept saying that Tafo gave over rising for night-work and the devils ceased going through the house at night with little lights. But Tafo beginning again, for the love of gain not many months afterward having almost forgotten all fear to rise once more to work in the night and to call Buonamico the cockroaches too began again to wander about wherefore he was forced by fear to give up the habit entirely being above all advised to do this by the priest afterwards this affair spreading throughout the city brought it about for a time that neither Tafo nor other painters made a practice of rising to work at night later and no long time after this Buonamico having become a passing good master took leave of Tafo as the same Franco relates and began to work for himself and he never lacked for something to do now Bufamaco having taken a house to work in and to live in as well that had next door a passing rich wool-worker who being a simpleton was called Cappadoca, goose-head and the wife of this man would rise every night very early precisely when Bufamaco having up to then been working would go to lie down and sitting at her wheel which by misadventure she had planted opposite to the bed of Bufamaco she would spend the whole night spinning her thread wherefore Buonamico being able to get scarce a wink of sleep would think and think how he could remedy this nuisance nor was it long before he noticed that behind a wall of brickwork that divided his house from Cappadocas was the hearth of his uncomfortable neighbor and that through a hole it was possible to see what she was doing over the fire having therefore thought of a new trick he bored a hole with a long gimlet through a cane and watching for a moment when the wife of Cappadoca was not at the fire he wished it more than once through the aforesaid hole in the wall and put as much salt as he wished into his neighbor's pot wherefore Cappadoca, returning either for dinner or for supper more often than not could not eat or even taste either broth or meat so bitter was everything through the great quantity of salt for once or twice he had patience and only made a little noise about it but after he saw that words were not enough he gave blows many a time for this to the poor woman who was in despair it appearing to her that she was more than careful in salting her cooking she, one time among others that her husband was beating her for this began to try to excuse herself wherefore Cappadoca, falling into even greater rage set himself to thrash her again in a manner that the woman screamed with all her might and the whole neighborhood ran up at the noise and among others there came up Bufomaco who having heard of what Cappadoca was accusing his wife and in what way she was excusing herself said to Cappadoca Faith, comrade, this calls for a little reason thou dost complain that the pot, morning and evening, is too much salted and thy marvel that this good woman of thine can do anything well I for my part know not how by day she keeps on her feet considering that the whole night she sits up over that wheel of hers and sleeps not to my belief an hour make her give up this rising at midnight and thou wilt see that, having her fill of sleep she will have her wits about her by day and will not fall into such blunders then, turning to the other neighbors he convinced them so well of the grave import of the matter that they all said to Cappadoca that Buonamico was speaking the truth and that it must be done as he advised he, therefore, believing that it was so commanded her not to rise in the night and the pot was then reasonably salted save when perchance the woman on occasion rose early for then Bufomaco would return to his remedy which finally brought it about that Cappadoca made her give it up completely Bufomaco, then, among the first works that he made painted with his own hand the whole church of the convent of the nuns of Fianza which stood in Florence on the side of the present Citadel del Prato and among other scenes that he made there from the life of Christ in all which he acquitted himself very well he made the massacre that Herod ordained of the innocence wherein he expressed very vividly the emotions both of the murderers and of the other figures for in some nurses and mothers who are snatching the infants from the hands of the murderers and are seeking all the assistance that they can from their hands their nails their teeth and every movement of the body there is shown on the surface a heart no less full of rage and fury than of woe of this work that convent being today in ruins there is to be seen nothing but a colored sketch in our book of drawings by diverse masters wherein there is this scene drawn by the hand of Buonimico himself in the doing of this work for the aforesaid nuns of Fianza seeing that Bufomaco was a person very eccentric and careless both in dress and in manner of life it came to pass since he did not always wear his cap and his mantle as in those times it was the custom to do that the nuns seeing him once through the screen that he had caused to be made began to say to the steward that it did not please them to see him in that guise in his jerkin however appeased by him they stayed for a little without saying more but at last seeing him ever in the same guise and doubting whether he was not some navish boy for grinding colours they had him told by the abbess that they would have liked to see the master at work and not always him to which Buonimico answered like the good fellow that he was that as soon as the master was there he would let them know taking notice nonetheless of the little confidence that they had in him taking a stool therefore and placing another above it he put on top of all a pitcher or rather a water jar and on the mouth of that he put a cap hanging over the mantle and then he covered the rest of the jar with a burger's mantle and finally putting a brush in suitable fashion into the spout through which the water is bored he went off the nuns returning to see the work through an opening where the cloth had slipped saw the superstitious master in full canonicals therefore believing that he was working might and main and was by way of doing different work from that which the untidy nave was doing they left it at that for some days without thinking more about it finally having grown desires to see what beautiful work the master had done fifteen days having passed during which space of time Buonimico had never come near the place one night thinking that the master was not there they went to see his paintings and remained all confused and blushing by reason of one bolder than the rest discovering the solemn master who in fifteen days had not done one stroke of work then recognizing that he had served them as they merited and that the works he had made were worthy of nothing but praise they bad the steward recalled Buonimico who with the greatest laughter and delight returned to the work having given them to know what difference there is between men and pitchers and that it is not always by their clothes that the works of men should be judged a few days then he finished a scene wherewith they were much contented it appearing to them to be in every way satisfactory except that the figures appear to them rather wan and pallid than otherwise in the flesh tints Buonimico hearing this and having learned that the Abbas had some vernaccia the best in Florence which was used for the holy office of the mass said to them that in order to remedy this defect nothing else could be done but to temper the colors with some good vernaccia as touching the cheeks and the rest of the flesh on the figures with colors thus tempered they would become rosy and colored in most lifelike fashion hearing this the good sisters who believed it all kept him ever afterwards furnished with the best vernaccia as long as the work lasted and he rejoicing in it from that time onwards made the figures fresher and more highly colored with his ordinary colors this work finished he painted some stories of St. James in the Abbey of Satimo in the chapel that is in the cloister and dedicated to that saint on the vaulting of which he made the four patriarchs and the four evangelists among whom St. Luke is doing a striking action and blowing very naturally on his pen in order that it may yield its ink next in the scenes on the walls which are five there are seen beautiful attitudes in the figures and the whole work is executed with invention and judgment and because Buonimico was wont in order to make his flesh color better as is seen in this work to make a ground of purple which in time produces a salt that becomes corroded and eats away the white and other colors it is no marvel if this work is spoiled and eaten away whereas many others that were made long before had been very well preserved and I who thought formerly that these pictures had received injury from the damp have since proved it by experience studying other works of the same man that it is not from the damp but from this particular use of bufomacos that they have become so spoiled so completely that there is not seen in them either design or anything else and that where the flesh colors were there has remained nothing else but the purple this method of working should be used by no one who is anxious that his pictures should have long life Buonimico wrought after that which has been described above two panels in distemper for the monks of Sertosa of Florence where of one is where the books of chance are kept for the use of the choir and the other below in the old chapels he painted in fresco the chapel of the Giochi and Bastari in the body of Florence beside the principal chapel which chapel though afterwards it was conceded to the family of the Bascoli retains the said pictures of bufomaco up to our own day in these he made the passion of the Christ with effects ingenious and beautiful showing very great humility and sweetness in Christ who is washing the feet of his disciples and ferocity and cruelty in the Jews who are leading him to Herod but he showed talent and facility more particularly in a pilot whom he painted in prison and in Judas hanging from a tree where for it is easy to believe what is told about this gay painter namely that when he thought fit to use diligence and to take pains which rarely came to pass he was not inferior to any painter whatsoever of his times and to show that this is true the works in fresco that he made in Agnusanti where today there is the cemetery were wrought with so much diligence and with so many precautions that the water which has rained over them for so many years has not been able to spoil them or to prevent their excellence from being recognized and that they have been preserved very well because they were wrought purely on the fresh plaster on the walls then are the nativity of Jesus Christ and the adoration of the Magi that is over the tomb of the Al-Yati after this work Buonimico, having gone to Bologna wrought some scenes in fresco in St. Petroneo in the chapel of the Bolognini that is on the vaulting but by reason of some accident I know not what, supervening he did not finish them it is said that in the year 1302 he was summoned to Assisi and that in the church of San Francesco in the chapel of Santa Catarina he painted all the stories of her life in fresco which have been very well preserved and there are therein some figures that are worthy to be praised this chapel finished on his passing through Arezzo Bishop Guida by reason of having heard that Buonimico was a gay fellow and an able painter desired him to stop in that city and paint for him in the Vescovado the chapel where baptisms are now held Buonimico, having put his hand to the work had already done a good part of it when there befell him the strangest experience in the world which was according to what Franco Saccetti relates as follows the bishop had an ape the drullest and the most mischievous that there had ever been this animal, standing once on the scaffolding to watch Buonimico at work had given attention to everything and had never taken his eyes off him when he was mixing the colours handling the flasks beating the eggs for making the disc tempers and in short when he was doing anything else whatsoever now Buonimico having left off working one Saturday evening on the Sunday morning the ape notwithstanding that he had fastened to his feet a great block of wood which the bishop made him carry in order that thus he might not be able to leap wherever he liked climbed onto the scaffolding wherein Buonimico was used to stand to work in spite of the very great weight of the block of wood and there seizing the flasks with his hands pouring them one into another and making six mixtures and beating up whatever eggs there were he began to dobb over with the brushes all the figures there and persevering in this performance did not cease until he had repainted everything with his own hand and this done he again made a mixture of all the colours that were left him although they were a bit few and getting down from the scaffolding went off Monday morning having come Buonimico returned to his work where seeing the figures spoiled the flasks all mixed up and everything upside down he stood all in marvel and confusion then having pondered much in his own mind he concluded finally that some erotine had done this through envy or through some other reason wherefore having gone to the bishop he told him how the matter stood and what he suspected where at the bishop became very much disturbed but consoling Buonimico desired him to put his hand again to the work and to repaint all that was spoiled and because the bishop had put faith in his words which had something of the probable he gave him six of his men at arms who should stand in hiding with halberds while he was not at work and if any one came should cut him to pieces without mercy the figures then having been painted over again one day that the soldiers were in hiding lo and behold they hear a certain rumbling through the church and a little while after the ape climbing onto the scaffolding and in the twinkling of an eye the mixtures made they see the new master set himself to work over the saints of Buonimico calling him therefore and showing him the culprit and standing with him to watch the beast as his work they were all like to burst with laughter and Buonimico in particular for all that he was vexed thereby could not keep from laughing till the tears came finally dismissing the soldiers who had mounted guard with their halberds he went off to the bishop and said to him my lord you wish the painting to be done in one fashion and your ape wishes it to be done in another then relating the affair he added there was no need for you to send for painters from elsewhere if you had the true master at home but he perhaps knew not so well how to make the mixtures now that he knows let him do it by himself since I am no more good here and his talent being revealed I am content that there should be nothing given to me for my work save leave to return to Florence the bishop hearing the affair although it vexed him could not keep from laughing and above all as he thought how an animal had played a trick on him who was the greatest trickster in the world however after they had talked and laughed their fill over this strange incident the bishop persuaded Buonimico to resume the work for the third time and he finished it and the ape, as punishment and penance for the crime committed was shut up in a great wooden cage and kept where Buonimico was working until this work was entirely finished and no one could imagine the contortions which that creature kept making in this cage with his face his body and his hands seeing others working and himself unable to take part the work on this chapel finished the bishop, either in jest or for some other reason known only to himself commanded that Buonimico should paint him on one wall of his palace an eagle on the back of a lion which it had killed the crafty painter, having promised to do all that the bishop wished had a good scaffolding made of planks saying that he refused to be seen painting such a thing this maid, shutting himself up alone inside it he painted, contrary to what the bishop wanted a lion that was tearing to pieces an eagle and, the work finished, he sought leave from the bishop to go to Florence in order to get some colours that he was wanting and so, locking the scaffolding with a key he went off to Florence, in mind to return no more to the bishop who seeing the business dragging on and the painter not returning had the scaffolding opened and discovered that Buonimico had been too much for him wherefore, moved by very great displeasure he had him banished on paint of death and Buonimico, hearing this sent to tell him to do his worst whereupon the bishop threatened him to a fearful tune but finally, remembering that he had begun the playing of tricks and that it served him right to be tricked himself he pardoned Buonimico for his insult and rewarded him liberally for his labours nay, what is more summoning him again no long time after to a reso he cost him to make many works in the Duomo Vecchio which are now destroyed treating him ever as his familiar friend and very faithful servant the same man painted the niche of the principal chapel in the church of San Costino also in a reso some writers tell that Buonimico being in Florence and often frequenting the shop of Maso Del Saggio with his friends and companions arranging the festival which the men of the Borgos Sanfriano held on May 1st in certain boats on the Arno and that when the Ponte Alacaraya which was then of wood collapsed by reason of the too great weight of the people who had flocked to that spectacle he did not die there as many others did because precisely at the moment when the bridge collapsed onto the structure that was representing hell and the boats in the Arno he had gone to get some things that were wanting for the festival End of Section 16 Section 17 of Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects Volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects Volume 1 by Giorgio Vassari Translated by Gaston De Verre Section 17 Life of Buonamico Bufomaco Painter of Florence Part 2 Being summoned to Pisa no long time after these events Being summoned to Pisa no long time after these events Buonamico painted many stories of the Old Testament in the abbey of St. Paolo Aripadarna then belonging to the monks of Valembrosa in both transeves of the church on three aisles and from the roof down to the floor beginning with the creation of man and continuing up to the completion of the Tower of Nimrod In this work, although it is today for the greater part spoiled there are seen vivacity in the figures good skill and loveliness in the coloring and signs to show that the hand of Buonamico could very well express the conceptions of his mind although he had little power of design On the wall of the right transept which is opposite to that wherein is the side door in some stories of Santa Anastasia there are seen certain ancient costumes and headdresses very charming and beautiful in some women who are painted there with graceful manner not less beautiful also are those figures that are in a boat with well conceived attitudes among which is the portrait of Pope Alexander IV which Buonamico had, so it is said, from Tafo his master that portrayed that pontiff in Mosaic in San Pietro In the last scene likewise wherein is the martyrdom of that saint and of others Buonamico expressed very well in the faces the fear of death and the grief and terror of those who are standing to see her tortured and put to death while she stands bound to a tree and over the fire A companion of Buonamico in this work was Bruno de Giovanni a painter who was thus called in the old book of the company Bruno also celebrated as a gay fellow by Boccaccio the said scenes on the wall being finished painted the altar of Saint Ursula with the company of virgins in the same church he made in one hand of the said saint a standard with the arms of Pisa which are white cross on a field of red and he made her offering the other hand to a woman who rising between two mountains and touching the sea with one of her feet is stretching both her hands to her in the act of supplication which woman representing Pisa and having on her head a crown of gold and over her shoulders a mantle covered with circlates and eagles is seeking assistance from that saint being in much travail in the sea now for the reason that in painting this work Bruno was bewailing that the figures which he was making therein had not the same life of those of Buonamico the latter in his wag-ish way in order to teach him to make his figures not really vivacious but actually speaking some words issuing from the mouth of that woman who is supplicating the saint and the answer of the saint to her a device that Buonamico had seen in the works that had been made in the same city by Simibu this expedient even as it pleased Bruno and the other thick-witted men of those times in like manner pleases certain boars today who are served therein by craftsmen as vulgar as themselves and in truth it seems extraordinary that from this beginning there should have passed into use a device that was employed for a jest and for no other reason and so much that even a great part of the Camposanto wrought by masters of repute is full of this rubbish the works of Buonamico then finding much favour with the peasants he was charged by the warden of the works of the Camposanto to make four scenes in fresco from the beginning of the world up to the construction of Noah's Ark and round the scenes an ornamental border wherein he made his own portrait from the life namely in a frieze in the middle of which and on the corners are some heads among which as I have said is seen his own with a cap exactly like one that is seen above and because in this work there is a God who is upholding with his arms the heavens and the elements nay the whole body of the universe Buonamico in order to explain his story with verses similar to the pictures of that age wrote this sonnet in capital letters at the foot with his own hand as may still be seen which sonnet by reason of its antiquity and of the simplicity of the language of those times it has seemed good to me to include in this place although in my opinion it is not likely to give much pleasure save per chance as something that bears witness as to what was the knowledge of the men of that century I would like to address you to this painting of God, a pitiful creator who did everything with love thought, numbered and in measure in the ninth grade Angelica Natura in the Yellow Empire if he was full of splendor if he did not move and imitated who did not do anything good and pure take away from your intellect consider how much he ordained the universal world and with effect he gave it to the well-created thinking of going to such a delight and to tell the truth it was very courageous and Buonamico to undertake to make a God the Father five brassia high with the hierarchies, the heavens, the angels, the zodiac and all the things above even to the heavenly body of the moon and then the element of fire, the air, the earth and all the things above even to the heavenly body of the moon and then the element of fire, the air and finally the nether regions and to fill up the two angles below he made in one St. Augustine and in the other St. Thomas Aquinas at the head of the same Camposanto where there is now the marble tomb of Corte Buonamico painted the whole passion of Christ with a great number of figures on foot and on horseback and all in varied and beautiful attitudes and continuing the story he made the resurrection and the apparition of Christ to the apostles passing well having finished these works and at the same time all that he had gained in Pisa, which was not little he returned to Florence as poor as he had left it and there he made many panels and works in fresco whereof there is no need to make further record meanwhile there had been entrusted to Bruno, his great friend who had returned with him from Pisa where they had squandered everything some works in Santa Maria Novella and seeing that Bruno had not much design or invention Buonamico designed for him all that he afterwards put into execution on a wall in the said church opposite to the pulpit and as long as the space between column and column and that was the story of St. Maurice and his companions who were beheaded for the faith of Jesus Christ this work Bruno made for Guido Campese then Constable of the Florentines whose portrait he had made before he died in the year 1312 in that work he painted him in his own art he painted him in his armour as was the custom in those times and behind him he made a line of men at arms armed in ancient passion who make a beautiful effect while Guido himself is kneeling before Madonna who has the child Jesus in her arms and is appearing to be recommended to her by St. Dominic and St. Agnes who were on either side of him although this picture is not very beautiful yet considering the design and invention of Buonamico it is worthy to be in part praised and above all by reason of the costumes helmets and other armour of those times and I have availed myself of it in some scenes that I have made for the Lord Duke Cosimo wherein it was necessary to represent men armed in ancient fashion and other similar things of that age which work has greatly pleased his most illustrious excellency and others who have seen it and from this it can be seen how much benefit may be gained from the inventions and works made by these ancients although they may not be very perfect and in what fashion profit and advantage can be drawn from their performances since they open the way for us to the marvels that have been made up to our day and are being made continually while Bruno was making this work a peasant desiring that Buonamico should make him a St. Christopher they came to an agreement in Florence and arranged a contract in this fashion that the prize should be eight Florence and that the figure should be twelve Brassia high Buonamico then, having gone to the church where he was to make the St. Christopher found that by reason of its not being more than nine Brassia in either height or in length he could not, either without or within accommodate the figure in a manner that it might stand well wherefore he made up his mind since it would not go in upright to make it within the church lying down but since even so the whole length would not go in he was forced to bend it from the knees downward onto the wall at the head of the church the work finished the peasant would by no means pay for it nay he made an outcry and said he had been cogent the matter, therefore, going before the justices it was judged according to the contract that Buonamico was in the right in San Giovanni Fra La Corre was a very beautiful passion of Christ by the hand of Buonamico and among other things that were much praised therein was a Judas hanging from a tree made with much judgment and beautiful manner an old man likewise who was blowing his nose was most natural and the marries broken with weeping had expressions and aspects so sad that they deserved to be greatly praised since that age had not as yet much facility in the method of representing the emotions of the soul with the brush on the same wall there was a good figure innocent Ivo of Brittany who had many widows and orphans at his feet and two angels in the sky who were crowning him were made with the sweetest manner this edifice and the pictures together were thrown to the ground in the year of the war of 1529 in Cortona also for Messer Aldo Brandino Bishop of that city Buonamico painted many works in the Vescovato and in particular the chapel and panel of the High Altar but seeing that everything was thrown to the ground in renovating the palace in the church there is no need to make further mention of them in Santa Francesco however in Santa Margarita in the same city there are still some pictures by the hand of Buonamico from Cortona going once more to Assisi Buonamico painted in Fresco in the lower church of Santa Francesco the whole chapel of Cardinal Aguidio Alvaro a Spaniard and because he acquitted himself very well he was therefore liberally rewarded by that Cardinal finally Buonamico having wrought many pictures throughout the whole march in returning to Florence he stopped at Perugia and painted there in Fresco the chapel of the Buon Tempi in the church of Santa Dominico making therein stories of the life of Saint Catherine, Virgin and Martyr and in the church of San Domenico Vecchio on one wall he painted in Fresco the scene when the same Catherine daughter of King Costa making disputation is convinced and converging certain philosophers to the faith of Christ and seeing that this scene is more beautiful than any other that Buonamico ever made it can be said with truth that in this work he surpassed himself the people of Perugia moved by this according to what Franco Sacchetti writes commanded that he should paint Saint Arcolano bishop and protector of that city in the square wherefore having agreed about the price on the spot where the painting was to be done there was made a screen of planks and matting to the end that the master might not be seen painting and this made he put his hand to the work but before ten days had passed every passerby asking when this picture would be finished as though such works were cast in molds the matter disgusted Buonamico wherefore having come to the end of the work and being distracted with such opportunity he determined within himself to take a gentle vengeance on the impatience of these people and this came to pass for when the work was finished before unveiling it he let them see it it was entirely to their satisfaction but on the people of Perugia wishing to remove the screen at once Buonamico said that for two days longer they should leave it standing for the reason that he wished to retouch certain parts on the dry and so it was done Buonamico then having mounted the scaffolding removed the great diadem of gold that he had given to the saint raised in relief with plaster as was the custom in those times and made him a crown or rather a garland right round his head of roaches and this done one morning he settled with his host and went off to Florence now two days having passed the people of Perugia not seeing the painter going about as they had been used asked the host what had become of him and hearing that he had returned to Florence went at once to remove the screen and finding their saint orcolano crowned solemnly with roaches they sent word of it immediately to their governors but although these sent horsemen post haste to look for Buonamico it was all in vain seeing that he had returned in great haste to Florence having determined then to make a painter of their own remove the crown of roaches and restore the diadem to the saint they said all the evil that can be imagined about Buonamico and the rest of the Florentines Buonamico back in Florence and caring little about what the people of Perugia might say set to work and made many paintings whereof in order not to be too long there is no need to make mention of only this that having painted in fresco at Calcinea a Madonna with a child in her arms he who had charged him to do it in place of paying him gave him words whence Buonamico who was not used to being trifled with or being fooled determined to get his due by hook or by crook and so having gone one morning to Calcinea he transformed the child that he had painted in the arms of the virgin into a little bear but in colors made only with water and temper this change being seen not long after by the peasant who had given him the work to do almost in despair he went to find Buonamico praying him for the sake of heaven to remove the little bear and to paint another child as before for he was ready to make satisfaction this the other did amicably being paid for both the first and the second labor without delay and for restoring the work a wet sponge sufficed finally seeing that it would take too long were I to wish to relate all the tricks as well as all the pictures that Buonamico Bufomaco made and above all when frequenting the shop of Maso Dosagio which was the resort of citizens and of all the gay and mischievous spirits that there were in Florence I will make an end of discoursing about him he died at the age of seventy-eight and being very poor and having done more spending than earning by reason of being such in character he was supported in his illness by the company of the Miseria Corda in Santa Maria Nuova the hospital of Florence and then being dead he was buried in the osa for so they call it Cloister or rather a cemetery of the hospital like the rest of the poor in the year thirteen forty the works of this man were prized while he lived and since then for works of that age they have ever been extolled end of section seventeen section eighteen of lives of the most eminent painters, sculptors and architects volume one this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Miriam Esther Goldman lives of the most eminent painters sculptors and architects volume one by Giorgio Vasari translated by Gaston de Verre section eighteen life of Ambrodio Lorenzetti painter of Siena if that debt is great as without doubt it is which craftsmen of fine genius should acknowledge to nature much greater should that be that is due from us to them seeing that they with great solicitude fill the cities with noble and useful buildings lovely historical compositions gaining for themselves for the most part fame and riches with their works as did Ambrodio Lorenzetti painter of Siena who showed beautiful and great invention and grouping and placing his figures thoughtfully in historical scenes that this is true is proved by a scene in the church of the friars minor in Siena painted by him very gracefully in the cloister wherein there is represented in what manner a youth becomes the friar and how he and certain others go to the soldane and are there beaten and sentenced to the gallows and hanged on a tree and finally be headed with the addition of a terrible tempest in this picture with much art and dexterity he counterfeited in the travailing of the figures the turmoil of the air and the fury of the rain and of the wind where from the modern masters have learnt the method and the principle of this invention by reason of which since it was unknown before he deserved infinite commendation Ambrodio was a practice colorist in fresco and he handled colors in distemper with great dexterity and facility as is still seen in the panels executed by him in Siena for the little hospital called Mona Agnesa where he painted and finished a scene with new and beautiful composition and at the great hospital on one front he made in fresco the creativity of our lady and the scene when she is going with the virgins to the temple for the friars of st. Augustine in the same city he painted their chapter house where the apostles are seen represented on the vaulting with scrolls in their hands whereon is written that part of the creed which each one of them made and below each is a little scene containing in painting that same subject that is signified above by the writing near this on the main front are three stories of st. Catherine the martyr who is disputing with the tyrant in the temple and in the middle the passion of Christ with the thieves on the cross and the Mary's below who are supporting the virgin Mary who has swooned which works were finished by him with much grace and with beautiful manner in a large hall of the Palazzo della Signoria in Siena he painted the war of Asinlunia and after it the peace and its events wherein he fashioned a map perfect for those times and in the same palace he made eight scenes and Terra Verdi highly finished it is said that he also sent to Volterra a panel in Distemper which was much praised in that city and painting a chapel in Fresco and a panel in Distemper at Massa in company with others he gave them proof how great both in judgment and ingenious was his worth in the art of painting and in Orvieto he painted in Fresco the principal chapel of St. Maria after these works proceeding to Florence he made a panel in St. Procolo and in a chapel he painted the stories of St. Nicholas with little figures in order to satisfy certain of his friends who desired to see his method of working and being much practiced he executed this work in so short a time that there was a dispute to him fame and infinite repute and this work on the predilla of which he made his own portrait brought it about that in the year 1335 he was summoned to Cortona by order of Bishop Ubertini then lord of that city where he wrought certain works in the church of St. Margarita built a short time before for the friars of St. Francis on the summit of the hill that although today they are well now eaten away by time there are seen notwithstanding most beautiful effects in the figures and it is clear that he was deservedly commended for them this work finished and Brogio returned to Siena where he lived honorably the remainder of his life not only by reason of being an excellent master in painting but also because having given attention in his youth to letters they were a useful as an accompaniment to him in his painting and so great an ornament to his whole life that they rendered him no less popular and beloved than did his profession of painting wherefore he was not only intimate with men of learning and of taste but he was also employed to his great honor and advantage in the government of his republic the ways of Brogio were in all respect worthy of praise and rather those of a gentleman and philosopher than of a craftsman and what most demonstrates the wisdom of men he had ever a mind disposed to be content with that which the world and time brought wherefore he supported with a mind temperate and calm the good and the evil that came to him from fortune and truly it cannot be told to what extent courteous ways and modesty with the other good habits are an honorable accompaniment to all the arts and in particular to those that are derived from the intellect and from noble and exalted talents wherefore every man should make himself no less be loved with his ways than with the excellence of his art finally at the end of his life Brogio made a panel at Monte Elevato de Giussari with great credit to himself and a little afterwards being 83 years of age he passed happily and in the Christian faith to a better life works date about 1340 as it has been said the portrait of Brogio by his own hand is seen in the predella of his panel in St. Procolo with a cap on his head and what was his worth in draftsmanship is seen in our book wherein are some passing good drawings by his hand end of section 18 recording by Miriam Esther Goldman section 19 of Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects volume 1 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Morgan Scorpion Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects volume 1 by Giorgio Versari translated by Gaston de Vier section 19 Life of Pietro Cavallini painter of Rome for many centuries Rome had been deprived not only of fine letters and of the glory of arms but also of all the sciences and fine arts when by the will of God there was born therein Pietro Cavallini in those times when Giotto having it may be said restored painting to life was holding the sovereignty among the painters in Italy he then having been a disciple of Giotto and having worked with Giotto himself on the Navicella in Mosaic in San Pietro was the first who, after him gave light to that art and he began to show that he had been no unworthy disciple of so great a master when he painted over the door of the sacristy of the hour celli some things that are today even away by time and very many works coloured in fresco throughout the whole church of Santa Maria de Tres de Verre afterwards working in Mosaic on the principal chapel on the facade of the church he showed in the beginning of such a work without the help of Giotto that he was no less able in the execution and bringing to completion of Mosaics than he was in painting making many scenes in fresco also in the church of San Grisso Gono he strove to make himself known both as the best disciple of Giotto and as a good craftsman in like manner also in Tres de Verre he painted almost the whole church of Santa Cecilia with his own hand and many works in the church of San Francisco of Presso Rippa he then made the facade of Mosaic in San Paolo without Rome and many stories of the Old Testament for the central nave and painting some works in fresco in the chapter house of the first cloister he brought therein so great diligence that he gained thereby from men of judgment the name of being a most excellent master and was therefore so much favoured by the prelates that they commissioned him to do the inner wall of San Pietro between the windows between these he made the four evangelists wrought very well in fresco of extraordinary size in comparison with the figures that at that time were customary with a Saint Peter and a Saint Paul and a good number of figures in a ship wherein the Greek man are pleasing him much he blended it ever with that of Giotto and since he delighted to give relief to his figures it is recognised that he used there and to the greatest efforts that can be imagined by man but the best work that he made in that city was in the said church of Arakeli on the Campid Dolio where he painted in fresco on the vaulting of the principal apse the Madonna with the child in her arms surrounded by a circle of sunlight and beneath is the emperor Octavian to whom the Tiratine civil is showing Jesus Christ and he is adoring him and the figures in this work as it has been said in other places have been much better preserved than the others because those that are on the vaulting are less injured by dust than those that are made on the walls after these works Pietro went to Tuscany in order to see the works of the other disciples of his master Giotto and those of Giotto himself and with this occasion he painted many figures in San Marco in Florence which are not seen today the church having been whitewashed except the Annunciation which stands covered beside the principal door of the church in St. Basilio also in the canto alla mattine he made another Annunciation in fresco on a wall so like to that which he had made before in San Marco and to another one that is in Florence that some believe and not without probability that they are all by the hand of this Pietro and in truth they could not be more like one to another than they are among the figures that he made in the said San Marco in Florence was the portrait of Pope Urban the Fifth from the life with the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul from which portrait Frata Giovanni da Fiasole copied that one which is in a panel in San Domenico also of Fiasole and that was no small good fortune seeing that the portrait which was in San Marco and many other figures that were about the church in fresco were covered with whitewash as it has been said when the convent was taken from the monks who occupied it before and given to the preaching friars were being whitewashed with little attention and consideration passing afterwards in returning to Rome through Assisi not only in order to see those buildings and those notable works made there by his master and by some of his fellow disciples but also to leave something there by his own hand he painted in fresco in the lower church of San Francesco namely in the transept that is on the side of the sacristy a crucifixion of Jesus Christ with men on horseback armed in various fashions and with many varied and extravagant costumes of diverse foreign peoples in the air he made some angels who poised on their wings in diverse attitudes are in a storm of weeping and some pressing their hands to their breasts others ringing them and others beating the palms they are showing that they feel the greatest grief at the death of the Son of God and all from the middle backwards or rather from the middle downwards melt away into air in this work well executed in the colouring which is fresh and vivacious and so well contrived in the junctions of the plaster that the work appears all made in one day I have found the coat of the arms of Gualtieri Duke of Athens but by reason of there not being either a date or other writing there I cannot affirm that it was caused to be made by him I say however that besides the firm belief of everyone that it is by the hand of Pietro the manor could not be more like his than it is not to mention that it may be believed this painter having lived at the time when Duke Gualtieri was in Italy that it was made by Pietro as well as by the order of the said Duke at least let everyone think as he pleases the work as ancient is worthy of nothing but praise and the manner besides the public voice shows that it is by the hand of this man in the church of Santa Maria at Orvieto wherein is the most holy relic of the corporal the same Pietro wrote in fresco certain stories of Jesus Christ and of the host with much diligence and this he did so it is said for Mesa Benedetto son of Mesa Branconte Monald Deschi and lord at that time or rather tyrant of that city some likewise affirm that Pietro made some sculptures and that they were very successful because he had genius for whatever he set himself to do and that he made the crucifix of the great church of San Paolo without Rome which crucifix as it is said and may be believed is the one that spoke to Santa Brigida in the year 1370 by the hand of the same man were some other works in that manner which were thrown to the ground when the old church of San Pietro was pulled down in order to build the new Pietro was very diligent in all his works and sought with every effort to gain honour and to acquire fame in the art he was not only a good Christian but most devout and very much the friend of the poor and he was beloved by reason of his excellence not only in his native city of Rome but by all those who had knowledge of him or of his works and finally he devoted himself at the end of his old age to religion leading an exemplary life with so much zeal that he was almost held a saint wherefore there is no reason to marvel not only that the said crucifix by his hand spoke to the saint as it has been said but also that innumerable miracles have been and still are wrought by a certain Madonna by his hand which I do not intend to call his best although it is very famous in all Italy and although I know very certainly and surely by the manner of the painting that it is by the hand of Pietro whose most praiseworthy life and piety towards God were worthy to be imitated by all men nor let anyone believe for the reason that it is scarcely possible and that experience continually shows this to us that it is possible to attain to honourable rank without the fear and grace of God and without goodness of life a disciple of Pietro Cavallini was Giovanni da Pistoia who made some works of no great importance in his native city finally at the age of 85 he died in Rome of a colic court while working in fresco by reason of the dampen of standing continually at this exercise his pictures date about the year 1364 and he was honourably buried in San Paolo without Rome with this epitaph Quantum Romani Petrus Dekas aditit Erbi Pictura tantum dat Dekas if sei polo his portrait has never been found for all the diligence that has been used it is therefore not included End of section 19 section 20 of lives of the most eminent painters sculptors and architects volume 1 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Morgan Scorpion lives of the most eminent painters sculptors and architects volume 1 by Giorgio Vasari translated by Gaston Devere section 20 life of Simone Sanese Simone Memmi or Martini painter truly happy can those men be called who are inclined by nature to those arts that can bring to them not only honour and very great profit but also what is more fame and a name well now eternal and happiest still are they who have from their cradles besides such inclination courtesy and honest ways which render them very dear to all men but happiest of all finally talking of craftsmen are they who not only receive a love of the good from nature and noble ways from the same source and from education but also live in the time of some famous writer from whom in return for a little portrait or some other similar courtesy in the way of art they gain on occasion the reward of eternal honour and name by means of their writings and this among those who practice the arts of design should be really desired and sought by the excellent painters seeing that their works being on the surface and on a ground of colour cannot have that eternal life which castings in bronze and works in marble give to sculpture or buildings to the architects very great then was that good fortune of Simone to live at the time of Mesa Francesco Petraca and to chance to find that most amorous poet at the court of Abignol desirous of having the image of Madonna Laura in the hand of maestro Simone because having received it as beautiful as he had desired he made memory of him in two sonnets whereof one begins these sonnets in truth together with the mention made of him in one of his familiar letters in the fifth book which begins Nonstum Nessius have given more fame to the poor life of maestro Simone than all his own works have ever done or ever will seeing that they must at some time perish whereas the writings of so greater man will live for eternal ages Simone Memmi of Siena then was an excellent painter remarkable in his own times and much esteemed by the Pope for the reason that after the death of Giotto his master whom he had followed to Rome when he made the Navitella in Rosec and the other works he made a Virgin Mary in the portico of San Pietro with a San Peter and a San Paul nearer to the place where the bronze pine cone is on a wall between the arches of the portico on the outer side and in this he can't defeated the manner of Giotto very well receiving so much praise above all because he portrayed therein a version of San Pietro lighting some lamps before the said figures with much promptness that he was summoned with very great insistence to the court of the Pope at Avignon where he walked so many pictures in fresco and on panels that he made his works correspond to the reputation that had been born thither whence having returned to Siena in great credit and much favoured on this account he was commissioned by the signoria to paint in fresco in a whole palace a virgin Mary with many figures round her which he completed with all perfection to his own great credit and advantage and in order to show that he was no less able to work on panel than in fresco he painted in the said palace a panel which led to his being afterwards made to paint two of them in the Dromo and a Madonna with the child in her arms in a very beautiful attitude over the door of the office of the works of the said Dromo in this picture certain angels reporting astounded in the air are flying and looking down on to some saints who are round the Madonna and they make a very beautiful composition and great adornment this done Simonet was brought by the general of the Augustinians to Florence where he painted the chapter house of San Spirito showing invention and admirable judgement in the figures and the horses that he made as is proved in that place by the story of the passion of Christ being made by him with ingenuity with discretion and with most beautiful grace there are seen the thieves on the cross yielding up their breath and the soul of the good one being carried to heaven by the angels and that of the wicked one going accompanied by devils and all harassed to the torments of hell Simonet likewise showed invention and judgement in the attitudes and in the very bitter weeping of some angels round the crucifix worthy of consideration above everything else is to see those spirits visibly cleaving the air with their shoulders almost whirling right round and yet sustaining the motion of their flight this work would bear much stronger witness to the excellence of Simonet if besides the fact that time has eaten it away it had not been spoiled by those fathers in the year 1560 when they being unable to use the chapter house because it was in bad condition from damp made a vaulted roof to replace a worm-eaten ceiling and threw down the little that was left of the pictures of this man about the same time Simonet painted the Madonna under St. Luke with some other saints on a panel of this temper which is today in the Chapel of the Gondi in Santa Maria Novella with his name next Simonet painted three walls of the chapter house of the said Santa Maria Novella very happily on the first which is over the door whereby one enters he made the life of St. Dominic and on that which follows in the direction of the church he represented the religious order of the same saint fighting against the heretics represented by wolves which are attacking some sheep which are defended by many dogs spotted with black and white and the wolves are beaten back and slain there are also certain heretics who being convinced in disputation are tearing their books and penitently confessing themselves and so their souls are passing through the paradise wherein are many little figures that are doing diverse things in heaven is seen the glory of the saints and Jesus Christ and in the world below remain the vain pleasures and delights in human figures and above all in the shape of women who are seated among whom is the Madonna Laura of Petraca portrayed from life and clothed in green with a little flame of fire between her breast and her throat there is also the church of Christ and as a her the pope the emperor the kings the cardinals the bishops and all the christian princes and among them beside a night of roads is Mesa Francesco Petraca also portrayed from the life which Simone did in order to enhance by his works the fame of the man who had made him immortal for the universal church he painted the church of Santa Maria Del Fiori not as it stands today but as he had drawn it from the model and design that the architect Aunulfo had left in the office of works for the guidance of those who had to continue the building after him of which models by reason of the little care of the wardens of works of Santa Maria Del Fiori as it has been said in another place there would be no memorial for us if Simone had not left it painted in this work on the third wall which is that of the altar he made the passion of Christ who issuing from Jerusalem with the cross on his shoulder is going to Mount Calvary followed by a very great multitude among there he is seen raised on the cross between the thieves with the other circumstances that accompany this story I will say nothing of there being therein a good number of horses of the casting of lots by the servants of the court for the garments of Christ and of the raising of the holy fathers from the limbo of hell and of all the other well conceived inventions which belong not so much to a master of that age as to the most excellent of the moderns in as much as taking up the whole walls with very diligent judgment he made in each wall diverse scenes on the slope of a mountain and did not divide scene from scene with ornamental borders as the old painters were want to do and many moderns who put the earth over the sky four or five times as is seen in the principal chapel of this same church and in the Campo Santo of Pisa where painting many works in fresco he was forced against his will to make such divisions for the other painters who had worked in that place such as Giotto and Rionomiko his master had begun to make their scenes with this bad arrangement in that Campo Santo then following as the lesser evil the method used by the others Simone made in fresco over the principal door and on the inner side a Madonna born to heaven by a choir of angels who are singing and playing so vividly that there are seen in them all those various gestures that musicians are want to make in singing or playing such as turning the ears to the sound opening the mouth in diverse ways raising the eyes to heaven blowing out the cheeks swelling the throat and in short all the other actions and movements that are made in music under this assumption in three pictures he made some scenes from the life of San Juanieri of Pisa in the first scene he is shown as a youth playing the sultry and making some girls dance who are most beautiful by reason of the air of their heads and of the loveliness of the costumes of the times next the same Ranieri having been reproved for such lasciviousness by the blessed Alberto the Hermit is seen standing with his face downcast and tearful and with his eyes red from weeping all penetrant for his sin while God in the sky surrounded by a celestial light appears to be pardoning him in the second picture Ranieri distributing his wealth to God's poor before mounting on board ship has round him of beggars of cripples of women and of children almost touching in their pushing forward their entreating and their thanking him and in the same picture also that saint having received in the temple the gown of a pilgrim is standing before a Madonna who surrounded by many angels is showing him that he will repose on her bosom in Pisa and all these figures have vivacity and a beautiful air in the heads in the third Simone painted the scene when having returned after seven years from beyond the seas he is showing that he has spent thrice forty days in the Holy Land and when standing in the choir to hear the divine offices he is tempted by the devil who is seen driven away by a firm determination that is perceived in Ranieri not to consent to offend God assisted by a figure made by Simone to represent constantly who is chasing away the ancient adversary not only in all confusion but also with beautiful and fanciful invention all in terror holding his hands to his head in his flight and walking with his face downcast and his shoulders shrunk as close together as could be and saying as it is seen from the writing that is issuing from his mouth I can no more and finally there is also in this picture the scene when Ranieri kneeling on Mount Tabor is miraculously seeing Christ in air with Moses and Elias and all the figures of this work with others that are not mentioned show that Simone was very fanciful and understood the good method of grouping figures gracefully in the manner of those times these scenes finished he made two panels in this temper in the same city assisted by Lippo Memmi his brother who had also assisted him to paint the chapter house of Santa Maria Novella and other works he although he had not served Simone nonetheless followed his manner as well as he could and made many works in Fresco in his company for Santa Croce in Florence the panel of the High Altar in Santa Catarina at Pisa for the preaching friars and in San Paolo Aripa do Arno besides many very beautiful scenes in Fresco the panel in this temper that is today over the High Altar containing a Madonna, Saint Peter, Saint Paul, Saint John the Baptist and other saints and on this Lippo put his name after these works he wrought by himself a panel in the temper for the friars in St. Augustine in San Gimignogno and thereby acquired so great a name that he was forced to send to Arezzo to Bishop Guido de Tartalati a panel with three half length figures which is today in the chapel of San Gregorio in the Bescovado when Simon was at work in Florence won his cousin an ingenious architect called Neroccio undertook in the year 1332 to make to ring the great bell of the commune of Florence which for a period of 17 years no one had been able to make to ring without 12 men to pull at it he balanced it then in such a manner that two could move it and once moved one alone could ring it without a break although it weighed more than 6000 Libre wherefore besides the honour he gained thereby as his reward 300 florins of gold which was great payment in those times but to return to our tomb memory of Siena Lippo, besides the works mentioned wrote a panel in the temper with the design of Simone which was carried to Pistoia and placed over the high altar of the church of San Francesco and was held very beautiful finally both having returned to their native city of Siena and began a very large work in colour over the great gate of Camorlia containing the coronation of our lady with an infinity of figures which remained unfinished a very great sickness coming upon him so that he overcome by the gravity of the sickness passed away from this life in the year 1345 to the very great sorrow of all his city and of Lippo his brother who gave him honourable burial in San Francesco Lippo afterwards finished many works that Simone had left imperfect and among these was a passion of Jesus Christ over the high altar of San Nicola in Ancona where in Lippo finished what Simone had begun imitating that which the said Simone had made and finished in the chapter house of San Spirito in Florence this work would be worthy of a longer life than per adventure will be granted to it there being in it many horses when soldiers in beautiful attitudes which they are striking with various animated movements doubting and marvelling whether they have crucified or not the Son of God at Assisi likewise in the lower church of San Francesco he finished some figures that Simone had begun for the altar of Santa Elizabeth which is at the entrance of the door that leads into the chapels making there a Madonna, a St. Louis King of France and other saints in all eight figures which are only as far as the knees but good and very well coloured besides this in the great refectory of the said Convent at the top of the wall Simone had begun many little scenes and a crucifix made in the shape of a tree of the cross but this remained unfinished and outlined with the brush in red over the plaster as may still be seen today which method of working was the cartoon that our old masters used to make for painting in fresco for greater rapidity for having distributed the whole work over the plaster they would outline it with the brush reproducing from a small design all that which they wished to paint and enlarging in proportion all that they thought to put down wherefore even as this one is seen thus outlined and many others in other places so there are many others that had once been painted from which the work afterwards peeled off leaving them thus outlined in red over the plaster but returning to our lipo who drew passing well as it may be seen in our book in a hermit who is reading with his legs crossed he lived for 12 years after Simone executing many works throughout all Italy and in particular two panels in Santa Croce in Florence and seeing that the manner of these two brothers is very similar one can distinguish the one from the other by this that Simone used to sign his name at the foot of his works in this way Simone's memory has since then since Opus and lipo leaving out his baptismal name and carrying nothing of about a latinity so rough in this other fashion Opus Meme discenus mefecchit On the wall of the chapter house of Santa Maria Novella besides Petraca and Madonna Lora as it has been said before Simone portrayed Gimabue the architect Lapo his son Arnolfo and himself and in the person of that Pope who is in the scene he painted Benedetto 11th of Treviso one of the preaching friars the likeness of which Pope had been brought to Simone long before by Giotto his master when he returned from the court of the said Pope who had his seat in Avignon in the same place also beside the said Pope he portrayed Cardinal Nicola Di Prato who had come to Florence at that time as legate of the said Pontiff as Giovanni Bellani relates in his history over the tomb of Simone was placed this epitaph Simone memio pictorum omnium omnis etatis calabarimo vixit anno 60 men's 2 d3 as it is seen in our aforesaid book Simone was not very excellent in draftsmanship but he had invention from nature and he took much delight in drawing portraits from the life and in this he was held so much the greatest master of his times that Signor Pandolfo Malatesti sent him as far as Avignon to portray Messer Francesco Petraca at the request of whom he made afterwards the portrait of Madonna Laura with so much credit to himself end of section 20