 Section 09 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 09. Life of Margaretoni, Painter, Sculptor and Architect of Arezzo. Among the old painters who were much alarmed by the praises rightly given by men to Cimabue and his disciple Giotto, whose good work in painting was making their glory shine throughout all Italy, was one Margaretoni, painter of Arezzo, who, with the others, who in that unhappy century were holding the highest rank in painting, recognized that their works were little less than wholly obscuring his own fame. Margaretoni then, being held excellent among the other painters of those times who were working after the Greek manor, wrought many panels in distemper at Arezzo, and he painted in fresco, in even more pictures, but in a long time and with much fatigue, almost the whole church of San Clemente, abbey of the order of Camaldoli, which is today all in ruins and thrown down, together with many other buildings and a strong fortress called San Clemente, for the reason that Ducosimo de Medici, not only on that spot, but right round that city, pulled down many buildings and the old walls, which were restored by Guido Pietro Malesco, formerly bishop and patron of that city, in order to rebuild the latter with connecting wings and bastions, much stronger and smaller than they were, and in consequence more easy to guard and with few men. There were, in the said pictures, many figures both small and great, and although they were wrought after the Greek manor, it was recognized, nonetheless, that they had been made, with good judgment and lovingly, to which witness is borne by the works by the same man's hand which have survived in that city, and above all a panel that is now in San Francesco, in the chapel of the Conception, with a modern frame, wherein is a Madonna held by those friars in great veneration. He made in the same church, also after the Greek manor, a great crucifix which is now placed in that chapel where there is the office of the wardens of works, that is wrought on the planking, with the cross outlined, and of this sort he made many in that city. For the nuns of Santa Margherita he wrought a work that is today set up against the Tometso of the church, namely a canvas fixed on a panel, wherein are scenes with small figures from the life of our Lady and of St John the Baptist, in considerably better manner than the large, and executed with more diligence and grace. This work is notable, not only because the said small figures are so well made that they look like miniatures, but also because it is a marvel to see that a work on canvas has been preserved for three hundred years. He made throughout the whole city an infinity of pictures, and at Sargiano, a convent of the Frati del Zoccoli, a San Frances is portrayed from nature on a panel, whereon he placed his name as on a work, in his judgment, wrought better than was his want. Next, having made a large crucifix on wood, painted after the Greek manor, he sent it to Florence to Mesa Farinata del Iberte, a most famous citizen, for the reason that he had, among other noble deeds, freed his country from imminent ruin and peril. This crucifix is today in San Croce, between the Chapel of the Peruzzi and that of the Grigny. In San Domenico in Oretzo, a church and convent built by the lords of Pietro male in the year 1275, as their arms still prove, he wrought many works, and then returned to Rome, where he had already been held very dear by Pope Urban IV, to the end that he might do certain works in Fresco at his commission in the portico of San Pietro. These were in the Greek manor, and passing good for those times. Next, having made a San Frances on a panel at Congoreto, a place above Terra Nuova in Valdano, his spirit grew exalted, and he gave himself to sculpture, and that with so much zeal that he succeeded much better than he had done in painting, because although his first sculptures were in Greek manor, as four wooden figures show that are in a deposition from the cross in the Prieve, and some other figures in the round placed in the Chapel of San Francesco over the baptismal front. Nonetheless, he adopted a better manor after he had seen in Florence the works of Arnolfo and of the other then most famous sculptors. Wherefore, having returned to Arezzo in the year 1275, in the wake of the court of Pope Gregory, who passed through Florence on his return from Avignon to Rome, there came to him opportunity to make himself more known, for the reason that this pope died in Arezzo after having presented 30,000 crowns to the commune to the end that there might be finished the building of the Vescarado, formally begun by Maestro Lapo and little advanced, and the Aratines, besides making the Chapel of San Gregorio, where Margaritoni afterwards made a panel in the Vescarado, in memory of the said Pontiff, also ordained that a tomb of marble should be made for him by the same man in the said Vescarado. Putting his hand to the work, he brought it to completion, including therein the portrait of the pope from nature, done both in marble and in painting, in a manner that it was held the best work that he had ever yet made. Next, work being resumed on the building of the Vescarado, Margaritoni carried it very far on, following the design of Lapo, but he did not, however, deliver it finished, because a few years later, in the year 1289, the walls between the Florentines and the Aratines were renewed by the fault of Guglielmino Lubertini, Bishop and Lord of Arezzo, assisted by the Ptolati d'Apietra Mala and by the Patsi di Valdano, though evil came to them thereby, for they were routed and slain at Campaldino, and there were spent in that war all the money left by the pope for the building of the Vescarado. And therefore the Aratines ordered that in place of this there should serve the impulse paid by the district, thus do they call attacks, as a particular revenue for that work, which impulse has lasted up to our own day, and continues to last. Now returning to Margaritoni, from what is seen in his works, as regards painting, he was the first to consider what a man must do when he works on panels of wood, to the end that they must stay firm in the joinings, and that they may not show fishes and cracks opening out after they have been painted. For he was used to put over the whole surface of the panels a canvas of linen cloth, attached with a strong glue made from shreds of parchment and boiled over a fire, and then over the said canvas he spread Gesso, as is seen in many panels by him and by others. He wrought besides, on Gesso mingled with the same glue, freezes and diadems in relief and other ornaments in the round, and he was the inventor of the method of applying Armenian bowl, and of spreading gold leaf thereon and burnishing it. All these things, never seen before, are seen in many of his works, and in particular in the pieva of Arezzo, in an altar front wherein are the stories of Santonatus and in Santa Agnesa and San Nicolo in the same city. Finally he wrought many works in his own country which went abroad, some of which are at Rome, in San Giovanni and in San Pietro, and some at Pisa, in Santa Catarina, where, in the Tromedso of the church, there is set up over an altar a panel with Santa Catherine on it, and many scenes from her life, with little figures and a San Francis with many scenes on a panel on a ground of gold. And in the upper church of San Francesco da Sisi there is a crucifix by his hand, painted in the Greek manner, on a beam that crosses the church. All which works were in great esteem among the people of that age, although today by us they are not esteemed save as old things, good when art was not, as is today at its height. And seeing that Margaritoni applied himself also to architecture, though I have not made mention of any buildings made with his design, because they are not of importance, I will yet not forbear to say that he, according to what I find, made the design and model of the Palazzo di Governatore in the city of Ancona after the Greek manner in the year 1270, and what is more, he made in sculpture on the principal front eight windows, whereof each one has, in the space in the middle, two columns that support in the middle two arches, over which each window has a scene in half relief that reaches from the said small arches up to the top of the window. A scene, I say, from the Old Testament, carved in a kind of stone that is found in that district. Under the said windows, on the facade, there are certain words that are understood rather at discretion than because they are either in good form or rightly written, wherein there is read the date and in whose time this work was made. By the hand of the same man, also, was the design of the church of San Schiriaco in Ancona. Margaritoni died at the age of 77, disgusted, so it is said, to have lived so long, seeing the age had changed and the honours with the new craftsmen. He was buried in the Dromel Vecchio, without a red soul, in a tomb of Travertine, now gone to ruin in the destruction of that church, and there was made for him this epitaph. Icchiaset ile bonus pictore Margaritonis, qui requiem dominus tradat ubiqui pius. The portrait of Margaritoni, by the hand of Spinello, is in the story of the Magi, in the said Dromel, and was copied by me before that church was pulled down. End of Section 9 Section 10 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 Vasari, translated by Gaston de Vierre. Life of Giotto, Painter, Sculptor and Architect of Florence, Part 1 That very obligation which the craftsmen of painting owe to nature, who serves continually as model to those who are ever wrestling the good from her best and most beautiful features, and striving to counterfeit and to imitate her, should be owed, in my belief, to Giotto, painter of Florence, for the reason that, after the methods of good paintings and their outlines had lain buried for so many years under the ruins of the wars, he alone, though born among inept craftsmen, by the gift of God revived that art which had come to a grievous pass, and brought it to such a form as could be called good. And truly it was a very great miracle that, that age, gross and inept, should have had strength to work in Giotto in a fashion so masterly, that design, whereof the men of those times had little or no knowledge, was restored completely to life by means of him. And yet this great man was born at the village of Vespignano, in the district of Florence, fourteen miles distant from that city, in the year twelve seventy-six, from a father named Badoni, a tiller of the soil and a simple fellow. He, having had this son, to whom he gave the name Giotto, reared him conformably to his condition, and when he had come to the age of ten, he showed in all his actions, although childish still, a vivacity and readiness of intelligence much out of the ordinary, which rendered him, dear, not only to his father, but to all those who also knew him, both in the village and beyond. Now Badoni gave some sheep into his charge, and he, going about the holding, now in one part and now in another to graze them, and impelled by a natural inclination to the art of design, was for ever drawing on stones, on the ground, or on sand, something from nature, or in truth anything that came into his fancy. Wherefore, Simabu, going one day on some business of his own, from Florence to Vespignano, found Giotto, while his sheep were browsing, portraying a sheep from a nature on a flat and polished slab, with the stone slightly pointed, without having learned any method of doing this from others, but only from nature. Whence Simabu, standing fast, all in a marvel, asked him if he wished to go and live with him? The child answered that, his father consenting, he would go willingly. Simabu then asked this from Badoni, the latter lovingly granted it to him, and was content that he should take the boy with him to Florence. Wither having come in a short time, assisted by nature and taught by Simabu, the child not only equalled the manner of his master, but became so good an imitator of nature that he banished completely that rude Greek manner, and revived the modern and good art of painting, introduced the portraying well from nature of living people, which had not been used for more than two hundred years. If indeed any one had tried it, as has been said above, he had not succeeded very happily, nor as well by a great measure as Giotto, who portrayed, among others, as is still seen today in the chapel of the Palace of the Podesta at Florence, Dante Alighieri, a contemporary and his very great friend, and no less famous as poet, than was in the same times Giotto as painter, so much praised by Messer Giovanni Boccaccio in the preface to the story of Messer Forrest de Robata and of Giotto the painter himself. In the same chapel are the portraits, likewise by the same man's hand, of Ser Brunetto Latini, master of Dante, and of Messer Corso Donati, a great citizen of those times. The first pictures of Giotto were in the chapel of the High Altar in the Badia of Florence, wherein he made many works held beautiful, but in particular a Madonna receiving the Annunciation, for the reason that in her he expressed vividly the fear and the terror that the salutation of Gabriel inspired and marry the Virgin, who appears, all full of the greatest alarm, to be wishing almost to turn to flight. By the hand of Giotto, likewise, is the panel on the High Altar of the said chapel, which has been preserved there to our own day, and is still preserved there, more because of a certain reverence that is felt for the work of so great a man, than for any other reason. And in Santa Croce there are four chapels by the same man's hand, three between the sacristy and the great chapel, and one on the other side. In the first of the three, which is that of Messer Rodolfo de Bardi, and is that wherein are the bell-robes, is the life of St. Francis, in the death of whom a good number of friars show very naturally the expression of weeping. In the next, which is that of the family of Perusi, are two stories of the life of St. John the Baptist, to whom the chapel is dedicated, wherein great vivacity is seen in the dancing and leaping of Herodias, and the promptness of some servants bustling at the service of the table. In the same are two marvelous stories of St. John the Evangelist, namely, when he brings Giuseana back to life, and when he is carried off into heaven. In the third, which is that of the Gianni, dedicated to the apostles, there are painted by the hand of Giotto the stories of the martyrdom of many of them. In the fourth, which is on the other side of the church, towards the north, and belongs to the Tosinghi and to the Spinelli, is dedicated to the assumption of Our Lady. Giotto painted her birth, her marriage, her annunciation, the adoration of the Magi, and when she presents Christ as a little child to Simeon, which is something very beautiful. Seeing that, besides a great affection that is seen in that old man as he receives Christ, the action of the child, stretching out its arms in fear of him and turning in terror towards its mother, could not be more touching or more beautiful. Next, in the death of the Madonna herself, there are the apostles and a good number of angels with torches in their hands, all very beautiful. In the chapel of the Barancelli, in the said church, is a panel in distemper by the hand of Giotto, wherein is executed with much diligence the coronation of Our Lady, with a very great number of little figures and a choir of angels and saints, very diligently wrought. And because in that work there are written his name and the date in letters of gold, craftsmen who will consider at what time Giotto, with no glimmer of the good manner, gave a beginning to the good method of drawing and of coloring, will be forced to hold him in the highest veneration. In the same church of San Croce, over the marble tomb of Carlo Marsupini of Arezzo, there is a crucifix with the Madonna, St. John, and Magdalene at the foot of the cross. Exactly opposite this, over the burial place of Leonardo Arretino, facing the high altar, there is an enunciation which has been recolored by modern painters, with small judgment on the part of him who has had this done. In the refectory, on a tree of the cross, are stories of St. Louis and a last supper by the same man's hand, and on the wardrobes in the sacristy are scenes with little figures from the life of Christ and of St. Francis. He wrought also, in the church of the Carmine, in the chapel of St. Giovanni Battista, all the life of that saint, divided into a number of pictures, and in the palace of the Guelph Party in Florence, there is a story of the Christian faith, painted perfectly in fresco by his hand, and therein is the portrait of Pope Clement IV, who created that magisterial body, giving it his arms, which it has always held and holds still. After these works, departing from Florence in order to go to finish in Assisi the works begun by Simibu, in passing through Arezzo he painted in the pieve the Chapel of San Francesco, which is above the place of baptism, and on a round column near a Corinthian capital that is both ancient and very beautiful, he portrayed from nature a St. Francis and a St. Dominic, and in the Duomo, without Arezzo, he painted the stoning of St. Stephen in a little chapel, with a beautiful composition of figures. These works finished, he betook himself to Assisi, a city of Umbria, being called thither by Fra Giovanni di Murro della Marca, then general of the Friars of St. Francis, where in the upper church he painted in fresco, under the gallery that crosses the windows on both sides of the church, thirty-two scenes of the life and acts of St. Francis, that is, sixteen on each wall, so perfectly that he acquired thereby very great fame. And in truth there is seen great variety in that work, not only in the gestures and attitudes of each figure, but also in the composition of all the scenes, not to mention that it enables us very beautifully to see the diversity of the costumes of those times, and certain imitations and observations of the things of nature. Among others there is one very beautiful scene, wherein a thirsty man, in whom the desire for water is vividly seen, is drinking, bending down on the ground by a fountain, with very great and truly marvelous expression, in a manner that it seems almost a living person that is drinking. There are also many other things there most worthy of consideration, about which, in order not to be tedious, I do not enlarge further. Let it suffice that this whole work acquired for Giotto very great fame, by reason of the excellence of the figures and of the order, proportion, liveliness and facility which he had from nature, and which he had made much greater by means of study, and was able to demonstrate clearly in all his works. And because, besides that which Giotto had from nature, he was most diligent and went on ever thinking out new ideas and wrestling them from nature, he well deserved to be called the disciple of nature and not of others. The aforesaid scenes being finished, he painted in the same place but in the lower church, the upper part of the walls at the sides of the high altar, and all the four angles of the vaulting above in the place where lies the body of St. Francis, and all with inventions both fanciful and beautiful. In the first is St. Francis glorified in heaven, surrounded by those virtues which are essential for him who wishes to be perfectly in the grace of God. On one side obedience is placing a yoke on the neck of a friar who is before her on his knees, and the bands of the yoke are drawn by certain hands towards heaven, and in joining silence with one finger to her lips, she has her eyes on Jesus Christ, who is shedding blood from his side. And in company with this virtue are prudence and humility, in order to show that where there is true obedience there are ever humility and prudence, which enable us to carry out every action well. In the second angle is Chastity, who standing in a very strong fastness is refusing to be conquered either by kingdoms or crowns or palms that some are presenting to her. At her feet is Purity, who is washing naked figures, and force is busy leading people to wash and purify themselves. Near to Chastity on one side is Penitence, who is chasing love away with a discipline, and putting to flight impurity. In the third space is Poverty, who is walking with bare feet on thorns, and has a dog that is barking at her from behind, and about her a boy who is throwing stones at her, and another who is busy pushing some thorns with a stick against her legs. And this Poverty is seen here being espoused by St. Francis, while Jesus Christ is holding her hand. They are being present, not without mystic meaning, hope and compassion. In the fourth and last of the said spaces is St. Francis, also glorified in the white tunic of a deacon, and shown triumphant in heaven in the midst of a multitude of angels, who are forming a choir round him, with a standard wherein is a cross with seven stars, and on high is the Holy Spirit. Within each of these angles are some Latin words that explain the scenes. In like manner, besides the said four angles, there are pictures on the side walls which are very beautiful and truly to be held in great price, both by reason of the perfection that is seen in them, and because they were wrought with so great diligence, that up to our own day they have remained fresh. In these pictures is the portrait of Giotto himself, very well made, and over the door of the sacristy, by the same man's hand, and also in fresco, there is a St. Francis who is receiving the stigmata, so loving and devout, that to me it appears the most excellent picture that Giotto made in these works, which are all truly beautiful and worthy of praise. Having finished then, for the last, the said St. Francis, he returned to Florence, whereon arriving there he painted, on a panel that was to be sent to Pisa, a St. Francis on the tremendous rock of La Vernia, with extraordinary diligence, seeing that, besides certain landscapes full of trees and cliffs, which was something new in those times, there are seen in the attitude of St. Francis, who is kneeling and receiving the stigmata with much readiness, a most ardent desire to receive them, an infinite love towards Jesus Christ, who, being surrounded in the sky by seraphim, is granting them to him with an expression so vivid that anything better cannot be imagined. In the lower part of the same panel there are three very beautiful scenes of the life of the same saint. This panel, which today is seen in San Francesco in Pisa, on a pillar beside the High Altar, and is held in great veneration as a memorial of so great a man, was the reason that the peasants, having just finished the building of the Camposanto after the design of Giovanni, son of Nicola Pisano, as has been said above, gave to Giotto the painting of part of the inner walls, to the end that, since this so great fabric was all encrusted on the outer side with marbles and with carvings made at very great cost, and roved over with lead, and also full of sarcophagi in ancient tombs once belonging to the heathens and brought to Pisa from various parts of the world, even so it might be adorned within, on the walls, with the noblest painting. Having gone to Pisa then for this purpose, Giotto made in Fresco, on the first part of a wall in that Camposanto, six large stories of the most patient Job. And because he judiciously reflected that the marbles of that part of the building where he had to work were turned towards the sea, and that, all being saline marbles, they are ever damped by reason of the southeast winds, and throw out a certain salt moisture, even as the bricks of Pisa do for the most part, and that therefore the colors and the paintings fade and corrode, he caused to be made over the whole surface where he wished to work in Fresco, to the end that his work might be preserved as long as possible, a coating, or in truth an intonaco or incrustation, that is to say, with lime, gypsum and powdered brick all mixed together, so suitably that the pictures which he afterwards made thereon have been preserved up to the present day. And they would be still better if the negligence of those who should have taken care of them had not allowed them to be much injured by the damp. Because the fact that this was not provided for, as was easily possible, has been the reason that these pictures, having suffered from damp, have been spoiled in certain places, and the flesh colors have been blackened, and the intonaco has peeled off. Not to mention that the nature of gypsum, when it has been mixed with lime, is to corrode in time and to grow rotten, once it arises that afterwards perforce it spoils the colors, although it appears at the beginning to take a good and firm hold. In these scenes, besides the portrait of Messer Farnata Deleuberti, there are many beautiful figures, and above all certain villagers, who in carrying the grievous news to Job, could not be more full of feeling, nor show better than they do the grief that they felt over the lost cattle and over the other misadventures. Likewise there is amazing grace in the figure of a man-servant, who is standing with a fan beside Job, who is covered with ulcers and almost abandoned by all. And although he is well done in every part, he is marvelous in the attitude that he strikes in chasing the flies from his leperous and stinking master with one hand, while with the other he is holding his nose in disgust, in order not to notice the stench. In like manner the other figures in these scenes and the heads both of the males and of the women are very beautiful, and the draperies are wrought to such a degree of softness that it is no marvel if this work acquired for him so great fame, both in that city and abroad, that Pope Benedict IX of Treviso sent one of his courtiers into Tuscany to see what sort of man was Giotto, and of what kind his works, having designed to have some pictures made in San Pietro. This courtier, coming in order to see Giotto and to hear what other masters there were in Florence, excellent in painting and in mosaic, talked to many masters in Siena. Then, having received drawings from them, he came to Florence, and having gone into the shop of Giotto who was working, declared to him the mind of the Pope, and in what way it was proposed to make use of his labor, and at last asked him for some little drawing, to the end that he might send it to his holiness. Giotto, who was most courteous, took a paper, and on that, with a brush dipped in red, holding his arm fast against his side in order to make a compass, with a turn of the hand he made a circle, so true in proportion and circumference that to behold it was a marvel. This done, he smiled and said to the courtier, Here is your drawing. He, thinking he was being derided, said, Am I to have no other drawing but this? Tis enough and despair, answered Giotto, Send it together with the others, and you will see if it will be recognized. The envoy, seeing that he could get nothing else, left him very ill-satisfied in doubting that he had been fooled. All the same, sending to the Pope the other drawings and the names of those who had made them, he also sent that of Giotto, relating the method that he had followed in making the circle without moving his arm, and without compasses. Wherefore the Pope and many courtiers that were well versed in the arts recognized by this how much Giotto surpassed in excellence all the other painters of his time. This matter having afterwards spread abroad there was born from it the proverb that is still want to be said to men of gross widths. Tu si pui tando chi lo di Giotto, thou art rounder than Giotto's circle. This proverb can be called beautiful not only from the occasion that gave it birth, but also for its significance, which consists in the double meaning, tando being used in Tuscany both for the perfect shape of a circle, and for slowness and grossness of understanding. The aforesaid Pope then made him come to Rome, where honoring him much and appreciating his talents he made him paint five scenes from the life of Christ in the apse of San Pietro, and the chief panel in the sacristy, which were all executed by him with so great diligence that there never issued from his hands any more finished work in distemper. Wherefore he well deserved that the Pope, holding himself to have been well served, should cause to be given to him six hundred dukes of gold, besides granting him so many favors that they were talked of throughout all Italy. About this time, in order to withhold nothing worthy of remembrance and connection with art, there was in Rome one Odorigi de Gobio, who was much the friend of Giotto and an excellent illuminator for those days. This man, being summoned for this purpose by the Pope, illuminated many books from the library of the palace, which are now in great part eaten away by time. And in my book of ancient drawings are some remains from the very hand of this man, who in truth was an able man, although a much better master than Odorigo was Franco Bolognese, who wrought a number of works excellently in that manner for the same Pope and for the same library about the same time, as can be seen in the said book, wherein I have designs by his hand both in painting and in illumination, and among them an eagle very well done, and a very beautiful lion that is tearing a tree. Of these two excellent illuminators Dante makes mention in the eleventh canto of the Purgatorio, where he is talking of the vanglorious in these verses. The Pope, having seen these works and the manner of Giotto, pleasing him infinitely, ordered him to make scenes from the Old Testament and the New right around San Pietro. Wherefore, for a beginning, Giotto made in fresco the angel that is over the organ, seven Braccia high, and many other paintings, whereof part have been restored by others in our own days, and part, in founding the new walls, have been either destroyed or removed from the Old Edifice of San Pietro, up to the space below the organ, such as a Madonna on a wall, which to the end that it might not be thrown to the ground, was cut right out of the wall and made fast with beams and iron bars and thus removed, and afterwards built in, by reason of his beauty, in the place that pleased the pious love that is born towards everything excellent in art, by Messer Nicolo Acioli, doctor of Florence, who richly adorned this work of Giotto with stucco work and also with modern paintings. By his hand also was the navicella and mosaic that is over the three doors of the portico in the court of San Pietro, which is truly marvelous and deservedly praised by all beautiful minds, because in it, besides the design, there is the grouping of the apostles, who are travelling in diverse manners through the sea tempest, while the winds are blowing into a sail, which has so high a relief that a real one would not have more, and moreover it is difficult to have to make with those pieces of glass a unity such as that which is seen in the lines and shadows of so great a sail, which could only be equaled by the brush with great difficulty, and by making every possible effort, not to mention that in a fisherman, who is fishing from a rock with a line, there is seen an attitude of extreme patience proper to that art, and in his face the hope and the wish to make a catch. Under this work are three little arches in fresco, of which, since they are for the greater parts boiled, I will say no more. The praises universally given by craftsmen to this work are well deserved. Giotto, having afterwards painted on a panel a large crucifix colored in distemper for the Minerva, a church of the preaching friars, returned to his own country, having been abroad six years. But no long time after, by reason of the death of Pope Benedict IX, Clement V was created Pope in Perugia, and Giotto was forced to partake himself with that Pope to the place where he brought his court, to Avignon, in order to do certain works there, and having gone there he made not only in Avignon, but in many other places in France, many very beautiful panels and pictures in fresco, which pleased the staff and the whole court infinitely. Wherefore the work dispatched, the Pope dismissed him lovingly and with many gifts, and he returned home no less rich than honored and famous, and among the rest he brought back the portrait of that Pope, which he gave afterwards to Tadio Gaudi, his disciple. And this return of Giotto to Florence was in the year 1316. But it was not granted to him to stay long in Florence, because being summoned to Padua by the agency of the Signori della Scala he painted a very beautiful chapel in the Santo, a church built in those times. From there he went to Verona, where, for Mr. Cain, he made certain pictures in his palace, and in particular the portrait of that Lord, and a panel for the friars of St. Francis. These works completed in returning to Tuscany he was forced to stay in Ferrara, and he painted at the behest of those Signori d'Este, in their palace and in San Agostino, some works that are still seen there to-day. Meanwhile, it coming to the years of Dante, poet of Florence, that Giotto was in Ferrara, he so contrived that he brought him to Ravenna, where he was living in exile, and he caused him to make round the Church of San Francisco for the Signori de Palenta, some scenes in Fresco that are passing good. Next, having gone from Ravenna to Urbino, there too he wrought some works. Then, chancing to pass through Arezzo, he could not but comply with the wish of Piero Sacone, who had been much his friend, wherefore he made for him in Fresco, on a pillar in the principal chapel of the Vescarvato, a St. Martin who has cut his cloak in half and is giving one part of it to a beggar who is standing before him almost wholly naked. Then having made for the abbey of San Fiori a large crucifix painted in distemper on wood, which is today in the middle of that church, he returned finally to Florence, where among many other works he made some pictures in the convent of the Nuns of Fianza, both in Fresco and in distemper, that are not in existence today by reason of the destruction of that convent. In the year 1322 likewise, Dante very much his friend, having died in the year before to his great sorrow, he went to Lucca, and at the request of Castruccio, then Lord of that city, his birthplace, he made a panel in San Martino with a Christ in air and four Saints, protectors of that city, namely St. Peter, St. Regulus, St. Martin and St. Paulinus, who appear to be recommending a Pope and an Emperor, who according to what is believed by many are Frederick of Bavaria and the Antipope Nicholas V. Some likewise believe that Giotto designed the castle and fortress of Guista, which is impregnable at San Martino, in the same city of Lucca. Life of Giotto. Painter, Sculptor and Architect of Florence, Part 2. Afterwards, Giotto having returned to Florence, Robert, King of Naples, wrote to Charles, King of Calabria, his first-born son, who chanced to be in Florence, that he should send him Giotto to Naples at all costs, for the reason that, having finished the buildings of Santa Ciara, a convent of Nuns and a royal church, he wished that it should be adorned by him with noble paintings. Giotto, then, hearing himself summoned by a king so greatly renowned and famous, went more than willingly to serve him, and on arriving painted many scenes from the Old Testament and the New in some chapels of the said convent. And the scenes from the apocalypse that he made in one of the said chapels are said to have been inventions of Dante, and this may be also true of those at Assisi, so greatly renowned, whereof there has been enough said above. And although Dante at that time was dead, they may have held this course on these matters, as often comes to pass between friends. But to return to Naples. Giotto made many works in the Castel del Urobo, and in particular the Chapel, which much pleased that king, by whom he was so greatly beloved, that many times, while working, Giotto found himself entertained by the king in person, who took pleasure in seeing him at work and in hearing his discourse. And Giotto, who had ever some jest on his tongue and some witty repartee in readiness, would entertain him with his hand in painting and with pleasant discourse in his jesting. Wherefore, the king saying to him one day that he wished to make him the first man in Naples, Giotto answered, and for that end I am lodged at the Porto Rial in order to be the first in Naples. Another time the king saying to him, Giotto, and I were you, now that it is hot, I would give over painting for a little. He answered, and I, in faith, and I were you. Being then very dear to the king, he made for him a good number of pictures in a hall that King Alfonso I pulled down in order to make the castle, and also the in Coronata, and among others in the said hall were the portraits of many famous men, and among them that of Giotto himself. Now the king, having one day out of caprice, besought him to paint his realm for him, Giotto, it is said, painted for him an ass saddled, that had at its feet a new pack-saddle, and was sniffing it and making semblance of desiring it. And on both the old pack-saddle and the new one were the royal crown and the scepter of sovereignty, wherefore Giotto, being asked by the king what such a picture signified, answered that such were his subjects and such the kingdom, wherein every day a new one was desired. Departing from Naples in order to go to Rome, Giotto stopped at Gaeta, where he was forced to paint some scenes from the Old Testament in the Nunziata, which are now spoiled by time, but yet not so completely that there may not be seen in them very well the portrait of Giotto himself, near a large and very beautiful crucifix. This work finished, not being able to refuse this to Sr. Malatesta, he first occupied himself in his service for some days in Rome, and afterwards he betook himself to Rimini, of which the city said that Malatesta was lord, and there in the church of San Francesco he made very many pictures, which were afterwards thrown to the ground and destroyed by Gismando, son of Pandolfo Malatesta, who rebuilt the whole said church anew. In the cloisters of the said place also, opposite to the wall of the church, he painted in fresco the story of the Blessed Michelina, which was one of the most beautiful and excellent works that Giotto ever made, by reason of the many and beautiful ideas that he had in working thereon. For besides the beauty of the draperies, and the grace and vivacity of the heads, which are miraculous, there is a young woman therein, as beautiful as ever a woman can be, who in order to clear herself from the false charge of adultery, is taking an oath over a book in a most wonderful attitude, holding her eyes fixed on those her husband, who was making her take the oath by reason of mistrust in a black son born from her, whom he could in no way bring himself to believe to be his. She, even as the husband is showing disdain and distrust in his face, is making clear with the purity of her brow and of her eyes, to those who are most intently gazing on her, her innocence and simplicity, and the wrong that he is doing to her in making her take the oath and in proclaiming her wrongly as a harlot. In like manner, very great feeling was that which he expressed in a sick man stricken with certain sores, seeing that all the women who are round him, overcome by the stench, are making certain grimaces of distrust, the most gracious in the world. The foreshortening's next, that are seen in another picture among a quantity of beggars, that he portrayed, are very worthy of praise, and should be held in great price among craftsmen, because from there came the first beginning and method of giving them, not to mention that it cannot be said that they are not passing good for early work. But above everything else that is in this work, most marvellous is the gesture that the aforesaid Blessed Michelina is making towards certain users, who are dispersing to her the money from the sale of her possessions for giving to the poor, seeing that in her there is shown contempt of money and of the other things of this earth, which appear to disgust her, and in them the personification of human avarice and greed. Very beautiful, too, is the figure of one who, while counting the money, appears to be making sign to the notary who is writing, considering that, although he has his eyes on the notary, he is yet keeping his hands on the money, thus revealing his love of it, his avarice, and his distrust. In like manner the three figures that are holding up the garments of St. Francis in the sky, representing obedience, patience, and poverty, are worthy of infinite praise. Above all, because there is in the manner of the draperies a natural flow of folds, that gives us to know that Giotto was born in order to give light to painting. Besides this, he portrayed Sr. Malatesta on a ship in this work, so naturally that he appears absolutely alive, and some other mariners and other people, in their promptness, their expressions and their attitudes, and particularly a figure that is speaking with some others and spits into the sea, putting one hand up to his face, give us to know the excellence of Giotto. And certainly, among all the works of painting made by this master, this may be said to be one of the best, for the reason that there is not one figure in so great a number that does not show very great craftsmanship, and that is not placed in some characteristic attitude, and therefore it is no marvel that Sr. Malatesta did not fail to reward him magnificently and to praise him. Having finished his labors for that Lord, he complied with the request of a prior of Florence, who was then at St. Cattallo d'Armini, and made a St. Thomas Aquinas, reading to his friars without the door of the church. Departing thence, he returned to Ravenna and painted a chapel in Fresco in San Giovanni Evangelista, which is much extolled. Having next returned to Florence with very great honor and ample means, he painted a crucifix on wood and in distemper for San Marco, larger than life and on a ground of gold, which was placed in the right hand in the church. And he made another like it in Santa Maria Novella, whereon Puccia Capana, his pupil, worked in company with him. And this is still today over the principal door, on the right as you enter the church, over the tomb of the gaudi. And in the same church over the Tramezzo he made a St. Louis, for Paolo di Lato, Ardinghelli, at the foot thereof the portrait of him and of his wife from the life. Afterwards, in the year 1327, Guido Tarlati di Pietramala, bishop and lord of Arezzo, died at Massa de Morema in returning from Luca, where he had been to visit the emperor. And after his body had been brought to Arezzo, and the most magnificent funeral honors had been paid to it, Piero Sacone and Dalfo da Pietramala, the brother of the bishop, determined that there should be made for him a tomb in marble worthy of the greatness of so notable a man, who had been a lord both spiritual and temporal, and head of the Ghibeline party in Tuscany. Wherefore, having written to Giotto that he should make the design of a tomb very rich and with all possible adornment, and having sent him the measurements, they prayed him afterwards that he should place at their disposal the sculptor who was the most excellent, according to his opinion, of all that were in Italy, because they were relying wholly on his judgment. Giotto, who was most courteous, made the design and sent it to them, and after this design, as will be told in the proper place, the said tomb was made. And because the said Piero Sacone had infinite love for the talent of this man, having taken Borgo Asan Sapocro no long time after he had received the said design, he brought from there to Arezzo a panel with little figures by the hand of Giotto, which afterwards fell to pieces, and Baccio Gandhi, a nobleman Florence, a lover of those noble arts and of every talent, being commissary of Arezzo, sought out the pieces of this panel with great diligence, and having found some brought them to Florence, where he holds them in great veneration, together with some other works that he has by the hand of the same Giotto, who wrought so many that their number is almost beyond belief. And not many years ago, chancing to be at the hermitage of Camaldoli, where I have wrought many works for those reverend fathers, I saw in his cell whether it has been brought by the very reverend Don Antonia da Pisa, then general of the congregation of Camaldoli, a very beautiful little crucifix on ground of gold, with the name of Giotto in his own hand. Which crucifix, according to what I hear from the reverend Don Silvano Razzi, monk of Camaldoli, is kept today in the cell of the superior of the monastery of the Angelli, as being a very rare work and by the hand of Giotto, in company with a most beautiful little picture by Raffiello Darbino. For the Frati Umiliati of Agni Santi in Florence, Giotto painted a chapel in four panels, in one of which there was the Madonna, with many angels round her, and the child in her arms, and a large crucifix on wood, whereof Piucio Capana took the design and wrought many of them afterwards throughout all Italy, having much practice in the manner of Giotto. In the Trmezzo of the said Church, when this book of the lives of the painters, sculptors, and architects was printed the first time, there was a little panel in Distemper painted by Giotto with infinite diligence, wherein was the death of our lady, with the apostles round her, and with a Christ who is receiving her soul in his arms. The work was much praised by the craftsmen of painting, and in particular by Michelangelo Buonarrati, who declared, as was said another time, that the quality of this painted story could not be more like to the truth than it is. This little panel, I say, having come into notice from the time when the book of these lives was first published, was afterwards carried off by someone unknown, who perhaps out of love for art and out of piety, it seeming to him that it was little esteemed, became, as said our poet, Empias, and truly it was a miracle in those times that Giotto had so great loveliness in his painting, considering above all that he learnt the art in a certain measure without a master. After these works, in the year 1334, on July 9th, he put his hand to the Campanile of Santa Maria del Fiori, whereof the foundation was a platform of strong stone, in a pit sunk twenty brachia deep from which water and gravel had been removed. Upon this platform he made a good mass of concrete that reached to the height of twelve brachia above the first foundation, and the rest, namely the other eight brachia, he cost to be made of masonry, and at this beginning and foundation there officiated the Bishop of the City, who in the presence of all the clergy and all the magistrates solemnly laid the first stone. This work, then, being carried on with the said model, which was in the German manner that was in use in those times, Giotto designed all the scenes that were going into the ornamentation and marked out the model with white, black, and red colours in all those places wherein the marbles and the freezes were to go, with much diligence. The circuit round the base was one hundred brachia, that is, twenty-five brachia for each side, and the height, one hundred and forty-four brachia. And if that is true, and I hold it as of the truest, which Lorenzo di Sione Ghiberti has left in writing, Giotto made not only the model of this Campanile, but also part of those scenes in marble wherein are the beginnings of all the arts, in sculpture and in relief. And the said Lorenzo declares that he saw models in relief by the hand of Giotto, and in particular those of these works, which circumstance can be easily believed, design and invention being the father and mother of all these sorts of arts, and not of one alone. This Campanile was destined, according to the model of Giotto, to have a spire, or rather a pyramid, four-sided and fifty brachia high, as a completion to what is now seen. But for the reason that it was a German idea and in an old manner, modern architects have never done ought but advise that it should not be made, the work seeming to be better as it is. For all these works Giotto was not only made citizen of Florence, but was given a pension of one hundred Florence yearly by the Commune of Florence, which was something very great in those times, and he was made overseer over this work, which was carried on after him by Tadio Gatti, for he did not live so long as to be able to see it finished. Now, while this work continued to be carried forward, he made a panel for the nuns of San Giorgio, and three half-length figures in an arch over the inner side of the door of the Badia in Florence, now covered with whitewash in order to give more light to the church. And in the great hall of the Podesta of Florence he painted the Commune, an idea stolen by many, representing it as sitting in the form of judge, sceptre in hand, and over its head he placed scales as symbol of the just decisions administered by it, accompanying it with four virtues that are strength with courage, wisdom with the laws, justice with arms, and temperance with words. This work is beautiful as a picture, and characteristic and appropriate in invention. Afterwards, having gone again to Padua, besides many other works and chapels that he painted there, he made a mundane glory in the precincts of the arena, which gained him much honor and profit. In Milan also he wrought certain works that are scattered throughout that city and held most beautiful even to this day. Finally, having returned from Milan, no long time passed before he gave up his soul to God, having wrought so many beautiful works in his life, and having been no less good as Christian than he was excellent as painter. He died in the year 1336 to the great grief of all his fellow-citizens, nay, all of those who had known him or even only heard his name, and he was buried even as his virtues deserved with great honor, having been loved by all while he lived, and in particular by the men excellent in all the professions. Seeing that, besides Dante, of whom we have spoken above, he was much honored by Petrarcha, both he and his works, so greatly that it is read in Petrarcha's testament that he left to Signore Francesco de Carrara, Lord of Padua, among other things held by him in the highest veneration, a picture by the hand of Giotto, containing Madonna as something rare and very dear to him. And the words of that clause in the testament run thus Transio a Dispocianum Alliarum Rareum, e'predicto ecturo domino mio Paduano, quia ed e'psi per dei gratium non e'get, non e'gonilo iliude habio signum si, mito tabulum miam si v'historum vete virginis marie, opus giocti pictorius e'grigi, quia miji ab amico mi mechei venis di Florentia misa est, incugias poltritutum ignorantes non intelligent, magistri autum artes stupend, pac iconum e'psi domino lego, e'psivergo benedicta si bisit propitia apud filium suum gestum christum. And the same Petrarch, in a Latin epistle in the fifth book of his familiar letters, says these words. Atkwa ut avedribus adnova ad externum ad nostra transgradiar, duos e'gonovi pictorius e'grigius, nec formosos, gioctum florentinum civum, cugis intermodernus, fama ingens est et simonum senensum, novi scultores aliquot, et cetera. Giotto was buried in Santa Maria del Fiore, in the left side as you enter the church, where there is a slab of white marble in memory of so great a man. And as was told in the life of Simabu, a commentator of Dante, who lived at the same time as Giotto said, Giotto was and is the most eminent among painters in the same city of Florence, and his works bear testimony for him in Rome, in Naples, in Avignon, in Florence, in Padua, and in many other parts of the world. His disciples were Tadio Gotti, held by him at baptism, as has been said, and Puccio Capana of Florence, who, working at Rimini in the church of San Cattaldo, belonging to the preaching friars, painted perfectly in fresco the hull of a ship which appears to be sinking in the sea, with men who are throwing things into the sea, one of whom is Puccio himself, portrayed from life among a good number of mariners. The same man painted many works after the death of Giotto in the church of San Francesco at Assisi, in the church of San Trinita in Florence, near the side door towards the river. He painted the chapel of the Strozzi, where is the coronation of the Madonna in fresco, with a choir of angels which he drew very much to the manner of Giotto, and on the sides are stories of Santa Lucia, very well wrought. In the body of Florence he painted the chapel of San Giovanni Evangelista, belonging to the family of Covoni, besides the sacristy, and in Pistoia he wrought in fresco the principal chapel of the church of San Francesco and the chapel of San Ludovico, with the stories of those saints passing well painted. In the middle of the church of San Domenico, in the same city, there are a crucifix, a Madonna, and a St. John wrought with much sweetness and at their feet a complete human skeleton, wherein, and this was something unusual in those times, Puccio showed that he had sought to find the foundations of art. In this work there is read his name, written by himself in this fashion. Puccio di Fiorenze Mi Fecci In the arch over the door of Santa Maria Nuova in the said church there are three half-length figures by his hand. Our Lady with the Child in her arms, and St. Peter on one side, and on the other St. Francis. He also painted in the aforesaid city of Assisi, in the lower church of San Francesco, some scenes of the passion of Jesus Christ in fresco, with good and very resolute mastery. And in the chapel of the church of Santa Maria Degli Agnelli he wrought in fresco a Christ in glory, with the Virgin praying to him for the Christian people. This work, which is passing good, has been all blackened by the smoke of the lamps and the candles that are burning there continually in great quantity. And in truth, insofar as it can be judged, Puccio had the manner and the whole method of working of his Master Giotto, and knew how to make good use of it in the works that he wrought, even if, if some have it, he did not live long, having fallen sick and died by a reason of laboring too much in fresco. By his hand, insofar as is known, is the chapel of San Martino in the same church, with the stories of that saint wrought in fresco for cardinal gentile. There is scene also in the middle of the street called Portica, a Christ at the column, and in a square picture there is Our Lady, with St. Catherine and St. Clara, one on either side of her. There are works by his hand scattered about in many other places, such as a panel with the Passion of Christ and stories of St. Francis, in the Trmezzo of the Church in Bologna, and many others, in short, that are passed by for the sake of brevity. I will say indeed that in Assisi, where most of his works are, and where it appears to me that he assisted Giotto in painting, I have found that they hold him as their fellow citizen, and that there are still today in that city some of the family of the Capani. Wherefore it may be easily believed that he was born in Florence, having written so himself, and that he was a disciple of Giotto, but that afterwards he took a wife in Assisi, that there he had children, and that now he has descendants there. But because it is of little importance to know this exactly, it is enough to say that he was a good master. Likewise, a disciple of Giotto and a very masterly painter was Ottaviano de Fanza, who painted many works at Ferrara in St. Giorgio, the seat of the monks of Monteleveto, and in Faenza where he lived and died. He painted, in the arch over the door of San Francesco, Amidana, St. Peter and St. Paul, and many other works in his said birthplace and in Bologna. A disciple of Giotto also was Pace de Faenza, who stayed with him long and assisted him in many works, and in Bologna there are some scenes in Fresco by his hand, on the façade of San Giovanni de Colato. This Pace was an able man, particularly in making little figures, as can be seen to this day in the church of San Francesco at Forley, in a tree of the cross, and in a little panel in Distemper, wherein is the life of Christ, with four little scenes from the life of our lady, all very well wrought. It is said that he wrought in Fresco, in the chapel of San Antonio at Assisi, some stories of the life of that saint, for a Duke of Spoleto who is buried in that place together with his son, both having died fighting in certain suburbs of Assisi, according to what is seen in a long inscription that is on the sarcophagus of the said tomb. In the old book of the Company of Painters, it is found that the same man had another disciple, Francesco, called de Maestro Giotto, of whom I have nothing else to relate. Guglielmo of Forley was also a disciple of Giotto, and besides many other works he painted the chapel of the High Altar in San Domenico at Forley, his native city. Disciples of Giotto also were Pietro Lorati and Simon Memmi of Siena, Stefano of Florentine, and Pietro Cavallini of Roman. But seeing that of all of these there is an account in the life of each one of them, let it suffice to have said in this place that they were disciples of Giotto, who drew very well for his time and for that manner, whereon two witnesses borne by many sheets of parchment drawn by his hand in watercolour, outlined with the pen in Chiaro Scuro with the High Lights in White, which are in our book of drawings and are truly a marvellous comparison with those of the masters that lived before him. Giotto, as it has been said, was very ingenious and humorous and very witty in his sayings, whereof there is still vivid memory in that city. For besides that which Messer Giovanni Boccaccio wrote about him, Franco Secchetti, in his three hundred stories, relates many of them that are very beautiful. Of these I will not forbear to write down some with the very words of Franco himself. To the end that, together with the story itself, there may be seen certain modes of speech and expressions of those times. He says in one, then, to give its heading, To Giotto a great painter is given a buckler to paint by a man of small account. He, making a jest of it, paints it in such a fashion that the other is put to confusion. The story. Every one must have heard already who was Giotto and how great a painter he was above every other. A clownish fellow, having heard his fame and having need, perchance for doing watch and ward to have a buckler of his painted, went off incontinent to the shop of Giotto, with one who carried his buckler behind him, and arriving where he found Giotto said, God save thee, Master, I would have thee paint my arms on this buckler. Giotto, considering the man and the way of him, said no other word save this. When dost thou want it? And he told him, and Giotto said, Leave it to me, and off he went. And Giotto, being left alone, ponders to himself, What meaneth this? Can this fellow have been sent to be in jest? Howsoever it may be, never was there brought to me a buckler to paint, and he who brings it is a simple mannequin and bids me make him his arms as if he were of the blood royal of France. In faith I must make him a new fashion of arms. And so, pondering within himself, he put the said buckler before him, and having designed what seemed good to him, bad one of his disciples finished the painting. And so he did, which painting was a helmet, a gorge, a pair of arm pieces, a pair of iron gauntlets, a curress and a back piece, a pair of thigh pieces, a pair of leg pieces, a sword, a dagger, and a lance. The great man, who knew not what he was in for, on arriving, comes forward and says, Master, is it painted that buckler? Said Giotto, of a truth it is, go some one and bring it down. The buckler coming, that would-be gentleman, begins to look at it and says to Giotto, What filthy mess is this that thou has painted for me? Said Giotto, and it will seem to thee a right filthy business in the paying. Said he, I will not pay for farthings for it. Said Giotto, and what didst thou tell me that I was to paint? And he answered my arms, said Giotto. And are they not here? Is there one wanting? said the fellow. Well, well, said Giotto. Nay, it is not well, God help thee. And a great booby must thou be, for if one asked thee, who art thou? Scarced would thou be able to tell. And here thou comest and sayest, Paint me my arms. And thou hadst been one of the barty that were enough. What arms does thou bear? Whence art thou? Who were thy ancestors? Out upon thee. Art not ashamed of thyself? Begin first to come into the world before thou praitest of arms as if thou werest dozenen of Bavaria. I have made thee a whole suit of armour on thy buckler. If there be one piece wanting, name it, and I will have it painted. Said he, thou dost use vile words to me, and have spoilt me a buckler. And taking himself off, he went to the justice and had Giotto summoned. Giotto appeared and had him summoned, claiming two Florence for the painting, and the other claimed them from him. The officers, having heard the pleadings, which Giotto made much the better, judged that the other should take his buckler so painted, and should give six lira to Giotto since he was in the right. Wherefore he was constrained to take his buckler and go, and was dismissed, and so, not knowing his measure, he had his measure taken. It is said that Giotto, while working in his boyhood under Simabu, once painted a fly on the nose of a figure that Simabu himself had made. So true to nature that his master, returning to continue the work, set himself more than once to drive it away with his hand, thinking that it was real before he perceived his mistake. Many other tricks played by Giotto and many witty reports could I relate, but I wish that these, which deal with matters pertaining to art, should be enough for me to have told in this place, leaving the rest to the said Franco and others. Finally, seeing that there remained memory of Giotto not only in the works that issued from his hands, but in those also that issued from the hand of the writers of those times, he having been the man who discovered the true method of painting, which had been lost for many years before him. Therefore, by public decree, and by the effort and particular affection of the elder Lorenzo de' Medici, the Magnificent, in admiration of the talent of so great a man, his portrait was placed in Santa Maria del Fiore, carved in marble by Benedetto de Miano, an excellent sculptor, together with the verses below, made by that divine man, Mr. Angelo Palazziano, to the end that those who should become excellent in any profession whatsoever might be able to cherish a hope of obtaining, from others, such memorials as those that Giotto deserved and obtained in liberal measure from his goodness. Ele egossum perquim pictura extinta revixit, qui cuom recta manis tam fuite e facilis, natre diret nostre quad defuit arti, plus lisuit nuli pinjeri necmelius, meraris tuum egrigium sacro eris sonatum, hec cuoca dimadulo crevid ad ostamio, dinic esum jotis quid opus fuit ila riferi, haknomen langi carminis in star erit. And to that end those who come after may be able to see the drawings by the very hand of Giotto, and from these to recognize, all the more, the excellence of so great a man. In our fore-said book there are some that are marvellous, sought out by me with no less diligence than labour and expense. End of section 11 Please visit Librevox.org Recording by Morgan Scorpion Lives of the most eminent painters, sculptors and architects Volume 1 by Giorgio Vasari Translated by Gaston Devere Section 12 Life of Agostino and Agnolo of Siena Sculptors and Architects Among others who exercised themselves in the school of the sculptors Giovanni and Nicola of Pisa, Agostino and Agnolo, sculptors of Siena, of whom we are at present about to write the life, became very excellent for those times. These, according to what I find, were born from a father and mother of Siena, and their forefathers were architects, seeing that in the year 1190, under the rule of the three consuls, they brought to perfection the Font de Brande and afterwards, in the following year, under the same consulate, the customs house of that city and other buildings. And in truth, it is clear that very often the seeds of talent germinate in the houses where they have lain for some time, and throw out shoots which afterwards produce greater and better fruits than the first plants had done. Agostino and Agnolo then, adding great vetiment to the manner of Giovanni and Nicola of Pisa, enriched the art with better design and invention, as their works clearly demonstrate. It is said that the aforesaid Giovanni, learning from Naples to Pisa in the year 1284, stayed in Siena in order to make the design and foundation for the façade or the dromo, wherein are the three principal doors, to the end that it might be all adorned very richly with marbles, and that then Agostino, being no more than fifteen years of age, went to be with him in order to apply himself to sculpture, whereof he had learnt the first principles, being no less inclined to this art than to the matters of architecture. And so, under the teaching of Giovanni, by means of continual study, he surpassed all his fellow disciples in design, grace and manner, so greatly that it was said by all that he was the right eye of his master. And because between people who love each other, there is no gift, whether of nature or of soul or of fortune, that is mutually desired so much as excellence, which alone makes men great and noble, and what is more, most happy both in this life and in the other. Therefore, Agostino, seizing this occasion of assistance from Giovanni, drew his brother Agnolo into this same pursuit. Nor was it a great labour for him to do this, seeing that the intercourse of Agnolo with Agostino and with the other sculptors had already, as he saw the honor and profit that they were drawing from such an art, fired his mind with extreme eagerness and desire to apply himself to sculpture. Nay, before Agostino had given a thought to this, Agnolo had wrought certain works in secret. Agostino, then, being engaged in working with Giovanni on the marble panel of the high altar in the Vescovado of Arezzo, whereof there has been mention above, contrived to bring there the said Agnolo, his brother, who acquitted himself in this work in such a manner that when it was finished he was found to have equaled Agostino in the excellence of his art. Which circumstance, becoming known to Giovanni, was the reason that after this work he made use of both one and the other works of his that he walked in Pistola, in Pisa, and in other places. And seeing that he applied himself not only to sculpture but to architecture as well, no long time passed before, under the rule of the nine in Siena, Agostino made the design of their palates in Malborgetto, which was in the year 1308. In the making of this he acquired so great a name in his country that, returning to Siena after the death of Giovanni, they were made both one and the other architects to the state. Wherefore, afterwards, in the year 1317, there was made under their direction the front of the Duomo that faces towards the north, and in the year 1321, with the design of the same men, there was begun in the construction of the Porta Romana, in that manner wherein it stands today, and it was finished in the year 1326, which gate was first called Porta San Martino. They rebuilt also the Porta Artufi, which at first was called the Porta Santa Agata del Arco. In the same year, with the design of the same Agostino and Agnolo, there was begun the church and convent of San Francesco in the presence of Cardinal de Gaeta, a apostolic legate. No long time after, by the action of some of the Ptolemy who were living as exiles at Ovietto, Agostino and Agnolo were summoned to make certain sculptures for the work of Santa Maria in that city, wherefore, going there, they carved some prophets in marble which are now, in comparison with the other statues in that façade, the finest and best proportioned in that so greatly renowned work. Now it came to pass in the year 1326, as has been said in his life, that Giotto was called by means of Charles, Duke of Calabria, who was then staying in Florence, to Naples, in order to make some things for King Robert in Santa Tiara and other places in that city, wherefore Giotto, passing by way of Ovietto on his way to Naples to see the works that had been made and were still being made there by so many men, wished to see everything minutely. And because the prophets of Agostino and Agnolo of Siena pleased him more than all the other sculptures, it came about, therefore, that Giotto not only commanded them and held them much to their contentment among his friends, but also presented them to Piero Sacconi da Pietromala as the best of all the sculptures then living, for the making of the tomb of Bishop Grido, Lord and Bishop of Oretzo, which has been mentioned in the life of Giotto himself. And so then, Giotto having seen in Ovietto the works of many sculptors and having judged the best of these to be those of Agostino and Agnolo of Siena, this was the reason that the said tomb was given to them to make. In that manner, however, wherein he had designed it, and according to the model which he himself had sent to the said Piero Sacconi, Agostino and Agnolo finished this tomb in the space of three years, executing it with much diligence and built it into the church of the Vescovado of Oretzo in the Chapel of the Sacrament. Over the sarcophagus which rests on certain great consoles carved more than passing well, there is stretched the body of that bishop in marble, and at the sides are some angels that are drawing back certain curtains very gracefully. Besides this, there are carved in half relief, in compartments, twelve scenes from the life and actions of that bishop, with an infinite number of little figures. I will not grudge the labour of describing the contents of these scenes, to the end that it may be seen with what great patience they were wrought, and how zealously these sculptors sought the good manner. In the first is the scene when, assisted by the Gibriline party of Milan, which sent him money in four hundred masons, he is rebuilding the walls of Oretzo all anew, making them much longer than they were and giving them the form of a galley. In the second is the taking of Lucid Narno Divaldigiana. In the third, Dato Tiusi. In the fourth, Dato Fonzoli, then a strong castle above Poppi, and held by the sons of the counter-battifolli. The fifth is when the castle of Rondine, after having been many months besieged by the Aretines, is surrendering finally to the bishop. In the sixth is the taking of the castle of Buccini in Vildano. The seventh is when he is taking by storm the fortress of Caprese, which belongs to the counter of Romena, after having maintained the siege for several months. In the eighth, the bishop is having the castle of Lattorino pulled down, and the hill that rises above it cut into the shape of a cross, to the end that it may no longer be possible to build a fortress thereon. In the ninth, he is seen destroying Montessan Solvino and putting it to fire and flames, chasing from it all the inhabitants. In the eleventh, this is Coronation, where he has seen many beautiful costumes of soldiers on foot and on horseback, and of other people. In the twelfth, finally, his men are seen carrying him from Montenero where he fell sick, to Massa, and thence afterwards, now dead, to Arezzo. Round this tomb also, in many places, are the Giverline insignia, and the arms of the bishop, which are six square stones or, on a field, azure. In the same ordering, as are the six walls in the arms of Medici, which arms of the house of the bishop were described by Frate Drittone, chevalier and poet of Arezzo, when he said, writing of the site of the castle of Pietramala whence that family had its origin. Agnolo and Agostino of Siena then executed this work with better art and invention and with more diligence than there had been shown in any work executed in their times. And in truth, they deserve nothing but infinite praise, having made therein so many figures and so great a variety of sites, places, towers, horses, men, and other things that it is indeed a marvel, and although this tomb was in great part destroyed by the Frenchman of the Duke of Anju, who sacked the greater part of that city in order to take revenge on the hostile party of France received, nonetheless it shows that it was wrought with very good judgment by the said Agostino and Agnolo, who cut on it in rather large letters these words. After this, in the year 1329, they wrought an altar panel of marble for the church of San Francesco at Bologna in a passing good manner, and therein, besides the carved ornamentation, which is very rich, they made a Christ who was crowning our Lady and on each side three similar figures St. Francis, St. James, St. Dominic, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Petronius and St. John the Evangelist, with figures of one braccio and a half in height. Below each of the said figures is carved a scene in low relief from the life of the saint that is above, and in all these scenes is an infinite number of half-length figures which make a rich and beautiful adornment according to the custom of those times. It is seen clearly that Agostino and Agnolo endured very great fatigue in this work, and that they put into it all diligence and study in order to make it, as it truly was, a work worthy of praise, and although they are half-eaten away, yet there are to be read thereon their names and the date by means of which, it being known when they began it, it is seen that they laboured eight whole years in completing it. It is true indeed that in that same time they walked many other small works in diverse places and for various people. Now, while they were working in Bologna, that city, by the mediation of a legate of the pope, gave herself absolutely over to the church, and the pope in return promised that he would go to settle with his court in Bologna, saying that he wished to erect a castle there, or truly a fortress for his own security. This being conceded to him by the Bolognese, it was immediately built under the direction and design of Agostino and Agnolo, but it had a very short life for the reason that the Bolognese, having found that the many promises of the pope were wholly vain, pulled down and destroyed the said fortress with much greater promptness than it had been built. It is said that while these two sculptors were staying in Bologna, the pope issued infurious flood from its bed and laid waste the whole country round for many miles, including Mantua and Ferala, and slaying more than 10,000 persons, and that they, being called on for this reason as ingenious and able men, found a way to put this terrible river back into its course, confining it with dykes and other most useful barriers, which was greatly to their credit and profit, because, besides acquiring frame thereby, they were recompensed by the lords of Mantua and by the Daest family with most honorable rewards. After Siena, and in the year 1338, with their direction and design, there was made the new church of Santa Maria near the Dromo Vecchio towards Piazza Manetti, and no long time after, the people of Siena, remaining much satisfied with all the works that these men were making, determined with an occasion so apt to put into effect that which had been discussed many times, but up to then in vain, namely the making of a public fountain on the principal square opposite D'Ale Signoria. Wherefore, this being entrusted to Agostino and Agnolo, they brought the waters of that fountain through pipes of lead and of clay, which was very difficult, and it began to play in the year 1348, on the first day of June, with much pleasure and contentment to the whole city, which remained thereby much indebted to the talent of these its two citizens. About the same time there was made the great council chamber in the municipal palace, and so too, with the direction and design of the same men, there was brought to its completion the tower of the said palace in the year 1344, and there were placed thereon two great bells, whereof they had one from Gossetto and the other was made in Siena. Finally, while Agnolo chanced to be in the city of Assisi, where he made a chapel and a tomb in Marble in the lower church of San Francesco for a brother of Napoleone Orsino, a cardinal and a friar of St. Francis who died in that place. Agostino, who had remained in Siena in the service of the state, died while he was busy making the design for the adornments of the said fountain in the square, and was honourably buried in the Dromel. I have not yet found, and cannot therefore say anything about the matter, either how or when Agnolo died or even any other works of importance by their hand, and therefore let this be the end of their life. Now, seeing that it would be without doubt of time not to make mention of some who, although they have not wrought so many works that it is possible to write their whole life, have nonetheless contributed betterment and beauty to art and to the world. I will say, taking occasion from that which has been said above about the Vescovado of Arezzo and about the Piedra, that Pietro and Paolo, goldsmiths of Arezzo, who learnt to design from Agnolo and Agostino of Siena, were the first who wrought large works of some excellence with the chasing tour, since, for an arch-priest of the said Piedra of Arezzo, they executed a head in silver as large as life, wherein was placed the head of San Tvanatus, bishop and protector of that city, which work was worthy of nothing but praise, both because they made therein some very beautiful figures in enamel and other ornaments, and because it was one of the first works, as it has been said, that were wrought with the chasing tour. About the same time, the Guild of Calimara in Florence caused Maestro Cione, an excellent goldsmith, to make the greater part, if not the whole, of the silver outer of San Giovanna Battista, wherein are many scenes from the life of that saint embossed on a plate of silver, with passing good figures in half relief, which work, both by reason of its size and of its being something new, was held marvellous by all who saw it. In the year 1330 after the body of San Tzanobi had been found beneath the vaults of San Reparata, the same Maestro Cione made a head of silver to contain a piece of the head of that saint, which is still preserved today in the same head of silver and is born in processions, which head was then held something very beautiful, and gave a great name to its craftsman, who died no long time after, rich, and in great repute. Maestro Cione left many disciples, and among others Fozore di Spinello of Arezzo, who wrought every kind of chasing very well, but was particularly excellent in making scenes in silver enameled over fire, to which witness is born by a mitre with most beautiful adornments in enamel and a very beautiful pastoral staff of silver, richowing the Vescovado of Arezzo. The same man wrought for Cardinal Galliotto di Petramala many works in silver that remained after his death with the fires of Lavernia, where he wished to be buried. There, besides the wall that was erected in that place in Orlando, Lordo Tuzi, a small town below Lavernia, the Cardinal built the church, together with many rooms in the convent and throughout that whole place, without putting his arms there or leaving any other memorial. A disciple of Maestro Cione also was Leonardo di Sergio Vanni, a Florentine, who wrought many works in chasing and soldering with better design than the others before him had shown, and in particular the altar and panel of silver at San Jacopo at Pistoia, in which work, besides the scenes which are numerous, there was much praise given to a figure in the round that he made in the middle, representing St. James, more than one braccio in height, and wrought with so great finish that it appears rather to have been made by casting than by chasing. This figure is set in the midst of the said scenes on that panel of the altar, round which is a freeze of letters in enamel that run thus. In Sancti Jacobi Apostoli, Hock Oppas' Factor, through its Tempore, Domini, Franck, Pani, Diccai, Operae, Operari, Subano 1371, Promet, Leonardo, Sergio, de Florent, Orific. Now, returning to Agostino and Agnolo, they had many disciples who, after their death, wrought many works of architecture and of sculpture in Lombardy and other parts of Italy, and among others, Maestro Jacopo di Frani of Venice, who founded in San Francesco of Imola, and wrought the principal door in sculpture where he carved his name and the date, which was the year 1343. And at Bologna, in the Church of Santo Menico, the same Maestro Jacopo made a tomb in marble for Giovanni Andrea Calderino, Doctor of Laws and Secretary to Pope Clement VI. And another, also in marble and in the said church, very well wrought, for Tadeo Peppoli, conservator of the people, and of justice in Bologna. And in the same year, which was the year 1347, or a little before, this tomb being finished, Maestro Jacopo went to his native city of Venice and founded the Church of San Antonio, which was previously of Wood, at the request of a Florentine abbot of the ancient family of the Abbati, the doge being Messer Andrea D'Andolo. This church was finished in the year 1349. Paco Bello and Pietro Paolo, also, Venetians and Disciples of Agostino and Agnolo, made a tomb in marble for Messer Giovanni Dalignano, Doctor of Laws in the year 1383, in the Church of Santo Menico, at Bologna. All these and many other sculptors went on for a long space of time following one and the same method, in a manner that with it they filled all Italy. It is believed also that the many other works built the Church of San Domenico in his native city and made in sculpture the marble door with the three figures in the round, God the Father, Saint John the Baptist and Saint Mark, was a Disciple of Agostino and Agnolo, and to this the manner bears witness. This work was finished in the year 1385, but seeing that it would take too long if I were to make mention minutely of the works that were wrought by many Masters of those times but I have said of them thus in general should suffice me for the present and above all, because there is not any benefit of much account for our arts from such works, of the aforesaid it has seemed to me proper to make mention because if they do not deserve to be discussed at length yet on the other hand they were not such as to need to be passed over completely in silence. 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 13 Life of Stefano, painter of Florence and of Uglino Sanese Uglino da Siena Stefano, painter of Florence and disciple of Giotto was so excellent that he not only surpassed all the others who had labored in the art before him but outstripped his own master himself by so much that he was held and deservedly the best of all the painters who had lived up to that time as his works clearly demonstrate. He painted in fresco the Madonna of the Campo Santo in Pisa which is no little better in design and in colouring than the work of Giotto and in Florence in the cloister of San Spirito he painted three little arches in fresco. In the first of these wherein is the transfiguration of Christ with Moses and Elias imagining how great must have been the splendour that dazzled them he fashioned the three disciples with extraordinary and beautiful attitudes and enveloped in draperies in a manner that it is seen that he went on trying to do something that had never been done before namely to suggest the nude form of the figures below new kinds of folds which as I have said had not been thought of even by Giotto. Under this arch wherein he made a Christ delivering the woman possessed he drew a building in perspective perfectly and in a matter then little known executing it in good form and with better knowledge and in it working with very great judgement in modern fashion he showed so great art and so great invention and proportion in the doors, in the windows and in the cornices and so great diversity from the other masters in his method of working that it appears that there was beginning to be seen a certain glimmer of the good and perfect manner of the moderns he invented, among other ingenious ideas a flight of steps very difficult to make which both in painting and built out in relief wrought in either way in fact so rich in design and variety and so useful and convenient in invention that the elder Lorenzo D'Amedici the Magnificent availed himself of it in making the outer staircase of the palace of Poggio Arcadiano now the principal-biller of the most illustrious Lord Duke in the other little arch is a story of Christ when he is delivering Saint Peter from shipwreck so well done that one seems to hear the voice of Peter saying Domine, salvo nos, perimus this work is judged much more beautiful than the others because besides the softness of the draperies there are seen sweetness in the air of the heads and terror in the perils of the sea and because the apostles shaken by diverse motions and by phantoms of the sea have been represented in attitudes very appropriate and almost beautiful and although time has eaten away in part the labors that Stefano put into this work it may be seen although but dimly that the apostles are defending themselves from the fury of the winds and from the waves of the sea with great energy which work being very highly praised among the moderns must have certainly appeared a miracle in all Tuscany in the time of him who wrought it after this he painted the Saint Thomas Aquinas beside a door in the first cloister of Santa Maria Novella where he also made a crucifix which was afterwards executed in a bad manner by other painters in restoring it in like manner he left a chapel in the church begun and not finished which has been much eaten away by time wherein the angels are seen raining down in diverse forms by reason of the pride of Lucifer where it is to be noticed that the figures with the arms, trunks and legs foreshortened much better than any foreshortening that had been made before give us to know that Stefano began to understand and to demonstrate in part the difficulties that those men had to reduce to excellence who afterwards with greater science showed them to us as they have done in perfection wherefore the surname of the ape of nature was given him by the other craftsmen next being summoned to Milan Stefano made a beginning for many works for Matteo Visconti but was not able to finish them because having fallen sick by reason of the change of air he was forced to return to Florence there having regained his health he made in Fresco in the Tramezzo of the church of Santa Croce in the chapel of the Assini the story of the martyrdom of Saint Mark when he was dragged to death with many figures that have something of the good being then summoned to Rome by reason of having been a disciple of Giotto he made some stories of Christ in San Pietro in the principal chapel wherein is the altar of the said saint between the windows that are seen in the great Croix niche with so much diligence that it is seen that he approached closely to the modern manner surpassing his master Giotto considerably in draftsmanship and in other respects after this on a pillar on the left hand side of the principal chapel of celli he made a St. Louis in Fresco which is much praised because it has in it a vivacity never displayed up to that time even by Giotto and in truth Stefano had great facility in draftsmanship as can be seen in our said book in a drawing by his hand wherein is drawn the transfiguration which he painted in the Cloister of San Spirito in such a manner that in my judgment he drew much better than Giotto having gone next to Assisi and in Fresco a scene of the celestial glory in the niche of the principal chapel of the lower church of San Francesco where the choir is and although he did not finish it it is seen from what he did that he used so great diligence that no greater could be desired in this work there is seen begun a circle of saints both male and female with so beautiful variety in the faces of the young the men of middle age and the old that nothing better could be desired and there is seen a very sweet manner in these blessed spirits with such great harmony that it appears almost impossible that it could have been done in those times by Stefano who indeed did do it although there is nothing of the figures in this circle finished save the heads over which is a choir of angels who are hovering playfully about in various attitudes appropriately carrying theological symbols in their hands and all turned towards a Christ on the cross who is in the middle of this work over the head of us in Francis who is in the midst of an infinity of saints besides this in the border of the whole work he made some angels each of whom is holding in his hand one of those churches that St John the Evangelist described in the Apocalypse and these angels are executed with so much grace that I am amazed how in that age there was to be found one who knew so much Stefano began this work with a view to bringing it to the fullest perfection and he would have succeeded but he was forced to leave it imperfect and to return to Florence by some important affairs of his own during that time then that he stayed for this purpose in Florence in order to lose no time he painted for the Gianfiliazzi by the side of the Arno between their houses and the Ponta alla Caragia a little shrine on the corner that is there wherein he depicted a Madonna sowing to whom a boy dressed and seated is handling a bird with such diligence that the work small as it is deserves to be praised no less than do the works that he walked on a larger and more masterly scale the shrine finished and his affairs dispatched being called to the Pistoia by its lords in the year 1346 he was made to paint the chapel of San Jacopo on the vaulting of which he made a god the father with some apostles and on the walls the stories of that saint and in particular when his mother wife of Zebedee asks Jesus Christ to consent to place her two sons one on his right hand and the other on his left in the kingdom of the father close to this is the beheading of the said saint very beautiful work it is reputed that Mezzo called Giotino of whom there will be mentioned below was the son of this Stefano and although many by reason of the suggestiveness of the name hold him the son of Giotto I, by reason of certain records that I have seen and of certain memoirs of good authority written by Lorenzo Guberti and by Domenico del Quilandario hold it true that he was rather the son of Stefano than of Giotto be this as it may for Stefano it can be credited to him that he did more than anyone after Giotto to improve painting for besides being more varied in invention he was also more harmonious more mellow and better blended in colouring than all the others and above all he had no peer indeligence and as for those foreshortening that he made although as I have said he showed a faulty manner in them by reason of the difficulty of making them nonetheless he who is the pioneer in the difficulties of any exercise deserves a much greater name than those who follow with a somewhat more ordered and regular manner truly great therefore is the debt that should be acknowledged to Stefano because he who walks in darkness and gives heart to others by showing them the way brings it about that its difficult steps are made easy so that with the lapse of time men leave the false road and attain to the desired goal at Perugia too in the church of San Domenico he began in fresco the chapel of Santa Catarina which remained unfinished there lived about the same time as Stefano a man of passing good repute Ugolino painter of Siena very much his friend who painted many panels and chapels throughout all Italy although he held ever in great part to the Greek manner as one who growing old therein had wished by reason of a certain obstinacy in himself to hold rather to the man of Jimabue than to that of Giotto which was so greatly revered by the hand of Ugolino then is the panel of the High Altar of Santa Croce on a ground all of gold and also a panel which stood many years on the High Altar of Santa Maria Novella and is today in the chapter house where the Spanish nation every year holds most solemn festival on the day of St. James with other offices and funeral ceremonies of its own besides these he walked many other works with good skill without departing however from the manner of his master the same man made on a brick pier in the loggia that Lapo had built on the Piazza d'Or San Michele that Madonna which worked so many miracles not many years later that the loggia was for a long time full of images and is still held in the greatest veneration finally in the chapel of Messo Ridolfo de Bardi which is in San Croce where Giotto painted the life of St. Francis he painted a crucifix in distemper on the Altar panel with a Magdalene and a St. John weeping and two friars one on either side Ugolino passed away from this life being old in the year 1349 and was buried in honour in Siena his native city but returning to Stefano of whom they say that he was also a good architect which is proved by what has been said above he died so it is said in the year when there began the Jubilee 1350 at the age of 49 and was laid to rest in the tomb of his fathers in San Spirito with his epitaph Stefano Florentino Stefano Florentino pictori Facchiundus imaginibus and colorandis figuris nulli un quam inferiore affineis moestis post v1x an xx xx 1x end of section 13 section 14 of lives of the most eminent painters sculptors and architect volume 1 this is a Librevox recording all Librevox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit Librevox.org recording by Morgan Scorpion lives of the most eminent painters sculptors and architects volume 1 by Giorgio Vasari translated by Gaston de Veer section 14 life of Pietro Lorati Pietro Lorenzetti painter of Siena Pietro Lorati an excellent painter of Siena proved in his life how great is the contentment of the truly able who feel that their works are prized both at home and abroad and who see themselves sought after by all men for the reason that in the course of his life he was sent for and held dear throughout Old Tuscany having first become known through the scenes that he painted in fresco for the Scala a hospital in Siena wherein he imitated in such wise the manner of Giotto then spread throughout Old Tuscany that it was believed with great reason that he was destined as afterwards came to pass to become a better master than Timabue and Giotto and the others had been for the figures that represent the virgin ascending the steps of the temple accompanied by Giorgim and Anna and received by the priest and then in the marriage are so beautifully adorned so well draped and so simply wrapped in their garments that they show majesty in the air of the heads and the most beautiful manner in their bearing by reason of this work which was the first introduction into Siena of the good method of painting giving light to the many beautiful intellects which have flourished in that city in every age Pietro was invited to Monte Olivetta di Tio Suri where he painted a panel in distemper that is placed today in the Portigo below the church in Florence next opposite to the left-hand door of the church of San Spirito on the corner where today there is a butcher he painted a shrine which by reason of the softness of the heads and of the sweetness that is seen as it deserves the highest praise from every discerning craftsman Going from Florence to Pisa he wrought in the Campo Santo of the war that is beside the principal door all the lives of the Holy Fathers with expressions so lively and attitudes so beautiful that he equaled Giotto and gained thereby very great praise having expressed in certain heads both with drawing and with colour all that vivacity that the manner of those times was able to show from Pisa he went to Pistoia where he made a Madonna with some angels round her very well grouped on a panel in distemper for the church of San Francesco and in the Pradella that ran below this panel in certain scenes he made certain little figures so lively and so vivid that in those times it was something marvellous wherefore since they satisfied himself no less than others he thought fit to place there on his name with these words Petrus Loreti de Senes Pietro was summoned next in the year 1355 by Mr. Guglielmo Archpriest and by the wardens of works of the Piedre of Arezzo who were then Margarito, Bosci and others and in that church built long before with better design and manner than any other that had been made in Tuscany up to that time he was summoned with squared stone and carvings as it has been said by the hand of Margaritoni he painted in fresco the apse and the whole great niche of the chapel of the high altar making there twelve scenes from the life of our lady with figures large as life beginning with the expulsion of Joachim from the temple up to the nativity of Jesus Christ in these scenes wrought in fresco may be recognized almost the same inventions, the lineaments and the attitudes of the figures which had been characteristic of and peculiar to Giotto his master and although this work is beautiful what he painted on the vaulting of this niche is without doubt better than all the rest for in representing the Madonna ascending into heaven besides making the apostles each for braccia high wherein he showed greatness of spirit and was the first to try to give grandness to the manor he gave so beautiful an air to the heads and so great loveliness to the vestments that in those times nothing more could have been desired likewise in the faces of a choir of angels who are flying in the air round the Madonna dancing with graceful movements and appearing to sing he painted a gladness truly angelic and divine above all because he made the angels sounding diverse instruments with their eyes all fixed and intent on another choir of angels who supported by a cloud in the form of an almond are bearing the Madonna to heaven with beautiful attitudes and all surrounded by rainbows this work seeing that it rightly gave pleasure was the reason that he was commissioned to make in distemper the panel for the high altar of the Alpha said Piedra wherein in five parts with figures as far as the knees and large as life he made our Lady with the child in her arms and St. John the Baptist and St. Matthew on the one side and on the other the evangelist and St. Donatus with many little figures on the predella of the panel above all truly beautiful and executed in very good manner this panel after I had rebuilt the high altar of the Alpha said Piedra completely anew at my own expense and with my own hand was set up over the altar of St. Cristofano at the foot of the church nor do I wish to grudge the labour of saying in this place with this occasion and not wide of the subject that I moved by Christian piety and by the affection that I bear towards venerable and ancient collegiate church and for the reason that in it in my earliest childhood I learnt my first lessons and that it contains the remains of my fathers moved I say by these reasons and by it appearing to me that it was well my deserted I have restored it in a manner that it can be said that it has returned from death to life for besides changing it from a dark to a well lighted church by increasing the windows that were there before and by making others I have also removed the choir which being in front it used to occupy a great part of the church and to the great satisfaction of those reverent cannons I have placed it behind the high altar. This new altar standing by itself has on the panel in front a Christ calling Peter and Andrew from their nets and on the side towards the choir it has on another panel St George slaying the dragon on the sides are four pictures and in each of these are two saints as large as life and above and below in the predella there is an infinity of other figures which for brevity's sake are not enumerated the ornamental frame of this altar is 13 bracha high and the predella is 2 bracha high and because within it is hollow and want to censor it by a staircase through an iron wicket very conveniently arranged there are preserved in it many venerable relics which can be seen from without through two gratings that are in the front part others there is the head of Santonatus bishop and protector of that city and in a coffer of variegated marble 3 bracha long which I have had restored are the bones of four saints and the predella of the altar which surrounds it all night round in due proportion has in front of it the tabernacle or rather cuborium of the sacrament made of carved wood and all gilt about 3 bracha high which tabernacle is in the round of the choirs from in front and because I have spared no labour and no expense considering myself bound to act thus in honour of God this work in my judgment has in all those ornaments of gold of carvings of paintings of marbles of travertines of variegated marbles of porphyries and of other stones the best that could be got together by me in that place but returning now to Pietro Lorati that panel finished whereof there has been talk above, he wrought in San Pietro at Rome many works which were afterwards destroyed in making the new building of San Pietro he also wrought some works in Cortona and in Arezzo besides those that have been mentioned and some others in the church of San Fiora e Lutila a monastery of black friars and in particular in a chapel a saint Thomas who is putting his hand on the wound in the breast of Christ a disciple of Pietro was Bartolomeo Bolognini of Siena who wrought many panels in Siena and other places in Italy and in Florence there is one by his hand on the altar of the chapel of San Sylvester in San Trocce the pictures of these men date about this year of our salvation 1350 and in my book, so many times cited there is seen a drawing by the hand of Pietro where in a shoemaker who is sewing with simple but very natural linuments shows very great expression and the characteristic manner of Pietro the portrait of whom by the hand of Bartolomeo Bolognini was in a panel in Siena when I copied it from the original in the manner that is seen above End of section 14