 Section 21 of Lives of the Most Imminent 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 Belona Times. Lives of the Most Imminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects. Volume 1. By Giorgio Vasari. Translated by Gaston Diver. Section 21. It is a beautiful and truly useful and praiseworthy action to reward talent largely in every place and to honor him who has it, seeing that an infinity of intellects which might otherwise slumber, roused by this encouragement, strive with all industry not only to learn their art, but to become excellent therein in order to advance themselves and to attain to a rank both profitable and honorable. Once there may follow honor for their country, glory for themselves, and riches and nobility for their descendants, who, upraised by such beginnings, very often become both very rich and very noble, even as the descendants of the painter Tario Gari did by reason of his work. This Tario di Garo Gari of Florentine, after the death of Giotto, who had held him at his baptism and had been his master for twenty-four years after the death of Garo, as it is written by Cennino di Drea Cennini, painter of Colle di Valdelsa, remained among the first in the art of painting and greater than all his fellow disciples, both in judgment and in genius, and he wrought his first works with a great facility given to him by nature rather than acquired by art in the church of Santa Croce in Florence, in the chapel of the Sacristi, where, together with his companions, disciples of the dead Giotto, he made some stories of Signora Mary Magdalene with beautiful figures and with most beautiful and extravagant costumes of those times. And in the chapel of the Berencelli and Bandini, where Giotto had formerly wrought the panel in Distemper, he made by himself and Fresco, on one wall, some stories of Our Lady, which were held very beautiful. He also painted over the door of the said Sacristi the story of Christ disputing with the doctors in the temple, which was afterwards ruined when the elder Casimo di Merici, in making the novitiate, the chapel and the anti-chamber in front of the Sacristi, placed a cornice of stone over the said door. In the same church he painted in Fresco the chapel of the Bellaci and also that of Saint Andrea by the side of one of the three of Giotto, wherein he made the scene of Jesus Christ taking Andrew and Peter from their nets and the crucifixion of the former Apostle, a work greatly commended and extolled both then when it was finished and still at the present day. Over the side door, below the burial place of Carlo Marsupini of Arezzo, he made a dead Christ with the Mares, wrought in Fresco, which was very much praised, and below the Tramezzo that divides the church on the left hand above the crucifix of Donato, he painted in Fresco a story of Saint Francis representing a miracle that he wrought in restoring to life a boy who was killed by falling from a terrace, together with his apparition in the air. And in this story he portrayed Giotto, his master, Dante the poet, Guido Cavalcanti, and some say himself. Throughout the said church also, in diverse places, he made many figures which are known by painters from the Manor. For the company of the temple he painted the shrine that is at the corner of the Via del Crosifiso, containing a very beautiful deposition from the cross. In the cloister of San Spirito he wrought two scenes in the little arches beside the chapter house, in one of which he made Judas selling Christ and in the other the Last Supper that he held with the Apostles. And in the same convent over the door of the refectory he painted a crucifix and some saints, which give us to know that among the others who worked here he was truly an imitator of the Manor of Giotto, which he held ever in the greatest veneration. In San Stefano del Ponte Vecchio he painted the panel and the pridella of the High Altar with great diligence, and on a panel in the oratory of St. Michel in Ortol he made a very good picture of a dead Christ being lamented by the Marise and laid to rest very devoutly by Nicodemus in the sepulchre. In the church of the Serveti Friars he painted the chapel of St. Nicolo belonging to those of the palace with stories of that saint, wherein he showed very good judgment and grace in a boat that he painted, demonstrating that he had complete understanding of the tempestuous agitation of the sea and of the fury of the storm. And while the mariners are emptying the ship and jettisoning the cargo, St. Nicholas appears in the air and delivers them from that peril. This work, having given pleasure and having been much praised, was the reason that he was made to paint the chapel of the High Altar in that church, wherein he made in fresco some stories of Our Lady and another figure of Our Lady on a panel in distemper with many saints wrought in lively fashion. In like manner, in the pridella of the said panel, he made some other stories of Our Lady with little figures, whereof there is no need to make particular mention, seeing that in the year 1467 everything was destroyed when Lodovico, Marquis of Manchua, made in that place the tribune that is there today in the choir of the friars with the design of Leon Battista Alberti, causing the panel to be carried into the chapter house of that convent. In the refactory of which Tadeo made, just above the wooden seats, the last supper of Jesus Christ with the apostles, and above that a crucifix with many saints. Having given the last touch to these works, Tadeo Gaudi was summoned to Pisa, where, for Gerardo and Bonacorso Gambacorti, he wrought in fresco the principal chapel of San Francesco, painting with beautiful colors many figures and stories of that saint and of Saint Andrew and Saint Nicholas. Next on the vaulting and on the front wall is Pope Honorius, who is confirming the order. Here Tadeo is portrayed from the life in profile, with a cap wrapped round his head, and at the foot of this scene are written these words. Magister Tadeo Gaudi de Florentia, Pensit Hunk, Historium, Sancti Francisi et Sancti Andre, and Sancti Nicolet, Anodomony, in CCC XLII, Demence Auguste. Besides this, in the cloister also of the same convent, he made in fresco a Madonna with her child in her arms, very well colored, and in the middle of the church, on the left hand, as one enters, a St. Louis, the bishop, seated, to which Saint Gerardo da Villa Magna, who had been a friar of this order, is recommending a Frabuartilo male, then prior of the said convent, in the figures of this work, seeing that they were taken from nature, there are seen liveliness and infinite grace, in that simple manner which was in some respects better than that of Giotto, above all in expressing supplication, joy, sorrow, and other similar emotions, which, when well expressed, ever bring very great honor to the painter. Next, having returned to Florence, Tadio continued for the commune the work of Orsan Michel, and refounded the piers of the loggia, building them with stone dressed and well shaped, whereas, before they had been made of bricks, without, however, altering the design that Arnolfo left, with directions that there should be made over the loggia, a palace with two vaults for storing the provisions of grain that the people and commune of Florence used to make. To the end of this, the work might be finished. The Guild of Porta St. Maria, to which the charge of the fabric had been given, ordained that there should be paid, thereunto, the tax of the square of the grain market, and some other taxes of very small importance. But what was far more important? It was well ordained with the best council that each of the Guilds of Florence should make one pier by itself, with the patron saint of the Guild in a niche therein, and that every year on the festival of each saint, the councils of that Guild should go to church to make offering, and should hold there the whole of that day the standard with their insignia, but that the offering, nonetheless, should be to the Madonna for the succor of the needy poor. And because, during the great flood of the year 1333, the waters had swept away the parapets of the Ponte Rubicante, thrown down the castle of Altafronte, left nothing of the Ponte Vecchio but the two piers in the middle, and completely ruined the Ponte Sant Trinita, except one pier that remained all shattered, as well as half the Ponte Alecarià, bursting also the wear of only Santi. Those who then ruled the city determined no longer to allow the dwellers on the other side of the Arno to have to return to their homes with so great inconvenience. As was caused by their having to cross in boats. Wherefore, having sent for Tario Gari for the reason that Giotto his master had gone to Milan, they caused him to make the model and design of the Ponte Vecchio, giving him instructions that he should have it brought to completion as strong and as beautiful as might be possible. And he, sparing neither cost nor labor, made it with such strength in the piers and with such magnificence in the arches, all of stone squared with the chisel, that it supports today twenty-two shops on either side, which make in all forty-four, with great profit to the commune, which drew from them eight hundred florins yearly in rents. The extent of the arches from one side to the other is thirty-two Brachia. That of the street in the middle is sixteen Brachia. And that of the shops on either side, eight Brachia. For this work, which cost sixty thousand florins of gold, not only did Tadeo then deserve infinite praise, but even today he is more than ever commended for it. For the reason that, besides many other floods, it was not moved in the year fifteen-fifty-seven on September thirteen, by that which threw down the Ponte e Santraneta and two arches of that of the Correia, and shattered in great part the Rubicante, together with much other destruction that is very well known. And truly, there is no man of judgment who can fail to be amazed, not to say marvel, considering that the said Ponte Vecchio is in so great an emergency could sustain unmoved the onset of the waters and of the beams and the wreckage made above, and that with so great firmness. At the same time, Tadeo directed the founding of the Ponte e Santraneta, which was finished less happily in the year thirteen-forty-six, at the cost of twenty-thousand florins of gold. I say less happily, because not having been made like the Ponte Vecchio, it was entirely ruined by the said flood of the year fifteen-fifty-seven. In like manner, under the direction of Tadeo, there was made at the same time the wall of the Costa e Sant Gregorio with piles driven in below, including two piers of the bridge, in order to gain additional ground for the city on the side of the Piazza dei Mozi, and to make use of it, as they did, to make the mills that are there. While all these works were being made by the direction and design of Tadeo, seeing that he did not therefore stop painting, he decorated the tribunal of the Mercanzia Vecchia, wherein, with poetical invention, he represented the tribunal of six, which is the number of the chief men of that judicial body, who are standing, watching the tongue being torn from falsehood by truth, who is clothed with a veil over the nude, while falsehood is draped in black, with these verses below. La piora verita per ubedere, alla santa giustizia ce nontarda, cavala lingua alla falsa bughiarda. And below the scene are these verses. Tadeo received a commission for some works in Fresco and Arezzo, which he carried to the greatest perfection in company with his disciple Giovanni da Milano. Of these, we still see one in the company of the Holy Spirit, a scene on the wall over the high altar containing the passion of Christ with many horses and the thieves on the cross, a work held very beautiful by reason of the thought that he showed him placing him on the cross. Therein are some figures with vivid expressions which show the rage of the Jews, some pulling him by the legs with a rope, others offering the sponge, and others in various attitudes such as the longinus who is piercing his side and the three soldiers who are gambling for his raiment, in the faces of whom there is seen hope and fear as they throw the dice. The first of these in armor is standing in an uncomfortable attitude awaiting his turn and shows himself so eager to throw that he appears not to be feeling the discomfort. The other, raising his eyebrows with his mouth and with his eyes wide open, is watching the dice in suspicion, as it were, of fraud and shows clearly to anyone who studies him the desire and the wish that he has to win. The third, who is throwing the dice, having spread the garment on the ground, appears to be announcing with a grin his intention of casting them, in like manner throughout the walls of the church are seen some stories of St. John the Evangelist and throughout the city other works made by Tadeo which are recognized as being by his hand by anyone who has judgment and art. In the Vescovato, also behind the High Altar, there are still seen some stories of St. John the Baptist which are wrought with such marvelous manner and design that they cause him to be held in admiration. In the Chapel of St. Sebastiano in St. Agostino, beside the Sacristi, he made the stories of that martyr and a disputation of Christ with the doctors so well wrought and finished that it is a miracle to see the beauty and the changing colors of various sorts and the grace and the pigments of these works which are finished to perfection. In the Church of the Sasso della Verna in the Castantino, he painted the chapel where in St. Francis received the stigmata assisted in the minor details by Giacopo di Castantino who became his disciple by reason of this visit. This work finished. He returned to Florence together with Giovanni the Milanese and there, both within the city and without, they made very many panels and pictures of importance and in process of time he gained so much turning all into capital that he laid the foundation of the wealth and the nobility of his family being ever held a prudent and farsighted man. He also painted the chapter house in Santa Maria Novella being commissioned by the prior of the place who suggested the subject to him. It is true indeed that by reason of the work being large and of their being unveiled at that time when the bridges were being made the chapter house of St. Sparito to the very great fame of Simon Memmi who had painted it, there came to the said prior a desire to call Simon to the half of this work. Wherefore, having discussed the whole matter with Tario, he found him well contented therewith for the reason that he had a surpassing love for Simon because he had been his fellow disciple under Giotto and ever his loving friend and companion. Oh, mine's truly noble, seeing that without emulation, ambition or envy ye loved one another like brothers, each rejoicing as much in the honour and profit of his friend as in his own. The work was divided, therefore, and three walls were given to Simon, as I said in his life and Tario had the left-hand wall and the whole vaulting and was divided by him into four sections or quarters in accordance with the form of the vaulting itself. In the first he made the resurrection of Christ wherein it appears that he wished to attempt to make the splendour of the glorified body give forth light as we perceive in a city and in some mountainous crags. But he did not follow this up in the figures and in the rest, doubting per chance that he was not able to carry it out by reason of the difficulty that he recognised therein. In the second section he made Jesus Christ delivering St. Peter from shipwreck wherein the apostles who are mounting the boat are certainly very beautiful. And among other things, one who is fishing with a line on the shore of the sea, a subject already used by Giotto in the mosaics of the Navichalet in St. Pietro is depicted with very great and vivid feeling. In the third he painted the Ascension of Christ and in the fourth the Coming of the Holy Spirit where there are seen many beautiful attitudes in the figures of the Jews who are seeking to gain entrance through the door. On the wall below are the seven sciences with their names and with those figures below them that are appropriate to each. Grammar and the guise of a woman with a door teaching a child has the rider Donato seated below her. After Grammar follows rhetoric and at her feet is a figure that has two hands on books while it draws a third hand from below its mantle and holds it to its mouth. Logic has the serpent in her hand below a veil and at her feet Zeno of Elea who is reading. Arithmetic is holding the tables of the abacus and below her is sitting Abraham its inventor. Music has the musical instruments and below her is sitting Tubal Cain who is beating with two hammers on an anvil and is standing with his ears intent on that sound. Geometry has the square and the compasses and below Euclid astrology has the celestial globe in her hands and below her feet Atlas. In the other part are sitting seven theological sciences and each has below her that is state or condition of man that is most appropriate for her. Pope, Emperor, King, Cardinals, Dukes, Bishops, Marqueses and others. And in the face of the Pope is the portrait of Clement V. In the middle and highest place is St. Thomas Aquinas who was adorned with all the said sciences holding below his feet some heretics Arius, Sibelius and Averroes and round him are Moses, Paul, John the Evangelist and some other figures that have above them the four cardinal virtues and the three theological with an infinity of other details depicted by Tadio with no little design and grace and so much that it can be said to have been the best conceived as well as the best preserved of all his works. In the same Saint Marielle Novello over the Tremzzo of the church he also made a Saint Jerome robed as a cardinal having such a devotion for that saint that he chose him as the protector of his house and below this after the death of Tadio his son caused a tomb to be made for their descendants covered with a slab of marble bearing the arms of the godly. For these descendants by reason of the excellence of Tadio and of their merits cardinal Jerome has obtained from God most honorable offices in the church clerkships of the chamber, bishoprics, cardinal aids, provost ships and knighthoods all most honorable and all these descendants of Tadio of whatsoever degree have ever esteemed and favored the beautiful intellects inclined to the matters of sculpture and painting and have given them assistance with every effort. Finally having come to the age of 50 and being spent with a most violent fever Tadio passed from this life in the year 1350 leaving his son Agnolo and Giovanni to apply themselves to painting recommending them to Giacopo di Cassantino for ways of life and to Giovanni da Milano for instruction in the art. After the death of Tadio this Giovanni besides many other works made a panel which was placed on the altar of Saint Gerardo da Vile Magna in Santa Croce 14 years after he had been left without his master and likewise the panel of the high altar of Agni Santé where the Frati Umi liate had their seat which was held very beautiful in the tribune of the high altar of Assisi where he made a crucifix with Our Lady and Saint Ciara and stories of Our Lady on the walls and sides. Afterwards he betook himself to Milan where he wrought many works in Distemper and in Fresco and there finally he died. Tadio then adhered constantly to the manner of Giacopo but did not better it much save in the coloring which he made fresher and more vivacious than that of Giacopo the latter having applied himself so ardently to improving the other departments and difficulties of this art that although he gave attention to this he could not however attain to the privilege of doing it whereas Tadio having seen that which Giacopo had made easy and having learnt it had time to add something and to improve the coloring. Tadio was buried by Agnolo and Giovanni, his sons in the first cloister of Santa Croce in that tomb which he made for Gato, his father and he was much honoured with verses by the men of culture of that time as a man who had been greatly deserving for his ways of life and for having brought to completion with beautiful design besides his pictures many buildings of great convenience to his city and besides what has been mentioned for having carried out with solicitude and diligence the construction of the Campanile of Santa Maria del Fiori from the design left by Gato his master which Campanile was built in such a manner that stones could not be put together with more diligence nor could a more beautiful tower be made with regard either to ornament or cost or design the epitaph that was made for Tadio was this that is to be read here Tadio was very resolute and drotsmanship as it may be seen in our book wherein is drawn by his hand the scene that he wrought in the chapel of Saint Andrea in Santa Croce at Florence End of section 21 Lives of the most eminent painters, sculptors and architects Volume I by Giorgio Vassari translated by Gaston de Vier section 22 Rarely is a man of arts excellent in one pursuit without being able easily to learn any other and above all any one of those that are akin to his original profession and proceed as it were from one and the same source as did the Florentine Orcania who was painter, sculptor, architect and poet as it will be told below Born in Florence he began while still a child to give attention to sculpture under Andrea Pesano and pursued it for some years then being desirous to become abundant in invention in order to make lovely historical compositions he applied himself with so great study to drawing assisted by nature who wished to make him universal that having tried his hand at painting with colours both in distemper and in fresco even as one thing leads to another he succeeded so well with the assistance of Bernardo Orcania his brother that this Bernardo took him in company with himself to paint the life of Our Lady in the principal chapel of Santa Maria Novella which then belonged to the family of the Ricci this work when finished was held very beautiful although by reason of the neglect of those who afterwards had charge of it, not many years past before the roof becoming ruined it was spoiled by the rains and thereby brought to the condition wherein it is today as it will be told in the proper place it is enough for the present to say that Domenico Giallando who repainted it availed himself greatly of the invention put into it by Orcania who also painted in fresco in the same church the chapel of the Strozzi which is near to the door of the sacristy and of the belfry in company with Bernardo his brother in this chapel to which one ascends by a staircase of stone he painted on one wall the glory of paradise with all the saints with various costumes and headdresses of those times on the other wall he made hell with the abysses centres and other things described by Dante of whom Andrea was an ardent student in the church of the Servites in the same city he painted in fresco also with Bernardo the chapel of the family of Cresci with a coronation of Our Lady on a very large panel in San Pietro Maggiore and a panel in San Romeo close to the side door in like manner he and his brother Bernardo painted the outer facade of San Apollinaire with so great diligence that the colours in that exposed place have been preserved marvelously vivid and beautiful up to our own day moved by the fame of these works of Arcania which were much praised the men who at that time were governing Pisa had him summoned to work on a portion of one wall in the Camposanto of that city even as Giotto and Buffalmaco had done before wherefore, putting his hand to this Andrea painted a universal judgment with some fanciful inventions of his own on the wall facing toward the Duomo beside the passion of Christ made by Buffalmaco and making the first scene on the corner he represented therein all the degrees of Lord's temporal wrapped in the pleasures of this world placing them seated in a flowery meadow and under the shade of many orange treats which make a most delicious grove and have some cupids in their branches above and these cupids flying round and over many young women all portraits from the life as it seems clear of noble ladies and dames of those times who by reason of the long lapse of time are not recognised making a show of shooting at the hearts of these young women who have beside them young men and nobles who are standing listening to music and song and watching the amorous dances of youths and maidens who are sweetly taking joy in their loves among these nobles Orcaño portrayed Castrucio Lord of Lucca as a youth of most beautiful aspect with a blue cap round wound his head and with a hawk on his wrist and near him other nobles of that age of whom we know not who they are in short in that first part insofar as the space permitted and his art demanded he painted all the delights of the world with exceeding great grace in the other part of the same scene he represented on a high mountain the life of those who drawn by repentance for their sins and by the desire to be saved have fled from the world to that mountain which is all full of saintly hermits who are serving the Lord busy in diverse pursuits with most vivacious expressions some reading and praying are shown all intent on contemplation and others laboring in order to gain their livelihood are exercising themselves in various forms of action there is seen here among others a hermit who is milking a goat who could not be more active or more lifelike in appearance than he is below there is saint Marcaria showing to three kings who are riding with their ladies and their retinue and going to the chase human misery in the form of three kings who are lying dead but not wholly corrupted in a tomb which is being contemplated with attention by the living kings in diverse and beautiful attitudes full of wonder and it appears as if they are reflecting with pity for their own selves that they have in a short time to become such in one of these kings on horseback Andrea portrayed Ugucione della Faglioli of Arezzo in a figure which is holding its nose with one hand in order not to feel the stench of the dead and corrupted kings in the middle of this scene is death who flying through the air and draped in black is showing that she has cut off with her sith the lives of many who are lying on the ground of all sorts and conditions poor and rich halt and whole young and old male and female and in short a good number of every age and sex and because he knew that the people of Pisa took pleasure in the invention of bufomaco who gave speech to the figures of Bruno and San Paolo Aripadarno making some letters issue from their mouths Orcania filled this whole work of his with such writings where of the greater part being eaten away by time cannot be understood. To certain old men then he gives these words dace prosperitare siha lascati omorte medicina dognipena daviene adarne amai luttima zina with other words that cannot be understood and verses likewise in ancient manner composed as I have discovered by Orcania himself who gave attention to poetry and to making a sonnet or two round these dead bodies are some devils who are tearing their souls from their mouths and are carrying them to certain pits full of fire which are on the summit of a very high mountain over against these are angels who are likewise taking the souls from the mouths of others of these dead people who have belonged to the good and are flying with them to paradise and in this scene there is a scroll held by two angels where in are these words ishermo di savere i di riccezza di nobilitare andcora i di pradesa vale niente a i colpi di custard with some other words that are difficult to understand next below this in the border of this scene are nine angels who are holding legends Italian and Latin in some suitable scrolls put into that place below because above they were like to spoil a scene and not to include them in the work seemed wrong to their author who considered them very beautiful and it may be that they were to the taste of that age the greater part is omitted by us in order not to weary others with such things which are not pertinent and little pleasing not to mention that the greater part of these inscriptions being effaced the remainder is little less than fragmentary after these works in making the judgment Orcania set Jesus Christ on high above the clouds in the midst of his twelve apostles judging the quick and the dead showing on one side with beautiful art and very vividly the sorrowful expressions of the damned who are being dragged weeping by furious demons to hell and on the other the joy and the jubilation of the good whom a body of angels guided by the archangel Michael are leading as the elect all rejoicing to the right where are the blessed and it is truly a pity that for lack of riders in so great a multitude of men of the robe chivaliers and other lords that are clearly depicted and portrayed there from the life there should not be one or only a few of whom we know the names or who they were although it is said that a pope who is seen there is innocent the fourth friend of Manfredi after this work and after making some sculptures in marble for the Madonna that is on the abutment of the Ponte Vecchio with great honour for himself he left his brother Bernardo to execute by himself a hell in the Camposanto which is described by Dante and which was afterwards spoiled in the year 1530 and restored by Salazzino a painter of our own times and he returned to Florence where in the middle of the church of Santa Croce on a very great wall on the right he painted in fresco the same subjects that he painted in the Camposanto of Pisa in three similar pictures accepting however the scene where Saint Macarius is showing to the three kings the misery of man and the life of the hermits who are serving God on that mountain making then all the rest of that work he labored therein with better design and more diligence than he had done in Pisa holding nevertheless to almost the same plan in the invention the manner the scrolls and the rest without changing anything saved the portraits from life for those in this work are partly of his dearest friends whom he placed in Paradise and partly men little his friends who were put by him in Hell among the good is seen portrayed from life in profile with the triple crown on his head Pope Clement VI who changed the jubilee in his reign from every hundred to every fifty years and was a friend of the Florentines and had some of Orcania's pictures which were very dear to him among the same is Maestro Dino del Garbo a most excellent physician of that time dressed as was then the want of doctors with a red bonnet lined with miniver on his head and held by the hand by an angel with many other portraits that are not recognized among the damned he portrayed Guardi Sergeant of the Commune of Florence being dragged along by the devil with a hook and he is known by three lilies that he has on his white bonnet such as were then want to be worn by the sergeants and other similar officials and this he did because Guardi once made a distraint on his property he also portrayed there the notary and the judge who had been opposed to him in that action near to Guardi is Ciccio d'ascoli a famous wizard of those times and a little above namely in the middle is a hypocrite friar who having issued from a tomb is seeking furtively to put himself among the good while an angel discovers him and thrusts him among the damned Andrea had a brother called Jacopo who was engaged in sculpture but with little profit and in making on occasion for this Jacopo designs in relief and in clay there came to him the wish to make something in marble and to see whether he remembered the principles of that art wherein as it has been said he had worked in Pisa and so putting himself with more study to the test he made progress therein in such a fashion that afterwards he made use of it with honor as will be told afterwards he devoted himself with all his energy to the study of architecture thinking that at some time or another he would have to make use of it nor did his thought deceive him seeing that in the year 1355 the commune of Florence having bought some citizens' houses near their palace in order to have more space and to make a larger square and also in order to make a place where the citizens could take shelter in rainy or wintry days and carry on under cover such business as was transacted on the ringera when bad weather did not hinder they caused many designs to be made for the building of a magnificent and very large logia for this purpose near the palace and at the same time for the mint where the money is struck among these designs made by the best masters in the city that of Orcania being universally approved and accepted as greater more beautiful and more magnificent than all the others by decree of the scenery and the commune there was begun under his direction the great logia of the square on the foundations made in the time of the Duke of Athens and it was carried on with squared stone very well put together with much diligence and what was something new in those times the arches of the vaulting were made no longer quarter acute as it had been the custom up to that time but they were turned in half circles in a new and laudable method which gave much grace and beauty to this great fabric which was brought to completion in a short time under the direction of Andrea and if there had been taken thought to put it beside San Romulo and turn the arches with the back to the north which they did not do perchance in order to have it conveniently near to the gate of the palace it would have been as useful a building for the whole city as it is beautiful in workmanship whereas by reason of the great wind in winter no one can stand there in this logia between the arches on the front wall in some ornamental work by his own hand Orcania made seven marble figures in half relief representing the seven theological and cardinal virtues as accompaniment to the whole work so beautiful that they made him known for no less able as sculptor than as painter and architect not to mention that he was in all his actions as pleasant, courteous and lovable a man as was ever any man of his condition and because he would never abandon the study of any one of his professions for that of another while the logia was building he made a panel in distemper of many large figures with little figures in the pradella for that chapel of the strozzi wherein he had formerly made some works in fresco with his brother Bernardo on which panel it appearing to him that it could bear better testimony to his profession than the works Rod and Fresco could do he wrote his name with these words Anna Domini, 1357 Andres Chione de Florentia Mipensit this work completed he made some pictures also on panel sent to the pope in Avignon and are still in the cathedral church of that city a little while afterwards the men of the company of Orson Michel having collected large sums of money from offerings and donations given to their Madonna by reason of the mortality of 1348 resolved to make round her a chapel or rather shrine not only very ornate and rich with marbles carved in every way and with other stones of price but also with mosaic and ornaments of bronze as much as could possibly be desired in a manner that both in workmanship and in material it might surpass every other work of so great a size wrought up to that day wherefore the charge of the whole being given to Orcania as the most excellent of that age he made so many designs that finally one of them pleased the authorities as being better than all the others the work therefore being allotted to him they put complete reliance in his judgment and counsel therefore giving the makings of all the rest to diverse master carvers brought from several districts he applied himself with his brother to executing all the figures of the work and the whole being finished he had them built in and put together very thoughtfully without mortar with clamps of copper fixed with lead to the end that the shining and polished marbles might not become discolored and in this he succeeded so well with profit and honor from those who came after him that to one who studies that work it appears by reason of such union and methods of joining discovered by Orcania that the whole chapel has been shaped out of one single piece of marble and although it is in a German manner for that style it has so great grace and proportion that it holds the first place among the works of those times above all because its composition of figures great and small and of angels and prophets and half-relief round the Madonna is very well executed marvelous also is the casting of the bands of bronze diligently polished which encircling the whole work enclose and bind it together in a manner that is therefore as stout and strong as it is beautiful in all other respects but how much he labored in order to show the subtlety of his intellect in that gross age is seen in a large scene in half-relief on the back part of the said shrine wherein with figures of one braccio and a half each he made the twelve apostles gazing on high at the Madonna while she in a mandorla surrounded by angels is ascending to heaven in one of these apostles he portrayed himself in marble old as he was with the beard shaven with the cap wound round the head and with the face flat and round as it is seen above in his portrait drawn from that one besides this he inscribed these words in the marble below this 1359 it is known that the building of this loggia and of the marble shrine with all the master work cost 96,000 florins of gold which were very well spent for the reason that it is both in the architecture and in the sculptures and other ornaments as beautiful as any other work whatsoever of those times and is such that by reason of the parts made therein by him there has been and will be ever living and great he used to write in his pictures Fece Andrea Dizione Sculptor and in his sculptures Fece Andrea Dizione Pittore wishing that his painting should be known by his sculpture and his sculpture by his painting there are throughout all florins many panels made by him which are partly known by the name such as a panel in San Romeo and partly by the manor of the monastery of the Agnelli some of them that he left unfinished were completed by Bernardo his brother who survived him but not for many years and because as it has been said Andrea delighted in making verses and various forms of poetry when already old he wrote some sonnets to Bircello then a youth and finally being 60 years of age he finished the course of his life in 1389 and was born with honor for his dwelling in the Via Veccia Decorazione to his tomb there were many men able in sculpture and in architecture at the same time as Orcania of whom the names are not known but their works are to be seen and these are worthy of nothing but praise and commendation among their works is not only the monastery of the Sertosa of Florence made at the expense of the noble family of the Agnelli in particular of Messernicola the tomb of the King of Naples but also the tomb of the same man whereon he has portrayed in stone and that of his father and one of his sisters which has a covering of marble whereon both were portrayed very well from nature in the year 1366 there too wrought by the hand of the same man is the tomb of Messer Lorenzo son of the said Nicola who dying at Naples was brought to Florence and laid to rest there with the most honorable pomp of funeral obsequies in like manner in the tomb of Cardinal Santa Croce of the same family which is in a choir then built anew in front of the high altar there is his portrait on a slab of marble very well wrought in the year 1390 disciples of Andrea in painting were Bernardo Nella Giovanni Falcone of Pisa who wrought many panels in the Duomo of Pisa and Tommaso Di Marco of Florence who besides many other works made in the year 1392 was in San Antonio in Pisa set up against the Tommaso of the church after the death of Andrea his brother Giacopo occupied himself in sculpture as it has been said and in architecture was employed in the year 1328 on the foundation and building of the tower and gate of San Piero Gattolini and it is said that he made the four March Zoni of stone which were placed on the four corners of the Palazzo principal of Florence this work was much censured by reason of their being laid in those places by reason of their being laid on those places without necessity a greater weight than paraventure was expedient and many would have been pleased to have the March Zoni made rather of plates of copper hollow within and then after being gilded in the fire set up in the same place because they would have been much less heavy and more durable it is said too that the same man made the horse gilded and in full relief that is in Santa Maria del Fiore over the door that leads to the company of San Zonovi which horse is believed to be there in memory of Piero Farnese, captain of the Florentines however knowing nothing more about this I could not vouch for it about the same time Marietto, nephew of Andrea made in fresco the paradise of San Michel Bisdomini in the Via di Servi in Florence and the panel with an enunciation that is on the altar for Mona Sicilia di Boscoli he made another panel with many figures placed near the door of the same church but among all the disciples of Orcania none was more excellent than Francesco Traini who made a panel with a ground of gold for a nobleman of the house of Coscia who was buried at Pisa in the chapel of San Domenico in the church of Santa Catarina which panel contained a saint Dominic standing two Braccia and a half high with six scenes of his life on either side of him animated and vivacious and well colored and in the same church in the chapel of San Tomasso da Quino he made a panel in distemper with fanciful invention which is much praised placing therein the said Saint Thomas seated portrayed from the life I say from the life because the friars of that place had an image of him brought from the Abbey of Fossa Nuova where he died in the year 1323 below round Saint Thomas who is placed seated in the air with some books in his hand which are illuminating the Christian people with their rays and luster there are kneeling a great number of doctors and of clergy of every sort bishops, cardinals and popes among whom is the portrait of Pope Urban VI under the feet of Saint Thomas are standing Sibelius, Arius, Averos and other heretics and philosophers with their books all torn and the said figure of Saint Thomas is placed between Plato from the Timaeus and Aristotle who is showing him the ethics above a Jesus Christ in like manner in the air between the four evangelists his blessing Saint Thomas and appears to be in the act of sending down upon him the Holy Spirit and filling him with it and with his grace this work when finished acquired very great fame and praise for Francesco Traini for in making it he surpassed his master Andrea by a great measure in colouring in harmony and in invention this Andrea was very diligent in his drawings as it may be seen in our book end of section 22 section 23 of lives of the most imminent 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 Linda Dodge lives of the most imminent painters sculptors and architects volume 1 by Giorgio Vasari translated by Gaston Diver section 23 life of Tomasso called Giotino painter of Florence when those arts that proceed from design come into competition and their craftsmen work in rivalry without doubt the good intellects exercising themselves with much study discover new things every day in order to satisfy the various tastes of men and some speaking for the present of painting executing works obscure and unusual and demonstrating in them the difficulty of making them make known by the shadows the brightness of their genius others fashioning the sweet and delicate thinking these to be likely to be more pleasing to the eyes of all who behold them by reason of their having more relief easily attract to themselves the minds of the greater part of men others again painting with unity and lowering the tones others reducing to their proper places the lights and shades of their figures deserve very great praise and reveal the thoughts of the intellect with beautiful dexterity of mind even as they were ever revealed with a sweet manner in the works of Tomasso Di Stefano called Giotino who being born in the year 1324 and having learned from his father the first principles of painting resolved while still very young to attempt in so far as he might be able with a seduous study to be an imitator of the manner of Giotto rather than that of his father Stefano in this attempt he succeeded so well that he gained thereby besides the manner which was much more beautiful than that of his master the surname of Giotino which never left him nay by reason both of the manner and of the name it was the opinion of many who however were in very great error that he was the son of Giotto but in truth it is not so it's being certain or to speak more exactly believed it being impossible for such things to be affirmed by any man that he was the son of Stefano painter of Florence he was then so diligent in painting and so greatly devoted to it that although many of his works are not to be found those nevertheless that have been found are good and in a beautiful manner for the reason that the draperies, the hair, the beards and all the rest of his work were made and harmonized with so great softness and diligence that it is seen that without doubt he added harmony to this art and had it much more perfect than his master Giotto and his father Stefano in his youth Giotino painted a chapel near the side door of San Stefano al Ponte Vecchio in Florence wherein although it is today much spoiled by damp, the little that has remained shows the dexterity and genius of the craftsmen. Next he made the two saints Cosimo and Damiano for the fratti ermini in the canto alla massina but little is seen of them today for they too have been ruined by time and he wrought in fresco a chapel in the old San afterwards ruined by the burning of that church and in fresco over the principal door of the church the story of the sending of the Holy Spirit and on the square before the said church on the way to the canto alla Caculia on the corner of the convent he painted that shrine that is still seen there with our lady and other saints around her where in both the other parts lean strongly towards the modern manner for the reason that he sought to vary and to blend the flesh colors and to harmonize all the figures with grace and judgment by means of a variety of colors and draperies in like manner he wrought the stories of Constantine with much diligence in the chapel of San Sylvestro in San Croce showing very beautiful ideas of the figures and then behind an ornament of marble made for the tomb of Messier Bertino di Bardi a man who at that time had held honorable military rank he made this Messier Bertino in armor after the life issuing from the sepica on his knees being summoned with the sound of the trumpets of the judgment by two angels who are in the air accompanying a beautifully wrought Christ in the clouds on his right hand of the entrance of the door of San Pancrasio the same man made a Christ who is bearing his cross and some saints near him that have exactly the manner of giuto in San Gallo which Convent was without the gate called by the same name and was destroyed in the siege in the oyster there is a pietà painted in fresco whereof there is a copy in the aforesaid San Pancrasio on a pillar beside the principal chapel in Santa Maria Novella in the chapel of San Lorenzo di Gioce as one enters by the door on the left on the front wall he wrought in fresco a San Cosimo and a San Damiano and in Agnesanti a San Christopher and a San George which were spoiled by the malice of time and then restored by other painters by reason of the ignorance of a provost little conversant with such matters in the San Church there has remained whole the arch that is over the door of the sacristy wherein there is in fresco a Madonna with the child in her arms by the hand of Massel which is a good work by reason of his having wrought it with diligence by means of these works Giotino has acquired so good a name imitating his master both in design and invention as it has been told that there was said to be in him the spirit of Giotto himself both because of the vividness of his coloring and his mastery and draftsmanship and in the year 1343 on July the 2nd when the Duke of Athens was driven out by the people and when he had renounced the sovereignty and restored their liberty to the Florentines Giotino was forced by the 12 reformers of the state and in particular by the prayers of Messier Agnola Acioli then a very great citizen who had great influence with him to paint in contempt on the tower of the palace of the Podesta the said Duke and his followers who were Messier Circhiari the Stomini Messier Maledici his conservator and Messier Ranieri di San Gimignano all with the cap of justice ignominiously on their heads round the head of the Duke were many beasts of prey and other sorts signifying his nature and one of those his counselors had in his hand the palace of the priors of the city was handing it to him like a disloyal traitor to his country and all had below them the arms and emblems of their families and some writings which can hardly be read today because they have been eaten away by time in this work both by reason of the draftsmanship and of the great diligence where with it was executed the manner of the craftsmen gave universal pleasure to all afterwards at the Campora a seat of the black friars without the porta a San Piero Catalini he made a San Cosimo and a San Damiano which were spoiled in the whitewashing of the church and on the bridge of Remiti in Valdarno he painted in fresco the shrine that is built over the middle with his own hand and in a beautiful manner it is found recorded by many who wrote there on that Tomaso applied himself to sculpture and wrought a figure in marble on the Campanile of Santa Maria di Fiori in Florence for brought to a high and facing the place where the orphans now dwell in San Giovanni Latterano in Rome likewise he brought to fine completion a scene wherein he represented the Pope in several capacities which is now seen to have been eaten away and corroded by time and in the house of the Orsini he painted a hall full of famous men with a very beautiful San Louis on a pillar in the Arricelli on the right hand beside the altar in the lower church of the San Francisco at Assisi in an arch over the pulpit there being no other space that was not painted he wrought the coronation of our lady with many angels around her so gracious so beautiful in the expression of the faces and so sweet and delicate in manner that they show with the usual harmony of color which was something peculiar to this painter that he had proved himself the peer of all who had lived up to that time and round this arch he made some stories of Saint Nicholas in like manner in the monastery of San Ciara in the same city in the middle of the church he painted a scene in fresco wherein is San Ciaro supported in the air by two angels who appear real she is restoring to life a child that was dead while round her are standing many women all full of wonder with great beauty in the faces in the very gracious headdresses and costumes of those times that they are wearing in the same city of Assisi over the gate of the city that leads to the duomo namely in an arch on the inner side he made a Madonna with the child in her arms with so great diligence and a Saint Francis and another Saint both very beautiful both of which works although the story of San Ciaro remains unfinished by reason of Tomaso having fallen sick and returned to Florence are perfect and most worthy of all praise it is said that Tomaso was melancholic in temperament and very solitary and very studious as is clearly seen from a panel in the church of Sant Romeo in Florence wrought by him in distemper with so great diligence and love that there has never been seen a better work on wood by his hand in this panel which is placed in the Tramezzo of the church on the right hand is a dead Christ with the Marys and Nicodemus accompanied by other figures who are bewailing his death with bitterness and with very sweet and affectionate movements ringing their hands with diverse gestures and beating themselves in a manner that in the air of their faces there is shown very clearly their sharp sorrow at the so great cost of our sins and it is something marvelous to consider not that he penetrated with his genius to such a height of imagination but that he could express it so well with the brush wherefore this work is consummately worthy of praise not so much by reason of the subject and of the invention as because in it the craftsman has shown in some heads that are weeping that although the lineaments of those that are weeping are distorted in the brows in the eyes, in the nose and in the mouth this however neither spoils nor alters a certain beauty which is want to suffer much in weeping when the painters do not know well how to avail themselves of the good methods of art but it is no great thing that Giotino should have executed this panel with so much consideration since in his labors he ever aimed rather at fame and glory than at any other reward being free from the greed of gain that makes our present masters less diligent and good and even as he did not seek to have great riches so he did not trouble himself much about the comforts of life nay, living poorly he sought to satisfy others rather than himself wherefore taking little care of himself and enduring fatigue he died of consumption at the age of 32 and was given burial by his relatives at the Martello Gate without Santa Maria Novella beside the tomb of Bantura disciples of Giotino who left more fame than wealth were Giovanni Tosecani of Arezzo Michelino Giovanni Dalponte and Lippo who were passing the good masters of this art but above all Giovanni Tosecani who made many works throughout all Tuscany after Tomasso and in the same manner as his and in particular the chapel of Santa Maria Maddalena belonging to the Tuccarelli in the Piave of Arezzo and a St. James on a pillar in the Piave of the Township of Impoli in the Duomo of Pisa also he wrought some panels which have been since removed in order to make room for the modern the last work that he made was in a chapel of the Vescovado of Arezzo for the Countess Giovanna wife of Tarlata di Pietramala namely a very beautiful annunciation with St. James and St. Philip which work by reason of the back of the wall being turned to the north was little less than completely spoiled by damp when maestro Agnola di Lorenzo of Arezzo restored the annunciation and shortly afterward Giorgio Vasari Stella Youth restored the St. James and St. Philip to his own great prophet having learnt much at that time when he had not master masters by studying Giovanni's method of painting and the shadows and colours of that work spoiled as it was in this chapel there are still read those words in an epitaph of marble in memory of the Countess who had it built and painted Anno Domini 1335 Dimensi Augusti Honcapellum Constitui Fesit Nubilis Cometissa Johanna di Santa Flora Axernubilis Militis Domini Tarlate di Petramala Ad Anorum Piate Maria Virginis of the works of the other disciples of Giutino there is no mention made seeing that they were but ordinary and little like those of the master and of Giovanni Tossicani their fellow disciple Tomaso drew very well as it may be seen in our book in certain drawings wrought by his hand with much diligence End of section 23 Section 24 of Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptures and Architects Volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer visit LibriVox.org Recording by Leni Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptures and Architects Volume 1 by Giorgio Vasari Translated by Gaston de Verre Section 24 Life of Giovanni da Alponte Painter of Florence Although there is no truth and not much confidence to be placed in the ancient proverb that the prodigal's purse is never empty and although on the contrary it is very true that he who does not live a well-ordered life in his own degree lives at the last in want and dies miserably it is seen nevertheless that fortune sometimes aids rather those who squander without restraint than those who are in all things careful and self-restrained and when the favor of fortune seizes there often comes death to make up for her defection and for the bad management of men supervaining at the very moment when such men would begin with infinite dismay to recognize how miserable a thing it is to have squandered in youth and to want in old age living and laboring in poverty as would have happened to Giovanni da Santo Stefano Alponte of Florence if after having consumed his patrimony and much gain which had been brought to his hands rather by fortune than by his merits with some inheritances that came to him from an unexpected source he had not finished at one and the same time the course of his life and all his means this man then who was a disciple of Buon Amico Bufalmaco and who imitated him more in attending to the pleasures of life than in seeking to become an able painter was born in the year 1307 and after being in early youth a disciple of Bufalmaco he made his first works in the Chapel of San Lorenzo in the Piedeve of Empoli painting there in fresco many scenes of the life of that saint with so great diligence that he was summoned to Arezzo in the year 1344 a better development being expected after so fine a beginning and there he painted the assumption of Our Lady in a chapel in San Francesco and a little time afterwards being in some credit in that city for lack of other painters he painted the Chapel of Santo Onofrio in the Cosimo together with the said churches in the making of fortifications for that city and exactly in that place at the foot of the abutment of an ancient bridge where by the said Santa Giustina where the stream entered the city there were then found a head of Apius Caicos and one of his son both in marble and very beautiful with an ancient epitaph likewise very beautiful which are all now in the Guardaroba of the said Lord Duke Giovanni having returned to Florence at the time when there was finish the closing of the middle arch of the Ponche a Santa Trinita with figures both within and without a chapel built over one pier and dedicated to Santo Michelangelo and in particular all the front wall which chapel together with the bridge was carried away by the flood of the year 1557 it is by reason of these works that some maintain besides what has been said about him at the beginning that he was ever afterwards called in Pisa also in the year 1355 he made some scenes in Frisco behind the altar of the principal chapel of San Paolo Arripadarno which are now all spoiled by damp and by time Giovanni also painted the Chapel of the Scali in Santa Trinita in Florence with another that is beside it and one of the stories of Saint Paul by the side of the principal chapel where is the tomb of Maestro Paolo the astrologer in Santo Stefano al Ponte Vecchio he painted a panel with other pictures in this temper and in Frisco both within and without Florence which brought him considerable credit he gave contentment to his friends but more in his pleasures than in his works and he was the friend of men of learning and in particular of all those who pursued the studies of passion in order to become excellent therein and although he had not sought to have in himself that which he desired in others yet he never ceased to encourage others to work valiantly finally having lived 59 years Giovanni was seized by Plerisi and in a few days departed this life wherein had he survived a little longer he would have suffered many discomforts after being left in his house scares as much as sufficed to give him decent burial in Santo Stefano al Ponte Vecchio his works date about 1365 in our book of drawings by diverse ancients and moderns there is a drawing in watercolor by the hand of Giovanni wherein is a Saint George on horseback who is laying the dragon and a skeleton which bear witness to the method and manner of drawing end of section 24 section 25 of Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptures 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 Leni Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptures and Architects Volume 1 by Giorgio Vasari translated by Gaston de Verre section 25 Lives of Agnolo Gardi Painter of Florence how honorable and profitable it is to be excellent in a noble art is manifestly seen in the talent and management of Tadeo Gardi who having acquired very good means as well as fame with his industry and labors of his family so well arranged when he passed to the other life that Agnolo and Giovanni his sons were easily able to give a beginning to the very great riches and to the exaltation of the house of Gardi today very noble in Florence and in great repute throughout all Christendom and in truth it has been very reasonable seeing that Gado, Tadeo, Agnolo and Giovanni adorned many honored churches with their talent and their art that their successors have been since adorned by the Holy Roman Church and by the supreme pontiffs of the same with the greatest ecclesiastical dignities Tadeo then of whom we have already written the life left his sons Agnolo and Giovanni in company with many of his disciples hoping that Agnolo in particular would become very excellent in painting but he who in his youth showed promise of surpassing his father by a great measure did not succeed further in justifying the opinion that had already been conceived of him for the reason that being born and bred in easy circumstances which are often an impediment to study who was given more to traffic than to the art of painting which should not appear a thing new or strange seeing that Everest very often bars the way to many intellects which would ascend to the greatest height of excellence if the desire of gain did not impede their path in their earliest and best years working as a youth in San Diaco Potrafossi in Florence Agnolo brought a little scene with figures little more than a bracho high of Christ raising Lazarus on the fourth day after death wherein imagining the corruption of that body which had been dead three days with much thought he made the grave clothes which held him bound discolored by the decay of the flesh and round the eyes certain livid and yellowish marks in the flesh that seems half living and half dead with God's perfection in the apostles and in other figures who with attitudes varied and beautiful and with their draperies to their noses in order not to feel the stench of that corrupt body are no less afraid and awestruck at such a marvelous miracle than Mary and Martha are joyful and content to see life returning to the dead body of their brother this work was judged so excellent that many deemed the talent of Agnolo to be destined to surpass all the disciples of Tadeo and even Tadeo himself but the event proved otherwise because even as in youth the will conquers every difficulty in order to acquire fame so a certain negligence that the years bring with them often causes a man instead of advancing to go backwards as did Agnolo having given so great a proof of his talent he was commissioned by the family of Soderinii who had great hopes of him to paint the principal chapel of the Carmine and he painted therein all the life of our Lady so much less well than he had done the resurrection of Lazarus that he gave every man to know that he had little wish to attend with every effort to the art of painting for the reason that in all that great work there is nothing else of the good save one scene wherein round our Lady in a room are many maidens who are wearing diverse costumes and headdresses according to the diversity of the use of those times and are engaged in diverse exercises this one is spinning that one is sewing that other is winding thread one is weaving in other ways all passing well conceived and executed by Agnolo for the noble family of the Alberti likewise he painted in fresco the principal chapel of the church of Santa Croce making therein all that came to pass in the discovery of the cross and he executed that work with much mastery of handling but not with much design for only the coloring is beautiful and good enough next in painting in fresco some stories of St. Louis in the chapel of the body in the same church he acquitted himself much better and because he used to work by Caprice now with more zeal and now with less working in Santo Spirito also in Florence within the door that leads from the square into the convent he made in fresco all in her arms and St. Augustine and St. Nicholas so well that the sad figures appear as if made only yesterday and because in a certain manner there had come to Agnolo by way of inheritance the secret of working in mosaic and he had at home the instruments and all the materials that his grandfather Gado had used in this he would make something in mosaic only to pass time and by reason of that convenience of material rather than for odd elves now seeing that time had eaten away many of those marbles that cover the eight faces of the roof of San Giovanni and that the dam penetrating within had therefore spoiled much of the mosaic which Andrea Tafi had wrought there at a former time the councils of the guild of merchants determined that the rest might not be spoiled to rebuild the greater part of that covering with marble and in like manner to have the mosaic restored wherefore the direction and commission for the whole being given to Agnolo he in the year 1346 had it recovered with new marbles and the pieces laid over each other at the joinings with unexampled diligence to the breadth of two fingers connecting each slab to the half of its thickness then joining them together with cement made of mastic and wax melted together he fitted them with so great diligence that from that time onwards neither the roof nor the vaulting has received any damage from the rains Agnolo having afterwards restored the mosaic brought it abound by means of his council and of a design very well conceived that there was rebuilt round the said church all the upper corners of marble below the roof in that former in it now remains which corners was much smaller than it is and very commonplace under direction of the same men there was also made the vaulting of the great hall of the palace of the Podesta which before was directly under the roof to the end that besides the adornment fire might not again be able to do it damage as it had done a long time before after this by the council of Agnolo there were made round the said palace the battlements that are there today which before were in no wise there the while that these works were executing he did not desert his painting entirely and painted in this temper in the panel that he made for the high altar of Pancrazio, our lady sent John the Baptist and the evangelist and beside them the saints Nereus Archelius and Pancrasius brothers with other saints but the best of his work may all that is seen therein of the good is the predella alone which is all full of little figures divided into eight stories of the Madonna and of Santa Reparata next 1348 he painted the panel of the high altar of Santa Maria Maggiore also in Florence for Barone Cappelli making therein a passing good dance of angels round a coronation of our lady a little afterwards in the pieve of the district of Prato rebuilt under direction of Giovanni Pisano in the year 1312 as it has been said above Agnolo painted in fresco wherein was deposited the girdle of our lady many scenes of her life and in other churches of that district which was full of monasteries and convents held in great honor he made other works in plenty in Florence next he painted the arch over the door of San Romeo and in Orto Sanicelle he wrote in this temper a disputation of the doctors with Christ in the temple and in time many houses having been pulled down in order to enlarge the piazza del Signore and in particular the church of Santo Romolo this was rebuilt with the design of Agnolo there are many panels by his hand throughout the churches in the sad city and many of his works may also be recognized in the domain which were brought by him with much profit to himself although he worked more in order as his forefathers had done than for any love of it having his mind directed on commerce which brought him better profit as it is seen when his sons not wishing any longer to be painters gave themselves over completely to commerce holding a house open for this purpose in Venice together with their father who from a certain time onward did not work safe for his own pleasure and in a certain manner to pass time having thus acquired great wealth by means of trading and by means of his art Agnolo died in the 63rd year of his life overcome by a malignant fever which in a few days made an end of him his disciples were Maestro Antonio da Ferrara who made many beautiful works in San Francesco at Urbino and at Città di Castello and Stefano da Verona who painted in fresco most perfectly as it is seen in many places at Verona, his native city and also in many of his works at Mantua this man, among other things was excellent in giving very beautiful expressions to the faces of children of women and of old men as it may be seen in his works which were all imitated and copied by that Piero da Perugia illuminator who illuminated all the books that are in the library of Pope Pius in the Duomo et Tiena and was a practiced colorist in fresco a disciple of Agnolo also was Michele da Milano as was Giovanni Gatti his brother who made in the cloister of Santo Spirito where are the little arches of Gado and of Tadeo the disputation of Christ in the temple the purification of the virgin the temptation of Christ in the wilderness and the baptism of John and finally having created very great expectation he died a pupil of the same Agnolo in painting was Cennino di Dreia Cennini of Colle di Valdelsa who, having very great affection for the art wrote a book describing the methods of working in fresco and distemper in eyes and in gum and, besides how illuminating is done and all the methods of applying gold which book is in the hands of Giuliano Goldsmith of Siena an excellent master and a friend of these arts and in the beginning of this his book he treated of the nature of colors both the minerals and the earth colors according as he learned from Agnolo his master for chance that he did not succeed in learning to paint perfectly at least to know the nature of the colors, the distemper the sizes and the application of gesso and what colors we must guard against as harmful in making the mixtures and in short many other considerations whereof there is no need to discourse there being today a perfect knowledge of all those matters which he held as great and very rare secrets in those times but I will not forbear to say that he makes no mention and perchance they may not have been in use of some earth colors such as dark red earths chinabrese and certain vitreous greens since then there have been also discovered umber which is an earth color giallo santo, the smalts both for fresco and for oils and some vitreous greens and yellows and the painters of that age were lacking he treated finally of mosaics and of grinding colors and oils in order to make grounds of red blue, green and in other manners and of the mordants for the application of gold but not then for figures besides the works that he wrought in Florence with his master there is a Madonna with certain saints by his hand under the loggia of the hospital Bonifatio Lupi colored in such a manner that it has been very well preserved up to our own day this Cennino in the first chapter of his said book speaking of himself uses these very words I, Cennino di Drea Cennini of Colle di Valdelsa was instructed in the said art for twelve years by Giannolo di Tadeo of Florence, my master who learned the said art from Tadeo his father who was held at baptism by Giotto and was his disciple for four and twenty years which Giotto transmuted the art of painting from Greek into Latin and brought it to the modern manner and had it for certain more perfected than anyone ever had it these are the very words of Cennino to whom it appeared that he played any work from Greek into Latin comfort very great benefit on those who do not understand Greek so too did Giotto in transforming the art of painting from a manner not understood or known by anyone save perchance as very rude to a beautiful, facile and very pleasing manner understood and known as good by all who have judgment and the least grain of reason all these disciples of Agnolo did him very great honor and he was buried by his sons to whom it is said that he left the sum of fifty thousand Florians or more in Santa Maria Novella in the tomb that he himself had made for himself and for his descendants in the year of our salvation 1387 the portrait of Agnolo made by himself in Santa Croce beside a door in the scene wherein the emperor Heraclius is bearing the cross it is painted in profile with a little beard and with a rose colored cap on his head according to the use of those times he was not excellent in draughtsmanship and so far as is shown by some drawings by his hand that are in our book End of section 25 End of lives of the most eminent painters sculptures and architects volume one by Giorgio Vasari translated by Gaston de Verre