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Title: Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 01
(of 10)

Author: Giorgio Vasari

Translator: Gaston du C. De Vere

Release date: May 5, 2008 [eBook #25326]
Most recently updated: January 3, 2021

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25326

Credits: Produced by Mark C. Orton and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF THE
MOST EMINENT PAINTERS SCULPTORS AND ARCHITECTS, VOL.
01 (OF 10) ***

LIVES OF THE MOST EMINENT
PAINTERS SCULPTORS &
ARCHITECTS

1912

BY GIORGIO VASARI:
NEWLY TRANSLATED BY GASTON Du C. DE VERE. WITH FIVE
HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS: IN TEN VOLUMES

LONDON: MACMILLAN AND CO. LD.
& THE MEDICI SOCIETY, LD. 1912-14

CONTENTS OF VOLUME I
PAGE
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE TO THIS EDITION xi
DEDICATIONS TO COSIMO DE' MEDICI
EDITION OF 1550 xiii
EDITION OF 1568 xvii
IMPRIMATUR OF POPE PIUS V xxi
THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE WHOLE WORK xxiii
THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE LIVES xxxvii
GIOVANNI CIMABUE 1
ARNOLFO DI LAPO 11
NICCOLA AND GIOVANNI OF PISA [NICCOLA
27
PISANO: GIOVANNI PISANO]
ANDREA TAFI 45
GADDO GADDI 53
MARGARITONE 61
GIOTTO 69
AGOSTINO AND AGNOLO OF SIENA 95
STEFANO AND UGOLINO SANESE [UGOLINO DA
107
SIENA]
PIETRO LAURATI [PIETRO LORENZETTI] 115
ANDREA PISANO 121
BUONAMICO BUFFALMACCO 133
AMBROGIO LORENZETTI 153
PIETRO CAVALLINI 159
SIMONE SANESE [SIMONE MEMMI OR MARTINI] 165
TADDEO GADDI 175
ANDREA DI CIONE ORCAGNA 187
TOMMASO, CALLED GIOTTINO 201
GIOVANNI DAL PONTE 209
AGNOLO GADDI 215

INDEX OF NAMES 225

ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME I
PLATES IN COLOUR

Florence:
Cimabue Madonna and Child 10
Accademia, 102
Florence:
Giotto Madonna and Child 82
Accademia, 103
Madonna and Child,
Assisi: Lower
Pietro Laurati with SS. Francis and 118
Church
John
Madonna and Child,
Ambrogio Siena: Pinacoteca,
with SS. Mary 156
Lorenzetti 77
Magdalen and Dorothy
Assisi: Lower
The Knighting of S.
Simone Sanese Church, Chapel of 168
Martin
S. Martin
Berlin: Kaiser
Lippo Memmi Madonna and Child Friedrich Museum, 172
1081A
The Presentation in the Florence:
Taddeo Gaddi 182
Temple Accademia, 107
Andrea di Florence: S. Maria
Cione Christ Enthroned Novella, Strozzi 192
Orcagna Chapel
The Descent from the
Giottino Florence: Uffizi, 27 206
Cross

PLATES IN MONOCHROME

Madonna and Child
Cimabue Paris: Louvre, 1260 2
and Angels

Assisi: Upper
Roman School Isaac's Blessing 6
Church
The Deposition from Assisi: Upper
Roman School 6
the Cross Church
Assisi: Upper
Cimabue The Crucifixion 8
Church
Arnolfo di
Reclining Female
Lapo Collection Bardini 18
Figure from a Tomb
(School of)
Arnolfo di
Viterbo: S.
Lapo Tomb of Adrian V 24
Francesco
(School of)
Niccola
Pulpit Pisa: The Baptistery 30
Pisano
Pisa: Relief from
Niccola Detail: The Adoration
the Pulpit of the 32
Pisano of the Magi
Baptistery
Niccola Detail: The Visitation Siena: Relief from
34
Pisano and The Nativity the Pulpit
Giovanni Siena: Duomo
Detail: A Sibyl 38
Pisano (façade)
Pistoia: Relief from
Giovanni Detail: The Massacre
the Pulpit, S. 40
Pisano of the Innocents
Andrea
Giovanni Padua: Arena
Madonna and Child 42
Pisano Chapel
The Virgin and Child,
Magaritone with Scenes from the London: N.G., 5040 64
Lives of the Saints
The Death of S.
Giotto Florence: S. Croce 70
Francis
S. Francis Preaching
Assisi: Upper
Roman School before Pope Honorius 72
Church
III
Roman School The Body of S. Francis Assisi: Upper 74
before the Church of Church

S. Damiano
Giotto and his The Raising of Assisi: Lower
78
Pupils Lazarus Church
Padua: Arena
Giotto The Flight into Egypt 88
Chapel
Giotto Assisi: Lower
The Crucifixion 90
(School of) Church
Berlin: Kaiser
Ugolino SS. Paul, Peter, and
Friedrich Museum, 112
Sanese John the Baptist
1635
The Madonna Arezzo: S. Maria
Pietro Laurati 116
Enthroned della Pieve
The Deposition from Assisi: Lower
Pietro Laurati 120
the Cross Church
Details: Salome and
Florence: Gates of
Andrea Pisano The Beheading of S. 126
the Baptistery
John the Baptist
Florence: Relief on
Andrea Pisano The Creation of Man 128
the Campanile
Orvieto: Museo
Nino Pisano Madonna and Child 130
dell'Opera
Ambrogio Milan: Cagnola
Madonna and Child 154
Lorenzetti Collection
Central Panel of
Ambrogio Massa Marittima:
Polyptych: Madonna 158
Lorenzetti Municipio
and Child
Detail from The Last
Pietro Rome: Convent of
Judgment: Head of an 162
Cavallini S. Cecilia
Apostle
Detail from The Last
Pietro Rome: Convent of
Judgment: Head of the 164
Cavallini S. Cecilia
Christ in Glory
Altar-piece: S. Louis
Simone Sanese crowning King Robert Naples: S. Lorenzo 166
of Naples

Antwerp: Royal
Simone Sanese The Annunciation 170
Museum, 257-8
Altenburg:
Lippo Memmi Madonna and Child Lindenau Museum, 174
43
Florence: S. Croce,
Taddeo Gaddi The Last Supper 178
the Refectory
Bernardo di Detail from The
Florence: S. Maria
Cione Paradise: Christ with 190
Novella
Orcagna the Virgin Enthroned
Andrea di The Death and Florence: Relief on
Cione Assumption of the the Tabernacle, Or 194
Orcagna Virgin San Michele
Francesco
S. Thomas Aquinas Pisa: S. Caterina 198
Traini
Giovanni dal Florence: Uffizi,
S. Peter Enthroned 212
Ponte 1292
The Marriage of S. Philadelphia: J. G.
Agnolo Gaddi 218
Catharine Collection Johnson

Transcriber's Note:
The CORRIGENDA have
been applied to this etext.

CORRIGENDA

Page 49, lines 1, 27, for "Apollonius" read
"Apollonio."
" 120, line 10, for "which tabernacle is quite
round" read "which tabernacle is in the round."
" 127, lines 11, 12, for "oval spaces" read
"mandorle."
" 196, line 18, for "an oval space" read "a
mandorla."

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE TO THIS EDITION
Vasari introduces himself sufficiently in his own prefaces and introduction;
a translator need concern himself only with the system by which the Italian
text can best be rendered in English. The style of that text is sometimes
laboured and pompous; it is often ungrammatical. But the narrative is
generally lively, full of neat phrases, and abounding in quaint expressions—
many of them still recognizable in the modern Florentine vernacular—
while, in such Lives as those of Giotto, Leonardo da Vinci, and
Michelagnolo, Vasari shows how well he can rise to a fine subject. His
criticism is generally sound, solid, and direct; and he employs few technical
terms, except in connection with architecture, where we find passages full
of technicalities, often so loosely used that it is difficult to be sure of their
exact meaning. In such cases I have invariably adopted the rendering which
seemed most in accordance with Vasari's actual words, so far as these could
be explained by professional advice and local knowledge; and I have
included brief notes where they appeared to be indispensable.
In Mrs. Foster's familiar English paraphrase—for a paraphrase it is rather
than a translation—all Vasari's liveliness evaporates, even where his
meaning is not blurred or misunderstood. Perhaps I have gone too far
towards the other extreme in relying upon the Anglo-Saxon side of the
English language rather than upon the Latin, and in taking no liberties
whatever with the text of 1568. My intention, indeed, has been to render my
original word for word, and to err, if at all, in favour of literalness. The very
structure of Vasari's sentences has usually been retained, though some
freedom was necessary in the matter of the punctuation, which is generally
bewildering. As Mr. Horne's only too rare translation of the Life of
Leonardo da Vinci has proved, it is by some such method that we can best
keep Vasari's sense and Vasari's spirit—the one as important to the student
of Italian art as is the other to the general reader. Such an attempt, however,
places an English translator of the first volume at a conspicuous
disadvantage. Throughout the earlier Lives Vasari seems to be feeling his
way. He is not sure of himself, and his style is often awkward. The more

faithful the attempted rendering, the more plainly must that awkwardness be
reproduced.
Vasari's Introduction on Technique has not been included, because it has no
immediate connection with the Lives. In any case, there already exists an
adequate translation by Miss Maclehose. All Vasari's other prefaces and
introductions are given in the order in which they are found in the edition of
1568.
With this much explanation, I may pass to personal matters, and record my
thanks to many Florentine friends for help in technical and grammatical
questions; to Professor Baldwin Brown for the notes on technical matters
printed with Miss Maclehose's translation of "Vasari on Technique"; and to
Mr. C. J. Holmes, of the National Portrait Gallery, for encouragement in a
task which has proved no less pleasant than difficult.
G. du C. de V.
London,
March 1912.

TO THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS AND MOST
EXCELLENT SIGNOR COSIMO DE' MEDICI,
DUKE OF FLORENCE
My most honoured Lord,
Seeing that your Excellency, following in this the footsteps of your most
Illustrious ancestors, and incited and urged by your own natural
magnanimity, ceases not to favour and to exalt every kind of talent,
wheresoever it may be found, and shows particular favour to the arts of
design, fondness for their craftsmen,[1] and understanding and delight in
their beautiful and rare works; I think that you cannot but take pleasure in
this labour which I have undertaken, of writing down the lives, the works,
the manners, and the circumstances of all those who, finding the arts
already dead, first revived them, then step by step nourished and adorned
them, and finally brought them to that height of beauty and majesty
whereon they stand at the present day. And because these masters have been
almost all Tuscans, and most of these Florentines, of whom many have been
incited and aided by your most Illustrious ancestors with every kind of
reward and honour to put themselves to work, it may be said that in your
state, nay, in your most blessed house the arts were born anew, and that
through the generosity of your ancestors the world has recovered these most
beautiful arts, through which it has been ennobled and embellished.
Wherefore, through the debt which this age, these arts, and these craftsmen
owe to your ancestors, and to you as the heir of their virtue and of their
patronage of these professions, and through that debt which I, above all,
owe them, seeing that I was taught by them, that I was their subject and
their devoted servant, that I was brought up under Cardinal Ippolito de'
Medici, and under Alessandro, your predecessor, and that, finally, I am
infinitely attached to the blessed memory of the Magnificent Ottaviano de'
Medici, by whom I was supported, loved and protected while he lived; for
all these reasons, I say, and because from the greatness of your worth and of
your fortunes there will come much favour for this work, and from your

understanding of its subject there will come a better appreciation than from
any other for its usefulness and for the labour and the diligence that I have
given to its execution, it has seemed to me that to your Excellency alone
could it be fittingly dedicated, and it is under your most honoured name that
I have wished it to come to the hands of men.
Deign, then, Excellency, to accept it, to favour it, and, if this may be
granted to it by your exalted thoughts, sometimes to read it; having regard
to the nature of the matter therein dealt with and to my pure intention,
which has been, not to gain for myself praise as a writer, but as craftsman to
praise the industry and to revive the memory of those who, having given
life and adornment to these professions, do not deserve to have their names
and their works wholly left, even as they were, the prey of death and of
oblivion. Besides, at the same time, through the example of so many able
men and through so many observations on so many works that I have
gathered together in this book, I have thought to help not a little the masters
of these exercises and to please all those who therein have taste and
pleasure. This I have striven to do with that accuracy and with that good
faith which are essential for the truth of history and of things written. But if
my writing, being unpolished and as artless as my speech, be unworthy of
your Excellency's ear and of the merits of so many most illustrious
intellects; as for them, pardon me that the pen of a draughtsman, such as
they too were, has no greater power to give them outline and shadow; and
as for yourself, let it suffice me that your Excellency should deign to
approve my simple labour, remembering that the necessity of gaining for
myself the wherewithal to live has left me no time to exercise myself with
any instrument but the brush. Nor even with that have I reached that goal to
which I think to be able to attain, now that Fortune promises me so much
favour, that, with greater ease and greater credit for myself and with greater
satisfaction to others, I may perchance be able, as well with the pen as with
the brush, to unfold my ideas to the world, whatsoever they may be. For
besides the help and protection for which I must hope from your
Excellency, as my liege lord and as the protector of poor followers of the
arts, it has pleased the goodness of God to elect as His Vicar on earth the
most holy and most blessed Julius III, Supreme Pontiff and a friend and
patron of every kind of excellence and of these most excellent and most
difficult arts in particular, from whose exalted liberality I expect

recompense for many years spent and many labours expended, and up to
now without fruit. And not only I, who have dedicated myself to the
perpetual service of His Holiness, but all the gifted craftsmen of this age,
must expect from him such honour and reward and opportunities for
practising the arts so greatly, that already I rejoice to see these arts arriving
in his time at the greatest height of their perfection, and Rome adorned by
craftsmen so many and so noble that, counting them with those of Florence,
whom your Excellency is calling every day into activity, I hope that
someone after our time will have to write a fourth part to my book,
enriching it with other masters and other masterpieces than those described
by me; in which company I am striving with every effort not to be among
the last.
Meanwhile, I am content if your Excellency has good hope of me and a
better opinion than that which, by no fault of mine, you have perchance
conceived of me; beseeching you not to let me be undone in your estimation
by the malignant tales of other men, until at last my life and my works shall
prove the contrary to what they say.
Now with that intent to which I hold, always to honour and to serve your
Excellency, dedicating to you this my rough labour, as I have dedicated to
you every other thing of mine and my own self, I implore you not to disdain
to grant it your protection, or at least to appreciate the devotion of him who
offers it to you; and recommending myself to your gracious goodness, most
humbly do I kiss your hand.
Your Excellency's most humble Servant,
GIORGIO VASARI,
Painter of Arezzo.

TO THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS AND MOST
EXCELLENT SIGNOR COSIMO DE' MEDICI,
DUKE OF FLORENCE AND SIENA
My most honoured Lord,
Behold, seventeen years since I first presented to your most Illustrious
Excellency the Lives, sketched so to speak, of the most famous painters,
sculptors and architects, they come before you again, not indeed wholly
finished, but so much changed from what they were and in such wise
adorned and enriched with innumerable works, whereof up to that time I
had been able to gain no further knowledge, that from my endeavour and in
so far as in me lies nothing more can be looked for in them.
Behold, I say, once again they come before you, most Illustrious and truly
most Excellent Lord Duke, with the addition of other noble and right
famous craftsmen, who from that time up to our own day have passed from
the miseries of this life to a better, and of others who, although they are still
living in our midst, have laboured in these professions to such purpose that
they are most worthy of eternal memory. And in truth it has been no small
good-fortune for many that I, by the goodness of Him in whom all things
have their being, have lived so long that I have almost rewritten this book;
seeing that, even as I have removed many things which had been included I
know not how, in my absence and without my consent, and have changed
others, so too I have added many, both useful and necessary, that were
lacking. And as for the likenesses and portraits of so many men of worth
which I have placed in this work, whereof a great part have been furnished
by the help and co-operation of your Excellency, if they are sometimes not
very true to life, and if they all have not that character and resemblance
which the vivacity of colours is wont to give them, that is not because the
drawing and the lineaments have not been taken from the life and are not
characteristic and natural; not to mention that a great part of them have been
sent me by the friends that I have in various places, and they have not all
been drawn by a good hand. Moreover, I have suffered no small

inconvenience in this from the distance of those who have engraved these
heads, because, if the engravers had been near me, it might perchance have
been possible to use in this matter more diligence than has been shown. But
however this may be, our lovers of art and our craftsmen, for the
convenience and benefit of whom I have put myself to so great pains, must
be wholly indebted to your most Illustrious Excellency for whatever they
may find in it of the good, the useful, and the helpful, seeing that while
engaged in your service I have had the opportunity, through the leisure
which it has pleased you to give me and through the management of your
many, nay, innumerable treasures, to put together and to give to the world
everything which appeared to be necessary for the perfect completion of
this work; and would it not be almost impiety, not to say ingratitude, were I
to dedicate these Lives to another, or were the craftsmen to attribute to any
other than yourself whatever they may find in them to give them help or
pleasure? For not only was it with your help and favour that they first came
to the light, as now they do again, but you are, in imitation of your
ancestors, sole father, sole lord, and sole protector of these our arts.
Wherefore it is very right and reasonable that by these there should be
made, in your service and to your eternal and perpetual memory, so many
most noble pictures and statues and so many marvellous buildings in every
manner.
But if we are all, as indeed we are beyond calculation, most deeply obliged
to you for these and for other reasons, how much more do I not owe to you,
who have always had (would that my brain and my hand had been equal to
my desire and right good will) so many valuable opportunities to display
my little knowledge, which, whatsoever it may be, fails by a very great
measure to counterbalance the greatness and the truly royal magnificence of
your mind? But how may I tell? It is in truth better that I should stay as I am
than that I should set myself to attempt what would be to the most lofty and
noble brain, and much more so to my insignificance, wholly impossible.
Accept then, most Illustrious Excellency, this my book, or rather indeed
your book, of the Lives of the craftsmen of design; and like the Almighty
God, looking rather at my soul and at my good intentions than at my work,
take from me with right good will not what I would wish and ought to give,
but what I can.

Your most Illustrious Excellency's most indebted servant,
GIORGIO VASARI.
Florence,
January 9, 1568.

PIUS PAPA QUINTUS
Motu proprio (et cet.). Cum, sicut accepimus, dilectus filius Philippus Junta,
typographus Florentinus, ad communem studiosorum utilitatem, sua
impensa, Vitas Illustrium Pictorum et Sculptorum Georgii Vasarii demum
auctas et suis imaginibus exornatas, Statuta Equitum Melitensium in
Italicam linguam translata, Receptariumque Novum pro Aromatariis,
aliaque opera tum Latina, tum Italica, saneque utilia et necessaria, imprimi
facere intendat, dubitetque ne hujusmodi opera postmodum ab aliis sine
ejus licentia et in ejus grave præjudicium imprimantur; nos propterea, illius
indemnitati consulere volentes, motu simili et ex certa scientia, eidem
Philippo concedimus et indulgemus ne prædicta opera, dummodo prius ab
Inquisitore visa et approbata fuerint, per ipsum imprimenda, infra
decennium a quoquo sine ipsius licentia imprimi aut vendi vel in apothecis
teneri possint; inhibentes omnibus et singulis Christi fidelibus tam in Italia
quam extra Italiam existentibus, sub excommunicationis lata sententia, in
terris vero S.R.E. mediate vel immediate subjectis, etiam ducentorum
ducatorum auri Cameræ Apostolicæ applicandorum et amissionis librorum
pœnis, totiens ipso facto et absque alia declaratione incurrendis quotiens
contraventum fuerit, ne intra decennium præfatum dicta opera sine ejusdem
Philippi expressa licentia imprimere, seu ab ipsis aut aliis impressa vendere,
vel venalia habere; mandantes universis veneralibus fratribus nostris
Archiepiscopis, Episcopis, eorumque Vicariis in spiritualibus generalibus, et
in Statu S.R.E. etiam Legatis, Vicelegatis, Præsidibus et Gubernatoribus, ut
quoties pro ipsius Philippi parte fuerint requisiti, vel eorum aliquis fuerit
requisitus, eidem, efficacis defensionis præsidio assistentes, præmissa
contra inobedientes et rebelles, per censuras ecclesiasticas, etiam sæpius
aggravando, et per alia juris remedia, auctoritate Apostolica exequantur;
invocato etiam ad hoc, si opus fuerit, auxilio brachii sæcularis. Volumus
autem quod præsentis motus proprii nostri sola signatura sufficiat, et ubique
fidem faciat in judicio et extra, regula contraria non obstante et officii
sanctissimæ Inquisitionis Florentinæ.

Placet motu proprio M.

Datum Romæ apud Sanctum Petrum, quintodecimo Cal. Maij,
anno secundo.

PREFACE TO THE WHOLE WORK
It was the wont of the finest spirits in all their actions, through a burning
desire for glory, to spare no labour, however grievous, in order to bring their
works to that perfection which might render them impressive and
marvellous to the whole world; nor could the humble fortunes of many
prevent their energies from attaining to the highest rank, whether in order to
live in honour or to leave in the ages to come eternal fame for all their rare
excellence. And although, for zeal and desire so worthy of praise, they
were, while living, highly rewarded by the liberality of Princes and by the
splendid ambition of States, and even after death kept alive in the eyes of
the world by the testimony of statues, tombs, medals, and other memorials
of that kind; none the less, it is clearly seen that the ravening maw of time
has not only diminished by a great amount their own works and the
honourable testimonies of others, but has also blotted out and destroyed the
names of all those who have been kept alive by any other means than by the
right vivacious and pious pens of writers.
Pondering over this matter many a time in my own mind, and recognizing,
from the example not only of the ancients but of the moderns as well, that
the names of very many architects, sculptors, and painters, both old and
modern, together with innumerable most beautiful works wrought by them,
are going on being forgotten and destroyed little by little, and in such wise,
in truth, that nothing can be foretold for them but a certain and wellnigh
immediate death; and wishing to defend them as much as in me lies from
this second death, and to preserve them as long as may be possible in the
memory of the living; and having spent much time in seeking them out and
used the greatest diligence in discovering the native city, the origin, and the
actions of the craftsmen, and having with great labour drawn them from the
tales of old men and from various records and writings, left by their heirs a
prey to dust and food for worms; and finally, having received from this both
profit and pleasure, I have judged it expedient, nay rather, my duty, to make
for them whatsoever memorial my weak talents and my small judgment
may be able to make. In honour, then, of those who are already dead, and
for the benefit, for the most part, of all the followers of these three most

excellent arts, Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting, I will write the Lives
of the craftsmen of each according to the times wherein they lived, step by
step from Cimabue down to our own time; not touching on the ancients
save in so far as it may concern our subject, seeing that no more can be said
of them than those so many writers have said who have come down to our
own age. I will treat thoroughly of many things that appertain to the science
of one or other of the said arts; but before I come to the secrets of these, or
to the history of the craftsmen, it seems to me right to touch a little on a
dispute, born and bred between many without reason, as to the sovereignty
and nobility, not of architecture, which they have left on one side, but of
sculpture and painting; there being advanced, on one side and on the other,
many arguments whereof many, if not all, are worthy to be heard and
discussed by their craftsmen.
I say, then, that the sculptors, as being endowed, perchance by nature and
by the exercise of their art, with a better habit of body, with more blood,
and with more energy, and being thereby more hardy and more fiery than
the painters, in seeking to give the highest rank to their art, argue and prove
the nobility of sculpture primarily from its antiquity, for the reason that God
Almighty made man, who was the first statue; and they say that sculpture
embraces many more arts as kindred, and has many more of them
subordinate to itself than has painting, such as low-relief, working in clay,
wax, plaster, wood, and ivory, casting in metals, every kind of chasing,
engraving and carving in relief on fine stones and steel, and many others
which both in number and in difficulty surpass those of painting. And
alleging, further, that those things which stand longest and best against time
and can be preserved longest for the use of men, for whose benefit and
service they are made, are without doubt more useful and more worthy to
be held in love and honour than are the others, they maintain that sculpture
is by so much more noble than painting as it is more easy to preserve, both
itself and the names of all who are honoured by it both in marble and in
bronze, against all the ravages of time and air, than is painting, which, by its
very nature, not to say by external accidents, perishes in the most sheltered
and most secure places that architects have been able to provide. Nay more,
they insist that the small number not merely of their excellent but even of
their ordinary craftsmen, in contrast to the infinite number of the painters,
proves their greater nobility; saying that sculpture calls for a certain better

disposition, both of mind and of body, that are rarely found together,
whereas painting contents itself with any feeble temperament, so long as it
has a hand, if not bold, at least sure; and that this their contention is proved
by the greater prices cited in particular by Pliny, by the loves caused by the
marvellous beauty of certain statues, and by the judgment of him who made
the statue of sculpture of gold and that of painting of silver, and placed the
first on the right and the second on the left. Nor do they even refrain from
quoting the difficulties experienced before the materials, such as the
marbles and the metals, can be got into subjection, and their value, in
contrast to the ease of obtaining the panels, the canvases, and the colours,
for the smallest prices and in every place; and further, the extreme and
grievous labour of handling the marbles and the bronzes, through their
weight, and of working them, through the weight of the tools, in contrast to
the lightness of the brushes, of the styles, and of the pens, chalk-holders,
and charcoals; besides this, that they exhaust their minds together with all
the parts of their bodies, which is something very serious compared with the
quiet and light work of the painter, using only his mind and hand.
Moreover, they lay very great stress on the fact that things are more noble
and more perfect in proportion as they approach more nearly to the truth,
and they say that sculpture imitates the true form and shows its works on
every side and from every point of view, whereas painting, being laid on
flat with most simple strokes of the brush and having but one light, shows
but one aspect; and many of them do not scruple to say that sculpture is as
much superior to painting as is truth to falsehood. But as their last and
strongest argument, they allege that for the sculptor there is necessary a
perfection of judgment not only ordinary, as for the painter, but absolute
and immediate, in a manner that it may see within the marble the exact
whole of that figure which they intend to carve from it, and may be able to
make many parts perfect without any other model before it combines and
unites them together, as Michelagnolo has done divinely well; although, for
lack of this happiness of judgment, they make easily and often some of
those blunders which have no remedy, and which, when made, bear witness
for ever to the slips of the chisel or to the small judgment of the sculptor.
This never happens to painters, for the reason that at every slip of the brush
or error of judgment that might befall them they have time, recognizing it
themselves or being told by others, to cover and patch it up with the very
brush that made it; which brush, in their hands, has this advantage over the

sculptor's chisels, that it not only heals, as did the iron of the spear of
Achilles, but leaves its wounds without a scar.
To these things the painters, answering not without disdain, say, in the first
place, that if the sculptors wish to discuss the matter on the ground of the
Scriptures the chief nobility is their own, and that the sculptors deceive
themselves very grievously in claiming as their work the statue of our first
father, which was made of earth; for the art of this performance, both in its
putting on and in its taking off, belongs no less to the painters than to
others, and was called "plastice" by the Greeks and "fictoria" by the Latins,
and was judged by Praxiteles to be the mother of sculpture, of casting, and
of chasing, a fact which makes sculpture, in truth, the niece of painting,
seeing that "plastice" and painting are born at one and the same moment
from design. And they say that if we consider it apart from the Scriptures,
the opinions of the ages are so many and so varied that it is difficult to
believe one more than the other; and that finally, considering this nobility as
they wish it, in one place they lose and in the other they do not win, as may
be seen more clearly in the Preface to the Lives.
After this, in comparison with the arts related and subordinate to sculpture,
they say that they have many more than the sculptors, because painting
embraces the invention of history, the most difficult art of foreshortening,
all the branches of architecture needful for the making of buildings,
perspective, colouring in distemper, and the art of working in fresco, an art
different and distinct from all the others; likewise working in oils on wood,
on stone, and on canvas; illumination, too, an art different from all the
others; the staining of glass, mosaics in glass, the art of inlaying and making
pictures with coloured woods, which is painting; making sgraffito[2] work
on houses with iron tools; niello[3] work and printing from copper, both
members of painting; goldsmith's enamelling, and the inlaying of gold for
damascening; the painting of glazed figures, and the making on earthenware
vessels of scenes and figures to resist the action of water; weaving brocades
with figures and flowers, and that most beautiful invention, woven
tapestries, that are both convenient and magnificent, being able to carry
painting into every place, whether savage or civilized; not to mention that in
every department of art that has to be practised, design, which is our design,
is used by all; so that the members of painting are more numerous and more
useful than those of sculpture. They do not deny the eternity, for so the

others call it, of sculpture, but they say that this is no privilege that should
make the art more noble than it is by nature, seeing that it comes simply
from the material, and that if length of life were to give nobility to souls, the
pine, among the plants, and the stag, among the animals, would have a soul
more noble beyond compare than that of men; although they could claim a
similar immortality and nobility in their mosaics, seeing that there may be
seen some as ancient as the most ancient sculptures that are in Rome, and
that they used to be made of jewels and fine stones. And as for their small
or smaller number, they declare that this is not because the art calls for a
better habit of body and greater judgment, but that it depends wholly on the
poverty of their resources and on the little favour, or avarice, as we would
rather call it, of rich men, who give them no supply of marble and no
opportunity to work; in contrast with what may be believed, nay, seen to
have happened in ancient times, when sculpture rose to its greatest height.
Indeed, it is manifest that he who cannot use and waste a small quantity of
marble and hard stone, which are very costly, cannot have that practice in
the art that is essential; he who does not practise does not learn it; and he
who does not learn it can do no good. Wherefore they should rather excuse
with these arguments the imperfection and the small number of their
masters, than seek to deduce nobility from them under false colours. As for
the higher prices of sculptures, they answer that, although theirs might be
much less, they have not to share them, being content with a boy who
grinds their colours and hands them their brushes or their cheap stools,
whereas the sculptors, besides the great cost of their material, require many
aids and spend more time on one single figure than they themselves do on
very many; wherefore their prices appear to come from the quality and the
durability of the material itself, from the aids that it requires for its
completion, and from the time that is taken in working it, rather than from
the excellence of the art itself. And although that does not suffice and no
greater price is found, as would be easily seen by anyone who were willing
to consider it diligently, let them find a greater price than the marvellous,
beautiful, and living gift that Alexander the Great made in return for the
most splendid and excellent work of Apelles, bestowing on him, not vast
treasures or high estate, but his own beloved and most beautiful Campaspe;
let them observe, in addition, that Alexander was young, enamoured of her,
and naturally subject to the passions of love, and also both a King and a
Greek; and then, from this, let them draw what conclusion they please. As

for the loves of Pygmalion and of those other rascals no more worthy to be
men, cited as proof of the nobility of the art, they know not what to answer,
if, from a very great blindness of intellect and from a licentiousness
unbridled beyond all natural bounds, there can be made a proof of nobility.
As for the man, whosoever he was, alleged by the sculptors to have made
sculpture of gold and painting of silver, they are agreed that if he had given
as much sign of judgment as of wealth, there would be no disputing it; and
finally, they conclude that the ancient Golden Fleece, however celebrated it
may be, none the less covered nothing but an unintelligent ram; wherefore
neither the testimony of riches nor that of dishonest desires, but those of
letters, of practice, of excellence, and of judgment are those to which we
must pay attention. Nor do they make any answer to the difficulty of
obtaining the marbles and the metals, save this, that it springs from their
own poverty and from the little favour of the powerful, as has been said,
and not from any degree of greater nobility. To the extreme fatigues of the
body and to the dangers peculiar to them and to their works, laughing and
without any ado they answer that if greater fatigues and dangers prove
greater nobility, the art of quarrying the marbles from the bowels of
mountains by means of wedges, levers, and hammers must be more noble
than sculpture, that of the blacksmith must surpass the goldsmith's, and that
of masonry must be superior to architecture.
They say, next, that the true difficulties lie rather in the mind than in the
body, wherefore those things that from their nature call for more study and
knowledge are more noble and excellent than those that avail themselves
rather of strength of body; and they declare that since the painters rely more
on the worth of the mind than the others, this highest honour belongs to
painting. For the sculptors the compasses and squares suffice to discover
and apply all the proportions and measurements whereof they have need;
for the painters there is necessary, besides the knowledge how to make good
use of the aforesaid instruments, an accurate understanding of perspective,
for the reason that they have to provide a thousand other things beyond
landscapes and buildings, not to mention that they must have greater
judgment by reason of the quantity of the figures in one scene, wherein
more errors can come than in a single statue. For the sculptor it is enough to
be acquainted with the true forms and features of solid and tangible bodies,
subordinate on every side to the touch, and moreover of those only that

have something to support them. For the painter it is necessary to know the
forms not only of all the bodies supported and not supported, but also of all
those transparent and intangible; and besides this they must know the
colours that are suitable for the said bodies, whereof the multitude and the
variety, so absolute and admitting of such infinite extension, are
demonstrated better by the flowers, the fruits, and the minerals than by
anything else; and this knowledge is supremely difficult to acquire and to
maintain, by reason of their infinite variety. They say, moreover, that
whereas sculpture, through the stubbornness and the imperfection of the
material, does not represent the emotions of the soul save with motion,
which does not, however, find much scope therein, and with the mere shape
of the limbs and not even of all these; the painters demonstrate them with
all the forms of motion, which are infinite, with the shape of the limbs,
however subtle they may be, and even with breath itself and the spiritual
essence of sight; and that, for greater perfection in demonstrating not only
the passions and emotions of the soul but also the events of the future, as
living men do, they must have, besides long practice in the art, a complete
understanding of physiognomy, whereof that part suffices for the sculptor
which deals with the quantity and the quality of the members, without
troubling about the quality of colours, as to the knowledge of which anyone
who judges by the eye knows how useful and necessary it is for the true
imitation of nature, whereunto the closer a man approaches the more perfect
he is.
After this they add that whereas sculpture, taking away bit by bit, at one and
the same time gives depth to and acquires relief for those things that have
solidity by their own nature, and makes use of touch and sight, the painters,
in two distinct actions, give relief and depth to a flat surface with the help
of one single sense; and this, when it has been done by a person intelligent
in the art, has caused many great men, not to speak of animals, to stand fast
in the most pleasing illusion, which has never been seen to be done by
sculpture, for the reason that it does not imitate nature in a manner that may
be called as perfect as their own. And finally, in answer to that complete
and absolute perfection of judgment which is required for sculpture, by
reason of its having no means to add where it takes away; declaring, first,
that such mistakes are irreparable, as the others say, and not to be remedied
save by patches, which, even as in garments they are signs of poverty of

wardrobe, so too both in sculpture and in pictures are signs of poverty of
intellect and judgment; and saying, further, that patience, at its own leisure,
by means of models, protractors, squares, compasses, and a thousand other
devices and instruments for enlarging, not only preserves them from
mistakes but enables them to bring their whole work to its perfection; they
conclude, then, that this difficulty which they put down as the greater is
nothing or little when compared to those which the painters have when
working in fresco, and that the said perfection of judgment is in no way
more necessary for sculptors than for painters, it being sufficient for the
former to execute good models in wax, clay, or something else, even as the
latter make their drawings on corresponding materials or on cartoons; and
that finally, the quality that little by little transfers their models to the
marble is rather patience than aught else.
But let us consider about judgment, as the sculptors wish, and see whether it
is not more necessary to one who works in fresco than to one who chisels in
marble. For here not only is there no place for patience or for time, which
are most mortal enemies to the union of the plaster and the colours, but the
eye does not see the true colours until the plaster is well dry, nor can the
hand judge of anything but of the soft or the dry, in a manner that anyone
who were to call it working in the dark, or with spectacles of colours
different from the truth, would not in my belief be very far wrong. Nay, I do
not doubt at all that such a name is more suitable for it than for intaglio, for
which wax serves as spectacles both true and good. They say, too, that for
this work it is necessary to have a resolute judgment, to foresee the end in
the fresh plaster and how the work will turn out on the dry; besides that the
work cannot be abandoned so long as the plaster is still fresh, and that it is
necessary to do resolutely in one day what sculpture does in a month. And if
a man has not this judgment and this excellence, there are seen, on the
completion of his work or in time, patches, blotches, corrections, and
colours superimposed or retouched on the dry, which is something of the
vilest, because afterwards mould appears and reveals the insufficiency and
the small knowledge of the craftsmen, even as the pieces added in sculpture
lead to ugliness; not to mention that when it comes about that the figures in
fresco are washed, as is often done after some time to restore them, what
has been worked on the fresh plaster remains, and what has been retouched
on the dry is carried away by the wet sponge.

They add, moreover, that whereas the sculptors make two figures together,
or at the most three, from one block of marble, they make many of them on
one single panel, with all those so many and so varied aspects which the
sculptors claim for one single statue, compensating with the variety of their
postures, foreshortenings, and attitudes, for the fact that the work of the
sculptors can be seen from every side; even as Giorgione da Castelfranco
did once in one of his pictures, wherein a figure with its back turned, having
a mirror on either side, and a pool of water at its feet, shows its back in the
painting, its front in the pool, and its sides in the mirrors, which is
something that sculpture has never been able to do. In addition to this, they
maintain that painting leaves not one of the elements unadorned and not
abounding with all the excellent things that nature has bestowed on them,
giving its own light and its own darkness to the air, with all its varieties of
feeling, and filling it with all the kinds of birds together; to water, its
clearness, the fishes, the mosses, the foam, the undulations of the waves, the
ships, and all its various moods; and to the earth, the mountains, the plains,
the plants, the fruits, the flowers, the animals, and the buildings; with so
great a multitude of things and so great a variety of their forms and of their
true colours, that nature herself many a time stands in a marvel thereat; and
finally, giving to fire so much of its heat and light that it is clearly seen
burning things, and, almost quivering with its flames, rendering luminous in
part the thickest darkness of the night. Wherefore it appears to them that
they can justly conclude and declare that contrasting the difficulties of the
sculptors with their own, the labours of the body with those of the mind, the
imitation of the mere form with the imitation of the impression, both of
quantity and of quality, that strikes the eye, the small number of the subjects
wherein sculpture can and does demonstrate its excellence with the infinite
number of those which painting presents to us (not to mention the perfect
preservation of them for the intellect and the distribution of them in those
places wherein nature herself has not done so); and finally, weighing the
whole content of the one with that of the other, the nobility of sculpture, as
shown by the intellect, the invention, and the judgment of its craftsmen,
does not correspond by a great measure to that which painting enjoys and
deserves. And this is all that on the one side and on the other has come to
my ears that is worthy of consideration.

But because it appears to me that the sculptors have spoken with too much
heat and the painters with too much disdain, and seeing that I have long
enough studied the works of sculpture and have ever exercised myself in
painting, however small, perhaps, may be the fruit that is to be seen of it;
none the less, by reason of that which it is worth, and by reason of the
undertaking of these writings, judging it my duty to demonstrate the
judgment that I have ever made of it in my own mind (and may my
authority avail the most that it can), I will declare my opinion surely and
briefly over such a dispute, being convinced that I will not incur any charge
of presumption or of ignorance, seeing that I will not treat of the arts of
others, as many have done before to the end that they might appear to the
crowd intelligent in all things by means of letters, and as happened, among
others, to Phormio the Peripatetic of Ephesus, who, in order to display his
eloquence, lecturing and making disputation about the virtues and parts of
the excellent captain, made Hannibal laugh not less at his presumption than
at his ignorance.
I say, then, that sculpture and painting are in truth sisters, born from one
father, that is, design, at one and the same birth, and have no precedence
one over the other, save insomuch as the worth and the strength of those
who maintain them make one craftsman surpass another, and not by reason
of any difference or degree of nobility that is in truth to be found between
them. And although by reason of the diversity of their essence they have
many different advantages, these are neither so great nor of such a kind that
they do not come exactly into balance together and that we do not perceive
the infatuation or the obstinacy, rather than the judgment, of those who wish
one to surpass the other. Wherefore it may be said with reason that one and
the same soul rules the bodies of both, and by reason of this I conclude that
those do evil who strive to disunite and to separate the one from the other.
Heaven, wishing to undeceive us in this matter and to show us the kinship
and union of these two most noble arts, has raised up in our midst at various
times many sculptors who have painted and many painters who have
worked in sculpture, as will be seen in the Life of Antonio del Pollaiuolo, of
Leonardo da Vinci, and of many others long since passed away. But in our
own age the Divine Goodness has created for us Michelagnolo Buonarroti,
in whom both these arts shine forth so perfect and appear so similar and so
closely united, that the painters marvel at his pictures and the sculptors feel

for the sculptures wrought by him supreme admiration and reverence. On
him, to the end that he might not perchance need to seek from some other
master some convenient resting-place for the figures that he wrought, nature
has bestowed so generously the science of architecture, that without having
need of others he has strength and power within himself to give to this or
the other image made by himself an honourable and suitable resting-place,
in a manner that he rightly deserves to be called the king of sculptors, the
prince of painters, and the most excellent of architects, nay rather, of
architecture the true master. And indeed we can affirm with certainty that
those do in no way err who call him divine, seeing that he has within his
own self embraced the three arts most worthy of praise and most ingenious
that are to be found among mortal men, and that with these, after the
manner of a God, he can give us infinite delight. And let this suffice for the
dispute raised between the factions, and for our own opinion.
Now, returning to my first intention, I say that, wishing in so far as it lies
within the reach of my powers to drag from the ravening maw of time, the
names of the sculptors, painters, and architects, who, from Cimabue to the
present day, have been of some notable excellence in Italy, and desiring that
this my labour may be no less useful than it has been pleasant to me in the
undertaking, it appears to me necessary, before we come to the history, to
make as briefly as may be an introduction to these three arts, wherein those
were valiant of whom I am to write the Lives, to the end that every gracious
spirit may first learn the most notable things in their professions, and
afterwards may be able with greater pleasure and benefit to see clearly in
what they were different among themselves, and how great adornment and
convenience they give to their countries and to all who wish to avail
themselves of their industry and knowledge.
I will begin, then, with architecture, as the most universal and the most
necessary and useful to men, and as that for the service and adornment of
which the two others exist; and I will expound briefly the varieties of stone,
the manners or methods of construction, with their proportions, and how
one may recognize buildings that are good and well-conceived. Afterwards,
discoursing of sculpture, I will tell how statues are wrought, the form and
the proportion that are looked for in them, and of what kind are good
sculptures, with all the most secret and most necessary precepts. Finally,
treating of painting, I will speak of draughtsmanship, of the methods of

colouring, of the perfect execution of any work, of the quality of the
pictures themselves, and of whatsoever thing appertains to painting; of
every kind of mosaic, of niello, of enamelling, of damascening, and then,
lastly, of the printing of pictures. And in this way I am convinced that these
my labours will delight those who are not engaged in these pursuits, and
will both delight and help those who have made them a profession. For not
to mention that in the Introduction they will review the methods of working,
and that in the Lives of the craftsmen themselves they will learn where their
works are, and how to recognize easily their perfection or imperfection and
to discriminate between one manner and another, they will also be able to
perceive how much praise and honour that man deserves who adds upright
ways and goodness of life to the excellencies of arts so noble. Kindled by
the praise that those so constituted have obtained, they too will aspire to
true glory. Nor will little fruit be gathered from the history, true guide and
mistress of our actions, in reading of the infinite variety of innumerable
accidents that befell the craftsmen, sometimes by their own fault and very
often by chance.
It remains for me to make excuse for having on occasion used some words
of indifferent Tuscan, whereof I do not wish to speak, having ever taken
thought to use rather the words and names particular and proper to our arts
than the delicate or choice words of precious writers. Let me be allowed,
then, to use in their proper speech the words proper to our craftsmen, and
let all content themselves with my good will, which has bestirred itself to
produce this result not in order to teach to others what I do not know
myself, but through a desire to preserve this memory at least of the most
celebrated craftsmen, seeing that in so many decades I have not yet been
able to see one who has made much record of them. For I have wished with
these my rough labours, adumbrating their noble deeds, to repay to them in
some measure the debt that I owe to their works, which have been to me as
masters for the learning of whatsoever I know, rather than, living in sloth, to
be a malignant critic of the works of others, blaming and decrying them as
men are often wont to do. But it is now time to come to our business.

PREFACE TO THE LIVES
I have no manner of doubt that it is with almost all writers a common and
deeply-fixed opinion that sculpture and painting together were first
discovered, by the light of nature, by the people of Egypt, and that there are
certain others who attribute to the Chaldæans the first rough sketches in
marble and the first reliefs in statuary, even as they also give to the Greeks
the invention of the brush and of colouring. But I will surely say that of
both one and the other of these arts the design, which is their foundation,
nay rather, the very soul that conceives and nourishes within itself all the
parts of man's intellect, was already most perfect before the creation of all
other things, when the Almighty God, having made the great body of the
world and having adorned the heavens with their exceeding bright lights,
descended lower with His intellect into the clearness of the air and the
solidity of the earth, and, shaping man, discovered, together with the lovely
creation of all things, the first form of sculpture; from which man
afterwards, step by step (and this may not be denied), as from a true pattern,
there were taken statues, sculptures, and the science of pose and of outline;
and for the first pictures (whatsoever they were), softness, harmony, and the
concord in discord that comes from light and shade. Thus, then, the first
model whence there issued the first image of man was a lump of clay, and
not without reason, seeing that the Divine Architect of time and of nature,
being Himself most perfect, wished to show in the imperfection of the
material the way to add and to take away; in the same manner wherein the
good sculptors and painters are wont to work, who, adding and taking away
in their models, bring their imperfect sketches to that final perfection which
they desire. He gave to man that most vivid colour of flesh, whence
afterwards there were drawn for painting, from the mines of the earth, the
colours themselves for the counterfeiting of all those things that are
required for pictures. It is true, indeed, that it cannot be affirmed for certain
what was made by the men before the Flood in these arts in imitation of so
beautiful a work, although it is reasonable to believe that they too carved
and painted in every manner; seeing that Belus, son of the proud Nimrod,
about 200 years after the Flood, caused to be made that statue wherefrom

there was afterwards born idolatry, and his son's wife, the very famous
Semiramis, Queen of Babylon, in the building of that city, placed among its
adornments not only diverse varied kinds of animals, portrayed and
coloured from nature, but also the image of herself and of Ninus, her
husband, and, moreover, statues in bronze of her husband's father, of her
husband's mother, and of the mother of the latter, as Diodorus relates,
calling them by the Greek names (that did not yet exist), Jove, Juno, and
Ops. From these statues, perchance, the Chaldæans learnt to make the
images of their gods, seeing that 150 years later Rachel, in flying from
Mesopotamia together with Jacob her husband, stole the idols of Laban her
father, as is clearly related in Genesis. Nor, indeed, were the Chaldæans
alone in making sculptures and pictures, but the Egyptians made them also,
exercising themselves in these arts with that so great zeal which is shown in
the marvellous tomb of the most ancient King Osimandyas, copiously
described by Diodorus, and proved by the stern commandment made by
Moses in the Exodus from Egypt, namely, that under pain of death there
should be made to God no image whatsoever. He, on descending from the
mountain, having found the golden calf wrought and adored solemnly by
his people, and being greatly perturbed to see Divine honours paid to the
image of a beast, not only broke it and reduced it to powder, but for
punishment of so great a sin caused many thousands of the wicked sons of
Israel to be slain by the Levites. But because not the making of statues but
their adoration was a deadly sin, we read in Exodus that the art of design
and of statuary, not only in marble but in every kind of metal, was bestowed
by the mouth of God on Bezaleel, of the tribe of Judah, and on Aholiab, of
the tribe of Dan, who were those that made the two cherubim of gold, the
candlesticks, the veil, the borders of the priestly vestments, and so many
other most beautiful castings for the Tabernacle, for no other reason than to
bring the people to contemplate and to adore them.
From the things seen before the Flood, then, the pride of men found the way
to make the statues of those for whom they wished that they should remain
famous and immortal in the world. And the Greeks, who think differently
about this origin, say that the Ethiopians invented the first statues, as
Diodorus tells; that the Egyptians took them from the Ethiopians, and, from
them, the Greeks; for by Homer's time sculpture and painting are seen to
have been perfected, as it is proved, in discoursing of the shield of Achilles,

by that divine poet, who shows it to us carved and painted, rather than
described, with every form of art. Lactantius Firmianus, by way of fable,
attributes it to Prometheus, who, in the manner of Almighty God, shaped
man's image out of mud; and from him, he declares, the art of statuary
came. But according to what Pliny writes, this came to Egypt from Gyges
the Lydian, who, being by the fire and gazing at his own shadow, suddenly,
with some charcoal in his hand, drew his own outline on the wall. And from
that age, for a time, outlines only were wont to be used, with no body of
colour, as the same Pliny confirms; which method was rediscovered with
more labour by Philocles the Egyptian, and likewise by Cleanthes and
Ardices of Corinth and by Telephanes of Sicyon.
Cleophantes of Corinth was the first among the Greeks who used colours,
and Apollodorus the first who discovered the brush. There followed
Polygnotus of Thasos, Zeuxis, and Timagoras of Chalcis, with Pythias and
Aglaophon, all most celebrated; and after these the most famous Apelles, so
much esteemed and honoured by Alexander the Great for his talent, and the
most ingenious investigator of slander and false favour, as Lucian shows us;
even as almost all the excellent painters and sculptors were endowed by
Heaven, in nearly every case, not only with the adornment of poetry, as may
be read of Pacuvius, but with philosophy besides, as may be seen in
Metrodorus, who, being as well versed in philosophy as in painting, was
sent by the Athenians to Paulus Emilius to adorn his triumph, and remained
with him to read philosophy to his sons.
The art of sculpture, then, was greatly exercised in Greece, and there
appeared many excellent craftsmen, and, among others, Pheidias, an
Athenian, with Praxiteles and Polycletus, all very great masters, while
Lysippus and Pyrgoteles were excellent in sunk reliefs, and Pygmalion in
reliefs in ivory, of whom there is a fable that by his prayers he obtained
breath and spirit for the figure of a virgin that he made. Painting, likewise,
was honoured and rewarded by the ancient Greeks and Romans, seeing that
to those who made it appear marvellous they showed favour by bestowing
on them citizenship and the highest dignities. So greatly did this art flourish
in Rome that Fabius gave renown to his house by writing his name under
the things so beautifully painted by him in the temple of Salus, and calling
himself Fabius Pictor. It was forbidden by public decree that slaves should
exercise this art throughout the cities, and so much honour did the nations

pay without ceasing to the art and to the craftsmen that the rarest works
were sent among the triumphal spoils, as marvellous things, to Rome, and
the finest craftsmen were freed from slavery and recompensed with honours
and rewards by the commonwealths.
The Romans themselves bore so great reverence for these arts that besides
the respect that Marcellus, in sacking the city of Syracuse, commanded to
be paid to a craftsman famous in them, in planning the assault of the
aforesaid city they took care not to set fire to that quarter wherein there was
a most beautiful painted panel, which was afterwards carried to Rome in the
triumph, with much pomp. Thither, having, so to speak, despoiled the
world, in course of time they assembled the craftsmen themselves as well as
their finest works, wherewith afterwards Rome became so beautiful, for the
reason that she gained so great adornment from the statues from abroad
more than from her own native ones; it being known that in Rhodes, the city
of an island in no way large, there were more than 30,000 statues counted,
either in bronze or in marble, nor did the Athenians have less, while those at
Olympia and at Delphi were many more and those in Corinth numberless,
and all were most beautiful and of the greatest value. Is it not known that
Nicomedes, King of Lycia, in his eagerness for a Venus that was by the
hand of Praxiteles, spent on it almost all the wealth of his people? Did not
Attalus the same, who, in order to possess the picture of Bacchus painted by
Aristides, did not scruple to spend on it more than 6,000 sesterces? Which
picture was placed by Lucius Mummius in the temple of Ceres with the
greatest pomp, in order to adorn Rome.
But for all that the nobility of these arts was so highly valued, it is none the
less not yet known for certain who gave them their first beginning. For, as
has been already said above, it appears most ancient among the Chaldæans,
some give it to the Ethiopians, and the Greeks attribute it to themselves; and
it may be thought, not without reason, that it is perchance even more
ancient among the Etruscans, as our Leon Batista Alberti testifies, whereof
we have clear enough proof in the marvellous tomb of Porsena at Chiusi,
where, no long time since, there were discovered underground, between the
walls of the Labyrinth, some terracotta tiles with figures on them in half-
relief, so excellent and in so beautiful a manner that it can be easily
recognized that the art was not begun precisely at that time, nay rather, by
reason of the perfection of these works, that it was much nearer its height

than its beginning. To this, moreover, witness is likewise borne by our
seeing every day many pieces of those red and black vases of Arezzo, made,
as may be judged from the manner, about those times, with the most
delicate carvings and small figures and scenes in low-relief, and many small
round masks wrought with great subtlety by masters of that age, men most
experienced, as is shown by the effect, and most excellent in that art. It may
be seen, moreover, by reason of the statues found at Viterbo at the
beginning of the pontificate of Alexander VI, that sculpture was in great
esteem and in no small perfection among the Etruscans; and although it is
not known precisely at what time they were made, it may be reasonably
conjectured, both from the manner of the figures and from the style of the
tombs and of the buildings, no less than from the inscriptions in those
Etruscan letters, that they are most ancient and were made at a time when
the affairs of this country were in a good and prosperous state. But what
clearer proof of this can be sought? seeing that in our own day—that is, in
the year 1554—there has been found a bronze figure of the Chimæra of
Bellerophon, in making the ditches, fortifications, and walls of Arezzo,
from which figure it is recognized that the perfection of that art existed in
ancient times among the Etruscans, as may be seen from the Etruscan
manner and still more from the letters carved on a paw, about which—since
they are but few and there is no one now who understands the Etruscan
tongue—it is conjectured that they may represent the name of the master as
well as that of the figure itself, and perchance also the date, according to the
use of those times. This figure, by reason of its beauty and antiquity, has
been placed in our day by the Lord Duke Cosimo in the hall of the new
rooms in his Palace, wherein there have been painted by me the acts of
Pope Leo X. And besides this there were found in the same place many
small figures in bronze after the same manner, which are in the hands of the
said Lord Duke.
But since the dates of the works of the Greeks, the Ethiopians, and the
Chaldæans are as doubtful as our own, and perhaps more, and by reason of
the greater need of founding our judgment about these works on
conjectures, which, however, are not so feeble that they are in every way
wide of the mark, I believe that I strayed not at all from the truth (and I
think that everyone who will consent to consider this question discreetly
will judge as I did), when I said above that the origin of these arts was

nature herself, and the example or model, the most beautiful fabric of the
world, and the master, that divine light infused by special grace into us,
which has not only made us superior to the other animals, but, if it be not
sin to say it, like to God. And if in our own times it has been seen (as I trust
to be able to demonstrate a little later by many examples) that simple
children roughly reared in the woods, with their only model in the beautiful
pictures and sculptures of nature, and by the vivacity of their wit, have
begun by themselves to make designs, how much more may we, nay, must
we confidently believe that these primitive men, who, in proportion as they
were less distant from their origin and divine creation, were thereby the
more perfect and of better intelligence, that they, by themselves, having for
guide nature, for master purest intellect, and for example the so lovely
model of the world, gave birth to these most noble arts, and from a small
beginning, little by little bettering them, brought them at last to perfection?
I do not, indeed, wish to deny that there was one among them who was the
first to begin, seeing that I know very well that it must needs be that at some
time and from some one man there came the beginning; nor, also, will I
deny that it may have been possible that one helped another and taught and
opened the way to design, to colour, and relief, because I know that our art
is all imitation, of nature for the most part and then, because a man cannot
by himself rise so high, of those works that are executed by those whom he
judges to be better masters than himself. But I say surely that the wishing to
affirm dogmatically who this man or these men were is a thing very
perilous to judge, and perchance little necessary to know, provided that we
see the true root and origin wherefrom art was born. For since, of the works
that are the life and the glory of the craftsmen, the first and step by step the
second and the third were lost by reason of time, that consumes all things,
and since, for lack of writers at that time, they could not, at least in that
way, become known to posterity, their craftsmen as well came to be
forgotten. But when once the writers began to make record of things that
were before their day, they could not speak of those whereof they had not
been able to have information, in a manner that there came to be first with
them those of whom the memory had been the last to be lost. Even as the
first of the poets, by common consent, is said to be Homer, not because
there were none before him, for there were, although not so excellent,
which is seen clearly from his own works, but because of these early poets,
whatever manner of men they were, all knowledge had been lost quite

2,000 years before. However, leaving behind us this part, as too uncertain
by reason of its antiquity, let us come to the clearer matters of their
perfection, ruin, and restoration, or rather resurrection, whereof we will be
able to discourse on much better grounds.
I say, then, it being true indeed, that they began late in Rome, if the first
figure was, as is said, the image of Ceres made of metal from the treasure of
Spurius Cassius, who, for conspiring to make himself King, was put to
death by his own father without any scruple; and that although the arts of
sculpture and of painting continued up to the end of the twelve Cæsars, they
did not, however, continue in that perfection and excellence which they had
enjoyed before, for it may be seen from the edifices that the Emperors built
in succession one after the other that these arts, decaying from one day to
another, were coming little by little to lose their whole perfection of design.
And to this clear testimony is borne by the works of sculpture and of
architecture that were wrought in the time of Constantine in Rome, and in
particular the triumphal arch raised for him by the Roman people near the
Colosseum, wherein it is seen that in default of good masters they not only
made use of marble groups made at the time of Trajan, but also of the spoils
brought from various places to Rome. And whosoever knows that the votive
offerings in the medallions, that is, the sculptures in half-relief, and likewise
the prisoners, and the large groups, and the columns, and the mouldings,
and the other ornaments, whether made before or from spoils, are
excellently wrought, knows also that the works which were made to fill up
by the sculptors of that time are of the rudest, as also are certain small
groups with little figures in marble below the medallions, and the lowest
base wherein there are certain victories, and certain rivers between the
arches at the sides, which are very rude and so made that it can be believed
most surely that by that time the art of sculpture had begun to lose
something of the good. And there had not yet come the Goths and the other
barbarous and outlandish peoples who destroyed, together with Italy, all the
finer arts. It is true, indeed, that in the said times architecture had suffered
less harm than the other arts of design had suffered, for in the bath that
Constantine erected on the Lateran, in the entrance of the principal porch it
may be seen, to say nothing of the porphyry columns, the capitals wrought
in marble, and the double bases taken from some other place and very well
carved, that the whole composition of the building is very well conceived;

whereas, on the contrary, the stucco, the mosaics, and certain incrustations
on the walls made by masters of that time are not equal to those that he
caused to be placed in the same bath, which were taken for the most part
from the temples of the heathen gods. Constantine, so it is said, did the
same in the garden of Æquitius, in making the temple which he afterwards
endowed and gave to the Christian priests. In like manner, the magnificent
Church of S. Giovanni Laterano, erected by the same Emperor, can bear
witness to the same—namely, that in his day sculpture had already greatly
declined; for the image of the Saviour and the twelve Apostles in silver that
he caused to be made were very debased sculptures, wrought without art
and with very little design. Besides this, whosoever examines with
diligence the medals of Constantine and his image and other statues made
by the sculptors of that time, which are at the present day in the
Campidoglio, may see clearly that they are very far removed from the
perfection of the medals and statues of the other Emperors; and all this
shows that long before the coming of the Goths into Italy sculpture had
greatly declined.
Architecture, as has been said, continued to maintain itself, if not so perfect,
in a better state; nor is there reason to marvel at this, seeing that, as the
great edifices were made almost wholly of spoils, it was easy for the
architects, in making the new, to imitate in great measure the old, which
they had ever before their eyes, and that much more easily than the
sculptors could imitate the good figures of the ancients, their art having
wholly vanished. And that this is true is manifest, because the Church of the
Prince of the Apostles on the Vatican was not rich save in columns, bases,
capitals, architraves, mouldings, doors, and other incrustations and
ornaments, which were all taken from various places and from the edifices
built most magnificently in earlier times. The same could be said of S.
Croce in Gierusalemme, which Constantine erected at the entreaty of his
mother Helena, of S. Lorenzo without the walls of Rome, and of S. Agnesa,
built by him at the request of Constantia, his daughter. And who does not
know that the font which served for the baptism of both her and her sister
was all adorned with works wrought long before, and in particular with the
porphyry basin carved with most beautiful figures, with certain marble
candlesticks excellently carved with foliage, and with some boys in low-
relief that are truly most beautiful? In short, for these and many other

reasons it is clear how much, in the time of Constantine, sculpture had
already declined, and together with it the other finer arts. And if anything
was wanting to complete this ruin, it was supplied to them amply by the
departure of Constantine from Rome, on his going to establish the seat of
the Empire at Byzantium; for the reason that he took with him not only all
the best sculptors and other craftsmen of that age, whatsoever manner of
men they were, but also an infinite number of statues and other works of
sculpture, all most beautiful.
After the departure of Constantine, the Cæsars whom he left in Italy,
building continually both in Rome and elsewhere, exerted themselves to
make their works as fine as they could; but, as may be seen, sculpture, as
well as painting and architecture, went ever from bad to worse, and this
perchance came to pass because, when human affairs begin to decline, they
never cease to go ever lower and lower until such time as they can grow no
worse. So, too, it may be seen that although at the time of Pope Liberius the
architects of that day strove to do something great in constructing the
Church of S. Maria Maggiore, they were yet not happy in the success of the
whole, for the reason that although that building, which is likewise
composed for the greater part of spoils, was made with good enough
proportions, it cannot be denied any the less, not to speak of certain other
parts, that the frieze made right round above the columns with ornaments in
stucco and in painting is wholly wanting in design, and that many other
things which are seen in that great church demonstrate the imperfection of
the arts.
Many years after, when the Christians were persecuted under Julian the
Apostate, there was erected on the Cœlian Mount a church to S. John and S.
Paul, the martyrs, in a manner so much worse than those named above, that
it is seen clearly that the art was at that time little less than wholly lost. The
buildings, too, that were erected at the same time in Tuscany, bear most
ample testimony to this; and not to speak of many others, the church that
was built outside the walls of Arezzo to S. Donatus, Bishop of that city
(who, together with the monk Hilarian, suffered martyrdom under the said
Julian the Apostate), was in no way better in architecture than those named
above. Nor can it be believed that this came from anything else but the
absence of better architects in that age, seeing that the said church (as it has
been possible to see in our own day), which is octagonal and constructed

from the spoils of the Theatre, the Colosseum and other edifices that had
been standing in Arezzo before it was converted to the faith of Christ, was
built without thought of economy and at the greatest cost, and adorned with
columns of granite, of porphyry, and of many-coloured marbles, which had
belonged to the said buildings. And for myself I do not doubt, from the
expense which was clearly bestowed on that church, that if the Aretines had
had better architects they would have built something marvellous; for it
may be seen from what they did that they spared nothing if only they might
make that work as rich and as well designed as they possibly could, and
since, as has been already said so many times, architecture had lost less of
its perfection than the other arts, there was to be seen therein some little of
the good. At this time, likewise, was enlarged the Church of S. Maria in
Grado, in honour of the said Hilarian, for the reason that he had been for a
long time living in it when he went, with Donatus, to the crown of
martyrdom.
But because Fortune, when she has brought men to the height of her wheel,
is wont, either in jest or in repentance, to throw them down again, it came
about after these things that there rose up in various parts of the world all
the barbarous peoples against Rome; whence there ensued after no long
time not only the humiliation of so great an Empire but the ruin of the
whole, and above all of Rome herself, and with her were likewise utterly
ruined the most excellent craftsmen, sculptors, painters, and architects,
leaving the arts and their own selves buried and submerged among the
miserable massacres and ruins of that most famous city. And the first to fall
into decay were painting and sculpture, as being arts that served more for
pleasure than for use, while the other—namely, architecture—as being
necessary and useful for bodily weal, continued to exist, but no longer in its
perfection and excellence. And if it had not been that the sculptures and
pictures presented, to the eyes of those who were born from day to day,
those who had been thereby honoured to the end that they might have
eternal life, there would soon have been lost the memory of both; whereas
some of them survived in the images and in the inscriptions placed in
private houses, as well as in public buildings, namely, in the amphitheatres,
the theatres, the baths, the aqueducts, the temples, the obelisks, the colossi,
the pyramids, the arches, the reservoirs, the public treasuries, and finally, in
the very tombs, whereof a great part was destroyed by a barbarous and

savage race who had nothing in them of man but the shape and the name.
These, among others, were the Visigoths, who, having created Alaric their
King, assailed Italy and Rome and sacked the city twice without respect for
anything whatsoever. The same, too, did the Vandals, having come from
Africa with Genseric, their King, who, not content with his booty and prey
and all the cruelties that he wrought there, carried away her people into
slavery, to their exceeding great misery, and among them Eudoxia, once the
wife of the Emperor Valentinian, who had been slaughtered no long time
before by his own soldiers. For these, having fallen away in very great
measure from the ancient Roman valour, for the reason that all the best had
gone a long time before to Byzantium with the Emperor Constantine, had
no longer any good customs or ways of life. Nay more, there had been lost
at one and the same time all true men and every sort of virtue, and laws,
habits, names, and tongues had been changed; and all these things together
and each by itself had caused every lovely mind and lofty intellect to
become most brutish and most base.
But what brought infinite harm and damage on the said professions, even
more than all the aforesaid causes, was the burning zeal of the new
Christian religion, which, after a long and bloody combat, with its wealth of
miracles and with the sincerity of its works, had finally cast down and
swept away the old faith of the heathens, and, devoting itself most ardently
with all diligence to driving out and extirpating root and branch every least
occasion whence error could arise, not only defaced or threw to the ground
all the marvellous statues, sculptures, pictures, mosaics, and ornaments of
the false gods of the heathens, but even the memorials and the honours of
numberless men of mark, to whom, for their excellent merits, the noble
spirit of the ancients had set up statues and other memorials in public
places. Nay more, it not only destroyed, in order to build the churches for
the Christian use, the most honoured temples of the idols, but in order to
ennoble and adorn S. Pietro (to say nothing of the ornaments which had
been there from the beginning) it also robbed of its stone columns the
Mausoleum of Hadrian, now called the Castello di S. Angelo, and many
other buildings that to-day we see in ruins. And although the Christian
religion did not do this by reason of hatred that it bore to the arts, but only
in order to humiliate and cast down the gods of the heathens, it was none
the less true that from this most ardent zeal there came so great ruin on

these honoured professions that their very form was wholly lost. And as if
aught were wanting to this grievous misfortune, there arose against Rome
the wrath of Totila, who, besides razing her walls and destroying with fire
and sword all her most wonderful and noble buildings, burnt the whole city
from end to end, and, having robbed her of every living body, left her a prey
to flames and fire, so that there was not found in her in eighteen successive
days a single living soul; and he cast down and destroyed so completely the
marvellous statues, pictures, mosaics, and works in stucco, that there was
lost, I do not say only their majesty, but their very form and essence.
Wherefore, it being the lower rooms chiefly of the palaces and other
buildings that were wrought with stucco, with painting, and with statuary,
there was buried by the ruins from above all that good work that has been
discovered in our own day, and those who came after, judging the whole to
be in ruins, planted vines thereon, in a manner that, since the said lower
rooms remained under the ground, the moderns have called them grottoes,
and "grotesque" the pictures that are therein seen at the present day.
After the end of the Ostrogoths, who were destroyed by Narses, men were
living among the ruins of Rome in some fashion, poorly indeed, when there
came, after 100 years, Constantine II, Emperor of Constantinople, who,
although received lovingly by the Romans, laid waste, robbed, and carried
away all that had remained, more by chance than by the good will of those
who had destroyed her, in the miserable city of Rome. It is true, indeed, that
he was not able to enjoy this booty, because, being carried by a sea-tempest
to Sicily and being justly slain by his own men, he left his spoils, his
kingdom, and his life a prey to Fortune. But she, not yet content with the
woes of Rome, to the end that the things stolen might never return, brought
thither for the ruin of the island a host of Saracens, who carried off both the
wealth of the Sicilians and the spoils of Rome to Alexandria, to the very
great shame and loss of Italy and of Christendom. And so all that the
Pontiffs had not destroyed (and above all S. Gregory, who is said to have
decreed banishment against all the remainder of the statues and of the spoils
of the buildings) came finally, at the hands of that most rascally Greek, to
an evil end; in a manner that, there being no trace or sign to be found of
anything that was in any way good, the men who came after, although rude
and boorish, and in particular in their pictures and sculptures, yet, incited by
nature and refined by the air, set themselves to work, not according to the

rules of the aforesaid arts, which they did not know, but according to the
quality of their own intelligence.
The arts of design, then, having been brought to these limits both before and
during the lordship of the Lombards over Italy and also afterwards,
continued gradually to grow worse, although some little work was done,
insomuch that nothing could have been more rudely wrought or with less
design than what was done, as bear witness, besides many other works,
certain figures that are in the portico of S. Pietro in Rome, above the doors,
wrought in the Greek manner in memory of certain holy fathers who had
made disputation for Holy Church in certain councils. To this, likewise,
bear witness many works in the same manner that are to be seen in the city
and in the whole Exarchate of Ravenna, and in particular some that are in S.
Maria Rotonda without that city, made a little time after the Lombards had
been driven out of Italy. In this church, as I will not forbear to say, there
may be seen a thing most notable and marvellous, namely, the vault, or
rather cupola, that covers it, which, although it is ten braccia wide and
serves for roof and covering to that building, is nevertheless of one single
piece, so great and ponderous that it seems almost impossible that such a
stone, weighing more than 200,000 libbre,[4] could have been set into place
so high. But to return to our subject; there issued from the hands of the
masters of these times those puppet-like and uncouth figures that are still to
be seen in the works of old. The same thing happened to architecture,
seeing that, since it was necessary to build, and since form and the good
method were completely lost by reason of the death of the craftsmen and
the destruction and ruin of their works, those who applied themselves to this
exercise built nothing that either in ordering or in proportion showed any
grace, or design, or reason whatsoever. Wherefore there came to arise new
architects, who brought from their barbarous races the method of that
manner of buildings that are called by us to-day German; and they made
some that are rather a source of laughter for us moderns than creditable to
them, until better craftsmen afterwards found a better style, in some
measure similar to the good style of the ancients, even as that manner may
be seen throughout all Italy in the old churches (but not the ancient), which
were built by them, such as a palace of Theodoric, King of Italy, in
Ravenna, and one in Pavia, and another in Modena; all in a barbarous
manner, and rather rich and vast than well-conceived or of good

architecture. The same may be affirmed of S. Stefano in Rimini, of S.
Martino in Ravenna, and of the Church of S. Giovanni Evangelista, erected
in the same city by Galla Placidia about the year of our salvation 438; of S.
Vitale, which was erected in the year 547, of the Abbey of Classi di Fuori,
and in short of many other monasteries and churches erected after the
Lombard rule. All these buildings, as has been said, are both large and
magnificent, but of the rudest architecture, and among them are many
abbeys in France erected to S. Benedict, the Church and Monastery of
Monte Casino, and the Church of S. Giovanni Battista at Monza, built by
that Theodelinda, Queen of the Goths, to whom S. Gregory the Pope wrote
his Dialogues; in which place that Queen caused to be painted the story of
the Lombards, wherein it was seen that they shaved the back of their heads,
and in front they had long locks, and they dyed themselves as far as the
chin. Their garments were of ample linen, as was the use of the Angles and
Saxons, and below a mantle of diverse colours; their shoes open as far as
the toes and tied above with certain straps of leather. Similar to the
aforesaid churches were the Church of S. Giovanni in Pavia, erected by
Gondiberta, daughter of the aforesaid Theodelinda, and in the same city the
Church of S. Salvadore, built by the brother of the said Queen, Aribert, who
succeeded to the throne of Rodoald, husband of Gondiberta; and the Church
of S. Ambrogio in Pavia, erected by Grimoald, King of the Lombards, who
drove Bertrid, son of Aribert, from his throne. This Bertrid, being restored
to his throne after the death of Grimoald, erected, also in Pavia, a monastery
for nuns called the Monasterio Nuovo, in honour of Our Lady and of S.
Agatha; and the Queen erected one without the walls, dedicated to the
"Virgin Mary in Pertica." Cunibert, likewise, son of that Bertrid, erected a
monastery and church after the same manner to S. Giorgio, called di
Coronate, on the spot where he had gained a great victory over Alahi. Not
unlike to these, too, was the church that the King of the Lombards,
Luitprand (who lived in the time of King Pepin, father of Charlemagne),
built in Pavia, which is called S. Pietro in Cieldauro; nor that one, likewise,
that Desiderius built, who reigned after Astolf—namely, S. Pietro Clivate,
in the diocese of Milan; nor the Monastery of S. Vincenzo in Milan, nor that
of S. Giulia in Brescia, seeing that they were all built at the greatest cost,
but in the most ugly and haphazard manner.

Later, in Florence, architecture made some little progress, and the Church of
S. Apostolo, that was erected by Charlemagne, although small, was most
beautiful in manner; for not to mention that the shafts of the columns,
although they are of separate pieces, show much grace and are made with
beautiful proportion, the capitals, also, and the arches turned to make the
little vaulted roofs of the two small aisles, show that in Tuscany there had
survived or in truth arisen some good craftsman. In short, the architecture of
this church is such that Filippo di Ser Brunellesco did not disdain to avail
himself of it as a model in building the Church of S. Spirito and that of S.
Lorenzo in the same city. The same may be seen in the Church of S. Marco
in Venice, which (to say nothing of S. Giorgio Maggiore, erected by
Giovanni Morosini in the year 978) was begun under the Doge Giustiniano
and Giovanni Particiaco, close by S. Teodosio, when the body of that
Evangelist was sent from Alexandria to Venice; and after many fires, which
greatly damaged the Doge's palace and the church, it was finally rebuilt on
the same foundations in the Greek manner and in that style wherein it is
seen to-day, at very great cost and under the direction of many architects, in
the year of Christ 973, at the time of Doge Domenico Selvo, who had the
columns brought from wheresoever he could find them. And so it continued
to go on up to the year 1140, when the Doge was Messer Piero Polani, and,
as has been said, with the design of many masters, all Greeks. In the same
Greek manner and about the same time were the seven abbeys that Count
Ugo, Marquis of Brandenburg, caused to be built in Tuscany, as can be seen
in the Badia of Florence, in that of Settimo, and in the others; which
buildings, with the remains of those that are no longer standing, bear
testimony that architecture was still in a measure holding its ground,
although greatly corrupted and far removed from the good manner of the
ancients. To this can also bear witness many old palaces built in Florence
after the ruin of Fiesole, in Tuscan workmanship, but with barbaric ordering
in the proportions of those doors and windows of immense length, in the
curves of the pointed quarter-segments, and in the turning of the arches,
after the wont of the foreign architects of those times.
The year afterwards, 1013, it is clear that the art had regained some of its
vigour from the rebuilding of that most beautiful church, S. Miniato in Sul
Monte, in the time of Messer Alibrando, citizen and Bishop of Florence; for
the reason that, besides the marble ornaments that are seen therein both

within and without, it may be seen from the façade that the Tuscan
architects strove as much as they could in the doors, the windows, the
columns, the arches, and the mouldings, to imitate the good order of the
ancients, having in part recovered it from the most ancient temple of S.
Giovanni in their city. At the same time painting, which was little less than
wholly spent, may be seen to have begun to win back something, as the
mosaic shows that was made in the principal chapel[5] of the said Church of
S. Miniato.
From such beginnings, then, these arts commenced to grow better in design
throughout Tuscany, as is seen in the year 1016, from the commencement
made by the people of Pisa for the building of their Duomo, seeing that in
those times it was a great thing for men to put their hands to the
construction of a church made, as this was, with five naves, and almost
wholly of marble both within and without. This church, which was built
under the direction and design of Buschetto, a Greek of Dulichium, an
architect of rarest worth for those times, was erected and adorned by the
people of Pisa with innumerable spoils brought by sea (for they were at the
height of their greatness) from diverse most distant places, as is well shown
by the columns, bases, capitals, cornices, and all the other kinds of
stonework that are therein seen. And seeing that these things were some of
them small, some large, and some of a middle size, great was the judgment
and the talent of Buschetto in accommodating them and in making the
distribution of all this building, which is very well arranged both within and
without; and besides other work, he contrived the frontal slope of the façade
very ingeniously with a great number of columns, adorning it besides with
columns carved in diverse and varied ways, and with ancient statues, even
as he also made the principal doors in the same façade, between which—
that is, beside that of the Carroccio—there was afterwards given an
honourable burial-place to Buschetto himself, with three epitaphs, whereof
this is one, in Latin verses in no way dissimilar to others of those times:
QUOD VIX MILLE BOUM POSSENT JUGA JUNCTA MOVERE,
ET QUOD VIX POTUIT PER MARE FERRE RATIS,
BUSCHETTI NISU, QUOD ERAT MIRABILE VISU,
DENA PUELLARUM TURBA LEVAVIT ONUS.

And seeing that there has been made mention above of the Church of S.
Apostolo in Florence, I will not forbear to say that on a marble slab therein,
on one side of the high-altar, there may be seen these words:
VIII. V. DIE VI. APRILIS IN RESURRECTIONE DOMINI,
KAROLUS FRANCORUM REX A ROMA REVERTENS,
INGRESSUS FLORENTIAM, CUM MAGNO GAUDIO ET
TRIPUDIO SUSCEPTUS, CIVIUM COPIAM TORQUEIS
AUREIS DECORAVIT ... ECCLESIA SANCTORUM
APOSTOLORUM ... IN ALTARI INCLUSA EST LAMINA
PLUMBEA, IN QUA DESCRIPTA APPARET PRÆFATA
FUNDATIO ET CONSECRATIO FACTA PER
ARCHIEPISCOPUM TURPINUM, TESTIBUS ROLANDO ET
ULIVERIO.
The aforesaid edifice of the Duomo in Pisa, awaking the minds of many to
fair enterprises throughout all Italy, and above all in Tuscany, was the cause
that in the city of Pistoia, in the year 1032, a beginning was made for the
Church of S. Paolo, in the presence of the Blessed Atto, Bishop of that city,
as may be read in a contract made at that time, and, in short, for many other
buildings whereof it would take too long to make mention at present. I
cannot forbear to say, however, following the course of time, that
afterwards, in the year 1060, there was erected in Pisa the round church of
S. Giovanni, opposite the Duomo and in the same square. And something
marvellous and almost wholly incredible is to be found recorded in an old
book of the Works of the said Duomo, namely, that the columns of the said
S. Giovanni, the pillars, and the vaulting were raised and completed in
fifteen days and no more. In the same book, which anyone can see who has
the wish, it may be read that for the building of this church there was
imposed a tax of one danaio for each fire, but it is not said therein whether
of gold or of small coin; and at that time there were in Pisa, as may be seen
in the same book, 34,000 fires. Truly this work was vast, of great cost, and
difficult to execute, and above all the vaulting of the tribune, made in the
shape of a pear and covered without with lead. The outer side is full of
columns, carvings, and groups, and on the frieze of the central door is a
Jesus Christ with the twelve Apostles in half-relief, after the Greek manner.

The people of Lucca, about the same time—that is, in the year 1061—as
rivals of the people of Pisa, began the Church of S. Martino in Lucca from
the design of certain disciples of Buschetto, there being then no other
architects in Tuscany. Attached to the façade of this church there may be
seen a marble portico with many ornaments and carvings made in memory
of Pope Alexander II, who had been, a short time before he was elected to
the Pontificate, Bishop of that city. Of this construction and of Alexander
himself everything is fully told in nine Latin verses, and the same may be
seen in certain other ancient letters engraved on the marble under the
portico, between the doors. On the said façade are certain figures, and under
the portico many scenes in marble from the life of S. Martin, in half-relief,
and in the Greek manner. But the best, which are over one of the doors,
were made 170 years after by Niccola Pisano and finished in 1233, as will
be told in the proper place; the Wardens, when these were begun, being
Abellenato and Aliprando, as it may be clearly seen from certain letters
carved in marble in the same place. These figures by the hand of Niccola
Pisano show how much improvement there came from him to the art of
sculpture. Similar to these were most, nay, all of the buildings that were
erected in Italy from the times aforesaid up to the year 1250, seeing that
little or no acquisition or improvement can be seen to have been made in
the space of so many years by architecture, which stayed within the same
limits and went on ever in that rude manner, whereof many examples are
still to be seen, of which I will at present make no mention, for the reason
that they will be spoken of below according to the occasions that may come
before me.
In like manner the good sculptures and pictures which had been buried
under the ruins of Italy remained up to the same time hidden from or not
known to the men boorishly reared in the rudeness of the modern use of that
age, wherein no other sculptures or pictures existed than those which a
remnant of old Greeks were making either in images of clay or stone, or
painting monstrous figures and covering only the bare lineaments with
colour. These craftsmen, as the best, being the only ones in these
professions, were summoned to Italy, whither they brought sculpture and
painting, together with mosaic, in that style wherein they knew them; and
even so they taught them rudely and roughly to the Italians, who afterwards
made use of them, as has been told and will be told further, up to a certain

time. And the men of those times, not being used to see other excellence or
greater perfection in any work than that which they themselves saw,
marvelled and took these for the best, for all that they were vile, until the
spirits of the generation then arising, helped in some places by the subtlety
of the air, became so greatly purged that about 1250, Heaven, moved to pity
for the lovely minds that the Tuscan soil was producing every day, restored
them to their first condition. And although those before them had seen
remains of arches, of colossi, of statues, of urns, and of storied columns in
the ages that came after the sackings, the destructions, and the burnings of
Rome, and never knew how to make use of them or draw from them any
benefit, up to the time mentioned above, the minds that came after,
discerning well enough the good from the bad and abandoning the old
manners, turned to imitating the ancient with all their industry and wit.
But in order that it may be understood more clearly what I call "old" and
what "ancient," the "ancient" were the works made before Constantine in
Corinth, in Athens, in Rome, and in other very famous cities, until the time
of Nero, the Vespasians, Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus; whereas those
others are called "old" that were executed from S. Silvester's day up to that
time by a certain remnant of Greeks, who knew rather how to dye than how
to paint. For since the excellent early craftsmen had been killed in these
wars, as has been said, to the remainder of these Greeks, old but not
ancient, there had been left nothing but elementary outlines on a ground of
colour; and to this at the present day witness is borne by an infinity of
mosaics, which, wrought throughout all Italy by these Greeks, are to be
seen in every old church in any city whatsoever of Italy, and above all in the
Duomo of Pisa, in S. Marco at Venice, and in other places as well; and so,
too, they kept making many pictures in that manner, with eyes staring,
hands outstretched, and standing on tiptoe, as may still be seen in S.
Miniato without Florence, between the door that leads into the sacristy and
that which leads into the convent; and in S. Spirito in the said city, the
whole side of the cloister opposite the church; and in like manner at Arezzo,
in S. Giuliano and S. Bartolommeo and in other churches; and in Rome, in
the old Church of S. Pietro, scenes right round between the windows—
works that have more of the monstrous in their lineaments than of likeness
to whatsoever they represent. Of sculptures, likewise, they made an infinity,
as may still be seen in low-relief over the door of S. Michele in the Piazza

Padella of Florence, and in Ognissanti; and tombs and adornments in many
places for the doors of churches, wherein they have certain figures for
corbels to support the roof, so rude and vile, so misshapen, and of such a
grossness of manner, that it appears impossible that worse could be
imagined.
Thus far have I thought fit to discourse from the beginning of sculpture and
of painting, and peradventure at greater length than was necessary in this
place, which I have done, indeed, not so much carried away by my affection
for art as urged by the common benefit and advantage of our craftsmen. For
having seen in what way she, from a small beginning, climbed to the
greatest height, and how from a state so noble she fell into utter ruin, and
that, in consequence, the nature of this art is similar to that of the others,
which, like human bodies, have their birth, their growth, their growing old,
and their death; they will now be able to recognize more easily the progress
of her second birth and of that very perfection whereto she has risen again
in our times. And I hope, moreover, that if ever (which God forbid) it
should happen at any time, through the negligence of men, or through the
malice of time, or, finally, through the decree of Heaven, which appears to
be unwilling that the things of this earth should exist for long in one form,
that she falls again into the same chaos of ruin; that these my labours,
whatsoever they may be worth (if indeed they may be worthy of a happier
fortune), both through what has been already said and through what remains
to say, may be able to keep her alive or at least to encourage the most
exalted minds to provide them with better assistance; so much so that, what
with my good will and the works of these masters, she may abound in those
aids and adornments wherein, if I may freely speak the truth, she has been
wanting up to the present day.
But it is now time to come to the Life of Giovanni Cimabue, and even as he
gave the first beginning to the new method of drawing and painting, so it is
just and expedient that he should give it to the Lives, in which I will do my
utmost to observe, the most that I can, the order of their manners rather than
that of time. And in describing the forms and features of the craftsmen I will
be brief, seeing that their portraits, which have been collected by me with
no less cost and fatigue than diligence, will show better what sort of men
the craftsmen themselves were in appearance than describing them could
ever do; and if the portrait of any one of them should be wanting, that is not

through my fault but by reason of its being nowhere found. And if the said
portraits were not peradventure to appear to someone to be absolutely like
to others that might be found, I wish it to be remembered that the portrait
made of a man when he was eighteen or twenty years old will never be like
to the portrait that may have been made fifteen or twenty years later. To this
it must be added that portraits in drawing are never so like as are those in
colours, not to mention that the engravers, who have no draughtsmanship,
always rob the faces (being unable or not knowing how to make exactly
those minutenesses that make them good and true to life) of that perfection
which is rarely or never found in portraits cut in wood. In short, how great
have been therein my labour, expense, and diligence, will be evident to
those who, in reading, will see whence I have to the best of my ability
unearthed them.

CONCERNING THE LIVES OF THE
PAINTERS, SCULPTORS, AND ARCHITECTS,
WHO HAVE LIVED FROM CIMABUE TO THE
PRESENT DAY. WRITTEN BY MESSER
GIORGIO VASARI, PAINTER OF AREZZO

GIOVANNI CIMABUE

Alinari
MADONNA, CHILD AND ANGELS
(After the painting by Cimabue. Paris: Louvre,
1260)

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LIFE OF GIOVANNI CIMABUE,
PAINTER OF FLORENCE

By the infinite flood of evils which had laid prostrate and submerged poor
Italy there had not only been ruined everything that could truly claim the
name of building, but there had been blotted out (and this was of graver
import) the whole body of the craftsmen, when, by the will of God, in the
city of Florence, in the year 1240, there was born, to give the first light to
the art of painting, Giovanni, surnamed Cimabue, of the family, noble in
those times, of Cimabue. He, while growing up, being judged by his father
and by others to have a beautiful and acute intelligence, was sent, to the end
that he might exercise himself in letters, to a master in S. Maria Novella, his
relative, who was then teaching grammar to the novices of that convent; but
Cimabue, in place of attending to his letters, would spend the whole day, as
one who felt himself led thereto by nature, in drawing, on books and other
papers, men, horses, houses, and diverse other things of fancy; to which
natural inclination fortune was favourable, for certain Greek painters had
been summoned to Florence by those who then governed the city, for
nothing else but to restore to Florence the art of painting, which was rather
out of mind than out of fashion, and they began, among the other works
undertaken in the city, the Chapel of the Gondi, whereof to-day the vaulting
and the walls are little less than eaten away by time, as may be seen in S.
Maria Novella beside the principal chapel, where it stands. Wherefore
Cimabue, having begun to take his first steps in this art which pleased him,
playing truant often from school, would stand the livelong day watching
these masters at work, in a manner that, being judged by his father and by
these painters to be in such wise fitted for painting that there could be
hoped for him, applying himself to this profession, an honourable success,
to his own no small satisfaction he was apprenticed by the said father to
these men; whereupon, exercising himself without ceasing, in a short time
nature assisted him so greatly that he surpassed by a long way, both in
drawing and in colouring, the manner of the masters who were teaching
him. For they, giving no thought to making any advance, had made those

works in that fashion wherein they are seen to-day—that is, not in the good
ancient manner of the Greeks but in that rude modern manner of those
times; and because, although he imitated these Greeks, he added much
perfection to the art, relieving it of a great part of their rude manner, he gave
honour to his country with his name and with the works that he made, to
which witness is borne in Florence by the pictures that he wrought, such as
the front of the altar in S. Cecilia, and in S. Croce a panel with a Madonna,
which was and still is placed against a pilaster on the right within the choir.
After this, he made a S. Francis on a small panel on a gold ground, and
portrayed him from nature (which was something new in those times) as
best he knew, and round him all the stories of his life, in twenty small
pictures full of little figures on a gold ground.
Having next undertaken to make a large panel for the monks of
Vallombrosa, in the Abbey of S. Trinita in Florence, he showed in that work
(using therein great diligence, so as to rise equal to the esteem which had
already been conceived of him) better inventions and a beautiful method in
the attitude of a Madonna, whom he made with the Child in her arms and
with many angels round her in adoration, on a gold ground; which panel,
being finished, was placed by these monks over the high-altar of the said
church, and being afterwards removed, in order to give that place to the
panel by Alesso Baldovinetti which is there to-day, it was placed in a
smaller chapel in the left-hand aisle of the said church.
Working next in fresco on the Hospital of the Porcellana, at the corner of
the Via Nuova which goes into the Borg' Ognissanti, on the façade which
has in the middle the principal door, and making on one side the
Annunciation of the Virgin by the Angel, and on the other Jesus Christ with
Cleophas and Luke, figures as large as life, he swept away that ancient
manner, making the draperies, the vestments, and everything else in this
work, a little more lively and more natural and softer than the manner of
these Greeks, all full of lines and profiles both in mosaic and in painting;
which manner, rough, rude, and vulgar, the painters of those times, not by
means of study, but by a certain convention, had taught one to the other for
many and many a year, without ever thinking of bettering their
draughtsmanship, of beauty of colouring, or of any invention that might be
good.

Cimabue, being summoned again after this work by the same Prior who had
caused him to make the works in S. Croce, made him a large Crucifix on
wood, which is still seen to-day in the church; which work was the reason,
it appearing to the Prior that he had been well served, that he took him to S.
Francesco in Pisa, their convent, in order to make a S. Francis on a panel,
which was held by these people to be a most rare work, there being seen
therein a certain greater quality of excellence, both in the air of the heads
and in the folds of the draperies, than had been shown in the Greek manner
up to that time by anyone who had wrought anything, not only in Pisa, but
in all Italy. Cimabue having next made for the same church on a large panel
the image of Our Lady, with the Child in her arms and with many angels
round her, also on a ground of gold, it was after no long time removed from
where it had been set up the first time, in order to make there the marble
altar that is there at present, and was placed within the church beside the
door on the left hand; and for this work he was much praised and rewarded
by the people of Pisa. In the same city of Pisa, at the request of the then
Abbot of S. Paolo in Ripa d'Arno, he made a S. Agnes on a little panel, and
round her, with little figures, all the stories of her life; which little panel is
to-day over the altar of the Virgins in the said church.
By reason of these works, then, the name of Cimabue being very famous
everywhere, he was brought to Assisi, a city of Umbria, where, in company
with certain Greek masters, in the lower Church of S. Francesco, he painted
part of the vaulting, and on the walls the life of Jesus Christ and that of S.
Francis. In these pictures he surpassed by a long way those Greek painters;
wherefore, growing in courage, he began by his own self to paint the upper
church in fresco, and in the chief apse, over the choir, on four sides, he
made certain stories of Our Lady—namely, her death; when her soul is
borne by Christ to Heaven upon a throne of clouds; and when, in the midst
of a choir of angels, He crowns her, with a great number of saints below,
both male and female, now eaten away by time and by dust. Next, in the
sections of the vaulting of the said church, which are five, he painted in like
manner many scenes. In the first, over the choir, he made the four
Evangelists, larger than life, and so well that to-day there is still recognized
in them much that is good, and the freshness of the colours in the flesh
shows that painting began to make great progress in fresco work through
the labours of Cimabue. The second section he made full of golden stars on

a ground of ultramarine. In the third he made in certain medallions Jesus
Christ, the Virgin His mother, S. John the Baptist, and S. Francis—namely,
in every medallion one of these figures, and in every quarter segment of the
vaulting a medallion. And between this and the fifth section he painted the
fourth with golden stars, as above, on a ground of ultramarine. In the fifth
he painted the four Doctors of the Church, and beside each one of these one
of the four chief Religious Orders—a work truly laborious and executed
with infinite diligence. The vaulting finished, he wrought, also in fresco, the
upper walls of the whole left-hand side of the church, making towards the
high-altar, between the windows and right up to the vaulting, eight scenes
from the Old Testament, commencing from the beginning of Genesis and
following the most notable events. And in the space that is round the
windows, up to the point where they end in the gallery that encircles the
interior of the wall of the church, he painted the remainder of the Old
Testament in eight other scenes. And opposite this work, in sixteen other
scenes corresponding to these, he painted the acts of Our Lady and of Jesus
Christ. And on the end wall over the principal door, and round the rose
window of the church, he made her Ascension into Heaven and the Holy
Spirit descending on the Apostles. This work, truly very great and rich and
most excellently executed, must have, in my judgment, amazed the world in
those times, seeing, above all, that painting had lain so long in such great
darkness; and to me, who saw it again in the year 1563, it appeared very
beautiful, thinking how in so great darkness Cimabue could see so great
light. But of all these pictures (and to this we should give consideration),
those on the roof, as being less injured by dust and by other accidents, have
been preserved much better than the others. These works finished, Giovanni
put his hand to painting the lower walls—namely, those that are from the
windows downwards—and made certain works upon them, but being called
to Florence on some business of his own, he did not carry this work further;
but it was finished, as will be told in the proper place, by Giotto, many
years afterwards.

Anderson
"ISAAC'S BLESSING"
(After the fresco of the Roman School.
Assisi: Upper Church of S. Francesco)

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Anderson
THE DEPOSITION FROM THE CROSS
(After the fresco by Pietro Laurati [Lorenzetti].
Assisi: Lower Church of S. Francesco)

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Having returned, then, to Florence, Cimabue painted in the cloister of S.
Spirito (wherein there is painted in the Greek manner, by other masters, the
whole side facing the church) three small arches by his own hand, from the
life of Christ, and truly with much design. And at the same time he sent
certain works wrought by himself in Florence to Empoli, which works are
still held to-day in great veneration in the Pieve of that township. Next, he
made for the Church of S. Maria Novella the panel of Our Lady that is set
on high between the Chapel of the Rucellai and that of the Bardi da Vernia;
which work was of greater size than any figure that had been made up to
that time. And certain angels that are round it show that, although he still

had the Greek manner, he was going on approaching in part to the line and
method of the modern. Wherefore this work caused so great marvel to the
people of that age, by reason of there not having been seen up to then
anything better, that it was borne in most solemn procession from the house
of Cimabue to the church, with much rejoicing and with trumpets, and he
was thereby much rewarded and honoured. It is said, and it may be read in
certain records of old painters, that while Cimabue was painting the said
panel in certain gardens close to the Porta S. Pietro, there passed through
Florence King Charles the Elder of Anjou, and that, among the many signs
of welcome made to him by the men of this city, they brought him to see
Cimabue's panel; whereupon, for the reason that it had not yet been seen by
anyone, in the showing it to the King there flocked together to it all the men
and all the women of Florence, with the utmost rejoicing and in the greatest
crowd in the world. Wherefore, by reason of the joy that the neighbours had
thereby, they called that place the Borgo Allegri; which place, although
enclosed in time within the walls, has ever after retained the same name.
In S. Francesco in Pisa, where he wrought, as has been said above, certain
other works, there is in the cloister, beside the door that leads into the
church, in a corner, a small panel in distemper by the hand of Cimabue,
wherein is a Christ on the Cross, with certain angels round Him, who,
weeping, are taking with their hands certain words that are written round
the head of Christ and are presenting them to the ears of a Madonna who
stands weeping on the right, and on the other side to S. John the Evangelist,
who is on the left, all grieving. And the words to the Virgin are: MULIER,
ECCE FILIUS TUUS; and those to S. John: ECCE MATER TUA; and
those that an angel standing apart holds in his hand, say: EX ILLA HORA
ACCEPIT EAM DISCIPULUS IN SUAM. Wherein it is to be observed
that Cimabue began to give light and to open the way to invention, assisting
art with words in order to express his conception; which was certainly
something whimsical and new.
Now because, by means of these works, Cimabue had acquired a very great
name, together with much profit, he was appointed as architect, in company
with Arnolfo Lapi, a man then excellent in architecture, for the building of
S. Maria del Fiore in Florence. But at length, having lived sixty years, he
passed to the other life in the year 1300, having little less than resurrected
painting. He left many disciples, and among others Giotto, who was

afterwards an excellent painter; which Giotto dwelt, after Cimabue, in his
master's own house in the Via del Cocomero. Cimabue was buried in S.
Maria del Fiore, with that epitaph made for him by one of the Nini:
CREDIDIT UT CIMABOS PICTURÆ CASTRA TENERE,
SIC TENUIT, VIVENS: NUNC TENET ASTRA POLI.

Anderson
THE CRUCIFIXION
(After the fresco by Cimabue. Assisi: Upper Church of S. Francesco)

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I will not refrain from saying that if to the glory of Cimabue there had not
been contrasted the greatness of Giotto, his disciple, his fame would have
been greater, as Dante demonstrates in his Commedia, wherein, alluding in
the eleventh canto of the Purgatorio to this very inscription on the tomb, he
said:
Credette Cimabue nella pittura
Tener lo campo, ed hora ha Giotto il grido,
Si che la fama di colui s' oscura.

In explanation of these verses, a commentator of Dante, who wrote at the
time when Giotto was alive and ten or twelve years after the death of Dante
himself—that is, about the year of Christ 1334—says, speaking of
Cimabue, precisely these words: "Cimabue was a painter of Florence in the
time of the author, very noble beyond the knowledge of man, and withal so
arrogant and so disdainful that if there were found by anyone any failing or
defect in his work, or if he himself had seen one (even as it comes to pass
many times that the craftsman errs, through a defect in the material whereon
he works, or through some lack in the instrument wherewith he labours),
incontinently he would destroy that work, however costly it might be.
Giotto was and is the most exalted among the painters of 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 parts of the world." This
commentary is now in the hands of the Very Reverend Don Vincenzio
Borghini, Prior of the Innocenti, a man not only most famous for his
nobility, goodness, and learning, but also endowed with such love and
understanding for all the finer arts that he has deserved to be elected by the
Lord Duke Cosimo, most properly, as his Lieutenant in our Academy of
Design.
But to return to Cimabue: Giotto, truly, obscured his fame not otherwise
than as a great light does the splendour of one much less, for the reason that
although Cimabue was, as it were, the first cause of the renovation of the art
of painting, yet Giotto, his pupil, moved by laudable ambition and assisted
by Heaven and by nature, was he who, rising higher with his thought,
opened the gate of truth to those who have brought her to that perfection
and majesty wherein we see her in her own century, which, being used to
see every day the marvels, the miracles, nay, the impossibilities wrought by
the craftsmen in that art, is now brought to such a pitch that nothing that
men do, be it even more Divine than human, causes it in any way to marvel.
Well is it with those whose labours deserve all praise, if, in place of being
praised and admired, they do not thereby incur blame and many times even
disgrace.
The portrait of Cimabue, by the hand of Simone Sanese, is to be seen in the
Chapter-house of S. Maria Novella, made in profile in the story of the Faith,
in a figure that has the face thin, the beard small, reddish, and pointed, with
a cap according to the use of those times—that is, wound round and round

and under the throat in lovely fashion. He who is beside him is Simone
himself, the author of that work, who portrayed himself with two mirrors in
order to make his head in profile, placing the one opposite to the other. And
that soldier clad in armour who is between them is said to be Count Guido
Novello, then Lord of Poppi. There remains for me to say of Cimabue that
in the beginning of our book, where I have put together drawings from the
own hand of all those who have made drawings from his time to ours, there
are to be seen certain small things made by his hand in the way of
miniature, wherein, although to-day perchance they appear rather rude than
otherwise, it is seen how much excellence was given by his work to
draughtsmanship.

CIMABUE: MADONNA AND CHILD
(Florence: Accademia 102 Panel)

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ARNOLFO DI LAPO

LIFE OF ARNOLFO DI LAPO,
ARCHITECT OF FLORENCE

[Notice to Readers in the Life of Arnolfo.—The said Arnolfo
began, in S. Maria Maggiore in Rome, the tomb of Pope
Honorius III, of the house of Savelli; which tomb he left
imperfect, with the portrait of the said Pope, which was
afterwards placed with his design in the principal chapel of
mosaic of S. Paolo in Rome, with the portrait of Giovanni
Gaetano, Abbot of that monastery. And the marble chapel,
wherein is the Manger of Jesus Christ, was one of the last pieces
of sculpture in marble that Arnolfo ever made; and he made it at
the instance of Pandolfo Ippotecorvo, in the year twelve (?), as
an epitaph bears witness that is on the wall beside the chapel;
and likewise the chapel and tomb of Pope Boniface VIII, in S.
Pietro in Rome, whereon is carved the same name of Arnolfo,
who wrought it.]
Having discoursed, in the Preface to the Lives, of certain buildings in a
manner old but not ancient, and having been silent, for the reason that I did
not know them, about the names of the architects who had charge of their
construction, I will make mention, in the Preface to this Life of Arnolfo, of
certain other edifices built in his time or a little before, whereof in like
manner it is not known who were the masters; and then of those that were
built in the same times, whereof it is known who were the architects, either
because the manner of the edifices themselves is recognized very well, or
because we have had information about them by means of the writings and
memorials left by them in the works that they made. Nor will this be outside
our subject, seeing that, although they are neither in a beautiful nor in a
good manner but only vast and magnificent, they are worthy none the less
of some consideration.
There were built, then, in the time of Lapo and of Arnolfo his son, many
edifices of importance both in Italy and abroad, whereof I have not been

able to find the architects, such as the Abbey of Monreale in Sicily, the
Piscopio of Naples, the Certosa of Pavia, the Duomo of Milan, S. Pietro and
S. Petronio in Bologna, and many others which are seen throughout all
Italy, built at incredible cost. Having seen all these buildings for myself and
studied them, and likewise many sculptures of those times, particularly in
Ravenna, and not having ever found, I do not say any memorials of the
masters, but even many times the date when they were built, I cannot but
marvel at the rudeness and little desire for glory of the men of that age. But
returning to our subject; after the buildings named above, there began at last
to arise men of a more exalted spirit, who, if they did not find, sought at
least to find something of the good. The first was Buono, of whom I know
neither the country nor the surname, for the reason that in making record of
himself in some of his works he put nothing but simply his name. He, being
both sculptor and architect, first made many palaces and churches and some
sculptures in Ravenna, in the year of our salvation 1152; and having
become known by reason of these works, he was called to Naples, where he
founded (although they were finished by others, as will be told) the Castel
Capoano and the Castel dell' Uovo; and afterwards, in the time of
Domenico Morosini, Doge of Venice, he founded the Campanile of S.
Marco with much consideration and judgment, having caused the
foundation of that tower to be so well fixed with piles that it has never
moved a hair's-breadth, as many buildings constructed in that city before his
day have been seen and still are seen to have done. And from him,
perchance, the Venetians learnt to found, in the manner in which they do it
to-day, the very beautiful and very rich edifices that every day are being
built so magnificently in that most noble city. It is true, indeed, that this
tower has nothing else good in it, neither manner, nor ornament, nor, in
short, anything that might be worthy of much praise. It was finished under
Anastasius IV and Adrian IV, Pontiffs, in the year 1154. In architecture,
likewise, Buono made the Church of S. Andrea in Pistoia, and in sculpture
he made an architrave of marble that is over the door, full of figures made
in the manner of the Goths, on which architrave his name is carved, with
the date when this work was made by him, which was the year 1166. Next,
being summoned to Florence, he gave the design for enlarging, as was
done, the Church of S. Maria Maggiore, which was then without the city,
and held in great veneration for the reason that Pope Pelagius had

consecrated it many years before, and because, as to size and manner, it was
a very fair body of a church.
Being then summoned by the Aretines to their city, Buono built the old
habitation of the Lords of Arezzo, namely, a palace in the manner of the
Goths, and beside it a bell-tower. This edifice, which for that manner was
good enough, was thrown to the ground, because it was opposite and very
near to the fortress of that city, in the year 1533. Afterwards, the art making
some little improvement through the works of one Guglielmo, German (I
believe) in origin, there were built certain edifices of the greatest cost and in
a slightly better manner; for this Guglielmo, so it is said, in the year 1174,
together with Bonanno, a sculptor, founded in Pisa the Campanile of the
Duomo, where there are certain words carved that say: A.D. MCLXXIV,
CAMPANILE HOC FUIT FUNDATUM, MENSE AUG. But these two
architects not having much practice of founding in Pisa and therefore not
supporting the platform with piles, as they ought, before they had gone
halfway with that building it inclined to one side and bent over to the
weakest part, in a manner that the said campanile leans six and a half
braccia[6] out of the straight, according as the foundation sank on this side;
and although in the lower part this is not much, up above it shows clear
enough to make men stand fast in a marvel how it can be that it has not
fallen down and has not thrown out cracks. The reason is that this edifice is
round both without and within and built in the shape of a hollow well, and
bound together with the stones in a manner that it is well-nigh impossible
that it should fall; and it is assisted, above all, by the foundations, which
have an outwork three braccia wide outside the tower, made, as it is seen,
after the sinking of the campanile, in order to support it. I am convinced
that if it had been square it would not have been standing to-day, for the
reason that the corner-stones of the square sides, as is often seen to happen,
would have forced them out in a manner that it would have fallen down.
And if the Garisenda, a tower in Bologna, although square, leans and does
not fall, that comes to pass because it is slender and does not lean so much,
not being burdened by so great a weight, by a great measure, as is this
campanile, which is praised, not because it has in it any design or beautiful
manner, but simply for its extravagance, it appearing impossible to anyone
who sees it that it can in any wise keep standing. And the same Bonanno,

while the said campanile was building, made, in the year 1180, the royal
door of bronze for the said Duomo of Pisa, wherein are seen these letters:
EGO BONANNUS PIS. MEA ARTE HANC PORTAM UNO ANNO
PERFECI,
TEMPORE BENEDICTI OPERARII.
Next, from the walls that were made from ancient spoils at S. Giovanni
Laterano in Rome, under Lucius III and Urban III, Pontiffs, when the
Emperor Frederick was crowned by this Urban, it is seen that the art was
going on continually improving, because certain little temples and chapels,
built, as has been said, of spoils, have passing good design and certain
things in them worthy of consideration, and among others this, that in order
not to overburden the walls of these buildings the vaulting was made of
small tubes and with partitions of stucco, praiseworthy enough for these
times. And from the mouldings and other parts it is seen that the craftsmen
were going on striving in order to find the good way.
Innocent III afterwards caused two palaces to be built on the Vatican Hill,
which were passing good, in so far as it has been possible to discover; but
since they were destroyed by other Popes, and in particular by Nicholas V,
who pulled down and rebuilt the greater part of one palace, there will be
nothing said of them but this, that a part of them is to be seen in the great
Round Tower and part in the old sacristy of S. Pietro. This Innocent III, who
ruled for nineteen years and took much delight in building, made many
edifices in Rome; and in particular, with the design of Marchionne Aretino,
both architect and sculptor, the Conti Tower, so called from his own
surname, seeing that he was of that family. The same Marchionne, in the
year when Innocent III died, finished the building of the Pieve of Arezzo
and likewise the campanile, making in sculpture, for the façade of the said
church, three rows of columns one above the other, with great variety not
only in the fashion of the capitals and the bases but also in the shafts of the
columns, some among them being thick, some slender, some joined
together two by two, and others four by four. In like manner there are some
twined in the manner of vines, and some made in the shape of figures acting
as supports, with diverse carvings. He also made therein many animals of
diverse sorts that support on the middle of their backs the weights of those
columns, and all with the most strange and extravagant inventions that can

possibly be imagined, and not only wide of the good order of the ancients
but almost wide of all just and reasonable proportion. But with all this,
whosoever sets out well to consider the whole sees that he went on striving
to do well, and thought peradventure to have found it in that method of
working and in that whimsical variety. The same man made in sculpture, on
the arch that is over the door of the said church, in barbaric manner, a God
the Father with certain angels, in half-relief and rather large; and in the arch
he carved the twelve months, placing his own name underneath in round
letters, as was the custom, and the date—namely, the year 1216. It is said
that Marchionne built in the Borgo Vecchio in Rome, for the same Pope
Innocent III, the ancient edifice of the Hospital and Church of S. Spirito in
Sassia, where there is still seen something of the old; and the ancient church
was still standing in our own day, when it was rebuilt in modern fashion,
with greater ornament and design, by Pope Paul III of the house of Farnese.
And in S. Maria Maggiore, also in Rome, he built the marble chapel where
there is the Manger of Jesus Christ; here he portrayed from the life Pope
Honorius III, whose tomb, also, he made, with ornaments some little better
than and different enough from the manner that was then in universal use
throughout all Italy. About the same time Marchionne also made the side
door of S. Pietro in Bologna, which was truly for those times a work of the
greatest mastery, by reason of the many carvings that are seen therein, such
as lions in the round that sustain columns, and men in the use of porters,
and other animals that support weights; and in the arch above he made the
twelve months in full relief, with various fancies, and for each month its
celestial sign; which work must have been held marvellous in those times.

RECLINING FEMALE FIGURE FROM A TOMB
(After the School of Arnolfo di Lapo. Florence: Collection Bardini)

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About the same time there was founded the Order of the Friars Minor of S.
Francis, which was confirmed by the said Innocent III, Pontiff, in the year
1206; and there came such growth, not only in Italy but in all the other parts
of the world, both to the devoutness and to the number of the Friars, that
there was scarce a city of account that did not erect for them churches and
convents of the greatest cost, each according to its power. Wherefore, Frate
Elia having erected, two years before the death of S. Francis (while the
Saint himself, as General, was abroad preaching, and he, Prior in Assisi), a
church with the title of Our Lady, and S. Francis having died, and all
Christendom flocking together to visit the body of the Saint, who, in life
and in death, had been known as so much the friend of God, and every man
making offering to the holy place according to his power, it was ordained
that the said church begun by Frate Elia should be built much greater and
more magnificent. But there being a dearth of good architects, and the work

which was to be done having need of an excellent one, seeing that it had to
be built upon a very high hill at the foot of which there runs a torrent called
Tescio, there was brought to Assisi, after much consideration, as the best of
all that were then to be found, one Maestro Jacopo Tedesco. He, having
considered the site and grasped the wishes of the fathers, who held
thereunto a general Chapter in Assisi, designed a very beautiful body of a
church and convent, making in the model three tiers, one to be made
underground and the others for two churches, one of which, on the lower
level, should serve as a court, with a fairly large portico round it, and the
other for a church; planning that from the first one should climb to the
second by a most convenient flight of steps, which should wind round the
principal chapel, opening out into two parts in order to lead more easily into
the second church, to which he gave the form of a T, making it five times as
long as it is broad and dividing one bay from another with great piers of
stone, on which he afterwards threw very bold arches, with groined vaulting
between one and another. From a model so made, then, was built this truly
very great edifice, and it was followed in every part, save in the buttresses
above that had to surround the apse and the principal chapel, and in making
the vaulting groined, because they did not make it as has been said, but
barrel-shaped, in order that it might be stronger. Next, in front of the
principal chapel of the lower church, they placed the altar, and under that,
when it was finished, they laid, with most solemn translation, the body of S.
Francis. And because the true sepulchre which holds the body of the
glorious Saint is in the first—that is, in the lowest church—where no one
ever goes, and the doors are walled up, round the said altar there are very
large gratings of iron, with rich ornaments in marble and mosaic, that look
down therein. This building is flanked on one of the sides by two sacristies,
and by a very high campanile, namely, five times as high as it is broad. It
had on top a very high octagonal spire, but this was removed because it
threatened to fall. This whole work was brought to a finish in the space of
four years, and no more, by the genius of Maestro Jacopo Tedesco and by
the solicitude of Frate Elia, after whose death, to the end that such a pile
might never through any lapse of time fall into ruin, there were built round
the lower church twelve very stout towers, and in each of these a spiral
staircase that climbs from the ground up to the summit. And in time,
afterwards, there were made therein many chapels and other very rich
ornaments, whereof there is no need to discourse further, since this is

enough on this subject for the present, and above all because everyone can
see how much of the useful, the ornamental, and the beautiful has been
added to this beginning of Maestro Jacopo's by many supreme Pontiffs,
Cardinals, Princes, and other people of importance throughout all Europe.
Now, to return to Maestro Jacopo; by means of this work he acquired so
great fame throughout all Italy that he was summoned by those who then
governed the city of Florence, and afterwards received with the greatest
possible friendliness; although, according to the use that the Florentines
have, and had still more in ancient times, of abbreviating names, he was
called not Jacopo but Lapo throughout all the course of his life; for he dwelt
ever with his whole family in that city. And although he went at diverse
times to erect many buildings throughout Tuscany, such as the Palace of
Poppi in the Casentino, for that Count who had had for wife the beautiful
Gualdrada, and for her dower, the Casentino; and for the Aretines, the
Vescovado,[7] and the Palazzo Vecchio of the Lords of Pietramala; none the
less his home was always in Florence, where, having founded in the year
1218 the piers of the Ponte alla Carraja, which was then called the Ponte
Nuovo, he delivered them finished in two years; and a little time afterwards
the rest was finished of wood, as was then the custom. And in the year 1221
he gave the design for the Church of S. Salvadore del Vescovado, which
was begun under his direction, and that of S. Michele in Piazza Padella,
where there are certain sculptures in the manner of those times. Next,
having given the design for draining the waters of the city, having caused
the Piazza di S. Giovanni to be raised, having built, in the time of Messer
Rubaconte da Mandella, a Milanese, the bridge that retains the same man's
name, and having discovered that most useful method of paving streets,
which before were covered with bricks, he made the model of the Palace,
to-day of the Podestà, which was then built for the Anziani. And finally,
having sent the model of a tomb to Sicily, to the Abbey of Monreale, for the
Emperor Frederick and by order of Manfred, he died, leaving Arnolfo, his
son, heir no less to the talent than to the wealth of his father.
This Arnolfo, from whose talent architecture gained no less betterment than
painting had gained from that of Cimabue, being born in the year 1232, was
thirty years of age when his father died, and was held in very great esteem,
for the reason that, having not only learnt from his father all that he knew,
but having also given attention under Cimabue to design in order to make

use of it in sculpture, he was held by so much the best architect in Tuscany,
that not only did the Florentines found the last circle of the walls of their
city under his direction, in the year 1284, and make after his design the
Loggia and the piers of Or San Michele, where the grain was sold, building
them of bricks and with a simple roof above, but by his counsel, in the same
year when the Poggio de' Magnuoli collapsed, on the brow of S. Giorgio
above S. Lucia in the Via de' Bardi, they determined by means of a public
decree that there should be no more building on the said spot, nor should
any edifice be ever made, seeing that by the sinking of the stones, which
have water trickling under them, there would be always danger in
whatsoever edifice might be made there. That this is true has been seen in
our own day from the ruin of many buildings and magnificent houses of
noblemen. In the next year, 1285, he founded the Loggia and Piazza de'
Priori, and built the principal chapel of the Badia of Florence, and the two
that are on either side of it, renovating the church and the choir, which at
first had been made much smaller by Count Ugo, founder of that abbey; and
for Cardinal Giovanni degli Orsini, Legate of the Pope in Tuscany, he built
the campanile of the said church, which, according to the works of those
times, was much praised, although it did not have its completion of grey-
stone until afterwards, in the year 1330.
After this there was founded with his design, in the year 1294, the Church
of S. Croce, where the Friars Minor have their seat. What with the middle
nave and the two lesser ones Arnolfo constructed this so wide, that, being
unable to make the vaulting below the roof by reason of the too great space,
he, with much judgment, caused arches to be made from pier to pier, and
upon these he placed the roofs on a slope, building stone gutters over the
said arches in order to carry away the rain-water, and giving them so much
fall as to make the roofs secure, as they are, from the danger of rotting;
which device was not only new and ingenious then, but is equally useful
and worthy of being considered to-day. He then gave the design for the first
cloisters of the old convent of that church, and a little time after he caused
to be removed from round the Church of S. Giovanni, on the outer side, all
the arches and tombs of marble and grey-stone that were there, and had part
of them placed behind the campanile on the façade of the Canon's house,
beside the Company of S. Zanobi; and then he incrusted with black marble
from Prato all the eight outer walls of the said S. Giovanni, removing the

grey-stone that there had been before between these ancient marbles. The
Florentines, in the meanwhile, wishing to build walls in the Valdarno di
Sopra round Castello di San Giovanni and Castel Franco, for the
convenience of the city and of their victualling by means of the markets,
Arnolfo made the design for them in the year 1295, and satisfied them in
such a manner, as well in this as he had done in the other works, that he was
made citizen of Florence.
After these works, the Florentines determined, as Giovanni Villani relates in
his History, to build a principal church in their city, and to build it such that
in point of greatness and magnificence there could be desired none larger or
more beautiful from the industry and knowledge of men; and Arnolfo made
the design and the model of the never to be sufficiently praised Church of S.
Maria del Fiore, ordering that it should be all incrusted, without, with
polished marbles and with the so many cornices, pilasters, columns, carved
foliage, figures, and other ornaments, with which to-day it is seen brought,
if not to the whole, to a great part at least of its perfection. And what was
marvellous therein above everything else was this, that incorporating,
besides S. Reparata, other small churches and houses that were round it, in
making the site, which is most beautiful, he showed so great diligence and
judgment in causing the foundations of so great a fabric to be made broad
and deep, filling them with good material—namely, with gravel and lime
and with great stones below—wherefore the square is still called "Lungo i
Fondamenti," that they have been very well able, as is to be seen to-day, to
support the weight of the great mass of the cupola which Filippo di Ser
Brunellesco raised over them. The laying of such foundations for so great a
church was celebrated with much solemnity, for on the day of the Nativity
of Our Lady, in 1298, the first stone was laid by the Cardinal Legate of the
Pope, in the presence not only of many Bishops and of all the clergy, but of
the Podestà as well, the Captains, Priors, and other magistrates of the city,
nay, of the whole people of Florence, calling it S. Maria del Fiore. And
because it was estimated that the expenses of this fabric must be very great,
as they afterwards were, there was imposed a tax at the Chamber of the
Commune of four danari in the lira on everything that was put out at
interest, and two soldi per head per annum; not to mention that the Pope and
the Legate granted very great indulgences to those who should make them
offerings thereunto. I will not forbear to say, moreover, that besides the

foundations, very broad and fifteen braccia deep, much consideration was
shown in making those buttresses of masonry at every angle of the eight
sides, seeing that it was these afterwards that emboldened the mind of
Brunellesco to superimpose a much greater weight than that which Arnolfo,
perchance, had thought to impose thereon. It is said that while the two first
side-doors of S. Maria del Fiore were being begun in marble Arnolfo caused
some fig-leaves to be carved on a frieze, these being the arms of himself
and of Maestro Lapo, his father, and that therefore it may be believed that
from him the family of the Lapi had its origin, to-day a noble family in
Florence. Others say, likewise, that from the descendants of Arnolfo there
descended Filippo di Ser Brunellesco. But leaving this, seeing that others
believe that the Lapi came from Ficaruolo, a township on the mouth of the
Po, and returning to our Arnolfo, I say that by reason of the greatness of this
work he deserves infinite praise and an eternal name, above all because he
caused it to be all incrusted, without, with marbles of many colours, and
within, with hard stone, and made even the smallest corners of that same
stone. But in order that everyone may know the exact size of this
marvellous fabric, I say that from the door up to the end of the Chapel of S.
Zanobi the length is 260 braccia, and the breadth across the transepts 166;
across the three naves it is 66 braccia. The middle nave alone is 72 braccia
in height; and the other two lesser naves, 48 braccia. The external circuit of
the whole church is 1,280 braccia. The cupola, from the ground up to the
base of the lantern, is 154 braccia; the lantern, without the ball, is 36 braccia
in height; the ball, 4 braccia in height; the cross, 8 braccia in height. The
whole cupola, from the ground up to the summit of the cross, is 202 braccia.

Alinari
TOMB OF ADRIAN V
(After the School of Arnolfo di Lapo.
Viterbo: Church of S. Francesco)

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But returning to Arnolfo, I say that being held, as he was, excellent, he had
acquired so great trust that nothing of importance was determined without
his counsel; wherefore, in the same year, the Commune of Florence having

finished the foundation of the last circle of the walls of the city, even as it
was said above that they were formerly begun, and so too the towers of the
gates, and all being in great part well advanced, he made a beginning for the
Palace of the Signori, designing it in resemblance to that which his father
Lapo had built in the Casentino for the Counts of Poppi. But yet, however
magnificent and great he designed it, he could not give it that perfection
which his art and his judgment required, for the following reason: the
houses of the Uberti, Ghibellines and rebels against the people of Florence,
had been pulled down and thrown to the ground, and a square had been
made on the site, and the stupid obstinacy of certain men prevailed so
greatly that Arnolfo could not bring it about, through whatsoever arguments
he might urge thereunto, that it should be granted to him to put the Palace
on a square base, because the governors had refused that the Palace should
have its foundations in any way whatsoever on the ground of the rebel
Uberti. And they brought it about that the northern aisle of S. Pietro
Scheraggio should be thrown to the ground, rather than let him work in the
middle of the square with his own measurements; not to mention that they
insisted, moreover, that there should be united and incorporated with the
Palace the Tower of the Foraboschi, called the "Torre della Vacca," in height
fifty braccia, for the use of the great bell, and together with it some houses
bought by the Commune for this edifice. For which reasons no one must
marvel if the foundation of the Palace is awry and out of the square, it
having been necessary, in order to incorporate the tower in the middle and
to render it stronger, to bind it round with the walls of the Palace; which
walls, having been laid open in the year 1561 by Giorgio Vasari, painter and
architect, were found excellent. Arnolfo, then, having filled up the said
tower with good material, it was afterwards easy for other masters to make
thereon the very high campanile that is to be seen there to-day; for within
the limits of two years he finished only the Palace, which has subsequently
received from time to time those improvements which give it to-day that
greatness and majesty that are to be seen.
After all these works and many more that Arnolfo made, no less convenient
and useful than beautiful, he died at the age of seventy, in 1300, at the very
time when Giovanni Villani began to write the Universal History of his
times. And because he not only left S. Maria del Fiore founded, but its three
principal tribunes, which are under the cupola, vaulted, to his own great

glory, he well deserved that there should be made a memorial of him on the
corner of the church opposite the Campanile, with these verses carved in
marble in round letters:
ANNIS · MILLENIS · CENTUM · BIS · OCTO · NOGENIS ·
VENIT · LEGATUS · ROMA · BONITATE · DOTATUS ·
QUI · LAPIDEM · FIXIT · FUNDO · SIMUL · ET · BENEDIXIT ·
PRÆSULE · FRANCISCO · GESTANTE · PONTIFICATUM ·
ISTUD · AB · ARNOLFO · TEMPLUM · FUIT · ÆDIFICATUM ·
HOC · OPUS · INSIGNE · DECORANS · FLORENTIA · DIGNE ·
REGINÆ · CŒLI · CONSTRUXIT · MENTE · FIDELI ·
QUAM · TU · VIRGO · PIA · SEMPER · DEFENDE · MARIA ·
Of this Arnolfo we have written the Life, with the greatest brevity that has
been possible, for the reason that, although his works do not approach by a
great measure the perfection of the things of to-day, he deserves, none the
less, to be celebrated with loving memory, having shown amid so great
darkness, to those who lived after him, the way to walk to perfection. The
portrait of Arnolfo, by the hand of Giotto, is to be seen in S. Croce, beside
the principal chapel, at the beginning of the story, where the friars are
weeping for the death of S. Francis, in one of two men that are talking
together. And the picture of the Church of S. Maria del Fiore—namely, of
the outer side with the cupola—by the hand of Simone Sanese, is to be seen
in the Chapter-house of S. Maria Novella, copied from the original in wood
that Arnolfo made; wherein it is noticeable that he had thought to raise the
dome immediately over the walls, at the edge of the first cornice, whereas
Filippo di Ser Brunellesco, in order to relieve them of weight and to make it
more graceful, added thereto, before he began to raise it, all that height
wherein to-day are the round windows; which circumstance would be even
clearer than it is, if the little care and diligence of those who have directed
the Works of S. Maria del Fiore in the years past had not left the very model
that Arnolfo made to go to ruin, and afterwards those of Brunellesco and of
the others.

NICCOLA AND GIOVANNI OF PISA

LIFE OF NICCOLA AND GIOVANNI OF PISA,

[NICCOLA PISANO AND GIOVANNI PISANO],
SCULPTORS AND ARCHITECTS

Having discoursed of design and of painting in the Life of Cimabue and of
architecture in that of Arnolfo di Lapo, in this one concerning Niccola and
Giovanni of Pisa we will treat of sculpture, and also of the most important
buildings that they made, for the reason that their works in sculpture and in
architecture truly deserve to be celebrated, not only as being large and
magnificent but also well enough conceived, since both in working marble
and in building they swept away in great part that old Greek manner, rude
and void of proportion, showing better invention in their stories and giving
better attitudes to their figures.
Niccola Pisano, then, chancing to be under certain Greek sculptors who
were working the figures and other carved ornaments of the Duomo of Pisa
and of the Church of S. Giovanni, and there being, among many marble
spoils brought by the fleet of the Pisans, certain ancient sarcophagi that are
to-day in the Campo Santo of that city, there was one of them, most
beautiful among them all, whereon there was carved the Chase of Meleager
after the Calydonian Boar, in very beautiful manner, seeing that both the
nude figures and the draped were wrought with much mastery and with
most perfect design. This sarcophagus was placed by the Pisans, by reason
of its beauty, in the side of the Duomo opposite S. Rocco, beside the
principal side-door, and it served for the body of the mother of Countess
Matilda, if indeed these words are true that are to be read carved in the
marble:
A.D. MCXVI. IX KAL. AUG. OBIIT D. MATILDA FELICIS
MEMORIÆ COMITISSA, QUÆ PRO ANIMA GENETRICIS
SUÆ DOMINÆ BEATRICIS COMITISSÆ VENERABILIS,
IN HAC TUMBA HONORABILI QUIESCENTIS, IN MULTIS
PARTIBUS MIRIFICE HANC DOTAVIT ECCLESIAM;
QUARUM ANIMÆ REQUIESCANT IN PACE

And then:
A.D. MCCCIII. SUB DIGNISSIMO OPERARIO D.
BURGUNDIO TADI, OCCASIONE GRADUUM
FIENDORUM PER IPSUM CIRCA ECCLESIAM,
SUPRADICTA TUMBA SUPERIUS NOTATA BIS
TRANSLATA FUIT, TUNC DE SEDIBUS PRIMIS IN
ECCLESIAM, NUNC DE ECCLESIA IN HUNC LOCUM, UT
CERNITIS, EXCELLENTEM.

Alinari
THE PULPIT OF THE BAPTISTERY OF PISA
(After Niccola Pisano. Pisa)

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Niccola, pondering over the beauty of this work and being greatly pleased
therewith, put so much study and diligence into imitating this manner and
some other good sculptures that were in these other ancient sarcophagi, that
he was judged, after no long time, the best sculptor of his day; there being
in Tuscany in those times, after Arnolfo, no other sculptor of repute save
Fuccio, an architect and sculptor of Florence, who made S. Maria sopra
Arno in Florence, in the year 1229, placing his name there, over a door, and
in the Church of S. Francesco in Assisi he made the marble tomb of the
Queen of Cyprus, with many figures, and in particular a portrait of her
sitting on a lion, in order to show the strength of her soul; which Queen,
after her death, left a great sum of money to the end that this fabric might be
finished. Niccola, then, having made himself known as a much better
master than was Fuccio, was summoned to Bologna in the year 1225, after
the death of S. Domenico Calagora, first founder of the Order of Preaching
Friars, in order to make a marble tomb for the said Saint; wherefore, after
agreement with those who had the charge of it, he made it full of figures in
that manner wherein it is to be seen to-day, and delivered it finished in the
year 1231 with much credit to himself, for it was held something
remarkable, and the best of all the works that had been wrought in sculpture
up to that time. He made, likewise, the model of that church and of a great
part of the convent. Afterwards Niccola, returning to Tuscany, found that
Fuccio had departed from Florence and had gone to Rome in those days
when the Emperor Frederick was crowned by Honorius, and from Rome
with Frederick to Naples, where he finished the Castel di Capoana, to-day
called the Vicaria, wherein are all the tribunals of that kingdom, and
likewise the Castel dell' Uovo; and where he likewise founded the towers he
also made the gates over the River Volturno for the city of Capua, and a
park girt with walls, for fowling, near Gravina, and another for sport in
winter at Melfi; besides many other things that are not related, for the sake
of brevity. Niccola, meanwhile, busying himself in Florence, was going on
exercising himself not only in sculpture but in architecture as well, by

means of the buildings that were going on being made with some little
goodness of design throughout all Italy, and in particular in Tuscany;
wherefore he occupied himself not a little with the building of the Abbey of
Settimo, which had not been finished by the executors of Count Ugo of
Brandenburg, like the other six, as was said above. And although it is read
in a marble epitaph on the campanile of the said abbey, GUGLIELM. ME
FECIT, it is known, nevertheless, by the manner, that it was directed with
the counsel of Niccola. About the same time he made the Palazzo Vecchio
of the Anziani in Pisa, pulled down in our day by Duke Cosimo, in order to
make the magnificent Palace and Convent of the Knights of S. Stephen on
the same spot, using some part of the old, from the design and model of
Giorgio Vasari, painter and architect of Arezzo, who has accommodated
himself to those old walls as well as he has been able in fitting them into the
new. Niccola made, likewise in Pisa, many other palaces and churches, and
he was the first, since the loss of the good method of building, who made it
the custom to found edifices in Pisa on piers, and on these to raise arches,
piles having first been sunk under the said piers; because, with any other
method, the solid base of the foundation cracked and the walls always
collapsed, whereas the sinking of piles renders the edifice absolutely safe,
even as experience shows. With his design, also, was made the Church of S.
Michele in Borgo for the Monks of Camaldoli. But the most beautiful, the
most ingenious, and the most whimsical work of architecture that Niccola
ever made was the Campanile of S. Niccola in Pisa, where is the seat of the
Friars of S. Augustine, for the reason that it is octagonal on the outer side
and round within, with stairs that wind in a spiral and lead to the summit,
leaving the hollow space in the middle free, in the shape of a well, and on
every fourth step are columns that have the arches above them on a slant
and wind round and round; wherefore, the spring of the vaulting resting on
the said arches, one goes climbing to the summit in a manner that he who is
on the ground always sees all those who are climbing, those who are
climbing see those who are on the ground, and those who are halfway up
see both the first and the second—that is, those who are above and those
who are below. This fanciful invention, with better method and more just
proportions, and with more adornment, was afterwards put into execution
by the architect Bramante in the Belvedere in Rome, for Pope Julius II, and
by Antonio da San Gallo in the well that is at Orvieto, by order of Pope
Clement VII, as will be told when the time comes.

But returning to Niccola, who was no less excellent as sculptor than as
architect; in the façade of the Church of S. Martino in Lucca, under the
portico that is above the lesser door, on the left as one enters into the
church, where there is seen a Christ Deposed from the Cross, he made a
marble scene in half-relief, all full of figures wrought with much diligence,
having hollowed out the marble and finished the whole in a manner that
gave hope to those who were previously working at the art with very great
difficulty, that there soon should come one who, with more facility, would
give them better assistance. The same Niccola, in the year 1240, gave the
design for the Church of S. Jacopo in Pistoia, and put to work there in
mosaic certain Tuscan masters who made the vaulting of the choir-niche,
which, although in those times it was held as something difficult and of
great cost, moves us to-day rather to laughter and to compassion than to
marvel, and all the more because such confusion, which comes from lack of
design, existed not only in Tuscany but throughout all Italy, where many
buildings and other works, that were being wrought without method and
without design, give us to know no less the poverty of their talents than the
unmeasured riches wasted by the men of those times, by reason of their
having had no masters who might execute in a good manner any work that
they might do.
Niccola, then, by means of the works that he was making in sculpture and
in architecture, was going on ever acquiring a greater name than the
sculptors and architects who were then working in Romagna, as can be seen
in S. Ippolito and S. Giovanni of Faenza, in the Duomo of Ravenna, in S.
Francesco, in the houses of the Traversari, and in the Church of Porto; and
at Rimini, in the fabric of the public buildings, in the houses of the
Malatesti, and in other buildings, which are all much worse than the old
edifices made about the same time in Tuscany. And what has been said of
Romagna can be also said with truth of a part of Lombardy. A glance at the
Duomo of Ferrara, and at the other buildings made by the Marquis Azzo,
will give us to know that this is the truth and how different they are from
the Santo of Padua, made with the model of Niccola, and from the Church
of the Friars Minor in Venice, both magnificent and honoured buildings.
Many, in the time of Niccola, moved by laudable envy, applied themselves
with more zeal to sculpture than they had done before, and particularly in
Milan, whither there assembled for the building of the Duomo many

Lombards and Germans, who afterwards scattered throughout Italy by
reason of the discords that arose between the Milanese and the Emperor
Frederick. And so these craftsmen, beginning to compete among themselves
both in marble and in building, found some little of the good. The same
came to pass in Florence after the works of Arnolfo and Niccola had been
seen; and the latter, while the little Church of the Misericordia was being
erected from his design in the Piazza di S. Giovanni, made therein in
marble, with his own hand, a Madonna with S. Dominic and another Saint,
one on either side of her, which may still be seen on the outer façade of the
said church.

Alinari
THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI
(Detail, after Niccola Pisano, from the Pulpit of the Baptistery, Pisa)

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The Florentines had begun, in the time of Niccola, to throw to the ground
many towers made formerly in barbaric manner throughout the whole city,
in order that the people might be less hurt by reason of these in the brawls
that were often taking place between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, or in
order that there might be greater security for the State, and it appeared to
them that it would be very difficult to pull down the Tower of Guardamorto,
which was in the Piazza di S. Giovanni, because the walls had been made
so stoutly that they could not be pulled to pieces with pickaxes, and all the
more because it was very high. Wherefore, Niccola causing the foot of the
tower to be cut away on one side and supporting it with wooden props a
braccio and a half in length, and then setting fire to them, as soon as the
props were burnt away it fell and was almost entirely shattered; which was
held something so ingenious and useful for such affairs that later it passed
into use, insomuch that, when there is need, any building is destroyed in
very little time with this most easy method. Niccola was present at the first
foundation of the Duomo of Siena, and designed the Church of S. Giovanni
in the same city; then, having returned to Florence in the same year that the
Guelphs returned, he designed the Church of S. Trinita, and the Convent of
the Nuns of Faenza, destroyed in our day in order to make the citadel.
Being next summoned to Naples, in order not to desert the work in Tuscany
he sent thither Maglione, his pupil, a sculptor and architect, who afterwards
made, in the time of Conradin, the Church of S. Lorenzo in Naples, finished
part of the Piscopio, and made there certain tombs, wherein he imitated
closely the manner of Niccola, his master.
Niccola, meanwhile, being summoned by the people of Volterra, in the year
1254 (when they came under the power of the Florentines), in order that
their Duomo, which was small, might be enlarged, he brought it to better
form, although it was very irregular, and made it more magnificent than it
was before. Then, having returned finally to Pisa, he made the pulpit of S.
Giovanni, in marble, putting therein all diligence in order to leave a
memorial of himself to his country; and among other things, carving in it
the Universal Judgment, he made therein many figures, if not with perfect
design, at least with infinite patience and diligence, as can be seen. And
because it appeared to him, as was true, that he had done a work worthy of
praise, he carved at the foot of it these verses:

ANNO MILLENO BIS CENTUM BISQUE TRIDENO
HOC OPUS INSIGNE SCULPSIT NICOLA PISANUS.
The people of Siena, moved by the fame of this work, which greatly pleased
not only the Pisans but everyone who saw it, gave to Niccola the making of
the pulpit of their Duomo, in which there is sung the Gospel; Guglielmo
Mariscotti being Prætor. In this Niccola made many stories of Jesus Christ,
with much credit to himself, by reason of the figures that are there wrought
and with great difficulty almost wholly detached from the marble. Niccola
likewise made the design of the Church and Convent of S. Domenico in
Arezzo for the Lords of Pietramala, who erected it. And at the entreaty of
Bishop Ubertini he restored the Pieve of Cortona, and founded the Church
of S. Margherita for the Friars of S. Francis, on the highest point of that
city.

Alinari
THE VISITATION AND THE NATIVITY
(Detail, after Niccola Pisano, from the Pulpit of the Baptistery, Siena)

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Wherefore, the fame of Niccola ever growing greater by reason of so great
works, he was summoned in the year 1267, by Pope Clement IV, to Viterbo,
where, besides many other works, he restored the Church and Convent of
the Preaching Friars. From Viterbo he went to Naples to King Charles I,
who, having routed and slain Conradin on the plain of Tagliacozzo, caused
to be made on that spot a very rich church and abbey, burying therein the
infinite number of bodies slain on that day, and ordaining afterwards that
there should be prayers offered by many monks, day and night, for their
souls; in which building King Charles was so well pleased with the work of
Niccola that he honoured and rewarded him very greatly. Returning from
Naples to Tuscany, Niccola stayed in Orvieto for the building of S. Maria,
and working there in company with some Germans, he made in marble, for
the façade of that church, certain figures in the round, and in particular two
scenes of the Universal Judgment containing Paradise and Hell; and even as
he strove, in the Paradise, to give the greatest beauty that he knew to the
souls of the blessed, restored to their bodies, so too in the Hell he made the
strangest forms of devils that can possibly be seen, most intent on
tormenting the souls of the damned; and in this work he surpassed not
merely the Germans who were working there but even his own self, to his
own great credit. And for the reason that he made therein a great number of
figures and endured much fatigue, it has been nothing but praised up to our
own times by those who have had no more judgment than this much in
sculpture.
Niccola had, among others, a son called Giovanni, who, because he ever
followed his father and applied himself under his teaching to sculpture and
to architecture, in a few years became not only equal to his father but in
some ways superior; wherefore Niccola, being now old, retired to Pisa, and
living there quietly left the management of everything to his son. Pope
Urban IV having died at that time in Perugia, a summons was sent to
Giovanni, who, having gone there, made a tomb of marble for that Pontiff,

which, together with that of Pope Martin IV, was afterwards thrown to the
ground when the people of Perugia enlarged their Vescovado, in a manner
that there are seen only a few relics of it scattered throughout the church.
And the people of Perugia, at the same time, having brought a very great
body of water through leaden pipes from the hill of Pacciano, two miles
distant from the city, by means of the genius and industry of a friar of the
Silvestrines, it was given to Giovanni Pisano to make all the ornaments of
the fountain, both in bronze and in marble; wherefore he put his hand
thereto and made three tiers of basins, two of marble and one of bronze. The
first is placed above twelve rows of steps, each with twelve sides; the other
on some columns that stand on the lowest level of the first basin—that is, in
the middle; and the third, which is of bronze, rests on three figures, and has
in the middle certain griffins, also of bronze, that pour water on every side;
and because it appeared to Giovanni that he had done very well in this
work, he put on it his name. About the year 1560, the arches and the
conduits of this fountain (which cost 160,000 ducats of gold) having
become in great part spoilt and ruined, Vincenzio Danti, a sculptor of
Perugia, without rebuilding the arches, which would have been a thing of
the greatest cost, very ingeniously reconducted the water to the fountain in
the way that it was before, with no small credit to himself.
This work finished, Giovanni, desiring to see again his old and ailing father,
departed from Perugia in order to return to Pisa; but, passing through
Florence, he was forced to stay, to the end that he might apply himself,
together with others, to the work of the Mills on the Arno, which were
being made at S. Gregorio near the Piazza de' Mozzi. But finally, having
had news that his father Niccola was dead, he went to Pisa, where, by
reason of his worth, he was received by the whole city with great honour,
every man rejoicing that after the loss of Niccola there still remained
Giovanni, as heir both of his talents and of his wealth. And the occasion
having come of making proof of him, their opinion was in no way
disappointed, because, there being certain things to do in the small but most
ornate Church of S. Maria della Spina, they were given to Giovanni to do,
and he, putting his hand thereunto, with the help of some of his boys
brought many ornaments in that oratory to that perfection that is seen to-
day; which work, in so far as we can judge, must have been held miraculous

in those times, and all the more that he made in one figure the portrait of
Niccola from nature, as best he knew.
Seeing this, the Pisans, who long before had had the idea and the wish to
make a place of burial for all the inhabitants of the city, both noble and
plebeian, either in order not to fill the Duomo with graves or for some other
reason, caused Giovanni to make the edifice of the Campo Santo, which is
on the Piazza del Duomo, towards the walls; wherefore he, with good
design and with much judgment, made it in that manner and with those
ornaments of marble and of that size which are to be seen; and because
there was no consideration of expense, the roof was made of lead. And
outside the principal door there are seen these words carved in marble:
A.D. MCCLXXVIII. TEMPORE DOMINI FREDERIGI ARCHIEPISCOPI
PISANI, ET
DOMINI TARLATI POTESTATIS, OPERARIO ORLANDO SARDELLA,
JOHANNE
MAGISTRO ÆDIFICANTE.
This work finished, in the same year, 1283, Giovanni went to Naples,
where, for King Charles, he made the Castel Nuovo of Naples; and in order
to have room and to make it stronger, he was forced to pull down many
houses and churches, and in particular a convent of Friars of S. Francis,
which was afterwards rebuilt no little larger and more magnificent than it
was before, far from the castle and under the title of S. Maria della Nuova.
These buildings being begun and considerably advanced, Giovanni departed
from Naples, in order to return to Tuscany; but arriving at Siena, without
being allowed to go on farther he was caused to make the model of the
façade of the Duomo of that city, and afterwards the said façade was made
very rich and magnificent from this model. Next, in the year 1286, when the
Vescovado of Arezzo was building with the design of Margaritone, architect
of Arezzo, Giovanni was brought from Siena to Arezzo by Guglielmino
Ubertini, Bishop of that city, where he made in marble the panel of the
high-altar, all filled with carvings of figures, of foliage, and other
ornaments, distributing throughout the whole work certain things in delicate
mosaic, and enamels laid on plates of silver, let into the marble with much
diligence. In the middle is a Madonna with the Child in her arms, and on
one side S. Gregory the Pope, whose face is the portrait from life of Pope

Honorius IV; and on the other side is S. Donatus, Bishop and Protector of
that city, whose body, with those of S. Antilla and of other Saints, is laid
under that same altar. And because the said altar stands out by itself, round
it and on the sides there are small scenes in low-relief from the life of S.
Donatus, and the crown of the whole work are certain tabernacles full of
marble figures in the round, wrought with much subtlety. On the breast of
the said Madonna is a bezel-shaped setting of gold, wherein, so it is said,
were jewels of much value, which have been carried away in the wars, so it
is thought, by soldiers, who have no respect, very often, even for the most
holy Sacrament, together with some little figures in the round that were on
the top of and around that work; on which the Aretines spent altogether,
according to what is found in certain records, 30,000 florins of gold. Nor
does this seem anything great, seeing that at that time it was something as
precious and rare as it could well be; wherefore Frederick Barbarossa,
returning from Rome, where he had been crowned, and passing through
Arezzo, many years after it had been made, praised it, nay, admired it
infinitely; and in truth with great reason, seeing that, besides everything
else, the joinings of this work, made of innumerable pieces, are cemented
and put together so well that the whole work is easily judged, by anyone
who has not much practice in the matters of the art, to be all of one piece. In
the same church Giovanni made the Chapel of the Ubertini, a most noble
family, and lords of castles, as they still are to-day and were formerly even
more; with many ornaments of marble, which to-day have been covered
over with other ornaments of grey-stone, many and fine, which were set up
in that place with the design of Giorgio Vasari in the year 1535, for the
supporting of an organ of extraordinary excellence and beauty that stands
thereon.

Lombardi
A SYBIL
(Detail, after Giovanni Pisano, from the façade of
the Duomo, Siena)

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Giovanni Pisano likewise made the design of the Church of S. Maria de'
Servi, which to-day has been destroyed, together with many palaces of the
most noble families of the city, for the reasons mentioned above. I will not
forbear to say that Giovanni made use, in working on the said marble altar,

of certain Germans who had apprenticed themselves to him rather for
learning than for gain; and under his teaching they became such that, having
gone after this work to Rome, they served Boniface VIII in many works of
sculpture for S. Pietro, and in architecture when he made Cività Castellana.
Besides this, they were sent by the same man to S. Maria in Orvieto, where,
for its façade, they made many figures in marble which were passing good
for those times. But among others who assisted Giovanni in the work of the
Vescovado in Arezzo, Agostino and Agnolo, sculptors and architects of
Siena, surpassed in time all the others, as will be told in the proper place.
But returning to Giovanni; having departed from Orvieto, he came to
Florence, in order to see the fabric of S. Maria del Fiore that Arnolfo was
making, and likewise to see Giotto, of whom he had heard great things
spoken abroad; and no sooner had he arrived in Florence than he was
charged by the Wardens of the said fabric of S. Maria del Fiore to make the
Madonna which is over that door of the church that leads to the Canon's
house, between two little angels; which work was then much praised. Next,
he made the little baptismal font of S. Giovanni, wherein are certain scenes
in half-relief from the life of that Saint. Having then gone to Bologna, he
directed the building of the principal chapel of the Church of S. Domenico,
wherein he was charged by Bishop Teodorigo Borgognoni of Lucca, a friar
of that Order, to make an altar of marble; and in the same place he
afterwards made, in the year 1298, the marble panel wherein are the
Madonna and eight other figures, reasonably good.
In the year 1300, Niccola da Prato, Cardinal Legate of the Pope, being in
Florence in order to accommodate the dissensions of the Florentines, caused
him to make a convent for nuns in Prato, which is called S. Niccola from
his name, and to restore in the same territory the Convent of S. Domenico,
and so too that of Pistoia; in both the one and the other of which there are
still seen the arms of the said Cardinal. And because the people of Pistoia
held in veneration the name of Niccola, father of Giovanni, by reason of
that which he had wrought in that city with his talent, they caused Giovanni
himself to make a pulpit of marble for the Church of S. Andrea, like to the
one which he had made in the Duomo of Siena; and this he did in order to
compete with one which had been made a little before in the Church of S.
Giovanni Evangelista by a German, who was therefore much praised.
Giovanni, then, delivered his finished in four years, having divided this

work into five scenes from the life of Jesus Christ, and having made therein,
besides this, a Universal Judgment, with the greatest diligence that he knew,
in order to equal or perchance to surpass the one of Orvieto, then so greatly
renowned. And round the said pulpit, on the architrave, over some columns
that support it, thinking (as was the truth, according to the knowledge of
that age) that he had done a great and beautiful work, he carved these
verses:
HOC OPUS SCULPSIT JOANNES, QUI RES NON EGIT INANES,
NICOLI NATUS ...... MELIORA BEATUS,
QUEM GENUIT PISA, DOCTUM SUPER OMNIA VISA.
At the same time Giovanni made the holy-water font, in marble, of the
Church of S. Giovanni Evangelista in the same city, with three figures that
support it—Temperance, Prudence, and Justice; which work, by reason of
its having then been held very beautiful, was placed in the centre of that
church as something remarkable. And before he departed from Pistoia,
although the work had not up to then been begun, he made the model of the
Campanile of S. Jacopo, the principal church of that city; on which
campanile, which is on the square of the said S. Jacopo and beside the
church, there is this date: A.D. 1301.

Alinari
THE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS

(Detail, after Giovanni Pisano, from the Pulpit of the Church of S. Andrea,
Pistoia)
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Afterwards, Pope Benedict IX having died in Perugia, a summons was sent
to Giovanni, who, having gone to Perugia, made a tomb of marble for that
Pontiff in the old Church of S. Domenico, belonging to the Preaching
Friars; the Pope, portrayed from nature and robed in his pontifical habits, is
lying at full length on the bier, with two angels, one on either side, that are
holding up a curtain, and above there is a Madonna with two saints in relief,
one on either side of her; and many other ornaments are carved round that
tomb. In like manner, in the new church of the said Preaching Friars he
made the tomb of Messer Niccolò Guidalotti of Perugia, Bishop of
Recanati, who was founder of the Sapienza Nuova of Perugia. In this new

church, which had been founded before this by others, he executed the
central nave, which was founded by him with much better method than the
remainder of the church had been; for on one side it leans and threatens to
fall down, by reason of having been badly founded. And in truth, he who
puts his hand to building and to doing anything of importance should ever
take counsel, not from him who knows little but from the best, in order not
to have to repent after the act, with loss and shame, that where he most
needed good counsel he took the bad.
Giovanni, having dispatched his business in Perugia, wished to go to Rome,
in order to learn from those few ancient things that were to be seen there,
even as his father had done; but being hindered by good reasons, this his
desire did not take effect, and the rather as he heard that the Court had just
gone to Avignon. Returning, then, to Pisa, Nello di Giovanni Falconi,
Warden, caused him to make the great pulpit of the Duomo, which is on the
right hand going towards the high-altar, attached to the choir; and having
made a beginning with this and with many figures in the round, three
braccia high, that were to serve for it, little by little he brought them to that
form that is seen to-day, placing the pulpit partly on the said figures and
partly on some columns sustained by lions; and on the sides he made some
scenes from the life of Christ. It is a pity, truly, that so great cost, so great
diligence, and so great labour should not have been accompanied by good
design and should be wanting in perfection and in excellence of invention,
grace, and manner, such as any work of our own times would show, even if
made with much less cost and labour. None the less, it must have caused no
small marvel to the men of those times, used to seeing only the rudest
works. This work was finished in the year 1320, as appears in certain verses
that are round the said pulpit, which run thus:
LAUDO DEUM VERUM, PER QUEM SUNT OPTIMA RERUM,
QUI DEDIT HAS PURAS HOMINEM FORMARE FIGURAS;
HOC OPUS HIS ANNIS DOMINI SCULPSERE JOHANNIS
ARTE MANUS SOLE QUONDAM, NATIQUE NICOLE,
CURSIS VENTENIS TERCENTUM MILLEQUE PLENIS;
with other thirteen verses, which are not written, in order not to weary the
reader, and because these are enough not only to bear witness that the said
pulpit is by the hand of Giovanni, but also that the men of these times were

in all things made thus. A Madonna of marble, also, that is seen between S.
John the Baptist and another Saint, over the principal door of the Duomo, is
by the hand of Giovanni; and he who is at the feet of the Madonna, on his
knees, is said to be Piero Gambacorti, Warden of Works. However this may
be, on the base whereon stands the image of Our Lady there are carved
these words:
SUB PETRI CURA HÆC PIA FUIT SCULPTA FIGURA,
NICOLI NATO SCULPTORE JOHANNE VOCATO.
In like manner, over the side door that is opposite the campanile, there is a
Madonna of marble by the hand of Giovanni, having on one side a woman
kneeling with two babies, representing Pisa, and on the other the Emperor
Henry. On the base whereon stands the Madonna are these words:
AVE GRATIA PLENA, DOMINUS TECUM;
and beside them:
NOBILIS ARTE MANUS SCULPSIT JOHANNES PISANUS
SCULPSIT SUB BURGUNDIO TADI BENIGNO....
And round the base of Pisa:
VIRGINIS ANCILLA SUM PISA QUIETA SUB ILLA.
And round the base of Henry:
IMPERAT HENRICUS QUI CHRISTO FERTUR AMICUS.

Alinari
MADONNA AND CHILD

(After Giovanni Pisano. Padua: Arena Chapel)
View larger image

In the old Pieve of the territory of Prato, under the altar of the principal
chapel, there had been kept for many years the Girdle of Our Lady, which
Michele da Prato, returning from the Holy Land, had brought to his country
in the year 1141 and consigned to Uberto, Provost of that church, who

placed it where it has been said, and where it had been ever held in great
veneration; and in the year 1312 an attempt was made to steal it by a man of
Prato, a fellow of the basest sort, and as it were, another Ser Ciappelletto;
but having been discovered, he was put to death for sacrilege by the hand of
justice. Moved by this, the people of Prato determined to make a strong and
suitable resting-place, in order to hold the said Girdle more securely;
wherefore, having summoned Giovanni, who was now old, they made with
his counsel, in the greater church, the chapel wherein there is now
preserved the said Girdle of Our Lady. And next, with the same man's
design, they made the said church much larger than it was before, and
encrusted it without with white and black marbles, and likewise the
campanile, as may be seen. Finally, being now very old, Giovanni died in
the year 1320, after having made, besides those that have been mentioned,
many other works in sculpture and in architecture. And in truth there is
much owed to him and to his father Niccola, seeing that, in times void of all
goodness of design, they gave in so great darkness no small light to the
matters of these arts, wherein they were, for that age, truly excellent.
Giovanni was buried in the Campo Santo, with great honour, in the same
grave wherein had been laid Niccola, his father. There were as disciples of
Giovanni many who flourished after him, but in particular Lino, sculptor
and architect of Siena, who made in the Duomo of Pisa the chapel all
adorned with marble wherein is the body of S. Ranieri, and likewise the
baptismal font that is in the said Duomo, with his name.
Nor let anyone marvel that Niccola and Giovanni did so many works,
because, not to mention that they lived very long, being the first masters
that were in Europe at that time, there was nothing done of any importance
in which they did not have a hand, as can be seen in many inscriptions
besides those that have been mentioned. And seeing that, while touching on
these two sculptors and architects, there has been something said of matters
in Pisa, I will not forbear to say that on the top of the steps in front of the
new hospital, round the base that supports a lion and the vase that rests on
the porphyry column, are these words:
THIS IS THE MEASURE WHICH THE EMPEROR CÆSAR
GAVE TO PISA, WHEREWITH THERE WAS MEASURED
THE TRIBUTE THAT WAS PAID TO HIM; WHICH HAS
BEEN SET UP OVER THIS COLUMN AND LION, IN THE

TIME OF GIOVANNI ROSSO, WARDEN OF THE WORKS
OF S. MARIA MAGGIORE IN PISA, A.D. MCCCXIII., IN
THE SECOND INDICTION, IN MARCH.

ANDREA TAFI

LIFE OF ANDREA TAFI,
PAINTER OF FLORENCE

Even as the works of Cimabue awakened no small marvel (he having given
better design and form to the art of painting) in the men of those times, used
to seeing nothing save works done after the Greek manner, even so the
works in mosaic of Andrea Tafi, who lived in the same times, were admired,
and he thereby held excellent, nay, divine; these people not thinking, being
unused to see anything else, that better work could be done in such an art.
But not being in truth the most able man in the world, and having
considered that mosaic, by reason of its long life, was held in estimation
more than all the other forms of painting, he went from Florence to Venice,
where some Greek painters were working in S. Marco in mosaic; and
becoming intimate with them, with entreaties, with money, and with
promises he contrived in such a manner that he brought to Florence Maestro
Apollonio, a Greek painter, who taught him to fuse the glass for mosaic and
to make the cement for putting it together; and in his company he wrought
the upper part of the tribune of S. Giovanni, where there are the Powers, the
Thrones, and the Dominions; in which place Andrea, when more practised,
afterwards made, as will be said below, the Christ that is over the side of the
principal chapel. But having made mention of S. Giovanni, I will not pass
by in silence that this ancient temple is all wrought, both without and
within, with marbles of the Corinthian Order, and that it is not only
designed and executed perfectly in all its parts and with all its proportions,
but also very well adorned with doors and with windows, and enriched with
two columns of granite on each wall-face, each eleven braccia high, in
order to make the three spaces over which are the architraves, that rest on
the said columns in order to support the whole mass of the double vaulted
roof, which has been praised by modern architects as something
remarkable, and deservedly, for the reason that it showed the good which
that art already had in itself to Filippo di Ser Brunellesco, to Donatello, and
to the other masters of those times, who learnt the art by means of this work
and of the Church of S. Apostolo in Florence, a work so good in manner

that it casts back to the true ancient goodness, having all the columns in
sections, as it has been said above, measured and put together with so great
diligence that much can be learnt by studying it in all its parts. But to be
silent about many things that could be said about the good architecture of
this church, I will say only that there was a great departure from this
example and from this good method of working when the façade of S.
Miniato sul Monte without Florence was rebuilt in marble, in honour of the
conversion of the Blessed S. Giovanni Gualberto, citizen of Florence and
founder of the Order of the Monks of Vallombrosa; because that and many
other works that were made later were in no way similar in beauty to those
mentioned. The same, in like manner, came to pass in the works of
sculpture, for all those that were made in Italy by the masters of that age, as
has been said in the Preface to the Lives, were very rude, as can be seen in
many places, and in particular in S. Bartolommeo at Pistoia, a church of the
Canons Regular, where, in a pulpit very rudely made by Guido da Como,
there is the beginning of the life of Jesus Christ, with these words carved
thereon by the craftsman himself in the year 1199:
SCULPTOR LAUDATUR, QUOD DOCTUS IN ARTE PROBATUR,
GUIDO DE COMO ME CUNCTIS CARMINE PROMO.
But to return to the Church of S. Giovanni; forbearing to relate its origin, by
reason of its having been described by Giovanni Villani and by other
writers, and having already said that from this church there came the good
architecture that is to-day in use, I will add that the tribune was made later,
so far as it is known, and that at the time when Alesso Baldovinetti,
succeeding Lippo, a painter of Florence, restored those mosaics, it was seen
that it had been in the past painted with designs in red, and all worked on
stucco.
Andrea Tafi and Apollonio the Greek, then, in order to cover this tribune
with mosaics, made therein a number of compartments, which, narrow at
the top beside the lantern, went on widening as far as the level of the
cornice below; and they divided the upper part into circles of various
scenes. In the first are all the ministers and executors of the Divine Will,
namely, the Angels, the Archangels, the Cherubim, the Seraphim, the
Powers, the Thrones, and the Dominions. In the second row, also in mosaic,
and after the Greek manner, are the principal works done by God, from the

creation of light down to the Flood. In the circle that is below these, which
goes on widening with the eight sides of that tribune, are all the acts of
Joseph and of his twelve brethren. Below these, then, there follow as many
other spaces of the same size that circle in like manner onward, wherein
there is the life of Jesus Christ, also in mosaic, from the time when He was
conceived in Mary's womb up to the Ascension into Heaven. Then,
resuming the same order, under the three friezes there is the life of S. John
the Baptist, beginning with the appearing of the Angel to Zacharias the
priest, up to his beheading and to the burial that his disciples gave him. All
these works, being rude, without design and without art, I do not absolutely
praise; but of a truth, having regard to the method of working of that age
and to the imperfection that the art of painting then showed, not to mention
that the work is solid and that the pieces of the mosaic are very well put
together, the end of this work is much better—or to speak more exactly, less
bad—than is the beginning, although the whole, with respect to the work of
to-day, moves us rather to laughter than to pleasure or marvel. Finally, over
the side of the principal chapel in the said tribune, Andrea made by himself
and without the help of Apollonio, to his own great credit, the Christ that is
still seen there to-day, seven braccia high. Becoming famous for these
works throughout all Italy, and being reputed in his own country as
excellent, he well deserved to be largely honoured and rewarded. It was
truly very great good-fortune, that of Andrea, to be born at a time when, all
work being rudely done, there was great esteem even for that which
deserved to be esteemed very little, or rather not at all. This same thing
befell Fra Jacopo da Turrita, of the Order of S. Francis, seeing that, having
made the works in mosaic that are in the recess behind the altar of the said
S. Giovanni, notwithstanding that they were little worthy of praise he was
remunerated for them with extraordinary rewards, and afterwards, as an
excellent master, summoned to Rome, where he wrought certain things in
the chapel of the high-altar of S. Giovanni Laterano, and in that of S. Maria
Maggiore. Next, being summoned to Pisa, he made the Evangelists in the
principal apse of the Duomo, with other works that are there, assisted by
Andrea Tafi and by Gaddo Gaddi, and using the same manner wherein he
had done his other works; but he left them little less than wholly imperfect,
and they were afterwards finished by Vicino.

The works of these men, then, were prized for some time; but when the
works of Giotto, as will be said in its own place, were set in comparison
with those of Andrea, of Cimabue, and of the others, people recognized in
part the perfection of the art, seeing the difference that there was between
the early manner of Cimabue and that of Giotto, in the figures of the one
and of the other and in those that their disciples and imitators made. From
this beginning the others sought step by step to follow in the path of the best
masters, surpassing one another happily from one day to another, so that
from such depths these arts have been raised, as is seen, to the height of
their perfection.
Andrea lived eighty-one years, and died before Cimabue, in 1294. And by
reason of the reputation and the honour that he gained with his mosaic,
seeing that he, before any other man, introduced and taught it in better
manner to the men of Tuscany, he was the cause that Gaddo Gaddi, Giotto,
and the others afterwards made the most excellent works of that craft which
have acquired for them fame and an eternal name. After the death of Andrea
there was not wanting one to magnify him with this inscription:
QUI GIACE ANDREA, CH' OPRE LEGGIADRE E BELLE
FECE IN TUTTA TOSCANA, ED ORA E ITO
A FAR VAGO LO REGNO DELLE STELLE.
A disciple of Andrea was Buonamico Buffalmacco, who, being very young,
played him many tricks, and had from him the portrait of Pope Celestine IV,
a Milanese, and that of Innocent IV, both one and the other of whom he
portrayed afterwards in the pictures that he made in S. Paolo a Ripa d' Arno
in Pisa. A disciple and perhaps a son of the same man was Antonio
d'Andrea Tafi, who was a passing good painter; but I have not been able to
find any work by his hand. There is only mention made of him in the old
book of the Company of the Men of Design.
Deservedly, then, did Andrea Tafi gain much praise among the early
masters, for the reason that, although he learnt the principles of mosaic
from those whom he brought from Venice to Florence, he added
nevertheless so much of the good to the art, putting the pieces together with
much diligence and executing the work smooth as a table, which is of the
greatest importance in mosaic, that he opened the way to good work to

Giotto, among others, as will be told in his Life; and not only to Giotto, but
to all those who have exercised themselves in this sort of painting from his
day up to our own times. Wherefore it can be truly affirmed that those
marvellous works which are being made to-day in S. Marco at Venice, and
in other places, had their first beginning from Andrea Tafi.

GADDO GADDI

LIFE OF GADDO GADDI,
PAINTER OF FLORENCE

Gaddo, painter of Florence, displayed at this same time more design in his
works, wrought after the Greek manner, than did Andrea Tafi and the other
painters that were before him, and this perchance arose from the intimate
friendship and intercourse that he held with Cimabue, seeing that, by reason
either of their conformity of blood or of the goodness of their minds,
finding themselves united one to the other by a strait affection, from the
frequent converse that they had together and from their discoursing lovingly
very often about the difficulties of the arts there were born in their minds
conceptions very beautiful and grand; and this came to pass for them the
more easily inasmuch as they were assisted by the subtlety of the air of
Florence, which is wont to produce spirits both ingenious and subtle,
removing continually from round them that little of rust and grossness that
most times nature is not able to remove, together with the emulation and
with the precepts that the good craftsmen provide in every age. And it is
seen clearly that works concerted between those who, in their friendship,
are not veiled with the mask of duplicity (although few so made are to be
found), arrive at much perfection; and the same men, conferring on the
difficulties of the sciences that they are learning, purge them and render
them so clear and easy that the greatest praise comes therefrom. Whereas
some, on the contrary, diabolically working with profession of friendship,
and using the cloak of truth and of lovingness to conceal their envy and
malice, rob them of their conceptions, in a manner that the arts do not so
soon attain to that excellence which they would if love embraced the minds
of the gracious spirits; as it truly bound together Gaddo and Cimabue, and
in like manner Andrea Tafi and Gaddo, who was taken by Andrea into
company with himself in order to finish the mosaics of S. Giovanni, where
that Gaddo learnt so much that afterwards he made by himself the Prophets
that are seen round that church in the square spaces beneath the windows;
and having wrought these by his own self and with much better manner,
they brought him very great fame. Wherefore, growing in courage and

being disposed to work by himself, he applied himself continually to
studying the Greek manner together with that of Cimabue. Whence, after no
long time, having become excellent in the art, there was allotted to him by
the Wardens of Works of S. Maria del Fiore the lunette over the principal
door within the church, wherein he wrought in mosaic the Coronation of
Our Lady; which work, when finished, was judged by all the masters, both
foreign and native, the most beautiful that had yet been seen in all Italy in
that craft, there being recognized therein more design, more judgment, and
more diligence than in all the rest of the works in mosaic that were then to
be found in Italy.
Wherefore, the fame of this work spreading, Gaddo was called to Rome in
the year 1308 (which was the year after the fire that burnt down the Church
and the Palaces of the Lateran) by Clement V, for whom he finished certain
works in mosaic left imperfect by Fra Jacopo da Turrita. He then wrought
certain works, also in mosaic, in the Church of S. Pietro, both in the
principal chapel and throughout the church, and in particular a large God
the Father, with many other figures, on the façade; and helping to finish
some scenes in mosaic that are in the façade of S. Maria Maggiore, he
somewhat improved the manner, and departed also a little from that manner
of the Greeks, which had in it nothing whatever of the good.
Next, having returned to Tuscany, he wrought in the Duomo Vecchio
without the city of Arezzo, for the Tarlati, Lords of Pietramala, certain
works in mosaic on a vault that was all made of sponge-stone and served
for roof to the middle part of that church, which, being too much burdened
by the ancient vault of stone, fell down in the time of Bishop Gentile of
Urbino, who had it afterwards all rebuilt with bricks. Departing from
Arezzo, Gaddo went to Pisa, where, in the niche over the Chapel of the
Incoronata in the Duomo, he made a Madonna who is ascending into
Heaven, and, above, a Jesus Christ who is awaiting her and has a rich chair
prepared as a seat for her; which work, for those times, was wrought so well
and with so great diligence that it has been very well preserved, even to our
own day. After this Gaddo returned to Florence, in mind to rest; wherefore,
undertaking to make little panels in mosaic, he executed some with egg-
shells, with incredible diligence and patience, as can be seen, among others,
in some that are still to-day in the Church of S. Giovanni in Florence. It is
read, also, that he made two of them for King Robert, but nothing more is

known of these. And let this be enough to have said of Gaddo Gaddi with
regard to work in mosaic.
In painting he made many panels, and among others that which is in S.
Maria Novella, in the tramezzo[8] of the church, in the Chapel of the
Minerbetti, and many others that were sent into diverse parts of Tuscany.
And working thus, now in mosaic and now in painting, he made both in the
one and in the other exercise many passing good works, which maintained
him ever in good credit and reputation. I could here enlarge further in
discoursing of Gaddo, but seeing that the manners of the painters of those
times cannot, for the most part, render great assistance to the craftsmen, I
will pass this over in silence, reserving myself to be longer in the Lives of
those who, having improved the arts, can give some measure of assistance.
Gaddo lived seventy-three years, and died in 1312, and was given
honourable burial in S. Croce by his son Taddeo. And although he had other
sons, Taddeo alone, who was held at the baptismal font by Giotto, applied
himself to painting, learning at first the principles from his father and then
the rest from Giotto. A disciple of Gaddo, besides Taddeo his son, was
Vicino, painter of Pisa, who wrought very well certain works in mosaic in
the principal apse of the Duomo of Pisa, as these words demonstrate, that
are still seen in that apse:
TEMPORE DOMINI JOANNIS ROSSI, OPERARII ISTIUS
ECCLESIÆ, VICINUS PICTOR INCEPIT ET PERFECIT
HANC IMAGINEM BEATÆ MARIÆ; SED MAJESTATIS, ET
EVANGELISTÆ, PER ALIOS INCEPTÆ, IPSE COMPLEVIT
ET PERFECIT, A.D. 1321, DE MENSE SEPTEMBRIS.
BENEDICTUM SIT NOMEN DOMINI DEI NOSTRI JESU
CHRISTI. AMEN.
In the Chapel of the Baroncelli, in the same Church of S. Croce, there is a
portrait of Gaddo by the hand of his son Taddeo, in a Marriage of Our Lady,
and beside him is Andrea Tafi. And in our aforesaid book there is a drawing
by the hand of Gaddo, made in miniature, like that of Cimabue, wherein it
is seen how strong he was in draughtsmanship.
Now, seeing that in an old book, from which I have drawn these few facts
that have been related about Gaddo Gaddi, there is also an account of the

building of S. Maria Novella, the Church of the Preaching Friars in
Florence, a building truly magnificent and highly honoured, I will not pass
by in silence by whom and at what time it was built. I say, then, that the
Blessed Dominic being in Bologna, and there being conceded to him the
property of Ripoli without Florence, he sent thither twelve friars under the
care of the Blessed Giovanni da Salerno; and not many years afterwards
these friars came to Florence to occupy the church and precincts of S.
Pancrazio, and they were settled there, when Dominic himself came to
Florence, whereupon they left that place and went to settle in the Church of
S. Paolo, according to his pleasure. Later, there being conceded to the said
Blessed Giovanni the precincts of S. Maria Novella, with all its wealth, by
the Legate of the Pope and by the Bishop of the city, they were put in
possession and began to occupy the said precincts on the last day of
October, 1221. And because the said church was passing small and faced
westward, with its entrance on the Piazza Vecchia, the friars, being now
grown to a good number and having great repute in the city, began to think
of increasing the said church and convent. Wherefore, having got together a
very great sum of money, and having many in the city who were promising
every assistance, they began the building of the new church on St. Luke's
Day, in 1278; the first stone of the foundations being most solemnly laid by
Cardinal Latino degli Orsini, Legate of Pope Nicholas III to the Florentines.
The architects of the said church were Fra Giovanni, a Florentine, and Fra
Ristoro da Campi, lay-brothers of the same Order, who rebuilt the Ponte
alla Carraja and that of S. Trinita, destroyed by the flood of 1264 on
October 1. The greater part of the site of the said church and convent was
presented to the friars by the heirs of Messer Jacopo, Cavaliere de'
Tornaquinci. The cost, as has been said, was met partly by alms and partly
by the money of diverse persons who assisted gallantly, and in particular
with the assistance of Frate Aldobrandino Cavalcanti, who was afterwards
Bishop of Arezzo and is buried over the door of the Virgin. Some say that,
besides everything else, he got together by his own industry all the labour
and material that went into the said church, which was finished when the
Prior of this convent was Fra Jacopo Passavanti, who was therefore deemed
worthy of a marble tomb in front of the principal chapel, on the left hand.
This church was consecrated in the year 1420, by Pope Martin V, as is seen
in an inscription on marble on the righthand pillar of the principal chapel,
which runs thus:

A.D. 1420. DIE SEPTIMA SEPTEMBRIS, DOMINUS
MARTINUS DIVINA
PROVIDENTIA PAPA V. PERSONALITER HANC
ECCLESIAM CONSECRAVIT, ET
MAGNAS INDULGENTIAS CONTULIT
VISITANTIBUS EANDEM.
Of all these things and of many others there is an account in a chronicle of
the building of the said church, which is in the hands of the fathers of S.
Maria Novella, and in the History of Giovanni Villani likewise; and I have
not wished to withhold these few facts regarding this church and convent,
both because it is one of the most important and most beautiful churches in
Florence, and also because they have therein, as will be said below, many
excellent works made by the most famous craftsmen that have lived in the
years past.

MARGARITONE

LIFE OF MARGARITONE,
PAINTER, SCULPTOR, AND ARCHITECT, OF AREZZO

Among the old painters who were much alarmed by the praises rightly
given by men to Cimabue and to his disciple Giotto, whose good work in
painting was making their glory shine throughout all Italy, was one
Margaritone, 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. Margaritone,
then, being held excellent among the other painters of these times who were
working after the Greek manner, 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 S. Clemente, Abbey of
the Order of Camaldoli, which is to-day all in ruins and thrown down,
together with many other buildings and a strong fortress called S. Chimenti,
for the reason that Duke Cosimo 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 Pietramalesco, 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 manner, it was
recognized, none the less, that they had been made with good judgment and
lovingly; to which witness is borne by works by the same man's hand which
have survived in that city, and above all a panel that is now in S. Francesco,
in the Chapel of the Conception, with a modern frame, wherein is a
Madonna held by these friars in great veneration. He made in the same
church, also after the Greek manner, a great Crucifix which is now placed in
that chapel where there is the Office of the Wardens of Works; this is
wrought on the planking, with the Cross outlined, and of this sort he made
many in that city. For the Nuns of S. Margherita he wrought a work that is
to-day set up against the tramezzo[9] of the church—namely, a canvas fixed
on a panel, wherein are scenes with small figures from the life of Our Lady

and of S. 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 de' Zoccoli, a
S. Francis portrayed from nature on a panel, whereon he placed his name,
as on a work, in his judgment, wrought better than was his wont. Next,
having made a large Crucifix on wood, painted after the Greek manner, he
sent it to Florence to Messer Farinata degli Uberti, 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 to-day in S. Croce, between the
Chapel of the Peruzzi and that of the Giugni. In S. Domenico in Arezzo, a
church and convent built by the Lords of Pietramala 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
S. Pietro; these were in the Greek manner, and passing good for those times.

Mansell
THE VIRGIN AND CHILD, WITH SCENES FROM THE LIVES OF
THE SAINTS

(After the painting by Margaritone. London: National Gallery, 5040)

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Next, having made a S. Francis on a panel at Ganghereto, a place above
Terra Nuova in Valdarno, 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
manner, 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 S. Francesco over the baptismal font, none the less he adopted a
better manner 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 thirty thousand crowns to the Commune
to the end that there might be finished the building of the Vescovado,
formerly begun by Maestro Lapo and little advanced, and the Aretines,
besides making the Chapel of S. Gregorio (where Margaritone afterwards
made a panel) in the Vescovado, 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 Vescovado. 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
Vescovado, Margaritone 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 wars between the Florentines and the Aretines were
renewed, by the fault of Guglielmino Ubertini, Bishop and Lord of Arezzo,
assisted by the Tarlati da Pietramala and by the Pazzi di Valdarno, although
evil came to them thereby, for they were routed and slain at Campaldino;
and there was spent in that war all the money left by the Pope for the
building of the Vescovado. And therefore the Aretines ordained that in place
of this there should serve the impost paid by the district (thus do they call a
tax), as a particular revenue for that work; which impost has lasted up to our
own day, and continues to last.

Now returning to Margaritone: from what is seen in his works, as regards
painting, he was the first who considered what a man must do when he
works on panels of wood, to the end that they may stay firm in the joinings,
and that they may not show fissures 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, friezes and diadems in relief and
other ornaments in the round; and he was the inventor of the method of
applying Armenian bole, 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 Pieve of Arezzo, in an altar-front wherein are stories of S.
Donatus, and in S. Agnesa and S. Niccolò in the same city.
Finally, he wrought many works in his own country, which went abroad;
some of which are at Rome, in S. Giovanni and in S. Pietro, and some at
Pisa, in S. Caterina, where, in the tramezzo[10] of the church, there is set up
over an altar a panel with S. Catherine on it, and many scenes from her life
with little figures, and a S. Francis with many scenes on a panel, on a
ground of gold. And in the upper Church of S. Francesco d'Assisi 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 to-day by us they are not esteemed save as old things, good
when art was not, as it is to-day, at its height. And seeing that Margaritone
applied himself also to architecture, although 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 de' Governatori 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 façade, 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 S. Ciriaco
in Ancona. Margaritone died at the age of seventy-seven, disgusted, so it is
said, to have lived so long, seeing the age changed and the honours with the
new craftsmen. He was buried in the Duomo Vecchio without Arezzo, in a
tomb of travertine, now gone to ruin in the destruction of that church; and
there was made for him this epitaph:
HIC JACET ILLE BONUS PICTURA MARGARITONUS,
CUI REQUIEM DOMINUS TRADAT UBIQUE PIUS.
The portrait of Margaritone, by the hand of Spinello, is in the Story of the
Magi, in the said Duomo, and was copied by me before that church was
pulled down.

GIOTTO

Anderson
THE DEATH OF S. FRANCIS
(After the fresco by Giotto. Florence: S. Croce)

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GIOTTO

LIFE OF GIOTTO,
PAINTER, SCULPTOR, AND ARCHITECT, OF FLORENCE

That very obligation which the craftsmen of painting owe to nature, who
serves continually as model to those who are ever wresting 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, although
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 1276, from a father named Bondone, 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 also
who knew him, both in the village and beyond. Now Bondone 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 Cimabue, going one day on some business of his own from
Florence to Vespignano, found Giotto, while his sheep were browsing,
portraying a sheep from nature on a flat and polished slab, with a stone
slightly pointed, without having learnt any method of doing this from
others, but only from nature; whence Cimabue, standing fast all in a marvel,
asked him if he wished to go to live with him. The child answered that, his

father consenting, he would go willingly. Cimabue then asking this from
Bondone, the latter lovingly granted it to him, and was content that he
should take the boy with him to Florence; whither having come, in a short
time, assisted by nature and taught by Cimabue, 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, introducing the portraying well from nature of living
people, which had not been used for more than two hundred years. If,
indeed, anyone 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 to-day in the Chapel of the Palace of the
Podestà 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 Forese da Rabatta 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.

Anderson
S. FRANCIS PREACHING BEFORE POPE HONORIUS III
(After the fresco of the Roman School. Assisi: Upper Church of S.
Francesco)
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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 in Mary 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
S. 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 Ridolfo de' Bardi, and is that wherein are the
bell-ropes, is the life of S. 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 Peruzzi, are two stories of the life of S. John the
Baptist, to whom the chapel is dedicated; wherein great vivacity is seen in
the dancing and leaping of Herodias, and in the promptness of some
servants bustling at the service of the table. In the same are two marvellous
stories of S. John the Evangelist—namely, when he brings Drusiana back to
life, and when he is carried off into Heaven. In the third, which is that of the
Giugni, 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, and 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 Baroncelli, 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
colouring, will be forced to hold him in the highest veneration. In the same
Church of S. Croce, over the marble tomb of Carlo Marsuppini of Arezzo,
there is a Crucifix, with the Madonna, S. John, and Magdalene at the foot of

the Cross; and on the other side of the church, exactly opposite this, over
the burial-place of Lionardo Aretino, facing the high-altar, there is an
Annunciation, which has been recoloured 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 S. 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 S. Francis. He wrought, also, in the
Church of the Carmine, in the Chapel of S. 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.

Anderson
THE BODY OF S. FRANCIS BEFORE THE CHURCH OF S.
DAMIANO

(After the fresco of the Roman School. Assisi: Upper Church of S.
Francesco)
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After these works, departing from Florence in order to go to finish in Assisi
the works begun by Cimabue, in passing through Arezzo he painted in the

Pieve the Chapel of S. 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 S. Francis and a S. Dominic; and in
the Duomo without Arezzo he painted the Stoning of S. 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 Muro della Marca, then General of the Friars of S. 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 S. 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 marvellous 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 wresting 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 S. Francis; and all with inventions
both fanciful and beautiful. In the first is S. 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, enjoining 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 S. Francis, while Jesus Christ is holding her hand, there
being present, not without mystic meaning, Hope and Compassion. In the
fourth and last of the said spaces is a S. 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
whereon 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 S.
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 S. Francis, he returned to
Florence, where, on arriving there, he painted, on a panel that was to be sent
to Pisa, a S. 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 a S. Francis, who is kneeling and receiving the Stigmata with
much readiness, a most ardent desire to receive them and 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 to-day is
seen in S. 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
Pisans, having just finished the building of the Campo Santo after the
design of Giovanni, son of Niccola 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 incrusted on the outer side with marbles and with
carvings made at very great cost, and roofed over with lead, and also full of
sarcophagi and 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 Campo
Santo, 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
damp by reason of the south-east winds and throw out a certain salt
moisture, even as the bricks of Pisa do for the most part, and that therefore
the colours 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 spoilt in certain
places, and the flesh-colours 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, whence it arises
that afterwards, perforce, it spoils the colours, although it appears at the
beginning to take a good and firm hold. In these scenes, besides the portrait
of Messer Farinata degli Uberti, 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 marvellous in the attitude that he strikes in
chasing the flies from his leprous 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 S. 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 labour, 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 to spare,"
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 and 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 his circle without moving his arm and without
compasses. Wherefore the Pope and many courtiers that were 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 wont to be said to men of
gross wits: "Tu sei più tondo che l' O 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; tondo being used, in Tuscany, both for the perfect shape of
a circle and for slowness and grossness of understanding.

Anderson
THE RAISING OF LAZARUS
(After the fresco by Giotto and his Pupils. Assisi: Lower Church of S.
Francesco)

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The aforesaid Pope then made him come to Rome, where, honouring him
much and appreciating his talents, he made him paint five scenes from the
life of Christ in the apse of S. 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 ducats of gold, besides
granting him so many favours that they were talked of throughout all Italy.
About this time—in order to withhold nothing worthy of remembrance in
connection with art—there was in Rome one Oderigi d'Agobbio, 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 for 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 Oderigi 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 vainglorious, in these verses:
O, dissi a lui, non se' tu Oderigi,
L'onor d'Agobbio, e l'onor di quell'arte
Che alluminare è chiamata in Parigi?
Frate, diss'egli, più ridon le carte
Che pennelleggia Franco Bolognese;
L'onor è tutto suo, e mio in parte.
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 round S. 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 S. 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 its beauty, in the place that
pleased the pious love that is borne towards everything excellent in art by

Messer Niccolò Acciaiuoli, 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 in mosaic that is over the three doors of the
portico in the court of S. Pietro, which is truly marvellous and deservedly
praised by all beautiful minds, because in it, besides the design, there is the
grouping of the Apostles, who are travailing 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 lights and shadows of so great a sail, which could only be equalled 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 part spoilt, 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 coloured 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 betake 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 Pontiff 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 honoured and famous; and among the rest
he brought back the portrait of that Pope, which he gave afterwards to
Taddeo Gaddi, 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 Messer Cane, he made certain
pictures in his palace, and in particular the portrait of that lord; and a panel
for the Friars of S. 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 S. Agostino, some works that are still
seen there to-day. Meanwhile, it coming to the ears 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 S. Francesco, for the Signori da Polenta, 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 Saccone, who had been
much his friend; wherefore he made for him in fresco, on a pillar in the
principal chapel of the Vescovado, a S. 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 S. Fiore a large Crucifix
painted in distemper on wood, which is to-day 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 Faenza, both in fresco and in
distemper, that are not in existence to-day, 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 S. Martino with a Christ in air and four Saints, Protectors of that
city—namely, S. Peter, S. Regulus, S. Martin, and S. 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 Anti-Pope Nicholas V.
Some, likewise, believe that Giotto designed the castle and fortress of
Giusta, which is impregnable, at San Frediano, in the same city of Lucca.
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 building of S. Chiara, 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 discourse on these matters, as often comes to pass
between friends.

GIOTTO: MADONNA AND CHILD
(Florence: Accademia 103. Panel)

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But to return to Naples; Giotto made many works in the Castel dell'Uovo,
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 am I lodged at the
Porta Reale, in order to be the first in Naples." Another time, the King
saying to him, "Giotto, an I were you, now that it is hot, I would give over
painting for a little;" he answered, "And I, i' faith, an 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
in the Incoronata; 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, so it is said, painted for him an ass saddled, that had at its feet a new
pack-saddle, and was sniffing at it and making semblance of desiring it; and
on both the old pack-saddle and the new one were the royal crown and the
sceptre 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 lord 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 spoilt 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 Signor Malatesta, he first occupied himself in his service for
some days in Rome, and afterwards he betook himself to Rimini, of which
city the said Malatesta was lord; and there, in the Church of S. Francesco,
he made very many pictures, which were afterwards thrown to the ground
and destroyed by Gismondo, 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 oath over a book in a most wonderful
attitude, holding her eyes fixed on those of 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 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 disgust, the most
gracious in the world. The foreshortenings, 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
them there came the first beginning and method of making 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
usurers, who are disbursing 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 upholding the garments of S. 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 Signor Malatesta on a ship
in this work, so naturally that he appears absolutely alive; and some
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 Signor Malatesta did not fail to reward him
magnificently and to praise him.
Having finished his labours for that lord, he complied with the request of a
Prior of Florence who was then at S. Cataldo d'Arimini, and made a S.
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
S. Giovanni Evangelista, which is much extolled. Having next returned to
Florence with very great honour and ample means, he painted a Crucifix on
wood and in distemper for S. Marco, larger than life and on a ground of
gold, which was placed on the right hand in the church. And he made
another like it in S. Maria Novella, whereon Puccio Capanna, his pupil,
worked in company with him; and this is still to-day over the principal door,
on the right as you enter the church, over the tomb of the Gaddi. And in the
same church, over the tramezzo,[11] he made a S. Louis for Paolo di Lotto
Ardinghelli, and at the foot thereof the portrait of him and of his wife, from
the life.
Afterwards, in the year 1327, Guido Tarlati da Pietramala, Bishop and Lord
of Arezzo, died at Massa di Maremma in returning from Lucca, where he
had been to visit the Emperor, and after his body had been brought to
Arezzo and the most magnificent funeral honours had been paid to it, Piero
Saccone and Dolfo 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 Ghibelline 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 Saccone had infinite love for the talent of this man, having taken
Borgo a San Sepolcro 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 Gondi, nobleman of
Florence, a lover of these 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 a cell, whither it had been brought by the Very Reverend Don
Antonio da Pisa, then General of the Congregation of Camaldoli, a very
beautiful little Crucifix on a 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 to-day in the cell of the Superior
of the Monastery of the Angeli, as being a very rare work and by the hand
of Giotto, in company with a most beautiful little picture by Raffaello da
Urbino.
For the Frati Umiliati of Ognissanti in Florence, Giotto painted a chapel and
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
Puccio Capanna took the design and wrought many of them afterwards
throughout all Italy, having much practice in the manner of Giotto. In the
tramezzo[12] 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 into His arms. This work was much praised by the
craftsmen of painting, and in particular by Michelagnolo Buonarroti, 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, impious. 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 9, he put his hand to the
Campanile of S. Maria del Fiore, whereof the foundation was a platform of
strong stone, in a pit sunk twenty braccia 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 braccia above the first foundation, and
the rest—namely, the other eight braccia—he caused 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 friezes were to go, with much diligence. The
circuit round the base was one hundred braccia—that is, twenty-five braccia
for each side—and the height, one hundred and forty-four braccia. And if
that is true, and I hold it as of the truest, which Lorenzo di Cione 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 father and mother of all these 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 braccia 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 aught 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 florins 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 Taddeo Gaddi, for he did not
live so long as to be able to see it finished.

Alinari
THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT
(After the fresco by Giotto. Padua: Arena Chapel)

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Now, while this work continued to be carried forward, he made a panel for
the Nuns of S. 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 Podestà 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 the balanced 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 honour 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 most
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, of all those who had known him or even only
heard his name—and he was buried, even as his virtues deserved, with great
honour, 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 honoured by Petrarca, both he and his
works, so greatly that it is read in Petrarca's testament that he left to Signor
Francesco da Carrara, Lord of Padua, among other things held by him in the
highest veneration, a picture by the hand of Giotto containing a Madonna,
as something rare and very dear to him. And the words of that clause in the
testament run thus:

Berlin Photo. Co.
THE CRUCIFIXION
(After the fresco of the School of Giotto.
Assisi: Lower Church of S. Francesco)

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"Transeo ad dispositionem aliarum rerum; et prædicto igitur domino meo
Paduano, quia et ipse per Dei gratiam non eget, et ego nihil aliud habeo
dignum se, mitto tabulam meam sive historiam Beatæ Virginis Mariæ, opus
Jocti pictoris egregii, quæ mihi ab amico meo Michæle Vannis de Florentia
missa est, in cujus pulchritudinem ignorantes non intelligunt, magistri
autem artis stupent; hanc iconam ipsi domino lego, ut ipsa Virgo benedicta
sibi sit propitia apud filium suum Jesum Christum."

And the same Petrarch, in a Latin epistle in the fifth book of his Familiar
Letters, says these words:
"Atque (ut a veteribus ad nova, ab externis ad nostra transgrediar) duos ego
novi pictores egregios, nec formosos, Joctum Florentinum civem, cujus
inter modernos fama ingens est, et Simonem Senensem. Novi scultores
aliquot," etc.
Giotto was buried in S. Maria del Fiore, on 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 Cimabue, 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 Taddeo Gaddi, held by him at baptism, as has been said,
and Puccio Capanna of Florence, who, working at Rimini in the Church of
S. Cataldo, 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 S. Francesco at Assisi, and in the
Church of S. Trinita in Florence, near the side-door towards the river, he
painted the Chapel of the Strozzi, wherein is the Coronation of the
Madonna in fresco, with a choir of angels which draw very much to the
manner of Giotto; and on the sides are stories of S. Lucia, very well
wrought. In the Badia of Florence he painted the Chapel of S. Giovanni
Evangelista, belonging to the family of Covoni, beside the sacristry; and in
Pistoia he wrought in fresco the principal chapel of the Church of S.
Francesco and the Chapel of S. Lodovico, with the stories of those Saints,
passing well painted. In the middle of the Church of S. Domenico, in the
same city, there are a Crucifix, a Madonna, and a S. 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 FIORENZA ME FECE. In
the arch over the door of S. Maria Nuova in the said church there are three

half-length figures by his hand, Our Lady with the Child in her arms, and S.
Peter on one side, and on the other S. Francis. He also painted in the
aforesaid city of Assisi, in the lower Church of S. 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 S. Maria degli Angeli 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, in so far 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, as some
have it, he did not live long, having fallen sick and died by reason of
labouring too much in fresco. By his hand, in so far as is known, is the
Chapel of S. Martino in the same church, with the stories of that Saint,
wrought in fresco for Cardinal Gentile. There is seen, also, in the middle of
the street called Portica, a Christ at the Column, and in a square picture
there is Our Lady, with S. Catherine and S. 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 S. Francis, in the
tramezzo[13] 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 to-day in that city some of the family of the Capanni.
Wherefore it may easily be 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 da
Faenza, who painted many works at Ferrara in S. Giorgio, the seat of the
Monks of Monte Oliveto; and in Faenza, where he lived and died, he
painted, in the arch over the door of S. Francesco, a Madonna, S. Peter and
S. Paul, and many other works in his said birthplace and in Bologna.
A disciple of Giotto, also, was Pace da 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 S. Giovanni Decollato. This Pace was an
able man, particularly in making little figures, as can be seen to this day in
the Church of S. Francesco at Forlì, 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 S. 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 di Maestro Giotto, of whom I
have nothing else to relate.
Guglielmo of Forlì was also a disciple of Giotto, and besides many other
works he painted the chapel of the high-altar in S. Domenico at Forlì, his
native city. Disciples of Giotto, also, were Pietro Laurati and Simon
Memmi of Siena, Stefano, a Florentine, and Pietro Cavallini, a Roman; but,
seeing that of all these there is 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, whereunto witness is borne
by many sheets of parchment drawn by his hand in water-colour, outlined
with the pen, in chiaroscuro, with the high lights in white, which are in our
book of drawings, and are truly a marvel in 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
Sacchetti, 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 it 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: "Everyone 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 me in jest?
Howsoever it may be, never was there brought to me a buckler to paint, and
he who brings it is a simple manikin and bids me make him his arms as if
he were of the blood-royal of France; i' 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, bade one of his
disciples finish the painting, and so he did; which painting was a helmet, a
gorget, a pair of arm-pieces, a pair of iron gauntlets, a cuirass 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, someone, 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 hast painted for me?' Said Giotto, 'And it will seem to
thee a right filthy business in the paying.' Said he, 'I will not pay four
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, 'tis not
well, God help thee! And a great booby must thou be, for if one asked thee,
"Who art thou?" scarce wouldst thou be able to tell; and here thou comest
and sayest, "Paint me my arms!" An thou hadst been one of the Bardi, that
were enough. What arms dost 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 pratest of arms as if thou wert Dusnam 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 hast 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 florins 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 lire 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 Cimabue, once
painted a fly on the nose of a figure that Cimabue 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
retorts could I relate, but I wish that these, which deal with matters pertinent
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 recovered 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 S. Maria del Fiore, carved in marble
by Benedetto da Maiano, an excellent sculptor, together with the verses
written below, made by that divine man, Messer Angelo Poliziano, 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 these that Giotto deserved and obtained in liberal measure from his
goodness:
Ille ego sum, per quem pictura extincta revixit,
Cui quam recta manus, tam fuit et facilis.
Naturæ deerat nostræ quod defuit arti;
Plus licuit nulli pingere, nec melius.
Miraris turrim egregiam sacro ære sonantem?
Hæc quoque de modulo crevit ad astra meo.
Denique sum Jottus, quid opus fuit illa referre?
Hoc nomen longi carminis instar erit.

And to the end that those who come after may be able to see drawings by
the very hand of Giotto, and from these to recognize all the more the
excellence of so great a man, in our aforesaid book there are some that are
marvellous, sought out by me with no less diligence than labour and
expense.

AGOSTINO AND AGNOLO OF SIENA

LIFE OF AGOSTINO AND AGNOLO OF
SIENA,
SCULPTORS AND ARCHITECTS

Among others who exercised themselves in the school of the sculptors
Giovanni and Niccola 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 Fontebranda, 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 betterment to the manner of Giovanni and
Niccola of Pisa, enriched the art with better design and invention, as their
works clearly demonstrate. It is said that the aforesaid Giovanni, returning
from Naples to Pisa in the year 1284, stayed in Siena in order to make the
design and foundation for the façade of the Duomo, 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 the
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 honour 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 equalled 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 in many other works of his that
he wrought 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 Palace in Malborghetto, 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 the construction of the Porta Romana in that manner wherein it
stands to-day, and it was finished in the year 1326; which gate was first
called Porta S. Martino. They rebuilt, also, the Porta a Tufi, which at first
was called Porta di S. Agata all'Arco. In the same year, with the design of
the same Agostino and Agnolo, there was begun the Church and Convent of
S. Francesco in the presence of Cardinal di Gaeta, Apostolic Legate. No
long time after, by the action of some of the Tolomei who were living as
exiles at Orvieto, Agostino and Agnolo were summoned to make certain
sculptures for the work of S. 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 it 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 S. Chiara and other places in that city; wherefore Giotto, passing
by way of Orvieto on his way to Naples, in order 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 commended them and held them, much to
their contentment, among his friends, but also presented them to Piero
Saccone da Pietramala as the best of all the sculptors then living, for the
making of the tomb of Bishop Guido, Lord and Bishop of Arezzo, which
has been mentioned in the Life of Giotto himself. And so then Giotto
having seen in Orvieto the works of many sculptors and having judged the
best 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 Saccone. 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 Arezzo, 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 Ghibelline party of Milan,
which sent him money and four hundred masons, he is rebuilding the walls
of Arezzo all anew, making them much longer than they were and giving
them the form of a galley. In the second is the taking of Lucignano di
Valdichiana. In the third, that of Chiusi. In the fourth, that of Fronzoli, then
a strong castle above Poppi, and held by the sons of the Count of Battifolle.
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 Bucine in Valdarno. The seventh is when he is
taking by storm the fortress of Caprese, which belonged to the Count of

Romena, after having maintained the siege for several months. In the eighth
the Bishop is having the Castle of Laterino 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
Monte Sansovino and putting it to fire and flames, chasing from it all the
inhabitants. In the eleventh is his coronation, wherein are to be 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 Ghibelline
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 balls in the arms of the
Medici; which arms of the house of the Bishop were described by Frate
Guittone, chevalier and poet of Arezzo, when he said, writing of the site of
the Castle of Pietramala, whence that family had its origin:
Dove si scontra il Giglion con la Chiassa
Ivi furono i miei antecessori,
Che in campo azurro d'or portan sei sassa.
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 Frenchmen of the
Duke of Anjou, who sacked the greater part of that city in order to take
revenge on the hostile party for certain affronts received, none the less 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:
HOC OPUS FECIT MAGISTER AUGUSTINUS ET
MAGISTER ANGELUS DE SENIS.
After this, in the year 1329, they wrought an altar-panel of marble for the
Church of S. Francesco at Bologna, in a passing good manner; and therein,
besides the carved ornamentation, which is very rich, they made a Christ
who is crowning Our Lady, and on each side three similar figures—S.

Francis, S. James, S. Dominic, S. Anthony of Padua, S. Petronius, and S.
John the Evangelist, with figures 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 wrought 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 Po
issued in furious flood from its bed and laid waste the whole country round
for many miles, doing incredible damage to the territory of Mantua and
Ferrara and slaying more than ten thousand 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 fame thereby, they were recompensed by the Lords of Mantua and
by the D'Este family with most honourable rewards.
After this they returned to Siena, and in the year 1338, with their direction
and design, there was made the new Church of S. Maria, near the Duomo
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 the Palagio della
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 1343, 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 Grosseto 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 S. Francesco for a brother of Napoleone
Orsino, a Cardinal and a friar of S. Francis, who had 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 Duomo. 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 an error, in following the order
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 none the
less 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 Pieve, that Pietro and Paolo goldsmiths of Arezzo,
who learnt design from Agnolo and Agostino of Siena, were the first who
wrought large works of some excellence with the chasing-tool, since, for an
arch-priest of the said Pieve of Arezzo, they executed a head in silver as
large as life, wherein was placed the head of S. Donatus, 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-tool.
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 altar of S. Giovanni 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 S. Zanobi had been found beneath the vaults of S.
Reparata, the same Maestro Cione made a head of silver to contain a piece
of the head of that Saint, which is still preserved to-day in the same head of
silver and is borne 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 Forzore di Spinello of
Arezzo, who wrought every kind of chasing very well but was particularly
excellent in making scenes in silver enamelled over fire, to which witness is
borne by a mitre with most beautiful adornments in enamel, and a very
beautiful pastoral staff of silver, which are in the Vescovado of Arezzo. The
same man wrought for Cardinal Galeotto da Pietramala many works in
silver that remained after his death with the friars of La Vernia, where he
wished to be buried. There, besides the wall that was erected in that place
by Count Orlando, Lord of Chiusi, a small town below La Vernia, 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 Ser
Giovanni, 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 in S. 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 S. 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 the panel of the altar, round which is a frieze of letters in
enamel, that run thus:

AD HONOREM DEI ET SANCTI JACOBI APOSTOLI, HOC
OPUS FACTUM FUIT TEMPORE DOMINI FRANC. PAGNI
DICTÆ OPERÆ OPERARII SUB ANNO 1371 PER ME
LEONARDUM SER JO. DE FLOREN. AURIFIC.
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
Lanfrani of Venice, who founded S. 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 S. Domenico, the
same Maestro Jacopo made a tomb in marble for Giovanni Andrea
Calduino, Doctor of Laws and Secretary to Pope Clement VI; and another,
also in marble and in the said church, very well wrought, for Taddeo
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 S. Antonio, which was previously of wood, at the request of a
Florentine Abbot of the ancient family of the Abati, the Doge being Messer
Andrea Dandolo. This church was finished in the year 1349. Jacobello and
Pietro Paolo, also, Venetians and disciples of Agostino and Agnolo, made a
tomb in marble for Messer Giovanni da Lignano, Doctor of Laws, in the
year 1383, in the Church of S. Domenico 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 Pesarese, who, besides many other works,
built the Church of S. Domenico in his native city, and made in sculpture
the marble door with the three figures in the round, God the Father, S. John
the Baptist, and S. 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 in that manner, I
wish that this, that 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.

STEFANO AND UGOLINO SANESE

LIFE OF STEFANO, PAINTER OF FLORENCE,
AND OF UGOLINO SANESE
[UGOLINO DA SIENA]

Stefano, painter of Florence and disciple of Giotto, was so excellent, that he
not only surpassed all the others who had laboured 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 S. 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 manner then
little known, executing it in good form and with better knowledge; and in it,
working with very great judgment in modern fashion, he showed so great
art and so great invention and proportion in the columns, 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—is so rich in design and variety, and so useful and convenient
in invention, that the elder Lorenzo de' Medici, the Magnificent, availed
himself of it in making the outer staircase of the Palace of Poggio a Cajano,
now the principal villa of the most Illustrious Lord Duke. In the other little
arch is a story of Christ when he is delivering S. Peter from shipwreck, so

well done that one seems to hear the voice of Peter saying: "Domine, salva
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 all most beautiful. And
although time has eaten away in part the labours 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 a S. Thomas Aquinas beside a door in
the first cloister of S. 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 foreshortenings 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[14] of
the Church of S. Croce, in the Chapel of the Asini, the story of the
martyrdom of S. 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 S.
Pietro, in the principal chapel wherein is the altar of the said Saint, between
the windows that are in the great choir-niche, with so much diligence that it
is seen that he approached closely to the modern manner, surpassing his
master Giotto considerably in draughtsmanship and in other respects.

After this, on a pillar on the left-hand side of the principal chapel of the
Araceli, he made a S. 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 draughtsmanship, 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 S. Spirito), in such a manner that in my
judgment he drew much better than Giotto.
Having gone, next, to Assisi, he began in fresco a scene of the Celestial
Glory in the niche of the principal chapel of the lower Church of S.
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 a S. 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 S. 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 Gianfigliazzi, by the side of the Arno,
between their houses and the Ponte alla Carraja, a little shrine on a corner
that is there, wherein he depicted a Madonna sewing, to whom a boy
dressed and seated is handing a bird, with such diligence that the work,
small as it is, deserves to be praised no less than do the works that he
wrought on a larger and more masterly scale.

This shrine finished and his affairs dispatched, being called to Pistoia by its
Lords in the year 1346, he was made to paint the Chapel of S. 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 hand, in the Kingdom of the Father.
Close to this is the beheading of the said Saint, a very beautiful work.
It is reputed that Maso, called Giottino, of whom there will be mention
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 Ghiberti and by Domenico del Ghirlandajo, hold it as
true that he was rather the son of Stefano than of Giotto. Be this as it may,
returning to 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 in diligence.
And as for those foreshortenings that he made, although, as I have said, he
showed a faulty manner in them by reason of the difficulty of making them,
none the less 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 lapse of time men leave the false
road and attain to the desired goal. At Perugia, too, in the Church of S.
Domenico, he began in fresco the Chapel of S. Caterina, which remained
unfinished.

Berlin Photo. Co.
SS. PAUL, PETER AND JOHN THE BAPTIST
(After the painting by Ugolino Sanese [da Siena]. Berlin: K. Friedrich
Museum, 1635)

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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, grown old therein, had wished by reason of a
certain obstinacy in himself to hold rather to the manner of Cimabue than to
that of Giotto, which was so greatly revered. By the hand of Ugolino, then,
is the panel of the high-altar of S. Croce, on a ground all of gold, and also a
panel which stood many years on the high-altar of S. Maria Novella and is
to-day in the Chapter-house, where the Spanish nation every year holds

most solemn festival on the day of S. James, with other offices and funeral
ceremonies of its own. Besides these, he wrought 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'Orsanmichele, 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 Messer Ridolfo
de' Bardi, which is in S. Croce, where Giotto painted the life of S. Francis,
he painted a Crucifix in distemper on the altar-panel, with a Magdalene and
a S. John weeping, and two friars, one on either side. Ugolino passed away
from this life, being old, in the year 1349, and was buried with 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 forty-nine,
and was laid to rest in the tomb of his fathers, in S. Spirito, with this
epitaph:
STEPHANO FLORENTINO PICTORI, FACIUNDIS IMAGINIBUS AC
COLORANDIS
FIGURIS NULLI UNQUAM INFERIORI, AFFINES MOESTISS. POS.
VIX.
AN. XXXXIX.

PIETRO LAURATI

Alinari
THE MADONNA ENTHRONED
(After the polyptych by Pietro Laurati [Lorenzetti]. Arezzo: S. Maria
della Pieve)

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LIFE OF PIETRO LAURATI

[PIETRO LORENZETTI],
PAINTER OF SIENA

Pietro Laurati, 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 all 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 all Tuscany, that it
was believed with great reason that he was destined, as afterwards came to
pass, to become a better master than Cimabue and Giotto and the others had
been; for the figures that represent the Virgin ascending the steps of the
Temple, accompanied by Joachim 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 a 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 Oliveto di Chiusuri, where he
painted a panel in distemper that is placed to-day in the portico below the
church. In Florence, next, opposite to the left-hand door of the Church of S.
Spirito, on the corner where to-day there is a butcher, he painted a shrine
which, by reason of the softness of the heads and of the sweetness that is
seen in it, deserves the highest praise from every discerning craftsman.
Going from Florence to Pisa, he wrought in the Campo Santo, on the wall
that is beside the principal door, all the lives of the Holy Fathers, with
expressions so lively and attitudes so beautiful that he equalled 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 S. Francesco; and in the predella 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
thereon his name, with these words: PETRUS LAURATI DE SENIS.

PIETRO LORENZETTI: MADONNA AND CHILD WITH S.S.
FRANCIS AND JOHN
(Assisi: Lower Church of S. Francesco. Fresco)

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Pietro was summoned, next, in the year 1355, by Messer Guglielmo, arch-
priest, and by the Wardens of Works of the Pieve of Arezzo, who were then
Margarito Boschi 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, and all adorned with squared stone and with carvings, as it has
been said, by the hand of Margaritone, 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, the air of the heads, and the attitudes of
the figures) which had been characteristic of and peculiar to Giotto, his

master. And although all 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 four braccia high, wherein he showed greatness of spirit and
was the first to try to give grandness to the manner, 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
aforesaid Pieve; 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 S. John the
Baptist and S. Matthew on the one side, and on the other the Evangelist and
S. Donatus, with many little figures in the predella and in the border of the
panel above, all truly beautiful and executed in very good manner. This
panel, after I had rebuilt the high-altar of the aforesaid Pieve completely
anew, at my own expense and with my own hand, was set up over the altar
of S. 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 this 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 wellnigh 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, used to occupy a great part of the church, and to the
great satisfaction of those reverend canons 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, S. George slaying the Dragon. On the sides are four

pictures, and in each of these are two saints as large as life. Then 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
thirteen braccia high, and the predella is two braccia high. And because
within it is hollow, and one ascends to 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; and among others there is the head of S. Donatus, Bishop and
Protector of that city, and in a coffer of variegated marble, three braccia
long, which I have had restored, are the bones of four Saints. And the
predella of the altar, which surrounds it all right round in due proportion,
has in front of it the tabernacle, or rather ciborium, of the Sacrament, made
of carved wood and all gilt, about three braccia high; which tabernacle is in
the round and can be seen as well from the side of the choir as 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 Laurati; that panel finished whereof there has
been talk above, he wrought in S. Pietro at Rome many works which were
afterwards destroyed in making the new building of S. Pietro. He also
wrought some works in Cortona and in Arezzo, besides those that have been
mentioned, and some others in the Church of S. Fiora e Lucilla, a
monastery of Black Friars, and in particular, in a chapel, a S. Thomas who
is putting his hand on the wound in the breast of Christ.
A disciple of Pietro was Bartolommeo Bologhini 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 S. Silvestro in S. Croce. The
pictures of these men date about the year of our salvation 1350; and in my
book, so many times cited, there is seen a drawing by the hand of Pietro,
wherein a shoemaker who is sewing, with simple but very natural
lineaments, shows very great expression and the characteristic manner of
Pietro, the portrait of whom, by the hand of Bartolommeo Bologhini, was in
a panel in Siena, when I copied it from the original in the manner that is
seen above.

Anderson
THE DEPOSITION FROM THE CROSS
(After the fresco of the Roman School. Assisi: Upper Church of S.
Francesco)

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]

ANDREA PISANO

LIFE OF ANDREA PISANO,
SCULPTOR AND ARCHITECT

The art of painting never flourished at any time without the sculptors also
pursuing their exercise with excellence, and to this the works of all ages
bear witness for the close observer, because these two arts are truly sisters,
born at one and the same time, and fostered and governed by one and the
same soul. This is seen in Andrea Pisano, who, practising sculpture in the
time of Giotto, made so great improvement in this art, that both in practice
and in theory he was esteemed the greatest man that the Tuscans had had up
to his times in this profession, and above all in casting in bronze. Wherefore
his works were honoured and rewarded in such a manner by all who knew
him, and above all by the Florentines, that it was no hardship to him to
change country, relatives, property and friends. He received much
assistance from the difficulties experienced in sculpture by the masters who
had lived before him, whose sculptures were so uncouth and worthless that
whosoever saw them in comparison with those of this man judged the last a
miracle. And that these early works were rude, witness is borne, as it has
been said elsewhere, by some that are over the principal door of S. Paolo in
Florence and some in stone that are in the Church of Ognissanti, which are
so made that they move those who view them rather to laughter than to any
marvel or pleasure. And it is certain that the art of sculpture can recover
itself much better, in the event of the essence of statuary being lost (since
men have the living and the natural model, which is wholly rounded, as that
art requires), than can the art of painting; it being not so easy and simple to
recover the beautiful outlines and the good manner, in order to bring the art
to the light, for these are the elements that produce majesty, beauty, grace
and adornment in the works that the painters make. In one respect fortune
was favourable to the labours of Andrea, because there had been brought to
Pisa, as it has been said elsewhere, by means of the many victories that the
Pisans had at sea, many antiquities and sarcophagi that are still round the
Duomo and the Campo Santo, and these brought him such great assistance
and gave him such great light as could not be obtained by Giotto, for the

reason that the ancient paintings had not been preserved as much as the
sculptures. And although statues are often destroyed by fires and by the ruin
and fury of war, and buried or transported to diverse places, nevertheless it
is easy for the experienced to recognize the difference in the manner of all
countries; as, for example, the Egyptian is slender and lengthy in its figures,
the Greek is scientific and shows much study in the nudes, while the heads
have almost all the same expression, and the most ancient Tuscan is
laboured in the hair and somewhat uncouth. That of the Romans (I call
Romans, for the most part, those who, after the subjugation of Greece,
betook themselves to Rome, whither all that there was of the good and of
the beautiful in the world was carried)—that, I say, is so beautiful, by
reason of the expressions, the attitudes, and the movements both of the nude
and of the draped figures, that it may be said that they wrested the beautiful
from all the other provinces and moulded it into one single manner, to the
end that it might be, as it is, the best—nay, the most divine of all.
All these beautiful manners and arts being spent in the time of Andrea, that
alone was in use which had been brought by the Goths and by the
uncivilized Greeks into Tuscany. Wherefore he, having studied the new
method of design of Giotto and those few antiquities that were known to
him, refined in great part the grossness of so miserable a manner with his
judgment, in such wise that he began to work better and to give much
greater beauty to statuary than any other had yet done in that art up to his
times. Therefore, his genius and his good skill and dexterity becoming
known, he was assisted by many in his country, and while still young he
was commissioned to make for S. Maria a Ponte some little figures in
marble, which brought him so good a name that he was sought out with
very great insistence to come to work in Florence for the Office of Works of
S. Maria del Fiore, which, after a beginning had been made with the façade
containing the three doors, was suffering from a dearth of masters to make
the scenes that Giotto had designed for the beginning of the said fabric.
Andrea, then, betook himself to Florence, for the service of the said Office
of Works. And because the Florentines desired at that time to gain the
friendship and love of Pope Boniface VIII, who was then Supreme Pontiff
of the Church of God, they wished that, before anything else, Andrea should
make a portrait in marble of the said Pontiff, from the life. Wherefore,
putting his hand to this work, he did not rest until he had finished the figure

of the Pope, with a S. Peter and a S. Paul who are one on either side of him;
which three figures were placed in the façade of S. Maria del Fiore, where
they still are. Andrea then made certain little figures of prophets for the
middle door of the said church, in some shrines or rather niches, from
which it is seen that he had brought great betterment to the art, and that he
was in advance, both in excellence and design, of all those who had worked
up to then on the said fabric. Wherefore it was resolved that all the works of
importance should be given to him to do, and not to others; and so, no long
time after, he was commissioned to make the four statues of the principal
Doctors of the Church, S. Jerome, S. Ambrose, S. Augustine, and S.
Gregory. And these being finished and acquiring for him favour and fame
with the Wardens of Works—nay, with the whole city—he was
commissioned to make two other figures in marble of the same size, which
were S. Stephen and S. Laurence, now standing in the said façade of S.
Maria del Fiore, at the outermost corners. By the hand of Andrea, likewise,
is the Madonna in marble, three braccia and a half high, with the Child in
her arms, which stands on the altar of the little Church of the Company of
the Misericordia, on the Piazza di S. Giovanni in Florence; which was a
work much praised in those times, and above all because he accompanied it
with two angels, one on either side, each two braccia and a half high. Round
this work there has been made in our own day a frame of wood, very well
wrought by Maestro Antonio, called Il Carota; and below, a predella full of
most beautiful figures coloured in oil by Ridolfo, son of Domenico
Ghirlandajo. In like manner, that half-length Madonna in marble that is over
the side door of the same Misericordia, in the façade of the Cialdonai, is by
the hand of Andrea, and it was much praised, because he imitated therein
the good ancient manner, contrary to his wont, which was ever far distant
from it, as some drawings testify that are in our book, wrought by his hand,
wherein are drawn all the stories of the Apocalypse.
Now, seeing that Andrea had applied himself in his youth to the study of
architecture, there came occasion for him to be employed in this by the
Commune of Florence; for Arnolfo being dead and Giotto absent, he was
commissioned to make the design of the Castle of Scarperia, which is in the
Mugello, at the foot of the mountains. Some say, although I would not
indeed vouch for it as true, that Andrea stayed a year in Venice, and there
wrought, in sculpture, some little figures in marble that are in the façade of

S. Marco, and that at the time of Messer Piero Gradenigo, Doge of that
Republic, he made the design of the Arsenal; but seeing that I know nothing
about it save that which I find to have been written by some without
authority, I leave each one to think in his own way about this matter. Andrea
having returned from Venice to Florence, the city, fearful of the coming of
the Emperor, caused a part of the walls to be raised with lime post-haste to
the height of eight braccia, employing in this Andrea, in that portion that is
between San Gallo and the Porta al Prato; and in other places he made
bastions, stockades, and other ramparts of earth and of wood, very strong.

Alinari
SALOME AND THE BEHEADING OF S. JOHN THE BAPTIST
(Details, after Andrea Pisano, from the Gates of the Baptistery,
Florence)

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Now because, three years before, he had shown himself to his own great
credit to be an able man in the casting of bronze, having sent to the Pope in
Avignon, by means of Giotto, his very great friend, who was then staying at
that Court, a very beautiful cross cast in bronze, he was commissioned to
complete in bronze one of the doors of the Church of S. Giovanni, for
which Giotto had already made a very beautiful design; this was given to
him, I say, to complete, by reason of his having been judged, among so
many who had worked up to then, the most able, the most practised and the
most judicious master not only of Tuscany but of all Italy. Wherefore,
putting his hand to this, with a mind determined not to consent to spare
either time, or labour, or diligence in executing a work of so great
importance, fortune was so propitious to him in the casting, for those times
when the secrets were not known that are known to-day, that within the
space of twenty-two years he brought it to that perfection which is seen; and
what is more, he also made during that same time not only the shrine of the
high-altar of S. Giovanni, with two angels, one on either side of it, that were
held something very beautiful, but also, after the design of Giotto, those
little figures in marble that act as adornment for the door of the Campanile
of S. Maria del Fiore, and round the same Campanile, in certain mandorle,
the seven planets, the seven virtues, and the seven works of mercy, little
figures in half-relief that were then much praised. He also made during the
same time the three figures, each four braccia high, that were set up in the
niches of the said Campanile, beneath the windows that face the spot where
the Orphans now are—that is, towards the south; which figures were
thought at that time more than passing good. But to return to where I left
off: I say that in the said bronze door are little scenes in low relief of the life
of S. John the Baptist, that is, from his birth up to his death, wrought
happily and with much diligence. And although it seems to many that in
these scenes there do not appear that beautiful design and that great art
which are now put into figures, yet Andrea deserves nothing but the greatest
praise, in that he was the first to put his hand to the complete execution of
such a work, which afterwards enabled the others who lived after him to
make whatever of the beautiful, of the difficult and of the good is to be seen
at the present day in the other two doors and in the external ornaments. This
work was placed in the middle door of that church, and stood there until the
time when Lorenzo Ghiberti made that one which is there at the present
day; for then it was removed and placed opposite the Misericordia, where it

still stands. I will not forbear to say that Andrea was assisted in making this
door by Nino, his son, who was afterwards a much better master than his
father had been, and that it was completely finished in the year 1339, that is,
not only made smooth and polished all over, but also gilded by fire; and it is
believed that it was cast in metal by some Venetian masters, very expert in
the founding of metals, and of this there is found record in the books of the
Guild of the Merchants of Calimara, Wardens of the Works of S. Giovanni.
While the said door was making, Andrea made not only the other works
aforesaid but also many others, and in particular the model of the Church of
S. Giovanni at Pistoia, which was founded in the year 1337. In that same
year, on January 25, in excavating the foundations of this church, there was
found the body of the Blessed Atto, once Bishop of that city, who had been
buried in that place one hundred and thirty-seven years. The architecture,
then, of this church, which is round, was passing good for those times. In
the principal church of the said city of Pistoia there is also a tomb of marble
by the hand of Andrea, with the body of the sarcophagus full of little
figures, and some larger figures above; in which tomb is laid to rest the
body of Messer Cino d' Angibolgi, Doctor of Laws, and a very famous
scholar in his time, as Messer Francesco Petrarca testifies in that sonnet:
Piangete, donne, e con voi pianga Amore;
and also in the fourth chapter of the Triumph of Love, where he says:
Ecco Cin da Pistoia, Guitton d'Arezzo,
Che di non esser primo par ch'ira aggia.
In that tomb there is seen the portrait of Messer Cino himself in marble, by
the hand of Andrea; he is teaching a number of his scholars, who are round
him, with an attitude and manner so beautiful that, although to-day it might
not be prized, in those days it must have been a marvellous thing.

Alinari
THE CREATION OF MAN
(After a relief, by Andrea Pisano, on the Campanile,
Florence)

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Andrea was also made use of in matters of architecture by Gualtieri, Duke
of Athens and Tyrant of the Florentines, who made him enlarge the square,
and caused him, in order to safeguard himself in his palace, to secure all the

lower windows on the first floor (where to-day is the Sala de' Dugento) with
iron bars, square and very strong. The said Duke also added, opposite S.
Pietro Scheraggio, the walls of rustic work that are beside the palace, in
order to enlarge it; and in the thickness of the wall he made a secret
staircase, in order to ascend and descend unseen. And at the foot of the said
wall of rustic work he made a great door, which serves to-day for the
Customs-house, and above that his arms, and all with the design and
counsel of Andrea; and although these arms were chiselled out by the
Council of Twelve, which took pains to efface every memorial of that Duke,
there remained none the less in the square shield the form of the lion
rampant with two tails, as anyone can see who examines it with diligence.
For the same Duke Andrea built many towers round the walls of the city,
and he not only made a magnificent beginning for the Porta a S. Friano and
brought it to the completion that is seen, but also made the walls for the
vestibules of all the gates of the city, and the lesser gates for the
convenience of the people. And because the Duke had it in his mind to
make a fortress on the Costa di S. Giorgio, Andrea made the model for it,
which afterwards was not used, for the reason that the work was never
given a beginning, the Duke having been driven out in the year 1343.
Nevertheless, there was effected in great part the desire of that Duke to
bring the palace to the form of a strong castle, because, to that which had
been made originally, he added the great mass which is seen to-day,
enclosing within its circuit the houses of the Filipetri, the tower and the
houses of the Amidei and Mancini, and those of the Bellalberti. And
because, having made a beginning with so great a fabric and with the thick
walls and barbicans, he had not all the material that was essential equally in
readiness, he held back the construction of the Ponte Vecchio, which was
being worked on with all haste as a work of necessity, and availed himself
of the stone hewn and the wood prepared for it, without the least scruple.
And although Taddeo Gaddi was not perhaps inferior in the matters of
architecture to Andrea Pisano, the Duke would not avail himself of him in
these buildings, by reason of his being a Florentine, but only of Andrea. The
same Duke Gualtieri wished to pull down S. Cecilia, in order to see from
his palace the Strada Romana and the Mercato Nuovo, and likewise to
destroy S. Pietro Scheraggio for his own convenience, but he had not leave
to do this from the Pope; and meanwhile, as it has been said above, he was
driven out by the fury of the people.

Deservedly then did Andrea gain, by the honourable labours of so many
years, not only very great rewards but also the citizenship; for he was made
a citizen of Florence by the Signoria, and was given offices and
magistracies in the city, and his works were esteemed both while he lived
and after his death, there being found no one who could surpass him in
working, until there came Niccolò Aretino, Jacopo della Quercia of Siena,
Donatello, Filippo di Ser Brunellesco, and Lorenzo Ghiberti, who executed
the sculptures and other works that they made in such a manner that people
recognized in how great error they had lived up to that time; for these men
recovered with their works that excellence which had been hidden and little
known by men for many and many a year. The works of Andrea date about
the year of our salvation 1340.
Andrea left many disciples; among others, Tommaso Pisano, architect and
sculptor, who finished the Chapel of the Campo Santo and added the
finishing touch to the Campanile of the Duomo—namely, that final part
wherein are the bells. Tommaso is believed to have been the son of Andrea,
this being found written in the panel of the high-altar of S. Francesco in
Pisa, wherein there is, carved in half-relief, a Madonna, with other Saints
made by him, and below these his name and that of his father.

Alinari
MADONNA AND CHILD
(After Nino Pisano. Orvieto: Museo dell'Opera)

View larger image

Andrea was survived by Nino, his son, who applied himself to sculpture;
and his first work was in S. Maria Novella, where he finished a Madonna in
marble begun by his father, which is within the side door, beside the Chapel
of the Minerbetti. Next, having gone to Pisa, he made in the Spina a half-

length figure in marble of Our Lady, who is suckling an infant Jesus Christ
wrapped in certain delicate draperies. For this Madonna an ornamental
frame of marble was made in the year 1522, by the agency of Messer
Jacopo Corbini, and another frame, much greater and more beautiful, was
made then for another Madonna of marble, which was of full length and by
the hand of the same Nino; in the attitude of which Madonna the mother is
seen handing a rose with much grace to her Son, who is taking it in a
childlike manner, so beautiful that it may be said that Nino was beginning
to rob the stone of its hardness and to reduce it to the softness of flesh,
giving it lustre by means of the highest polish. This figure is between a S.
John and a S. Peter in marble, the head of the latter being a portrait of
Andrea from the life. Besides this, for an altar in S. Caterina, also in Pisa,
Nino made two statues of marble—that is, a Madonna, and an Angel who is
bringing her the Annunciation, wrought, like his other works, with so great
diligence that it can be said that they are the best that were made in those
times. Below this Madonna receiving the Annunciation Nino carved these
words on the base: ON THE FIRST DAY OF FEBRUARY, 1370; and
below the Angel: THESE FIGURES NINO MADE, THE SON OF
ANDREA PISANO. He also made other works in that city and in Naples,
whereof it is not needful to make mention.
Andrea died at the age of seventy-five, in the year 1345, and was buried by
Nino in S. Maria del Fiore, with this epitaph:
INGENTI ANDREAS JACET HIC PISANUS IN URNA,
MARMORE QUI POTUIT SPIRANTES DUCERE VULTUS,
ET SIMULACRA DEUM MEDIIS IMPONERE TEMPLIS
EX ÆRE, EX AURO CANDENTI, ET PULCRO ELEPHANTO.

BUONAMICO BUFFALMACCO

LIFE OF BUONAMICO BUFFALMACCO,
PAINTER OF FLORENCE

Buonamico di Cristofano, called Buffalmacco, painter of Florence, who was
a disciple of Andrea Tafi, and celebrated for his jokes by Messer Giovanni
Boccaccio in his Decameron, was, as is known, a very dear companion of
Bruno and Calandrino, painters equally humorous and gay; and as may be
seen in his works, scattered throughout all Tuscany, he was a man of
passing good judgment in his art of painting. Franco Sacchetti relates in his
three hundred Stories (to begin with the things that this man did while still
youthful), that Buffalmacco lived, while he was a lad, with Andrea, and that
this master of his used to make it a custom, when the nights were long, to
get up before daylight to labour, and to call the lads to night-work. This
being displeasing to Buonamico, who was made to rise out of his soundest
sleep, he began to think of finding a way whereby Andrea might give up
rising so much before daylight to work, and he succeeded; for having found
thirty large cockroaches, or rather blackbeetles, in a badly swept cellar, with
certain fine and short needles he fixed a little taper on the back of each of
the said cockroaches, and, the hour coming when Andrea was wont to rise,
he lit the tapers and put the animals one by one into the room of Andrea,
through a chink in the door. He, awaking at the very hour when he was
wont to call Buffalmacco, and seeing those little lights, all full of fear began
to tremble and in great terror to recommend himself under his breath to
God, like the old gaffer that he was, and to say his prayers or psalms; and
finally, putting his head below the bedclothes, he made no attempt for that
night to call Buffalmacco, but stayed as he was, ever trembling with fear, up
to daylight. In the morning, then, having risen, he asked Buonamico if he
had seen, as he had himself, more than a thousand demons; whereupon
Buonamico said he had not, because he had kept his eyes closed, and was
marvelling that he had not been called to night-work. "To night-work!" said
Tafo, "I have had something else to think of besides painting, and I am
resolved at all costs to go and live in another house." The following night,
although Buonamico put only three of them into the said room of Tafo,

none the less, what with terror of the past night and of those few devils that
he saw, he slept not a wink; nay, no sooner was it daylight than he rushed
from the house, meaning never to return, and a great business it was to
make him change his mind. At last Buonamico brought the parish priest,
who consoled him the best that he could. Later, Tafo and Buonamico
discoursing over the affair, Buonamico said: "I have ever heard tell that the
greatest enemies of God are the demons, and that in consequence they must
also be the most capital adversaries of painters; because, besides that we
make them ever most hideous, what is worse, we never attend to aught else
than to making saints, male and female, on walls and panels, and to making
men more devout and more upright thereby, to the despite of the demons;
wherefore, these demons having a grudge against us for this, as beings that
have greater power by night than by day they come and play us these tricks,
and worse tricks will they play if this use of rising for night-work is not
given up completely." With these and many other speeches Buffalmacco
knew so well how to manage the business, being borne out by what Sir
Priest kept saying, that Tafo gave over rising for night-work, and the devils
ceased going through the house at night with little lights. But Tafo
beginning again, for the love of gain, not many months afterwards, having
almost forgotten all fear, to rise once more to work in the night and to call
Buffalmacco, the cockroaches too began again to wander about; wherefore
he was forced by fear to give up the habit entirely, being above all advised
to do this by the priest. Afterwards this affair, spreading throughout the city,
brought it about that for a time neither Tafo nor other painters made a
practice of rising to work at night. Later, and no long time after this,
Buffalmacco, having become a passing good master, took leave of Tafo, as
the same Franco relates, and began to work for himself; and he never lacked
for something to do.
Now, Buffalmacco having taken a house, to work in and to live in as well,
that had next door a passing rich woolworker, who, being a simpleton, was
called Capodoca (Goosehead), the wife of this man would rise every night
very early, precisely when Buffalmacco, having up to then been working,
would go to lie down; and sitting at her wheel, which by misadventure she
had planted opposite to the bed of Buffalmacco, she would spend the whole
night spinning her thread; wherefore Buonamico, being able to get scarce a
wink of sleep, began to think and think how he could remedy this nuisance.

Nor was it long before he noticed that behind a wall of brickwork, that
divided his house from Capodoca's, was the hearth of his uncomfortable
neighbour, and that through a hole it was possible to see what she was
doing over the fire. Having therefore thought of a new trick, he bored a hole
with a long gimlet through a cane, and, watching for a moment when the
wife of Capodoca was not at the fire, he pushed it more than once through
the aforesaid hole in the wall and put as much salt as he wished into his
neighbour's pot; wherefore Capodoca, returning either for dinner or for
supper, more often than not could not eat or even taste either broth or meat,
so bitter was everything through the great quantity of salt. For once or twice
he had patience and only made a little noise about it; but after he saw that
words were not enough, he gave blows many a time for this to the poor
woman, who was in despair, it appearing to her that she was more than
careful in salting her cooking. She, one time among others that her husband
was beating her for this, began to try to excuse herself, wherefore
Capodoca, falling into even greater rage, set himself to thrash her again in a
manner that the woman screamed with all her might, and the whole
neighbourhood ran up at the noise; and among others there came up
Buffalmacco, who, having heard of what Capodoca was accusing his wife
and in what way she was excusing herself, said to Capodoca: "I' faith,
comrade, this calls for a little reason; thou dost complain that the pot,
morning and evening, is too much salted, and I marvel that this good
woman of thine can do anything well. I, for my part, know not how, by day,
she keeps on her feet, considering that the whole night she sits up over that
wheel of hers, and sleeps not, to my belief, an hour. Make her give up this
rising at midnight, and thou wilt see that, having her fill of sleep, she will
have her wits about her by day and will not fall into such blunders." Then,
turning to the other neighbours, he convinced them so well of the grave
import of the matter, that they all said to Capodoca that Buonamico was
speaking the truth and that it must be done as he advised. He, therefore,
believing that it was so, commanded her not to rise in the night, and the pot
was then reasonably salted, save when perchance the woman on occasion
rose early, for then Buffalmacco would return to his remedy, which finally
brought it about that Capodoca made her give it up completely.
Buffalmacco, then, among the first works that he made, painted with his
own hand the whole church of the Convent of the Nuns of Faenza, which

stood in Florence on the site of the present Cittadella del Prato; and among
other scenes that he made there from the life of Christ, in all which he
acquitted himself very well, he made the Massacre that Herod ordained of
the Innocents, wherein he expressed very vividly the emotions both of the
murderers and of the other figures; for in some nurses and mothers who are
snatching the infants from the hands of the murderers and are seeking all
the assistance that they can from their hands, their nails, their teeth, and
every movement of the body, there is shown on the surface a heart no less
full of rage and fury than of woe.
Of this work, that convent being to-day in ruins, there is to be seen nothing
but a coloured sketch in our book of drawings by diverse masters, wherein
there is this scene drawn by the hand of Buonamico himself. In the doing of
this work for the aforesaid Nuns of Faenza, seeing that Buffalmacco was a
person very eccentric and careless both in dress and in manner of life, it
came to pass, since he did not always wear his cap and his mantle, as in
those times it was the custom to do, that the nuns, seeing him once through
the screen that he had caused to be made, began to say to the steward that it
did not please them to see him in that guise, in his jerkin; however,
appeased by him, they stayed for a little without saying more. But at last,
seeing him ever in the same guise, and doubting whether he was not some
knavish boy for grinding colours, they had him told by the Abbess that they
would have liked to see the master at work, and not always him. To which
Buonamico answered, like the good fellow that he was, that as soon as the
master was there, he would let them know; taking notice, none the less, of
the little confidence that they had in him. Taking a stool, therefore, and
placing another above it, he put on top of all a pitcher, or rather a water-jar,
and on the mouth of that he put a cap, hanging over the handle, and then he
covered the rest of the jar with a burgher's mantle, and finally, putting a
brush in suitable fashion into the spout through which the water is poured,
he went off. The nuns, returning to see the work through an opening where
the cloth had slipped, saw the supposititious master in full canonicals;
wherefore, believing that he was working might and main and was by way
of doing different work from that which the untidy knave was doing, they
left it at that for some days, without thinking more about it. Finally, having
grown desirous to see what beautiful work the master had done, fifteen days
having passed, during which space of time Buonamico had never come near

the place, one night, thinking that the master was not there, they went to see
his paintings, and remained all confused and blushing by reason of one
bolder than the rest discovering the solemn master, who in fifteen days had
done not one stroke of work. Then, recognizing that he had served them as
they merited and that the works that he had made were worthy of nothing
but praise, they bade the steward recall Buonamico, who, with the greatest
laughter and delight, returned to the work, having given them to know what
difference there is between men and pitchers, and that it is not always by
their clothes that the works of men should be judged. In a few days, then, he
finished a scene wherewith they were much contented, it appearing to them
to be in every way satisfactory, except that the figures appeared to them
rather wan and pallid than otherwise in the flesh-tints. Buonamico, hearing
this, and having learnt that the Abbess had some Vernaccia, the best in
Florence, which was used for the holy office of the Mass, said to them that
in order to remedy this defect nothing else could be done but to temper the
colours with some good Vernaccia; because, touching the cheeks and the
rest of the flesh on the figures with colours thus tempered, they would
become rosy and coloured in most lifelike fashion. Hearing this, the good
sisters, who believed it all, kept him ever afterwards furnished with the best
Vernaccia, as long as the work lasted; and he, rejoicing in it, from that time
onwards made the figures fresher and more highly coloured with his
ordinary colours.
This work finished, he painted some stories of S. James in the Abbey of
Settimo, in the chapel that is in the cloister, and dedicated to that Saint, on
the vaulting of which he made the four Patriarchs and the four Evangelists,
among whom S. Luke is doing a striking action in blowing very naturally
on his pen, in order that it may yield its ink. Next, in the scenes on the
walls, which are five, there are seen beautiful attitudes in the figures, and
the whole work is executed with invention and judgment. And because
Buonamico was wont, in order to make his flesh-colour better, as is seen in
this work, to make a ground of purple, which in time produces a salt that
becomes corroded and eats away the white and other colours, it is no
marvel if this work is spoilt and eaten away, whereas many others that were
made long before have been very well preserved. And I, who thought
formerly that these pictures had received injury from the damp, have since
proved by experience, studying other works of the same man, that it is not

from the damp but from this particular use of Buffalmacco's that they have
become spoilt so completely that there is not seen in them either design or
anything else, and that where the flesh-colours were there has remained
nothing else but the purple. This method of working should be used by no
one who is anxious that his pictures should have long life.
Buonamico wrought, after that which has been described above, two panels
in distemper for the Monks of the Certosa of Florence, whereof one is
where the books of chants are kept for the use of the choir, and the other
below in the old chapels. He painted in fresco the Chapel of the Giochi and
Bastari in the Badia of Florence, beside the principal chapel; which chapel,
although afterwards it was conceded to the family of the Boscoli, retains the
said pictures of Buffalmacco up to our own day. In these he made the
Passion of Christ, with effects ingenious and beautiful, showing very great
humility and sweetness in Christ, who is washing the feet of His Disciples,
and ferocity and cruelty in the Jews, who are leading Him to Herod. But he
showed talent and facility more particularly in a Pilate, whom he painted in
prison, and in Judas hanging from a tree; wherefore it is easy to believe
what is told about this gay painter—namely, that when he thought fit to use
diligence and to take pains, which rarely came to pass, he was not inferior
to any painter whatsoever of his times. And to show that this is true, the
works in fresco that he made in Ognissanti, where to-day there is the
cemetery, were wrought with so much diligence and with so many
precautions, that the water which has rained over them for so many years
has not been able to spoil them or to prevent their excellence from being
recognized, and that they have been preserved very well, because they were
wrought purely on the fresh plaster. On the walls, then, are the Nativity of
Jesus Christ and the Adoration of the Magi—that is, over the tomb of the
Aliotti. After this work Buonamico, having gone to Bologna, wrought some
scenes in fresco in S. Petronio, in the Chapel of the Bolognini—that is, on
the vaulting; but by reason of some accident, I know not what, supervening,
he did not finish them.
It is said that in the year 1302 he was summoned to Assisi, and that in the
Church of S. Francesco, in the Chapel of S. Caterina, he painted all the
stories of her life in fresco, which have been very well preserved; and there
are therein some figures that are worthy to be praised. This chapel finished,
on his passing through Arezzo, Bishop Guido, by reason of having heard

that Buonamico was a gay fellow and an able painter, desired him to stop in
that city and paint for him, in the Vescovado, the chapel where baptisms are
now held. Buonamico, having put his hand to the work, had already done a
good part of it when there befell him the strangest experience in the world,
which was, according to what Franco Sacchetti relates, as follows. The
Bishop had an ape, the drollest and the most mischievous that there had
ever been. This animal, standing once on the scaffolding to watch
Buonamico at work, had given attention to everything, and had never taken
his eyes off him when he was mixing the colours, handling the flasks,
beating the eggs for making the distempers, and in short when he was doing
anything else whatsoever. Now, Buonamico having left off working one
Saturday evening, on the Sunday morning this ape, notwithstanding that he
had, fastened to his feet, a great block of wood which the Bishop made him
carry in order that thus he might not be able to leap wherever he liked,
climbed on to the scaffolding whereon Buonamico was used to stand to
work, in spite of the very great weight of the block of wood; and there,
seizing the flasks with his hands, pouring them one into another and making
six mixtures, and beating up whatever eggs there were, he began to daub
over with the brushes all the figures there, and, persevering in this
performance, did not cease until he had repainted everything with his own
hand; and this done, he again made a mixture of all the colours that were
left him, although they were but few, and, getting down from the
scaffolding, went off. Monday morning having come, Buonamico returned
to his work, where, seeing the figures spoilt, the flasks all mixed up, and
everything upside down, he stood all in marvel and confusion. Then, having
pondered much in his own mind, he concluded finally that some Aretine
had done this, through envy or through some other reason; wherefore,
having gone to the Bishop, he told him how the matter stood and what he
suspected, whereat the Bishop became very much disturbed, but, consoling
Buonamico, desired him to put his hand again to the work and to repaint all
that was spoilt. And because the Bishop had put faith in his words, which
had something of the probable, he gave him six of his men-at-arms, who
should stand in hiding with halberds while he was not at work, and, if
anyone came, should cut him to pieces without mercy. The figures, then,
having been painted over again, one day that the soldiers were in hiding, lo
and behold! they hear a certain rumbling through the church, and a little
while after the ape climbing on to the scaffolding; and in the twinkling of an

eye, the mixtures made, they see the new master set himself to work over
the saints of Buonamico. Calling him, therefore, and showing him the
culprit, and standing with him to watch the beast at his work, they were all
like to burst with laughter; and Buonamico in particular, for all that he was
vexed thereby, could not keep from laughing till the tears came. Finally,
dismissing the soldiers who had mounted guard with their halberds, he went
off to the Bishop and said to him: "My lord, you wish the painting to be
done in one fashion, and your ape wishes it done in another." Then, relating
the affair, he added: "There was no need for you to send for painters from
elsewhere, if you had the true master at home. But he, perhaps, knew not so
well how to make the mixtures; now that he knows, let him do it by himself,
since I am no more good here. And his talent being revealed, I am content
that there should be nothing given to me for my work save leave to return to
Florence." The Bishop, hearing the affair, although it vexed him, could not
keep from laughing, and above all as he thought how an animal had played
a trick on him who was the greatest trickster in the world. However, after
they had talked and laughed their fill over this strange incident, the Bishop
persuaded Buonamico to resume the work for the third time, and he finished
it. And the ape, as punishment and penance for the crime committed, was
shut up in a great wooden cage and kept where Buonamico was working,
until this work was entirely finished; and no one could imagine the
contortions which that creature kept making in this cage with his face, his
body, and his hands, seeing others working and himself unable to take part.
The work in this chapel finished, the Bishop, either in jest or for some other
reason known only to himself, commanded that Buffalmacco should paint
him, on one wall of his palace, an eagle on the back of a lion which it had
killed. The crafty painter, having promised to do all that the Bishop wished,
had a good scaffolding made of planks, saying that he refused to be seen
painting such a thing. This made, shutting himself up alone inside it, he
painted, contrary to what the Bishop wished, a lion that was tearing to
pieces an eagle; and, the work finished, he sought leave from the Bishop to
go to Florence in order to get some colours that he was wanting. And so,
locking the scaffolding with a key, he went off to Florence, in mind to
return no more to the Bishop, who, seeing the business dragging on and the
painter not returning, had the scaffolding opened, and discovered that
Buonamico had been too much for him. Wherefore, moved by very great

displeasure, he had him banished on pain of death, and Buonamico, hearing
this, sent to tell him to do his worst; whereupon the Bishop threatened him
to a fearful tune. But finally, remembering that he had begun the playing of
tricks and that it served him right to be tricked himself, he pardoned
Buonamico for his insult and rewarded him liberally for his labours. Nay,
what is more, summoning him again no long time after to Arezzo, he caused
him to make many works in the Duomo Vecchio, which are now destroyed,
treating him ever as his familiar friend and very faithful servant. The same
man painted the niche of the principal chapel in the Church of S. Giustino,
also in Arezzo.
Some writers tell that Buonamico being in Florence and often frequenting
the shop of Maso del Saggio with his friends and companions, he was there,
with many others, arranging the festival which the men of the Borgo San
Friano held on May 1 in certain boats on the Arno; and that when the Ponte
alla Carraia, which was then of wood, collapsed by reason of the too great
weight of the people who had flocked to that spectacle, he did not die there,
as many others did, because, precisely at the moment when the bridge
collapsed on to the structure that was representing Hell on the boats in the
Arno, he had gone to get some things that were wanting for the festival.
Being summoned to Pisa no long time after these events, Buonamico
painted many stories of the Old Testament in the Abbey of S. Paolo a Ripa
d'Arno, then belonging to the Monks of Vallombrosa, in both transepts of
the church, on three sides, and from the roof down to the floor, beginning
with the Creation of man, and continuing up to the completion of the Tower
of Nimrod. In this work, although it is to-day for the greater part spoilt,
there are seen vivacity in the figures, good skill and loveliness in the
colouring, and signs to show that the hand of Buonamico could very well
express the conceptions of his mind, although he had little power of design.
On the wall of the right transept which is opposite to that wherein is the side
door, in some stories of S. Anastasia, there are seen certain ancient
costumes and head-dresses, very charming and beautiful, in some women
who are painted there with graceful manner. Not less beautiful, also, are
those figures that are in a boat, with well-conceived attitudes, among which
is the portrait of Pope Alexander IV, which Buonamico had, so it is said,
from Tafo his master, who had portrayed that Pontiff in mosaic in S. Pietro.
In the last scene, likewise, wherein is the martyrdom of that Saint and of

others, Buonamico expressed very well in the faces the fear of death and the
grief and terror of those who are standing to see her tortured and put to
death, while she stands bound to a tree and over the fire.
A companion of Buonamico in this work was Bruno di Giovanni, a painter,
who is thus called in the old book of the Company; which Bruno (also
celebrated as a gay fellow by Boccaccio), the said scenes on the walls being
finished, painted the altar of S. Ursula with the company of virgins, in the
same church. He made in one hand of the said Saint a standard with the
arms of Pisa, which are a white cross on a field of red, and he made her
offering the other hand to a woman who, rising between two mountains and
touching the sea with one of her feet, is stretching both her hands to her in
the act of supplication; which woman, representing Pisa, and having on her
head a crown of gold and over her shoulders a mantle covered with circlets
and eagles, is seeking assistance from that Saint, being much in travail in
the sea. Now, for the reason that in painting this work Bruno was bewailing
that the figures which he was making therein had not the same life as those
of Buonamico, the latter, in his waggish way, in order to teach him to make
his figures not merely vivacious but actually speaking, made him paint
some words issuing from the mouth of that woman who is supplicating the
Saint, and the answer of the Saint to her, a device that Buonamico had seen
in the works that had been made in the same city by Cimabue. This
expedient, even as it pleased Bruno and the other thick-witted men of those
times, in like manner pleases certain boors to-day, who are served therein
by craftsmen as vulgar as themselves. And in truth it seems extraordinary
that from this beginning there should have passed into use a device that was
employed for a jest and for no other reason, insomuch that even a great part
of the Campo Santo, wrought by masters of repute, is full of this rubbish.
The works of Buonamico, then, finding much favour with the Pisans, he
was charged by the Warden of the Works of the Campo Santo to make four
scenes in fresco, from the beginning of the world up to the construction of
Noah's Ark, and round the scenes an ornamental border, wherein he made
his own portrait from the life—namely, in a frieze, in the middle of which,
and on the corners, are some heads, among which, as I have said, is seen his
own, with a cap exactly like the one that is seen above. And because in this
work there is a God, who is upholding with his arms the heavens and the
elements—nay, the whole body of the universe—Buonamico, in order to

explain his story with verses similar to the pictures of that age, wrote this
sonnet in capital letters at the foot, with his own hand, as may still be seen;
which sonnet, by reason of its antiquity and of the simplicity of the
language of those times, it has seemed good to me to include in this place,
although in my opinion it is not likely to give much pleasure, save
perchance as something that bears witness as to what was the knowledge of
the men of that century:
Voi che avisate questa dipintura
Di Dio pietoso, sommo creatore,
Lo qual fe' tutte cose con amore,
Pesate, numerate ed in misura;
In nove gradi angelica natura,
In ello empirio ciel pien di splendore,
Colui che non si muove ed è motore,
Ciascuna cosa fece buona e pura.
Levate gli occhi del vostro intelletto,
Considerate quanto è ordinato
Lo mondo universale; e con affetto
Lodate lui che l'ha sì ben creato;
Pensate di passare a tal diletto
Tra gli Angeli, dov'è ciascun beato.
Per questo mondo si vede la gloria,
Lo basso e il mezzo e l'alto in questa storia.
And to tell the truth, it was very courageous in Buonamico to undertake to
make a God the Father five braccia high, with the hierarchies, the heavens,
the angels, the zodiac, and all the things above, even to the heavenly body
of the moon, and then the element of fire, the air, the earth, and finally the
nether regions; and to fill up the two angles below he made in one, S.
Augustine, and in the other, S. Thomas Aquinas. At the head of the same
Campo Santo, where there is now the marble tomb of Corte, Buonamico
painted the whole Passion of Christ, with a great number of figures on foot
and on horseback, and all in varied and beautiful attitudes; and continuing
the story he made the Resurrection and the Apparition of Christ to the
Apostles, passing well.

Having finished these works and at the same time all that he had gained
Pisa, which was not little, he returned to Florence as poor as he had left it,
and there he made many panels and works in fresco, whereof there is no
need to make further record. Meanwhile there had been entrusted to Bruno,
his great friend (who had returned with him from Pisa, where they had
squandered everything), some works in S. Maria Novella, and seeing that
Bruno had not much design or invention, Buonamico designed for him all
that he afterwards put into execution on a wall in the said church, opposite
to the pulpit and as long as the space between column and column, and that
was the story of S. Maurice and his companions, who were beheaded for the
faith of Jesus Christ. This work Bruno made for Guido Campese, then
Constable of the Florentines, whose portrait he had made before he died in
the year 1312; in that work he painted him in his armour, as was the custom
in those times, and behind him he made a line of men-at-arms, armed in
ancient fashion, who make a beautiful effect, while Guido himself is
kneeling before a Madonna who has the Child Jesus in her arms, and is
appearing to be recommended to her by S. Dominic and S. Agnes, who are
on either side of him. Although this picture is not very beautiful, yet,
considering the design and invention of Buonamico, it is worthy to be in
part praised, and above all by reason of the costumes, helmets, and other
armour of those times. And I have availed myself of it in some scenes that I
have made for the Lord Duke Cosimo, wherein it was necessary to
represent men armed in ancient fashion, and other similar things of that age;
which work has greatly pleased his most Illustrious Excellency and others
who have seen it. And from this it can be seen how much benefit may be
gained from the inventions and works made by these ancients, although
they may not be very perfect, and in what fashion profit and advantage can
be drawn from their performances, since they opened the way for us to the
marvels that have been made up to our day and are being made continually.
While Bruno was making this work, a peasant desiring that Buonamico
should make him a S. Christopher, they came to an agreement in Florence
and arranged a contract in this fashion, that the price should be eight florins
and that the figure should be twelve braccia high. Buonamico, then, having
gone to the church where he was to make the S. Christopher, found that by
reason of its not being more than nine braccia either in height or in length,
he could not, either without or within, accommodate the figure in a manner

that it might stand well; wherefore he made up his mind, since it would not
go in upright, to make it within the church lying down. But since, even so,
the whole length would not go in, he was forced to bend it from the knees
downwards on to the wall at the head of the church. The work finished, the
peasant would by no means pay for it; nay, he made an outcry and said he
had been cozened. The matter, therefore, going before the Justices, it was
judged, according to the contract, that Buonamico was in the right.
In S. Giovanni fra l'Arcore was a very beautiful Passion of Christ by the
hand of Buonamico, and among other things that were much praised therein
was a Judas hanging from a tree, made with much judgment and beautiful
manner. An old man, likewise, who was blowing his nose, was most natural,
and the Maries, broken with weeping, had expressions and aspects so sad,
that they deserved to be greatly praised, since that age had not as yet much
facility in the method of representing the emotions of the soul with the
brush. On the same wall there was a good figure in a S. Ivo of Brittany, who
had many widows and orphans at his feet, and two angels in the sky, who
were crowning him, were made with the sweetest manner. This edifice and
the pictures together were thrown to the ground in the year of the war of
1529.
In Cortona, also, for Messer Aldobrandino, Bishop of that city, Buonamico
painted many works in the Vescovado, and in particular the chapel and
panel of the high-altar; but seeing that everything was thrown to the ground
in renovating the palace and the church, there is no need to make further
mention of them. In S. Francesco, however, and in S. Margherita, in the
same city, there are still some pictures by the hand of Buonamico. From
Cortona going once more to Assisi, Buonamico painted in fresco, in the
lower Church of S. Francesco, the whole Chapel of Cardinal Egidio Alvaro,
a Spaniard; and because he acquitted himself very well, he was therefore
liberally rewarded by that Cardinal. Finally, Buonamico having wrought
many pictures throughout the whole March, in returning to Florence he
stopped at Perugia, and painted there in fresco the Chapel of the Buontempi
in the Church of S. Domenico, making therein stories of the life of S.
Catherine, virgin and martyr. And in the Church of S. Domenico Vecchio,
on one wall, he painted in fresco the scene when the same Catherine,
daughter of King Costa, making disputation, is convincing and converting
certain philosophers to the faith of Christ; and seeing that this scene is more

beautiful than any other that Buonamico ever made, it can be said with truth
that in this work he surpassed himself. The people of Perugia, moved by
this, according to what Franco Sacchetti writes, commanded that he should
paint S. Ercolano, Bishop and Protector of that city, in the square;
wherefore, having agreed about the price, on the spot where the painting
was to be done there was made a screen of planks and matting, to the end
that the master might not be seen painting; and this made, he put his hand to
the work. But before ten days had passed, every passer-by asking when this
picture would be finished, as though such works were cast in moulds,[15] the
matter disgusted Buonamico; wherefore, having come to the end of the
work and being distracted with such importunity, he determined within
himself to take a gentle vengeance on the impatience of these people. And
this came to pass, for, when the work was finished, before unveiling it, he
let them see it, and it was entirely to their satisfaction; but on the people of
Perugia wishing to remove the screen at once, Buonamico said that for two
days longer they should leave it standing, for the reason that he wished to
retouch certain parts on the dry; and so it was done. Buonamico, then,
having mounted the scaffolding, removed the great diadem of gold that he
had given to the Saint, raised in relief with plaster, as was the custom in
those times, and made him a crown, or rather garland, right round his head,
of roaches; and this done, one morning he settled with his host and went off
to Florence. Now, two days having passed, the people of Perugia, not seeing
the painter going about as they had been used, asked the host what had
become of him, and, hearing that he had returned to Florence, went at once
to remove the screen; and finding their S. Ercolano crowned solemnly with
roaches, they sent word of it immediately to their governors. But although
these sent horsemen post-haste to look for Buonamico, it was all in vain,
seeing that he had returned in great haste to Florence. Having determined,
then, to make a painter of their own remove the crown of roaches and
restore the diadem to the Saint, they said all the evil that can be imagined
about Buonamico and the rest of the Florentines.
Buonamico, back in Florence and caring little about what the people of
Perugia might say, set to work and made many paintings, whereof, in order
not to be too long, there is no need to make mention. I will say only this,
that having painted in fresco at Calcinaia a Madonna with the Child in her
arms, he who had charged him to do it, in place of paying him, gave him

words; whence Buonamico, who was not used to being trifled with or being
fooled, determined to get his due by hook or by crook. And so, having gone
one morning to Calcinaia, he transformed the child that he had painted in
the arms of the Virgin into a little bear, but in colours made only with water,
without size or distemper. This change being seen, not long after, by the
peasant who had given him the work to do, almost in despair he went to
find Buonamico, praying him for the sake of Heaven to remove the little
bear and to paint another child as before, for he was ready to make
satisfaction. This the other did amicably, being paid for both the first and
the second labour without delay; and for restoring the whole work a wet
sponge sufficed. Finally, seeing that it would take too long were I to wish to
relate all the tricks, as well as all the pictures, that Buonamico Buffalmacco
made, and above all when frequenting the shop of Maso del Saggio, which
was the resort of citizens and of all the gay and mischievous spirits that
there were in Florence, I will make an end of discoursing about him.
He died at the age of seventy-eight, and being very poor and having done
more spending than earning, by reason of being such in character, he was
supported in his illness by the Company of the Misericordia in S. Maria
Nuova, the hospital of Florence; and then, being dead, he was buried in the
Ossa (for so they call a cloister, or rather cemetery, of the hospital), like the
rest of the poor, in the year 1340. The works of this man were prized while
he lived, and since then, for works of that age, they have been ever extolled.

AMBROGIO LORENZETTI

MADONNA AND CHILD
(After the painting by Ambrogio Lorenzetti.
Milan: Cagnola Collection)

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LIFE OF AMBROGIO LORENZETTI,
PAINTER OF SIENA

If that debt is great, as without doubt it is, which craftsmen of fine genius
should acknowledge to nature, much greater should that be that is due from
us to them, seeing that they, with great solicitude, fill the cities with noble
and useful buildings and with lovely historical compositions, gaining for
themselves, for the most part, fame and riches with their works; as did
Ambrogio Lorenzetti, painter of Siena, who showed beautiful and great
invention in grouping and placing his figures thoughtfully in historical
scenes. That this is true is proved by a scene in the Church of the Friars
Minor in Siena, painted by him very gracefully in the cloister, wherein there
is represented in what manner a youth becomes a friar, and how he and
certain others go to the Soldan, and are there beaten and sentenced to the
gallows and hanged on a tree, and finally beheaded, with the addition of a
terrible tempest. In this picture, with much art and dexterity, he
counterfeited in the travailing of the figures the turmoil of the air and the
fury of the rain and of the wind, wherefrom the modern masters have learnt
the method and the principle of this invention, by reason of which, since it
was unknown before, he deserved infinite commendation. Ambrogio was a
practised colourist in fresco, and he handled colours in distemper with great
dexterity and facility, as it is still seen in the panels executed by him in
Siena for the little hospital called Mona Agnesa, where he painted and
finished a scene with new and beautiful composition. And at the great
hospital, on one front, he made in fresco the Nativity of Our Lady and the
scene when she is going with the virgins to the Temple. For the Friars of S.
Augustine in the same city he painted their Chapter-house, where the
Apostles are seen represented on the vaulting, with scrolls in their hands
whereon is written that part of the Creed which each one of them made; and
below each is a little scene containing in painting that same subject that is
signified above by the writing. Near this, on the main front, are three stories
of S. Catherine the martyr, who is disputing with the tyrant in a temple, and,
in the middle, the Passion of Christ, with the Thieves on the Cross, and the

Maries below, who are supporting the Virgin Mary who has swooned;
which works were finished by him with much grace and with beautiful
manner.
In a large hall of the Palazzo della Signoria in Siena he painted the War of
Asinalunga, and after it the Peace and its events, wherein he fashioned a
map, perfect for those times; and in the same palace he made eight scenes in
terra-verde, highly finished. It is said that he also sent to Volterra a panel in
distemper which was much praised in that city. And painting a chapel in
fresco and a panel in distemper at Massa, in company with others, he gave
them proof how great, both in judgment and in genius, was his worth in the
art of painting; and in Orvieto he painted in fresco the principal Chapel of
S. Maria. After these works, proceeding to Florence, he made a panel in S.
Procolo, and in a chapel he painted the stories of S. Nicholas with little
figures, in order to satisfy certain of his friends, who desired to see his
method of working; and, being much practised, he executed this work in so
short a time that there accrued to him fame and infinite repute. And this
work, on the predella of which he made his own portrait, brought it about
that in the year 1335 he was summoned to Cortona by order of Bishop
Ubertini, then lord of that city, where he wrought certain works in the
Church of S. Margherita, built a short time before for the Friars of S.
Francis on the summit of the hill, and in particular the half of the vaulting
and the walls, so well that, although to-day they are wellnigh eaten away by
time, there are seen notwithstanding most beautiful effects in the figures;
and it is clear that he was deservedly commended for them.

AMBROGIO LORENZETTI: MADONNA AND CHILD WITH S.S.
MARY MAGDALENE AND DOROTHY
(Siena: Pinacoteca 77. Panel)

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This work finished, Ambrogio returned to Siena, where he lived honourably
the remainder of his life, not only by reason of being an excellent master in
painting, but also because, having given attention in his youth to letters,
they were a useful and pleasant accompaniment to him in his painting, and
so great an ornament to his whole life that they rendered him no less
popular and beloved than did his profession of painting; wherefore he was
not only intimate with men of learning and of taste, but he was also
employed, to his great honour and advantage, in the government of his
Republic. The ways of Ambrogio were in all respects worthy of praise, and
rather those of a gentleman and a philosopher than of a craftsman; and what
most demonstrates the wisdom of men, he had ever a mind disposed to be
content with that which the world and time brought, wherefore he supported

with a mind temperate and calm the good and the evil that came to him
from fortune. And truly it cannot be told to what extent courteous ways and
modesty, with the other good habits, are an honourable accompaniment to
all the arts, and in particular to those that are derived from the intellect and
from noble and exalted talents; wherefore every man should make himself
no less beloved with his ways than with the excellence of his art.
Finally, at the end of his life, Ambrogio made a panel at Monte Oliveto di
Chiusuri with great credit to himself, and a little afterwards, being eighty-
three years of age, he passed happily and in the Christian faith to a better
life. His works date about 1340.
As it has been said, the portrait of Ambrogio, by his own hand, is seen in
the predella of his panel in S. Procolo, with a cap on his head. And what
was his worth in draughtsmanship is seen in our book, wherein are some
passing good drawings by his hand.

Alinari
MADONNA AND CHILD
(Central panel of the polyptych by Ambrogio
Lorenzetti. Massa Marittima: Municipio)

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PIETRO CAVALLINI

LIFE OF PIETRO CAVALLINI,
PAINTER OF ROME

For many centuries Rome had been deprived not only of fine letters and of
the glory of arms but also of all the sciences and fine arts, when, by the will
of God, there was born therein Pietro Cavallini, in those times when Giotto,
having, it may be said, restored painting to life, was holding the sovereignty
among the painters in Italy. He, then, having been a disciple of Giotto and
having worked with Giotto himself on the Navicella in mosaic in S. Pietro,
was the first who, after him, gave light to that art, and he began to show that
he had been no unworthy disciple of so great a master when he painted,
over the door of the sacristy of the Araceli, some scenes that are to-day
eaten away by time, and very many works coloured in fresco throughout the
whole Church of S. Maria di Trastevere. Afterwards, working in mosaic on
the principal chapel and on the façade of the church, he showed in the
beginning of such a work, without the help of Giotto, that he was no less
able in the execution and bringing to completion of mosaics than he was in
painting. Making many scenes in fresco, also, in the Church of S.
Grisogono, he strove to make himself known both as the best disciple of
Giotto and as a good craftsman. In like manner, also in Trastevere, he
painted almost the whole Church of S. Cecilia with his own hand, and many
works in the Church of S. Francesco appresso Ripa. He then made the
façade of mosaic in S. Paolo without Rome, and many stories of the Old
Testament for the central nave. And painting some works in fresco in the
Chapter-house of the first cloister, he put therein so great diligence that he
gained thereby from men of judgment the name of being a most excellent
master, and was therefore so much favoured by the prelates that they
commissioned him to do the inner wall of S. Pietro, between the windows.
Between these he made the four Evangelists, wrought very well in fresco,
of extraordinary size in comparison with the figures that at that time were
customary, with a S. Peter and a S. Paul, and a good number of figures in a
ship, wherein, the Greek manner pleasing him much, he blended it ever
with that of Giotto; and since he delighted to give relief to his figures, it is

recognized that he used thereunto the greatest efforts that can be imagined
by man. But the best work that he made in that city was in the said Church
of Araceli on the Campidoglio, where he painted in fresco, on the vaulting
of the principal apse, the Madonna with the Child in her arms, surrounded
by a circle of sunlight, and beneath is the Emperor Octavian, to whom the
Tiburtine Sibyl is showing Jesus Christ, and he is adoring Him; and the
figures in this work, as it has been said in other places, have been much
better preserved than the others, because those that are on the vaulting are
less injured by dust than those that are made on the walls.
After these works Pietro went to Tuscany, in order to see the works of the
other disciples of his master Giotto and those of Giotto himself; and with
this occasion he painted many figures in S. Marco in Florence, which are
not seen to-day, the church having been whitewashed, except the
Annunciation, which stands covered beside the principal door of the church.
In S. Basilio, also, in the Canto alla Macine, he made another Annunciation
in fresco on a wall, so like to that which he had made before in S. Marco,
and to another one that is in Florence, that some believe, and not without
probability, that they are all by the hand of this Pietro; and in truth they
could not be more like, one to another, than they are. Among the figures that
he made in the said S. Marco in Florence was the portrait of Pope Urban V
from the life, with the heads of S. Peter and S. Paul; from which portrait Fra
Giovanni da Fiesole copied that one which is in a panel in S. Domenico,
also of Fiesole; and that was no small good-fortune, seeing that the portrait
which was in S. Marco and many other figures that were about the church
in fresco were covered with whitewash, as it has been said, when that
convent was taken from the monks who occupied it before and given to the
Preaching Friars, the whole being whitewashed with little attention and
consideration.

Alinari
HEAD OF AN APOSTLE
(Detail from "The Last Judgment," after the fresco by
Pietro Cavallini. Rome: Convent of S. Cecilia)

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Passing afterwards, in returning to Rome, through Assisi, not only in order
to see those buildings and those notable works made there by his master and
by some of his fellow-disciples, but also to leave something there by his

own hand, he painted in fresco in the lower Church of S. Francesco—
namely, in the transept that is on the side of the sacristy—a Crucifixion of
Jesus Christ, with men on horseback armed in various fashions, and with
many varied and extravagant costumes of diverse foreign peoples. In the air
he made some angels, who, poised on their wings in diverse attitudes, are in
a storm of weeping; and some pressing their hands to their breasts, others
wringing them, and others beating the palms, they are showing that they
feel the greatest grief at the death of the Son of God; and all, from the
middle backwards, or rather from the middle downwards, melt away into
air. In this work, well executed in the colouring, which is fresh and
vivacious and so well contrived in the junctions of the plaster that the work
appears all made in one day, I have found the coat of arms of Gualtieri,
Duke of Athens; but by reason of there not being either a date or other
writing there, I cannot affirm that it was caused to be made by him. I say,
however, that besides the firm belief of everyone that it is by the hand of
Pietro, the manner could not be more like his than it is, not to mention that
it may be believed, this painter having lived at the time when Duke
Gualtieri was in Italy, that it was made by Pietro as well as by order of the
said Duke. At least, let everyone think as he pleases, the work, as ancient, is
worthy of nothing but praise, and the manner, besides the public voice,
shows that it is by the hand of this man.
In the Church of S. Maria at Orvieto, wherein is the most holy relic of the
Corporal, the same Pietro wrought in fresco certain stories of Jesus Christ
and of the Host, with much diligence; and this he did, so it is said, for
Messer Benedetto, son of Messer Buonconte Monaldeschi and lord at that
time, or rather tyrant, of that city. Some likewise affirm that Pietro made
some sculptures, and that they were very successful, because he had genius
for whatever he set himself to do, and that he made the Crucifix that is in
the great Church of S. Paolo without Rome; which Crucifix, as it is said and
may be believed, is the one that spoke to S. Brigida in the year 1370.
By the hand of the same man were some other works in that manner, which
were thrown to the ground when the old Church of S. Pietro was pulled
down in order to build the new. Pietro was very diligent in all his works,
and sought with every effort to gain honour and to acquire fame in the art.
He was not only a good Christian, but most devout and very much the
friend of the poor, and he was beloved by reason of his excellence not only

in his native city of Rome but by all those who had knowledge of him or of
his works. And finally, he devoted himself at the end of his old age to
religion, leading an exemplary life, with so much zeal that he was almost
held a saint. Wherefore there is no reason to marvel not only that the said
Crucifix by his hand spoke to the Saint, as it has been said, but also that
innumerable miracles have been and still are wrought by a certain Madonna
by his hand, which I do not intend to call his best, although it is very
famous in all Italy and although I know very certainly and surely, by the
manner of the painting, that it is by the hand of Pietro, whose most
praiseworthy life and piety towards God were worthy to be imitated by all
men. Nor let anyone believe, for the reason that it is scarcely possible and
that experience continually shows this to us, that it is possible to attain to
honourable rank without the fear and grace of God and without goodness of
life. A disciple of Pietro Cavallini was Giovanni da Pistoia, who made some
works of no great importance in his native city.
Finally, at the age of eighty-five, he died in Rome of a colic caught while
working in fresco, by reason of the damp and of standing continually at this
exercise. His pictures date about the year 1364, and he was honourably
buried in S. Paolo without Rome, with this epitaph:
QUANTUM ROMANÆ PETRUS DECUS ADDIDIT URBI
PICTURA, TANTUM DAT DECUS IPSE POLO.
His portrait has never been found, for all the diligence that has been used; it
is therefore not included.

Alinari
HEAD OF THE CHRIST IN GLORY
(Detail from "The Last Judgment," after the fresco by
Pietro Cavallini. Rome: Convent of S. Cecilia)

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SIMONE SANESE

Anderson

S. LOUIS CROWNING KING ROBERT OF
NAPLES
(After the Altarpiece by Simon Sanese [Memmi or
Martini]. Naples: Church of S. Lorenzo)

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LIFE OF SIMONE SANESE
[SIMONE MEMMI OR MARTINI]

PAINTER

Truly happy can those men be called, who are inclined by nature to those
arts that can bring to them not only honour and very great profit, but also,
what is more, fame and a name wellnigh eternal, and happier still are they
who have from their cradles, besides such inclination, courtesy and honest
ways, which render them very dear to all men. But happiest of all, finally,
talking of craftsmen, are they who not only receive a love of the good from
nature, and noble ways from the same source and from education, but also
live in the time of some famous writer, from whom, in return for a little
portrait or some other similar courtesy in the way of art, they gain on
occasion the reward of eternal honour and name, by means of their writings;
and this, among those who practise the arts of design, should be particularly
desired and sought by the excellent painters, seeing that their works, being
on the surface and on a ground of colour, cannot have that eternal life which
castings in bronze and works in marble give to sculpture, or buildings to the
architects.
Very great, then, was that good-fortune of Simone, to live at the time of
Messer Francesco Petrarca and to chance to find that most amorous poet at
the Court of Avignon, desirous of having the image of Madonna Laura by
the hand of Maestro Simone, because, having received it as beautiful as he
had desired, he made memory of him in two sonnets, whereof one begins:
Per mirar Policleto a prova fiso
Con gli altri che ebber fama di quell'arte;
and the second:
Quando giunse a Simon l'alto concetto
Ch'a mio nome gli pose in man lo stile.

These sonnets, in truth, together with the mention made of him in one of his
Familiar Letters, in the fifth book, which begins: "Non sum nescius," have
given more fame to the poor life of Maestro Simone than all his own works
have ever done or ever will, seeing that they must at some time perish,
whereas the writings of so great a man will live for eternal ages. Simone
Memmi of Siena, then, was an excellent painter, remarkable in his own
times and much esteemed at the Court of the Pope, for the reason that after
the death of Giotto his master, whom he had followed to Rome when he
made the Navicella in mosaic and the other works, he made a Virgin Mary
in the portico of S. Pietro, with a S. Peter and a S. Paul, near to the place
where the bronze pine-cone is, on a wall between the arches of the portico
on the outer side; and in this he counterfeited the manner of Giotto very
well, receiving so much praise, above all because he portrayed therein a
sacristan of S. Pietro lighting some lamps before the said figures with much
promptness, that he was summoned with very great insistence to the Court
of the Pope at Avignon, where he wrought so many pictures, in fresco and
on panels, that he made his works correspond to the reputation that had
been borne thither. Whence, having returned to Siena in great credit and
much favoured on this account, he was commissioned by the Signoria to
paint in fresco, in a hall of their Palace, a Virgin Mary with many figures
round her, which he completed with all perfection to his own great credit
and advantage. And in order to show that he was no less able to work on
panel than in fresco, he painted in the said Palace a panel which led to his
being afterwards made to paint two of them in the Duomo, and a Madonna
with the Child in her arms, in a very beautiful attitude, over the door of the
Office of the Works of the said Duomo. In this picture certain angels,
supporting a standard in the air, are flying and looking down on to some
saints who are round the Madonna, and they make a very beautiful
composition and great adornment.

SIMONE MARTINI: KNIGHTING OF S. MARTIN
(Assisi: Lower Church of S. Francesco, Chapel of S.
Martin. Fresco)

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This done, Simone was brought by the General of the Augustinians to
Florence, where he painted the Chapter-house of S. Spirito, showing
invention and admirable judgment in the figures and the horses that he
made, as is proved in that place by the story of the Passion of Christ,
wherein everything is seen to have been made by him with ingenuity, with

discretion, and with most beautiful grace. There are seen the Thieves on the
Cross yielding up their breath, and the soul of the good one being carried to
Heaven by the angels, and that of the wicked one going, accompanied by
devils and all harassed, to the torments of Hell. Simone likewise showed
invention and judgment in the attitudes and in the very bitter weeping of
some angels round the Crucifix. But what is most worthy of consideration,
above everything else, is to see those spirits visibly cleaving the air with
their shoulders, almost whirling right round and yet sustaining the motion
of their flight. This work would bear much stronger witness to the
excellence of Simone, if, besides the fact that time has eaten it away, it had
not been spoilt by those Fathers in the year 1560, when they, being unable
to use the Chapter-house, because it was in bad condition from damp, made
a vaulted roof to replace a worm-eaten ceiling, and threw down the little
that was left of the pictures of this man. About the same time Simone
painted a Madonna and a S. Luke, with some other Saints, on a panel in
distemper, which is to-day in the Chapel of the Gondi in S. Maria Novella,
with his name.
Next, Simone painted three walls of the Chapter-house of the said S. Maria
Novella, very happily. On the first, which is over the door whereby one
enters, he made the life of S. Dominic; and on that which follows in the
direction of the church, he represented the Religious Order of the same
Saint fighting against the heretics, represented by wolves, which are
attacking some sheep, which are defended by many dogs spotted with black
and white, and the wolves are beaten back and slain. There are also certain
heretics, who, being convinced in disputation, are tearing their books and
penitently confessing themselves, and so their souls are passing through the
gate of Paradise, wherein are many little figures that are doing diverse
things. In Heaven is seen the glory of the Saints, and Jesus Christ; and in
the world below remain the vain pleasures and delights, in human figures,
and above all in the shape of women who are seated, among whom is the
Madonna Laura of Petrarca, portrayed from life and clothed in green, with a
little flame of fire between her breast and her throat. There is also the
Church of Christ, and, as a guard for her, the Pope, the Emperor, the Kings,
the Cardinals, the Bishops, and all the Christian Princes; and among them,
beside a Knight of Rhodes, is Messer Francesco Petrarca, also portrayed
from the life, which Simone did in order to enhance by his works the fame

of the man who had made him immortal. For the Universal Church he
painted the Church of S. Maria del Fiore, not as it stands to-day, but as he
had drawn it from the model and design that the architect Arnolfo had left
in the Office of Works for the guidance of those who had to continue the
building after him; of which models, by reason of the little care of the
Wardens of Works of S. Maria del Fiore, as it has been said in another
place, there would be no memorial for us if Simone had not left it painted in
this work. On the third wall, which is that of the altar, he made the Passion
of Christ, who, issuing from Jerusalem with the Cross on His shoulder, is
going to Mount Calvary, followed by a very great multitude. Arriving there,
He is seen raised on the Cross between the Thieves, with the other
circumstances that accompany this story. I will say nothing of there being
therein a good number of horses, of the casting of lots by the servants of the
court for the garments of Christ, of the raising of the Holy Fathers from the
Limbo of Hell, and of all the other well-conceived inventions, which belong
not so much to a master of that age as to the most excellent of the moderns;
inasmuch as, taking up the whole walls, with very diligent judgment he
made in each wall diverse scenes on the slope of a mountain, and did not
divide scene from scene with ornamental borders, as the old painters were
wont to do, and many moderns, who put the earth over the sky four or five
times, as it is seen in the principal chapel of this same church, and in the
Campo Santo of Pisa, where, painting many works in fresco, he was forced
against his will to make such divisions, for the other painters who had
worked in that place, such as Giotto and Buonamico his master, had begun
to make their scenes with this bad arrangement.

G. H.
THE ANNUNCIATION
(After the painting by Simone Sanese [Memmi or Martini].
Antwerp: Royal Museum, 257, 258)

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In that Campo Santo, then, following as the lesser evil the method used by
the others, Simone made in fresco, over the principal door and on the inner
side, a Madonna borne to Heaven by a choir of angels, who are singing and
playing so vividly that there are seen in them all those various gestures that
musicians are wont to make in singing or playing, such as turning the ears
to the sound, opening the mouth in diverse ways, raising the eyes to
Heaven, blowing out the cheeks, swelling the throat, and in short all the
other actions and movements that are made in music. Under this
Assumption, in three pictures, he made some scenes from the life of S.

Ranieri of Pisa. In the first scene he is shown as a youth, playing the
psaltery and making some girls dance, who are most beautiful by reason of
the air of the heads and of the loveliness of the costumes and head-dresses
of those times. Next, the same Ranieri, having been reproved for such
lasciviousness by the Blessed Alberto the Hermit, is seen standing with his
face downcast and tearful and with his eyes red from weeping, all penitent
for his sin, while God, in the sky, surrounded by a celestial light, appears to
be pardoning him. In the second picture Ranieri, distributing his wealth to
God's poor before mounting on board ship, has round him a crowd of
beggars, of cripples, of women, and of children, all most touching in their
pushing forward, their entreating, and their thanking him. And in the same
picture, also, that Saint, having received in the Temple the gown of a
pilgrim, is standing before a Madonna, who, surrounded by many angels, is
showing him that he will repose on her bosom in Pisa; and all these figures
have vivacity and a beautiful air in the heads. In the third Simone painted
the scene when, having returned after seven years from beyond the seas, he
is showing that he has spent thrice forty days in the Holy Land, and when,
standing in the choir to hear the Divine offices, he is tempted by the Devil,
who is seen driven away by a firm determination that is perceived in
Ranieri not to consent to offend God, assisted by a figure made by Simone
to represent Constancy, who is chasing away the ancient adversary not only
all in confusion but also (with beautiful and fanciful invention) all in terror,
holding his hands to his head in his flight, and walking with his face
downcast and his shoulders shrunk as close together as could be, and
saying, as it is seen from the writing that is issuing from his mouth: "I can
no more." And finally, there is also in this picture the scene when Ranieri,
kneeling on Mount Tabor, is miraculously seeing Christ in air with Moses
and Elias; and all the features of this work, with others that are not
mentioned, show that Simone was very fanciful and understood the good
method of grouping figures gracefully in the manner of those times. These
scenes finished, he made two panels in distemper in the same city, assisted
by Lippo Memmi, his brother, who had also assisted him to paint the
Chapter-house of S. Maria Novella and other works.
He, although he had not the excellence of Simone, none the less followed
his manner as well as he could, and made many works in fresco in his
company for S. Croce in Florence; the panel of the high-altar in S. Caterina

at Pisa, for the Preaching Friars; and in S. Paolo a Ripa d' Arno, besides
many very beautiful scenes in fresco, the panel in distemper that is to-day
over the high-altar, containing a Madonna, S. Peter, S. Paul, S. John the
Baptist, and other Saints; and on this Lippo put his name. After these works
he wrought by himself a panel in distemper for the Friars of S. Augustine in
San Gimignano, and thereby acquired so great a name that he was forced to
send to Arezzo, to Bishop Guido de' Tarlati, a panel with three half-length
figures which is to-day in the Chapel of S. Gregorio in the Vescovado.
While Simone was at work in Florence, one his cousin, an ingenious
architect called Neroccio, undertook in the year 1332 to make to ring the
great bell of the Commune of Florence, which, for a period of seventeen
years, no one had been able to make to ring without twelve men to pull at it.
He balanced it, then, in a manner that two could move it, and once moved
one alone could ring it without a break, although it weighed more than six
thousand libbre; wherefore, besides the honour, he gained thereby as his
reward three hundred florins of gold, which was great payment in those
times.

LIPPO MEMMI: MADONNA
AND CHILD
(Berlin: K. Friedrich Museum
1081A. Panel)

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But to return to our two Memmi of Siena; Lippo, besides the works
mentioned, wrought a panel in distemper, with the design of Simone, which
was carried to Pistoia and placed over the high-altar of the Church of S.
Francesco, and was held very beautiful. Finally, both having returned to

their native city of Siena, Simone began a very large work in colour over
the great gate of Camollia, containing the Coronation of Our Lady, with an
infinity of figures, which remained unfinished, a very great sickness coming
upon him, so that he, overcome by the gravity of the sickness, passed away
from this life in the year 1345, to the very great sorrow of all his city and of
Lippo his brother, who gave him honourable burial in S. Francesco.
Lippo afterwards finished many works that Simone had left imperfect, and
among these was a Passion of Jesus Christ over the high-altar of S. Niccola
in Ancona, wherein Lippo finished what Simone had begun, imitating that
which the said Simone had made and finished in the Chapter-house of S.
Spirito in Florence. This work would be worthy of a longer life than
peradventure will be granted to it, there being in it many horses and soldiers
in beautiful attitudes, which they are striking with various animated
movements, doubting and marvelling whether they have crucified or not the
Son of God. At Assisi, likewise, in the lower Church of S. Francesco, he
finished some figures that Simone had begun for the altar of S. Elizabeth,
which is at the entrance of the door that leads into the chapels, making there
a Madonna, a S. Louis King of France, and other Saints, in all eight figures,
which are only as far as the knees, but good and very well coloured.
Besides this, in the great refectory of the said convent, at the top of the wall,
Simone had begun many little scenes and a Crucifix made in the shape of a
Tree of the Cross, but this remained unfinished and outlined with the brush
in red over the plaster, as may still be seen to-day; which method of
working was the cartoon that our old masters used to make for painting in
fresco, for greater rapidity; for having distributed the whole work over the
plaster, they would outline it with the brush, reproducing from a small
design all that which they wished to paint, and enlarging in proportion all
that they thought to put down. Wherefore, even as this one is seen thus
outlined, and many others in other places, so there are many others that had
once been painted, from which the work afterwards peeled off, leaving
them thus outlined in red over the plaster.
But returning to our Lippo, who drew passing well, as it may be seen in our
book in a hermit who is reading with his legs crossed; he lived for twelve
years after Simone, executing many works throughout all Italy, and in
particular two panels in S. Croce in Florence. And seeing that the manner of
these two brothers is very similar, one can distinguish the one from the

other by this, that Simone used to sign his name at the foot of his works in
this way: SIMONIS MEMMI SENENSIS OPUS; and Lippo, leaving out
his baptismal name and caring nothing about a Latinity so rough, in this
other fashion: OPUS MEMMI DE SENIS ME FECIT.
On the wall of the Chapter-house of S. Maria Novella—besides Petrarca
and Madonna Laura, as it has been said above—Simone portrayed
Cimabue, the architect Lapo, his son Arnolfo, and himself, and in the
person of that Pope who is in the scene he painted Benedetto XI of Treviso,
one of the Preaching Friars, the likeness of which Pope had been brought to
Simone long before by Giotto, his master, when he returned from the Court
of the said Pope, who had his seat in Avignon. In the same place, also,
beside the said Pope, he portrayed Cardinal Niccola da Prato, who had
come to Florence at that time as Legate of the said Pontiff, as Giovanni
Villani relates in his History.
Over the tomb of Simone was placed this epitaph:
SIMONI MEMMIO PICTORUM OMNIUM OMNIS ÆTATIS
CELEBERRIMO.
VIXIT ANN. LX, MENS. II, D. III.
As it is seen in our aforesaid book, Simone was not very excellent in
draughtsmanship, but he had invention from nature, and he took much
delight in drawing portraits from the life; and in this he was held so much
the greatest master of his times that Signor Pandolfo Malatesti sent him as
far as Avignon to portray Messer Francesco Petrarca, at the request of
whom he made afterwards the portrait of Madonna Laura, with so much
credit to himself.

M. S.
MADONNA AND CHILD
(After the painting by Lippo Memmi.
Altenburg: Lindenau Museum, 43)

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TADDEO GADDI

LIFE OF TADDEO GADDI,
PAINTER OF FLORENCE

It is a beautiful and truly useful and praiseworthy action to reward talent
largely in every place, and to honour 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 honourable; whence there may follow honour 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 Taddeo Gaddi did by
reason of his work. This Taddeo di Gaddo Gaddi, a 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 Gaddo, 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 S. Croce in Florence,
in the chapel of the sacristy, where, together with his companions, disciples
of the dead Giotto, he made some stories of S. Mary Magdalene, with
beautiful figures and with most beautiful and extravagant costumes of those
times. And in the Chapel of the Baroncelli and Bandini, where Giotto had
formerly wrought the panel in distemper, he made by himself in fresco, on
one wall, some stories of Our Lady which were held very beautiful. He also
painted over the door of the said sacristy the story of Christ disputing with
the Doctors in the Temple, which was afterwards half ruined when the elder
Cosimo de' Medici, in making the noviciate, the chapel, and the
antechamber in front of the sacristy, placed a cornice of stone over the said
door. In the same church he painted in fresco the Chapel of the Bellacci,
and also that of S. 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 Marsuppini of Arezzo, he made a
Dead Christ with the Maries, wrought in fresco, which was very much
praised; and below the tramezzo[16] that divides the church, on the left hand,
above the Crucifix of Donato, he painted in fresco a story of S. 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
manner. For the Company of the Temple he painted the shrine that is at the
corner of the Via del Crocifisso, containing a very beautiful Deposition
from the Cross.
In the cloister of S. 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 manner of Giotto, which he held ever in the
greatest veneration. In S. Stefano del Ponte Vecchio he painted the panel
and the predella of the high-altar with great diligence; and on a panel in the
Oratory of S. Michele in Orto he made a very good picture of a Dead Christ
being lamented by the Maries and laid to rest very devoutly by Nicodemus
in the Sepulchre.

Alinari
THE LAST SUPPER
(After the fresco by Taddeo Gaddi, in the Refectory of S. Croce,
Florence)

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In the Church of the Servite Friars he painted the Chapel of S. Niccolò,
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, S. 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 predella 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
Mantua, made in that place the tribune that is there to-day and 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 refectory of which
Taddeo 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, Taddeo Gaddi was summoned
to Pisa, where, for Gherardo and Bonaccorso Gambacorti, he wrought in
fresco the principal chapel of S. Francesco, painting with beautiful colours
many figures and stories of that Saint and of S. Andrew and S. Nicholas.
Next, on the vaulting and on the front wall is Pope Honorius, who is
confirming the Order; here Taddeo 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 TADDEUS GADDUS DE FLORENTIA PINXIT HANC
HISTORIAM
SANCTI FRANCISCI ET SANCTI ANDREÆ ET SANCTI NICOLAI,
ANNO DOMINI
MCCCXLII, DE MENSE AUGUSTI.
Besides this, in the cloister also of the same convent he made in fresco a
Madonna with her Child in her arms, very well coloured, and in the middle
of the church, on the left hand as one enters, a S. Louis the Bishop, seated,
to whom S. Gherardo da Villamagna, who had been a friar of this Order, is
recommending a Fra Bartolommeo, 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 honour to the painter.
Next, having returned to Florence, Taddeo continued for the Commune the
work of Orsanmichele 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 that this work might be finished, the
Guild of Porta S. 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 counsel 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 Consuls 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, none the less, should be to the Madonna for the succour of
the needy poor. And because, during the great flood of the year 1333, the
waters had swept away the parapets of the Ponte Rubaconte, thrown down
the Castle of Altafronte, left nothing of the Ponte Vecchio but the two piers
in the middle, and completely ruined the Ponte a S. Trinita except one pier
that remained all shattered, as well as half the Ponte alla Carraia, bursting
also the weir of Ognissanti, 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 Taddeo Gaddi, 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 labour, 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 to-day 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 braccia, that of the street in the
middle is sixteen braccia, and that of the shops on either side eight braccia.
For this work, which cost sixty thousand florins of gold, not only did
Taddeo then deserve infinite praise, but even to-day he is more than ever
commended for it, for the reason that, besides many other floods, it was not
moved in the year 1557, on September 13, by that which threw down the
Ponte a S. Trinita and two arches of that of the Carraia, and shattered in
great part the Rubaconte, 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 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 Taddeo directed the founding of the Ponte a S. Trinita,
which was finished less happily in the year 1346, 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
1557. In like manner, under the direction of Taddeo there was made at the
said time the wall of the Costa a S. 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 de' Mozzi, 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
Taddeo, 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 PURA VERITÀ, PER UBBIDIRE
ALLA SANTA GIUSTIZIA, CHE NON TARDA,
CAVA LA LINGUA ALLA FALSA BUGIARDA.
And below the scene are these verses:
TADDEO DIPINSE QUESTO BEL RIGESTRO;
DISCEPOL FU DI GIOTTO IL BUON MAESTRO.
Taddeo received a commission for some works in fresco in 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 in 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 armour, 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 S. John the Evangelist, and throughout the city other works made
by Taddeo, which are recognized as being by his hand by anyone who has
judgment in art. In the Vescovado, also, behind the high-altar, there are still
seen some stories of S. John the Baptist, which are wrought with such
marvellous manner and design that they cause him to be held in admiration.
In the Chapel of S. Sebastiano in S. Agostino, beside the sacristy, 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 in the
changing colours of various sorts and the grace in the pigments of these
works, which are finished to perfection.

TADDEO GADDI: THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE
(Florence: Accademia 107. Panel)

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In the Church of the Sasso della Vernia in the Casentino he painted the
chapel wherein S. Francis received the Stigmata, assisted in the minor
details by Jacopo di Casentino, 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 far-sighted
man.
He also painted the Chapter-house in S. 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 there being
unveiled, at that time when the bridges were being made, the Chapter-house
of S. Spirito, to the very great fame of Simone Memmi, who had painted it,
there came to the said Prior a desire to call Simone to the half of this work;
wherefore, having discussed the whole matter with Taddeo, he found him
well contented therewith, for the reason that he had a surpassing love for
Simone, because he had been his fellow-disciple under Giotto and ever his
loving friend and companion. Oh! minds 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 Simone, as I
said in his Life, and Taddeo had the left-hand wall and the whole vaulting,
which 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, perchance, that he was not able to carry it out by reason of
the difficulty that he recognized therein. In the second section he made
Jesus Christ delivering S. Peter from shipwreck, wherein the Apostles who
are manning 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 Navicella in S. 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, in the guise of a woman, with a door, teaching a child, has the
writer 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 estate or condition of man that is most appropriate to her
—Pope, Emperor, King, Cardinals, Dukes, Bishops, Marquises, and others;
and in the face of the Pope is the portrait of Clement V. In the middle and
highest place is S. Thomas Aquinas, who was adorned with all the said
sciences, holding below his feet some heretics—Arius, Sabellius, 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 Taddeo with no
little design and grace, insomuch that it can be said to have been the best
conceived as well as the best preserved of all his works.

In the same S. Maria Novella, over the tramezzo[17] of the church, he also
made a S. 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 Taddeo, his son caused a tomb to be made for their descendants,
covered with a slab of marble bearing the arms of the Gaddi. For these
descendants, by reason of the excellence of Taddeo and of their merits,
Cardinal Jerome has obtained from God most honourable offices in the
Church—Clerkships of the Chamber, Bishoprics, Cardinalates,
Provostships, and Knighthoods, all most honourable; and all these
descendants of Taddeo, of whatsoever degree, have ever esteemed and
favoured 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 fifty and being smitten with a most
violent fever, Taddeo passed from this life in the year 1350, leaving his son
Agnolo and Giovanni to apply themselves to painting, recommending them
to Jacopo di Casentino for ways of life and to Giovanni da Milano for
instruction in the art. After the death of Taddeo this Giovanni, besides many
other works, made a panel which was placed on the altar of S. Gherardo da

Villamagna in S. Croce, fourteen years after he had been left without his
master, and likewise the panel of the high-altar of Ognissanti, where the
Frati Umiliati had their seat, which was held very beautiful, and the tribune
of the high-altar at Assisi, wherein he made a Crucifix, with Our Lady and
S. Chiara, 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.
Taddeo, then, adhered constantly to the manner of Giotto, but did not better
it much save in the colouring, which he made fresher and more vivacious
than that of Giotto, 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 Taddeo, having seen that which Giotto had made easy and
having learnt it, had time to add something and to improve the colouring.
Taddeo was buried by Agnolo and Giovanni, his sons, in the first cloister of
S. Croce, in that tomb which he had made for Gaddo 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 S. Maria del Fiore, from the design left by Giotto 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 Taddeo was this that is to be read here:
HOC UNO DICI POTERAT FLORENTIA FELIX
VIVENTE; AT CERTA EST NON POTUISSE MORI.
Taddeo was very resolute in draughtsmanship, as it may be seen in our
book, wherein is drawn by his hand the scene that he wrought in the Chapel
of S. Andrea, in S. Croce at Florence.

ANDREA DI CIONE ORCAGNA

LIFE OF ANDREA DI CIONE ORCAGNA,
PAINTER, SCULPTOR, AND ARCHITECT, OF FLORENCE

Rarely is a man of parts 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 Orcagna, 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 Pisano, 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 Orcagna, his brother, that this Bernardo took him in company
with himself to paint the life of Our Lady in the principal chapel of S. 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 passed before, the
roof becoming ruined, it was spoilt by the rains and thereby brought to the
condition wherein it is to-day, as it will be told in the proper place. It is
enough for the present to say that Domenico Ghirlandajo, who repainted it,
availed himself greatly of the invention put into it by Orcagna, 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 and with
various costumes and head-dresses 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 S. Pietro
Maggiore, and a panel in S. Romeo, close to the side-door. In like manner,

he and his brother Bernardo painted the outer façade of S. Apollinare, with
so great diligence that the colours in that exposed place have been
preserved marvellously vivid and beautiful up to our own day.

Alinari
CHRIST WITH THE VIRGIN ENTHRONED
(Detail from the "Paradise," after the fresco by

Bernardo di Cione Orcagna. Florence: S. Maria
Novella)

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Moved by the fame of these works of Orcagna, 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 Campo Santo of that city, even as Giotto and
Buffalmacco 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 towards the Duomo, beside the Passion of Christ made by
Buffalmacco; and making the first scene on the corner, he represented
therein all the degrees of lords temporal wrapped in the pleasures of this
world, placing them seated in a flowery meadow and under the shade of
many orange-trees, 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 recognized), are 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 Orcagna portrayed Castruccio, Lord of Lucca, as a youth of most
beautiful aspect, with a blue cap wound round 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, in so far 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, labouring 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 S. Macarius 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 Uguccione della Faggiuola 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 scythe 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 Buffalmacco,
who gave speech to the figures of Bruno in S. Paolo a Ripa d'Arno, making
some letters issue from their mouths, Orcagna filled this whole work of his
with such writings, whereof the greater part, being eaten away by time,
cannot be understood. To certain old men, then, he gives these words:
DACCHÈ PROSPERITADE CI HA LASCIATI,
O MORTE, MEDICINA D' OGNI PENA,
DEH VIENI A DARNE OMAI L' ULTIMA CENA!
with other words that cannot be understood, and verses likewise in ancient
manner, composed, as I have discovered, by Orcagna 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, wherein are these words:
ISCHERMO DI SAVERE E DI RICCHEZZA,
DI NOBILTADE ANCORA E DI PRODEZZA,
VALE NIENTE A I COLPI DI COSTEI;
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 both

Italian and Latin in some suitable scrolls, put into that place below because
above they were like to spoil the 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, Orcagna 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 writers, in so great a multitude of men of the robe,
chevaliers, and other lords, that are clearly depicted and portrayed there
from the life, there should be not one, or only very few, of whom we know
the names or who they were; although it is said that a Pope who is seen
there is Innocent IV, friend[18] of Manfredi.

ANDREA DI CIONE ORCAGNA: CHRIST ENTHRONED
(Florence: S. Maria Novella, Strozzi Chapel. Fresco)

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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
Campo Santo, which is described by Dante, and which was afterwards
spoilt in the year 1530 and restored by Sollazzino, a painter of our own
times; and he returned to Florence, where, in the middle of the Church of S.
Croce, on a very great wall on the right, he painted in fresco the same
subjects that he painted in the Campo Santo of Pisa, in three similar
pictures, excepting, however, the scene where S. Macarius is showing to
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 laboured
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 save the portraits from

life, for those in this work were partly of his dearest friends, whom he
placed in Paradise, and partly of 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 Orcagna'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 wont 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, serjeant of the Commune of Florence, being dragged
along by the Devil with a hook, and he is known by three red lilies that he
has on his white bonnet, such as were then wont to be worn by the serjeants
and other similar officials; and this he did because Guardi once made
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 Ceccho
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.
Besides Bernardo, 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 honour, as it 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 Ringhiera when bad
weather did not hinder), they caused many designs to be made for the
building of a magnificent and very large Loggia 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 Orcagna
being universally approved and accepted as greater, more beautiful, and
more magnificent than all the others, by decree of the Signori and of the
Commune there was begun under his direction the great Loggia 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 S. Romolo and to 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 Loggia,
between the arches on the front wall, in some ornamental work by his own
hand, Orcagna 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 Loggia was building he made a
panel in distemper with many large figures, with little figures in the
predella, 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
wrought in fresco could do, he wrote his name with these words: ANNO
DOMINI MCCCLVII, ANDREAS CIONIS DE FLORENTIA ME PINXIT.

Alinari
THE DEATH AND ASSUMPTION OF THE
VIRGIN
(Relief on the Tabernacle by Andrea di Cione
Orcagna, Or San Michele, Florence)

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This work completed, he made some pictures, also on panel, which were
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 Orsanmichele, 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 Orcagna 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; wherefore, giving the making 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 discoloured;
and in this he succeeded so well, with profit and honour 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 Orcagna, 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 in half-
relief round the Madonna, is very well executed. Marvellous, 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 it is therefore as
stout and strong as it is beautiful in all other respects. But how much he
laboured 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: ANDREAS CIONIS, PICTOR

FLORENTINUS, ORATORII ARCHIMAGISTER EXTITIT HUJUS,
MCCCLIX.
It is known that the building of this Loggia and of the marble shrine, with
all the master-work, cost ninety-six thousand 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,
the name of Andrea Orcagna has been and will be ever living and great.
He used to write in his pictures: FECE ANDREA DI CIONE, SCULTORE;
and in his sculptures: FECE ANDREA DI CIONE, PITTORE; wishing that
his painting should be known by his sculpture, and his sculpture by his
painting. There are throughout all Florence many panels made by him,
which are partly known by the name, such as a panel in S. Romeo, and
partly by the manner, such as one that is in the Chapter-house of the
Monastery of the Angeli. 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
Burchiello, then a youth; and finally, being sixty years of age, he finished
the course of his life in 1389, and was borne with honour from his dwelling,
which was in the Via Vecchia de' Corazzai, to his tomb.
There were many men able in sculpture and in architecture at the same time
as Orcagna, 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 Certosa of Florence, made at
the expense of the noble family of the Acciaiuoli, and in particular of
Messer Niccola, Grand Seneschal of the King of Naples, but also the tomb
of the same man, whereon he is 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 men, is the tomb of Messer Lorenzo, son of the said
Niccola, who, dying at Naples, was brought to Florence and laid to rest
there with the most honourable 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 Nello di Giovanni Falconi 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
a panel that is in S. Antonio in Pisa, set up against the tramezzo[19] of the
church.
After the death of Andrea, his brother Jacopo, 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 S. Piero
Gattolini, and it is said that he made the four marzocchi[20] of stone which
were placed on the four corners of the Palazzo Principale of Florence, all
overlaid with gold. This work was much censured, by reason of there being
laid on those places, without necessity, a greater weight than peradventure
was expedient; and many would have been pleased to have the marzocchi
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 S. Maria del Fiore, over the door
that leads to the Company of S. Zanobi, 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
Mariotto, nephew of Andrea, made in fresco the Paradise of S. Michele
Bisdomini, in the Via de' Servi in Florence, and the panel with an
Annunciation that is on the altar; and for Monna Cecilia de' Boscoli he
made another panel with many figures, placed near the door of the same
church.
But among all the disciples of Orcagna 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 is buried at Pisa in the Chapel of S. Domenico,
in the Church of S. Caterina; which panel contained a S. Dominic standing
two braccia and a half high, with six scenes of his life on either side of him,
animated and vivacious and well coloured. And in the same church, in the
Chapel of S. Tommaso d'Aquino, he made a panel in distemper with
fanciful invention, which is much praised, placing therein the said S.

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 S. Thomas, who is
placed seated in the air with some books in his hand, which are illuminating
the Christian people with their rays and lustre, there are kneeling a great
number of doctors and clergy of every sort, Bishops, Cardinals, and Popes,
among whom is the portrait of Pope Urban VI. Under the feet of S. Thomas
are standing Sabellius, Arius, Averroes, and other heretics and philosophers,
with their books all torn; and the said figure of S. Thomas is placed between
Plato, who is showing him the Timæus, and Aristotle, who is showing him
the Ethics. Above, a Jesus Christ, in like manner in the air between the four
Evangelists, is blessing S. 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.

Alinari
S. THOMAS AQUINAS
(After the painting by Francesco Traini. Pisa:
Church of S. Caterina)

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TOMMASO, CALLED GIOTTINO

LIFE OF TOMMASO, CALLED GIOTTINO,
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 of the colours, 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 Tommaso di Stefano, called Giottino,
who, being born in the year 1324 and having learnt from his father the first
principles of painting, resolved while still very young to attempt, in so far
as he might be able with assiduous study, to be an imitator of the manner of
Giotto rather than of 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 Giottino, 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 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 Giottino painted a chapel
near the side-door of S. Stefano al Ponte Vecchio in Florence, wherein,
although it is to-day much spoilt by damp, the little that has remained
shows the dexterity and the genius of the craftsman. Next, he made the two
Saints, Cosimo and Damiano, for the Frati Ermini in the Canto alla Macine,
but little is seen of them to-day, for they too have been ruined by time. And
he wrought in fresco a chapel in the old S. Spirito in that city, which was
afterwards ruined in 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 Cuculia,
on the corner of the convent, he painted that shrine that is still seen there,
with Our Lady and other Saints round her, wherein both the heads and the
other parts lean strongly towards the modern manner, for the reason that he
sought to vary and to blend the flesh-colours, and to harmonize all the
figures with grace and judgment by means of a variety of colours and
draperies. In like manner he wrought the stories of Constantine with much
diligence in the Chapel of S. Silvestro in S. Croce, showing very beautiful
ideas in the gestures of the figures; and then, behind an ornament of marble
made for the tomb of Messer Bertino de' Bardi, a man who at that time had
held honourable military rank, he made this Messer Bertino in armour, after
the life, issuing from a sepulchre 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 the right hand
of the entrance of the door of S. Pancrazio the same man made a Christ who
is bearing His Cross, and some Saints near Him, that have exactly the
manner of Giotto. In S. Gallo (which convent was without the Gate called
by the same name, and was destroyed in the siege) in a cloister, there was a
Pietà painted in fresco, whereof there is a copy in the aforesaid S.
Pancrazio, on a pillar beside the principal chapel. In S. Maria Novella, in
the Chapel of S. Lorenzo de' Giuochi, as one enters by the door on the left,
on the front wall, he wrought in fresco a S. Cosimo and a S. Damiano, and,
in Ognissanti, a S. Christopher and a S. George, which were spoilt 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 said
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 Tommaso, which is a good work, by reason of his having
wrought it with diligence.
By means of these works Giottino had acquired so good a name, imitating
his master both in design and in 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 colouring and of his mastery in draughtsmanship; and in the year
1343, on July 2, 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, Giottino was forced by the twelve Reformers of the State, and
in particular by the prayers of Messer Agnolo Acciaiuoli, then a very great
citizen, who had great influence with him, to paint in contempt, on the
tower of the Palace of the Podestà, the said Duke and his followers, who
were Messer Ceritieri Visdomini, Messer Maladiasse, his Conservator, and
Messer Ranieri da 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 his character; and one of those his
counsellors had in his hand the Palace of the Priors of the city, and 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 to-day because they have been eaten away by time. In this
work, both by reason of the draughtsmanship and of the great diligence
wherewith it was executed, the manner of the craftsman gave universal
pleasure to all. Afterwards, at the Campora, a seat of the Black Friars
without the Porta a S. Piero Gattolini, he made a S. Cosimo and a S.
Damiano, which were spoilt in the whitewashing of the church; and on the
bridge of Romiti 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 thereon that Tommaso applied
himself to sculpture and wrought a figure in marble on the Campanile of S.
Maria del Fiore in Florence, four braccia high and facing the place where
the Orphans now dwell. In S. Giovanni Laterano 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 S. Louis on a pillar in the Araceli, on the right hand
beside the altar.

In the lower church of S. Francesco 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 round her, so gracious, so beautiful in the
expressions of the faces, and so sweet and delicate in manner, that they
show, with the usual harmony of colour 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 S. Nicholas. In like
manner, in the Monastery of S. Chiara in the same city, in the middle of the
church, he painted a scene in fresco, wherein is S. Chiara 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 and in the very gracious head-dresses 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 that she appears alive, and a S. Francis and another Saint, both
very beautiful; both of which works, although the story of S. Chiara
remained unfinished by reason of Tommaso having fallen sick and returned
to Florence, are perfect and most worthy of all praise.

GIOTTINO: THE DESCENT FROM THE
CROSS
(Florence: Uffizi 27. Panel)

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It is said that Tommaso was melancholic in temperament and very solitary,
but with respect to art devoted and very studious, as it is clearly seen from a
panel in the Church of S. 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[21] of

the church, on the right hand, is a Dead Christ with the Maries and
Nicodemus, accompanied by other figures, who are bewailing His death
with bitterness and with very sweet and affectionate movements, wringing
their hands with diverse gestures, and beating themselves in a manner that
in the air of the faces there is shown very clearly their sharp sorrow at the
so great cost of our sins. And it is something marvellous 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 wont 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 Giottino
should have executed this panel with so much consideration, since in his
labours 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 thirty-
two, and was given burial by his relatives at the Martello Gate without S.
Maria Novella, beside the tomb of Bontura.
Disciples of Giottino, who left more fame than wealth, were Giovanni
Tossicani of Arezzo, Michelino, Giovanni dal Ponte, and Lippo, who were
passing good masters of this art, but above all Giovanni Tossicani, who
made many works throughout all Tuscany after Tommaso and in the same
manner as his, and in particular the Chapel of S. Maria Maddalena,
belonging to the Tuccerelli, in the Pieve of Arezzo, and a S. James on a
pillar in the Pieve of the township of Empoli. In the Duomo of Pisa, also, he
wrought some panels which have since been 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 Tarlato da
Pietramala—namely, a very beautiful Annunciation, with S. James and S.
Philip; which work, by reason of the back of the wall being turned to the

north, was little less than completely spoilt by damp, when Maestro Agnolo
di Lorenzo of Arezzo restored the Annunciation, and shortly afterwards
Giorgio Vasari, still a youth, restored the S. James and S. Philip, to his own
great profit, having learnt much, at that time when he had not the advantage
of other masters, by studying Giovanni's method of painting and the
shadows and colours of that work, spoilt as it was. In this chapel there are
still read these words in an epitaph of marble, in memory of the Countess
who had it built and painted:
ANNO DOMINI 1335, DE MENSE AUGUSTI, HANC CAPELLAM
CONSTITUI
FECIT NOBILIS DOMINA COMITISSA JOANNA DE SANCTA FLORA,
UXOR
NOBILIS MILITIS DOMINI TARLATI DE PETRAMALA, AD
HONOREM BEATÆ
MARIÆ VIRGINIS.
Of the works of the other disciples of Giottino 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. Tommaso drew very well, as it
may be seen in our book, in certain drawings wrought by his hand with
much diligence.

GIOVANNI DAL PONTE

LIFE OF GIOVANNI DAL PONTE,
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 favour of fortune ceases, there often comes death, to make up
for her defection and for the bad management of men, supervening 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 labouring in poverty, as would have happened to Giovanni
da Santo Stefano a Ponte 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 Buonamico Buffalmacco, 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 Buffalmacco, he made his first works in the Chapel of S.
Lorenzo, in the Pieve 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
S. Francesco. And a little time afterwards, being in some credit in that city
for lack of other painters, he painted the Chapel of S. Onofrio in the Pieve,
with that of S. Antonio, which to-day is spoilt by damp. He also made some
other pictures that were in S. Giustina and in S. Matteo, but these were
thrown to the ground by Duke 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 beside the said S. Giustina, where
the stream entered the city, there were then found a head of Appius Cæcus
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[22] of
the said Lord Duke.
Giovanni, having returned to Florence at the time when there was finished
the closing of the middle arch of the Ponte a S. Trinita, painted many
figures both within and without a chapel built over one pier and dedicated
to S. Michelagnolo, 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 Giovanni dal
Ponte. In Pisa, also, in the year 1355, he made some scenes in fresco behind
the altar of the principal chapel of S. Paolo a Ripa d'Arno, which are now
all spoilt by damp and by time. Giovanni also painted the Chapel of the
Scali in S. Trinita in Florence, with another that is beside it, and one of the
stories of S. Paul by the side of the principal chapel, where is the tomb of
Maestro Paolo, the astrologer. In S. Stefano al Ponte Vecchio he painted a
panel, with other pictures in distemper and in fresco 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 his own profession 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 fifty-nine years, Giovanni was seized by
pleurisy and in a few days departed this life, wherein, had he survived a
little longer, he would have suffered many discomforts, there being left in
his house scarce as much as sufficed to give him decent burial in S. Stefano
al Ponte Vecchio. His works date about 1365.

Alinari
S. PETER ENTHRONED
(After the painting by Giovanni dal Ponte. Florence: Uffizi, 1292)

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In our book of drawings by diverse ancients and moderns there is a drawing
in water-colour by the hand of Giovanni, wherein is a S. George on
horseback who is slaying the Dragon, and a skeleton, which bear witness to
the method and manner that he had in drawing.

AGNOLO GADDI

LIFE OF AGNOLO GADDI,
PAINTER OF FLORENCE

How honourable and profitable it is to be excellent in a noble art is
manifestly seen in the talent and management of Taddeo Gaddi, who,
having acquired very good means as well as fame with his industry and
labours, left the affairs 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
Gaddi, to-day very noble in Florence and in great repute throughout all
Christendom. And in truth it has been very reasonable, seeing that Gaddo,
Taddeo, Agnolo, and Giovanni adorned many honoured 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.
Taddeo, 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, he was given more
to traffic and to trading than to the art of painting; which should not appear
a thing new or strange, seeing that avarice 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 S. Jacopo tra' Fossi in Florence, Agnolo wrought a
little scene, with figures little more than a braccio 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 discoloured 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; not without stupefaction 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 marvellous 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 Taddeo, and
even Taddeo 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 Soderini,
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 head-dresses, 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,
and others working 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 S. 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 colouring is
beautiful and good enough. Next, in painting in fresco some stories of S.
Louis in the Chapel of the Bardi 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 S. Spirito, also in Florence, within the door
that leads from the square into the convent, he made in fresco, over another
door, a Madonna with the Child in her arms, and S. Augustine and S.
Nicholas, so well that the said figures appear as if made only yesterday.

THE MARRIAGE OF S. CATHARINE
(After the painting by Agnolo Gaddi. Philadelphia,
U.S.A.: J. G. Johnson Collection)

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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 Gaddo had used in
this, he would make something in mosaic when it pleased him, merely to
pass time and by reason of that convenience of material, rather than for

aught else. Now, seeing that time had eaten away many of those marbles
that cover the eight faces of the roof of S. Giovanni, and that the damp
penetrating within had therefore spoilt much of the mosaic which Andrea
Tafi had wrought there at a former time, the Consuls of the Guild of
Merchants determined, to the end that the rest might not be spoilt, 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, cutting 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 about by means of his counsel and of a design very well
conceived that there was rebuilt, round the said church, all the upper
cornice of marble below the roof, in that form wherein it now remains;
which cornice was much smaller than it is and very commonplace. Under
direction of the same man there was also made the vaulting of the Great
Hall of the Palace of the Podestà, 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 counsel of
Agnolo, there were made round the said Palace the battlements that are
there to-day, which before were in no wise there.
The while that these works were executing, he did not desert his painting
entirely, and painted in distemper, in the panel that he made for the high-
altar of S. Pancrazio, Our Lady, S. John the Baptist, and the Evangelist, and
beside them the Saints Nereus, Archileus, and Pancratius, brothers, with
other Saints. But the best of this work—nay, 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 S. Reparata. Next, in 1348, he painted
the panel of the high-altar of S. 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, in the chapel 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 honour, he made other works in plenty. In Florence, next, he painted
the arch over the door of S. Romeo; and in Orto S. Michele he wrought in
distemper a Disputation of the Doctors with Christ in the Temple. And at
the same time, many houses having been pulled down in order to enlarge
the Piazza de' Signori, and in particular the Church of S. Romolo, this was
rebuilt with the design of Agnolo. There are many panels by his hand
throughout the churches in the said city, and many of his works may also be
recognized in the domain, which were wrought by him with much profit to
himself, although he worked more in order to do 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 save for his own pleasure,
and, in a certain manner, in order to pass time. Having thus acquired great
wealth by means of trading and by means of his art, Agnolo died in the
sixty-third 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 S. 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 at Siena, and was a practised colourist in fresco. A
disciple of Agnolo, also, was Michele da Milano, as was Giovanni Gaddi,
his brother, who made, in the cloister of S. Spirito where are the little arches
of Gaddo and of Taddeo, the Disputation of Christ in the Temple with the
Doctors, 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
Drea Cennini of Colle di Valdelsa, who, having very great affection for the

art, wrote a book describing the methods of working in fresco, in distemper,
in size, 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 colours, both the
minerals and the earth-colours, according as he learnt from Agnolo his
master, wishing, for the reason perchance that he did not succeed in
learning to paint perfectly, at least to know the nature of the colours, the
distempers, the sizes, and the application of gesso, and what colours 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 to-
day 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-
colours, such as dark red earths, cinabrese, and certain vitreous greens.
Since then there have been also discovered umber, which is an earth-colour,
giallo santo,[23] the smalts both for fresco and for oils, and some vitreous
greens and yellows, wherein the painters of that age were lacking. He
treated finally of mosaics, and of grinding colours in 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 of Bonifazio Lupi, coloured 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 Agnolo di Taddeo of Florence,
my master, who learnt the said art from Taddeo, 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
even as those who translate any work from Greek into Latin confer 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 honour, and he was buried
by his sons, to whom it is said that he left the sum of fifty thousand florins
or more, in S. 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, is seen in the Chapel of the Alberti, in
S. 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-coloured cap on his head according to the use of those times. He was
not excellent in draughtsmanship, in so far as is shown by some drawings
by his hand that are in our book.

INDEX OF NAMES OF THE CRAFTSMEN
MENTIONED IN VOLUME I
Agnolo (of Siena), Life, 97-105. 39
Agnolo di Lorenzo, 208
Agnolo Gaddi, Life, 217-223. 185, 186
Agobbio, Oderigi d', 79
Agostino (of Siena), Life, 97-105. 39
Aholiab, xxxviii
Alberti, Leon Batista, xli, 179
Alesso Baldovinetti, 4, 48
Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Life, 155-157
Andrea di Cione Orcagna, Life, 189-199
Andrea Pisano, Life, 123-131. 189
Andrea Tafi, Life, 47-51. 55, 56, 58, 135, 136, 145, 219
Angelico, Fra (Fra Giovanni da Fiesole), 162
Antonio (called Il Carota), 125
Antonio d'Andrea Tafi, 51
Antonio da Ferrara, 221
Antonio da San Gallo, 32
Antonio Pollaiuolo, xxxiv
Apelles, xxviii, xxxix
Apollodorus, xxxix
Apollonio, 47, 49
Ardices, xxxix
Aretino, Marchionne, 17, 18
Aretino, Niccolò, 130
Aretino, Spinello, 67
Aristides, xli
Arnolfo di Lapo (Arnolfo Lapo, Arnolfo Lapi), Life, 20-26. 8, 13, 14,
20-26, 29, 30, 33, 39, 65, 113, 126, 170, 174, 180
Baldovinetti, Alesso, 4, 48
Bartolommeo Bologhini, 120
Benedetto da Maiano, 94

Bernardo di Cione Orcagna, 189, 190, 193-195, 197
Bernardo Nello di Giovanni Falconi, 197
Bezaleel, xxxviii
Bologhini, Bartolommeo, 120
Bolognese, Franco, 79
Bonanno, 15, 16
Bramante da Urbino, 32
Brunelleschi, Filippo (Filippo di Ser Brunellesco), lii, 22, 23, 26, 48,
130
Bruno di Giovanni, 135, 145, 147, 148, 191
Buffalmacco, Buonamico, Life, 135-151. 50, 51, 135-151, 170, 190,
191, 211
Buonarroti, Michelagnolo, xxvi, xxxiv, 87
Buono, 14, 15
Buschetto, liv, lvi
Calandrino, 135
Campi, Fra Ristoro da, 59
Capanna, Puccio, 85, 89-91
Carota (Antonio, called Il Carota), 125
Casentino, Jacopo di, 183, 185
Castelfranco, Giorgione da, xxxii
Cavallini, Pietro, Life, 161-164. 92
Cennini, Cennino di Drea, 177, 221, 222
Cimabue, Giovanni, Life, 3-10. xxiv, xxxv, lix, 3-10, 20, 21, 29, 47,
50, 55, 56, 58, 63, 72, 74, 89, 94, 113, 117, 145, 174
Cione, 103, 104
Cleanthes, xxxix
Cleophantes, xxxix
Como, Guido da, 48
Danti, Vincenzio, 36
Domenico Ghirlandajo, 112, 126, 189
Donato (Donatello), 48, 130, 178
Fabius, xl
Faenza, Ottaviano da, 91
Faenza, Pace da, 91
Falconi, Bernardo Nello di Giovanni, 197
Ferrara, Antonio da, 221

Fiesole, Fra Giovanni da (called Fra Angelico), 162
Filippo Brunelleschi (Filippo di Ser Brunellesco), lii, 22, 23, 26, 48,
130
Fonte, Jacopo della (Jacopo della Quercia), 130
Forlì, Guglielmo da, 92
Forzore di Spinello, 104
Fra Angelico (Fra Giovanni da Fiesole), 162
Fra Giovanni, 59
Fra Giovanni da Fiesole (called Fra Angelico), 162
Fra Jacopo da Turrita, 49, 50, 56
Fra Ristoro da Campi, 59
Francesco (called di Maestro Giotto), 91
Francesco Traini, 198, 199
Franco Bolognese, 79
Fuccio, 30, 31
Gaddi, Agnolo, Life, 217-223. 185, 186
Gaddi, Gaddo, Life, 55-58. 50, 55-58, 177, 186, 217, 219, 221
Gaddi, Giovanni, 185, 186, 217, 221
Gaddi, Taddeo, Life, 177-186. 57, 58, 81, 88, 89, 129, 177-186, 217,
218, 221, 222
Ghiberti, Lorenzo (Lorenzo di Cione Ghiberti), 87, 112, 127, 130
Ghirlandajo, Domenico, 112, 126, 189
Ghirlandajo, Ridolfo, 125
Giorgio Vasari, see Vasari
Giorgione da Castelfranco, xxxii
Giottino (Tommaso, or Maso), Life, 203-208. 112
Giotto, Life, 71-94. 7-9, 25, 39, 50, 51, 57, 63, 71-94, 99, 109, 111-
113, 117, 118, 123-127, 161, 162, 168, 170, 174, 177, 178, 180,
Giovanni, Bruno di, 135, 145, 147, 148, 191
Giovanni, Fra, 59
Giovanni Cimabue, Life, 3-10. xxiv, xxxv, lix, 3-10, 20, 21, 29, 47,
50, 55, 56, 58, 63,72, 74, 89, 94, 113, 117, 145, 174
Giovanni da Milano, 182, 183, 185
Giovanni da Pistoia, 164
Giovanni dal Ponte (Giovanni da Santo Stefano a Ponte), Life, 211-
213, 208
Giovanni Gaddi, 185, 186, 217, 221

Giovanni Pisano, Life, 35-44. 29, 35-44, 76, 97, 98, 220
Giovanni Tossicani, 208
Giuliano, 221
Guglielmo, 15, 31
Guglielmo da Forlì, 92
Guido da Como, 48
Gyges the Lydian (fable), xxxix
Jacobello, 105
Jacopo da Turrita, Fra, 49, 50, 56
Jacopo della Quercia (or della Fonte), 130
Jacopo di Casentino, 183, 185
Jacopo di Cione Orcagna, 194, 197, 198
Jacopo Lanfrani, 104, 105
Jacopo Tedesco (Lapo), 14, 18-20, 23, 24, 65, 174
Lanfrani, Jacopo, 104, 105
Lapo, Arnolfo di (Arnolfo Lapo, Arnolfo Lapi), Life, 20-26. 8, 13, 14,
20-26, 29, 30, 33, 39, 65, 113, 126, 170, 174, 180
Lapo (Maestro Jacopo Tedesco), 14, 18-20, 23, 24, 65, 174
Laurati, Pietro (called Lorenzetti), Life, 117-120. 92
Leonardo da Vinci, xxxiv
Leonardo di Ser Giovanni, 104
Leon Batista Alberti, xli, 179
Lino, 43
Lippo, 48, 208
Lippo Memmi, 172-174
Lorenzetti, Ambrogio, Life, 155-157
Lorenzetti, Pietro (Laurati), Life, 117-120. 92
Lorenzo, Agnolo di, 208
Lorenzo Ghiberti (Lorenzo di Cione Ghiberti), 87, 112, 127, 130
Lysippus, xl
Maglione, 34
Maiano, Benedetto da, 94
Marchionne Aretino, 17, 18
Marco, Tommaso di, 197
Margaritone, Life, 63-67. 38, 118
Mariotto, 198

Martini, Simone (Memmi or Sanese), Life, 167-174. 10, 25, 89, 92,
167-174, 183
Memmi, Lippo, 172-174
Memmi, Simone (Martini or Sanese), Life, 167-174. 10, 25, 89, 92,
167-174, 183
Metrodorus, xxxix, xl
Michelagnolo Buonarroti, xxvi, xxxiv, 87
Michele da Milano, 221
Michelino, 208
Milano, Giovanni da, 182, 183, 185
Milano, Michele da, 221
Neroccio, 172
Niccola Pisano, Life, 29-37. lvi, 29-37, 40, 41, 43, 44, 76, 97
Niccolò Aretino, 130
Nino Pisano, 127, 130, 131
Oderigi d'Agobbio, 79
Orcagna, Andrea di Cione, Life, 189-199
Orcagna, Bernardo di Cione, 189, 190, 193-195, 197
Orcagna, Jacopo di Cione, 194, 197, 198
Ottaviano da Faenza, 91
Pace da Faenza, 91
Pacuvius, xxxix
Paolo, 103
Perugia, Piero da, 221
Pesarese, 105
Pheidias, xl
Philocles, xxxix
Piero da Perugia, 221
Pietro, 103
Pietro Cavallini, Life, 161-164. 92
Pietro Laurati (called Lorenzetti), Life, 117-120. 92
Pietro Paolo, 105
Pisano, Andrea, Life, 123-131. 189
Pisano, Giovanni, Life, 35-44. 29, 35-44, 76, 97, 98, 220
Pisano, Niccola, Life, 29-37. lvi, 29-37, 40, 41, 43, 44, 76, 97
Pisano, Nino, 127, 130, 131
Pisano, Tommaso, 130