Chapter VI: Part 6

While the art of painting has flourished, sculptors have never been lacking who could produce excellent work. To the attentive mind, the works of every age bear testimony to this fact, for the two arts are really sisters, born at the same time and nourished and animated by the same spirit. This is seen in Andrea Pisano, who practised sculpture in the time of Giotto, and made so much improvement in that art, both by practice and study, that he was considered the best exponent of the profession who had until then appeared in Tuscany, especially in casting bronze. For this reason his works were so honoured and prized by those who knew him, and especially by the Florentines, that he was able without a pang to change his country, relations, property, and friends. It was a great advantage to him that the masters who had preceded him in sculpture had experienced so much difficulty in the art that their works were rough and common, so that those who saw his productions, judged him a miracle by comparison. That these first works were rude may be credited, as has been said elsewhere, upon an examination of some which are over the principal door of S. Paolo at Florence, and some stone ones in the church of Ognissanti, which are so executed as to move to laughter those who regard them, rather than to excite in them any admiration or pleasure. It is certain that it was much more easy to recover the art of sculpture when the statues had been lost, as a man is a round figure by nature, and is so represented by that art, whereas in painting, on the other hand, it is not so easy to find the right shapes and the best manner of portraying them, which are essential to the majesty, beauty, grace, and ornament of a picture. In one circumstance fortune was favourable to Andrea, because, as has been said elsewhere, by means of the numerous victories won by the Pisans at sea, many antiquities and sarcophagi were brought to Pisa, which are still about the Duomo and Campo Santo. These gave him great assistance and much light, advantages which could not be enjoyed by Giotto, because the ancient paintings which have been preserved are not so numerous as the sculptures. And although statues have frequently been destroyed by fire, devastation, and the fury of war, or buried or transported to various places, yet it is easy for a connoisseur to recognise the productions of all the different countries by their various styles. For example, the Egyptian is slender, with long figures; the Greek is artificial, and much care is displayed on the nude, while the heads nearly always have the same turn; and the ancient Tuscan is careful in the treatment of hair and somewhat rude. As regards the Romans, and I call Roman for the most part those things which were brought to Rome after Greece was subjugated, as all that was good and beautiful in the world was carried thither; this Roman work, I say, is so beautiful in expression, attitudes, movements both in nude figures and in draperies, that the Romans may be said to have extracted the beautiful from all the other provinces and gathered it into a single style, making it the best and the most divine of all the arts.

At the time of Andrea all these good methods and arts were lost, and the only style in use was that which had been brought to Tuscany by the Goths and the rude Greeks. Thus he noted the new style of Giotto and such few antiquities as were known to him, and somewhat refined a great part of the grossness of that wretched manner by his own judgment, so that he began to work in better style, and endow his works with far more beauty than had hitherto been seen. When his intelligence, skill, and dexterity had become known he was assisted by many of his compatriots, and while he was still a young man, he was commissioned to make some small figures in marble for S. Maria a Ponte. These brought him such a good name that he was most earnestly desired to come to work at Florence by those in charge of the building of S. Maria del Fiore, as after the façade of the three doors had been begun, there was a lack of masters to execute the subjects which Giotto had designed for the beginning of that structure. Accordingly Andrea went to Florence in order to undertake that work, and because at that time the Florentines were desirous of making themselves agreeable and friendly to Pope Boniface VIII., who was then chief pontiff of the church of God, they wished Andrea, before everything else, to make his statue in marble. Andrea therefore set to work, and did not rest until he had finished the Pope's figure placed between St Peter and St Paul, the three figures being set up on the façade of S. Maria del Fiore, where they still are. Afterwards Andrea made some figures of prophets for the middle door of that church, in some tabernacles or niches. These showed that he had made great improvements in the art, and that in excellence and design he surpassed all those who had laboured for that structure up to that time. Hence it was decided that all works of importance should be entrusted to him and not to others. Soon after he was commissioned to make four statues of the principal doctors of the church--St Jerome, St Ambrose, St Augustine, and St Gregory. When these were finished they brought him favour and renown with the craftsmen and throughout the city, and he was commissioned to make two other figures in marble of the same size. These were St Stephen and St Laurence, which are on the front of S. Maria del Fiore at the outside angle. By Andrea's hand also is the marble Madonna, three and a half braccia high with the child at her neck, which is over the altar of the little church and company of the Misericordia on the piazza of S. Giovanni at Florence. This was much praised in those times, especially as on either side of the Madonna he put an angel two and a half braccia high. A setting of very finely carved wood has been made for this in our own day by Maestro Antonio called "Il Carota," with a predella beneath, full of most beautiful figures coloured in oil by Ridolfo, son of Domenico Grillandai. In like manner the half-length Madonna in marble which is over the side-door of the Misericordia, on the façade of the Cialdonai, is by Andrea's hand, and was highly praised, because in it he had imitated the good antique manner, contrary to his habit, which was always different from it, as shown by some designs of his which are in our book, and in which he represents all the scenes from the Apocalypse. Now Andrea had studied architecture in his youth, and an opportunity occurred for his employment in this art by the commune of Florence, for as Arnolfo was dead and Giotto absent, he was entrusted with the preparation of plans for the castle of Scarperia, which is in Mugello at the foot of the Alps. Some say, though I will not vouch for the truth of it, that Andrea stayed a year at Venice, and there executed some small marble figures which are on the façade of S. Marco, and that in the time of M. Piero Gradenigo, doge of that republic, he designed the Arsenal. But as I know nothing of this beyond the bare mention of it which occurs in some writers, I must leave the matter to the judgment of my readers. From Venice he returned to Florence, where the city, fearing the coming of the emperor, with Andrea's co-operation, hastily added eight braccia to part of the wall between S. Gallo and the Prato Gate, and in other places he made bastions, palisades and works in earth and wood. Now some three years before, he had shown his skill in casting bronze in a much admired cross which he had sent to the Pope at Avignon, by means of his close friend Giotto; accordingly he was commissioned to make in bronze one of the doors of the church of S. Giovanni, for which Giotto had already made a very fine design. This, as I say, was given to him to finish, because he was considered the most talented, skilful, and judicious master of all those who had worked until then, not only in Tuscany, but throughout Italy. He set to work, resolved to spare neither time, pains, nor diligence upon the completion of a task of such importance. Fate was propitious to him in his casting, at a time when men were ignorant of the secrets known today, so that in the space of twenty-two years he brought the door to its present stage of perfection; and what is more, at the same time he made not only the tabernacle of the high altar of S. Giovanni, with an angel on either side which were considered most beautiful, but also the small marble figures about the base of the door of the campanile of S. Maria del Fiore, after Giotto's design, and about that campanile, in certain mandorle, the seven planets, the seven virtues, and the seven works of mercy in small figures in half-relief, which were then much admired. At the same time he made the three figures of four braccia high, which were placed in niches in that campanile, on the side towards the place where the Pupilli now are, that is towards the south, figures which were considered at the time to be of considerable merit. But to return to my starting-point, I say that the bronze door contains scenes in bas-relief from the life of St John the Baptist, from his birth to his death, most happily conceived and executed with great care. And although many are of opinion that these stories do not exhibit that fine design nor that high art which should be put into figures, yet Andrea merits the highest praise, because he was the first who undertook to complete a work which rendered it possible for those who came after him to produce what is beautiful, difficult and good in the other two doors, and in the exterior ornaments now to be seen. This work was set in the middle door of the church, and remained there until Lorenzo Ghiberti made the present one, when it was removed and set up opposite the Misericordia, where it is at the present time. I must not omit to say that in making this door Andrea was assisted by his son Nino, who afterwards became a much better master than his father had been, and that it was finished in the year 1339--that is to say, not only polished and cleaned, but gilt at the fire. It is thought that the metal was cast by some Venetian masters very skilful in founding; and a record of this is in the library of the art of the Calimara, guardians of the work of S. Giovanni. Whilst the door was being made, Andrea not only made the altars aforesaid, but many others, and in particular the model of the church of S. Giovanni at Pistoia, which was founded in the year 1337. In this same year, on the 25th day of January, was found the body of St Atto, bishop of that city, in excavating the foundations of the church. The body had been buried in that place for 137 years. The architecture of that temple, which is round, was meritorious for the time. Also by the hand of Andrea is a marble tomb in the principal church of Pistoia, the body of the sarcophagus of which is full of small figures, with some larger ones above. In this tomb rests the body of M. Cino d'Angibolgi, doctor of laws, and a very famous man of letters in his day, as M. Francesco Petrarca testifies in the sonnet:

"Piangette donne, e con voi pianga Amore;"

and in the fourth chapter of the _Trionfo d'Amore_, where he says:

"Ecco Cin da Pistoia; Guitton d'Arezzo,
Che di non esser primo per ch' ira aggia."

This marble tomb of Andrea's contains the portrait of M. Cino, who is represented as teaching a number of his scholars, who are about him, with such a fine attitude and style that it must have been considered a marvellous thing in those days, although it would not be valued now.

Walter, Duke of Athens and tyrant of Florence, also employed Andrea to enlarge the piazza, and to fortify his palace by barring the bottom of all the windows on the first floor, where the hall of the Two Hundred now is, with very strong square iron bars. The same duke also added, opposite S. Piero Scheraggio, the rough stone walls which are beside the palace to augment it, and in the thickness of the wall he made a secret staircase, to mount and descend unperceived. At the bottom face of the wall he made a great door, which now serves for the Customs, and over this he set his arms, the whole after the designs and with the advice of Andrea. Although the arms were defaced by the magistracy of the twelve, who took pains to obliterate every memorial of that duke, yet on the square shield there remained the form of the lion rampant with two tails, as any attentive observer may see. For the same duke Andrea made many towers about the city, and not only began the fine gate of S. Friano, leaving it in its present form, but also made the walls of the portals and all the gates of the city, and the smaller gates for the convenience of the people. And, because the duke purposed to make a fortress on the hill of S. Giorgio, Andrea prepared a model for it, which was never used, as the work was not begun, the duke being driven out in the year 1343. The duke's plan to convert the palace into a strong castle was in great measure effected, for a considerable addition was made to the original building, as may be seen to-day, the circuit comprising the houses of the Filipetri, the tower and houses of the Amidei, and Mancini, and those of the Bellaberti. And because, after this great undertaking was begun, all the materials required for it and for the great walls and barbicans were not ready, he kept back the building of the Ponte Vecchio, which was being hurried forward as a necessary thing, and made use of the dressed stones and timber designed for this without any consideration. Although Taddeo Gaddi was probably not inferior to Andrea Pisano as an architect, the duke would not employ him on these works because he was a Florentine, but made use of Andrea. The same Duke Walter wished to pull down S. Cicilia, in order to obtain a view of the Strada Romana and the Mercato Nuovo from his palace, and would also have destroyed S. Piero Scheraggio for his convenience, but the Pope would not grant him licence. At length, as has been said above, he was driven out by the fury of the people.

For his honoured labours of so many years Andrea not only deserved the highest rewards, but also civil honours. Accordingly he was made a Florentine citizen by the Signoria, offices and magistracies in the city were given to him, and his works were valued during his life and after his death, as no one was found to surpass him in workmanship until the advent of Niccolo of Arezzo, Jacopo della Quercia of Siena, Donatello, Filippo di Ser Brunellesco, and Lorenzo Ghiberti, whose sculptures and other works were such that people recognised in what error they had been living up till then, as these men had again discovered the true excellence which had been hidden for so great a number of years. The works of Andrea were executed about the year of grace 1340.

The pupils of Andrea were numerous, and, among others, Tommaso, architect and sculptor, of Pisa, who finished the chapel of the Campo Santo, and brought the campanile of the Duomo to completion--that is to say, the last part, where the bells are. This Tommaso was Andrea's son, if we may believe an inscription on the high altar of S. Francesco at Pisa, on which a Madonna and other saints are carved by him in half relief, with his name and that of his father beneath. Andrea left a son Nino, who devoted himself to sculpture, his first work being in S. Maria Novella at Florence, where he finished a marble Madonna, begun by his father, which is inside the door, near the chapel of the Minerbetti. Going afterwards to Pisa, he made for the Spina a half-length marble Madonna suckling the infant Jesus Christ, clothed in delicate draperies. In the year 1522 a marble ornament for this Madonna was made for M. Jacopo Corbini, who had a much larger and finer one made for another full-length marble Madonna of Nino, representing with great grace the mother offering a rose to the child, who takes it in childish fashion, and so prettily, that one may say that Nino had made some steps to subduing the roughness of the stone, and endowing it with the attributes of living flesh. The figure is between a St John and a St Peter in marble, the head of the latter being a portrait of Andrea. Nino also made two marble statues for an altar of S. Caterina at Pisa--that is to say, the Madonna and an angel in an Annunciation, executed, like his other works, with such care that they may be considered as the best productions of those times. On the base beneath this Madonna Nino carved the following words: "On the first day of February 1370;" and beneath the angel: "Nino, son of Andrea Pisano, made these figures."

He produced yet other works in that city and at Naples which it is not necessary to mention here. Andrea died at the age of seventy-five, in the year 1345, and was buried by Nino in S. Maria del Fiore with the following epitaph:

"Ingenti Andreas jacet hie Pisanus in urna,
Marmore qui potuit spirantes ducere vultus
Et simulacra Deum mediis imponere templis
Ex acre, ex auro, candenti et pulcro elephanto."

Buonamico Buffalmacco, Painter of Florence.

Buonamico di Cristofano, called Buffalmacco, painter of Florence, who was a pupil of Andrea Tafi, celebrated for his jests by M. Giovanni Boccaccio in his "Decameron," is well known to have been the close companion of Bruno and Calandrino, painters, and themselves facetious and pleasant men. He possessed a very fair judgment in the art of painting, as may be seen by his works, which are scattered throughout Tuscany. Franco Sacchetti relates in his "Three Hundred Tales" (to begin with the deeds of this artist while he was still young) that, while Buffalmacco was a boy with Andrea, it was his master's custom, when the nights were long, to rise to work before dawn and to call the boys. This thing displeased Buonamico, who enjoyed a good sleep, and he tried to devise a plan that should induce Andrea to leave off calling them to work so much before daylight. He soon found one, for in an ill-swept loft he happened to find thirty great beetles or cockroaches. With some thin needles and corks he fixed a small candle on the back of each beetle, and when the hour came for Andrea to rise he lighted the candles and put the beetles one by one through a hole leading into Andrea's room. When the master awoke, just about the hour when he was accustomed to call Buffalmacco, and saw these lights he began to tremble with fear, and to recommend himself to God, repeating his prayers and psalms. At length he put his head under the clothes and did not call Buffalmacco that night, but remained trembling in that posture until the day. The following morning when he arose he asked Buonamico if he, like himself, had seen more than a thousand devils. Buonamico said "No," because he had kept his eyes shut, and had wondered why he had not been called. "What!" said Tafi; "I had something else to think of besides painting, and I am resolved to go and live in another house." The following night, although Buonamico only put three beetles into Tafi's chamber, yet the poor man did not sleep a jot, owing to his fear of the past night and to those devils which he saw. No sooner was day come than he left the house, declaring he would never return to it, and it was long before they were able to induce him to change his mind. But Buonamico brought him the priest of the parish, who consoled him as best he could. When Tafi and Buonamico were talking over the matter afterwards, the latter said: "I have always heard tell that the devils are the greatest enemies of God, and consequently they must also be the chief adversaries of painters, because, besides the fact that we always make them very ugly, We do nothing else but represent saints on walls and tables, in order to render men more devout or better in despite of the devils. For this cause the devils are enraged with us, and as they have more power at night than during the day, they come and play these pranks, and will do worse if this practice of early rising is not entirely abandoned." With these words, and many others, Buffalmacco succeeded in settling the matter, as the priest supported his arguments, so that Tafi left off his early rising and the devils ceased to go through the house at night with lights. But not many months afterwards, when Tafi, induced by desire of gain, and crushing every fear, began once more to rise and work at night and to call Buffalmacco, the beetles also began to make their rounds, so that the master was compelled by fear to give it up entirely, being strongly advised to this by the priest.

When this thing became known through the city, it for a while prevented other painters as well as Tafi from rising to work at night. When, shortly afterwards, Buffalmacco himself became a fairly good master he left Tafi, as the same Franco relates, and began to work by himself, and he never lacked employment. Accordingly he took a house to serve equally as a workshop and a dwelling-house, next door to a worker of wool in easy circumstances, who, being a raw simpleton, was called Goosehead. This man's wife rose early every night, when Buffalmacco, who had worked up to that time, was going to rest, and setting herself at her spinning wheel, which she unfortunately placed over against Buffalmacco's bed, she spent all the night in spinning thread. Buonamico was unable to sleep a moment, and began to devise a means whereby to rid himself of this nuisance. It was not long before he perceived that, behind the brick wall which separated him from Goosehead, was the fire of his objectionable neighbour, and by means of a crack he could see everything that she did at the fire. Accordingly he devised a new trick, and provided himself with a long tube. When he found that the wife of Goosehead was not at the fire, he every now and again put through that hole in the wall into his neighbour's pot as much salt as he wished. When Goosehead returned either to dine or to sup he could, as a rule, neither eat nor drink or taste either soup or meat, as everything was made bitter by too much salt. For a little while he had patience, and only spoke of it or grumbled; but when he found that words did not suffice, he frequently gave blows to the poor woman, who was in despair, because she thought she had been more than cautious in salting the dish. As her husband beat her from time to time, she tried to excuse herself, which only increased the anger of Goosehead, so that he began to strike her again, and as she cried out at the top of her voice, the noise penetrated the whole neighbourhood, and drew thither Buffalmacco among others. When he heard of what Goosehead accused his wife and how she excused herself, he said to Goosehead: "Worthy friend, you should be reasonable; you complain that your morning and evening dishes are too salt, but I only wonder that your wife makes them so well as she does. I cannot understand how she is able to keep going all day, considering that she is sitting up the whole night over her spinning, and does not, I believe, sleep an hour. Let her give up rising at midnight, and you will see, when she has enough sleep, her brain will not wander, and she will not fall into such serious mistakes." Then he turned to the other neighbours, and succeeded so well in convincing them that he had found the true explanation that they all told Goosehead that Buonamico was right, and that he should follow this advice. Goosehead, believing what he was told, ordered his wife not to rise so soon, and the dishes were afterwards reasonably salted, except sometimes when the goodwife had risen early, because then Buffalmacco had recourse to his remedy, a fact which induced Goosehead to cause his wife to give up early rising altogether.

One of the earliest works Buffalmacco did was the decoration of the church of the nunnery of Faenza at Florence, where the citadel of Prato now is. Here he represented scenes from the life of Christ, among other things, everything in which is in good style, and he also did there the massacre of the Innocents by Herod's order. Here he displays with considerable vigour the expressions of the murderers as well as of the other figures, because some nurses and mothers, who are snatching the children from the hands of the murderers, are using their hands, nails, teeth, and every bodily agent to help them as much as possible, showing that their minds are not less full of rage and fury than of grief. As the monastery is destroyed to-day, nothing more of this work is to be seen than a coloured drawing in our book of designs, which contains the sketch for this by Buonamico's hand. In executing this work for the nuns of Faenza, Buffalmacco, who was as eccentric in his dress as his behaviour, did not always happen to wear the hood and mantle customary in those times, and the nuns who sometimes looked at him through the screen which he had caused to be made, began to say to the custodian that they objected to seeing him always in his doublet. After he had reassured them, they remained quiescent for a while. At length, as they always saw him attired after the same fashion, they thought he must be the boy to mix the colours and accordingly they induced the abbess to tell him that they should like to see the master himself at work and not this other one always. Buonamico, who always loved his joke, told them that so soon as the master arrived he would let them know, although he was sensible of the small amount of confidence which they placed in him. Then he took a table and put another on the top of it, setting a water jug on this, over the handle of which he put a hood and then covered the rest of the pitcher in a civilian's mantle, fastening it firmly about the tables. After this he put a brush in the spout from which the water flows, and there left it. When the nuns returned to see the work through an opening where he had torn the canvas, they saw the supposed master in his attire. They believed that he was working there to the utmost of his power, and would do much better than the mere boy had done, so they were several days thinking of nothing else. At last they were anxious to see what beautiful things the master had made. Fifteen days had passed since Buonamico had set foot in the place, and one night they went to see the paintings, thinking that the master could no longer be there. They were covered with confusion and blushes when one bolder than the rest discovered the nature of the solemn master, who had not done a stroke in the fortnight. When they learned that Buonamico had treated them according to their deserts, and that the works which he had made were excellent, they recalled him and he returned with much laughter and joking to take up the work, making them see that there is a difference between men and dummies, and that works must not always be judged by the clothes of those who produce them. After a few days he finished one subject there, with which they were very delighted since it appeared to them to be satisfactory in all its parts, except that the figures in the flesh colouring seemed to them to be rather too pale. When Buonamico heard this and learning that the abbess had the best vernaccia in Florence, which served for the sacrifice of the mass, he told them that in order to remedy such a defect, nothing would be serviceable except to temper the colours with a good vernaccia, for if the cheeks and other flesh parts of the figures were touched with this, they would become red and very freshly coloured. When the good sisters heard this they believed it completely and afterwards kept him supplied with the best vernaccia so long as the work lasted, while he on his part made merry and thenceforward with his ordinary colours rendered his figures more fresh and brilliant.

On the completion of this work Buffalmacco painted in the abbey of Settimo some scenes from the life of St James in the chapel dedicated to that saint which is in the cloister, on the vault of which he did the four Patriarchs and the four Evangelists, among whom the attitude of Luke is noteworthy for the natural way in which he is blowing his pen to make the ink flow. In the subjects for the walls, which are five, the figures are represented in fine attitudes and everything is carried out with originality and judgment. In order to make his flesh colouring easier to paint Buonamico used a ground of _pavonazzo di sale_, as is seen in this work, which in the course of time has caused a saltness by which the white and other colours are corroded and consumed so that it is no marvel that the work is damaged and destroyed, while many that were made long before have been excellently preserved. I formerly considered that the injury was caused by the damp, but afterwards by an examination of his other works I have proved by experience that it is not the damp, but this peculiar practice of Buffalmacco which has caused them to be so damaged that it is not possible to see the design or anything else, and where the flesh colour should be there remains nothing but the _pavonazzo_. This method of working should not be practised by anyone who desires a long life for his paintings.

After the two pictures mentioned above, Buonamico did two others in tempera for the monks of the Certosa at Florence, one of which is in the place where the singing books for the choir rest, and the other is below in the old chapels. In the Badia at Florence he painted in fresco the chapel of the Gondi and Bastari, beside the principal chapel, which was afterwards granted to the family of the Boscoli, and still retains these paintings of Buffalmacco. Here he did the Passion of Christ, with fine and original expressions, showing in Christ, when He washes the disciples' feet, the greatest humility and benignity, and cruelty and fierceness in the Jews who lead Him to Herod. But he displayed especial originality and facility in a Pilate whom he painted in prison and in Judas, hung to a tree, from which we may readily believe what is related of this pleasant painter, that when he wished to be diligent and take pains, which rarely happened, he was not inferior to any other artist of his time. That this is true is proved by his works in fresco in Ognissanti, where the cemetery now is, produced with such diligence and with such precautions that the water which has rained upon them for many years has not injured them or caused any harm except by preventing a recognition of their excellence. They are so well preserved because they were done simply upon fresh lime. On the walls are the Nativity of Jesus Christ and the Adoration of the Magi, that is to say, over the tomb of the Aliotti. After these works Buonamico went to Bologna, where he painted in fresco on the vaults of the chapel of the Bolognini in S. Petronio, but did not finish them, for some reason unknown to me. It is said that in the year 1302 he was summoned to Assisi, and in the chapel of St Catherine in the church of S. Francesco he painted the history of the former saint's life in fresco, works which are very well preserved, and containing some figures well worthy of praise. When he had completed the chapel and was on his way through Arezzo, the bishop Guido, who had heard that Buonamico was a pleasant man and a painter of talent, wished him to stay in the city and paint for him the chapel in the Vescovado containing the Baptism of Christ. Buonamico put his hand to the work and had already done a considerable part of it when a very strange adventure happened to him, related by Franco Sacchetti in his "Three Hundred Tales." The bishop possessed a baboon, the most mischievous and malignant creature that ever was seen. This animal was one day standing on his perch and watching Buonamico work, having lost thought of everything else, and never taking his eyes off him as he mixed the colours, managed the tools, broke the eggs to make the tempera, or did any other thing, no matter what. One Saturday evening Buonamico left the work and this baboon; on Sunday morning, although he had a great log of wood attached to his legs, which the bishop made him carry so that he should not leap everywhere, notwithstanding this heavy weight, leapt on to the scaffolding where Buonamico used to stand to work, and there took up the phials and emptied them one by one, made the mixtures, broke as many eggs as were there, and began to daub all the figures with the brush, never resting until he had repainted everything himself. That done he made a fresh mixture of all the colours which were left over, although they happened to be few, and then descended from the scaffolding and departed. When Buonamico came back to his work on Monday morning and saw his figures spoiled, his phials emptied and everything upside down, he was filled with amazement and confusion. After turning the matter over in his mind for some time he concluded that some Aretine had done this from envy or for some other reason. Accordingly he went to the bishop and told him what had happened and what he suspected, at which the bishop was much troubled, yet he encouraged Buonamico to go on with the work, and to repaint the part which had been spoiled. He further pledged himself to give the artist six armed men of his infantry, who should stand with falchions to watch, when he was not working, and to cut to pieces without mercy anyone who should come. Accordingly the figures were repainted a second time, and one day while the soldiers were on the watch they heard a curious rolling noise in the church, and soon after the baboon appeared, jumped upon the seat, made the mixtures in an instant, and set to work upon the saints of Buonamico. The guard then called the master, and showed him the criminal, and when they saw him standing with them and watching the animal work, they burst into laughter, and Buonamico himself, though grieved at the damage, could not help laughing in the midst of his sorrow. At length he dismissed the soldiers who had been on guard with their falchions, and went to the bishop and said to him: "My lord, you like my manner of painting, but your baboon prefers another." He then related the matter, adding: "It was not necessary for you to send away for painters since you had a master in the house, although perhaps he did not know how to mix his colours properly. Now that he knows, let him work by himself, for I am of no further use here, and as his worth is now recognised, I shall be contented with no other wages for my work except permission to return to Florence." Although much displeased, the bishop could not refrain from laughing when he heard this, especially when he considered that a beast had made a jest of the most jest-loving man in the world. After they had laughed and talked over this new adventure, the bishop prevailed so far, that Buonamico set himself a third time to do the work, and he finished it. The baboon, as a punishment and penance for his fault, was shut up in a large cage of wood, and kept there while Buonamico worked, until the painting was quite finished. It is not possible to imagine the antics which the great beast played in that cage with his mouth, his body and his hands, at seeing others work while he was not able to imitate them. When the decoration of the chapel was completed the bishop asked, for a jest or for some other reason, that Buffalmacco should paint him on a wall of his palace an eagle on the back of a lion which it had killed. The cunning painter promised to do as the bishop desired, and made a large partition of boards, saying that he did not wish anyone to see such a thing being painted. This done, and while being shut up all alone inside, he painted the contrary to what the bishop wished, a lion crushing an eagle. When the work was completed, he asked licence from the bishop to go to Florence to procure some colours which he needed. Accordingly, having locked up his picture, he went to Florence intending never to return. The bishop after waiting some time and seeing that the painter did not return, caused the painting to be opened, and found that Buonamico was wiser than himself. Furious at the trick which had been played upon him he threatened to take the artist's life. When Buonamico heard this, he sent to tell him to do his worst, wherefore the bishop menaced him with a malediction. But at length he reflected that the artist had only been jesting, and that he should take the matter as a jest, whereupon he pardoned Buonamico the insult, and acknowledged his pains most liberally. What is more, he induced him to come again to Arezzo not long after, and caused him to paint many things in the old Duomo, which have been thrown down to-day, treating him always as his friend and most faithful servant. The same artist also painted in Arezzo the apse of the principal chapel of S. Giustino. Some write that when Buonamico was in Florence he was often in the workshop of Maso del Saggio with his friends and companions. He was also present with many others in arranging the regatta which the men of the borgo S. Friano in Arno celebrate on the calends of May, and that when the ponte alla Carraia, which was then of wood, broke down because it was too crowded with people, who had run thither to see the spectacle, he did not perish then like many others, because when the bridge fell right on a machine, representing Hell in a barque on the Arno, he had gone to buy some things that were wanted for the feast.

Not long after these things Buonamico was invited to Pisa, and painted a series of subjects from the Old Testament, from the Creation of Man to the building of the Tower of Nimrod, for the abbey of S. Paolo a ripa d'Arno, which then belonged to the monks of Vallombrosa, on the whole of the crossing of that church, on three sides, from the roof to the ground. This work, which is now almost entirely destroyed, is remarkable for the vigour of the figures, the skill and beauty of the colouring and artist's faculty of expressing his ideas, although he was not very good in design. On the wall of this crossing opposite that which contains the side door, there are some scenes of the life of St Anastasia, where some women, painted in a graceful manner, exhibit certain antique habits and gestures, very prettily and well. No less fine are some figures in a barque, arranged in well designed attitudes, among them being the portrait of Pope Alexander IV., which it is said Buonamico had from his master Tafi, who had represented that pontiff in mosaic in St Peter's. Similarly in the last subject which represents the martyrdom of the saint, and of others, Buonamico finely expresses in the faces the fear of death, the grief and dread of those who are standing by to see her tormented and put to death, while she stands bound to a tree, and above the fire. Bruno di Giovanni, a painter, assisted Buonamico in this work. He is called painter in the old book of the company. This Bruno, also celebrated as a joke-loving man by Boccaccio, finished the said scenes for the walls, and painted the altar of St Ursula for the same church, with her company of virgins, inserting in one hand of the saint a standard with the arms of Pisa, which are a white cross on a red ground, while she places the other on a woman who is rising between two mountains, and touches the sea with one foot and places her hands together in an act of entreaty. This woman represents Pisa, her head being circled with a gold crown, while she wears a garment full of circles and eagles, and being in much trouble at sea she petitions the saint. But because Bruno complained when he executed those figures that they were not life-like as those of Buonamico were, the latter in jest, to teach him to make figures, which if not life-like, should at least converse, made him put some words issuing from the mouth of the woman who is entreating the saint, and also the saint's reply to her, a device which Buonamico had seen in the works executed by Cimabue in the same church. This thing pleased Bruno and other foolish men of the time, just as to-day it pleases certain clumsy fellows, who have thus employed vulgar devices worthy of themselves. It is certainly curious that in this way advice intended simply as a jest has been generally followed, so much so that a great part of the Campo Santo done by masters of repute is full of this clumsiness.

The works of Buonamico having greatly pleased the Pisans, those in charge of the fabric of the Campo Santo commissioned him to do four scenes in fresco from the beginning of the world until the building of Noah's ark, surrounding them with an ornamentation, in which he drew his own portrait from life, that is to say, in a border in the middle and at the corners of which are some heads, among which, as I have said, is his own. He wears a hood, just like the one that may be seen above. This work contains a God who holds in his arms the heavens and the elements, and all the apparatus of the universe, so that Buonamico, explaining his scene with verses, like the paintings of the age, wrote at the foot in capital letters with his own hand the following sonnet, as may be seen, which for its antiquity and simplicity of diction peculiar to the time, has seemed to me to be worth insertion in this place, so that if it does not perchance give much pleasure, though I think it will, yet it is a matter which will perhaps bear testimony to the amount of the knowledge of the men of that age:

"Voi che avvisate 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 et è motore,
Ciascuna cosa fecie buona e pura.
Levate gli occhi del vostro intelletto
Considerate quanto è ordinato
Lo mondo universale; e con affetto
Lodate lui che l' ha si ben creato:
Pensate di passare a tal diletto
Tra gli angeli, dove e ciascun beato.
Per questo mondo si vede la gloria,
Lo basso, e il mezzo, e Palto in questa storia."

It was indeed bold of Buonamico to set himself to make a God the Father five braccia high, the hierarchy, the heavens, the angels, the zodiac, and all the things above to the sky of the moon, and then the element of fire, the air, the earth, and finally the centre. For the two lower corners he did a St Augustine and a St Thomas Aquinas. At the top of this Campo Santo, where the marble tomb of the Corte now is, Buonamico painted the Passion of Christ, with a great number of figures on foot and on horse, all in varied and beautiful attitudes, and in conformity with the story. He also did the Resurrection and the Apparition of Christ to the apostles very satisfactorily. When he had completed these labours, and had at the same time spent everything that he had gained at Pisa, which was not a little, he returned to Florence as poor as he had left it, and there he did many pictures and works in fresco, which it is not necessary to describe further. When his close friend Bruno, with whom he had returned from Pisa after squandering everything, was employed to do some works in S. Maria Novella, because he had not much skill in design or invention, Buonamico designed for him all that he afterwards did for a wall of that church opposite the pulpit, filling the space between column and column. This was the story of St Maurice and his companions, who were beheaded for the faith of Jesus Christ. Bruno executed this work for Guido Campese, then constable of the Florentines. The artist took his portrait before his death, in the year 1320, and afterwards put it in this work, as an armed man, as was customary in those days, and behind him he made an array of warriors, all armed in the antique style, forming a fine spectacle, while Guido himself kneels before Our Lady, who has the child Jesus in her arms while St Domenic and St Agnes, who are on either side of her, intercede for him. Although this painting is not remarkable for its design and invention, yet it is worthy of some amount of praise, chiefly on account of the variety of clothing, and of the barbed and other armour of the time. I myself made use of it in some scenes which I did for Duke Cosimo, in which it was necessary to represent an armed man in the antique style and other similar things of that age. This thing greatly pleased His Most Illustrious Excellency and others who have seen it. From this it may be seen what an advantage it is to draw materials from inventions and works made by these ancients, for although they are not perfect, yet it is useful to know in what manner they can be made of service, since they opened the way to the marvels which have since been produced. Whilst Bruno was engaged upon these works, a rustic desired him to do a St Christopher, and they made an agreement at Florence, the terms being that the price should be eight florins, and the figure should be twelve braccia high. Accordingly Buonamico went to the church where he was to do the St Christopher, and found that as its length and breadth did not exceed nine braccia he could not manage to get the figure in, so he determined, in order to fulfil the agreement, to make the figure lying down, but as even then it would not entirely come in, he was compelled to turn it from the knees downwards on to another wall. When the work was completed the rustic refused to pay for it, exclaiming that he had been cheated. The matter thus came before the official of the Grascia, who judged that Buonamico was justified by the terms of the contract.