Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects/Spinello Aretino

by Giorgio Vasari

 

THE PAINTER SPINELLO ARETINO.

[born..... — was still flourishing in 1408.]

On one of the many occasions when the Ghibellines were driven out of Florence, Luca Spinelli fixed his dwelling in Arezzo, where a son was born to him, whom he called Spinello. This child was so powerfully impelled to become a painter by nature herself, that when still but a youth, and almost without any teaching, he had acquired more than many, long practised under the discipline of the best masters, are able to obtain. Nay, what is still more, having contracted an intimacy with Jacopo di Casentino, when that artist was painting in Arezzo, and having acquired some little practice from his instructions, Spinello, before he had reached the age of twenty, was a better master, even at that early period, than J acopo himself, who was already an old painter. Thus, beginning to acquire the name of a good artist, Spinello was employed by Messer Dardano Acciaiuoli, who, having caused the church of San Niccolo to be erected in the Via della Scala, behind Santa Maria Novella, for the papal councils,^[1] and having buried his brother the bishop therein, had the whole painted in fresco by Spinello. The subject chosen was the life of San Niccolo, Bishop of Bari, and the master completed it in the year 1334, having worked on it continuously during two years.^[2] In this undertaking Spinello acquitted himself so well, both as to colour and design, that the work had maintained itself, even to our own days, in excellent preservation; the expression of the faces, as well as the colour, retaining all its beauty, when the paintings were in great part destroyed by fire. Certain inconsiderate persons had thoughtlessly filled the church with straw, using it as a barn, when the building took fire, as we have said. Moved by the fame of this work, Messer Barone Capelli, a citizen of Florence, commissioned Spinello to paint various stories in fresco in the principal chapel of Santa Maria Maggiore.^[3] The subjects were taken from the life of the Virgin, with some others from that of Sant’ Antonio, the abbot, near to which was also painted the consecration of that very ancient church, a ceremony which had been performed by Pope Pascal, the second of that name.^[4] This work, also, Spinello executed so carefully, that it would seem to have been the work of one day, rather than of many months, as was the fact.^[5] Near the above-named pontiff is the portrait of Messer Barone, taken from the life, in the dress of those times, and painted with infinite judgment and ability. Having finished this chapel, Spinello executed various frescoes in the chapel of St. James and St. John the apostles, in the church of the Carmine, where, among other subjects, he represented the wife of Zebedee and mother of James demanding of Jesus that he should cause one of her sons to sit on the right hand of the Father in the kingdom of heaven, and one on the left, while immediately beyond are Zebedee, James, and John, who abandon their nets to follow Christ, all which is depicted with admirable truth and grace. In another chapel of the same church, which is near the principal chapel, Spinello painted stories from the life of the Madonna, also in fresco. The particular subjects chosen are the miraculous appearance of the apostles before the Virgin when she is approaching her death; and the moment of her departure, when she is borne to heaven by angels. This picture is very large, and as the chapel is but ten braccia in length and five in height, it could not contain the whole story; it was necessary therefore to continue that part representing the Assumption of the Virgin on one of the sides, where Christ and the angels receive her, an arrangement which was managed by Spinello with great ability. In a chapel of Santa Trinita this artist painted an extremely beautiful Annunciation, and in the church of Sant’ Apostolo he executed a picture in distemper for the high altar, wherein he depicted the Holy Spirit descending on the apostles in tongues of fire. In Santa Lucia de’ Bardi, Spinello painted a small picture, with one of larger size, for the church of Santa Croce; this last was for the chapel of St. John the Baptist, which had been painted by Giotto.^[6]

After these things, the great name which Spinello had acquired by his Florentine labours, caused the council of sixty citizens, by which Arezzo was governed, to recal him. to that city, where he was appointed by the commune to paint the Adoration of the Magi, in the church of the Duomo Vecchio, without the walls of Arezzo, together with the story of St. Donatus destroying a serpent by the force of his word, in the chapel of San Gismondo. He further painted various figures on some of the pilasters of that Duomo, and on one of the walls he represented the Magdalen in the house of Simon anointing the feet of Christ, with other pictures, of all which we need make no further mention, since that ancient temple, once filled with sepulchral monuments, bones of saints, and other memorable things, is now totally destroyed. I will, nevertheless, here record, that some remembrance at least may be retained of it, that this building was erected by the people of Arezzo more than thirteen hundred years since,^[7] when they were first converted to the faith of Christ by St. Donatus, who was afterwards bishop of the citv. The church was dedicated to his name, and was enriched, both inside and out, with the spoils of antiquity. The ground plan of this building,^[8] of which we have elsewhere spoken at length, was divided externally into sixteen parts, but within the church, these divisions were eight only; all were filled with the spoils of the temples which had previously been dedicated to idols. To be brief, this church, at the time when it was demolished, was as beautiful as it was possible that any temple could be.

After the many pictures he had painted in the Duomo, Spinello worked in the church of San Francesco, where he depicted Pope Honorius approving and confirming the rule of the saint in the chapel of the Marsupini, and here he drew the portrait of Pope Innocent IV, from nature, having by some means obtained the likeness of that pontiff. In the same church he also painted various stories of St. Michael the archangel, in the chapel dedicated to that saint, which is now used as the belfry; and a little below, in the chapel of Messer Giuliano Baccio, Spinello painted an Annunciation, with other figures, which are greatly admired.^[9] All the works in fresco which Spinello executed in this church were painted with infinite boldness and facility; they were completed between the years 1334 and 1338. In the capitular church of Arezzo, this master painted the chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul, with that of St. Michael the archangel,^[10] which is immediately below. He also decorated the chapel of SS. Jacopo and Filippo in fresco, for the Brotherhood of Santa Maria della Misericordia; this is on the same side of the church; over the principal door of the brotherhood’s house, which is in the piazza, he painted a Dead Christ (Pieta), with a San Giovanni,^[11] works executed at the request of the rectors of that Brotherhood, which had its origin in this wise: a certain number of good and honourable citizens had begun to gather alms for the poor who were ashamed to beg for themselves, and to solace all who needed their help in every possible manner. These citizens, thus succouring the sick and infirm, burying the dead, and performing many similar acts of charity, acquired so much credit for their good deeds during the plague of 1348,^[12] that large donations were made to them, and extensive possessions were left them by will, insomuch that one third part of all the riches of Arezzo passed into the hands of that fraternity. The same thing occurred in the year 1383, when there likewise raged a terrible pestilence. Spinello was a member of this society, and as it frequently came to his turn to visit the sick, bury the dead, and perform other pious duties, as the best citizens ever have done, and still continue to do, in that city, he desired to leave some memorial of these things in his paintings, and to that end he executed a picture for the Brotherhood on the façade of SS. Laurentino and Pergentino. The subject of this work is a Madonna, whose mantle, opening in front, discloses the people of Arezzo sheltered beneath it, and among them are the portraits of many men belonging to the chiefs of that brotherhood, each bearing the wallet on his shoulder, and carrying in his hand the wooden mallet with which the brethren knock at the doors, when they go to seek alms.^[13] For the Company of the Annunciation, Spinello painted the large tabernacle which is on the outside of the church, with part of a portico opposite to it, and an altarpiece in distemper,^[14] for the same Company, the subject of which is an Annunciation. The picture, which is now in the church of the nuns of San G-iusto, is also by Spinello; it represents the marriage of St. Catherine, with the infant Christ, whom the Virgin holds in her arms, with six stories, in small figures, from the life of St. Catherine. This work has been highly commended.^[15]

Being afterwards invited to the celebrated abbey of Camaldoli, in the Casentino, Spinello painted the picture of the High Altar for the hermits of that place. This work was removed in the year 1539, when, the church having been entirely rebuilt, a new painting was executed by Giorgio Vasari, who likewise decorated the principal chapel of that abbey, in fresco, painted two pictures for the church, and adorned the cross aisle, also with fresco paintings, at the same period. Summoned thence to Florence by Don Jacopo d’Arezzo, abbot of San Miniato-sul-Monte, which belonged to the order of Monte Oliveto, Spinello painted stories in fresco from the life of San Benedetto on the ceiling and four walls of the sacristy belonging to that monastery, together with the altar-piece, in distemper. These works are executed with all that facility which the long and careful practice of Spinello had given him, and with a perfection of colouring resulting in like manner from the laborious and diligent study which this master gave to his vocation, and which is in truth needful to all who would acquire any art perfectly. ^[16]

The abbot, Don Jacopo, afterwards left Florence to take the government of San Bernardo, a monastery belonging to the same order, in his native city of Arezzo, and built upon the site of the Colosseum, which had been made over to those monks. The arrival of the abbot occurred at the moment when the building had just been completed, and here he caused Spinello to paint, in fresco, the two chapels which are beside the principal chapel, with two others, which stand one on each side of the door leading from the transept into the choir. In one of these four chapels, that beside the principal chapel, is an Annunciation in fresco, painted with infinite care, and on a wall near is the Virgin ascending the steps of the temple, accompanied by Joachim and Anna. In the opposite chapel is a crucifix, with the Madonna and San Giovanni bewailing the crucified Saviour, and a figure of San Bernardo in adoration at the foot of the cross. On the inner wall of the same church, and near the altar of the Virgin, Spinello painted the Madonna with the child in her arms: a work of great beauty. This master executed many other paintings for the same church, over the choir of which he depicted the Virgin, Santa Maria Maddalena, and San Bernardo, with infinite truth and animation.^nota

In the capitular church of Arezzo, in like manner, Spinello painted many pictures, those of the chapel of San Bartolommeo, for example, where he represented stories from the life of that saint, and in the corresponding chapel of the opposite aisle—that of St. Matthew—he decorated the walls with events from the life of St. Matthew, and painted the four evangelists in medallions on the ceiling. The mode in which our artist delineated these last figures is extremely fanciful, since he has placed heads of animals on the human bust and limbs of the evangelists; on that of St. John is the head of an eagle; St. Mark has the head of a lion; the head of an ox is on the figure of St. Luke; St. Matthew only retaining the face of a man, or rather, that of an angel.^nota

The people of Arezzo had constructed a church on numerous columns of marble and granite, to honour and preserve the memory of the many holy martyrs put to death by Julian the Apostate on the spot where they built it, and ^{[17] [18]}. which was outside their city. This they dedicated to St. Stephen,^[19] and here Spinello painted a great number of figures and stories with infinite diligence, and with so much care as to the colouring, that they had remained fresh and in excellent preservation, even to our own days, when they were destroyed,^[20] only a few years since. But, besides the stories of San Stefano, which were in figures larger than life, there was another remarkable work in that place; this was a St. Joseph, in the story of the Adoration of the Magi, whose delight, as he watches the kings while they open their treasures and offer them to the Divine Child, is expressed with a truth and beauty all but miraculous. In the same church was a Virgin presenting a rose to the infant Christ, which being ever considered a most beautiful figure, as it really is, was held in so much reverence by the Aretines that when the church of St. Stephen was thrown down, they caused that part of the wall to be cut out, without regarding the difficulty or expense, and having ingeniously bound and secured it, they bore it into the city and placed it in a small church, to the end that it might continue to receive the honour and devotion which had ever been paid to it.^[21] Nor need this occasion surprise, since it was one of the peculiarities of Spinello, and a thing natural to him, to give an air of simple and graceful modesty to his figures, which imparts to them an expression of piety and holiness; insomuch that the saints of this master—but more particularly his figures of the Virgin—have a certain sanctity about them, and breathe a kind of divinity, by which men are moved to hold them in the highest veneration. A proof of this may be seen, not only in the Madonna here described, but also in the Virgin which is at the corner of the Albergotti^[22]§ in that on the outer wall of the capitular church in the Seteria,^[23]and in the one which stands on the side of the canal.^[24]

There is a painting, moreover, by the hand of Spinello, on one of the walls of the hospital of the Spirito Santo; it represents the Holy Ghost descending on the apostles, and is a very fine work; the same may be said of the two paintings beneath this descent of the Holy Spirit, where SS. Cosimo and Damiano are represented cutting off the sound leg of a dead Moor, to apply it to the body of a patient from whom they have just taken an injured limb. The NoU me tangere also, which is between these two paintings, merits equally to be praised, and is exceedingly beautiful.^[25] Spinello likewise painted an admirable Annunciation for the Brotherhood of the Puracciuoli,^[26] on the piazza of Sant Agostino; it will be found in one of the chapels: the colouring of this work is beautiful, and in the cloister of the same convent Spinello executed a Virgin in fresco, with St. James, and St. Anthony. On his knees before these figures is a soldier armed, with these words “Hoc opus fecit fieri Clemens Pucci di Monte Catino, cujus corpus jacet
hic, etc. Anno Domini 1367, die 13 mensis Maii.”^[27] The picture, in the same church, representing St. Anthony with other saints, is also perceived, by the manner, to be from the hand of Spinello, who shortly afterwards painted, at the hospital of San Marco (which building has now been given to the nuns of Santa Croce, their convent, which was outside of the city, having been demolished), an entire portico, with many figures, among whom he has placed the portrait of Pope Gregory IX, taken from nature, and representing the Pontiff St. Gregory standing beside a Misericordia.^[28]

The chapel of SS. Jacopo and Filippo, in the church of San Domenico, in the same city (Arezzo), the first chapel, that is, after entering the church, was decorated in fresco by Spinello, with figures boldly and beautifully painted, as is also the St. Anthony, depicted by the same master, on the façade of the church dedicated to his name; this is a halflength, and is so finely done that it almost seems to be living.^[29] It is surrounded by four stories from the life of the saint. The same stories, with many others from the life of Sant’ Antonio, have, in like manner, been painted in the chapel of that saint, which is in the church of San Giustino.^[30]

In the church of San Lorenzo, and on one of the walls, this master painted events from the life of the Virgin, of whom he also depicted a seated figure on the outside of the church, a very graceful work in fresco. In an hospital opposite to the convent of the nuns of Santo Spirito, and near the gate which opens on the road leading to Rome, is a portico, entirely painted by the hand of Spinello. Among the pictures of this arcade is one of Christ lying dead in the arms of the Maries, which evinces so much genius, together with so profound a judgment in the art of painting, that it proves Spinello to have equalled Giotto in design, while he greatly surpassed him in colouring. In the same place, our artist has represented Christ seated; this work is a theological allegory, very ingeniously expressed; the three Persons of the Trinity being so placed within a sun, that the same beams and the same splendour appear to proceed from each of the three. But the paintings of this portico— to the great loss of all who love the art of painting—have suffered the fate of so many other works, having been destroyed with the building, which was demolished to make way for the fortification. For the Brotherhood of the Holy Trinity, Spinello painted a Tabernacle in fresco, which is still to be seen outside the church; the subjects chosen are the Trinity, St. Peter, and SS. Cosimo and Hamiano, the latter clothed in such vestments as it was customary for physicians to wear at that time.^[31] While these works were proceeding, Don Jacopo d’Arezzo was made general of the Confraternity of Monte Oliveto, which appointment he received nineteen years after he had caused Spinello to execute the different paintings in Florence and Arezzo, to which we have before alluded. And as Don Jacopo, after the manner of his predecessors, lived for the most part at Monte Oliveto di Chiusuri, that being the principal seat of the order, and the most important monastery within the territory of Siena, lie conceived the wish to have a very beautiful picture executed for that place; wherefore, having sent for Spinello, by whom Don Jacopo had formerly found that he was admirably served, the general caused him to paint a picture in distemper, for the principal chapel, and in this the master depicted an immense number of figures of middle size, very judiciously executed, and on a ground of gold. The picture was surrounded by a rich ornament or framework in mezzorilievo, carved in wood by the Florentine, Simone Cini, and further adorned with mouldings in stucco, tempered with a rather stiff glue, and treated in such a manner that the whole succeeded perfectly, and was very beautiful. It was afterwards gilt all over with gold by Gabriello Saracini, and this same Gabriel inscribed the three names of the artists, at the foot of the picture, in the following manner:—

“Simone Cini Florentino fece l’intaglio, Gabriello Saracini la messe d’oro, e Spinello di Luca d’Arezzo la dipinse l’anno 1385.”^[32]

This work being completed, Spinello returned to Arezzo,

having received great kindness from the general and his monks, and being moreover very largely rewarded. But he did not long remain in Arezzo, the city being then much disturbed by the Guelphic and Ghibelline parties, and having been recently sacked.^[33] Spinello therefore proceeded with his family, including his son Parri, who was also a painter, to Florence, where he had many relations and friends. Here Spinello painted a tabernacle, principally for his amusement; the subject of the work, now half-ruined, is the Annunciation; the tabernacle stands on the Roman road, without the gate of San Piero Gattolini, where you turn to go to Pozzolatico: this master also executed other pictures in another tabernacle near the hostelry of Galluzzo.

Spinello was thence invited to Pisa, for the purpose of finishing the decoration of certain spaces left unoccupied in the Campo Santo, beneath those wherein the life of San Ranieri had been depicted; these he connected with those painted by Giotto, Simon of Siena, and Antonio Veneziano, by the delineation of six stories in fresco, taken from the lives of San Petito and Sant’ Epiro.^[34] In the first of these the painter has chosen the moment when Sant Epiro, then a youth, is presented by his mother to the Emperor Diocletian; he is further seen when appointed by the emperor to command the armies which are to proceed against the Christians; and, once again, when Christ appears to him as he rides forth on horseback, and showing him a white cross, commands him not to persecute the followers of that ensign. In another story, the angel of the Lord is seen giving to the Saint, who is still on horseback, the banner of the Faith, a white cross on a field of red—Epiro having prayed of God to give him a sign, that he might carry it against his enemies—which cross has been the banner of the Pisans from that time to the present. Near this story is another, wherein Sant’ Epiro is exhibited doing battle against the pagans. The combat rages fiercely, but armed angels are contending on the side of the saint, to assure him the victory. In this work Spinello produced many results which merit high commendation, when it is considered that in those days the art had not yet acquired its full force, nor attained to any sufficient method of vividly expressing, by colours, the movements of the soul. Among many other instances of what is here alluded to, may be mentioned the two soldiers who, having seized each other by the beard with one hand, hold their naked swords in the other, each seeking to deprive his antagonist of life; the whole face and every movement of each manifest his eager desire for victory: their proud defiance, and the courage by which they are animated, could not possibly be expressed with greater truth. Among those who fight on horseback also, there is a knight, admirably well done, he is transfixing his opponent, who has fallen backwards from his terrified horse, and is pinning his head to the earth with his lance. In another story, Sant’ Epiro is again seen to appear before the Emperor Diocletian, who examines him respecting his faith, and afterwards commands him to be put to the torture; he is placed in a fiery furnace, wherein he remains unhurt, while the ministers of the emperor’s will, who are represented in most life-like motion on every side, fall a prey to the fury of the flames. All the history of the saint in brief, is here depicted, to his decapitation, after which his soul is borne to heaven: the last picture, showing the bones and relics of San Petito, when they are carried from Alexandria^[35] to Pisa. The whole work, whether as regards invention or colouring, is the most perfectly executed, the most highly-finished, and the most beautiful of all that Spinello produced; the care with which it was done is made manifest by the fact, that it is so admirably preserved, as to astonish all who behold it by its freshness. Having completed these works of the Campo Santo, the master painted stories from the lives of San Bartolommeo, Sant’ Andrea, San Jacopo and San Giovanni the apostles, in a chapel of San Francesco,^[36] the second from the principal chapel namely, and he would possibly have remained still longer in Pisa, where his works were appreciated as well as highly paid for, had not that city been thrown into commotion and uproar, because Messer Pietro Gambacortif had been killed by the Lanfranchi, who were citizens of Pisa;^[37] but public affairs standing thus, Spinello, who was now become old, returned with all his family to Florence. He remained there a year and not more, during which period he painted stories from the lives of SS. Filippo and Jacopo, in the chapel dedicated to those saints, in the church of Santa Croce, and which belongs to the Macchiavelli family. He further painted the death of the saints, with the altar-piece for the same chapel; but as he greatly desired to return to Arezzo, his native city, or to speak more exactly, the city which he considered his native place, he executed his work in Arezzo, whence he sent it finished to Florence in the year 1400.^[38] Spinello was seventy-seven years old or perhaps more, when he returned to Arezzo, were he was most amicably received by his friends and relations, and was esteemed and honoured to the end of his life: which endured until he had reached the age of ninety-two. He was old, as we have said, when he returned to Arezzo, and possessing sufficient riches, he might have lived very well without labour, but having been ever accustomed to action, he was unable to remain idle, and undertook to paint certain stories from the life of St. Michael, for the Brotherhood of Sant’ Agnolo in that city. These he sketched roughly, in the red colour, on the intonaco of the wall, (as the old artists almost always did), and painted one story in a corner with all the colours by way of pattern, which gave entire satisfaction. Having then agreed respecting the price with those who had charge of the work, Spinello painted the whole of the wall, besides the high altar, where he represented Lucifer fixing his seat in the North, with the fall of the angels, who are changed into devils as they descend to the earth. In the air appears St. Michael in combat with the old serpent of seven heads and ten horns, while beneath and in the centre of the picture is Lucifer, already changed into a most hideous beast.^[39] And so anxious was the artist to make him frightful and horrible, that it is said,—such is sometimes the power of imagination—that the figure he had painted appeared to him in his sleep, demanding to know where the painter had seen him looking so ugly as that, and wherefore he permitted his pencils to offer him, the said Lucifer, so mortifying an affront? The artist awoke in such extremity of terror, that he was unable to cry out, but shook and trembled so violently, that his wife, awakening, hastened to his assistance. But the shock was so great that he was on the point of expiring suddenly from this accident, and did not in fact survive it beyond a very short time, during which he remained in a dispirited condition, with eyes from which all intelligence had departed. It was thus that Spinello closed his career, leaving his friends in heavy sorrow for his death, and bequeathing to the world two sons; one of whom was the goldsmith Forzore, who lived in Florence, where his labours in Niello,^[40] obtained universal admiration; the second, Parri, following the example of his father, devoted himself to painting, and, as respects accuracy of design, greatly surpassed him.^[41] The Aretines deeply regretted the unhappy chance which caused, the death of Spinello, and deprived them of so much talent and excellence as were united in his person; although it is true that he had then attained to a great age, being ninety-two years old when he died. He was entombed in Sant’ Agostino d’Arezzo, where there is still to be seen a stone with his escutcheon, bearing a hedgehog, which he had fancifully selected for his crest.^[42] Spinello drew better than he painted, as may be seen in our book of the drawings of different ancient masters, where there are two evangelists and a St. Luke, in chiaro-scuro, very beautifully drawn by his hand. The portrait of this artist, given above, was copied by myself from one that was in the Duomo Vecchio, before that church was destroyed. His works date from 1380 to 1400.^[43]

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1. The Florentine Council, under Pope Eugenius IV, was held in this hall. — Bottari.
2. From two inscriptions cited by Richa,we learn that this church was built by Dardano, but painted by Leone Acciaiuoli.
3. The paintings of Spinello in Santa Maria Maggiore have been long destroyed.
4. This church was not consecrated by Pascal II, but by Pope Pelagius, as was proved by an inscription formerly existing near the choir, but now no longer legible.
5. Certain commentators consider this an equivocal kind of praise; but the meaning of Vasari is sufficiently elucidated by his remarks on fresco painting, in the life of Antonio Viniziano. Bottari observes, that these works were destroyed in his time, with the exception of those in the choir; and these also have since been covered with whitewash, as we are informed by the latest Florentine editors.
6. Of all the works here enumerated, none now remain. — Ed. Flor. 1846.
7. With regard to the error of Vasari respecting the Duomo Vecchio of Arezzo, see the note to the Introduction, p. 20.
8. Of the large church, that is, which, together with the lesser one, constituted the ancient Duomo of Arezzo.—German Translation of Vasari.
9. The Annunciation is the only picture, of all this master’s works, which now remains in the church of San Francesco.—Ed. Flor. 1832.
10. These pictures have perished.— Ibid.
11. This painting is still in tolerable preservation.—Ibid.
12. Rondinelli cites documents which shew that the Confraternity of the Misericordia was founded a full century earlier than the date here assigned.
13. The church of SS. Laurentino and Pergentino, the patron saints of Arezzo, was rebuilt in the beginning of the eighteenth century, when the painting of Spinello was destroyed.— G. Montani.
14. The tabernacle is still in existence; the fate of the picture in distemper is not known. The portico was taken down, and the work of Spinello was consequently destroyed.
15. This picture was afterwards taken into the convent, and is now lost, as we have said above.
16. The fresco paintings of the sacristy in San Miniato are still in good preservation. Forster informs us that there is also a Life of Christ, by Spinello, in the laboratory of Santa Maria Novella. See Kunstblatt for 1830, No. 17
17. All these works in San Bernardo at Arezzo are destroyed.— Rom. Ed.
18. The pictures here described have totally perished.—Ed. Flor. 1832
19. This church was a small oratory, close to the Duomo Vecchio; was destroyed in October of the year 1561. —Ed. Flor. 1846.
20. When the church was demolished, together with the Duomo Vecchio.— Ed. Flor. 1832.
21. This small church still retains the picture here described, which is called the Madonna del Duomo. The church is said to have been designed by Vasari himself.
22. This picture has perished.
23. This work is also lost.
24. This picture still remains but is much injured.
25. These paintings of the hospital are now almost entirely obliterated. Ed. Flor. 1832.
26. This Brotherhood is that which takes charge of foundlings, and infants otherwise friendless. The Annunciation is still preserved. — Rom. Ed. and that of 1846.
27. The figure of the soldier still remains. Of the inscription, a more accurate copy has been furnished to us by the courtesy of the sculptor, Signor Ranieri Bartolini:—“Hoc opus fecit fieri Clemens Pucci di Monte Catino, cujus corpus jacit hic tumulatum, SS. Jesu Christi anni Domini mccclxxvii, die xv mensis Martii.” Vasari is therefore in error, both as regards the year and month.—Ed. Flor. 1846.
28. These paintings have perished. — Masselli.
29. The pictures in the chapel of San Domenico are still in existence, those in the church of St. Anthony are destroyed. —Montani, in the Florentine Edition of 1832.
30. The pictures of San Giustino, with those (so much commended) of San Lorenzo and the Hospital, have all perished.—Ibid.
31. These pictures are still in existence, but have been retouched by Franchini of Siena.— Masselli.
32. Of this very rich picture, respecting which no intelligence could for a long time be procured, we ourselves discovered the two lateral compartments, in the year 1840, at Rapolano, in the territory of Siena. On the suppression of the convent, these relics had been transported to a small chapel, which was afterwards used as a hay-loft, and where they were shamefully abandoned for many years. They were ultimately purchased by Signor Ramboux, now Inspector of the Gallery of Cologne. These two portions, when united, form a picture four braccia high and three wide, adorned with the richest intagli, entirely covered with gold. On one side are San Nemisio with St. John the Baptist; on the other, San Bernardo with Santa Lucilla. Above are the Prophets Daniel and Isaiah, small half-lengths. Beneath these figures, the socle was divided into four compartments, in each of which is pourtrayed an event from the life of the saint who is depicted above:—the Martyrdom of San Nemisio, namely, the Banquet of Herod, the Death of San Bernardo, and the Martyrdom of Santa Lucilla; all executed in a manner entirely worthy of a great and experienced master. These stories are divided from each other by slight pilasters, on each of which are represented minute figures of saints standing erect. Above the predella, in raised and gilded letters, are the words—“Magister. Simon. Cini. De. Florentia. Intaliavit. Gabrie/lus. Saraceni. De. Senis. Avravit. mccclxxx.. .” The rest of the date is not clear, but seems rather to be a 3 or 4, than a 5. The part of the inscription on which was the name of the painter Spinello is wanting, because the middle part of the picture is lost; but there was certainly a figure of the Virgin in that portion of the work. The middle of the predella, however, is still in existence, having been conveyed, in the year 1810, from the convent of Monte Oliveto to the public Gallery of Siena, where it now is. It is a most beautiful fragment, representing the death of the Virgin, who is surrounded by figures of Jesus Christ and the Apostles. — Ed. Flor. 1846.
33. The sack of Arezzo took place in 1384, which confirms the conjecture hazarded by us in the preceding note, wherein we express an opinion that the date on the picture of Monte Oliveto was 1384, not 85, as given by Vasari.— Ed. Flor. 1846.
34. Della Valle and others, correcting these names, write “Efeso” and “Potito”; Ciampi reads “Efisio” and “Potito”. The little now remaining of these works is very much discoloured.— Ed. Flor. 1832, and 1846.
35. “From a place near Cagliari, in Sardinia, where, according to Della Valle, these martyrs met their death. — Montani, Ed. Flor. 1832.
36. These paintings met the fate of the many other pictures in that suppressed church.—Ibid.
37. The death of Gambacorti happened in the year 1392. Professor Tomei of Lucca is in possession of a picture painted the year before that date; it represents the Virgin with four saints, and has the following mutilated inscription:—

    “s. pinxit spinellus lvce.... aritio.... a 1391”; that is—“hoc. opus. pinxit. spinellus. luce de aritio. in a. 1391.”

    Ed. Flor. 1846.
38. From the days of Biscioni (see his notes to the Riposo of Borghini), these paintings have been no longer to be seen in Santa Croce. The picture of the altar may be in existence, but its history is not known.— Montani.
39. The Fall of the Rebellious Angels was engraved by Lasinio in 1821.
40. Forzore is mentioned, in the life of Agostino and Agnolo, as the scholar of the goldsmith Cione
41. The life of Parri will be found in the second part of this work.
42. Neither tomb nor stone are now to be seen; but, according to the first edition of Vasari, the following epitaph was placed upon the sepulchre of Spinello:
    “spinello arretino patri opt. pictoriqee suffi ietatis nobiliss. cujcs opera et ipsi et patriie maximo ornamento foerunt, pii filii non sine lacrimis poss.”
    If this inscription ever was placed there, it must have been at least a century after the death of the artist.—Ed. Flor. 1832.
43. There is an important work by Spinello in Siena, with which neither Vasari nor Baldinucci appears to have been acquainted. It is in the hall called the Balia, in the public palace of Siena, and represents the principal events in the life of Pope Alexander III (Rolando Bandinelli of Siena), in sixteen stories. These works, for the security of which from further injury, measures are at length about to be taken, were contracted for with Spinello and Parri his son, on the 18th of June 1407, the remuneration assigned to these masters being fourteen florins per month; but the pictures were not commenced until March of the year 1408. These dates, it will be remarked, prove that of 1400, cited by Vasari as the year of Spinello’s last labours, to be an error.— Ed. Flor. 1846.