with regard to effects of perspective, and recall Donatello's words: "Ah! Paolo, in your passion for perspective, you are forsaking the substance for the shadow!"
In 1425, Paolo went to Venice, and spent seven years there. Among other works, he designed a mosaic on the façade of St. Mark's, and the Signory of Florence hearing of the reputation which he had acquired, engaged him, on his return, to paint an equestrian portrait of the English Captain, John Hawkwood—commonly known in Italy as Giovanni Acuto—on the entrance wall of the Duomo. In May 1436, Paolo received the commission to paint this fresco in terra verde, with grisaille arabesques and sarcophagus below, to give the effect of a sepulchral monument in bronze. His first attempt failed to satisfy the Directors of the Duomo Works, but by August he produced the splendid fresco which has been of late years transferred to canvas, and still hangs on the entrance wall to the left of the cathedral door. The spirited figure of the warrior in his short cloak and broad hat, with his martial air and high-stepping horse, is a masterpiece not unworthy to be compared with the famous equestrian statue of Galtamelata, which Donatello modelled a few years later.
In 1444, Paolo accompanied his friend Donatello to Padua, where he spent two years, and painted some giants, in grisaille, in the hall of the Vitiliani Palace, which were greatly admired by Mantegna. After his return to Florence, in 1446, he painted the noble frescoes of the Creation, the Deluge, and the Sacrifice of Noah, in the Chiostro Verde of Santa Maria Novella. Here Paolo shows himself to be a
