Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 01 (of 10): Cimabue to Agnolo GaddiVasari, Giorgio
History
Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 01 (of 10): Cimabue to Agnolo Gaddi
Vasari, Giorgio
Art, Italian; Artists -- Italy -- Biography
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 facade 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 Forli, 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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