unfinished a chapel in the church, which he began, now much damaged by time. In it may be seen the fall of the angels through the pride of Lucifer, in divers forms. Here it is noteworthy that the foreshortening of the arms, busts, and legs of the figures is much better done than ever before, and this shows us that Stefano began to recognise and had partially overcome the difficulties which stand in the way of the highest excellence, the mastery of which by his successors, by means of unremitting study, has rendered their works so remarkable. For this cause artists have well named him the ape of nature. Some time after Stefano was invited to Milan where he began many things for Matteo Visconti, but was not able to complete them, because having fallen sick owing to the change of air, he was compelled to return to Florence. There he regained his strength and executed in fresco in the chapel of the Asini in S. Croce, the story of the martyrdom of St Mark by being drawn asunder, with many figures which possess merit. As a pupil of Giotto he was then invited to Rome where he did in fresco for the principal chapel of St Peter's, which contains the altar of that saint, some scenes from the life of Christ between the windows of the large apse, with such care that he approaches very closely to the modern style and surpasses his master Giotto in design and other things. After this he executed in fresco, at Araceli, on a pillar beside the principal chapel on the left, a St Louis, which is much admired because it possesses a vivacity which had not been apparent in any works up to that time, not even in those of Giotto. Indeed Stefano had great facility in design, as may be seen in a drawing by his hand in our book, in which the transfiguration is represented which he made for the cloister of S. Spirito, and indeed in my opinion he designed much better than Giotto. He next went to Assisi and in the apse of the principal chapel of the lower church, where the choir is, he began a representation in fresco of the Heavenly Glory; and although he did not finish it, what he did perform shows that he used the utmost diligence. In this work he began a series of saints with such beautiful variety in the faces of the youths, the men of middle age and the old men, that nothing better could be desired, and those blessed spirits exhibit so sweet and so united a style that it appears all but impossible that they could have been done by Stefano at that time. He however did execute them, although no more than the heads of the figures are finished. Above them is a choir of angels rejoicing in various attitudes, appropriately carrying theological symbols in their hands. All are turned towards a crucified Christ who is in the midst of the work immediately above a St Francis, who is surrounded by a multitude of saints. Besides this he made some angels as a border for the work, each of them holding one of those churches of which St John the Evangelist writes in the Apocalypse.