As the fame and renown of the paintings of Giotto and his pupils had been spread abroad for many years, many, who were desirous of obtaining fame and riches by means of the art of painting, began to be animated by the hope of glory, and by natural inclination, to make progress towards the improvement of the art, feeling confident that, with effort, they would be able to surpass in excellence Giotto, Taddeo, and the other painters. Among these was one Jacopo di Casentino, who was born, as we read, of the family of M. Cristoforo Landino of Pratovecchio, and was associated by the friar of Casentino, then superior at the Sasso del Vernia, with Taddeo Gaddi, while he was working in that convent, in order that he might learn design and colour. In a few years he so far succeeded, that, being taken to Florence in the company of Giovanni di Milano, in the service of their master, Taddeo, where they were doing many things, he was asked to paint in tempera the tabernacle of the Madonna of the Old Market, with the picture there, and also the one on the Via del Cocomoro side of the Piazza S. Niccolo. A few years ago both of these were restored by a very inferior master to Jacopo. For the Dyers, he did the one at S. Nofri, on the side of their garden wall, opposite S. Giuseppe. While the vaulting of Orsanmichele, upon its twelve pillars, was being completed, and covered with a low, rough roof, awaiting the completion of the building of the palace, which was to be the granary of the Commune, the painting of these vaults was entrusted to Jacopo di Casentino, as a very skilled artist. Here he painted some prophets and the patriarchs, with the heads of the tribes, sixteen figures in all, on an ultramarine ground, now much damaged, without other ornamentation. He next did the lower walls and pilasters with many miracles of Our Lady, and other things which may be recognised by their style. This done, he returned to Casentino, and after painting many works in Pratovecchio, Poppi, and other places of that valley, he proceeded to Arezzo, which then governed itself with a council of sixty of the richest and most honoured citizens, to whom all the affairs of the state were entrusted. Here, in the principal chapel of the Vescovado, he painted a story of St Martin, and a good number of pictures in the old Duomo, now pulled down, including a portrait of Pope Innocent VI. in the principal chapel. He next did the wall where the high altar is, and the chapel of St Maria della Neve, in the church of S. Bartolommeo, for the chapter of the canons of the Pieve, and for the old brotherhood of S. Giovanni de' Peducci he did a number of scenes from the life of that saint, which are now whitewashed over. He also did the chapel of St Christopher in the church of S. Domenico, introducing a portrait of the blessed Masuolo releasing from prison a merchant of the Fei family, who built the chapel. This saint was a contemporary of the artist, and a prophet who predicted many misfortunes for the Aretines. In the church of S. Agostino, Jacopo did some stories of St Laurence in fresco in the chapel and at the altar of the Nardi with marvellous style and skill. Since he also practised architecture, he was employed by the sixty chief citizens mentioned above to bring under the walls of Arezzo the water which comes from the slopes of Pori, 300 braccia from the city. In the time of the Romans this water had been originally brought to the theatre, traces of which still exist, and thence from its situation on the hill where the fortress now is, to the amphitheatre of the city in the plain, the buildings and conduits of this being afterwards entirely destroyed by the Goths. Thus after Jacopo had, as I have said, brought the water under the wall, he made the fountain, then known as the Fonte Guizianelli, but is now called by corruption Fonte Viniziana. It remained standing from 1354 until 1527, but no longer, because the plague of the following year, and the war which followed, deprived it of many of its advantages for the use of the gardens, particularly as Jacopo did not bring it inside, and for these reasons it is not standing to-day, as it should be.
Whilst Jacopo was engaged in bringing water to the city he did not abandon his painting, and in the palace which was in the old citadel, destroyed in our day, he did many scenes of the deeds of the Bishop Guide and of Piero Sacconi, who had done great and notable things for the city both in peace and war. He also did the story of St Matthew under the organ in the Pieve, and a considerable number of other works. By these paintings, which he did in every part of the city, he taught Spinello of Arezzo the first principles of that art which he himself had learned from Agnolo, and which Spinello afterwards taught to Bernardo Daddi, who worked in the city and adorned it with many fine paintings, which, united to his other excellent qualities, brought him much honour among his fellow-citizens, who employed him a great deal in magistracies and other public affairs. The paintings of Bernardo were numerous and highly valued, first in St Croce, the chapel of St Laurence and those of St Stephen of the Pulci and Berardi, and many other paintings in various other parts of that church. At length, after he had painted some pictures on the inside of the gates of the city of Florence, he died, full of years, and was buried honourably in S. Felicita in the year 1380.
To return to Jacopo. In the year 1350 was founded the company and brotherhood of the Painters. For the masters who then flourished, both those who practised the old Byzantine style and those who followed the new school of Cimabue, seeing that they were numerous, and that the art of design had been revived in Tuscany and in their own Florence, created this society under the name and protection of St Luke the Evangelist, to render praise and thanks to God in the sanctuary of that saint, to meet together from time to time, remembering the welfare of their souls as well as of the bodies of those who might be in need of assistance at various times. This is still the practice of many of the Arts in Florence, but it was much more common in former times. Their first sanctuary was the principal chapel of the hospital of S. Maria Nuova, which was granted them by the family of the Portinari. The first governors of the company were six in number, with the title of captains, and in addition there were two councillors and two chamberlains. This may be seen in the old book of the company begun then, the first chapter of which opens thus:
"These articles and regulations were agreed upon and drawn up by the good and discreet men of the art of the Painters of Florence, and in the time of Lapo Gucci, painter; Vanni Cinuzzi, painter; Corsino Buonaiuti, painter; Pasquino Cenni, painter; Segnia d'Antignano, painter. The councillors were Bernardo Daddi and Jacopo di Casentino, painters. Consiglio Gherardi and Domenico Pucci, painters, the chamberlains."
The company being thus formed by the consent of the captains and others, Jacopo di Casentino painted the picture of their chapel, representing St Luke drawing a picture of Our Lady, and in the predella, all the men of the company kneeling on one side and all the women on the other. From this beginning, whether they meet or no, the company has existed continuously from this time and has recently been remodelled, as is related in the new articles of the company approved by the Most Illustrious Lord, Duke Cosimo, the very benignant protector of these arts of design.
At length Jacopo, overwhelmed with years and toil, returned to Casentino and died there at Prato Vecchio, at the age of eighty. He was buried by his relations and friends in S. Agnolo, an abbey of the Camaldoline order, outside Prato Vecchio. Spinello introduced his portrait into a picture of the Magi in the old Duomo, and his style of draughtsmanship may be seen in our book.
Spinello, Painter of Arezzo.
Upon one of the occasions when the Ghibellines were driven from Florence and when they settled at Arezzo, Luca Spinelli had a son born to him there, to whom he gave the name of Spinello. This boy had so much natural inclination to be a painter, that almost without a master and while still quite a child he knew more than many who have practised under the best teachers, and what is more, he contracted a friendship with Jacopo di Casentino while the latter was working at Arezzo, and learned something from him, so much so indeed that before he was twenty years of age he was a far better master, young as he was, than Jacopo, who was already an old man. Spinello's early reputation as a good painter induced M. Dardano Acciaiuoli to employ him to decorate the church of S. Niccolo at the pope's halls, which he had just erected, behind S. Maria Novella in the Via dei Scala, and there buried a brother who was a bishop. Here Spinello painted scenes from the life of St Nicholas, bishop of Bari, in fresco, completing the work in 1334 after two years of unremitting labour. In it he exhibited equal excellence as a colourist and as a designer, so that the colours remained in excellent preservation up to our own day, and the excellence of the figures was well expressed, until a few years ago when they were in great part damaged by a fire which unfortunately broke out in the church at a time when it happened to be full of straw, brought there by some indiscreet persons who made use of the building as a barn for the storage of straw. The fame of the work induced M. Barone Capelli, citizen of Florence, to employ Spinello to paint in the principal chapel of S. Maria Maggiore, a number of stories of the Madonna in fresco, and some of St Anthony the abbot, and near them the consecration of that very ancient church by Pope Paschal II. Spinello did all this so well that it looks as if it had all been the work of a single day and not of many months, as was actually the case. Near the pope is the portrait of M. Barone from life, in the dress of the time, excellently done and with good judgment. On the completion of this, Spinello worked in the church of the Carmine in fresco, doing the chapel of St James and St John, apostles, where, among other things, he has given a very careful representation of the request made of Christ by the wife of Zebedee and mother of James, that her sons should sit the one on the right and the other on the left of the Father in the kingdom of Heaven. A little further over one sees Zebedee, James and John leaving their nets and following Christ, done with wonderful vigour and style. In another chapel of the same church, beside the principal one, Spinello also did in fresco some stories of the Madonna and the Apostles, their miraculous appearance to her before her death, her death and her being carried to Heaven by angels. As the scene was on a large scale, and the chapel being a very small one of not more than ten braccia in length and five in height, would not take it all, especially in the case of the Assumption of Our Lady, Spinello very judiciously continued the scene to the vaulting on one of the sides at the place where Christ and the angels are receiving her. In a chapel of S. Trinita, Spinello made a very fine Annunciation and for the high altar picture of the church of S. Apostolo he painted in tempera the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles in tongues of fire. In S. Lucia de' Bardi he also painted a panel and did a larger one for the chapel of St John the Baptist, decorated by Giotto.
After these things, and on account of the great reputation which his labours in Florence had procured for him, Spinello was recalled to Arezzo by the sixty citizens who governed it, and was commissioned by the Commune to paint the story of the Magi in the old Duomo outside the city, and in the chapel of St Gismondo, a St Donate, who by means of a benediction causes a serpent to burst. Similarly he made some various figures on many pilasters of that Duomo, and on a wall he did a Magdalene in the house of Simon anointing Christ's feet, with other paintings which there is no need to mention, since that church is now entirely destroyed, though it was then full of tombs, the bones of saints and other notable things. But in order that the memory of it may at least remain, I will remark that it was built by the Aretines more than thirteen hundred years ago, at the time when they were first converted to the faith of Jesus Christ by St Donato, who afterwards became bishop of the city. It was dedicated to him, and richly adorned both within and without with very ancient spoils of antiquity. The ground plan of the church, which is discussed at length elsewhere, was divided on the outside into sixteen faces, and on the inside into eight, and all were full of the spoils of those times which had originally been dedicated to idols; in short, it was, at the time of its destruction, as beautiful as such a very ancient church could possibly be. After the numerous paintings which he had done in the Duomo, Spinello painted for the chapel of the Marsupini in S. Francesco, Pope Honorius confirming and approving the rule of that saint, the pope being a portrait of Innocent IV., he having by some means obtained the likeness. In the chapel of St Michael, the Archangel, in the same church in which the bells are rung, he painted many scenes relating to him; and rather lower down, in the chapel of M. Giuliano Baccio, he did an Annunciation, with other figures, which are much admired. The whole of the works in this church were done in fresco with great boldness and skill between the years 1334 and 1338. In the Pieve of the same city he afterwards painted the chapel of St Peter and St Paul, and below it that of St Michael the Archangel; for the fraternity of S. Maria della Misericordia he did the chapel of St James and St Philip; and over the principal door of the fraternity which is on the piazza, that is to say, in the tympanum, he painted a Pieta, with a St John, at the request of the rectors of the fraternity. The foundation of the brotherhood took place in this way. A certain number of good and honourable citizens began to go about asking alms for the poor who were ashamed to beg, and to succour them in all their necessities, in the year of the plague of 1348. The fraternity acquired a great reputation, acquired by means of the efforts of these good men, in helping the poor and infirm, burying the dead, and performing other kindred acts of charity, so that the bequests, donations and inheritances left to them became so considerable that they amounted to one-third of the entire wealth of Arezzo. The same happened in 1383, which was also a year of severe plague. Spinello then being of the company, often undertook to visit the infirm, bury the dead, and perform other like pious duties which the best citizens have always undertaken and still do in that city. In order to leave a memorial of this in his paintings, he painted for the company on the wall of the church of S. Laurentino and Pergentino, a Madonna with her mantle open in front, and beneath her the people of Arezzo, comprising portraits of many of the earliest members of the fraternity, drawn from life, with wallets round their necks and a wooden hammer in their hands, like those with which they knocked at the doors to ask alms. Similarly, in the company of the Annunciation he painted the large tabernacle which is outside the church, and part of a portico which is opposite it, and the picture of the company, which is an Annunciation, in tempera. The picture which is now in the church of the nuns of S. Giusto, where a little Christ, who is at His mother's neck, is espousing St Catherine, with six small scenes in little figures of the acts of that saint, is also a work of Spinello and much admired. Being afterwards invited to the famous abbey of Camaldoli in Casentino in the year 1361, he painted for the hermits of that place the picture of the high altar, which was taken away in the year 1539, when the entire church was rebuilt and Giorgio Vasari did a new picture, painting the principal chapel of the abbey all in fresco, the transept of the church in fresco and two pictures. Summoned thence to Florence by D. Jacopo d'Arezzo, Abbot of S. Miniato in Monte of the order of Monte Oliveto, Spinello painted the vaulting and four walls of the sacristy of that monastery, besides the picture of the altar, all in tempera, with many stories of the life of St Benedict, executed with much skill and a great vivacity in the colouring, learned by him by means of long practice and continual labour, with study and diligence, such as are necessary to every one who wishes to acquire an art perfectly. After these things the said abbot left Florence and received the direction of the monastery of S. Bernardo of the same order, in his native land, at the very time when it was almost entirely completed on the land granted by the Aretines, on the site of the Colosseum. Here the abbot induced Spinello to paint in fresco two chapels which are beside the principal chapel, and two others, one on either side of the door leading to the choir in the screen of the church. In one of the two, next the principal chapel, is an Annunciation in fresco, made with the greatest diligence, and on a wall beside it, is the Madonna ascending the steps of the Temple, accompanied by Joachim and Anna; in the other chapel is a Crucifix with the Madonna and St John weeping, and a St Bernard adoring on his knees. On the inner wall of the church where the altar of Our Lady stands, he painted the Virgin with the child at her neck, which was considered a very beautiful figure, and did many other things for the church, painting above the choir Our Lady, St Mary Magdalene and St Bernard, very vivaciously. In the Pieve of Arezzo in the Chapel of St Bartholomew, he did a number of scenes from the life of that saint, and on the opposite side of the church, in the chapel of St Matthew, under the organ, which was painted by his master Jacopo di Casentino, besides many stories of that saint, which are meritorious, he did the four Evangelists in some medallions, in an original style, for above the bust and human limbs he gave St John the head of an eagle, St Mark the head of a lion, St Luke that of an ox, while only St Matthew has a human face, that is to say an angel's. Outside Arezzo, he decorated the church of S. Stefano, built by the Aretines upon many columns of granite and marble, to honour and preserve the names of several martyrs who were put to death by Julian the Apostate. Here he did a number of figures and scenes with great diligence and such a style of colouring that they were in a wonderfully fresh state of preservation when they were destroyed not many years ago. But the really remarkable piece of work in that place, besides the stories of St Stephen, in figures larger than life size, is the sight of Joseph, in the story of the Magi, beside himself with joy at the coming of those kings, and keenly watching the kings as they are opening the vessels of their treasures and are offering them to him. In the same church is a Madonna offering a rose to the Christ child, which was and is considered a most beautiful figure, and so highly reverenced by the Aretines that when the church of S. Stefano was pulled down, without sparing either pains or expense, they cut it out of the wall, ingeniously removed it and carried it into the city, depositing it in a small church in order to honour it, as they do, with the same devotion which they bestowed upon it at first. There is no wonder that the work inspired such reverence, for it is a natural characteristic of Spinello to endow his figures with a certain simple grace, partaking of modesty and holiness, so that his saints and particularly his Virgins breathe an indefinable sanctity and divinity which inspire men with devotion. This may be seen also in a Madonna which is on the side of the Albergetti, in one on an outside wall of the Pieve in Seteria, and in another of the same kind on the side of the canal. By Spinello's hand also is the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, on the wall of the hospital of S. Spirito, which is very fine, as are the two scenes below representing St Cosmo and St Damian cutting a healthy leg off a dead Moor to attach it to a man whose broken limb they have removed. In like manner the Noli me tangere between these two works is very beautiful. In a chapel of the company of the Puracciuoli on the piazza of St Agostino he did a very finely coloured Annunciation, and in the cloister of that convent he painted a Madonna in fresco with St James and St Anthony and the portrait of an armed soldier kneeling there, with these words: Hoc opus fecit fieri Clemens Pucci de Monte Catino, cujus corpus jacet hic, etc. Anno Domini 1367 die 15 mensis Maii. The representations in the chapel of that church, of St Anthony and other saints are known by their style to be by Spinello's hand, and he afterwards painted the whole of a portico in the hospital of S. Marco, now the monastery of the nuns of St Croce as their original house, which was outside, was pulled down. The figure of St Gregory the Pope, among the many represented in this work, standing beside a Misericordia, is a portrait of Pope Gregory IX. The chapel of St Philip and St James at the entry into the church of S. Domenico in the same city, was done in fresco by Spinello in a fine and vigorous style, as was also a three-quarter length figure of St Anthony, painted on the wall of the church, which is so fine that it apes life. It is placed in the midst of four scenes from his life, and these and many other scenes of the life of St Anthony, also by Spinello's hand, are in the chapel of St Anthony, in the church of S. Giustino. On one side of the church of S. Lorenzo he painted some stories of the Madonna, and outside the church he painted her seated, doing the work very gracefully in fresco. In a small hospital opposite of the nuns of S. Spirito, near the gate on the road to Rome, the whole of the portico is painted by his hand with a representation of the dead Christ in the lap of the Maries, executed with so much skill and judgment that it proves him to have equalled Giotto in the matter of design and to have far surpassed him as a colourist. In the same place he has represented Christ seated, with a very ingenious theological signification, having placed the Trinity inside a Sun so that the same rays and the same glory issue from each of the three figures. But the same fate has befallen this work as has happened to many others, to the infinite loss of the lovers of this art, for it was thrown down to make way for the fortifications of the city. At the company of the Trinity may be seen a tabernacle outside the church, by Spinello very finely worked in fresco, comprising the Trinity, St Peter and SS. Cosmo and Damian dressed in the robes habitually worn by the physicians of the time. During the production of these works D. Jacopo d'Arezzo was appointed general of the congregation of Monte Oliveto, nineteen years after he had employed Spinello to do a number of things at Florence and at Arezzo, as has been said above. Being stationed according to the custom of the order, at Monte Oliveto the greater, of Chiusuri in the Siena district, as being the principal house of that body, he conceived a longing to have a beautiful picture made in that place. Accordingly he sent for Spinello, remembering how well he had been served upon other occasions, and induced him to do the picture for the principal chapel. Here Spinello produced a large number of figures in tempera, both small and great, on a gold ground, with great judgment, and afterwards caused it to be framed in an ornament in half-relief by Simone Cini of Florence, while in some parts he put an additional ornament with stucco of a rather firm glue, which proved very successful. It was gilded all over by Gabriello Saracini, who wrote at the bottom the three names: Simone Cini of Florence did the carving, Gabriello Saracini the gilding, and Spinello di Luca of Arezzo the painting, in the year 1385.
On the completion of this work, Spinello returned to Arezzo having received numerous favours from the general and other monks, besides his payment. But he did not remain long there for the city was in disorder owing to the feuds of the Guelph and Ghibelline parties and was just then sacked. He removed with his family and his son Parri, who was learning painting, to Florence, where he had a goodly number of friends and relations. In that city, in order to pass the time, he painted an Annunciation in a tabernacle outside the gate at S. Piero Gattolini on the Roman road, where the way branches to Pozzolatico, a work which is now half destroyed, and other pictures in another tabernacle, where the ruin of Galluzzo is. Being afterwards invited to Pisa to finish in the Campo Santo beneath the life of St Ranieri the remainder of other subjects in a blank space, in order to unite them to the scenes painted by Giotto, Simone of Siena, and Antonio of Venice, he there executed in fresco six stories of St Petitus and St Epirus. The first represents the saint as a young man, presented by his mother to the Emperor Diocletian, and appointed general of the armies which were to march against the Christians. As he is riding with his troop Christ appears to him, and showing him a white cross commands the youth not to persecute Him. Another scene represents the angel of the Lord giving to the saint, while he is riding, the banner of the Faith, with a white cross on a red field, which has ever afterwards constituted the arms of the Pisans, because St Epirus had besought God to give him a sign to wear against the enemy. Next to this is another scene of a fierce battle engaged between the saint and the Pagans, many armed angels fighting for the victory of the former. Here Spinello produced many things worthy of consideration in that day when art had not yet the ability nor any good method of expressing the ideas of the mind in colour in a lively manner. Among many other things in this composition are two soldiers, who have seized each other by the beard, and are endeavouring to kill each other with the naked rapiers which they hold in their disengaged hands; their faces and all the movement of their limbs show the desire of victory, their proud spirits being without fear and of the highest courage. Also among those who are fighting on horseback there is a finely executed knight who is fastening the head of an enemy to earth with his lance, the other having fallen backward from his terrified horse. Another scene shows the saint presented to the Emperor Diocletian, who is questioning him about the faith, and who afterwards consigns him to the torture, putting him in a furnace in which he remains uninjured, whilst the servants who are very ready on every side are burned in his stead. In short, all the acts of the saint are shown, to his beheading, after which his soul is carried to Heaven. The last scene shows the transportation of the bones and relics of St Petitus from Alexandria to Pisa. The whole work in its colouring and conception is the finest, most finished, and best executed of Spinello's paintings, and this is shown by its present excellent state of preservation, for its fresh appearance excites the wonder of everyone who sees it. When this work in the Campo Santo was completed, Spinello painted in the church of S. Francesco, in the second chapel from the high altar, many stories of St Bartholomew, St Andrew, St James, and St John the apostles, and he might perhaps have remained longer at work in Pisa, because his paintings were admired and rewarded there, but seeing the city thrown into an uproar and turned upside down through the murder of M. Pietro Gambacorti by the Lanfranchini, who were Pisan citizens, he once more removed to Florence with all his family, for he was by this time an old man. He remained there for one year only, and in the chapel of the Macchiavelli in S. Croce, dedicated to SS. Philip and James, he did many stories of the life and death of those saints. The picture of the chapel he did at Arezzo, and sent it on from there in the year 1400, for he was anxious to return to his native place, or, to speak more correctly, to the place which he looked upon as such. Having thus returned thither at the age of seventy-seven or more, he was lovingly received by his relations and friends, and remained there, much loved and honoured, until the end of his life, which was in the ninety-second year of his age. Although at the time of his return to Arezzo he was quite an old man, and had enough property to enable him to live without working, yet he could not remain idle, since he had always been accustomed to work, and undertook to do some stories of St Michael for the company of S. Agnolo in that city. These are roughly drawn in red on the plastered wall, as was the most ordinary method of the old artists, and as an example he did a single scene in one corner, colouring it entirely, which gave considerable satisfaction. Having afterwards agreed upon the price with the wardens, he completed the entire front of the high altar, representing Lucifer establishing his seat in the north, and the fall of the angels who change into devils as they rain upon the earth. In the air is St Michael fighting with the serpent of seven heads and ten horns, and in the middle of the lower part is Lucifer already changed into a hideous monster. It gave Spinello so much satisfaction to make him horrible and distorted that it is said (so great is the power of imagination) that the figure in the picture appeared to him in a dream, and demanded when the artist had seen him so ugly, asking why he did him so great an indignity with his brush. Spinello awoke from his dream speechless from fear, and shook so violently that his wife hastened to assist him. Yet he ran considerable risk of dying suddenly, through the failure of the heart, owing to this misfortune, and it caused his death a short while afterwards, until when he lived in an utterly dispirited manner with wide open eyes. He died greatly lamented by his friends, and left the world two sons—one called Forzore was a goldsmith, who did some admirable work in niello in Florence; the other, Parri, who followed his father and pursued the art of painting, far surpassing Spinello in design. The Aretines were much grieved at this sad chance, although Spinello was old, at being deprived of ability and excellence such as his. He died at the age of ninety-two, and was buried in S. Agostino at Arezzo, where there is a stone with a coat of arms made after a fancy of his own, containing a hedgehog. Spinello was far better able to design than to put his thoughts into practice, as our book of designs shows, which contains two Evangelists and a St Louis by his hand, all very fine. His portrait given above was taken by me from one which was in the old Duomo before it was pulled down. His paintings were executed between the years 1380 and 1400.