his own day and much esteemed at the Pope's court, because, after the
death of his master Giotto, whom he had followed to Rome when he did
the _Navicella_ in mosaic, and other things, he had imitated his
master's style in making a Virgin Mary in the porch of St Peter's,
and a St Peter and a St Paul in that place near where the bronze pine
apple is, in a wall between the arches of the portico, on the
outside. For this style he was praised, especially as he had
introduced into the work a portrait of a sacristan of St Peter's
lighting some lamps, and has made his figures very vigorous. This led
to Simone being summoned very urgently to the Pope's court at
Avignon, where he executed so many pictures in fresco and on panels
that his works realised the fame which had preceded him thither.
Returning to Siena in great credit and high in favour, he was
employed by the Signoria to paint in fresco a Virgin Mary, with many
figures about her in a chamber in their palace. He completed this
with every perfection, to his great glory and advantage. In order to
show that he was no less skilful in painting on panels than in
fresco, he executed a panel in that palace, for which reason he was
afterwards commissioned to do two in the Duomo and a Madonna with
the child in her arms in a most beautiful attitude, above the door of
the opera of that building. In this picture some angels which are
holding up a standard in the air, are flying and looking down on
saints below them, who are surrounding Our Lady, forming a very
beautiful and decorative composition. That done, Simone was invited
to Florence by the general of St Augustine and did the chapter-house
in S. Spirito, showing remarkable invention and judgment in the
figures and horses, as may be believed on seeing the story of the
Passion of Christ, remarkable alike for the ingenuity, discretion,
and exquisite grace displayed by the artist. The thieves on the
cross are seen in the act of expiring, the soul of the good one being
carried with rejoicing to heaven by angels, while that of the guilty
one is roughly dragged down by devils to hell. Simone has also shown
originality and judgment in the disposition and bitter weeping of
some angels about the cross. But most remarkable of all is the way in
which the spirits cleave the air with their shoulders, because they
maintain the movement of their flight while turning in a circle. This
work would supply much clearer evidence of Simone's excellence if, in
addition to the ravages of time, it had not been further damaged in
the year 1560, through the fathers who, not being able to use the
chapter-house on account of the damp, and throwing down the little
that remained of the paintings of this man, in replacing a worm-eaten
floor by vaulting. About the same time Simone painted in tempera on a
panel Our Lady and a St Luke with other saints, which is to-day in
the chapel of the Gondi in S. Maria Novella, signed with his name.
Simone afterwards did three sides of the chapter-house of S. Maria
Novella very successfully. On the first, that over the entrance door,
he did the life of St Domenic; on the next one towards the church he
represented the religious and order of that saint fighting against
the heretics, who are represented by wolves attacking some sheep,
these being defended by a number of dogs, spotted white and black,
the wolves being repulsed and slain. There are also some heretics who
have been convinced in the disputes and are tearing up their books,
and, having repented, they confess, and their souls pass to the gate
of Paradise, in which are many small figures doing various things. In
heaven is seen the glory of the saints and Jesus Christ. In the world
below the pleasures and delights are represented by human figures,
especially some ladies, seated among whom is Petrarch's Laura drawn
from life, clothed in green, with a small flame of fire between her
breast and her throat. There also is the Church of Christ, guarding
which are the Pope, the Emperor, the King, Cardinals, Bishops, and
all the Christian Princes, among them, beside a knight of Rhodes, M.
Francesco Petrarch, also drawn from life, which Simone did in order
to keep green the memory of the man who had made him immortal. For
the Church Universal he made the church of S. Maria del Fiore, not as
it stands to-day, but as he had taken it from the model and design
left by the architect Arnolfo in the Opera, as a guide to those who
were to continue the building after his death. As I have said
elsewhere, no memory of these models would have been preserved,
owing to the negligence of the wardens of S. Maria del Fiore, had not
Simone painted them in this work. On the third side, that of the
altar, he did the Passion of Christ, who is going up from Jerusalem
with the cross on His shoulder, and proceeds to Mount Calvary,
followed by a throng of people, where He is seen raised on the cross
between the thieves, together with the other incidents of that story.
I shall not attempt to describe the presence of a good number of
horses, the throwing of lots by the servants of the court for the
raiment of Christ, the release of the Holy Fathers from limbo, and
all the other clever inventions which would be most excellent in a
modern master and are remarkable in an ancient one. Here he occupies
the entire wall and carefully makes the different scenes, one above
the other, not dividing the separate subjects from one another by
ornaments, as the ancients used to do, and according to the
practice of many moderns, who put the earth above the air four or
five times. This has been done in the principal chapel of the same
church, and in the Campo Santo at Pisa, where Simone painted many
things in fresco, and was compelled against his will to make such
divisions, as the other painters who had worked there, such as Giotto
and Buonamico his master, had begun the scenes in this bad style.
Accordingly he continued that style in the Campo Santo, and made in
fresco a Madonna above the principal door on the inside. She is borne
to heaven by a choir of angels, who sing and play so realistically
that they exhibit all the various expressions which musicians are
accustomed to show when playing or singing, such as bending the ear
to the sound, opening the mouth in various ways, raising the eyes to
heaven, puffing the cheeks, swelling the throat, and in short all the
movements which are made in music. Under this Assumption, in three
pictures, he did the life of St Ranieri of Pisa. In the first is the
youth playing the psalter, to the music of which some little
children are dancing,--very beautiful for the arrangement of the
folds, the ornamentation of the clothes, and the head-dresses of
those times. The same Ranieri is next seen rescued from such
lasciviousness by St Albert the hermit. He stands weeping with his
face down, and his eyes red with tears, full of repentance for his
sin, while God in the air, surrounded by a heavenly light, makes as
if to pardon him. The second picture represents Ranieri distributing
his property among God's poor, then mounting into a barque he has
about him a throng of poor and maimed, of women and children,
anxiously pressing forward to petition and to thank him. In the same
picture is when the saint after receiving the pilgrim's dress in the
church, stands before Our Lady, who is surrounded by many angels,
and shows him that he shall rest, in her bosom at Pisa. The heads of
all these figures are vigorous with a fine bearing. The third picture
represents the saint's return after seven years from beyond the sea,
where he had spent three terms of forty days in the Holy Land, and
how while standing in the choir and hearing the divine offices where
a number of boys are singing, he is tempted by the devil, who is seen
to be repelled by the firm purpose guiding Ranieri not to offend God,
assisted by a figure made by Simone to represent Constancy, who
drives away the ancient adversary represented with fine originality
not only as terrified, but holding his hands to his head in his
flight, with his head buried as far as possible in his shoulders, and
saying, according to the words issuing from his mouth: "I can do no
more." The last scene in the same picture is when Ranieri kneeling
on Mount Tabor sees Christ miraculously in the air with Moses and
Elias. All the parts of this work and other things which concern it
show that Simone was very ingenious, and understood the good method
of composing figures lightly in the style of the time. When these
scenes were finished he made two pictures in tempera in the same
city, assisted by Lippo Memmi his brother, who had also helped him to
paint the chapter-house of S. Maria Novella and other works. Although
Lippo did not possess Simone's genius, yet he followed his style so
far as he was able, and did many things in fresco, in conjunction
with his brother in S. Croce at Florence, the picture of the high
altar of the Friars Preachers in S. Catarina at Pisa, and in S. Paolo
on the River Arno, and besides many beautiful scenes in fresco, he
did the picture in tempera now over the high altar, comprising Our
Lady, St Peter, St Paul, St John the Baptist, and other saints, to
which work Lippo put his name. After these things he did by himself a
picture in tempera for the friars of St Augustine in S. Gimigniano,
and acquired such fame thereby, that he was obliged to send to Arezzo
to the Bishop Guido de' Tarlati a picture with three half-length
figures, which is now in the chapel of St Gregory in the Vescovado.
While Simone was working at Florence, a cousin of his who was a
clever architect, Neroccio by name, succeeded in the year 1332 in
sounding the great bell of the commune of Florence, which no one had
been able to accomplish for the space of seventeen years, except by
the efforts of twelve men. This man, however, balanced it so that it
could be moved by two persons, and when once in motion one person
alone could ring it, although it weighed more than sixteen thousand
pounds; accordingly, in addition to the honour, he received three
hundred gold florins as his reward, a considerable sum for that time.
But to return to our two masters of Siena. Besides the things already
mentioned, Lippo executed from Simone's design a picture in tempera,
which was taken to Pistoia and put over the high altar of the church
of S. Francesco, where it was considered very fine. When Simone and
Lippo at length returned to their native Siena, the former began a
large coloured work over the great gate of Camollia. Here he
represented the coronation of Our Lady with a quantity of figures,
but the work remained incomplete, as he fell very sick, and
succumbing to the disease he passed from this life in the year 1345,
to the great sorrow of the whole city, and of Lippo his brother, who
gave him honoured burial in S. Francesco. Lippo afterwards finished
many pictures which Simone had left imperfect. Among these were a
Passion of Jesus Christ at Ancona, over the high altar of S. Niccola,
in which Lippo finished what Simone had begun, imitating what he had
done in the chapter-house of S. Spirito at Florence, and which
Simone had entirely completed. This work is worthy of a longer life
than it appears likely to enjoy, for it contains many finely posed
horses and soldiers, actively engaged in various matters, wondering
whether or no they have crucified the Son of God. At Assisi he also
finished some figures which Simone had begun in the lower church of
S. Francesco, at the altar of St Elizabeth, which is at the entrance
of the door leading into the chapel, representing Our Lady, a St
Louis, King of France, and other saints, eight figures in all, from
the knees upwards, but good and very well coloured. Besides this
Simone had begun in the principal refectory of that monastery, at the
top of the wall, many small scenes and a crucifix with a Tree of the
Cross. This remained unfinished, and is drawn, as may be seen to-day,
in red with the brush on the rough wall. This method was favoured by
the old masters in order to work in fresco with greater rapidity, for
after they had sectioned out all their work on the rough wall, they
drew it with the brush, following a small design which served as a
guide, increasing this to the proper size, and this done they at once
set to work. That many other works were painted in the same manner as
this is seen in those cases where the work has peeled off, the design
in red remaining on the rough wall. But to return to Lippo. He drew
very fairly, as may be seen in our book, in a hermit with his legs
crossed. He survived Simone twelve years, doing many things for all
parts of Italy, but especially two pictures in S. Croce at Florence.
As the style of the two brothers is somewhat similar, their works may
be distinguished thus: Simone wrote at the bottom of his: _Simonis
Memmi Senensis opus_; Lippo omitted his surname and careless of his
Latinity wrote: _Opus Memmi de Seals me fecit_. On the wall of the
chapter-house of S. Maria Novella, besides the portraits of Petrarch
and Laura mentioned above by Simone's hand, are those of Cimabue,
Lapo the architect, Arnolfo his son, and Simone himself, the Pope
being a portrait of Benedict XI. of Treviso, a friar preacher, whose
figure had been given to Simone by his master Giotto, when the latter
returned from the Pope's court at Avignon. In the same place, next to
the Pope, he portrayed the Cardinal Niccola da Prato, who had at that
time come to Florence as the Pope's legate, as Giov. Villani relates
in his "History." Over Simone's tomb was set the following epitaph:
"_Simoni Memmio pictorum omnium omnis aetatis celeberrimo, Vixit ann.
ix. metis ii. d. iii_." As may be seen in our book, Simone did not
excel greatly in design, but was naturally full of invention and was
very fond of drawing from life. In this he was considered the best
master of his time, so that the lord Pandolfo Malatesta sent him to
Avignon to make the portrait of M. Francesco Petrarch, at whose
request he afterwards made the much admired portrait of Madonna
Laura.
Taddeo Gaddi, Painter of Florence.
It is a truly useful and admirable task to reward talent largely at
every opportunity, because great abilities which would otherwise lie
dormant, are excited by this stimulus and endeavour with all
industry, not only to learn, but to excel, to raise themselves to a
useful and honourable rank, from which flow honour to their country,
glory to themselves, and riches and nobility to their descendants,
who, being brought up on such principles, often become very rich and
noble, as did the descendants of Taddeo Gaddi the painter, by means
of his works. This Taddeo di Gaddo Gaddi of Florence, after the death
of Gaddo, had been the pupil of his godfather Giotto for twenty-four
years, as Cennino di Drea Ceninni, painter of Colle di Valdelsa
writes. On the death of Giotto he became the first painter of the
day, by reason of his judgment and genius, surpassing his
fellow-pupils. His first works, executed with a facility due to
natural ability rather than to acquired skill, were in the church of
S. Croce at Florence in the chapel of the sacristy, where, in
conjunction with his fellow-pupils of the dead Giotto, he did some
fine scenes from the life of St Mary Magdalene, the figures and
draperies being very remarkable, the costumes being those then worn.
In the chapel of the Baroncelli and Bandini, where Giotto had already
done a picture in tempera, Taddeo did some scenes from the life of
the Virgin in fresco on the wall, which were considered very
beautiful. Over the door of the same sacristy he painted the scene of
Christ disputing with the doctors in the temple, which was afterwards
destroyed when Cosimo de' Medici the elder built the noviciate, the
chapel and the vestibule of the sacristy, in order to put a stone
cornice above that door. In the same church he painted in fresco the
chapel of the Bellacci and that of St Andrew, next to one of the
three done by Giotto, in which he represented Christ calling Andrew
and Peter from their nets, and the crucifixion of the latter apostle
with such truth that it was much admired and praised when it was
completed, and is still held in esteem at the present day. Over the
side door and under the tomb of Carlo Marsupini of Arezzo, he made a
dead Christ with Mary, in fresco, which was much admired. Below the
screen of the church, on the left hand above the crucifix of Donato,
he painted in fresco a miracle of St Francis, where he raises a boy
killed by a fall from a terrace, with an apparition in the air. In
this scene he drew the portraits of his master Giotto, the poet
Dante, Guido Cavalcanti, and some say of himself. In different places
in the same church he made a number of figures, which are recognised
by artists from their style. For the company of the Temple he painted
the tabernacle which is at the corner of the via del Crocifisso,
containing a fine deposition from the cross. In the cloister of S.
Spirito he did two scenes in the arches next the chapter-house, in
one of which he represented Judas selling Christ, and in the other
the Last Supper with the Apostles. In the same convent over the door
of the refectory he painted a crucifix and some saints, which
distinguish him, among the others who worked there, as a true
imitator of the style of Giotto, whom he always held in the highest
veneration. In S. Stefano of the Ponte Vecchio he painted the picture
and predella of the high altar with great care, and in the oratory of
S. Michele in Orto he very skilfully represented in a picture a dead
Christ, wept over by Mary, and deposited in the sepulchre by
Nicodemus with great devotion. In the church of the Servites he
painted the chapel of St Nicholas, belonging to the Palagio family,
with stories of that saint, where, in his painting of a barque, he
has clearly shown with the greatest judgment and grace, that he had a
thorough knowledge of a tempestuous sea and of the fury of Fortune.
In this work St Nicholas appears in the air, while the mariners are
emptying the ship and throwing out the merchandise, and frees them
from their danger. This work gave great satisfaction and was much
admired, so that Taddeo was commissioned to paint the chapel of the
high altar of that church. Here he did in fresco some stories of Our
Lady, and in tempera on a panel, Our Lady with many saints, a very
vigorous representation. Similarly, on the predella of this picture
he did some stories of Our Lady in small figures, into the details of
which it is not necessary to enter, because everything was destroyed
in the year 1467 when Ludovico, Marquis of Mantua, made in that place
the tribune which is there now, from the design of Leon Battista
Alberti, and the choir of the friars, causing the picture to be taken
to the chapter-house of that convent, in the refectory of which he
made above the wooden backs, the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the
Apostles, and above that a crucifix with many saints. When Taddeo had
completed this work he was invited to Pisa where he painted the
principal chapel of S. Francesco in fresco, very well coloured, for
Gherardo and Bonaccorso Gambacorti, with many figures and stories of
the saint, and of St Andrew and St Nicholas. On the vaulting and the
wall is Pope Honorius confirming the rule, and a representation of
Taddeo from life, in profile, with a hood folded over his head. At
the bottom of this scene are these words:
_Magister Taddeus Gaddus de Florentia pinxit hanc hittoriam Sancti
Francisci et Sancti Andreæ et Sancti Nicolai anno Domini MCCCXLII.
de mense Augusti._
In the cloister of the same convent he further made a Madonna in
fresco, with the child at her neck, very well coloured. In the middle
of the church, on the left hand on entering, is seated a St Louis the
bishop, to whom St Gherardo da Villamagna, who was a friar of the
order, is recommending one fra Bartolommeo, then superior of the
convent. The figures of this work, being drawn from life, exhibit the
utmost vivacity and grace, in that simple style which was in some
respects better than Giotto's, particularly in the expression of
intercession, joy, grief, and other feelings, the good representation
of which always constitutes the highest claim of the painter to
honour. Taddeo then returned to Florence and continued for the
commune the work of Orsan-michele, refounding the pillars of the
Loggia, using dressed and hewn stones in place of the original
bricks, but without making any change in the design left by Arnolfo,
who provided that a palace with two vaults should be made above the
Loggia for the preservation of the provisions of grain made by the
people and commune of Florence. For the completion of this work the
Art of the Porta S. Maria, to whom the charge of the structure had
been entrusted, ordained the payment of the gabelle of the piazza and
of the grain market, and some other changes of very small importance.
But an ordinance of far more importance was that each of the arts of
Florence should make a pilaster for itself, placing on a niche in it
the patron saint of each, and that every year the consuls of the arts
should go to make offerings on their saints' feast days and keep
their standard and insignia there all that day, but that the alms so
collected should be made to the Virgin for the needy poor.
In the year 1333 a great flood had carried away the parapets of the
Ponte Rubaconte, thrown down the castle of Altafronte, left nothing
of the Ponte Vecchio except the two middle piles, entirely destroyed
the Ponte S. Trinita, a single shattered pile alone standing, and
half the Ponte alla Carraia, breaking down the flood-gates of
Ognissanti. For this cause the rulers of the city took counsel
together, because they did not wish that those who dwelt beyond the
Arno should again suffer this inconvenience of having to cross by
barques. Accordingly they called in Taddeo Gaddi, because his master
Giotto had gone to Milan, and instructed him to make the model and
design of the Ponte Vecchio, directing him to render it as strong and
as beautiful as it could possibly be. To this end he spared neither
pains nor expense, building it with such strong piers and such fine
arches, all of hewn stone, that it now sustains twenty-two shops on
either side, making forty-four in all, to the great benefit of the
commune, who that year expended upon it eight hundred florins of
rent. The length of the span from one side to the other is 32
braccia, the middle way is 16, and the shops on either side 8
braccia. For this work, which cost sixty thousand gold florins,
Taddeo not only deserved the praise accorded by his contemporaries,
but he merits our commendation to-day to an even greater degree, for,
not to speak of many other floods, the bridge did not move in the
year 1537, on 13th September, when the Ponte a Santa Trinita, two
arches of the Carraia, and a great part of the Rubaconte all fell,
and more damage was done. Certainly no man of judgment can refrain
from amazement, or at least wonder, when he considers how firmly the
Ponte Vecchio resisted the impetus of the water, the timber, and
other debris, without yielding. At the same time Taddeo laid the
foundations of the Ponte a Santa Trinita, which was finished with
less success in the year 1346 at a cost of twenty thousand gold
florins. I say with less success, because, unlike the Ponte Vecchio,
it was ruined by the flood of 1557. It was also under Taddeo's
direction that the wall on the side of S. Gregorio was made at the
same time, with driven piles, two piers of the bridge being taken to
enlarge the ground on the side of the piazza de' Mozzi, and to set up
the mills which are still there.
Whilst all these things were being done under Taddeo's direction and
from his plans, he did not allow them to stop his painting, and did
the tribunal of the old Mercanzia, where, with poetical imagination,
he represented the tribunal of six men, that being the number of the
chief of that magistracy, who are watching Truth taking out
Falsehood's tongue, the former clothed in velvet over her naked skin,
the latter in black: underneath are these lines:
"La pura Verita per ubbidire
Alla santa Giustizia che non tarda
Cava la lingua alla falsa bugiarda."
Lower down are the following lines:
"Taddeo dipinse questo bel rigestro
Discepol fu di Giotto il buon maestro."
In Arezzo some works in fresco were allotted to him, which he carried
out with the greatest perfection with the aid of his pupil Giovanni
da Milano. One of these, representing the Passion of Jesus Christ,
may still be seen in the oratory of the Holy Spirit, in front of the
high altar. It contains many horses, and the thieves on the cross,
and is considered a very beautiful thing on account of his conception
of the nailing to the cross, where there are some figures which
vividly express the rage of the Jews, some drawing Him by the legs
with a rope, others bringing the sponge, and others in various
attitudes, such as Longinus, who pierces His side with the spear, and
the three soldiers who are playing for His garments, their faces
depicting hope and fear in throwing the dice. The first of these men
stands in a constrained attitude awaiting his turn, and is so eager
to draw that he apparently does not notice the discomfort; the second
is loading the dice-box, and frowns as he looks at the dice, his
mouth and eyes open as if from suspicion of fraud, showing clearly to
an observant beholder his eagerness to win; the third, who is about
to throw the dice, spreads out on the ground with trembling arm the
garments, where he shows with a smile that he intends to throw them.
On the sides of the church also may be seen some stories of St John
the Evangelist, which are executed with such wonderful style and
design that they cannot fail to excite astonishment. In the chapel of
St Sebastian, next the sacristy in S. Agostino, he did the life of
that martyr and the dispute of Christ with the doctors, so well
executed and finished that the beauty and variety displayed, as well
as the grace of their colouring, are marvellous.
In Casentino, in the church of the Sasso del Vernia, he painted in
the chapel the scene where S. Francis receives the stigmata. Here
Taddeo was assisted in matters of minor importance by Jacopo di
Casentino, who thus became his pupil. When this was completed Taddeo
returned with Giovanni of Milan to Florence, where in the city and
without they made a number of panels and pictures of importance. In
the process of time Taddeo acquired so much money that, by steadily
saving, he founded the wealth and nobility of his family, being
always considered a wise and courteous man. In S. Maria Novella he
painted the chapter-house which was allotted to him by the prior of
the place, who supplied him with the idea. It is known that, because
the work was a great one, and as the chapter-house of S. Spirito was
uncovered at the same time as the bridges were building, to the great
glory of Simone Memmi who painted it, the prior wished to secure
Simone to do half of the work; accordingly he consulted Taddeo, who
was very willing to agree to this, since Simone had been a
fellow-pupil of Giotto with him, and they had always remained close
friends and companions. O truly noble souls to love one another
fraternally without emulation, ambition, or envy, so that each
rejoiced at the advancement and honour of his friend as if it had
been his own. The work was accordingly divided, three sides being
allotted to Simone, as I have said in his life, and the left side and
the whole of the vaulting to Taddeo, who divided his work into four
divisions or quarters, according to the disposition of the vaulting.
In the first he made the Resurrection of Christ, in which he
apparently endeavours to cause the glorified body to emit light,
which is reflected on a city and on some mountain rocks; but he
abandoned this device in the figures and in the rest of the
composition, possibly because he was not confident of his ability to
carry it out, owing to the difficulties which presented themselves.
In the second compartment he made Jesus Christ delivering Peter from
drowning, when the apostles, who are managing the boat, are certainly
very fine, and especially a man who is fishing with a line on the
sea-shore (a thing first attempted by Giotto in the mosaic of the
_Navicella_ in St Peter's), represented with vigorous and life-like
expression. In the third he painted the Ascension of Christ, while
the fourth represents the Descent of the Holy Spirit, remarkable for
the fine attitudes of the Jews, who are endeavouring to enter the
door. On the wall beneath are the seven sciences, with their names,
and appropriate figures below each. Grammar habited like a woman is
teaching a boy; beneath her sits the writer Donato. Next to Grammar
sits Rhetoric, at whose feet is a figure with its two hands resting
on books, while it draws a third hand from beneath a mantle and holds
it to its mouth. Logic has a serpent in her hand, and is veiled, with
Zeno Eleate at her feet reading. Arithmetic holds the table of the
Abacus, and under her sits Abraham, its inventor. Music has musical
instruments, with Tubal Cain beneath, beating with two hammers upon
an anvil, with his ears listening to the sound. Geometry has the
quadrant and sextant, with Euclid beneath. Astrology has the sphere
of the heavens in her hands, and Atlas under her feet. On the other
side sit the seven theological sciences, each one having beneath it a
person of an appropriate condition, pope, emperor, king, cardinal,
duke, bishop, marquis, etc., the pope being a portrait of Clement V.
In the middle, and occupying a higher place, is St Thomas Aquinas,
who was master of all these sciences, and certain heretics under his
feet, Arius, Sabellius, and Averroes. About him are Moses, Paul, John
the Evangelist, and some other figures with the four cardinal
virtues, and the three theological ones, in addition to an infinite
number of other ideas set forth by Taddeo with no small design and
grace, so that this may be considered the best devised and the most
finely preserved of all his works. In the same S. Maria Novello, over
the transept he did a St Jerome dressed as a cardinal. He held that
saint in reverence, choosing him as the protector of his house, and
after Taddeo's death his son Agnolo made a tomb for his descendants
covered with a marble slab adorned with the arms of the Gaddi under
this picture. For these descendants the cardinal Jerome, aided by
their merits and the goodness of Taddeo, has obtained from God most
distinguished places in the church, such as clerkships of the
chamber, bishoprics, cardinalates, provostships, and most honourable
knighthoods. The descendants of Taddeo have uniformly valued and
encouraged men of genius in painting and sculpture, assisting them to
the utmost of their power. At length when Taddeo had reached the age
of fifty years, he was seized with a severe fever and passed from
this life in the year 1350, leaving Agnolo his son and Giovanni to
carry on the painting, recommending them to Jacopo di Casentino for
their material well being, and to Giovanni da Milano for instruction
in art. This Giovanni, besides many other things, made a picture,
after Taddeo's death, which was placed in S. Croce at the altar of St
Gherardo da Villamagna, fourteen years after he had been left without
his master, and also the high altar picture of Ognissanti, where the
Umiliati friars are stationed, a much admired work; and in Assisi he
made for the tribune of the high altar a crucifix, Our Lady, and St
Clare, and on the side wall stories of Our Lady. He subsequently went
to Milan, where he did many works in tempera and in fresco, and at
length died there.
Now Taddeo always adopted Giotto's style, but did not greatly improve
it, except in the colouring, which he made fresher and more vivid.
Giotto had made such efforts to overcome other difficulties of this
art, that although he considered colouring also, yet it was not
granted to him to master this completely. Taddeo, on the other hand,
profiting by his master's labours, had an easier task, and was able
to add something of his own in improving the colouring.
Taddeo was buried by Agnolo and Giovanni his sons in S. Croce, in the
first cloister, and in the tomb which he had made for Gaddo his
father. He was much honoured in the verses of the learned of the time
as a man who had deserved much for his character, and because he had,
besides his pictures, successfully completed many structures very
useful to his city. In addition to the works already mentioned, he
had with care and diligence completed the campanile of S. Maria del
Fiore from the design of his master Giotto. This campanile was so
constructed that it would be impossible to join stones with more
care, or to make a tower which should be finer in the matter of
ornament, expense, and design. The epitaph made for Taddeo was as
follows:
Hoc uno dici poterat Florentia felix
Vivente: at certa est non potuisse mori.