This old painter was born at Florence in 1349, and was a disciple of
Antonio Veneziano. His name was Mazzocchi, but being very celebrated as
a painter of animals, and especially so of birds, of which last he
formed a large collection of the most curious, he was called Uccello
(bird). He was one of the first painters who cultivated perspective.
Before his time buildings had not a true point of perspective, and
figures appeared sometimes as if falling or slipping off the canvass. He
made this branch so much his hobby, that he neglected other essential
parts of the art. To improve himself he studied geometry with Giovanni
Manetti, a celebrated mathematician. He acquired great distinction in
his time and some of his works still remain in the churches and convents
of Florence. In the church of S. Maria Novella are several fresco
histories from the Old Testament, which he selected for the purpose of
introducing a multitude of his favorite objects, beasts and birds; among
them, are Adam and Eve in Paradise, Noah entering the Ark, the Deluge,
&c. He painted battles of lions, tigers, serpents, &c, with peasants
flying in terror from the scene of combat. He also painted landscapes
with figures, cattle and ruins, possessing so much truth and nature,
that Lanzi says "he may be justly called the Bassano of his age." He was
living in 1436. Vasari places his birth in 1396-7, and his death in
1479, but later writers have proved his dates to be altogether
erroneous.