As has been said, the portrait of Ambruogio by his own hand may be
seen in S. Procolo in the predella of his picture, where he is
wearing a hood on his head. His skill as a designer may be seen in
our book, which contains some things by his hand of considerable
merit.

Pietro Cavallini, Painter of Rome.

At a time when Rome had been deprived for many centuries, not only
of good letters and of the glory of arms, but also of all the
sciences and fine arts, there was born in that city, by God's will,
one Pietro Cavallini, at the very time when Giotto, who may be said
to have restored life to painting, had attained to the chief place
among the painters of Italy. Pietro, who had been a pupil of Giotto,
and had done some mosaics with him in St Peter's, was the first after
him who illuminated that art, and who first showed signs that he was
not an unworthy pupil of so great a master, when he painted over the
door of the sacristy at Araceli, some scenes which are now destroyed
by time, and in S. Maria di Trastevere very many coloured things in
fresco for the whole church. Afterwards he worked in mosaic in the
principal chapel, and did the front of the church, proving that he
was capable of working in mosaic without Giotto's assistance, as he
had already succeeded in doing in painting. In the church of S.
Grisogono he also did many scenes in fresco and endeavoured to make
himself known as the best pupil of Giotto and as a good artist. In
the Trastevere also he painted almost the whole of the church of S.
Cecilia in fresco, and many things in the church of S. Francesco
appresso Ripa. He then executed in mosaic the front of S. Paolo,
outside Rome, and in the middle nave did many scenes from the Old
Testament. In executing some things in fresco for the chapter-house
of the first cloister, he displayed such diligence that he was
considered by men of judgment to be a most excellent master, and was
for the same reason so much favoured by the prelates, that they
employed him to do the wall space between the windows inside St
Peter's. Among these things he did the four Evangelists, of
extraordinary size as compared with the figures of the time usually
seen, executed very finely in fresco; also a St Peter and a St Paul,
and in the nave a good number of figures, in which, because the
Byzantine style greatly pleased him, he always used it in conjunction
with that of Giotto. We see by this work that he spared no effort to
g