is famous throughout Italy, and
although it is all but certain that it is by Pietro's hand by the
style of the painting, but Pietro's admirable life and piety to God
are worthy of imitation by all men. Let no one believe by this that
it is impossible to attain to honoured rank without good conduct, and
without the fear and grace of God, for constant experience proves the
contrary. Giovanni of Pistoia was a pupil of Pietro, and did some
things of no great importance in his native place. Pietro died at
length in Rome, at the age of eighty-five, of a malady in his side
caused by working at a wall, by the damp and by standing continually
at that exercise. His paintings were executed about 1364. He was
buried in S. Paolo outside Rome, with honour, and with this epitaph:

"Quantum Romans Petrus decus addidit urbi
Pictura, tantum, dat decus ipse polo."

Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi, Painters of Siena.

Happy indeed may we call those men who are inclined by nature to
those arts which may bring them not only honour and great profit, but
what is more, fame, and an all but immortal name. How much more happy
then are those who, from their cradle, besides such an inclination,
exhibit gentleness and civil manners, which render them very
acceptable to all men. But the most happy of all, I speak of artists,
are those who, besides having a natural inclination to the good, and
whose manners are noble by nature and training, live in the time of
some famous writer, by whose works they sometimes receive a reward of
eternal honour and fame in return for some small portrait or other
courtesy of an artistic kind. This reward should be specially desired
and sought after by painters, since their works, being on a surface
and a field of colour, cannot hope for that eternity that bronze and
marble give to sculpture, and which the strength of building
materials afford to the architect. It was thus a very fortunate
matter for Simone that he lived in the time of M. Francesco Petrarca,
and happened to meet this amorous poet at the court of Avignon,
anxious to have the portrait of Madonna Laura by his hand; because
when he had received one as beautiful as he desired, he celebrated
Simone in two sonnets, one of which begins:

"Per mirar Policleto a prova fiso
Con gli altri, che ebber fama di quell' arte;"

and the other:

"Quando giunse a Simon l'alto concetto
Ch'a mio nom