g his invention for the purpose of
composing beautiful scenes, he carefully studied design, aided as he
was by nature, who wished to make him a universal genius, and as one
thing leads to another, he practised painting in colours in tempera
and fresco, and succeeded so well with the aid of Bernardo Orcagna
his brother, that Bernardo himself procured his assistance to do the
life of Our Lady in the principal chapel of S. Maria Novella, which
then belonged to the family of the Ricci. This work was considered
very beautiful, although, owing to the neglect of those who
afterwards had charge of it, it was destroyed by water through the
breaking of the roof not many years after, and consequently it is
restored in its present manner, as will be said in the proper place.
Suffice it to say, that Domenico Grillandai, who repainted it, made
considerable use of the inventions of Orcagna which were there. In
the same church, and in conjunction with his brother Bernardo, Andrea
did in fresco the chapel of the Strozzi, which is near the door of
the sacristy and the belfry. In this chapel, which is approached by
some stone steps, he painted on one wall the glory of Paradise, with
all the saints in the various habits and head-dresses of the time. On
the other wall he did Hell, with the holes, centres, and other things
described by Dante, of whom Andrea was a diligent student. In the
church of the Servites, in the same city he painted in fresco, also
in conjunction with Bernardo, the chapel of the family of the Cresci,
and in S. Pier Maggiore in a picture of considerable size, the
Coronation of the Virgin, and another picture in S. Romeo near the
side door.

He and his brother Bernardo also painted in fresco together the
facade of S. Apollinare, with such diligence that the colours are
bright and beautiful and marvellously preserved to this day in that
exposed place. The governors of Pisa, moved by the renown of these
works of Orcagna, which were much admired, sent for him to do a part
of the wall in the Campo Santo of that city, as Giotto and
Buffalmacco had previously done. Accordingly he put his hand to the
work, and painted a Last Judgment, with some fancies of his own, on
the wall towards the Duomo, next to the Passion of Christ made by
Buffalmacco. In the first scene he represented all ranks of temporal
lords enjoying the pleasures of this world, seating them in a flowery
meadow under the shadow of many orange trees, forming a mos