ich he represented the pope in various dignities, but
the painting is now much damaged and eaten by time. In the house of
the Orsini he did a hall full of famous men, and a very fine St Louis
on a pilaster at Araceli, on the right-hand side at the high altar.
Above the pulpit in the lower church of S. Francesco at Assisi, that
being the only place left undecorated, he painted a coronation of Our
Lady, in an arch, surrounded by many angels, so graceful, with such
beautiful faces, so soft and so delicate, exhibiting that union of
colours customary in the artist, and which constitutes his peculiar
excellence, that he may clearly be compared with any of his
predecessors. About this arch he did some stories of St Nicholas.
Similarly, in the middle of the church, in the monastery of S.
Chiara, in the same city, he painted a scene in fresco of St Clare,
upheld in the air by two angels, represented with much life, raising
a dead child, whilst many beautiful women standing about are filled
with amazement, all being dressed in very graceful costumes of the
time. In the same city of Assisi, in an arch over the inside of the
city door which leads to the Duomo, he did a Madonna and child with
so much care that she seems alive, and a very fine St Francis, with
other saints. These two works, although the scene with St Clare is
unfinished, for Tommaso returned sick to Florence, are perfect and
worthy of all praise.

It is said that Tommaso was a melancholy and solitary man, but very
diligent and fond of his art. This is clearly shown in a picture of
his in tempera in the church of S. Romeo at Florence, placed on the
screen on the right-hand side, for nothing was ever better done on
wood. It represents a dead Christ with Mary and Nicodemus,
accompanied with other figures, who are weeping bitterly for the
dead. Their gentleness and sweetness are remarkable as they twist
their hands and beat themselves, showing in their faces the bitter
sorrow that our sins should cost so dear. It is a marvellous thing,
not that Tommaso could rise to this height of imagination, but that
he could express his thought so well with his brush. Consequently
this work deserves the highest praise, not so much because of the
subject and conception as for the art in which he exhibited the heads
of some who are weeping, for although the brows, eyes, nose and mouth
are distorted by the emotion, yet this does not mar or destroy the
beauty of his faces, which usually