o more than reasonable, after Gaddo, Taddeo, Agnolo and
Giovanni had adorned with their art and talents so many considerable
churches, that their descendants should be decorated with the highest
ecclesiastical dignities by the Holy Roman Church and her Pontiffs.
Taddeo, whose life we have already written, left two sons, Agnolo and
Giovanni, among his many pupils, and he hoped that Agnolo in
particular would attain to considerable excellence in painting. But
although Agnolo when a youth promised to far surpass his father, he
did not realise the good opinions which were then formed about him.
Being born and brought up in ease, which is often a hindrance to
application, he was more devoted to trading and commerce than to the
art of painting. This is no new or strange circumstance, for avarice
almost invariably proves a bar to those geniuses who would have
attained the summit of their powers, had not the desire of gain stood
in their way in their first and best years.

In his youth Andrea did a small scene for S. Jacopo tra fossi at
Florence, in figures of little more than a braccia high, representing
the Resurrection of Lazarus, who had been four days dead. Considering
the corrupt state of the body, which had been in the tomb three days,
he presented the grave clothes bound about him as soiled by the
putrefaction of the flesh, and certain livid and yellowish marks in
the flesh about the eyes, between quick and dead, very well
considered. He also shows the astonishment of the disciples and other
figures, who in varied and remarkable attitudes are holding their
garments to their noses so as not to smell the stench of the corrupt
body, and exhibit every shade of fear and terror at this marvellous
event, as well as the joy and delight of Mary and Martha at seeing
the dead body of their brother return to life. This work was deemed
so excellent that there were many who thought that the talents of
Andrea would prove superior to those of all the pupils of Taddeo and
even to those of the master himself. But the event proved otherwise,
for as in youth will conquers every difficulty in the effort after
fame, so it often happens that the years bring with them a certain
heedlessness which causes men to go backwards instead of forwards, as
was the case with Agnolo. Owing to the high repute of his ability,
the family of the Soderini, expecting a great deal, allotted to him
the principal chapel of the Carmine, where he painted the whole o