t I must not omit to
note that he makes no mention of some earth colours, such as dark
terra rossa, cinnabar and some greens in glass, perhaps because they
were not in use. In like manner umber, yellow-lake, the smalts in
fresco and in oil, and some greens and yellows in glass which the
painters of that age lacked, have since been discovered. The end of
the treatise deals with mosaics, with the grinding of colours in oil
to make red, blue, green and other kinds of grounds, and with
mordants for the application of gold but not at that time for
figures. Besides the works which he produced with his master in
Florence, there is a Madonna with saints by his hand under the loggia
of the hospital of Bonifazio Lupi, of such style and colouring that
it has been very well preserved up to the present day.

In the first chapter of his book Cennino says these words in speaking
of himself: "I, Cennino di Drea Cennini da Colle of Valdelsa, was
instructed in this art for twelve years by Agnolo di Taddeo of
Florence, my master, who learned the art of his father Taddeo, whose
godfather was Giotto and who was Giotto's pupil for twenty-four
years. This Giotto transmuted the art of painting from Greek into
Latin, and modernised it, and it is certain that he gave more
pleasure than any one else had ever done." These are Cennino's very
words, by which it appears that as those who translate from Greek
into Latin render a very great service to those who do not understand
Greek, so Giotto, in transmuting the art of painting from a style
which was understood by no one, except perhaps as being extremely
rude, into a beautiful, facile, and smooth manner, known and
understood by all people of taste who possess the slightest judgment,
conferred a great benefit upon mankind.

All these pupils of Agnolo did him the greatest credit. He was buried
by his sons, to whom he is said to have left the value of 50,000
florins or more, in S. Maria Novella, in the tomb which he had made
for himself and his descendants, in the year 1387. The portrait of
Agnolo by his own hand may be seen in the chapel of the Alberti in S.
Croce in the scene in which the Emperor Heraclius is bearing the
cross; he is painted in profile standing beside a door. He wears a
small beard and has a red hood on his head, after the manner of the
time. He was not a good draughtsman, according to the evidence of
some sheets from his hand which are in our book.

Berna, Painter of Sien