, which led to the picture being burnt.
It was afterwards made entirely of marble by the monks, as it is now.
In the same place this same master did a very fine Transfiguration in
fresco on a cupboard in the chapel. Being much inclined by nature to
the study of herbs, he devoted himself to the mastery of Dioscorides,
taking pleasure in learning the properties and virtues of each plant,
so that he ultimately abandoned painting and devoted himself to
distilling simples with great assiduity. Having thus transformed
himself from a painter into a physician, he pursued the latter
profession for some time. At length he fell-sick of a disorder of the
stomach, or, as some say, through treating the plague, and finished
the course of his life at the age of seventy-four in the year 1384,
when the plague was raging in Florence. His skill as a physician
equalled his diligence as a painter, for he gained an extensive
experience in medicine from those who had employed him in their need,
and he left behind him a high reputation in both arts. Antonio was a
very graceful designer with the pen, and so excellent in chiaroscuro
that some sheets of his in our book, in which he did the arch of S.
Spirito, are the best of the age. Gherardo Starnini of Florence was a
pupil of Antonio, and closely imitated him, while another pupil of
his, Paolo Uccello, brought him no small credit. The portrait of
Antonio of Venice by his own hand is in the Campo Santo at Pisa.

Jacopo di Casentino, Painter.

As the fame and renown of the paintings of Giotto and his pupils had
been spread abroad for many years, many, who were desirous of
obtaining fame and riches by means of the art of painting, began to
be animated by the hope of glory, and by natural inclination, to make
progress towards the improvement of the art, feeling confident that,
with effort, they would be able to surpass in excellence Giotto,
Taddeo, and the other painters. Among these was one Jacopo di
Casentino, who was born, as we read, of the family of M. Cristoforo
Landino of Pratovecchio, and was associated by the friar of
Casentino, then superior at the Sasso del Vernia, with Taddeo Gaddi,
while he was working in that convent, in order that he might learn
design and colour. In a few years he so far succeeded, that, being
taken to Florence in the company of Giovanni di Milano, in the
service of their master, Taddeo, where they were doing many things,
he was asked to paint in tempera th