e tabernacle of the Madonna of the
Old Market, with the picture there, and also the one on the Via del
Cocomoro side of the Piazza S. Niccolo. A few years ago both of these
were restored by a very inferior master to Jacopo. For the Dyers, he
did the one at S. Nofri, on the side of their garden wall, opposite
S. Giuseppe. While the vaulting of Orsanmichele, upon its twelve
pillars, was being completed, and covered with a low, rough roof,
awaiting the completion of the building of the palace, which was to
be the granary of the Commune, the painting of these vaults was
entrusted to Jacopo di Casentino, as a very skilled artist. Here he
painted some prophets and the patriarchs, with the heads of the
tribes, sixteen figures in all, on an ultramarine ground, now much
damaged, without other ornamentation. He next did the lower walls and
pilasters with many miracles of Our Lady, and other things which may
be recognised by their style. This done, he returned to Casentino,
and after painting many works in Pratovecchio, Poppi, and other
places of that valley, he proceeded to Arezzo, which then governed
itself with a council of sixty of the richest and most honoured
citizens, to whom all the affairs of the state were entrusted. Here,
in the principal chapel of the Vescovado, he painted a story of St
Martin, and a good number of pictures in the old Duomo, now pulled
down, including a portrait of Pope Innocent VI. in the principal
chapel. He next did the wall where the high altar is, and the chapel
of St Maria della Neve, in the church of S. Bartolommeo, for the
chapter of the canons of the Pieve, and for the old brotherhood of S.
Giovanni de' Peducci he did a number of scenes from the life of that
saint, which are now whitewashed over. He also did the chapel of St
Christopher in the church of S. Domenico, introducing a portrait of
the blessed Masuolo releasing from prison a merchant of the Fei
family, who built the chapel. This saint was a contemporary of the
artist, and a prophet who predicted many misfortunes for the
Aretines. In the church of S. Agostino, Jacopo did some stories of St
Laurence in fresco in the chapel and at the altar of the Nardi with
marvellous style and skill. Since he also practised architecture, he
was employed by the sixty chief citizens mentioned above to bring
under the walls of Arezzo the water which comes from the slopes of
Pori, 300 braccia from the city. In the time of the Romans this water
had been or