the cloister of that
convent he painted a Madonna in fresco with St James and St Anthony
and the portrait of an armed soldier kneeling there, with these
words: _Hoc opus fecit fieri Clemens Pucci de Monte Catino, cujus
corpus jacet hic, etc. Anno Domini 1367 die 15 mensis Maii_. The
representations in the chapel of that church, of St Anthony and other
saints are known by their style to be by Spinello's hand, and he
afterwards painted the whole of a portico in the hospital of S.
Marco, now the monastery of the nuns of St Croce as their original
house, which was outside, was pulled down. The figure of St Gregory
the Pope, among the many represented in this work, standing beside a
Misericordia, is a portrait of Pope Gregory IX. The chapel of St
Philip and St James at the entry into the church of S. Domenico in
the same city, was done in fresco by Spinello in a fine and vigorous
style, as was also a three-quarter length figure of St Anthony,
painted on the wall of the church, which is so fine that it apes
life. It is placed in the midst of four scenes from his life, and
these and many other scenes of the life of St Anthony, also by
Spinello's hand, are in the chapel of St Anthony, in the church of
S. Giustino. On one side of the church of S. Lorenzo he painted some
stories of the Madonna, and outside the church he painted her seated,
doing the work very gracefully in fresco. In a small hospital
opposite of the nuns of S. Spirito, near the gate on the road to
Rome, the whole of the portico is painted by his hand with a
representation of the dead Christ in the lap of the Maries, executed
with so much skill and judgment that it proves him to have equalled
Giotto in the matter of design and to have far surpassed him as a
colourist. In the same place he has represented Christ seated, with a
very ingenious theological signification, having placed the Trinity
inside a Sun so that the same rays and the same glory issue from each
of the three figures. But the same fate has befallen this work as has
happened to many others, to the infinite loss of the lovers of this
art, for it was thrown down to make way for the fortifications of the
city. At the company of the Trinity may be seen a tabernacle outside
the church, by Spinello very finely worked in fresco, comprising the
Trinity, St Peter and SS. Cosmo and Damian dressed in the robes
habitually worn by the physicians of the time. During the production
of these works D. Jacopo d'Arezzo