th all his family, for he was by this time an old man. He
remained there for one year only, and in the chapel of the
Macchiavelli in S. Croce, dedicated to SS. Philip and James, he did
many stories of the life and death of those saints. The picture of
the chapel he did at Arezzo, and sent it on from there in the year
1400, for he was anxious to return to his native place, or, to speak
more correctly, to the place which he looked upon as such. Having
thus returned thither at the age of seventy-seven or more, he was
lovingly received by his relations and friends, and remained there,
much loved and honoured, until the end of his life, which was in the
ninety-second year of his age. Although at the time of his return to
Arezzo he was quite an old man, and had enough property to enable him
to live without working, yet he could not remain idle, since he had
always been accustomed to work, and undertook to do some stories of
St Michael for the company of S. Agnolo in that city. These are
roughly drawn in red on the plastered wall, as was the most ordinary
method of the old artists, and as an example he did a single scene in
one corner, colouring it entirely, which gave considerable
satisfaction. Having afterwards agreed upon the price with the
wardens, he completed the entire front of the high altar,
representing Lucifer establishing his seat in the north, and the fall
of the angels who change into devils as they rain upon the earth. In
the air is St Michael fighting with the serpent of seven heads and
ten horns, and in the middle of the lower part is Lucifer already
changed into a hideous monster. It gave Spinello so much satisfaction
to make him horrible and distorted that it is said (so great is the
power of imagination) that the figure in the picture appeared to him
in a dream, and demanded when the artist had seen him so ugly, asking
why he did him so great an indignity with his brush. Spinello awoke
from his dream speechless from fear, and shook so violently that his
wife hastened to assist him. Yet he ran considerable risk of dying
suddenly, through the failure of the heart, owing to this misfortune,
and it caused his death a short while afterwards, until when he lived
in an utterly dispirited manner with wide open eyes. He died greatly
lamented by his friends, and left the world two sons--one called
Forzore was a goldsmith, who did some admirable work in _niello_ in
Florence; the other, Parri, who followed his father