efore, if he
had shown absolute perfection in draughtsmanship, as perchance he might
have done if he had lived longer, he might have been numbered among the
best, since his works are executed with good grace, and with grandeur in
the manner, softness and harmony in the colouring, and much relief and
force in the draughtsmanship, although this is not in all parts
perfect.

[Illustration: MADONNA AND CHILD

(_After the panel by_ Masolino de Panicale. _Bremen: Kunsthalle_)

_N. P.--G._]

PARRI SPINELLI

LIFE OF PARRI SPINELLI

PAINTER OF AREZZO

Parri di Spinello Spinelli, painter of Arezzo, having learnt the first
principles of art from his own father, was brought to Florence by the
agency of Messer Leonardo Bruni of Arezzo, and was received by Lorenzo
Ghiberti into his school, where many young men were learning under his
discipline: and since the doors of S. Giovanni were then being given
their finish, he was put to labour on those figures, in company with
many others, as it has been said above. And having, in this work,
contracted a friendship with Masolino da Panicale, and being pleased
with his method of drawing, he set about imitating him in many respects,
as he also imitated in others the manner of Don Lorenzo degli Angeli.

Parri made his figures much longer and more slender than any painter who
had lived before him, and whereas the others make them in the proportion
of ten heads at most, he gave them eleven, and sometimes twelve; nor did
this make them awkward, although they were slender and were ever bent in
an arch either to the right side or to the left, for the reason that
this, as it appeared to him, and as he himself said, gave them more
vigour. The flow of his draperies was very delicate, with abundance of
folds, which fell from the arms of his figures right down to the feet.
He coloured very well in distemper, and perfectly in fresco, and he was
the first who, in working in fresco, ceased to use verdaccio below
flesh-colours, to be afterwards washed over with rosy flesh-tints in
chiaroscuro, in the manner of water-colours, as Giotto and the other old
masters had done. Parri, on the other hand, used body colours in making
his grounds and tints, placing them with much discretion where it
appeared to him that they would look best--that is, the lights on the
highest points, the middle tints towards the sides, and the darks on the
outlines; with which method of painting he showed more fa