and beside him the Emperor
Sigismund II. Michelagnolo and I were one day examining this work, when
he praised it much, and then added that these men were alive in
Masaccio's time. To him, while Pisanello and Gentile da Fabriano were
labouring in Rome for Pope Martin on the walls of the Church of S.
Gianni, these masters had allotted a part of the work, when he returned
to Florence, having had news that Cosimo de' Medici, by whom he was much
assisted and favoured, had been recalled from exile; and there he was
commissioned to paint the Chapel of the Brancacci in the Carmine, by
reason of the death of Masolino da Panicale, who had begun it; but
before putting his hand to this, he made, by way of specimen, the S.
Paul that is near the bell-ropes, in order to show the improvement that
he had made in his art. And he demonstrated truly infinite excellence in
this picture, for in the head of that Saint, who is Bartolo di Angiolino
Angiolini portrayed from life, there is seen an expression so awful that
there appears to be nothing lacking in that figure save speech; and he
who has not known S. Paul will see, by looking at this picture, his
honourable Roman culture, together with the unconquerable strength of
that most divine spirit, all intent on the work of the faith. In this
same picture, likewise, he showed a power of foreshortening things
viewed from below upwards which was truly marvellous, as may still be
seen to-day in the feet of the said Apostle, for this was a difficulty
that he solved completely, in contrast with the old rude manner, which,
as I said a little before, used to make all the figures on tip-toe;
which manner lasted up to his day, without any other man correcting it,
and he, by himself and before any other, brought it to the excellence of
our own day.

It came to pass, the while that he was labouring at this work, that the
said Church of the Carmine was consecrated; and Masaccio, in memory of
this, painted the consecration just as it took place, with terra-verde
and in chiaroscuro, over the door that leads into the convent, within
the cloister. And he portrayed therein an infinite number of citizens in
mantles and hoods, who are following the procession, among whom he
painted Filippo di Ser Brunellesco in wooden shoes, Donatello, Masolino
da Panicale, who had been his master, Antonio Brancacci, who caused him
to paint the chapel, Niccolo da Uzzano, Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici,
and Bartolommeo Valori, who