of liberating Him. In short,
this picture is such that, if the little care that has been taken of it
had not allowed it to be scratched and spoilt by children and
simpletons, who have scratched all the heads and the arms and almost the
entire persons of the Jews, as though they would thus take vengeance on
them for the wrongs of Our Lord, it would certainly be the most
beautiful of all the works of Andrea. And if Nature had given grace of
colouring to this craftsman, even as she gave him invention and design,
he would have been held truly marvellous.

In S. Maria del Fiore he painted the image of Niccolo da Tolentino on
horseback; and while he was working at this a boy who was passing shook
his ladder, whereupon he flew into such a rage, like the brutal man that
he was, that he jumped down and ran after him as far as the Canto de'
Pazzi. In the cemetery of S. Maria Nuova, also, below the Ossa, he
painted a S. Andrew, which gave so much satisfaction that he was
afterwards commissioned to paint the Last Supper of Christ with His
Apostles in the refectory, where the nurses and other attendants have
their meals. Having acquired favour through this work with the house of
Portinari and with the Director of the hospital, he was appointed to
paint a part of the principal chapel, of which another part was allotted
to Alesso Baldovinetti, and the third to the then greatly celebrated
painter Domenico da Venezia, who had been summoned to Florence by reason
of the new method that he knew of painting in oil. Now, while each of
them applied himself to his part of the work, Andrea was very envious of
Domenico, because, while knowing himself to be superior to the other in
design, he was much displeased that the Venetian, although a foreigner,
should be welcomed and entertained by the citizens; wherefore anger and
disdain moved him so strongly, that he began to think whether he could
not in one way or another remove him from his path. Andrea was no less
crafty in dissimulation than he was excellent in painting, being
cheerful of countenance at his pleasure, ready of speech, fiery in
spirit, and as resolute in every bodily action as he was in mind; he
felt towards others as he did towards Domenico, and, if he saw some
error in the works of other craftsmen, he was wont to mark it secretly
with his nail. And in his youth, when his works were criticized in any
respect, he would give the critics to know by means of blows and insults
that he w