as ever able and willing to take revenge in one way or another
for any affront.

But let us say something of Domenico, before we come to the work of the
said chapel. Before coming to Florence, Domenico had painted some
pictures with much grace in the Sacristy of S. Maria at Loreto, in
company with Piero della Francesca; which pictures, besides what he had
wrought in other places (such as an apartment in the house of the
Baglioni in Perugia, which is now in ruins), had made his fame known in
Florence. Being summoned to that city, before doing anything else, he
painted a Madonna in the midst of some saints, in fresco, in a shrine on
the Canto de' Carnesecchi, at the corner of two streets, of which one
leads to the new Piazza di S. Maria Novella and the other to the old.
This work, being approved and greatly extolled by the citizens and by
the craftsmen of those times, caused even greater disdain and envy to
blaze up in the accursed mind of Andrea against poor Domenico;
wherefore Andrea, having determined to effect by deceit and treachery
what he could not carry out openly without manifest peril to himself,
pretended to be very much the friend of Domenico, who, being a good and
affectionate fellow, fond of singing and devoted to playing on the lute,
received him as a friend very willingly, thinking Andrea to be a clever
and amusing person. And so, continuing this friendship, so true on one
side and so false on the other, they would come together every night to
make merry and to serenade their mistresses; and this gave great delight
to Domenico, who, loving Andrea sincerely, taught him the method of
colouring in oil, which as yet was not known in Tuscany.

Andrea, then (to take events in their due order), working on his wall in
the Chapel of S. Maria Nuova, painted an Annunciation, which is held
very beautiful, for in that work he painted the Angel in the air, which
had never been done up to that time. But a much more beautiful work is
held to be that wherein he made the Madonna ascending the steps of the
Temple, on which he depicted many beggars, and one among them hitting
another on the head with a pitcher; and not only that figure but all the
others are wondrously beautiful, for he wrought them with much care and
love, out of rivalry with Domenico. There is seen, also, in the middle
of a square, an octagonal temple drawn in perspective, standing by
itself and full of pilasters and niches, with the facade very richly
ado