of
Andrea, to be born at a time when, all work being rudely done, there was
great esteem even for that which deserved to be esteemed very little, or
rather not at all. This same thing befell Fra Jacopo da Turrita, of the
Order of S. Francis, seeing that, having made the works in mosaic that
are in the recess behind the altar of the said S. Giovanni,
notwithstanding that they were little worthy of praise he was
remunerated for them with extraordinary rewards, and afterwards, as an
excellent master, summoned to Rome, where he wrought certain things in
the chapel of the high-altar of S. Giovanni Laterano, and in that of S.
Maria Maggiore. Next, being summoned to Pisa, he made the Evangelists in
the principal apse of the Duomo, with other works that are there,
assisted by Andrea Tafi and by Gaddo Gaddi, and using the same manner
wherein he had done his other works; but he left them little less than
wholly imperfect, and they were afterwards finished by Vicino.

The works of these men, then, were prized for some time; but when the
works of Giotto, as will be said in its own place, were set in
comparison with those of Andrea, of Cimabue, and of the others, people
recognized in part the perfection of the art, seeing the difference that
there was between the early manner of Cimabue and that of Giotto, in the
figures of the one and of the other and in those that their disciples
and imitators made. From this beginning the others sought step by step
to follow in the path of the best masters, surpassing one another
happily from one day to another, so that from such depths these arts
have been raised, as is seen, to the height of their perfection.

Andrea lived eighty-one years, and died before Cimabue, in 1294. And by
reason of the reputation and the honour that he gained with his mosaic,
seeing that he, before any other man, introduced and taught it in better
manner to the men of Tuscany, he was the cause that Gaddo Gaddi, Giotto,
and the others afterwards made the most excellent works of that craft
which have acquired for them fame and an eternal name. After the death
of Andrea there was not wanting one to magnify him with this
inscription:

QUI GIACE ANDREA, CH' OPRE LEGGIADRE E BELLE
FECE IN TUTTA TOSCANA, ED ORA E ITO
A FAR VAGO LO REGNO DELLE STELLE.

A disciple of Andrea was Buonamico Buffalmacco, who, being very young,
played him many tricks, and had from him the portrait of Pope Celestine
IV, a Milan