by the legs with a rope, others
offering the sponge, and others in various attitudes, such as the
Longinus who is piercing His side, and the three soldiers who are
gambling for His raiment, in the faces of whom there is seen hope and
fear as they throw the dice. The first of these, in armour, is standing
in an uncomfortable attitude awaiting his turn, and shows himself so
eager to throw that he appears not to be feeling the discomfort; the
other, raising his eyebrows, with his mouth and with his eyes wide open,
is watching the dice, in suspicion, as it were, of fraud, and shows
clearly to anyone who studies him the desire and the wish that he has to
win. The third, who is throwing the dice, having spread the garment on
the ground, appears to be announcing with a grin his intention of
casting them. In like manner, throughout the walls of the church are
seen some stories of S. John the Evangelist, and throughout the city
other works made by Taddeo, which are recognized as being by his hand by
anyone who has judgment in art. In the Vescovado, also, behind the
high-altar, there are still seen some stories of S. John the Baptist,
which are wrought with such marvellous manner and design that they cause
him to be held in admiration. In the Chapel of S. Sebastiano in S.
Agostino, beside the sacristy, he made the stories of that martyr, and a
Disputation of Christ with the Doctors, so well wrought and finished
that it is a miracle to see the beauty in the changing colours of
various sorts and the grace in the pigments of these works, which are
finished to perfection.

[Illustration: TADDEO GADDI: THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE

(_Florence: Accademia 107. Panel_)]

In the Church of the Sasso della Vernia in the Casentino he painted the
chapel wherein S. Francis received the Stigmata, assisted in the minor
details by Jacopo di Casentino, who became his disciple by reason of
this visit. This work finished, he returned to Florence together with
Giovanni, the Milanese, and there, both within the city and without,
they made very many panels and pictures of importance; and in process of
time he gained so much, turning all into capital, that he laid the
foundation of the wealth and the nobility of his family, being ever held
a prudent and far-sighted man.

He also painted the Chapter-house in S. Maria Novella, being
commissioned by the Prior of the place, who suggested the subject to
him. It is true, indeed, that by reason of the wo