ere
some scenes in oils with figures large and small, which gave much
satisfaction to the nuns at that time, and also to the other painters.
For the same place he painted another altar-piece, which stood lower
down, but this was burned one night, together with some draperies of
great value, through some lights being inadvertently left on the altar;
which was certainly a great loss, seeing that the work was much extolled
by craftsmen. And for the Nuns of S. Giorgio in sulla Costa he executed
the altar-piece of their high-altar, painting in it the Madonna, S.
Catharine, S. Giovanni Gualberto, S. Bernardo Uberti the Cardinal, and
S. Fedele.

Granacci also executed many pictures, both square and round, which are
dispersed among the houses of gentlemen in the city; and he made many
cartoons for glass-windows, which were afterwards put into execution by
the Frati Ingiesuati of Florence. He delighted much in painting on
cloth, either alone or in company with others; wherefore, in addition to
the works mentioned above, he painted many church-banners. And since he
practised art more to pass the time than from necessity, he worked at
his ease, always consulting his own convenience, and avoiding
discomforts as much as he was able, more than any other man; and yet,
without being covetous of the goods of others, he always preserved his
own. Allowing but few cares to oppress him, he was a merry fellow, and
took his pleasures with a glad heart. He lived sixty-seven years, at the
end of which he finished the course of his life after an ordinary
malady, a kind of fever; and he was buried in the Church of S. Ambrogio
at Florence, on the day of S. Andrew the Apostle, in 1544.

[Illustration: THE MADONNA GIVING THE GIRDLE TO S. THOMAS

(_After the panel by =Francesco Granacci=. Florence: Uffizi, 1280_)

_Alinari_]

FOOTNOTE:

[10] From the "canti," or "songs," that were sung in them.

[11] The "Potenze" were merry companies composed of the men of
the various quarters in costume. Each quarter had its own, representing
an Emperor, King, or Prince, and his Court.

BACCIO D' AGNOLO

LIFE OF BACCIO D' AGNOLO

ARCHITECT OF FLORENCE

Great is the pleasure that I take in studying at times the beginnings of
our craftsmen, for one sees some rising from the lowest depth to the
greatest height, and especially in architecture, a science which has not
been practised for several years past save by carvers and cunning
impostor