ccolo also painted for the
same Domenico a round picture of the Madonna with a multitude below, in
oils and on cloth, for the baldachin of the Confraternity of Arezzo,
which was burned, as has been related in the Life of Domenico
Pecori,[32] during a festival that was held in S. Francesco. Then,
having received the commission for a chapel in that same S. Francesco,
the second on the right hand as one enters the church, he painted there
in distemper Our Lady, S. John the Baptist, S. Bernard, S. Anthony, S.
Francis, and three Angels in the air who are singing, with God the
Father in a pediment; which were executed by Niccolo almost entirely in
distemper, with the point of the brush. But since the work has almost
all peeled off on account of the strength of the distemper, it was
labour thrown away. Niccolo did this in order to try new methods; and
when he had recognized that the true method was working in fresco, he
seized the first opportunity, and undertook to paint in fresco a chapel
in S. Agostino in that city, beside the door on the left hand as one
enters the church. In this chapel, which was allotted to him by one
Scamarra, a master of furnaces, he painted a Madonna in the sky with a
multitude beneath, and S. Donatus and S. Francis kneeling; but the best
thing that he did in this work was a S. Rocco at the head of the chapel.

This work giving great pleasure to Domenico Ricciardi of Arezzo, who had
a chapel in the Church of the Madonna delle Lagrime, he entrusted the
painting of the altar-piece of that chapel to Niccolo, who, setting his
hand to the work, painted in it with much care and diligence the
Nativity of Jesus Christ. And although he toiled a long time over
finishing it, he executed it so well that he deserves to be excused for
this, or rather, merits infinite praise, for the reason that it is a
most beautiful work; nor would anyone believe with what extraordinary
consideration he painted every least thing in it, and a ruined building,
near the hut wherein are the Infant Christ and the Virgin, is drawn very
well in perspective. In the S. Joseph and some Shepherds are many heads
portrayed from life, such as Stagio Sassoli, a painter and the friend of
Niccolo, and Papino della Pieve, his disciple, who, if he had not died
when still young, would have done very great honour both to himself and
to his country; and three Angels in the air who are singing are so well
executed that they would be enough by themselves