me, and finding that the painter did not reappear, caused the
scaffolding to be taken down, and discovered that Buonamico had been
making a jest of him. Furious at this affront, Guido condemned the
artist to banishment for life from his dominions; which, when Buonamico
learnt, he sent word to the bishop that he might do his worst,
whereupon the bishop threatened him with fearful consequences. Yet
considering afterwards that he had been tricked, only because he had
intended to put an affront upon the painter, Bishop Guido forgave him,
and even rewarded him liberally for his labors. Nay, Buffalmacco was
again invited to Arezzo, no long time after, by the same prelate, who
always treated him as a valued servant and familiar friend, confiding
many works in the old cathedral to his care, all of which, unhappily,
are now destroyed. Buonamico also painted the apsis of the principal
chapel in the church of San Giustino in Arezzo."

In the notes of the Roman and other earlier editions of Vasari, we are
told that the lion being the insignia of Florence, and the eagle, that
of Arezzo, the bishop designed to assert his own superiority over the
former city, he being lord of Arezzo; but later commentators affirm,
that Guido, being a furious Ghibelline, intended rather to offer an
affront to the Guelfs, by exalting the eagle, which was the emblem of
his party, over the lion, that of the Guelfs.

ORIGIN OF LABEL PAINTING.

Buffalmacco is generally considered the inventor of label painting, or
the use of a label drawn from the mouth to represent it speaking; but it
was practiced by Cimabue, and probably long before his time, in Italy.
Pliny tells us that it was practiced by the early Greek painters.
Vasari says that Buffalmacco was invited to Pisa, where he painted many
pictures in the Abbey of St. Paul, on the banks of the Arno, which then
belonged to the monks of Vallambrosa. He covered the entire surface of
the church, from the roof to the floor, with histories from the Old
Testament, beginning with the creation of man and continuing to the
building of the Tower of Babel. In the church of St. Anastasia, he also
painted certain stories from the life of that saint, "in which," says
Vasari, "are very many beautiful costumes and head-dresses of women,
painted with a charming grace of manner." Bruno de Giovanni, the friend
and pupil of Buonamico, was associated with him in this work. He too, is
celebrated by Boccaccio, as a man of joy