HKB
Taddeo Gaddi, Painter of Florence.
It is a truly useful and admirable task to reward talent largely at every opportunity, because great abilities which would otherwise lie dormant, are excited by this stimulus and endeavour with all industry, not only to learn, but to excel, to raise themselves to a useful and honourable rank, from which flow honour to their country, glory to themselves, and riches and nobility to their descendants, who, being brought up on such principles, often become very rich and noble, as did the descendants of Taddeo Gaddi the painter, by means of his works. This Taddeo di Gaddo Gaddi of Florence, after the death of Gaddo, had been the pupil of his godfather Giotto for twenty-four years, as Cennino di Drea Ceninni, painter of Colle di Valdelsa writes. On the death of Giotto he became the first painter of the day, by reason of his judgment and genius, surpassing his fellow-pupils. His first works, executed with a facility due to natural ability rather than to acquired skill, were in the church of S. Croce at Florence in the chapel of the sacristy, where, in conjunction with his fellow-pupils of the dead Giotto, he did some fine scenes from the life of St Mary Magdalene, the figures and draperies being very remarkable, the costumes being those then worn. In the chapel of the Baroncelli and Bandini, where Giotto had already done a picture in tempera, Taddeo did some scenes from the life of the Virgin in fresco on the wall, which were considered very beautiful. Over the door of the same sacristy he painted the scene of Christ disputing with the doctors in the temple, which was afterwards destroyed when Cosimo de' Medici the elder built the noviciate, the chapel and the vestibule of the sacristy, in order to put a stone cornice above that door. In the same church he painted in fresco the chapel of the Bellacci and that of St Andrew, next to one of the three done by Giotto, in which he represented Christ calling Andrew and Peter from their nets, and the crucifixion of the latter apostle with such truth that it was much admired and praised when it was completed, and is still held in esteem at the present day. Over the side door and under the tomb of Carlo Marsupini of Arezzo, he made a dead Christ with Mary, in fresco, which was much admired. Below the screen of the church, on the left hand above the crucifix of Donato, he painted in fresco a miracle of St Francis, where he raises a boy killed by a fall from a terrace, with an apparition in the air. In this scene he drew the portraits of his master Giotto, the poet Dante, Guido Cavalcanti, and some say of himself. In different places in the same church he made a number of figures, which are recognised by artists from their style. For the company of the Temple he painted the tabernacle which is at the corner of the via del Crocifisso, containing a fine deposition from the cross. In the cloister of S. Spirito he did two scenes in the arches next the chapter-house, in one of which he represented Judas selling Christ, and in the other the Last Supper with the Apostles. In the same convent over the door of the refectory he painted a crucifix and some saints, which distinguish him, among the others who worked there, as a true imitator of the style of Giotto, whom he always held in the highest veneration. In S. Stefano of the Ponte Vecchio he painted the picture and predella of the high altar with great care, and in the oratory of S. Michele in Orto he very skilfully represented in a picture a dead Christ, wept over by Mary, and deposited in the sepulchre by Nicodemus with great devotion. In the church of the Servites he painted the chapel of St Nicholas, belonging to the Palagio family, with stories of that saint, where, in his painting of a barque, he has clearly shown with the greatest judgment and grace, that he had a thorough knowledge of a tempestuous sea and of the fury of Fortune. In this work St Nicholas appears in the air, while the mariners are emptying the ship and throwing out the merchandise, and frees them from their danger. This work gave great satisfaction and was much admired, so that Taddeo was commissioned to paint the chapel of the high altar of that church. Here he did in fresco some stories of Our Lady, and in tempera on a panel, Our Lady with many saints, a very vigorous representation. Similarly, on the predella of this picture he did some stories of Our Lady in small figures, into the details of which it is not necessary to enter, because everything was destroyed in the year 1467 when Ludovico, Marquis of Mantua, made in that place the tribune which is there now, from the design of Leon Battista Alberti, and the choir of the friars, causing the picture to be taken to the chapter-house of that convent, in the refectory of which he made above the wooden backs, the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles, and above that a crucifix with many saints. When Taddeo had completed this work he was invited to Pisa where he painted the principal chapel of S. Francesco in fresco, very well coloured, for Gherardo and Bonaccorso Gambacorti, with many figures and stories of the saint, and of St Andrew and St Nicholas. On the vaulting and the wall is Pope Honorius confirming the rule, and a representation of Taddeo from life, in profile, with a hood folded over his head. At the bottom of this scene are these words: