Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 01 (of 10)

Giorgio Vasari · 1550-1552 (main composition); 1568 (revised edition includes later prefatory material)

passage 143 of 167 · Chapter-house, where the Apostles are seen represented on the vaulting, with scrolls in their hands whereon is written that part of the Creed which each one of them made; and below each is a little scene containing in painting that same subject that is signified above by the writing. > Chapter-house of S. Spirito in Florence. This work would be worthy of a longer life than peradventure will be granted to it, there being in it many horses and soldiers in beautiful attitudes, which they are striking with various animated movements, doubting and marvelling whether they have crucified or not the Son of God. At Assisi, likewise, in the lower (6/6)

in brief

Vasari recounts Taddeo’s religious paintings—from the Stigmata of Saint Francis at the Sasso della Vernia (Casentino) to fresco and panels in Florence—and praises his prudence and wealth-building.

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.

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 work being large and of there being unveiled, at that time when the bridges were being made, the

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topics: crafts, industry, and manufacture · poverty and wealth · prudence and practical wisdom

Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 01 (of 10) · Giorgio Vasari · 1550–1552