terwards granted to the family of the Boscoli,
and still retains these paintings of Buffalmacco. Here he did the
Passion of Christ, with fine and original expressions, showing in
Christ, when He washes the disciples' feet, the greatest humility and
benignity, and cruelty and fierceness in the Jews who lead Him to
Herod. But he displayed especial originality and facility in a Pilate
whom he painted in prison and in Judas, hung to a tree, from which we
may readily believe what is related of this pleasant painter, that
when he wished to be diligent and take pains, which rarely happened,
he was not inferior to any other artist of his time. That this is
true is proved by his works in fresco in Ognissanti, where the
cemetery now is, produced with such diligence and with such
precautions that the water which has rained upon them for many years
has not injured them or caused any harm except by preventing a
recognition of their excellence. They are so well preserved because
they were done simply upon fresh lime. On the walls are the Nativity
of Jesus Christ and the Adoration of the Magi, that is to say, over
the tomb of the Aliotti. After these works Buonamico went to Bologna,
where he painted in fresco on the vaults of the chapel of the
Bolognini in S. Petronio, but did not finish them, for some reason
unknown to me. It is said that in the year 1302 he was summoned to
Assisi, and in the chapel of St Catherine in the church of S.
Francesco he painted the history of the former saint's life in
fresco, works which are very well preserved, and containing some
figures well worthy of praise. When he had completed the chapel and
was on his way through Arezzo, the bishop Guido, who had heard that
Buonamico was a pleasant man and a painter of talent, wished him to
stay in the city and paint for him the chapel in the Vescovado
containing the Baptism of Christ. Buonamico put his hand to the work
and had already done a considerable part of it when a very strange
adventure happened to him, related by Franco Sacchetti in his "Three
Hundred Tales." The bishop possessed a baboon, the most mischievous
and malignant creature that ever was seen. This animal was one day
standing on his perch and watching Buonamico work, having lost
thought of everything else, and never taking his eyes off him as he
mixed the colours, managed the tools, broke the eggs to make the
tempera, or did any other thing, no matter what. One Saturday evening
Buonamico left th