t time
forward neither the vaulting nor the roof has ever suffered any harm
from the water. His subsequent restoration of the mosaics led by his
advice to the reconstruction from his well-devised plans of the whole
of the cornice of the church above the marble, under the roof, in its
present form, whereas it was originally much smaller and by no means
remarkable. He also directed the construction of the vaulting for the
hall of the Podesta palace, where an ordinary roof had formerly
existed, so that in addition to the added beauty which it gave the
room, it rendered it proof against damage by fire, which it had
frequently suffered before. By his advice the present battlements
were added to the palace, where nothing of the kind had previously
existed.

While these works were proceeding, he did not entirely abandon
painting, but executed in tempera a picture of Our Lady for the high
altar of S. Pancrazio, with St John the Baptist, St John the
Evangelist, the brothers St Nereus, Achilleus, and Prancrazius, and
other saints hard by. But the best part of this work, and indeed the
only part of it which is really good, is the predella filled with
small figures, divided into eight scenes dealing with the Madonna and
St Reparata. Subsequently in a picture for the high altar of S. Maria
Novella at Florence, executed for Barone Capelli in 1348, he made a
very fair group of angels about a Coronation of the Virgin. Shortly
afterwards he painted in fresco a series of subjects from the life of
the Virgin in the Pieve of Prato, which had been rebuilt under the
direction of Giovanni Pisano in 1312, as has been said above, in the
chapel where Our Lady's girdle was deposited, and he did a number of
other works in other churches of that same country which is full of
very considerable monasteries and convents. In Florence he next
painted the arch over the gate of S. Romeo, and in Orto S. Michele
did in tempera a Christ disputing with the doctors in the temple. At
the same time for the enlargement of the piazza of the Signori a
large number of buildings was pulled down, and notably the church of
S. Romolo, which was rebuilt from Agnolo's plans. In the churches of
this city many pictures by his hand may be seen, and a quantity of
his works may be met with in the lordship. These he produced with
great advantage to himself, although he worked rather for the sake of
following in the steps of his ancestors than from any inclination of
his own;