for he had devoted all his attention to trading, which was
of great service to him, as appeared when his sons, who did not wish
to live by painting any longer, devoted themselves entirely to
commerce, opening an establishment at Venice in conjunction with
their father, who after a certain time abandoned painting altogether,
only to take it up as an amusement and pastime. By dint of trading
and practising his art, Agnolo had amassed considerable wealth when
he came to die in the sixty-third year of his life, succumbing to a
malignant fever which carried him off in a few days. His pupils were
Maestro Antonio da Ferrara, who did many fine works in Urbino and at
Citta di Castello, and Stefano da Verona, who painted with the
greatest perfection in fresco, as may be seen in several places in
his native Verona, and at Mantua, where his works are numerous. Among
other things he excelled in beautifully rendering the expressions of
the faces of children, women and old men, as his works show, which
were all imitated and copied by that Piero da Perugia, miniature
painter, who illuminated all the books in the library of Pope Pius in
the Duomo of Siena, and who was a skilful colourist in fresco. Other
pupils of Agnolo were Michaele da Milano and his own brother
Giovanni, who in the cloister of S. Spirito, where the arches of
Gaddo and Taddeo are, painted the dispute of Christ with the doctors
in the temple, the Purification of the Virgin, the Temptation of
Christ in the wilderness, and the baptism of John, but after having
given rise to the highest expectations he died. Cennino di Drea
Cennini da Colle of Valdelsa also learned painting from Andrea. He
was very fond of his art and wrote a book describing the methods of
working in fresco, in tempera, in glue and in gum, and also how to
illuminate and all the ways of laying on gold. This book is in the
possession of Giuliano, goldsmith of Siena, an excellent master and
fond of that art. The first part of the book deals with the nature of
colours, both minerals and earths, as he had learned it of Agnolo his
master. As he did not perhaps succeed in painting with perfection, he
was at least anxious to know the peculiarities of the colours, the
temperas, the glues and of chalks, and what colours one ought to
avoid mixing as injurious, and in short many other hints which I need
not dilate upon, since all these matters, which he then considered
very great secrets, are now universally known. Bu