mit of that shrine that they were then much extolled,
as they have been ever afterwards, and in them Niccolo appears to have
surpassed himself, for he never did anything better. In short, they are
such that they can stand beside any other work of that kind; wherefore
he acquired so great credit that he was thought worthy to be in the
number of those who were under consideration for the making of the
bronze doors of S. Giovanni, although, when the proof was made, he was
left behind, and they were allotted, as it will be said in the proper
place, to another. After these labours Niccolo went to Milan, where he
was made Overseer of the Works of the Duomo in that city; and there he
wrought some things in marble which gave great satisfaction.

Finally, being called back to his own country by the Aretines to the end
that he might make a tabernacle for the Sacrament, while returning he
was forced to stay in Bologna and to make the tomb of Pope Alexander V,
who had finished the course of his years in that city, for the Convent
of the Friars Minor. And although he was very unwilling to accept this
work, he could not, however, but comply with the prayers of Messer
Leonardo Bruni, the Aretine, who had been a highly-favoured Secretary of
that Pontiff. Niccolo, then, made the said tomb and portrayed that Pope
thereon from nature; although it is true that from lack of marble and
other stone the tomb and its ornaments were made of stucco and
brick-work, and likewise the statue of the Pope on the sarcophagus,
which is placed behind the choir of the said church. This work finished,
Niccolo fell grievously sick and died shortly afterwards at the age of
sixty-seven, and was buried in the same church, in the year 1417. His
portrait was made by Galasso of Ferrara, very much his friend, who was
painting at that time in Bologna in competition with Jacopo and Simone,
painters of Bologna, and one Cristofano--I know not whether of Ferrara,
or, as others say, of Modena--who all painted many works in fresco in a
church called the Casa di Mezzo, without the Porta di S. Mammolo.
Cristofano painted scenes on one side, from the Creation of Adam by God
up to the death of Moses, Simone and Jacopo painted thirty scenes, from
the Birth of Christ up to the Last Supper that He held with the
Apostles, and Galasso then painted the Passion, as it is seen from the
name of each man, written below. These pictures were made in the year
1404, and afterwards the rest