ving courage,
lowered as he was, to go out any more, he shut himself up in his house,
devoting himself to perspective, which kept him ever poor and depressed
up to his death. And so, growing very old, and having but little
contentment in his old age, he died in the eighty-third year of his
life, in 1432, and was buried in S. Maria Novella.

He left a daughter, who had knowledge of drawing, and a wife, who was
wont to say that Paolo would stay in his study all night, seeking to
solve the problems of perspective, and that when she called him to come
to bed, he would say: "Oh, what a sweet thing is this perspective!" And
in truth, if it was sweet to him, it was not otherwise than dear and
useful, thanks to him, to those who exercised themselves therein after
his time.

LORENZO GHIBERTI

LIFE OF LORENZO GHIBERTI

[_LORENZO DI CIONE GHIBERTI OR LORENZO DI BARTOLUCCIO GHIBERTI_]

PAINTER OF FLORENCE

There is no doubt that in every city those who, by reason of any talent,
come into some fame among men, are a most blessed light and example to
many who are either born after them or live in the same age, not to
mention the infinite praise and the extraordinary rewards that they
themselves gain thereby while living. Nor is there anything that does
more to arouse the minds of men, and to render the discipline of study
less fatiguing to them, than the honour and profit which are afterwards
won by labouring at the arts, for the reason that these make every
difficult undertaking easy to them all, and give a greater stimulus to
the growth of their talents, when they are urged to greater efforts by
the praises of the world. Wherefore infinite numbers of men, who feel
and see this, put themselves to great fatigues, in order to attain to
the honour of winning that which they see to have been won by some
compatriot; and for this reason in ancient times men of talent were
rewarded with riches, or honoured with triumphs and images. But since it
is seldom that talent is not persecuted by envy, men must continue to
the best of their power, by means of the utmost excellence, to assure it
of victory, or at least to make it stout and strong to sustain the
attacks of that enemy; even as Lorenzo di Cione Ghiberti, otherwise
called Di Bartoluccio, was enabled to do both by his own merits and by
fortune. This man well deserved the honour of being placed before
themselves by the sculptor Donato and by the architect and sculptor