work, one of them, Benedetto,
spending a long time as a wanderer, and the other distilling his brains
away vainly in the study of mosaic. David, who had been much beloved by
Domenico, and who loved him equally, both living and dead, finished
after his death, in company with his brother Benedetto, many works begun
by Domenico, and in particular the altar-piece of the high-altar in S.
Maria Novella, that is, the part at the back, which now faces the choir;
and some pupils of the same Domenico finished the predella in little
figures, Niccolaio painting with great diligence, below the figure of
S. Stephen, a disputation of that Saint, while Francesco Granacci,
Jacopo del Tedesco, and Benedetto executed the figures of S. Antonino,
Archbishop of Florence, and S. Catharine of Siena. And they painted an
altar-picture of S. Lucia that is in that place, with the head of a
friar, near the centre of the church; and many other paintings and
pictures that are in the houses of various individuals.

After having been several years in France, where he worked and earned
not a little, Benedetto returned to Florence with many privileges and
presents that he had received from that King in testimony of his
talents. And finally, after having given his attention not only to
painting but also to miniatures, he died at the age of fifty.

David, although he drew and worked much, yet did not greatly surpass
Benedetto: and this may have come about from his being too prosperous,
and from not keeping his thoughts fixed on art, who is never found save
by him who seeks her, and, when found, must not be abandoned, or she
flies away. By the hand of David, in the garden of the Monks of the
Angeli in Florence, at the head of a path that is opposite to a door
that leads into that garden, are two figures in fresco at the foot of a
Crucifix--namely, S. Benedict and S. Romualdo--with some other similar
works, little worthy to have any record made of them. But, while David
himself would not give attention to art, it was not a little to his
credit that he caused his nephew Ridolfo, the son of Domenico, to devote
himself to it with all diligence, and set him on the right way; for that
Ridolfo, who was under the care of David, being a lad of beautiful
genius, was placed by him to practise painting, and provided with all
facilities for study by his uncle, who repented too late that he had not
studied that art, and had spent all his time on mosaic. David executed
o