; and that if he were not
willing to set to work, there was Franciabigio, who, in order to make
himself known, had offered to accept it and to leave the matter of
payment to him. These incitements did much to make Andrea resolve to
undertake the work, and the rather as he was a man of little spirit; and
the last reference to Franciabigio induced him to make up his mind
completely and to come to an agreement, in the form of a written
contract, with regard to the whole work, on the terms that no one else
should have a hand in it. The friar, then, having thus pledged him and
given him money, demanded that he should begin by continuing the life of
S. Filippo, without receiving more than ten ducats from him in payment
of each scene; and he told Andrea that he was giving him even that out
of his own pocket, and was doing it more for the benefit and advantage
of the painter than through any want or need of the convent.

Andrea, therefore, pursuing that work with the utmost diligence, like
one who thought more of honour than of profit, after no long time
completely finished the first three scenes and unveiled them. One was
the scene of S. Filippo, now a friar, clothing the naked. In another he
is shown rebuking certain gamesters, who blasphemed God and laughed at
S. Filippo, mocking at his admonition, when suddenly there comes a
lightning-flash from Heaven, which, striking a tree under the shade of
which they were sheltering, kills two of them and throws the rest into
an incredible panic. Some, with their hands to their heads, cast
themselves forward in dismay; others, crying aloud in their terror, turn
to flight; a woman, beside herself with fear at the sound of the
thunder, is running away so naturally that she appears to be truly
alive; and a horse, breaking loose amid this uproar and confusion,
reveals with his leaps and fearsome movements what fear and terror are
caused by things so sudden and so unexpected. In all this one can see
how carefully Andrea looked to variety of incident in the representation
of such events, with a forethought truly beautiful and most necessary
for one who practises painting. In the third he painted the scene of S.
Filippo delivering a woman from evil spirits, with all the most
characteristic considerations that could be imagined in such an action.
All these scenes brought extraordinary fame and honour to Andrea; and
thus encouraged, he went on to paint two other scenes in the same
cloister. On