e at the time when he painted the arch with
the four figures; but finally an Abbot, who was a man of judgment and
breeding, determined that he should finish that work. Thereupon Andrea,
who had already pledged himself to it on a previous occasion, far from
making any demur, put his hand to the task, and, working at it one piece
at a time when he felt so inclined, finished it in a few months, and
that in such a manner, that the work was held to be, as it certainly is,
the most spontaneous and the most vivacious in colouring and drawing
that he ever made, or that ever could be made. For, among other things,
he gave infinite grandeur, majesty, and grace to all the figures,
insomuch that I know not what to say of this Last Supper that would not
be too little, it being such that whoever sees it is struck with
amazement. Wherefore it is no marvel that on account of its excellence
it was left standing amid the havoc of the siege of Florence, in the
year 1529, at which time the soldiers and destroyers, by command of
those in authority, pulled down all the suburbs without the city, and
all the monasteries, hospitals, and other buildings. These men, I say,
having destroyed the Church and Campanile of S. Salvi, and beginning to
throw down part of the convent, had come to the refectory where this
Last Supper is, when their leader, seeing so marvellous a painting, of
which he may have heard speak, abandoned the undertaking and would not
let any more of that place be destroyed, reserving the task until such
time as there should be no alternative.

[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST

(_After the painting on a tile by =Andrea del Sarto=. Florence: Uffizi,
280_)

_Alinari_]

Andrea then painted for the Company of S. Jacopo, called the Nicchio, on
a banner for carrying in processions, a S. James fondling a little boy
dressed as a Flagellant by stroking him under the chin, with another boy
who has a book in his hand, executed with beautiful grace and
naturalness. He made a portrait from life of a steward of the Monks of
Vallombrosa, who lived almost always in the country on the affairs of
his monastery; and this portrait was placed under a sort of bower, in
which he had made pergole and contrivances of his own in various
fanciful designs, so that it was buffeted by wind and rain, according to
the pleasure of that steward, who was the friend of Andrea. And because,
when the work was finished, there were some colours and lime left ov