tist as to whose
reality much scepticism prevails. They are not in themselves of much
interest, although the sacristan's eagerness should not be discouraged;
but Buffalmacco being Boccaccio's, Sacchetti's, Vasari's (and, later,
Anatole France's) amusing hero, it is pleasant to look at his work and
think of his freakishness. Buffalmacco (if he ever existed) was one
of the earlier painters, flourishing between 1311 and 1350, and was
a pupil of Andrea Tafi. This simple man he plagued very divertingly,
once frightening him clean out of his house by fixing little lighted
candles to the backs of beetles and steering them into Tafi's bedroom
at night. Tafi was terrified, but on being told by Buffalmacco (who was
a lazy rascal) that these devils were merely showing their objection
to early rising, he became calm again, and agreed to lie in bed to
a reasonable hour. Cupidity, however, conquering, he again ordered
his pupil to be up betimes, when the beetles again re-appeared and
continued to do so until the order was revoked.

The sculptor Mino da Fiesole, whom we shall shortly see again, at the
Bargello, in portrait busts and Madonna reliefs, is at his best here,
in the superb monument to Count Ugo, who founded, with his mother,
the Benedictine Abbey of which the Badia is the relic. Here all Mino's
sweet thoughts, gaiety and charm are apparent, together with the
perfection of radiant workmanship. The quiet dignity of the recumbent
figure is no less masterly than the group above it. Note the impulsive
urgency of the splendid Charity, with her two babies, and the quiet
beauty of the Madonna and Child above all, while the proportions and
delicate patterns of the tomb as a whole still remain to excite one's
pleasure and admiration. We shall see many tombs in Florence--few not
beautiful--but none more joyously accomplished than this. The tomb
of Carlo Marsuppini in S. Croce by Desiderio da Settignano, which
awaits us, was undoubtedly the parent of the Ugo, Mino following his
master very closely; but his charm was his own. According to Vasari,
the Ugo tomb was considered to be Mino's finest achievement, and he
deliberately made the Madonna and Child as like the types of his
beloved Desiderio as he could. It was finished in 1481, and Mino
died in 1484, from a chill following over-exertion in moving heavy
stones. Mino also has here a monument to Bernardo Giugni, a famous
gonfalonier in the time of Cosimo de' Medici, marked by the same