was one
Margaritone, painter of Arezzo, who, with the others who in that unhappy
century were holding the highest rank in painting, recognized that their
works were little less than wholly obscuring his own fame. Margaritone,
then, being held excellent among the other painters of these times who
were working after the Greek manner, wrought many panels in distemper at
Arezzo, and he painted in fresco--in even more pictures, but in a long
time and with much fatigue--almost the whole Church of S. Clemente,
Abbey of the Order of Camaldoli, which is to-day all in ruins and thrown
down, together with many other buildings and a strong fortress called S.
Chimenti, for the reason that Duke Cosimo de' Medici, not only on that
spot but right round that city, pulled down many buildings and the old
walls (which were restored by Guido Pietramalesco, formerly Bishop and
Patron of that city); in order to rebuild the latter with connecting
wings and bastions, much stronger and smaller than they were, and in
consequence more easy to guard and with few men. There were, in the said
pictures, many figures both small and great, and although they were
wrought after the Greek manner, it was recognized, none the less, that
they had been made with good judgment and lovingly; to which witness is
borne by works by the same man's hand which have survived in that city,
and above all a panel that is now in S. Francesco, in the Chapel of the
Conception, with a modern frame, wherein is a Madonna held by these
friars in great veneration. He made in the same church, also after the
Greek manner, a great Crucifix which is now placed in that chapel where
there is the Office of the Wardens of Works; this is wrought on the
planking, with the Cross outlined, and of this sort he made many in that
city. For the Nuns of S. Margherita he wrought a work that is to-day set
up against the tramezzo[9] of the church--namely, a canvas fixed on a
panel, wherein are scenes with small figures from the life of Our Lady
and of S. John the Baptist, in considerably better manner than the
large, and executed with more diligence and grace. This work is notable,
not only because the said small figures are so well made that they look
like miniatures, but also because it is a marvel to see that a work on
canvas has been preserved for three hundred years. He made throughout
the whole city an infinity of pictures, and at Sargiano, a convent of
the Frati de' Zoccoli, a S. Francis portra