IFE OF PIETRO CAVALLINI,

PAINTER OF ROME

For many centuries Rome had been deprived not only of fine letters and
of the glory of arms but also of all the sciences and fine arts, when,
by the will of God, there was born therein Pietro Cavallini, in those
times when Giotto, having, it may be said, restored painting to life,
was holding the sovereignty among the painters in Italy. He, then,
having been a disciple of Giotto and having worked with Giotto himself
on the Navicella in mosaic in S. Pietro, was the first who, after him,
gave light to that art, and he began to show that he had been no
unworthy disciple of so great a master when he painted, over the door of
the sacristy of the Araceli, some scenes that are to-day eaten away by
time, and very many works coloured in fresco throughout the whole Church
of S. Maria di Trastevere. Afterwards, working in mosaic on the
principal chapel and on the facade of the church, he showed in the
beginning of such a work, without the help of Giotto, that he was no
less able in the execution and bringing to completion of mosaics than he
was in painting. Making many scenes in fresco, also, in the Church of S.
Grisogono, he strove to make himself known both as the best disciple of
Giotto and as a good craftsman. In like manner, also in Trastevere, he
painted almost the whole Church of S. Cecilia with his own hand, and
many works in the Church of S. Francesco appresso Ripa. He then made the
facade of mosaic in S. Paolo without Rome, and many stories of the Old
Testament for the central nave. And painting some works in fresco in the
Chapter-house of the first cloister, he put therein so great diligence
that he gained thereby from men of judgment the name of being a most
excellent master, and was therefore so much favoured by the prelates
that they commissioned him to do the inner wall of S. Pietro, between
the windows. Between these he made the four Evangelists, wrought very
well in fresco, of extraordinary size in comparison with the figures
that at that time were customary, with a S. Peter and a S. Paul, and a
good number of figures in a ship, wherein, the Greek manner pleasing him
much, he blended it ever with that of Giotto; and since he delighted to
give relief to his figures, it is recognized that he used thereunto the
greatest efforts that can be imagined by man. But the best work that he
made in that city was in the said Church of Araceli on the Campidoglio,
where he painted in