d restored
their liberty to the Florentines, Giottino was forced by the twelve
Reformers of the State, and in particular by the prayers of Messer
Agnolo Acciaiuoli, then a very great citizen, who had great influence
with him, to paint in contempt, on the tower of the Palace of the
Podesta, the said Duke and his followers, who were Messer Ceritieri
Visdomini, Messer Maladiasse, his Conservator, and Messer Ranieri da San
Gimignano, all with the cap of Justice ignominiously on their heads.
Round the head of the Duke were many beasts of prey and other sorts,
signifying his nature and his character; and one of those his
counsellors had in his hand the Palace of the Priors of the city, and
was handing it to him, like a disloyal traitor to his country. And all
had below them the arms and emblems of their families, and some writings
which can hardly be read to-day because they have been eaten away by
time. In this work, both by reason of the draughtsmanship and of the
great diligence wherewith it was executed, the manner of the craftsman
gave universal pleasure to all. Afterwards, at the Campora, a seat of
the Black Friars without the Porta a S. Piero Gattolini, he made a S.
Cosimo and a S. Damiano, which were spoilt in the whitewashing of the
church; and on the bridge of Romiti in Valdarno he painted in fresco the
shrine that is built over the middle, with his own hand and in a
beautiful manner.

It is found recorded by many who wrote thereon that Tommaso applied
himself to sculpture and wrought a figure in marble on the Campanile of
S. Maria del Fiore in Florence, four braccia high and facing the place
where the Orphans now dwell. In S. Giovanni Laterano in Rome, likewise,
he brought to fine completion a scene wherein he represented the Pope in
several capacities, which is now seen to have been eaten away and
corroded by time; and in the house of the Orsini he painted a hall full
of famous men; with a very beautiful S. Louis on a pillar in the
Araceli, on the right hand beside the altar.

In the lower church of S. Francesco at Assisi, in an arch over the
pulpit (there being no other space that was not painted) he wrought the
Coronation of Our Lady, with many angels round her, so gracious, so
beautiful in the expressions of the faces, and so sweet and delicate in
manner, that they show, with the usual harmony of colour which was
something peculiar to this painter, that he had proved himself the peer
of all who had lived up t