Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 1.djvu/175

Rh is hanging on a tree; whence one may easily believe what is affirmed of this facetious painter, namely, that when it pleased him to practise care and diligence—which but rarely happened—he was in nowise inferior to any painter of his time. Further testimony to the truth of this remark is borne by the frescoes of Buffalmacco in Ognissanti, where the cemetery now is. These works were executed throughout with so much care, and so many precautions, that the rain which has poured on them for so many years, has not been able to destroy them, or to prevent the spectator from still perceiving their excellence. One reason of their remaining in such good preservation doubtless is, that they were painted immediately on the fresh plaster. On these walls, then, that is, above the burial-place of the Aliotti family, he painted the Birth of Christ, and the Adoration of the Magi. After having completed this work, Buonamico repaired to Bologna, where he painted in fresco the chapel of the Bolognini family, in San Petronio; he commenced certain stories in the ceiling, that is to say, but by some accident, with the nature of which I am not acquainted, he left them unfinished.

In the year 1302, Buffalmacco was invited to Assisi, where, in the church of San Francesco, he painted iri fresco the chapel of Santa Caterina, with stories taken from her life. These paintings are still preserved, and many figures in them are well worthy of praise. Having finished this chapel, Buonamico was passing through Arezzo, when he was detained by the Bishop Guido, who had heard that he was a cheerful companion, as well as a good painter, and who wished him to remain for a time in that city, to paint the chapel of the episcopal church, where the baptistery now is. Buonamico began the work, and had already completed the greater part of it, when a very curious circumstance occurred; and this, according to Franco Sacchetti, who ref lates it among his Three Hundred Stories, was as follows: The bishop had a large ape, of extraordinary cunning, the