Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 1.djvu/243

Rh were enabled to lay the foundation of those great riches and that elevation of the house of Gaddi, which place it in our day among the most noble families of Florence, and have established it in high repute through all Christendom. And since Gaddo, Taddeo, Agnolo, and Giovanni have adorned many venerated churches by their talents and the exercise of their art, so it is, without doubt, entirely reasonable that the holy Roman Church and the supreme pontiffs of the same, should have presented—as they have done—the highest ecclesiastical dignities to their successors. Taddeo, then, whose life we have written above, left two sons, Agnolo and Giovanni, with many other disciples, but of Agnolo in particular the father hoped that he would become most excellent in the art of painting. In his youth he had given promise of so much talent, that it was believed he would greatly surpass his father, but the event did not justify the opinion thus formed of him. Born and reared in abundance, which is often an impediment to earnest effort, Agnolo displayed more inclination for trade and traffic than for the art of painting; nor should this seem either new or strange, for how frequently has avarice barred the way to many who might have reached the summit of distinction, if the desire of gain had not impeded their progress in the earliest and best of their days. Agnolo first painted in Florence, while still very young, depicting in the story of Christ raising Lazarus, in figures little more than a braccio in height. Reflecting that Lazarus had been dead four days, Agnolo formed a vivid conception of the corrupt state in which the body so long dead must be found: he consequently represented the grave-clothes wherewith Lazarus was bound all spotted and discoloured by the decomposition of the corpse. Livid circles of blue and yellow surround the eyes, all which is pourtrayed with infinite truth, as is the amazement of