Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 1.djvu/283

Rh ninety-two. He was old, as we have said, when he returned to Arezzo, and possessing sufficient riches, he might have lived very well without labour, but having been ever accustomed to action, he was unable to remain idle, and undertook to paint certain stories from the life of St. Michael, for the Brotherhood of Sant’ Agnolo in that city. These he sketched roughly, in the red colour, on the intonaco of the wall, (as the old artists almost always did), and painted one story in a corner with all the colours by way of pattern, which gave entire satisfaction. Having then agreed respecting the price with those who had charge of the work, Spinello painted the whole of the wall, besides the high altar, where he represented Lucifer fixing his seat in the North, with the fall of the angels, who are changed into devils as they descend to the earth. In the air appears St. Michael in combat with the old serpent of seven heads and ten horns, while beneath and in the centre of the picture is Lucifer, already changed into a most hideous beast. And so anxious was the artist to make him frightful and horrible, that it is said,—such is sometimes the power of imagination—that the figure he had painted appeared to him in his sleep, demanding to know where the painter had seen him looking so ugly as that, and wherefore he permitted his pencils to offer him, the said Lucifer, so mortifying an affront? The artist awoke in such extremity of terror, that he was unable to cry out, but shook and trembled so violently, that his wife, awakening, hastened to his assistance. But the shock was so great that he was on the point of expiring suddenly from this accident, and did not in fact survive it beyond a very short time, during which he remained in a dispirited condition, with eyes from which all intelligence had departed. It was thus that Spinello closed his career, leaving his friends in heavy sorrow for his death, and bequeathing to the world two sons; one of whom was the goldsmith Forzore, who lived in Florence, where his labours in Niello, obtained universal admiration; the second, Parri, following the example of his father, devoted himself to painting, and, as respects accuracy of design, greatly surpassed