Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 1.djvu/289

Rh others, of whom we need make no further mention, as they did not distinguish themselves. The portrait of Gherardo is in the above-described story of San Girolamo, in one of the figures standing around the saint when he died, a profile, the head wrapped in a hood, and wearing a cloak, fastened at the throat. There are certain drawings, done with the pen on parchment, by Starnina, in my book, which are not without merit.

Invention has ever been and ever will be considered the true mother of architecture, painting, and poetry; nay, rather of all the higher arts, and of all the wonders produced by the genius of men. To her it is that we owe the ever-varying fantasies and caprices of those fertile minds, whose best delight is in the search after variety in all things. And the novelties thus discovered ever redound to the high praise of all who, taking an honourable direction, possess the art of presenting their ideas and inventions clothed in forms of unwonted beauty, yet partially veiled and shadowed; an effect which many have the dexterity to secure, when imparting the praise which they bestow on others, or when expressing blame; which they find the means of conveying, without offering an open outrage. The Florentine painter Lippo was a man of most rare and varied invention; however unfortunate his works, and however unhappy his life, which did not long endure. He was born in Florence about the year of our salvation 1354, and although it was somewhat late before he commenced the study of painting, since he had already attained the period of manhood, he was yet so well aided by nature, which disposed him to the study of art, and by his genius, which was most