Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 1.djvu/301

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For the chapel of the sacristy in the church of San Francesco, at Pisa, this master likewise painted a picture in distemper, the subject of which is Our Lady with certain saints. On this work he inscribed his name, and the year when it was painted, namely 1394. About the same time, Taddeo Bartoli executed some pictures in distemper at Volterra, with one at Monte Oliveto, where he also painted an Inferno in fresco: in this he availed himself of the inventions of Dante, in so far as relates to the separation of the condemned, and the modes of their punishment; but as respects the place of torment itself, he either could not or would not imitate the descriptions of the poet. Taddeo likewise sent a picture to Arezzo, where it may be seen in the church of Sant’ Agostino; in this he depicted the portrait of Pope Gregory XI, by whom the pontifical court, after having been held for so many decades of years in Avignon, was reestablished in Italy. When he had finished these works, the master returned to Siena, but did not make a long stay there, being invited to Perugia, to work in the church of San Domenico, where he painted the chapel of Santa Caterina in freseo, representing the whole life of that saint. In San Francesco also, near the door of the sacristy, he painted some figures of which there is now but little to be discerned; but they can nevertheless be recognized as a work of Taddeo’s, seeing that he always painted in the same manner. The death of Biroldo, lord of Perugia, who was killed in the year 1398, occurring soon after these pictures were completed, Taddeo returned to Siena, where, perpetually labouring, he devoted himself so earnestly to the studies connected with his art, and made such well-sustained efforts to render himself an efficient painter, that if the result did not fulfill his expectations, we may safely affirm that this arose from no