Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 1.djvu/81

Rh both were erected. At the entreaty of the Bishop Ubertini, he restored the, and founded the for the friars of St. Francis, on the most elevated point of that city.

By all these labours, the fame of Niccola was continually extended, and in the year 1267, he was invited by Pope Clement IV to Viterbo, where, with many others, he restored the. From Viterbo he proceeded to Naples to king Charles I, who, having routed and slain Conradin, on the plain of Tagliacozzo, had determined to erect a very rich church and abbey on the spot, wherein should be buried the great number of men killed in that battle, and where he had commanded that masses for their souls should be performed night and day, by many monks. And in respect of this building, King Charles was so well satisfied with the work of Niccola, that he paid the artist great honours, and rewarded him largely. Returning from Naples into Tuscany, Niccola made some stay at Orvieto, where he assisted in the building of the. He there worked in company with certain Germans, and executed several figures in high relief, with their assistance, for the façade of that church. There were two historical scenes in particular, representing the Universal Judgment, Paradise, and Hell ; and as he did his utmost to give beauty to the souls of the blessed who were restored to their bodies in Paradise, so, in the figures of the devils, employed in tormenting the souls of the condemned in Hell, he produced the strangest forms that can be conceived. In this work be surpassed, not only the Germans with whom he was associated, but even himself, to his great glory ; and as there were large numbers of figures, and he had given proof of extraordinary patience in this production, it has been praised even to our own times by those whose judgment in sculpture does not extend beyond these circumstances. Among other children, Niccola had a son called Giovanni, who, being constantly with his father, attained early proficiency under his care, both in sculpture and architecture,