Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 2.djvu/165

Rh hut although he laboured very zealously to attain eminence in his art, yet he never acquired any great reputation in the same, until after the departure of the above-named Domenico from Venice. But from that time forward, finding himself alone, and without a competitor who could equal him in that city, his fame and credit constantly increased, and he attained to such eminence as to be reputed the first in his profession: and the renown thus acquired was not only maintained in his house, but was much enhanced by the circumstance that he had two sons, both decidedly inclined to the art, and each possessed of good ability and fine genius. One of these was called Giovanni, the other Gentile, a name which Jacopo gave him in memory of the tender affection borne to himself by Gentile da Fabriano, his master, who had been as a kind father to his youth. When these two sons therefore had attained the proper age, Jacopo himself instructed them carefully in the principles of design, but no long time elapsed before both greatly surpassed their father; who, rejoicing much thereat, encouraged them constantly, telling them, that he desired to see them do as did the Tuscans, who were perpetually striving among themselves, to carry off the palm of distinction by outstripping each other, and that so he would have Giovanni surpass himself, while Gentile should vanquish them both, and so on successively. The first wmrks by which Jacopo acquired fame were the portraits of Giorgio Cornaro and of Caterina, queen of Cypress; a picture which he sent to Verona, and which represented the Passion of Christ, with many figures, among which he depicted the portrait of himself; and an historical picture representing the Miracle of the Cross, which is said to be in the Scuola of San Giovanni Evangelista all which, and many others, were executed by Jacopo, with the assistance of his sons. The last-named picture was painted on canvas, as it is almost always the custom to do in that city,