Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 2.djvu/75

Rh therein, may he counted; and every knot in these straws distinguished. In the same picture are the ruins of a liouse, the mouldering stones of which are corroded and wasted by rain and snow, a portion of the wall is covered by a thick branch of ivy, and in this it is to be remarked that the painter, with untiring patience, has made the upper part of the leaf of one shade of green, and the under side of a different tint, as does nature herself, neither more nor less. The shepherds in this work are very carefully painted, and there is a snake or adder crawling up a wall, which is entirelv natural.

It is said that Alesso took great pains to discover the true method of working in Mosaic, but that he never succeeded in discovering any thing worth naming, until at length he happened to meet with a German, who was going to Rome for the sake of the indulgences: this man he took into his house, and by him was made fully acquainted with all the rules and the whole method of proceeding. Encouraged by this he set himself boldly to work, and on the inner wall of San Giovanni, in the arches over the bronze gates, he executed certain Angels holding the head of the Saviour. By means of this work, the good manner of Alesso became known, and he was commissioned by the consuls of the guild of merchants to clean and restore the entire vault of the church, which had been adorned by Andrea Tati, as has been related, but, having received injury in several places, then required to be repaired and set in order. This undertaking Alesso executed with love and diligence, availing himself for that purpose of a construction in wood-work, erected for him by Cecca, who was the best architect of that time. The practice of Mosaic was imparted by Alesso Baldovinetti to Domenico Ghirlandajo, who afterwards painted the portrait of the former near that of himself, in the chapel of the Tornabuoni family, in the church of Santa Maria Novella. These portraits are in the story of Joachim