following epitaph: Simoni Memmio pictorum omnium omnis cetatis celcberrimo, vixit arm. 60, mens. 2, d. 3. It will be seen by the specimens preserved in our book that Simon was not particularly excellent in design, but nature had well endowed him with inventive power, and he delighted in drawing from the life; in this respect he was considered so much the best master of his time, that Signor Pandolfo Malatesti despatched him to Avignon for the purpose of painting Messer Francesco Petrarca, at the request of whom Simon Memmi, so greatly to his own honour, then executed the portrait of Madonna Laura.[1]
TADDEO GADDI, PAINTER, Of FLORENCE.
[born about 1300—was living in 1366.]
To reward talent largely, and to honour those who possess it, wherever they may be found, is, without doubt, an excellent, useful, and praiseworthy action; for there are many minds, which might remain dormant, if left without stimulus, but which, being excited by this allurement, put forth all their efforts, not only for the acquirement of their art, but to attain the utmost excellence therein; whereby they advance themselves to a useful and creditable station, doing honour to their country at the same time, and securing glory to their name, as well as riches and nobility to their
- ↑ Notes to later editions of Vasari enumerate the the following works of Simon M< mmi, in addition to those named by the biographer:—In the church of San Lorenzo, at Naples, is a picture of St. Louis of Avignon, crowning llobert his brother. It is in the eighth chapel of the south aisle. At Orvieto, in the church of the Dominicans, is one divided into five parts; the Madonna is in the midst, with San Pietro and San Dominico on one side, and St. Paul and St. Mary Magdalen on the other. In England, there is a painting of the Virgin with St. Joseph, who reproves the Child Jesus for having left them, when he went to dispute with the doctors in the temple. This (see Waagen’s Art and Artists in England) is in the Liverpool Institution. There is also a picture, undoubtedly Irom the hand of Simon, at Antwerp. This is a tryptich, representing the i Annunciation, the Crucifixion, and the Deposition.
