THE PAINTER JACOPO DI CASENTINO.
[Flourished in the middle of the fourteenth century.]
The fame of Giotto, the renown attached to his works, and to those of his disciples, having for several years been much bruited abroad, many persons, desirous of acquiring honour and riches by the art of painting, and incited to study by nature and inclination, began to labour for the amelioration of the art, most of them being firmly persuaded that by their efforts the attainments of Giotto, Taddeo, and all the other painters, would be far surpassed. Among these was a certain Jacopo di Casentino, who belonged, as we find recorded, to the family of Messer CristoforoLandino, of Prato Yecchio, and was sent by a monk of Casentino, who was intendant of Sasso della Yernia, to acquire the art of painting under Taddeo Gaddi, when that master was working in the convent so called. In this vocation Jacopo succeeded so well, that in the course of a few years, having accompanied Taddeo to Florence, where he executed many works in company with Giovanni da Milano, for the service of their common master, he was appointed to paint the tabernacle of the Madonna in the Mercato Yecchio, with the altar-piece, in distemper. The oratory which stands at the corner of the piazza of San Niccolo, on the Via del Cocomero, was also painted by Jacopo di Casentino, but both these works were restored a few years since by a master greatly inferior to Jacopo. The tabernacle at Santo Nofri (Sant’ Onofrio?) belonging to the Guild of Dyers, and situated at the corner of the wall of their garden, opposite to San Giuseppe,[1] was also decorated by Jacopo di Casentino. In the meantime the vaulted arches of Orsanmicliele were in process of construction on the twelve columns, a low rustic roof being placed over them, that the building, which was to serve as the granary of the commune, might be proceeded with so soon as should be possible. Jacopo di Casentino was selected as a person well versed in such matters, to decorate the arches with figures of the patriarchs, certain of the prophets, and the heads of the tribes, sixteen figures in all, beside the various ornaments. This work he
- ↑ This tabernacle, also, was afterwards restored, and by a worse master than either of the others.—Ed. Flor. 1832.
