him.[1] The Aretines deeply regretted the unhappy chance which caused, the death of Spinello, and deprived them of so much talent and excellence as were united in his person; although it is true that he had then attained to a great age, being ninety-two years old when he died. He was entombed in Sant’ Agostino d’Arezzo, where there is still to be seen a stone with his escutcheon, bearing a hedgehog, which he had fancifully selected for his crest.[2] Spinello drew better than he painted, as may be seen in our book of the drawings of different ancient masters, where there are two evangelists and a St. Luke, in chiaro-scuro, very beautifully drawn by his hand. The portrait of this artist, given above, was copied by myself from one that was in the Duomo Vecchio, before that church was destroyed. His works date from 1380 to 1400.[3]
- ↑ The life of Parri will be found in the second part of this work.
- ↑ Neither tomb nor stone are now to be seen; but, according to
the first edition of Vasari, the following epitaph was placed upon the
sepulchre of Spinello:
“spinello arretino patri opt. pictoriqee suffi ietatis nobiliss. cujcs opera et ipsi et patriie maximo ornamento foerunt, pii filii non sine lacrimis poss.”
If this inscription ever was placed there, it must have been at least a century after the death of the artist.—Ed. Flor. 1832. - ↑ There is an important work by Spinello in Siena, with which neither Vasari nor Baldinucci appears to have been acquainted. It is in the hall called the Balia, in the public palace of Siena, and represents the principal events in the life of Pope Alexander III (Rolando Bandinelli of Siena), in sixteen stories. These works, for the security of which from further injury, measures are at length about to be taken, were contracted for with Spinello and Parri his son, on the 18th of June 1407, the remuneration assigned to these masters being fourteen florins per month; but the pictures were not commenced until March of the year 1408. These dates, it will be remarked, prove that of 1400, cited by Vasari as the year of Spinello’s last labours, to be an error.— Ed. Flor. 1846.
