defect or negligence in the duties of his vocation, but proceeded from the frequent indispositions brought on by a painful complaint, which afflicted him so grievously, that he could not fully attain to the ends he had proposed to himself. Taddeo died at the age of fifty-nine, after having taught the art to a nephew, called Domenico. His works date about the year of our salvation 1410. This Domenico Bartoli, nephew and disciple, as we have said, of Taddeo, devoted himself earnestly to his art, and painted with more facility than his uncle had done, he also displayed a richer fertility of invention in his stories, which he varied more extensively than had been usual with Taddeo. In the hall of the pilgrims in the great hospital of Siena are two large historical pictures, in fresco, by Domenico Bartoli,[1] who has managed the perspective, and treated all the accessories and ornaments with very great ability. This painter is said to have been singularly modest and amiable; his manners were gentle and his disposition remarkable for the most liberal kindness, all which brought no less honour to his name than did his proficiency in the art of painting. The works of this master were performed about the year of our Lord 1436, and the last which he executed were, a picture in the church of Santa Trinita, in Florence, of which the subject is the Annunciation; and the altar-piece for the high altar of the church of the Carmine.[2]
It was at the same time that Alvaro di Piero[3] of Portugal
- ↑ The stories here alluded to are six, and are all in existence, with the exception of the last.
- ↑ he fate of the works executed in Santa Trinita is unknown. The picture painted for the Carmine, probably perished in the year 1771, when the church was burnt
- ↑ None of the commentators on Vasari have been able to enlighten us materially on the subject of this Portuguese painter. Count Raczynski, in his book called Les Arts en Portugal (Paris, 1846), says no more than that he saw one picture by this master in the “Hotel Borba”, and that it is mentioned by Taborda, in his Regole dell' Arte della Pittura, Lisbon, 1815. Nor could the Viscount di Jurornenha communicate to Raczynski any intelligence, beyond the assertion that “Alvuro Pires was painter to the King Don Emanuele.” But if this painter were contemporary with the Bartoli—and his manner proves him to belong to the first half of the fifteenth century—how could he be painter to Emanuel of Portugal, whose reign dates from 1495 to 1521? Whatever may be the fact as regards this incongruous history, we are happy to have some account to offer of a precious picture by Alvaro, which we have lately seen in a chapel of the church of Santa Croce in Possabanda, distant half a mile
