Giorgio Vasari

“ The event nevertheless proved the fallacy of this opinion, for as in youth the desire for renown will often give strength to overcome all difficulties—so, as years increase, we frequently remark the approach of a certain careless negligence, which causes a man to go backwards rather than forwards, and this was the case with Agnolo. Having given so remarkable a specimen of his powers in this work, the Soderini family, hoping great things from such a master, appointed him to paint the principal chapel of the church of the Carmine ”

“ In the first part of Cennini’s work, the author has treated of the nature of colours, wdiether minerals or earths, as he had himself been taught by his master, Agnolo; desiring, perhaps, as he does not seem to have succeeded in attaining to any great eminence in painting, at least to make himself acquainted with the nature of colours, the different glues, chalks, grounds for fresco, &c. with the properties of every kind of vehicle ”

“ Among other peculiarities this master had that of giving an exquisite expression to the countenances of his children, women, and old men, as the observer may remark in any one of his works: his heads were all imitated and copied by that Piero da Perugia, [17] the miniature painter, who illuminated all the books which constitute the library of Pope Pius, in the cathedral of Siena, and who painted in fresco with considerable facility. Michele of Milan was also a disciple of Agnolo, as was Giovanni Gaddi, his brother, who painted in the cloister of Santo Spirito, as Gaddo and Taddeo had done. ”

“ In like manner this artist painted the principal chapel of the church of Santa Croce, in fresco, for the noble family of the Alberti, representing every circumstance of the discovery of the cross; and the work certainly displays considerable facility, but very little force of design, the colouring only being good and tolerably well done. ”

“ Agnolo also painted a choir of angels surrounding a coronation of the Virgin, for the high altar of Santa Maria Maggiore, in Florence; this he completed in the year 1348, for Barone Capelli, and the work is a tolerably good one. [10] Shortly afterwards he painted, in fresco, a chapel of the capitular church of Prato, which had been rebuilt under the direction of Giovanni Pisano in 1312. As we have before related, the chapel was that wherein the girdle of Our Lady had been deposited, and was decorated by Agnolo with various stories from the life of the Virgin. ”