Giorgio Vasari

“ THE FLORENTINE PAINTER, ALESSO BALDOVINETTI.
[born 1422—died 1499.]
So powerful is the attraction exercised by the noble art of painting, that many distinguished men have abandoned callings in which they might have become most wealthy, and, impelled by the inclination felt for this one, have pursued the desire by which they were animated, and, contrary to the wish of their elders, have devoted themselves to painting, to sculpture, or to other arts, as the case might be. ”

“ One of the disciples of Alesso Baldovinetti was the Florentine Graffione, who executed the figure of God the Father in fresco, with the angels around it, which is still to be seen over the door of the Innocenti. [11] It is related that the Magnificent Lorenzo de’ Medici, conversing one day with Graffione, who was a singularly eccentric person, said to him, “I will have all the angles of the inside of the cupola decorated with Mosaics and stucco-work.” To which Graffione replied, “But you have not masters for it.” Whereupon Lorenzo rejoined, “We have so much money that we shall make them.” ”

“ And, of a truth, he who, esteeming riches at their true value and not more, shall propose excellence to himself as the aim of his life, will find treasures very different to those formed of gold and silver, nor need he ever fear the accidents which not unfrequently despoil us in a moment of those earthly riches, which are unwisely esteemed by men much beyond their true worth. ”