Giorgio Vasari

“ The abbot, Don Bartolommeo, loved his Order; he acted like a true minister and not squanderer of sacred things; he improved his benefice by various buildings, and bestowed on it many of his paintings. Among other services, was that of rebuilding the principal chapel of his church, which he also adorned with pictures; and in two recesses, standing one on each side of the chapel, he painted figures, one of San Rocco, the other of San Bartolommeo; but both are now destroyed, as is the church itself. ”

“ In a chapel of the church of San Giustino, Domenico painted the Adoration of the Magi in fresco, for Messer Antonio Rotelli; [27] and for the brotherhood of the Madonna he painted a very large picture in the capitular church, wherein he represented the Madonna in the air, with the people of Arezzo beneath. In this work Domenico was assisted by a Spanish painter, who painted well in oil, with the practice of which Pecori was not so familiar as with that of tempera; there are many portraits from the life in this picture. ”

“ At a later period, being invited to Rome, Don Bartolommeo painted a story in the chapel of Pope Sixtus, in company with Luca da Cortona and Pietro Perugino; and having returned to Arezzo, he painted a St. Jerome in Penitence, for the chapel of the Gozzari in the episcopal church. The saint is represented with wasted form, shaven head, and eyes riveted to the cross; he is striking his breast, and the force of the passions, still raging in that excessively attenuated form, is rendered clearly manifest. An immense crag is represented in this work with other rocks ”

“ The other was a rich man, clothed in purple and fine linen, with joyous and rubicund face, but the rays proceeding from him while adoring Christ, appeared, although they also came from his heart, as did those of the poor man, not to go directly to the wounds of the Saviour, but to be scattered and dispersed over a broad landscape, exhibiting fields covered with corn and cattle, with gardens, and various objects of a similar kind ”