ship for, and close intercourse with, Cimabue, for they being intimately connected, either by the conformity of their tastes or by the goodness of their hearts, the frequent conversations which they held together gave birth to many great and beautiful ideas, when the difficulties of their art were amicably discussed between them. And such discussions were to them the more easy and efficient, as they were assisted by the subtilty of the Florentine air, which is wont to produce fine and ingenious spirits,[1] and which perpetually freed them from that remnant of spleen and coarseness, of which Nature cannot always divest itself, even though aided by the emulation and precepts which good artists have excited in, and furnished to, each other, through all ages. It is, moreover, obvious, that every operation concerted between men conferring together, must arrive the more readily at perfection if discussed in a spirit of amity, unimpeded by restraint, a state of things but too rarely presented. In the sciences, in like manner, those who study them, conferring together on their various difficulties, enlighten the obscurities of their path, and render advance clear and easy, so that the greatest praise is secured by their efforts. But there are those, on the contrary, who, making profession of friendly intimacy, and assuming the guise of truth and affection, yet, through envy and malice, falsify their ideas, whereby the arts are prevented from reaching the perfection which they might attain if all inventive minds were bound in that brotherly affection which truly did unite Gaddo Gaddi to Cimabue, as also Andrea Tafi to Gaddo Gaddi. Gaddo was associated with himself, by Andrea, in the labour of completing the mosaic of San Giovanni, where he made such progress that he afterwards executed, alone, the Prophets, still to be seen around that church, in the divisions beneath the windows ; and these being from his own hand, and in a much improved manner, procured him great reputation. Encouraged by this success, and resolving to work alone in future, Gaddo carefully studied the Greek manner, together with that of Cimabue, and in a
- ↑ Bottari, in the Roman edition of Vasari, 1759, remarks, that Florence is frequently compared with Athens, as touching the advantages here attributed to its air.
