those to be interred in that Chapter-house. He stipulated, moreover, that on the festival of the Most Holy Trinity in each year, high mass should be read and a solemn festival held, while, on the day following, the office for the dead should be performed; all being intended for the good of the souls of the persons above-mentioned.
This plan was imparted by Fra Giovann’ Agnolo to Maestro Zaccheria and to Giorgio Vasari, who was their intimate friend; when they held much discourse together concerning the affairs of that Company or Brotherhood of Artists which had been instituted in the time of Giotto,[1] and had established their rooms in Santa Maria Nuova at Florence, as appears by a memorial still to be seen at the high altar of the Hospital,[2] which has remained from those days even to our own: eventually, they resolved to take that opportunity for reviving and restoring the Company, which, having been removed from their place at the high altar abovementioned, had been transported (as will be related in the Life[3] of Jacopo Casentino) to that part of the vaults beneath the Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova, which are close to the corner of the Via della Pengola; but finally, driven thence also, the place having been taken from them by Don Isidoro Monteguti, director of the hospital,—the Brotherhood had almost entirely dispersed, and no longer held its assemblies.[4]
But the Frate, Maestro Zaccheria, and Giorgio Vasari, having then discoursed, as I have said, at much length, on the state of that Company, Giovann’ Agnolo proceeded to speak of the matter with II Bronzino, Francesco Sangallo, Ammannato, Vincenzio de’ Rossi, Michele di Ridolfo, and many other painters and sculptors of the first rank, and having explained his intentions, all the most noble and excellent artists belonging to the vocations of design were
- ↑ The Company was in fact founded in the year 1349, about twelve years after the death of Giotto that is to say. —Ed. Flor., 1832-8.
- ↑ It is no longer there. —Ibid.
- ↑ Or rather, “as has been related.” See the Life of Jacopo di Casentino, vol. i.
- ↑ From the records of receipt and outlay of the Brotherhood, it would seem that the payments for these solemnities were still made, but the zeal of the members having cooled, they were probably not much frequented. — Masselli.
