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Maria del Fiore. 1 His numerous paintings in various churches and edifices of Florence might testify to his un tiring industry, had they not been destroyed more com pletely than those of his master Giotto. The frescos of the tabernacle of the company del Tempio at the corner of the Via del Crocifisso 2 fell with the tabernacle itself. The frescos in the cloisters and convent of San Spirito, — the altarpieces in S. Stefano del Ponte Vecchio, 3 the wallpaintings and pictures in the church of the Servite brothers, 4 all perished. Pisa, more fortunate than Flo rence, still preserves a series executed in 1342 by Taddeo for Gherardo and Bonaccorso Gambacorte, in the choir of the church of S. Francesco; but even here, all that remains is the ceiling, divided by diagonals, and the twelve apostles in the curve of the arch leading into the chapel. The latter are either repainted or in a great measure obliterated. The rest is much damaged. 5 In one com partment where S. Francis, in extasy, between Faith and Hope shows the Stigmata on the palms of his hands, the allegorical figures, as they hover in the air which distends their flying vestments, are elegant in form and movement, of good proportions and admirably draped, according to the simple Giottesque maxims. In the angles, two figures were placed, one of which having escaped the fate of its counterpart on the opposite side, represents ob- 1 Rumohr, ub. sup. For- schungen. Tom. II. p.p. 116. 117—66. Taddeo was of the coun cil in 1359, 1363, and 1366. Del Migliore MSS. found notices of Taddeo as a purchaser of pro perty at Florence in 1352 — as umpire in 1355 — as purchaser again in 1365. — Annot. to Yas. Vol. II. note to p. 119. 2 Vas. Vol. II. p. 111. 3 When Richa wrote his Chiese, in 1755, an altarpiece hy Taddeo still existed in S. Stefano. It had remained entire in the sacristy till 1728, been then divided, and was to be seen in scattered panels in the cells of the friars of the place. Vide Chiese. Yol. II. p. 77. 4 Vas. Vol. II. p.p. 111. 112. Fra Prospero Bernardi in an apo logy for the miraculous Virgin annunciate of the Servi, alludes to Taddeo Gaddi’s frescos and says, the documents respecting them were in the records of the convent when he wrote at the close of the last century. See Richa, Chiese. Vol. VUI. p.p. 89 and following. 5 The saints represented are S.S. Basil, Benedict, Augustine, Dominick, Anthony of Padua, Louis Bishop, and Francis.
