The very reverse was the case. It would
not be interesting to the reader to give him the details of the work
which Maestro Bino bound himself to execute, but some of the
stipulations must be mentioned, because they curiously illustrate the
life of the times. The convent is to furnish all the wood--that which is
required for the work itself, as well as all that may be needed, planks,
scaffolding and the like, for the putting of it in its place. "_Item._
We give him rooms to work in and to sleep in and to cook in, as well as
beds furnished with bedclothes. _Item._ Maestro Bino binds himself not
to undertake any other work till the choir is wholly finished and put
up, and he engages to do all the work within the walls of the convent.
He is bound to keep four men at work under him, and more if necessary."
The work is to be completed within two years should no impediment
intervene by death or grave and manifest illness. The convent undertakes
to furnish money from time to time as needed for the pay of the
journeymen, and fifty ducats beforehand for the hiring of assistants and
other necessary expenses.
Maestro Bino went to work at once, and on the 15th of that same April
had from the convent what seems the very large sum of ten florins and
eight soldi for glue. But, after all, this Maestro Bernardino di Luca
was not the author of the exquisite carvings which people go to Perugia
to look at at the present day. A very "grave and manifest infirmity" did
intervene to prevent the execution of the work, for on the 19th of the
following August, Maestro Bino discharged his workmen on account of the
plague, which had begun to devastate Perugia; and there is reason to
think that the maestro himself perished by it, for after that last entry
the name of Bernardino di Luca vanishes into the abyss of darkness, and
is no more heard of, and shortly afterward we find the convent entering
into a new bargain with another maestro for the execution of the work.
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