Chapter XII: Part 12

Not long afterwards it happened that Don Giulio, in transferring himself from one monastery to another, as monks or friars do, by misfortune broke a leg. Being therefore conveyed by those fathers to the Monastery of Candiana, that he might be better attended, he lay there some time without recovering, perhaps having been wrongly treated, as is common, no less by the fathers than by the physicians. Which hearing, Cardinal Grimani, who much loved him for his excellence, obtained from the Pope the power to keep him in his service and to have him cured. Whereupon Don Giulio, having thrown off the habit, and his leg being healed, went to Perugia with the Cardinal, who was Legate there; and, setting to work, he executed for him in miniature these works; an Office of Our Lady, with four most beautiful stories, and in an Epistolar three large stories of S. Paul the Apostle, one of which was sent not long afterwards to Spain. He also made for him a very beautiful Pietà, and a Christ Crucified, which after the death of Grimani came into the hands of Messer Giovanni Gaddi, Clerk of the Chamber.

All these works caused Don Giulio to become known in Rome as an excellent craftsman, and were the reason that Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, who has always assisted, favoured, and desired to have about him rare and gifted men, having heard his fame and seen his works, took him into his service, in which he has remained ever since and still remains, old as he is. For that lord, I say, he has executed an infinite number of the rarest miniatures, of which I shall mention here only a part, because to mention them all is almost impossible. In a little picture he has painted Our Lady with her Son in her arms, with many Saints and figures around, and Pope Paul III kneeling, portrayed from life so well, that for all the smallness of that miniature he seems as if alive; and all the other figures, likewise, appear to lack nothing save breath and speech. That little picture, as a thing truly of the rarest, was sent to Spain to the Emperor Charles V, who was amazed by it. After that work the Cardinal caused him to set his hand to executing in miniature the stories in an Office of Our Lady, written in lettering shaped by Monterchi, who is a rare master in such work. Whereupon Don Giulio, resolving that this work should be the highest flight of his powers, applied himself to it with so much study and diligence, that no other was ever executed with more; wherefore he has achieved with the brush things so stupendous, that it does not appear possible to go so far with the eye or with the hand. Don Giulio has divided this labour into twenty-six little scenes, each two sheets being next to one another, the figure and the prefiguration, and every little scene has around it an ornament different from the other, with figures and fantasies appropriate to the story that it represents. Nor do I wish to grudge the labour of describing them briefly, for the reason that everyone is not able to see them. On the first page, where Matins begin, is the Angel bringing the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary, and in the ornament a border full of little children that are marvellous; and in the other scene Isaiah speaking with King Ahaz. In the second, for Lauds, is the Visitation of the Virgin to Elizabeth, which has an ornament in imitation of metal; and in the opposite scene are Justice and Peace embracing one another. For Prime is the Nativity of Christ, and opposite, in the Earthly Paradise, Adam and Eve eating the Fruit; both the one and the other with ornaments full of nudes and other figures and animals, portrayed from nature. For Terce he has painted the Shepherds with the Angel appearing to them, and in the opposite scene the Tiburtine Sibyl showing to the Emperor Octavian the Virgin with Christ her Son in Heaven; both the one and the other with ornaments of various borders and figures, all coloured, and containing the portrait of Alexander the Great and of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. For Sext there is the Circumcision of Christ, where Pope Paul III is portrayed for Simeon, and in the scene are portraits of Mancina and Settimia, gentlewomen of Rome, who were of surpassing beauty; and around it a border well adorned, which likewise encloses with the same design the other story that is beside it, wherein is S. John the Baptist baptizing Christ, a scene full of nudes. For Nones he has made there the Magi adoring Christ, and opposite to that Solomon adored by the Queen of Sheba, both one and the other with borders rich and varied, and at the foot of this the whole Feast of Testaccio executed with figures smaller than ants, which is a marvellous thing to see, that a work so small should have been executed to perfection with the point of a brush; this is one of the greatest things that mortal hand could do or mortal eye could behold, and in it are all the liveries that Cardinal Farnese devised at that time. For Vespers there is Our Lady flying with Christ into Egypt, and opposite is the Submersion of Pharaoh in the Red Sea; with varied borders at the sides. For Complines there is the Coronation of Our Lady in Heaven, with a multitude of Angels, and in the other scene opposite is Ahasuerus crowning Esther; with appropriate borders. For the Mass of the Madonna he has placed first, in a border in imitation of cameos, the Angel Gabriel announcing the Word to the Virgin; and the two scenes are Our Lady with Jesus Christ in her arms and God the Father creating Heaven and Earth. Before the Penitential Psalms is the Battle in which Uriah the Hittite was done to death by command of King David, wherein are horses and warriors wounded or dead, all marvellous; and opposite, in the other scene, David in Penitence; with ornaments and also little grotesques. But he who would sate himself with marvelling, let him look at the Litanies, where Don Giulio has woven a maze with the letters of the names of the Saints; and there in the margin above is a Heaven filled with Angels around the most holy Trinity, and one by one the Apostles and the other Saints; and on the other side the Heaven continues with Our Lady and all the Virgin Saints. On the margin below he has depicted with the most minute figures the procession that Rome holds for the solemn office of the Corpus Christi, thronged with officers with their torches, Bishops, and Cardinals, and the most Holy Sacrament borne by the Pope, with the rest of the Court and the Guard of Halberdiers, and finally Castel S. Angelo firing artillery; all such as to cause every acutest wit to marvel with amazement. At the beginning of the Office for the Dead are two scenes; Death triumphing over all mortals, mighty rulers of States and Kingdoms and the common herd alike, and opposite, in the other scene, the Resurrection of Lazarus, and also Death in combat with some on horseback. For the Office of the Cross he has made Christ Crucified, and opposite is Moses with the rain of serpents, and the same Moses placing on high the serpent of brass. For that of the Holy Spirit is that same Holy Spirit descending upon the Apostles, and opposite is the Building of the Tower of Nimrod.

That work was executed by Don Giulio in a period of nine years with so much study and labour, that in a manner of speaking it would never be possible to pay for the work with no matter what price; nor is one able to see any more strange and beautiful variety than there is in all the scenes, of bizarre ornaments and various movements and postures of nudes both male and female, studied and well detailed in every part, and placed appropriately all around in those borders, in order to enrich the work. Which diversity of things infuses such beauty into that whole work, that it appears a thing divine and not human, and above all because with his colours and his manner of painting he has made the figures, the buildings and the landscapes recede and fade into the distance with all those considerations that perspective requires, and with the greatest perfection that is possible, insomuch that, whether near or far, they cause everyone to marvel; not to speak of the thousand different kinds of trees, wrought so well that they appear as if grown in Paradise. In the stories and inventions may be seen design, in the composition order and variety, and richness in the vestments, which are executed with such beauty and grace of manner, that it seems impossible that they could have been fashioned by the hand of man. Wherefore we may say, as we said at the beginning, that Don Giulio has surpassed in this field both ancients and moderns, and that he has been in our times a new, if smaller, Michelagnolo.

The same master once executed a small picture with little figures for the Cardinal of Trent, so pleasing and so beautiful, that that lord made a present of it to the Emperor Charles V; and afterwards, for the same lord, he painted another of Our Lady, and with it the portrait of King Philip, which were very beautiful and therefore presented to the said Catholic King. For the above-named Cardinal Farnese he painted a little picture of Our Lady with her Son in her arms, S. Elizabeth, a young S. John, and other figures, which was sent to Ruy Gomez in Spain. In another, which the above-named Cardinal now has, he painted S. John the Baptist in the Desert, with landscapes and animals of great beauty, and another like it he executed afterwards for the same lord, for sending to King Philip; and a Pietà, which he painted with the Madonna and many other figures, was presented by the same Farnese to Pope Paul IV, who as long as he lived would always have it beside him. And a scene in which David is cutting off the head of the giant Goliath, was presented by the same Cardinal to Madama Margherita of Austria, who sent it to King Philip, her brother, together with another which that most illustrious lady caused Don Giulio to execute as a companion to it, wherein was Judith severing the head of Holofernes.

Many years ago Don Giulio stayed many months with Duke Cosimo, and during that time executed some works for him, part of which were sent to the Emperor and other lords, and part remained with his most illustrious Excellency, who, among other things, caused him to copy a little head of Christ from one of great antiquity that his Excellency himself possesses, which once belonged to Godfrey of Bouillon, King of Jerusalem; which head, they say, is more like the true image of the Saviour than any other that there may be. Don Giulio painted for the said Lord Duke a Christ on the Cross with the Magdalene at the foot, which is a marvellous thing, and a little picture of a Pietà, of which we have the design in our book together with another, also by the hand of Don Giulio, of Our Lady standing with her Son in her arms, dressed in the Jewish manner, with a choir of Angels about her, and many nude souls in the act of commending themselves to her. But to return to the Lord Duke; he has always loved dearly the excellence of Don Giulio, and sought to obtain works by his hand; and if it had not been for the regard that he felt for Farnese, he would not have let him go when he stayed some months, as I have said, in his service in Florence. The Duke, then, besides the works mentioned, has a little picture by the hand of Don Giulio, wherein is Ganymede borne to Heaven by Jove transformed into an Eagle, copied from the one that Michelagnolo once drew, which is now in the possession of Tommaso de' Cavalieri, as has been told elsewhere. In like manner, the Duke has in his study a S. John the Baptist seated upon a rock, and some portraits by the same hand, which are admirable.

Don Giulio once executed a picture of a Pietà, with the Maries and other figures around, for the Marchioness of Pescara, and another like it in every part for Cardinal Farnese, who sent it to the Empress, who is now the wife of Maximilian and sister of King Philip; and another little picture by the same master's hand he sent to his Imperial Majesty, in which, in a most beautiful little landscape, is S. George killing the Serpent, executed with supreme diligence. But this was surpassed in beauty and design by a larger picture that Don Giulio painted for a Spanish gentleman, in which is the Emperor Trajan as he is seen in medals with the Province of Judæa on the reverse; which picture was sent to the above-named Maximilian, now Emperor.

For the same Cardinal Farnese he has executed two other little pictures; in one is Jesus Christ nude, with the Cross in His hands, and in the other is Christ led by the Jews and accompanied by a vast multitude to Mount Calvary, with the Cross on His shoulder, and behind Him Our Lady and the other Maries in attitudes full of grace, such as might move to pity a heart of stone. And in two large sheets for a Missal, he has painted for that Cardinal Jesus Christ instructing the Apostles in the doctrine of the Holy Evangel, and the Universal Judgment--a work so beautiful, nay, so marvellous, so stupendous, that I am confounded at the thought of it; and I hold it as certain that it is not possible, I do not say to execute, but to see or even imagine anything in miniature more beautiful.

It is a notable thing that in many of these works, and particularly in the Office of the Madonna described above, Don Giulio has made some little figures not larger than very small ants, with all the members so depicted and distinguished, that more could not have been done in figures of the size of life; and that everywhere there are dispersed portraits from nature of men and women, not less like the reality than if they had been executed, large as life and very natural, by Tiziano or Bronzino. Besides which, in some ornaments of the borders there may be seen little figures both nude and in other manners, painted in the likeness of cameos, which, marvellously small as they are, resemble in those proportions the most colossal giants; such is the art and surpassing diligence that Don Giulio uses in his work. Of him I have wished to give to the world this information, to the end that those may know something of him who are not or will not be able to see any of his works, from their being almost all in the hands of great lords and personages. I say almost all, because I know that some private persons have in little cases most beautiful portraits by his hand, of various lords, their friends, or ladies loved by them. But, however that may be, it is certain that the works of men such as Don Giulio are not public, nor in places where they can be seen by everyone, like the pictures, sculptures, and buildings of the other masters of these our arts.

At the present day Don Giulio, although he is old and does not study or attend to anything save to seeking the salvation of his soul by good and holy works and by a life wholly apart from the things of the world, and is in every way an old man, yet continues constantly to work at something, there where he lives well attended and in perfect peace in the Palace of the Farnesi, where he is most courteous in showing his work with much willingness to all who go to visit and see him, as they visit the other marvels of Rome.

DIVERS ITALIAN CRAFTSMEN

OF DIVERS ITALIAN CRAFTSMEN STILL LIVING

There is now living in Rome one who is certainly very excellent in his profession, Girolamo Siciolante of Sermoneta, of whom, although something has been said in the Life of Perino del Vaga, whose disciple he was, assisting him in the works of Castel S. Angelo and in many others, nevertheless it cannot but be well to say also here so much as his great excellence truly deserves. Among the first works, then, that this Girolamo executed by himself, was an altar-piece twelve palms high painted by him in oils at the age of twenty, which is now in the Badia of S. Stefano, near his native town of Sermoneta; wherein, large as life, are S. Peter, S. Stephen, and S. John the Baptist, with certain children. After that altar-piece, which was much extolled, he painted for the Church of S. Apostolo, in Rome, an altar-piece in oils with the Dead Christ, Our Lady, S. John, the Magdalene, and other figures, all executed with diligence. Then in the Pace, in the marble chapel that Cardinal Cesis caused to be constructed, he decorated the whole vaulting with stucco-work in a pattern of four pictures, painting therein the Nativity of Jesus Christ, the Adoration of the Magi, the Flight into Egypt, and the Massacre of the Innocents; all which was a work worthy of much praise and executed with invention, judgment, and diligence. For that same church, not long after, the same Girolamo painted an altar-piece fifteen palms high, which is beside the high-altar, of the Nativity of Jesus Christ, which was very beautiful; and then in another altar-piece in oils, for the Sacristy of the Church of S. Spirito in Rome, the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, which is a work full of grace. In like manner, in the Church of S. Maria de Anima, the church of the German colony, he painted in fresco the whole of the Chapel of the Fugger family (for which Giulio Romano once executed the altar-piece), with large scenes of the Life of Our Lady. For the high-altar of S. Jacopo degli Spagnuoli he painted in a large altar-piece a very beautiful Christ on the Cross with some Angels about Him, Our Lady, and S. John, and besides this two large pictures that are one on either side of it, each nine palms high and with a single figure, S. James the Apostle and S. Alfonso the Bishop; in which pictures it is evident that he used much study and diligence. On the Piazza Giudea, in the Church of S. Tommaso, he painted in fresco the whole of a chapel that looks out over the court of the Cenci Palace, depicting there the Nativity of the Madonna, the Annunciation by the Angel, and the Birth of Our Saviour Jesus Christ. For Cardinal Capodiferro he painted a hall in his palace, which is very beautiful, with stories of the ancient Romans. And at Bologna he once executed for the Church of S. Martino the altar-piece of the high-altar, which was much commended. For Signor Pier Luigi Farnese, Duke of Parma and Piacenza, whom he served for some time, he executed many works, and in particular a picture that is in Piacenza, painted for a chapel, wherein are Our Lady, S. Joseph, S. Michael, S. John the Baptist, and an Angel, of eight palms.

(_After the painting by =Sermoneta=. Rome: S. Maria Maggiore_)

_Alinari_]

After his return from Lombardy he painted in the Minerva, in the passage of the sacristy, a Christ on the Cross, and another in the church. Then he painted in oils a S. Catharine and a S. Agatha; and in S. Luigi he executed a scene in fresco in competition with Pellegrino Pellegrini of Bologna and the Florentine Jacopo del Conte. In an altar-piece in oils, sixteen palms high, executed not long since for the Church of S. Alò, opposite to the Misericordia, a Company of the Florentines, he painted Our Lady, S. James the Apostle, and the Bishops S. Alò and S. Martino; and in S. Lorenzo in Lucina, in the Chapel of the Countess of Carpi, he painted in fresco a S. Francis who is receiving the Stigmata. In the Hall of Kings, at the time of Pope Pius IV, as has been related, he executed a scene in fresco over the door of the Chapel of Sixtus; in that scene, which was much extolled, Pepin, King of the Franks, is presenting Ravenna to the Roman Church, and is leading as prisoner Astulf, King of the Lombards; and we have the design of it by Girolamo's own hand in our book, with many others by the same master. And, finally, he has now in hand the Chapel of Cardinal Cesis in S. Maria Maggiore, for which he has already executed in a large altar-piece the Martyrdom of S. Catharine on the wheel, which is a most beautiful picture, as are the others on which both there and elsewhere, with much study, he is continually at work. I shall not make mention of the portraits and other pictures and little works of Girolamo, because, besides that they are without number, these are enough to make him known as a valiant and excellent painter.

Having said above, in the Life of Perino del Vaga, that the painter Marcello Mantovano worked many years under him at pictures that gave him a great name, I have to say in this place, coming more to particulars, that he once painted in the Church of S. Spirito the whole Chapel of S. Giovanni Evangelista and its altar-piece, with the portrait of a Knight Commander of the same S. Spirito, who built that church and constructed that chapel; which portrait is a very good likeness, and the altar-piece most beautiful. Whereupon a Friar of the Piombo, having seen his beautiful manner, caused him to paint in fresco in the Pace, over the door that leads from the church into the convent, Jesus Christ as a boy disputing with the Doctors in the Temple, which is a very lovely work. But since he has always delighted to make portraits and little things, abandoning larger works, he has executed an infinite number of these; and among them may be seen some of Pope Paul III, which are beautiful and speaking likenesses. In like manner, from the designs of Michelagnolo and from his works he has executed a vast number of things likewise small, and among these he has depicted in one of his works the whole façade of the Judgment, which is a rare thing and executed excellently well; and in truth, for small paintings, it would not be possible to do better. For which reason, finally, that most gentle Messer Tommaso de' Cavalieri, who has always favoured him, has caused him to paint after the design of Michelagnolo an altar-picture of the Annunciation of the Virgin, most beautiful, for the Church of S. Giovanni Laterano; which design by Buonarroti's own hand, imitated by this Marcello, Leonardo Buonarroti, the nephew of Michelagnolo, presented to the Lord Duke Cosimo together with some others of fortifications and architecture and other things of the rarest. And this must suffice for Marcello, who has been attending lately to working at little things, executing them with a truly supreme and incredible patience.

Of Jacopo del Conte, a Florentine, who like those named above dwells in Rome, enough will have been said, what with this and other places, after certain other particulars have been given here. This Jacopo, then, having been much inclined from his earliest youth to portraying from the life, has desired that this should be his principal profession, although on occasions he has executed altar-pictures and works in fresco in some numbers, both in Rome and without. Of his portraits--not to speak of them all, which would make a very long story--I shall say only that he has portrayed all the Pontiffs that there have been from Pope Paul III to the present day, and all the lords and ambassadors of importance who have been at that Court, and likewise the military captains and great men of the house of Colonna and of the Orsini, Signor Piero Strozzi, and an infinite number of Bishops, Cardinals, and other great prelates and lords, not to speak of many men of letters and other men of quality; all which has caused him to acquire fame, honour, and profit in Rome, so that he lives honourably and much at his ease with his family in that city. From his boyhood he drew so well that he gave promise, if he should persevere, of becoming excellent, and so in truth he would have been, but, as I have said, he turned to that to which he felt himself inclined by nature. Nevertheless, his works cannot but be praised. By his hand is a Dead Christ in an altar-piece that is in the Church of the Popolo, and in another that he has executed for the Chapel of S. Dionigi in S. Luigi, with stories, is the first-named Saint. But the most beautiful work that he ever did was in two scenes in fresco that he once painted, as has been told in another place, in the Florentine Company of the Misericordia, with an altar-picture of Christ taken down from the Cross, with the Thieves fixed on their crosses, and the Madonna in a swoon, painted in oil-colours, all beautiful and executed with diligence and with great credit to him. He has made many pictures throughout Rome, and figures in various manners, and has executed a number of full-length portraits, both nude and draped, of men and women, which have proved very beautiful, because the subjects were not otherwise. He has also portrayed, according as occasions arose, many heads of noble ladies, gentlewomen and princesses who have been in Rome; and among others, I know that he once portrayed Signora Livia Colonna, a most noble lady, incomparable in her illustrious blood, her virtue, and her beauty. And let this suffice for Jacopo del Conte, who is still living and constantly at work.

I might have made known, also, many from our Tuscany and from other parts of Italy, their names and their works, which I have passed over lightly, because many of them, being old, have ceased to work, and others who are young are now trying their hands and will become known better by their works than by means of writings. But of Adone Doni of Assisi, because he is still living and working, although I made mention of him in the Life of Cristofano Gherardi, I shall give some particulars of his works, such as are in Perugia and throughout all Umbria, and in particular many altar-pieces in Foligno. But his best works are in S. Maria degli Angeli at Assisi, in the little chapel where S. Francis died, wherein are some stories of the life of that Saint executed in oils on the walls, which are much extolled, besides which, he has painted the Passion of Christ in fresco at the head of the refectory of that convent, in addition to many other works that have done him honour; and his gentleness and courtesy have caused him to be considered liberal and courteous.

In Orvieto there are two young men also of that same profession, one a painter called Cesare del Nebbia, and the other a sculptor, both well on the way to bringing it about that their city, which up to the present has always invited foreign masters to adorn her, will no longer be obliged, if they follow up the beginnings that they have made, to seek other masters. There is working at Orvieto, in S. Maria, the Duomo of that city, a young painter called Niccolò dalle Pomarancie, who, having executed an altar-piece wherein is Christ raising Lazarus, has given signs--not to speak of other works in fresco--of winning a name among the others named above.

And now that we are come to the end of our Italian masters still living, I shall say only that no less service has been rendered by one Lodovico, a Florentine sculptor, who, so I am told, has executed notable works in England and at Bari; but, since I have not found here either his relatives or his family name, and have not seen his works, I am not able (as I fain would) to make any other record of him than this mention of his name.

DIVERS FLEMINGS

OF DIVERS FLEMINGS

Now, although in many places mention has been made of the works of certain excellent Flemish painters and of their engravings, but without any order, I shall not withhold the names of certain others--for of their works I have not been able to obtain full information--who have been in Italy, and I have known the greater number of them, in order to learn the Italian manner; believing that no less is due to their industry and to the labour endured by them in our arts. Leaving aside, then, Martin of Holland, Jan van Eyck of Bruges, and Hubert his brother, who in 1510 invented and brought to light the method of painting in oil-colours, as has been told elsewhere, and left many works by his hand in Ghent, Ypres, and Bruges, where he lived and died in honour; after them, I say, there followed Roger van der Weyden of Brussels, who executed many works in several places, but principally in his native city, and for the Town Hall four most beautiful panel-pictures in oils, of things appertaining to Justice. A disciple of that Roger was Hans,[16] by whom, as has been told, we have in Florence the Passion of Christ in a little picture that is in the hands of the Duke. To him there succeeded the Fleming Louis of Louvain, Pieter Christus, Justus of Ghent, Hugo of Antwerp, and many others, who, for the reason that they never went forth from their own country, always adhered to the Flemish manner. And if Albrecht Dürer, of whom we have spoken at some length, did once come to Italy, nevertheless he kept always to one and the same manner; although he was spirited and vivacious, particularly in his heads, as is well known to all Europe.

[Footnote 16: Hans Memling.]

But, leaving these, and together with them Lucas of Holland and others, I became acquainted in Rome, in 1532, with one Michael Coxie, who gave no little study to the Italian manner, and executed many works in fresco in that city, and in particular two chapels in S. Maria de Anima. Having then returned to his own country and made himself known as an able man, I hear that among other works he executed for King Philip of Spain an altar-picture copied from one by the above-named Jan van Eyck that is in Ghent; and in that copy, which was taken into Spain, is the Triumph of the Agnus Dei. There studied in Rome, not long afterwards, Martin Heemskerk, a good master of figures and landscapes, who has executed in Flanders many pictures and many designs for copper-engravings, which, as has been related elsewhere, have been engraved by Hieronymus Cock, whom I came to know in Rome while I was serving Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici. And all these have been most beautiful inventors of stories, and close observers of the Italian manner.

(_After the painting by =Johannes Calcar=. Paris: Louvre, No. 1185_)

_X phot._]

In Naples, also, in the year 1545, I came to know Johann of Calcar, a Flemish painter, who became very much my friend; a very rare craftsman, and so well practised in the Italian manner, that his works were not recognized as by the hand of a Fleming. But he died young in Naples, while great things were expected of him; and he drew for Vessalio his studies in anatomy. Before him, however, there was much in repute one Dirk of Louvain, a good master in that manner; and also Quentin of the same place, who in his figures always followed nature as well as he was able, as also did a son of his called Johann. Joost van Cleef, likewise, was a great colourist and rare in making portraits from life, for which King Francis of France employed him much in executing many portraits of various lords and ladies. Famous painters of the same province, also, have been--and some of them still are--Jan van Hemessen, Matthys Cock of Antwerp, Bernard of Brussels, Jan Cornelis of Amsterdam, Lambert of the same city, Hendrik of Dinant, Joachim Patinier of Bouvignes, and Jan Scorel, Canon of Utrecht, who carried into Flanders many new methods of painting taken from Italy. Besides these, there have been Jean Bellegambe of Douai, Dirk of Haarlem, from the same place, and Franz Mostaert, who was passing skilful in painting landscapes in oils, fantasies, bizarre inventions, dreams, and suchlike imaginings. Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Brueghel of Breda were imitators of that Mostaert, and Lancelot Blondeel has been excellent in painting fires, nights, splendours, devils, and other things of that kind. Pieter Koeck has had much invention in stories, and has made very beautiful cartoons for tapestries and arras-hangings; with a good manner and practice in matters of architecture, on which account he has translated into the Teuton tongue the works on architecture of Sebastiano Serlio of Bologna. And Jean Gossart of Mabuse was almost the first who took from Italy into Flanders the true method of making scenes full of nude figures and poetical inventions; and by his hand is a large altar-piece in the Abbey of Middelburg in Zeeland. Of all these information has been received from Maestro Giovanni Strada of Bruges, a painter, and from Giovan Bologna of Douai, a sculptor; both Flemings and men of excellence, as we shall relate in the Treatise on the Academicians.

As for those of the same province who are still living and in repute, the first among them, both for his works in painting and for his many copper-plate engravings, is Franz Floris of Antwerp, a disciple of the above-mentioned Lambert Lombard. This Floris, who is held to be most excellent, has worked in such a manner in every field of his profession, that no one, they say there, has expressed better the emotions of the soul, sorrow, gladness, and the other passions, and all with most beautiful and bizarre inventions; insomuch that, likening him to the Urbinate, they call him the Flemish Raffaello. It is true that this is not demonstrated to us fully by the printed sheets, for the reason that the engraver, be he ever so able, never by a great measure equals the originals or the design and manner of him who has drawn them. A fellow-disciple with Floris, learning under the discipline of the same master, has been Willem Key of Breda, and also of Antwerp, a temperate, serious, and judicious man, and a close imitator of the life and the objects of nature, and in addition passing fertile in invention, and one who more than any other executes his pictures with good gradation and all full of sweetness and grace; and although he has not the facility, boldness, and terrible force of his brother-disciple Floris, for all that he is held to be truly excellent. Michael Coxie, of whom I have spoken above, saying that he carried the Italian manner into Flanders, is much celebrated among the Flemish craftsmen for being profoundly serious and making his figures such that they have in them much of the virile and severe; wherefore the Fleming Messer Domenicus Lampsonius, of whom mention will be made in the proper place, discoursing of the two masters named above and of this Michael, likens them to a fine trio in music, in which each plays his part with excellence. Much esteemed, also, among the same men, is Antonius Moor of Utrecht in Holland, painter to the Catholic King, whose colours, they say, in portraying whatever he may choose from nature, vie with the reality and deceive the eye most beautifully. The same Lampsonius writes to me that Moor, who is a man of very gentle ways and much beloved, has painted a most beautiful altar-picture of Christ rising from the dead, with two Angels, S. Peter, and S. Paul, which is a marvellous thing. Marten de Vos, who copies excellently well from nature, is held to be good in invention and colouring. But in the matter of making beautiful landscapes, none are equal to Jakob Grimmer, Hans Bol, and others, all of Antwerp and able men, of whom, nevertheless, I have not been able to obtain particular information. Pieter Aertsen, called Long Peter, painted in his native city of Amsterdam an altar-picture with wing-panels, containing Our Lady and other Saints; which whole work cost two thousand crowns. They also celebrate as a good painter Lambert of Amsterdam, who dwelt many years in Venice, and had the Italian manner very well. This Lambert was the father of Federigo, of whom, from his being one of our Academicians, record will be made in the proper place. Pieter Brueghel of Antwerp, likewise, they celebrate as an excellent master, and Lambert van Noort of Amersfort in Holland, and as a good architect Gilis Mostaert, brother of the above-named Franz; and Pieter Pourbus, a mere lad, has given proof that he is destined to become an excellent painter.

Now, that we may learn something of the miniaturists of those countries: they say that these have been excellent there, Marinus of Zierickzee, Lucas Horebout of Ghent, Simon Bening of Bruges, and Gerard; and likewise some women, Susanna, sister of the said Lucas, who was invited for that work into the service of Henry VIII, King of England, and lived there in honour all the rest of her life; Clara Skeysers of Ghent, who at the age of eighty died, so they say, a virgin; Anna, daughter of Meister Seghers, a physician; Levina, daughter of the above-named Meister Simon of Bruges, who was married by the said Henry of England to a nobleman, and held in estimation by Queen Mary, even as she is now by Queen Elizabeth; and likewise Catharina, daughter of Meister Jan van Hemessen, who went to Spain into the service of the Queen of Hungary, with a good salary. In short, many other women in those parts have been excellent miniaturists.

In the work of glass and of making windows there have been many able men in the same province; Arthus van Noort of Nymwegen, Borghese of Antwerp, Dierick Jacobsz Vellaert, Dirk van Staren of Kampen, and Jan Haeck of Antwerp, by whom are the windows in the Chapel of the Sacrament in the Church of S. Gudule in Brussels. And here in Tuscany many very beautiful windows of fired glass have been made for the Duke of Florence by Wouter Crabeth and Giorgio, Flemings and able men, from the designs of Vasari.

In architecture and sculpture the most celebrated Flemings are Sebastian van Oja of Utrecht, who served Charles V in some fortifications, and then King Philip; Willem van Antwerp; Willem Keur of Holland, a good architect and sculptor; Jan van Dalen, sculptor, poet and architect; and Jakob Breuck, sculptor and architect, who executed many works for the Queen Regent of Hungary, and was the master of Giovan Bologna of Douai, one of our Academicians, of whom we shall speak in a short time. Jan de Mynsheere of Ghent, also, is held to be a good architect, and Matthaeus Manemaker of Antwerp, who is with the King of the Romans, an excellent sculptor; and Cornelis Floris, brother of the above-named Franz, is likewise an excellent sculptor and architect, and the first who introduced into Flanders the method of making grotesques. Others who give their attention to sculpture, with much honour to themselves, are Willem Paludanus, a very studious and diligent sculptor, brother of the above-named Heinrich; Jan der Sart of Nymwegen, Simon van Delft, and Joost Janszoon of Amsterdam. And Lambert Suavius of Liège is a very good architect and master in engraving prints with the burin, wherein he has been followed by Joris Robyn of Ypres, Dirk Volkaerts and Philip Galle, both of Haarlem, Lucas van Leyden, and many others; who have all been in Italy in order to learn and to draw the antiquities, and to return home, as for the most part they have done, excellent masters. But greater than any of those named above has been Lambert Lombard of Liège, a man great in letters, judicious in painting, and excellent in architecture, the master of Franz Floris and Willem Key; of the excellencies of which Lambert and of others I have received much information in letters from M. Domenicus Lampsonius of Liège, a man well lettered and of much judgment in everything, who was the familiar confidant of Cardinal Pole of England during his lifetime, and now is secretary to Monsignor the Prince Bishop of Liège. That gentleman, I say, once sent me the life of the said Lambert written in Latin, and he has saluted me several times in the name of many of our craftsmen from that province; and a letter that I have by his hand, dated October 30, 1564, is written in this tenor:

"For four years back I have had it constantly in mind to thank you, honoured Sir, for two very great benefits that I have received from you, although I know that this will appear to you a strange exordium from one whom you have never seen or known. And strange, indeed, it would be, if I had not known you, which has been from the time when my good fortune, or rather, our Lord God, willed that by His Grace there should come into my hands, I know not in what way, your most excellent writings concerning the architects, painters, and sculptors. But at that time I did not know one word of Italian, whereas now, thanks be to God, for all that I have never seen Italy, by reading your writings I have gained such little knowledge as has encouraged me to write you this letter. And to this desire to learn your tongue I have been attracted by your writings, which perhaps those of no other man could have done; being drawn to seek to understand them by a natural and irresistible love that I have borne from childhood to these three most beautiful arts, but above all to that most pleasing to every age, sex, and rank, and hurtful to none, your art of painting. In which art, although I was at that time wholly ignorant and wanting in judgment, now, by means of the frequently reiterated reading of your writings, I understand so much--little though it may be, and as it were nothing--as is yet enough to enable me to lead an agreeable and happy life; and this I value more than all the honours, comforts and riches of this world. By this little I mean only that I could copy with oil-colours, as with any kind of drawing-instrument, the objects of nature, and particularly nudes and vestments of every sort; but I have not had courage enough to plunge deeper, as for example, to paint things more hazardous which require a hand more practised and sure, such as landscapes, trees, waters, clouds, splendours, fires, etc. And although in these things, as also in inventions, up to a certain point, it is possible that in case of necessity I could show that I have made some little proficience by means of the reading I have mentioned, yet I have been content, as I have said, to confine myself to making only portraits, and the rather because the many occupations which my office necessarily involves do not permit me to do more. And in order to prove myself in some way appreciative and grateful for these benefits, that by your means I have learned a most beautiful tongue and the art of painting, I would have sent you with this letter a little portrait of my face, taken with a mirror, had I not doubted whether my letter would find you in Rome or not, since at the present moment you might perchance be living in Florence or your native city of Arezzo."

This letter contains, in addition, many other particulars that are not here to the point. In others, since, he has prayed me in the name of many honourable gentlemen of those parts, who have heard that these Lives are being reprinted, that I should add to them three treatises on sculpture, painting, and architecture, with drawings of figures, by way of elucidation according to necessity, in order to expound the secrets of the arts, as Albrecht Dürer and Serlio have done, and Leon Battista Alberti, who has been translated by M. Cosimo Bartoli, a gentleman and Academician of Florence. Which I would have done more than willingly, but my intention has been only to describe the lives and works of our craftsmen, and not to teach the arts, with the methods of drawing the lines of painting, architecture, and sculpture; besides which, the work having grown under my hands for many reasons, it will be perchance too long, even without adding treatises. But it was not possible or right for me to do otherwise than I have done, or to defraud anyone of his due praise and honour, nor yet the world of the pleasure and profit that I hope may be derived from these labours.

INDEX OF NAMES OF THE CRAFTSMEN MENTIONED IN VOLUME IX

Abate, Niccolò dell' (Niccolò da Modena), 148

Adone Doni, 261

Aertsen, Pieter, 268

Agnolo, Baccio d', 40, 41, 194

Agnolo Bronzino, 118, 125, 128, 133, 137, 252

Agnolo di Donnino, 29, 30

Agresti, Livio (Livio da Forlì), 155

Aimo, Domenico (Vecchio), 189

Alberti, Leon Batista, 271

Albrecht Dürer, 163, 246, 265, 271

Alessandro Allori (Alessandro del Bronzino), 133, 138

Alessandro (Scherano da Settignano), 55

Alessandro Vittoria, 204-206, 223

Alessi, Galeazzo, 239-242

Alesso Baldovinetti, 182

Alfonso Lombardi, 167

Allori, Alessandro (Alessandro del Bronzino), 133, 138

Alonzo Berughetta, 20, 189

Ammanati, Bartolommeo, 69, 70, 73, 118, 125, 126, 129, 207, 208, 223

Amsterdam, Lambert of (Lambert Lombard), 266-268, 270

Andrea Calamech, 129

Andrea Contucci (Andrea Sansovino), 15, 40, 41, 187, 202, 216

Andrea del Minga, 131

Andrea del Sarto, 20, 43, 188, 193, 194

Andrea Mantegna, 211

Andrea Palladio, 211-214

Andrea Sansovino (Andrea Contucci), 15, 40, 41, 187, 202, 216

Anna Seghers, 269

Antonio Begarelli (Modena), 113

Antonio da San Gallo (the elder), 16, 40, 41

Antonio da San Gallo (the younger), 61-67, 196, 197, 224, 239

Antonio di Gino Lorenzi, 131

Antonio di Marco di Giano (Carota), 51

Antonio Mini, 47-51, 69, 81, 107, 109

Antonius Moor, 268

Antwerp, Hugo of, 265

Antwerp, Willem van, 269

Apelles, 133, 168

Arca, Niccolò dell', 11

Aretino, Leone (Leone Lioni), _Life_, 229-232. 95, 233

Aristotile (Bastiano) da San Gallo, 20, 29, 30

Arnolfo di Lapo, 194

Arthus van Noort, 269

Ascanio Condivi (Ascanio dalla Ripa Transone), 5, 107

Baccio Bandinelli, 20, 49, 126, 190

Baccio d'Agnolo, 40, 41, 194

Baccio da Montelupo, 55, 188, 190, 239

Bagnacavallo, Bartolommeo da, 147

Bagnacavallo, Giovan Battista da, 147, 148

Baldassarre Peruzzi, 65, 196

Baldovinetti, Alesso, 182

Bandinelli, Baccio, 20, 49, 126, 190

Bandini, Giovanni di Benedetto (Giovanni dell'Opera), 126, 130, 140, 141

Barbara de' Longhi, 155

Barbiere, Domenico del, 149

Barozzi, Jacopo (Vignuola), 102, 146, 147

Bartolommeo Ammanati, 69, 70, 73, 118, 125, 126, 129, 207, 208, 223

Bartolommeo Bozzato (Girolamo Bozza), 183

Bartolommeo da Bagnacavallo, 147

Bartolommeo Montagna, 211

Bartolommeo Passerotto, 156

Bartolommeo Suardi (Bramantino da Milano), 190

Bassano, Jacopo da, 175, 176

Bastiano (Aristotile) da San Gallo, 20, 29, 30

Battista del Cavaliere (Battista Lorenzi), 131, 140, 141

Battista del Cinque, 51

Battista del Tasso, 51

Battista di Benedetto Fiammeri, 126

Battista Farinato, 214

Battista Franco, 199, 205, 217

Battista Lorenzi (Battista del Cavaliere), 131, 140, 141

Battista Naldini, 134

Begarelli, Antonio (Modena), 113

Bellegambe, Jean, 266

Bellini, Giovanni, 159, 160, 162, 163

Benedetto da Rovezzano, 191

Bening, Levina, 269

Bening, Simon, 268

Benvenuto Cellini, 51, 118, 125

Benvenuto Garofalo, 202

Bernard of Brussels, 266

Bernardino Pinturicchio, 190

Bernardo Timante Buontalenti, 135-137

Bertoldo, 8

Berughetta, Alonzo, 20, 189

Bigio, Nanni di Baccio, 69, 76, 100, 101, 113, 239

Blondeel, Lancelot, 267

Bol, Hans, 268

Bologna, Giovan, 267, 269

Bologna, Ruggieri da, 147

Bolognese, Pellegrino (Pellegrino Pellegrini, or Tibaldi), 151-154, 258

Bonifazio (of Venice), 214

Bordone, Paris, 178-182

Borghese (of Antwerp), 269

Bosch, Hieronymus, 267

Bosco, Maso dal (Maso Boscoli), 55

Boscoli, Giovanni, 156

Boscoli, Maso (Maso dal Bosco), 55

Bozzato, Bartolommeo (Girolamo Bozza), 183

Bramante da Urbino, 27-29, 31, 65, 71, 188-190

Bramantino da Milano (Bartolommeo Suardi), 190

Bresciano, Jacopo (Jacopo de' Medici), 206, 207, 223

Breuck, Jakob, 269

Bronzino, Agnolo, 118, 125, 128, 133, 137, 252

Bronzino, Alessandro del (Alessandro Allori), 133, 138

Brueghel, Pieter, 267, 268

Brunelleschi, Filippo, 43, 44, 133

Brussels, Bernard of, 266

Bugiardini, Giuliano, 29, 30, 95

Buglioni, Santi, 132

Buonarroti, Michelagnolo, _Life_, 3-141. 145, 153, 162, 170, 171,
187, 193-195, 215, 216, 224, 231, 235, 236, 239, 246, 250, 251, 259

Buontalenti, Bernardo Timante, 135-137

Butteri, Giovan Maria, 131

Cadore, Tiziano da (Tiziano Vecelli), _Life_, 159-178. 48, 145, 153,
159-179, 182, 183, 201, 202, 247, 252

Calamech, Andrea, 129

Calamech, Lazzaro, 129

Calcagni, Tiberio, 83, 84, 98-100

Calcar, Johann of (Giovanni Fiammingo), 178, 266

Capocaccia, Mario, 233

Caravaggio, Polidoro da, 170

Carota (Antonio di Marco di Giano), 51

Carpaccio, Vittore (Vittore Scarpaccia), 210, 211

Carrara, Danese da (Danese Cattaneo), 176, 204, 208-210, 214, 223

Casignuola, Jacopo, 238

Casignuola, Tommaso, 238

Castel Bolognese, Giovanni da, 164

Castelfranco, Giorgione da, 159-162, 165, 179

Catharina van Hemessen, 269

Cattaneo, Danese (Danese da Carrara), 176, 204, 208-210, 214, 223

Cavaliere, Battista del (Battista Lorenzi), 131, 140, 141

Cavalori, Mirabello (Mirabello di Salincorno), 126

Cellini, Benvenuto, 51, 118, 125

Cesare Cesariano, 190

Cesare del Nebbia, 261

Cesariano, Cesare, 190

Christus, Pieter, 265

Ciappino, 51

Ciciliano, Jacopo, 98

Cimabue, Giovanni, 133

Cinque, Battista del, 51

Cioli, Valerio, 129, 140, 141

Clara Skeysers, 269

Cleef, Joost van, 266

Clovio, Don Giulio, _Life_, 245-253

Cock, Hieronymus, 266

Cock, Matthys, 266

Colonna, Jacopo, 202, 203, 223

Condivi, Ascanio (Ascanio dalla Ripa Transone), 5, 107

Conte, Jacopo del, 95, 152, 258, 260, 261

Contucci, Andrea (Andrea Sansovino), 15, 40, 41, 187, 202, 216

Cornelis Floris, 269

Cornelis, Jan, 266

Coxie, Michael, 266-268

Crabeth, Wouter, 269

Credi, Lorenzo di, 190

Cristofano Gherardi, 261

Cristofano Gobbo (Cristofano Solari), 14, 234

Cristofano Rosa, 177

Cristofano Solari (Cristofano Gobbo), 14, 234

Crocifissaio, Girolamo del (Girolamo Macchietti), 126

Dalen, Jan van, 269

Danese Cattaneo (Danese da Carrara), 176, 204, 208-210, 214, 223

Daniello Ricciarelli (Daniello da Volterra), 95, 100, 101, 103, 107,
121, 122

Dante, Girolamo (Girolamo di Tiziano), 183

Danti, Vincenzio, 128, 139

David Ghirlandajo, 5, 6, 182

Delft, Simon van, 269

Dierick Jacobsz Vellaert, 269

Dinant, Hendrik of, 266

Dirk of Haarlem, 266

Dirk of Louvain, 266

Dirk van Staren, 269

Dirk Volkaerts, 270

Domenico Aimo (Vecchio), 189

Domenico del Barbiere, 149

Domenico Ghirlandajo, 5-9, 182

Domenico Poggini, 131

Domenicus Lampsonius, 268, 270, 271

Don Giulio Clovio, _Life_, 245-253

Donato (Donatello), 8, 10, 111, 133, 138, 169

Doni, Adone, 261

Donnino, Agnolo di, 29, 30

Dosso Dossi, 163

Dürer, Albrecht, 163, 246, 265, 271

Eyck, Hubert van, 265

Eyck, Jan van, 265, 266

Fabbro, Pippo del, 192

Fabrizio Viniziano, 215

Faenza, Jacopone da, 154

Faenza, Marco da (Marco Marchetti), 155, 156

Fallaro, Jacopo, 214

Farinato, Battista, 214

Federigo Fiammingo (Federigo di Lamberto, or Del Padovano), 127, 268

Ferrarese, Girolamo (Girolamo Lombardi), 202, 223

Fiammeri, Battista di Benedetto, 126

Fiammingo, Federigo (Federigo di Lamberto, or Del Padovano), 127, 268

Fiammingo, Giorgio, 269

Fiammingo, Giovanni (Johann of Calcar), 178, 266

Fiesole, Simone da, 15, 16

Filippo Brunelleschi, 43, 44, 133

Filippo Lippi, Fra, 119, 133

Floris, Cornelis, 269

Floris, Franz, 267-270

Fontana, Prospero, 147, 148, 150-152

Forlì, Livio da (Livio Agresti), 155

Fra Filippo Lippi, 119, 133

Fra Giovanni Agnolo Montorsoli, 51, 117, 133

Fra Guglielmo della Porta, 68, 69, 234-238

Fra Sebastiano Viniziano del Piombo, 68, 106, 109, 111, 162, 235

Francesco del Tadda, 97

Francesco Francia, 26, 27

Francesco Granacci, 5, 6, 8, 20, 29, 30

Francesco Primaticcio, _Description of Works_, 145-150. 151, 156

Francesco Salviati, 133

Francesco Verbo (Verlo), 211

Francia, Francesco, 26, 27

Francia, Piero, 130

Franciabigio, 20

Franco, Battista, 199, 205, 217

Franz Floris, 267-270

Franz Mostaert, 266-268

Franzese, Giovanni, 88

Gaddi, Taddeo, 133

Galeazzo Alessi, 239-242

Galeotto, Pietro Paolo, 233

Galle, Philip, 270

Garofalo, Benvenuto, 202

Gerard, 268

Ghent, Justus of, 265

Gherardi, Cristofano, 261

Gherardo, 182

Ghiberti, Lorenzo, 114

Ghirlandajo, David, 5, 6, 182

Ghirlandajo, Domenico, 5-9, 182

Ghirlandajo, Michele di Ridolfo, 130

Ghirlandajo, Ridolfo, 20

Gian Maria Verdezotti, 178

Giano, Antonio di Marco di (Carota), 51

Gilis Mostaert, 268

Giorgio Fiammingo, 269

Giorgio Vasari. See Vasari (Giorgio)

Giorgione da Castelfranco, 159-162, 165, 179

Giotto, 3, 119, 133, 182

Giovan Battista da Bagnacavallo, 147, 148

Giovan Bologna, 267, 269

Giovan Jacomo della Porta, 234, 235

Giovan Maria Butteri, 131

Giovan Paolo Poggini, 232, 233

Giovanni (of Vicenza), 211

Giovanni Agnolo Montorsoli, Fra, 51, 117, 133

Giovanni Antonio Licinio (Pordenone), 160, 167, 168

Giovanni Bellini, 159, 160, 162, 163

Giovanni Boscoli, 156

Giovanni Cimabue, 133

Giovanni da Castel Bolognese, 164

Giovanni da Udine, 42, 51