Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects/Michele San Michele

by Giorgio Vasari

 

THE VERONESE ARCHITECT, MICHELE SAN MICHELE.

[born 1484—died 1558.]

S was born at Verona, in the year 1484. The youth acquired the first principles of architecture under the discipline of his father, Giovanni, and of Bartolommeo his uncle, two excellent architects; and in the sixteenth year of his age he repaired to Rome, leaving his father and two brothers, the latter both endowed with very fine parts; of this one of them, named Jacopo, gave proof in the study of letters; while the other, since called Don Camillo, became a Canon Regular, and was finally made General of his Order.

Arrived in Rome, Michele studied the antiquities of ancient architecture with the most careful and zealous devotion, mea suring and examining all the buildings and other edifices minutely, insomuch that no long time had elapsed before he became known, and even of good repute, not in Rome only, but in all the districts lying around that capital. Moved by the fame thus early acquired, the people, of Orvieto invited our young architect to their city, where they made him superintendent of works to their so frequently cited cathedral,^[1] allowing him a most honourable stipend. While in the service of the Orvietans, San Michele was in like manner invited to Monte Fia,scone, for the building of their principal church that is to say;^[2] and thus, serving now one and then the other of those two places, he performed such works of good architecture as are to be seen therein.

Among other fabrics erected by Michele San Michele^[3] in Orvieto, may be particularized a magnificent sepulchral monument constructed in the church of San Domenico,^[4] for a noble Sienese—one of the Petrucci family, as I think —a structure of very great cost, and which proved to be eminently beautiful.

San Michele also prepared a large number of designs for private houses, both at Orvieto and Monte Fiascone, giving evidence in all cases of very great judgment and forethought. Wherefore Pope Clement VII., proposing to avail himself of his services in the many important conjunctures then arising, by reason of the war raging at that time through all Italy; Pope Clement, I say, attached Michele to his service by a very liberal stipend, and gave him as an associate to Antonio San Gallo, with intent that together these two should proceed to inspect all the most important positions of the Ecclesiastical States. They were jointly commanded, moreover, to direct the construction of fortifications wherever such should be found necessary, but more especially at Parma and Piacenza; those two cities being very distant from Rome, and lying near the frontier, were consequently much exposed to the perils of war.

The office thus committed to them was performed by the two masters with zealous care, and much to the satisfaction of the Pontiff; but after so many years of absence from his native place, San Michele conceived the wish to revisit the same, and once more to behold his kindred and friends. He returned to Verona accordingly, but when he had been there a few days, having a great desire to examine the fortresses of the Venetian territory, San Michele repaired to Treviso; and when he had sufficiently considered the works of that place, he next proceeded to Padua, with like intent. But the Signoria of Venice, being warned of his purpose, and suspecting that San Michele might turn these observations of their fortresses to their injury, gave command that he should be arrested, when he was seized accordingly in Padua, and being thrown into prison, was subjected to a long examination. The Signori became convinced, nevertheless, that he was a man of probity, and not only set him instantly at liberty, but even invited him to enter their service, with the promise of a handsome stipend. These offers he excused himself from accepting at that time, since he was then engaged in the service of his Holiness, but gave them the fairest promises, and was finally permitted to depart from their city.

No long time had elapsed, nevertheless, before the measures taken by the Signoria of Venice to secure San Michele to themselves, compelled him to abandon Rome, which he nevertheless would not do until he had received the full permission of the Pontiff, whose wishes he first fulfilled in every particular, and that done, he departed to enter the service of the abovementioned most Illustrious Signori, who were his natural lords. Nor did San Michele permit any time to be lost, but soon gave proof of his knowledge and efficiency; and this he first did in Verona, when, after overcoming many difficulties, which, as it seems, were presented by that work, he constructed an exceedingly strong, and very handsome Fort, which greatly pleased those Signori, as it also did the Duke of iJrbino, their Captain-General.^[5]

It was then determined to fortify Legnago and Porto, two highly important places in the Venetian territory, and both on the river Adige; one being on one side of that river that is to say, and one on the other, but the two being conjoined by a bridge. The Signori of Venice, therefore, committed the charge of this undertaking.to San Michele, commanding him to prepare a model, to the end that they might see in what manner it appeared to him that those places could and ought to be fortified. This was done by the architect accordingly, when his design pleased the Signoria very much, as it did the Duke of Urbino; whereupon, they gave orders for such works as were required, and San Michele constructed the fortifications of those places in such a manner, that nothing better would be seen in a work of that kind, nothing stronger, more beautiful, or more carefully considered in every particular, as is well known to all who have examined the same.^[6]

When he had completed that undertaking San Michele constructed, almost from the foundations, the strong defences of Orzi-nuovo in the Bresciano,^[7] which is a castle and port, similar to those of Legnago. Being then very pressingly required of the Venetian Signoria, by the Signor Francesco Sforza, last Duke of Milan, those Signori did at length give San Michele permission to attend the Prince, but for three months only. Having repaired to Milan accordingly, he inspected all the fortresses of that state, ordering everything which he thought it necessary to have done in each place, and not only obtaining much honour thereby, but giving such entire satisfaction to the Signor Duke, that after sending his acknowledgments and thanks to the Venetian Signori, his Excellency presented San Michele with five hundred crowns.

Our architect then availed himself of the opportunity offered by his return to Venice, and went to Casale di Monserrato, there to inspect the beautiful and very strongly defended city and fortress, which had been constructed after the plans and under the direction of the excellent architect Matteo San Michele, who was a kinsman of his own.^[8] Michele also went to see a very magnificent sepulchre in marble, erected in the church of San Francesco in the same city, and also by the above-named Matteo.^[9]

These things done, San Michele returned home, but had no sooner arrived in Venice than he was despatched by the Signori a to accompany the Signor Duke of Urbino, who was then proceeding to inspect La Chiusa, a pass and fortress of much importance above Verona, with all the strong towns of Friuli: Bergamo, Vicenza, Peschiera, and other places that is to say, of all which as well as of the works demanded by each, San Michele gave his masters minute intelligence by pen, writing to them at length concerning all those matters.

Being then commanded by the same Signori to proceed into Dalmatia, with orders to fortify the cities and other places of that province, he inspected the whole district accordingly, restoring and setting in order with great diligence wherever he found the necessity most pressing. But as he could not himself suffice to all that was required, he there left Giovan-Girolamo, his nephew, who having admirably fortified Zara, erected even from the foundations that most admirable fortress called San Niccolb, which commands the entrance to the port of Sebenico.

Michele was next despatched in great haste to Corfu, the fortifications of which he restored in many places, and having done that, he proceeded to perform services of similar kind in all the strong towns of Cyprus and Candia. But notwithstanding the cares bestowed in that quarter on this occasion, our architect was compelled to return thither almost immediately afterwards, seeing that those islands were in imminent danger of being lost to Venice by reason of the war then threatening with the Turks. After having inspected the fortresses of the Venetian dominions in Italy, therefore, San Michele hastened to press forward the defences of Canea, Candia, Retimo and Settia, which he completed with incredible rapidity, his cares being more particularly directed to those of Canea and Candia, which he rebuilt from their foundations and rendered impregnable.^[10] Napoli di Romania likewise being about that time assailed by the Turks, was, partly by the ability displayed by San Michele in the fortifying and strengthening of the place, and partly by the bravery of Agostino Clusoni, a most valiant Veronese Captain, who defended it by his arms—Napoli di Romania, I sav, was enabled to withstand all the assaults of the enemy, nor was it once taken or subjugated.

These wars having come to an end, San Michele first accompanied the Illustrious Messer Tommaso Mozzenigo, High Admiral of Venice, to strengthen and increase the fortifications of Corfu, and that done they both returned to Sebenico, where the diligence with which Gio van-Girolamo had pressed forward the works for the above-mentioned fortress of San Niccolò was much commended. San Michele soon afterwards returned to Venice, where he was himself highly extolled for the works thus executed in the Levant, and for the service of that Republic; it was then resolved to construct a fortress on the Lido, at the mouth of the Port of Venice that is to say.^[11]

On confiding the care of this undertaking to San Michele, the Signoria exhorted him to consider, that since he had performed so much at a distance from Venice, he was now to reflect on the zeal with which it behoved him to act in a matter of so much importance as that now entrusted to him, and to bethink himself of what it was his duty to accomplish in respect of a work which was to be perpetually under the eyes of the Senate and of so many great nobles. They added, that in addition to the beauty and strength, which it was expected from him that he should give to that work, there was an especial demand, moreover, for particular care and caution on his part; seeing that he was to lay his foundations in a marshy soil and on a tongue of land beaten on all sides by the sea: that being the character of the spot on which he was nevertheless called on to construct a work which must needs become the very sport of the winds and waves, exposed as it would be to each ebb and flow^[12] of the waters, while the fabric proposed was at the same time to be one of the utmost importance.^[13]

San Michele then prepared a very beautiful and most exact model of the whole work;^[14] and not only so, but he also reflected and decided on the best means for preparing the foundations and carrying his designs into effect. He was then commanded to set hand to the work without delay, wherefore, having been furnished by those Signori with all that he required, San Michele prepared himself to obey their orders. The materials for filling in the foundations were first laid ready for use, and a large number of piles being fixed in a double row, the architect assembled a vast company of assistants, well acquainted with those waters, and betook himself to the excavation of the basement; but the more he laboured to exhaust the waters by means of pumps and other machines, the more they were seen to rise up from below, the place being fairly in the sea.

One morning, however, that the master had appointed for making his utmost effort to secure a commencement, he got together all the men capable of lending him assistance, on whom he could lay his hands, adding to these all the porters of Venice, and in the presence of many Signori, at length suddenly succeeded, by the use of indescribable promptitude and care, in mastering the waters for a moment to such an extent as to permit him instantly to throw in the first stones of the foundations on the piles which he had driven. These stones being of vast immensity, occupied a very large space, and formed an excellent foundation; when, continuing the exhaustion of the waters without loss of a moment, the architect did finally secure himself a firm basis for his work, much against the opinion and contrary to the expectation of many, who had considered the undertaking to be one in which success was totally impossible.

The foundations thus made, were suffered to remain for the purpose of settling, during a sufficient space of time, and that having been done, San Michele built upon them a mighty and most admirable fortress, constructing the external walls of rustic masonry formed of large stones of extreme hardness brought from Istria, and capable of resisting the frost, wind, and every extremity of weather. Not only is this fortress astonishing from the site on which it has been erected, but it is besides admirable for its extraordinary beauty, to say nothing of its incalculable cost, in respect to which it is among the most remarkable in Europe, and may bear comparison with the most renowned edifices constructed by the greatness of the Romans.

Among other beauties of this fabric is one well worthy of notice, namely, that the whole appears to have been formed of one unbroken stone, nay, rather might be supposed to have been hewn out of the living; rock in the magnificent form there presented to the spectator, and this not only nor even principally because the masses of which it is constructed are so enormous, but because of the perfection with which all are joined and united together. Of the ornaments and other peculiarities that might be insisted on, I say nothing, seeing that nothing adequate to the merit of the work could be said.

Within the walls, San Michele laid out a Square or Piazza divided by pillars and arches in the rustic manner, which would indeed have proved to be a most admirable performance, had it not been suffered to remain unfinished. But when this vast undertaking had reached the point above described, certain malicious and envious persons persuaded the Signori that although the work was a most beautiful one and constructed with all due care, yet it would nevertheless be totally useless for all practical purposes, nay, might possibly cause injury to the possessors, since the weight and quantity of the artillery which the place would require were such, that in the discharge thereof, the whole building must needs be shaken to pieces and utterly destroyed.

Thereupon the Signori determined in their wisdom that it would be desirable to ascertain the truth on that point, as being one of the very first importance; they consequently ordered an immense quantity of artillery, and that of the very heaviest that could be found in the Arsenal, to be brought to the fortress, and having caused all the embrasures, above as well as below, to be filled with cannon, even more heavily loaded than common, they had all fired off together.

Then the uproar, the thunders, and the earthquake that were heard and felt were such and so vast, as to make it appear as if the whole world were falling to pieces, •while the mass of the building itself, with all its mouths of fire, presented the aspect of a great volcano, or rather of a very hell.^[15]

But the fabric remained firm in its seat nevertheless, exhibiting all its wonted strength and solidity, to the utter shame of the malignant critics, who wrere proved to be "wholly destitute of judgment, while the great ability of San Michele was rendered most clearly manifest to the Senate as well as to all besides. The envious detractors had nevertheless caused so much terror in all Venice, that many gentlewomen who were pregnant at the time, were removed from the city in the fear of some frightful catastrophe.^[16]

No long time after this occurrence, a place of no small importance in the vicinity of Venice named Murano,^[17] having returned to the dominion of the republic, San Michele was directed to restore and fortify the works, which he did with much promptitude and diligence; and about the same time, the reputation of Michele and of his nephew Giovan Girolamo having become widely extended, the services of both were sought for, more than once, by the Emperor Charles V., and they were likewise invited to enter the service of Francis King of France. But to this neither of them would ever consent, although offered the most advantageous conditions if they would leave the service of their own natural lords for that of strangers; on the contrary, they continued to hold their office in Venice, and travelled about continually in the exercise of their duties, inspecting each place every year, and restoring, wherever it was found needful, all the cities and fortresses of the Venetian dominions.

More than to all the rest however did Michele devote his attention to his native city of Verona; this place he adorned, among other embellishments, with those beautiful gates which have not their equal in any other city; the Porta Nuova for example, which is of the Dorico-rustic order and manner, and in the massive firmness of its character harmonizes finely with the style and strength of the fortress; being constructed of tufa and flint stone, and comprising rooms for the soldiers who mount guard at the place, with other conveniences which it has not since been usual to add to such buildings. The form of the gate is quadrangular, it is open above,^[18] and with its embrasures, serving as platforms for guns, defends two bastions, or more properly towers, which stand at a certain distance on each side thereof, every part being completed with so much judgment, the whole being so magnificent and costly a work, that none need suppose it possible for the future to produce a more beautiful or more admirable performance, as it is certain that the earliest ages have none more ably executed, or any that could surpass the same.

Some few years later San Michele founded and partially constructed another gate in Verona, commonly called that of the Palio, and which is in no wise inferior to that already mentioned, nay, it is perhaps even more beautiful, being large, majestic, and admirably contrived at all points: in these two gates the Venetian Signori may of a truth be said to have equalled, by means of this architect’s genius, the buildings and structures of the ancient Romans.

The gate of the Palio is externally of the Doric order, with columns of immense height and girth, which are fluted or striated in the manner proper to that order;^[19] and. these columns, of which there are in all eight, are placed in pairs: four of them serve to flank the door, and on each side there is an escutcheon of the arms of the city magistrates between column and column;^[20] the remaining four, placed in like manner two and two, make a finish to the angles of the gate, the front of which is exceedingly wide and is entirely of rustic work, deeply cut, and having each projection not rough but polished, the whole enriched moreover with decorations of great beauty; the passage or open space of the gate retaining the quadrangular form, but of an architecture which is new, fanciful, and very beautiful. Over this there is an exceedingly rich Doric cornice with all its appurtenances; and above that there was to be placed, as we see by the model, a pediment with the requisite ornaments, which was to serve as a parapet to the artillery, this gate being intended like the other to be used as an embrasure or cavalier also:^[21] within there are very large rooms for the soldiers of the guard, with other accommodations and conveniences.

On the inner front of the gate, or that turned towards the city, San Michele constructed a magnificent Loggia of the Doric order, and with rustic masonry on the outer side, but within after the rustic manner wholly, with very large piers having columns, which serve as their decoration, and which on the external side are round, but squared on the interior; they are formed in separate pieces of rustic masonry without bases, and have Doric capitals; at the summit is a Doric cornice finely carved, and this passes along the entire length of the Loggia (which is a very long one), both within and without.

At a word, this gate is a most admirable production, and well spoke the illustrious Signor Sforza Pallavicini, Captain General of the Venetian armies, when he affirmed that there was no fabric to be found in Europe which merited to be in any manner compared with this. But it was the last marvel performed by Michele San Michele, for he had only just completed the first range of columns above-described when he finished the course of his life. The gate was left incomplete, therefore, nor will it now very probably be ever completed, since there are not wanting envious persons who censure various parts thereof (as invariably happens in the case of all great works), labouring to diminish the glory of others by their malignity and evil-speaking, although they have not themselves the genius to produce any thing that can bear a comparison with the performance which they are attempting to depreciate and decry.

The same architect erected another gate in Verona called San Zeno, and this also is very beautiful; in any other place than Verona it would indeed be accounted most wonderful, but in that city its beauties are obscured by those of the two before-mentioned. The Bastion near this gate is also a work of San Michele, as is that which is somewhat lower down, opposite to San Bernardino that is to say, with one between them called Dell’ Acquajo, which is opposite to the Carnpo Marzio, and another, which surpasses all the rest for size, and which is placed near the Catena, where the Adige enters the city.^[22]

In Padua, San Michele constructed the Bastion called the Cornaro^[23]t as he also did that named Santa Croce, both of which are of astonishing size, and are fabricated according to the method which was invented by himself; for the idea of constructing Bastions with acute angles originated with San Michele. Before his time they were made of a circular form, by which the difficulty of defending them was much increased; in the present day they have an obtuse angle on the outer side and can be readily defended, either by a cavalier erected between two Bastions near at hand, or by means of another Bastion, provided the latter be not too far distant and that the ditch have a good breadth.

The method of constructing Bastions with three squares, to the end that those on the two sides might guard and defend the ditch and the curtains, from their open embrasures, was likewise of San Michele’s invention; the large central square meanwhile defending itself at the same time that it attacks the enemy. This method has since been imitated by all, and supersedes the old manner of subterranean embrasures called casemates, in which the smoke and other impediments prevented the effectual management of the artillery, without danger of serious risk to the foundations of the towers and walls, and the certainty of greatly weakening them.

San Michele constructed two very beautiful gates at Legnago likewise, and at Pescliiera he directed the works for the first foundation of the fortress, as he did also at Brescia, watching over all that had to be done with so much diligence and such mature consideration, that no one of his buildings has ever shown a crack. Lastly this architect restored the fortress of Cliiusa above Verona,^[24] and here he formed a commodious passage for the citizens, who can go through without entering the fortress, but yet not without the approval of those within, seeing that there is a bridge, by the raising of which the passage is not only closed, but all approach is rendered impossible, even towards the road, which is very narrow and hewn out of the rock.

In the city of Yerona San Michele constructed the beautiful bridge called the Ponte Nuovo; this he did after his return from Home, and by commission from Messer G-iovanni Emo, who was then Podesta or Prefect of that citya work then and now also much admired for its strength and solidity. But it was not in fortification only that San Michele was excellent, he was equally distinguished in the fabrication of private buildings, churches, and monasteries, as may be seen from the numerous edifices erected by that master in Yerona and elsewhere. Among these may more particularly be specified the beautiful and richly decorated chapel of the Guareschi^[25] in the church of San Bernardino; this is a circular building in the manner of an ancient temple; it is of the Corinthian order, and is adorned with all the ornaments proper to and permitted hy that order, the material being that hard white stone which in Yerona, from the sound rendered by it while in the process of working, is called bronzo.^[26] This kind of stone is of a truth the most beautiful, marble only excepted, that has been discovered down to our times, being extremely firm and having no holes or spots to diminish its beauty.

The above-named chapel therefore, being as it is entirely constructed of this beautiful stone on the inside, and executed by some of the best masters in masonry and stone-cutting, who have put it together with much ability, is held to be as fine a production of its kind as any that is in Italy. San Michele has given the circular form to the entire structure, insomuch that three altars which are within its circle with their pediments, cornices, &c., all turn in a perfect round, as does the opening space of the door, which is much in the manner of those entrances formed by Filippo Brunelleschi in the chapels of the church of the Angeli at Florence, a thing exceedingly difficult to do.

Above the first range of columns, San Michele also constructed a gallery which is continued entirely around the chapel, the columns and capitals of the same being enriched with exquisite carvings, and every part in effect being decorated with foliage, grottesche, and other ornaments, all sculptured with indescribable care and pains. The door of the chapel, a very beautiful one, is of the Corinthian order, and has a quadrangular form on the outside, resembling, as San Michele averred, an antique example which he had seen in some building at Rome. It is true that the edifice, having been left unfinished by Michele, for what cause I know not, whether from avarice or want of judgment on the part of those who had given him the commission, was suffered to be brought to a close by others, and these people spoiled it, to the infinite vexation of San Michele, who beheld his work ruined under his eyes in his own lifetime, he being able to do nothing for the prevention of that wrong; wherefore he would sometimes lament over this with his friends, declaring that he grieved only because he did not possess so many thousands of, ducats as would have enabled him to buy the chapel and so deliver the work from the avarice of a woman, who, to avoid spending the amount required, was most shamefully spoiling the whole.^[27]

The design of the round church of the Madonna di Campagna near Verona,^[28] was also by San Michele and was a very beautiful one, although the miserable weakness and want of judgment betrayed by those who had the superintendence of the building, have maimed and curtailed it in various -parts: nay, they would have done much worse, had it not been for the care of Bernardino Brugnoli, a kinsman of San Michele, who made a perfect model of the whole, after which he now carries forward the construction of the edifice as he does that of many others.^[29]

For the monks of Santa Maria-in-Organo, or rather the Brethren of the Monte Oliveto in Verona, San Michele prepared a design for the façade of their church: it was of the Corinthian order and exceedingly beautiful; but having been carried to a certain height by Paolo San Michele it was then suffered to remain in that condition by reason of the large costs which those monks had been put to for other matters; or more certainly perhaps because of the death of Don Cipriano, a Veronese^[30] brother of that order, and one much venerated among the brotherhood, he being a man of holy life and of high authority in his order, of which he was twice General: by this Don Cipriano it was that the work had been commenced.^[31]

In San Giorgio of Verona, which is a monastery belonging to the Priests Regular of San Giorgio-in-Alega, Michele San Michele executed certain works, the Cupola of that church being the principal, and this was a structure of great beauty. It was besides so difficult a work that few believed it likely to succeed, the opinion of many persons being that the building could not possibly support the weight to be imposed thereon, because of the weakness of the buttresses; but these were strengthened by our architect in such a manner that there has never since been any cause to fear disaster. In the same monastery San Michele designed and laid the foundations of a very fine Campanile or bell tower, all of hewn stone, partly tufa, and partly of a harder stone. This was brought to a state of considerable forwardness under his own direction, and is now in course of continuance by the above-named Bernardino his nephew, who is conducting it to completion.

Now at this time the Bishop of Verona, Monsignore Luigi Lippomani, had determined to finish the Campanile of his church, which had been commenced a hundred years previously; he therefore caused a design to be prepared by San Michele, who made one for him which was most beautiful, at the same time that the architect had been careful to preserve the older part of the fabric, and had also taken into consideration the amount of expenditure which the Bishop was prepared to make. But a certain Messer Domenico Porzio, a Roman and the vicar of the Bishop, who was but slightly versed in matters connected with architecture, although for the rest a good honest man in the main—this Domenico, I say, allowed himself to be overreached by a man of poor acquirements, and committed to him the care of' continuing the building: but that person took stones quarried from the mountain, which he used in their undressed state; he made the staircase moreover in the thickness of the wall, treating it in such a manner that the result was exactly what even those but moderately conversant with architecture might easily have divined, I mean that the building could not maintain itself, but was on the point of falling to the ground.

Among the persons who had predicted this conclusion, was the most reverend Father Marco de’ Medici of Verona, who, in addition to his more serious studies, has ever delighted in those of architecture and still continues to do so. But to his assertions of the fate that would inevitably befall the fabric, he received this reply, “Fra Marco is a very learned man in his own calling of letters, philosophy, and theology; but as to architecture he has not fished deeply enough to render himself worthy of belief.”

When the tower had attained to the height of the platform where the bells should have been placed, however, it gave way at four different points, and this to such an extent, that after having expended many thousands of crowns in erecting the Campanile, they found it necessary to pay three hundred more to the masons for throwing it down again, seeing that in a few days it must have fallen of itself, and so carried ruin to all around it. But thus should it always happen to those who leaving good and able masters, involve themselves with ignorant and bungling pretenders.

The above-named Monsignor Luigi Lippomani having then been chosen Bishop of Bergamo, while Monsignor Agostino Lippomani was chosen Bishop of Verona in his place, the latter caused San Michele to reconstruct the model for the before-mentioned Campanile, and to commence that fabric anew. Monsignor Girolamo Trevisani, a Domenican monk, who succeeded the last-named Lippomani in the bishopric, is now proceeding with the work, which he causes to be continued, though very slowly, after the same model— an exceedingly beautiful one. The staircase is now constructed within the tower, and in such a manner that the strength and durability of the Campanile incurs no danger.

For the Signor Counts della Torre of Verona, San Michele built a handsome chapel at their villa of Fumane; it is in the form of a round temple, and has the altar in the midst of it.^[32] In the church of the Santo, at Padua, a magnificent tomb vas constructed, after his designs, for Messer Alessandro Contarini,^[33] Procurator of San Marco, and who had been Proveditor, or Commissary-general, to the Venetian armies. In this work it would seem that San Michele designed to show the manner in which such structures ought to be treated: since he has not adhered to the usual fashion of proceeding, which, as he thought, was better fitted for the altar of a chapel, than for a tomb. His fabric, on the contrary, very rich in its ornaments, although of an exceedingly solid form, has something of a warlike character: among its decorations is the figure of Thetis and two Captives, by the hand of Alessandro Vittoria,^[34] which are considered to be very good ones. There is besides a portrait from the life of Contarini, a half-length figure wearing a cuirass, which was executed in marble by the sculptor Danese of Carrara.^[35] Other decorations there are likewise in abundance, captives, trophies, spoils of war, and various matters besides, of which I need make no farther mention.

In Venice Michele San Michele prepared the model for a convent belonging to the nuns of San Biagio Catoldo, which was highly extolled, and when it was afterwards determined in Verona to rebuild the Lazzaretto, or hospital to serve for those who may be struck by the malady in times of pestilence (the old one, with other houses in the suburb near it, having been demolished), Michele was called on to make a design, wherein he succeeded to a marvel; it is indeed singularly beautiful: the building was to be erected near the river, and at some distance from the plain. But this design, truly beautiful, as we have said, and admirably adapted to its purpose in every part, which is now in the possession of Luigi Brugnoli, nephew of San Michele, was nevertheless not put into execution as a whole; the want of judgment and poverty of spirit betrayed by certain of those who had authority, caused the work to be grievously curtailed; nay, it was at length contracted and reduced to utter meanness, by men who misused the authority wherewith they had been invested by the public, to the maiming and distortion of the building; and this they were enabled to do by the too early death of the gentlemen who had, in the first instance, been called on to superintend the work, and whose greatness of mind was equal to their nobility of place.

The singularly beautiful palace which the Signor Counts of Canossa possess in Verona, was in like manner a work of Michele San Michele, which was built by command of the most reverend Monsignore di Bajus,^[36] who, when in the world, had been the Count Ludovico Canossa, a man highly celebrated by all the writers of his time.^[37] For the same prelate San Michele built another magnificent palace at the villa of Grezzano, in the Veronese territory.^[38] It was after his design also that the façade of the castle belonging to the Counts Bevilacqua was restored, as were indeed all the apart ments of that abode, which is called the Castello di Bevilacqua.

In Verona the same architect built the house of the Lazzevoli family, with its façade, a work which has been much commended:^[39] and in Venice he raised the magnificent and very richly decorated palace of the Cornaro family,^[40] even from the foundations: this edifice is situate near San Polo. He also restored another palace, which likewise belonged to the house of Cornaro, and is situate near San Benedetto all’ Albore.^[41] This he did for Messer Giovanni Cornaro, who was a particular friend of Michele, and by whose intervention Giorgio Vasari was commissioned to paint nine pictures in oil for the ceiling of a magnificent apartment of the same palace, which was all richly decorated with gilding and carvings in wood.

It was by Michele San Michele that the house of the Bragadini family, which is opposite to Santa Marina, in Venice, was restored, and very commodious as well as handsome did he render it. In the same city he also laid the foundations of, and raised to some height above the ground, that magnificent palace of the most noble Messer Girolamo Grimani, which is situate on the grand canal, near San Luca, and which was erected after a model by that master at an incredible expense.^[42] It is true that San Michele, being overtaken by death, could not conduct it to the end himself, and the architects who succeeded him in the service of Messer Girolamo have changed much of the design and widely departed from the model of San Michele.

On the borders of the Paduan and Trevisan territories, and near to Castel-Franco, was constructed by the same architect that most renowned palace of the Soranzi, called after that family, Soranza: this palace, to be, as it is, but a villa, is considered the most beautiful and most commodious which, up to that period, had ever been erected in those parts.^[43] San Michele built the Casa Cornara, in the Campagna near Piombino, with so many other private houses, that it would make too long a story if I were to enumerate them all: let it suffice me to have mentioned the principal ones.^[44] Meanwhile I will not omit to record two very beautiful gates of Palaces, which were executed by this master, one being that of the Rectors,^[45] and Captains; the other that of the palace of the Podesta, both in Verona,^[46] and each worthy of high commendation. It is true that the last-named, which is of the Ionic order, with double columns and richly decorated intercolumniations, having figures of Victory also at the angles; this last, I say, on account of the lowness of the site whereon it is placed, has a somewhat dwarfed appearance; an effect increased by the absence of pedestals, and by the great width, which is the consequence of the columns being doubled; but so it was that Messer Giovanni Delfini would have it made.^[47] § While Michele was at length enjoying the tranquillity of leisure in his native place, and was profiting by the glory and renown which had been secured to him by his honourable labours, he received a piece of intelligence which grieved him to such a degree, that the course of his life was cut short by that sorrow. But to the end that the whole may be the better understood, and that all the finer works of San Michele may have their due notice in this his life, I will say somewhat of Giovan-Girolamo, the kinsman of Michele.

This Giovanni, then, who was born to Paolo, the cousin of Michele, being a youth of admirable endowments, was instructed with much diligence in all things relating to architecture by Michele himself, and was so greatly beloved by him, that in all his most important works, more especially in those connected with the defences used in war, Michele would always have the youth beside him. By the aid of such a master, Giovan Girolamo soon became excellent in his vocation, insomuch, that the most difficult undertakings were safelycommitted to his care; in fortification more particularly, for in the details of military architecture he had ever taken the greatest delight. His ability becoming known to the Venetian Signori, he was placed among the number of their architects, although still very young, and early received a very considerable stipend, being continually sent, now to one place and now to another, with orders to inspect and set in order the fortresses of the Venetian states: sometimes also to put in execution the designs prepared by San Michele, his kinsman. Giovan-Girolamo was employed, for example, at the fortifications of Zara, among other places, where he laboured with infinite zeal and ability, as he did in the admirable fortress of San Niccolò, in Sebenico, which was erected, as we have said, at the entrance to the port. This last work. Giovan-Girolamo had raised from the foundations, and it is considered one of the strongest and best arranged fortresses of that class that can be seen.

After his own design and by the good counsels of his kinsman San Michele, Giovan-Girolamo likewise restored the great fortress of Corfu, which is esteemed the key of Italy on that side. He there reconstructed two great towers on the land side, making them much larger and stronger than they had previously been, adding embrasures and open squares, which flank the ditches in the modern manner, and according to the invention of San Michele, his kinsman. He caused the fosses also to be made much wider than they had been before, and levelled a hill, which being near the fortifications, appeared not unlikely to command them.

But of all the well-considered works executed at Sebenico, by Giovan-Girolamo, there was none which gave more general satisfaction than the large and strongly-defended place which he prepared at one angle of the fortress, for the reception of the people; in times of siege, this constituting a refuge of the most perfect security, to which the inhabitants of that island might resort, and where they might remain without danger of being taken prisoners by the enemy. By all these works Giovan-Girolamo obtained so much -credit with the Venetian Signori, that they ordered him a stipend equal in amount to that of San Michele, judging him to be by no means inferior to his kinsman; nay, rather, in matters connected with fortifications, they considered him superior. All this rejoiced San Michele exceedingly: he was in the highest degree delighted to see his own abilities out-stripped by his relative, and to find the art, which old age would prevent himself from carrying further, thus making progress in the person of Giovan-Girolamo.

Mow the latter, in addition to the excellent judgment which he displayed in selecting the site of his works, had also much industry and skill in representing the same, whether by drawings, or models in relief; insomuch that he laid before his lords the most unimportant particulars of all that he undertook, and sent them beautiful models in wood of the most minute parts of the fortifications, a care and diligence which pleased them infinitely, since, without once leaving their abodes in Venice, they could thus daily make themselves acquainted with the progress made, and see the works proceeding at the most distant parts of states. The models themselves were deposited, for the greater convenience, in the palace of the Doge; and, to the end that they might be the more readily examined, they were kept in a place where the Signori could go to consult them whenever it might suit them to do so. They took care, also, to encourage the continuance of Giovan-Girolamo in this mode of proceeding, not only by reimbursing the expenses which he incurred in the construction of these models, but also by showing him innumerable marks of favour.

Giovan-Girolamo might have entered the service of many princes and nobles, with very large emoluments, but he would never leave that of his own lords, the Signori of Venice; nay, pursuing the counsels of his father, and his kinsman San Michele, he took to wife a maiden of the noble family of the Fracastori, one of those dwelling in Verona, with the fixed intention of remaining in those parts. But he had lived only a few days with his beloved bride, who was called Madonna Ortcnsia, when he was summoned by the Signori to Venice, and thence despatched in great haste to Cyprus, there to inspect all the strong places of the island, orders having been forwarded to the officials, commanding them to provide him with whatever might be needful to him, of all kinds, and in every place.

Having arrived in Cyprus, Giovan-Girolamo employed three months in making the circle of the island; and after carefully inspecting all the fortresses, he put every thing that lie bad caused to be done to these strong places into writing and drawings, to the end that he might be able to render his lords an exact acount of the whole. But while thus devoting himself with too much care and solicitude to the duties of his office, he had but little regard to his own life; exposing himself too boldly, he sank beneath the burning heats which prevail in those parts at that season, and was seized with a pestilential fever, which deprived him of life in six days. There are not wanting, however, those who affirm that he had been poisoned.

However this may be, Giovan-Girolamo departed content, since he died in the service of his masters, by whom he had been employed in the most important undertakings, and who had more faith in his fidelity, as well as in his skill as a military engineer, than in those of any other person whatsoever. No sooner was he attacked, than, knowing his illness to be mortal, he gave all his designs and the writings which he had prepared, in relation to the fortified places and other affairs of the island, to his brother-in-law, Luigi Brugnuoli, who was also an architect, to the end that they might be taken to the Signori, Luigi being then employed at the fortifications of Famagosta, which is the key of the island in that direction.

When the news of Giovan-Girolamo’s death arrived in Venice, there was not one of the Senate who did not feel indescribable grief at the loss of so distinguished a man, and one so truly devoted to their Republic. He died at the age of forty-five, and received honourable sepulture from his above-named brother-in-law, in San Niccolò of Famagosta.

That duty performed by Luigi Brugnuoli, he then returned to Venice, and presented the designs and writings of Gian Girolamo to the Senate, which, when he had done, he was sent to complete the fortifications of Legnago, where he had already been employed many years, in the execution of the designs and models of his uncle Michele San Michele.

But no long time had elapsed before Luigi also died at Legnago, leaving two sons, who are men of tolerably fair ability in design and in the. practice of architecture, for which cause Bernardino, the elder of the two, has at this moment many undertakings in his hands. The Campanile of the Duomo is among the number of the works now in progress under the direction of Bernardino Brugnuoli, as is that of San Giorgio, called the Madonna di Campagna, in which, and in other edifices, constructed by him in Verona and elsewhere, Bernardino is succeeding extremely well. In the erection and decoration of the principal chapel of San Giorgio, in Verona, this artist has moreover acquitted himself in a highly distinguished manner. The building is of the composite order, and is such,—as the Veronese affirm—whether, for size, design, or execution, that they believe none equal to it can be found in Italy.

This chapel has received the form of the semicircular space within which it is built, and has Corinthian columns, with a composite capital; they stand wholly apart from the wall, and have pilasters behind them. The pediment which rises above them all is of similar character, and follows the circular form of the recess, with an effect which proves great mastery in the architect: it is decorated with all the ornaments which belong to that order. Nor will I omit to mention the fact that when Monsignore Barbaro,^[48] Patriarch-elect of Aquileia, who is profoundly conversant with such matters, and has written on the subject—when Monsignore Barbaro, I say, examined this work on his return from the Council of Trent, he did not refuse commendation to that part of it which is completed, and expressed approval also of the portion which is still in progress; nay, having inspected the fabric several times, he concluded by remarking that he had never seen one similar to it, and that it could scarcely have been better done. This may suffice as an indication of what may be hoped from the genius of Bernardino, who, on the mother’s side, belongs, as we have said, to the San Michele family.

But to return to Michele San Michele, from whom we departed, not without cause, some short time back. The death of Gian Girolamo caused him so much grief, since in him he beheld that branch of the house of San Michele menaced with extinction—his nephew leaving no children that — notwithstanding the determined efforts which he made to conquer and overcome his sorrow, he was seized with a malignant fever, of which he died in a few days, to the inexpressible regret of his country and of his most illustrious masters. This happened in the year 1559, and the place of liis sepulture was the cliurcli of San Tommaso, which belongs to the Carmelite Monks; the ancient tombs of his forefathers being in that church, and here the Physician, Messer Niccold San Michele, has even now commenced the erection of a monument to his memory, which is at this time in process of execution.^[49]

San Michele was a man of most orderly and upright life, highly honourable in all his actions; he was of a cheerful disposition, yet grave withal; a man who feared God, and was so rigidly attentive to his religious duties, that he would on no account have commenced any work in the morning until he had first heard mass devoutly, and repeated his prayers. On the first beginning of any work of importance, moreover, he would invariably cause the Mass of the Spirito Santo, or that of the Madonna, to be solemnly sung before any other thing was attempted. He was of an exceedingly liberal disposition, and so obliging towards his friends, that they were as much masters of all he possessed as he was himself.^[50]

One proof of his integrity and generosity I will not omit to mention here, believing it to be known to very few besides myself. When Giorgio Vasari, with whom, as we have said, San Michele was on the most friendly terms, was last parting from him in Venice, the architect said to him, “I would have you to know, Messer Giorgio, that when I was at Monte-Fiascone in my youth, I fell in love, as it pleased fortune, with the wife of a stone-cutter; and she was, of a truth, very kindly disposed towards me, but no one ever knew any thing of that matter except myself. Now, I hear that this poor woman has been left a widow, with a daughter whom she desires to give in marriage, and who, as she declares, is mine own.

This may very possibly not be true; nor do I think it is true; but however that may be, do you take her these fifty crowns of gold, and give them to her as bestowed on my part, for the love of God, and to the end that she may help herself and settle her daughter according to the condition of the mother.” Giorgio was then going to Rome, and passed through Monte Fiascone, when, although the good woman freely confessed to him that the maiden was not Michele’s daughter, yet, as the latter had commanded him, he paid her the money, which was as welcome to that poor creature as five hundred crowns might have been to some others.

San Michele was indeed more kindly and friendly than any man that ever lived, insomuch that he was scarcely made aware of the wants or desires of his friends, before he would instantly set about labouring to fulfil the same, though it were to the spending of his life; nor did any one ever do him a service without having it many times and doubly repaid. Giorgio Vasari once made him a large drawing in Venice, and this the Aretine artist completed with his best diligence, the subject being Lucifer in his pride overwhelmed by the Archangel Michael, and cast shamefully from heaven into the horrible deeps of hell. For this San Michele thanked Giorgio courteously when the latter went to take leave of him, but said nothing further, nor was it until after Vasari had been some days returned to Arezzo, that he knew what San Michele had done: the architect, namely, had long before sent to the mother of Giorgio, who was then dwelling in Arezzo, a large number of magnificent and beautiful presents, as might have been done by one of our richest nobles; with a letter wherein he expressed his attachment for her son in terms of the utmost respect to herself.

The Signori of Venice were many times on the point of increasing the stipend of San Michele, but he always refused to accept these additions, desiring that they would give the sums which they proposed to add to his appointments, to his nephews rather than to himself. At a word, San Michele was most courteous, friendly, and benevolent, in all his actions; he was esteemed and beloved accordingly by many great nobles, among others, and while our artist was in Rome, by the Cardinal de’ Medici, who was afterwards Pope Clement VII., by the Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, subsequently Pope Paul III., by the divine Michelagnolo, by the Signor Francesco Maria, Duke of Urbino, and by vast numbers of the nobles and senators of Venice. In Verona his most intimate friend was Fra Marco de’ Medici, a man of great learning, and of infinite goodness,^[51] he had besides many others of whom it is not needful that I should now make mention.

And now, as I shall not have again to speak of the Veronese, or of Verona, for some time, I will take the occasion here presented to make mention of certain painters belonging to that country, who are still living, and are so entirely worthy of being named that they are on no account to be passed over in silence.

The first of these is Domenico del Riccio,^[52] who has painted three fat^ades of the house of Fiorio di Seta, which is situate above the Ponte Nuovo in Verona, those three namely which do not look on the bridge—Fiorio’s house standing entirely apart from all other buildings. The work, which is in fresco, is executed partly in chiaro-scuro and partly in colours. On the front, which looks towards the river, are combats of marine monsters; on another are battles of the Centaurs, with certain of the Italian rivers; and the third has two coloured pictures, the subject of one, which is over the door, being a Feast of the Gods, and that of the other, the fable of a Marriage between the Benacus (that is the Lago di Garda) and the Nymph of the Lake, Caris, from which marriage it is fabled was derived the birth of the river Mincio, which does in fact rise from the Lago di Garda.^[53] In the same house is a large frieze in various colours by the hand of Riccio, and painted in a good manner.^[54]

In the house of Messer Pellegrino de’ Ridolfi, which is also in Verona, the same artist painted the Coronation of the Emperor Charles V. and a second picture showing the same Monarch, when after his coronation he rides with the sovereign Pontiff in great pomp through Bologna. ^[55] In oil Domenico di Riccio has painted the principal picture in the church newly built by the Duke of Mantua near the Castello; the subject of this wrork is the Martyrdom by decapitation of Santa Barbara, which is executed with much care and good judgment. The cause whereby the Duke wras moved to give that picture to Domenico was this, a painting had been executed by that artist long before in the Chapel of Santa Margherita, which is in the Cathedral of Mantua, and the manner of that work, which Domenico had painted in competition vTitli Paulino, who painted the chapel of Sant’ Antonio, with Paolo Farinato, who decorated that of San Martino, and with Battista del Moro, to whom had been confided the Chapel of Santa Maddalena;—the manner of Domenico, I say, pleased the Duke very greatly, and the Santa Barbara was entrusted to him as the consequence of that Signor’s approval.

Now all these four Veronese had been invited to Mantua by the Cardinal Ercole, who proposed that they should decorate that church which he had had restored with the designs, and in part also under the direction, of Griulio Romano. Other works have been performed by Domenico, in Verona, Vicenza, and Venice, but it shall suffice me to have mentioned the above. He is an upright man and an excellent artist, well versed, not in painting only, but in music also; Domenico is indeed an accomplished musician, and among the most distinguished members of the truly noble Academy of the Philharmonists in Verona.

Nor will Felice, son of the aoove-named Domenico, be found inferior to his father; although still young he has already proved himself a more than ordinary painter in a picture which he has painted for the church of the Trinità; the subject of this work is the Madonna, with six other Saints, all of the size of life. And this success of Felice need not occasion surprise, that youth having studied his art in Florence, dwelling in the house of Bernardo Canigiani, a Florentine gentleman and a gossip of his father.

In the same city of Verona there is also still living the painter Bernardino, called India,^[56] who, to say nothing of many other works, has depicted the Fable of Psyche in most beautiful figures on the ceiling of a chamber in the house of Messer Antonio del Tiene. He lias also painted a room, with admirable invention, and in a very beautiful manner, for the Count Girolamo da Canossa.^[57]

The painter, Eliodoro Forbicini,^[58] a youth of a very fine genius, is also much extolled, possessing great facility in all kinds of painting; he is more particularly distinguished as a painter of grottesclie, as may be seen in the two chambers above described as well as in other places where he has laboured.

In like manner Battista da Verona,^[59] who is called thus, and no otherwise, out of his own country, well deserves to be mentioned here; he was instructed in the first principles of painting by an uncle of his own in Verona, and. subsequently placed himself with the excellent Titian in Venice, under whose discipline he became a most excellent painter.

While yet very young he painted a Hall in the Palace of Portesco, the Paymaster of the Forces, the building is at Tiene in the Vicentine territory, and the work was executed by Battista in company with Paulino; they having painted a vast number of figures, by which they both acquired credit and reputation. Battista executed numerous frescos in company with the above-named Paulino at the Palace of Soranza in Castel Franco, both being despatched thither by Michele San Michele, who loved them as his sons. These two artists also painted the façade of the house of Messer Antonio Cappella, which is situate on the Grand Canal in Venice, and at a later period, still working in company, they decorated the ceiling, or rather the entire wainscot of the Hall of the Council of Ten, dividing the pictures between them.

No long time after having finished the above, Battista was invited to Vicenza, where he executed numerous works, both in and around the city, and in these last days he has painted the front of the Monte di Pieta, where he has delineated a vast number of nude figures larger than life, and in various attitudes; they are of good design and have been completed in so short a time that it is a very marvel. If then this artist has accomplished so much at so early an age, since he has not yet attained his thirtieth year, let every one judge for himself of what may be hoped from him in the course of a life.

The painter Paulino^[60] is also a Veronese, he is nowin good repute at Venice; and this artist also, although in like manner not more than thirty years old, has performed many commendable works. Born in Verona, Paulino was the son of a carver in stone, or as they say in that country, a stonecutter, and having acquired the principles of painting from the Veronese, Giovanni Caroto,^[61] he painted in fresco the Hall of the Paymaster Portesco at Tiene in the Vicentino, in company with the above-named Battista, with whom he subsequently executed numerous works at the Soranza, all of which show good design, a fine judgment, and a beautiful manner.^[62]

At Masiera near Asolo in the territory of Treviso, Paulino painted the very beautiful house of the Signor Daniello Barbaro, Patriarch elect of Aquileia;^[63] and in Verona he painted a large picture on cloth for the refectory of San Nazzaro, a Monastery of the Black Friars; the subject chosen being the Supper of Our Saviour Christ in the house of Simon the Leper,^[64] when Mary Magdalene threw herself at the feet of Our Lord. In this work there are many portraits from the life among the numerous figures which it comprises, with buildings, &c., in perspective, which are admirable; there are two Dogs under the table, moreover, which are so beautifully executed that they appear to be alive; and in the distance are certain figures of lame and halt, which are also excellently well done.

In the Hall of the Council of Ten in Venice, within an oval, which is larger than any of the others forming the divisions of the ceiling and occupies the centre thereof, as being the principal picture, is another work by Paulino; a figure of Jupiter driving forth the Vices, which is meant to signify that this supreme and absolute ruler expels evil, and also punishes wicked and vicious men.^[65] The same artist painted the ceiling in the church of San Sebastiano, a work of extraordinary merit, as he did also the picture for the High Altar, with smaller pictures which surround and form the framework of the same. Paulino likewise painted the doors which close the organ, and all these are truly praiseworthy productions.^[66]

In the hall of the grand council, Paulino executed a very large picture, the subject Frederick Barbarossa presenting himself to the Pope, with a large number of figures in varied habiliments and all of great beauty, insomuch that it does worthily represent the court of a Pontiff and an Emperor as well as the Venetian senate. There are many gentlemen and senators of the republic represented from the life in this picture, which is such, at a word, for grandeur, excellence of design, variety of attitude and beauty, that it is deservedly extolled by all who see it.^[67]

After having completed this work Paulino executed the decorations of other chambers, used for the service of the above-named Council of Ten, painting the ceilings in oil with figures which are very finely foreshortened and admirably beautiful.^[68] He painted in fresco for a certain merchant the front of a house, which is situate on the road leading from San Maurizio to San Moise, and this also was a very beautiful work, but the sea-air is gradually destroying that production.^[69] For Cammillo Trevisano, Paulino painted a Loggia and an apartment in fresco at Murano, which were greatly admired, and at the monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, he painted the Marriage at Cana in Galilee, at the upper end of a very large room;^[70] this work is most wonderful for grandeur, for power of invention, for number of figures, and for variety of vestments: if I recollect rightly, it comprises more than a hundred and fifty heads, all judiciously varied and executed with the utmost care.

The same artist was commissioned by the procurators of' San Marco to paint certain angular medallions; these are in the ceiling of the Nicene library,^[71] which was bequeathed to the Signoria by the Cardinal Bessarion, with a vast treasure of Greek books collected by that prelate. Now the abovenamed Proveditors, when they caused the painting of the library to be commenced, had promised a prize of honour, over and above the price agreed on, to him who should best acquit himself in the decoration of the same, the work was then divided among the best painters at that time in Venice.

Being completed, and after all the pictures had been well examined, a golden chain was placed around the neck of Paulino, he, by the opinion of all, being adjudged to have done the best. The picture which obtained him this victory and prize of honour, was that wherein he has represented Music; here are depicted three young and very beautiful women, one, the most beautiful of all, is playing on the bassviol, her eyes are cast down, being fixed on the handle of the instrument, and her attitude clearly shows that her ear and voice are intently following the sound; of the other two, one is playing a lute, and the other sings from a hook. Near these figures is a Cupid without wings playing on a harpsicord, to signify that Love is awakened by Music, or that Love is ever the companion of Music; and the artist has made him without wings, to show that he never parts from her. In the same work Paulino depicted Pan, who, according to the poets, is the god of shepherds, holding in his hand pipes or flutes made of the bark of trees, these being such as have been dedicated to him in the manner of vows, by shepherds who had been victorious in the trial of playing on them.

Two other pictures were painted by Paulino in the same place, in one of which is Arithmetic, accompanied by philosophers, dressed after the manner of the ancients; in the other is Honour, to whom, she being seated, sacrifices are offered and royal crowns presented. But as this young man is just now in the best of his activity, and has not yet attained his thirty-second year, I will say nothing more at present respecting him.^[72]

Of Verona is likewise the practised and able painter Paolo Farinato,^[73] who was the disciple of Niccolò Ursino,^[74] and has executed many works in Verona; among the principal of these may be indicated a hall in the house of the Fumanelli family, which Messer Antonio, a gentleman of that family, and a physician renowned through all Europe, has caused to be decorated in fresco and covered with stories after his own fancy. There are also two large pictures by Farinato in the principal chapel of Santa Maria-in-Organo,^[75] one of these represents the Slaughter of the Innocents by Herod, in the other is depicted the Emperor Constantine, who causes a number of children to be brought and slain before him, to the end that he may bathe himself in their blood, as a cure for the leprosy wherewith he was afflicted.^[76]

In the recess of the above-mentioned chapel are two other stories by Paolo Farinato, these also are large, although not of equal size with those previously named; in the first is Our Saviour Christ receiving Peter, who is walking towards him on the water, and in the second is the Supper which San Gregorio gives to certain poor men. In all these works, which are entirely worthy of praise, there is a large number of figures executed with good design, much thought, and great diligence.^[77] There is furthermore a picture of San Martino by the same artist, which was placed in the cathedral of Mantua, and which Farinato painted in competition with other painters his compatriots, as we have before related.

And this shall be the end of the life of the excellent Michele San Michele, and of those other distinguished men of Yerona, who are certainly worthy of all praise for their excellence in art as well as for their many other good qualities.

---

1. The Altar of the Three Kings in the Cathedral of Orvieto is one of San Michele’s works, and with respect to this performance he is said to have had a dispute with Antonio San Gallo, wherein he chose Pope Clement himself for umpire.—Förster.
2. The Cathedral of Monte Fiascone is an octangular building of exceedingly beautiful form, with a very elegant and graceful cupola. —Bottari.
3. For the works of San Michele in the Cathedral of Orvieto, see the Storia del Duomo d'Orvieto by the Padre Della Valle, Rome, 1791.
4. A sepulchral chamber constructed beneath the earth: for details respecting this and other fabrics of San Michele, our readers may consult the work of Ronzani and Luciolli, entitled Fabbriche civili ecclesiastiche e militari di Michele Sammichele Architettore Veronese, &c., Venice, 1831.
5. “This,” observes a compatriot of our author, “is the Maddalena; it was erected in 1527, and was the first angular bastion ever constructed. San Michele is thus to be considered the restorer of art in the fortification of towns, nor should he even be postponed to the celebrated Marchi, still less to the over-praised Vauban: even Antonio Colonna, though senior to the above-named architects, is not to be placed before San Michele, since Colonna, who was not born until the year 1513, could not have constructed fortifications, whether circular or angular, in 1527.”
6. Many new works have been since added to these defences.—Ed. Flor., 1832-8.
7. The walls and Bastions of Orzinuovo were demolished some few years since.—Ibid.
8. Vasari does not appear to have derived his intelligence respecting Casale from the best sources, that fortress having been commenced in the thirteenth century, and enlarged by Theodore, Marquis of Montserrat, in the fourteenth (1326), receiving its present form from the Marquis Guglielmo VIII. in 1470. In later times, the Dukes of Mantua and Montserrat, Guglielmo and Vincenzio, made additions respectively in the years 1560 and 1590. That Matteo San Michele was employed to repair these works at the period indicated in the text, is however not to be doubted, since, deriving his intelligence as he did from the Padre Marco de’ Medici, and personally acquainted with Michele San Michele as Vasari was, it is not probable that he would give any relation which had not some foundation in truth.
9. According to the Padre Della Valle this is the Sepulchral Monument of Maria, daughter of Stephen, King of Servia, and Marchioness of Montserrat. But Michael Angelo, and not Matteo San Michele, is the more probable author of this work, or at least of the sculptures with which it was decorated: was, for the barbarous injuries inflicted on the tomb in 1746, when the church was turned into a military hospital by the French and Spanish armies, were unhappily followed by its total destruction, when the building came once more to be set in order, the condition of the monument causing its restoration to be then considered a hopeless attempt.
10. The fortress of Candia resisted all the assaults of the Ottoman armies during a period of twenty years.
11. Now called Sant’ Andrea del Lido, from being near the Church once dedicated to the above-mentioned Saint in that place, but now demolished.
12. The question as to how much of ebb and flow those waters present, would not here be in place.
13. A most admirable recipe for securing failure on the part of the exhortee.
14. An act of no small courage in the master, when the lecture above described, with the despotism of those “Signori” who read it in his ears, are taken into the account.
15. Alas for the ears of the unhappy cannoneers!
16. San Michele had also made provision for the more ready dispersion of the smoke from the Gallery, which then passed along the entire front of the building. This Gallery was demolished by a foreign engineer in the commencement of the last century.
17. This should be Marano, a fortress on the coast of the Adriatic, and not Murano, which is an island close to Venice, well known for its manufacture of glass beads, called Conterie.— Venetian Edition of Vasari.
18. The date on this Portal is 1533. The roof is a subsequent addition. —Förster
19. Horizontally that is to say.—Förster.
20. This description is not accurate; there are no escutcheons among the decorations of this gate, and Vasari must have become confused between the description of this and of the Porta Nuova, where there are escutcheons. —Ibid.
21. It is the opinion of our author’s Italian commentators that he had seen a model only of this gate, one too which San Michele did not put into execution. It is indeed manifest that the architect did not intend the structure to serve as a gate and as a platform for artillery at the same time, nor had he the purpose of placing a pediment over the Doric cornice.
22. These works of San Michele were for the most part destroyed in the operations of 1801. — Förster.
23. “Vasari is the first writer,” observes a compatriot of his own, “who has claimed for our Italy the honour of having originated the modern manner of fortifying cities.”
24. Of this work but few traces now remain. — German Translation of Vasari.
25. Guareschi is the family name of the House of Raimondi, but the chapel is now called De’ Pellegrini, from the foundress, Margherita Pelligrini, widow of Benedetto Raimondi, by whom it was commenced about the middle of the sixteenth century. Being left unfinished, it was restored at her death in 1557, and was completed by the Marshal Carlo Pelligrini, in 1793; this was done by the architect Giuliari, whose finely-illustrated work on the subject, entitled Cappella de' Pellegrini, &c., Verona, 1816, our readers may consult with advantage.
26. Very probably from the word Brontolio, a murmuring or roaring; as that of the sea for example.-
27. “Now this,” declares an upright commentator of our author, whose protest in the cause of justice we gladly reproduce, “is not to be understood as in reproach of the good Margherita Pellegrini, the foundress; since she, knowing she could not live to complete the work, took care to recommend that Office to her heirs. Vasari must therefore be understood here to be speaking of an avaricious woman among those heirs to whom the completion of the work had been committed, and it is certain that the chapel was finished in a manner so unworthy of its commencement, that the architect Giuliari found his task of restoring it to anything like what San Michele designed, to be a very difficult one.”
28. Situate on the high road to Venice, and at the distance of about a mile and a half from Verona.
29. The first stone was not laid until the year 1559, which was that in which San Michele died.
30. + Temanza, Vite degli Architetti Veneziani, informs us that Don Cipriano was not a native of Verona, but of Nona.
31. The façade has never been completed.—Förster.
32. The building is octagonal, but the altar, which is in a very bad manner, is certainly not by San Michele. —Masselli. Förster adds that there is a tomb of the Counts Della Torre in the Church of San Francesco at Verona, which is said to be by that architect.
33. This work is attributed to Agostino Zeno by some authorities. See Compendiosa Narrazione di Padova, Venice, 1706.
34. They are those on the left of the spectator. The sculptor, Alessandro Vittoria, was a native of Trent, and is mentioned again by Vasari, in the Life of Jacopo Sansovino.
35. Mentioned in other places, as our readers will remember, and to be further named in the Life of Jacopo Sansovino.
36. Bayeux that is to say.
37. Canobio, Origine della Famiglia Canossa, affirms that Galeozzo, the nephew of the Bishop, erected this palace.
38. Few traces of San Michele’s work now remain, vast additions having been made to this building in the seventeenth century.
39. It now belongs to the noble family of the Pompei. — Ed. Flor., 1832-8.
40. Now the Palazzo Mocenigo.—Ibid.
41. This is now called the Palazzo Spinelli.
42. In this very beautiful palace the Post Office is now established.
43. The Palace of the Soranzi has been demolished, but the Venetian Edition of our author informs us that the frescoes of Paolo Veronese and his school, which formed the most valuable part of its decorations, have been preserved from destruction. The German translator of Vasari adds, that they were presented to the Church of San Liberale by Filippo Balbi, by whose care it was, as the Venetian Edition of our author assures us; that they were saved from destruction.
44. See Ronzani and Luciolli, Fabbriche di San Michele, &c., as before cited.
45. Or Prefects sent by Venice. The courts of justice are now held there.
46. On the Piazza de’ Signori.
47. Delfini, that is to say, was anxious to retain the previous arrangement of' the floors, and more particularly the range of windows as they then existed. San Michele could therefore not give increased height, or an air of greater lightness to the gate.
48. Monsignore Barbaro is the translator and commentator of Vitruvius —Ed. Flor., 1832-8.
49. In tne year 1814 a discourse in praise of San Michele was composed by Antonio Silva, and was published in Rome. —Ed. Flor., 1832-8.
50. The life of this illustrious architect by Temanza, Vite, &c., as before cited, will well repay perusal. —Ibid.
51. Fra Marco was one of the correspondents of Vasari, who obtained the greater part of what he has here given in relation to the Veronese artists from his hand.
52. Mentioned in the Life of Valerio Vicentino. See vol. iii. p. 467.
53. An engraving of this part of the work here in question will be found in Panvinius, Antiquitates Veronensis, lib. vii. p. 204.
54. Persico, Descrizione di Verona, has given an exact description of these works, and to him our readers are referred for details which cannot here find place.
55. This work also is described in Persico, as above cited, and was engraved, with some omissions, in the year 1701, bv command of the Cardinal Carrara.
56. The son of Tullio India, who was also a painter, and of no mean repute.— Masselli.
57. Bernardino painted two rooms in the Palazzo Canossa.—Masselli.
58. Lanzi calls Forbicini “an assistant of India, and of many other artists,” .doubtless meaning that he was employed by them to execute the grottesche, in the production of which, as Vasari observes, his ability principally consisted.
59. Battista Fontana of Verona, who, according to Lanzi, was much engaged at the Imperial Court of Vienna: other authorities speak of him as a good engraver.
60. This is the renowned Paolo, Cagliari or Caliari, better known as Paul Veronese. The author of the bitter remarks attributed to Agostino Carracci, reproaches Vasari for having said so little of this master, but the great abundance of good artists at that time in Verona renders it highly probable that Cagliari had not then been able to make it evident that he possessed the right to more distinction than has here and hereafter been accorded to him by Vasari, whose impartiality is manifest. See Zanetti, Della Pittura Veneziana, and Ridolti, Maraviglie dell’Arte. See also Lanzi, History of Painting, vol. ii. p. 206, 213.
61. The brother of Giovanni Francesco Caroto, mentioned in the Life of Fra Giocondo, which will be found in vol. iii. p. 385.
62. The removal of these works has been already alluded to. See ante, note ||, p. 437.
63. This Palace is now in the possession of the Counts Manin, and is much visited by strangers.— Venetian Edition of Vasari.
64. The Supper of Simon is no longer in the Monastery of San Nazzaro, which is now become a soap manufactory.—Ibid.
65. This picture is still in its place, but it is by an Angel, and not by Jupiter, that the Vices are driven forth.
66. The Church of San Sebastiano may be considered a perfect gallery of Paolo’s works. The tomb of the master is also there, with his bust, by Matteo Carmero. — Venetian Edition of Vasari.
67. Certain commentators enumerate the “Return of the Doge Contarini” after his victory o; r the Genoese, with “Venice received among the Gods,” in the ceiling of the Great Hall of the Council, among the works of Padio, but attribute “the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa ” to Federigo Zucchero.
68. Other works by Paolo Veronese, beside those here mentioned, adorn the apartments in question.
69. It has accordingly now perished utterly.
70. This, which Lanzi considers one of the finest of the master’s works,, was taken to Paris in 1797, and has not been returned.
71. The work here alluded to is the ceiling of what was formerly called the Library of San Marco, which now makes part of the Palace, the Library having been transferred to the ex-ducal Palace. — Venetian Edition of Vasari.
72. Vasari lias returned to the subject of Paolo’s works nevertheless, in the Life of Battista Franco, and in any case has said quite sufficient to render the attack of those who reproach him for not having written a separate biography of a painter then so young, wholly unjustifiable.
73. Said to have been a scion of the family of the celebrated Farinata degli Uberti. On his large picture, in San Giorgio Maggiore at Verona, he gives his age as seventv-nine, in 1G03; he was consequently born in 1524. —Ed. Flor., 1832-8.
74. This should be Niccolò Giolfino, a painter of Verona. —Ibid.
75. These works are still in existence. — Ed. Flor., 1832-8.
76. Many authorities are of opinion that the subject here described is not thatof the doubtful occurrence alluded to by our author.— Ed. Flor., 1832-8.
77. These paintings also still remain.