Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 3.djvu/294

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lives of the artists.

ello da Urbino. Girolamo produced many works in his native place of Treviso, and in Venice also he executed a considerable number of pictures; among his paintings in the last-named city is the fagade of the house of Andrea Udone,[1] which he decorated in fresco, as he did the courtyard of the same building, where there is a frieze composed of children in various attitudes by his hand; an uppeT chamber of the edifice he likewise adorned with frescoes, not in cliiaro-scuro, but in colours, the Venetians preferring that manner to any other.

In the centre of the façade above-mentioned, there is a large picture, representing Juno with the Moon on her head; she is flying through the clouds, which permit her to be seen only from the waist upwards; her arms are thrown over her head; in one hand she holds a vessel in the form of a cruise, the other hand bears a tazza, or vase of an open, shallow form.[2] He likewise depicted a Bacchus in the same place: the figure of the god is extremely full, and. the face is rubicund; he also holds a vase, which he carries half turned over in one hand, while in the other arm he bears the goddess Ceres, who carries ears of corn in her hands. The Graces also, attended by five figures of children, are seen descending to shower their richest gifts (as this representation was meant to imply) most abundantly on the house of the Udoni; and further to intimate to the people of Treviso that this house v^as the friend and entertainer of ingenious and distinguished men, Girolamo painted a figure of Apollo on one side, with that of Pallas on the other; this work was completed with great freshness of etfect, and Giovanni obtained honour as well as advantage from the same.

In San Petronio, the cathedral church of Bologna, this master painted a picture for the chapel of the Madonna in competition with certain painters of Bologna, as will be related in the proper place. This work caused Girolamo to remain for some time in Bologna, where he painted numerous

  1. Andrea Odoni, of a rich Milanese family established in Venice towards the close of the fifteenth century, was distinguished for the elevation of his tastes and his splendid mode of living; the works executed for him by Girolamo are described by Ridolfi, Maraviglie, &c.
  2. The low, open form and shallow depth of the vase called a tazza will be familiar to all readers.