for the gilding,[1] when I learned many things from that good man Andrea, so full of love and kindness as he was towards all who were studying art. And such was the ability which he displayed in this matter, that not only did I avail myself of his assistance in many things required for the triumphal arches which were erected for the entrance of his majesty the Emperor, but had recourse to him also, in company with Tribolo, when Madama Margherita, daughter of Charles V., was married to the Duke Alessandro, seeing that I was commanded to make preparations for their reception at the house of the Illustrious Ottaviano de’ Medici, which is on the Piazza di San Marco, when that edifice was adorned with arabesques by Andrea, and with statues by Tribolo, as well as with figures anti historical representations by myself.
Andrea was also much employed in preparation for the funeral ceremonies of the Duke Alessandro, and still more extensively for the marriage of the Duke Cosimo, all the devices exhibited in the court-yard, and which are described in the account of that solemnity which was written by Messer Francesco Giambullari, being painted by Andrea, who adorned his work with varied and beautiful ornaments.
This master was tormented by a melancholy humour which more than once drove him to the point of self-destruction, but he was closely observed by his companion Mariotto, who guarded him so carefully that he finished the course of his life without violence in the 64th year of his age. He left the reputation of having been a good, nay, excellent and remarkable painter of arabesques of our own time, and has. since been constantly imitated in works of that character, not in Florence only but also in other parts.
THE PAINTER MARCO CALABRESE.
[born 1485—died 1542.]
When the world becomes possessed of a great light in any science, the splendour of the same illumines every part,
- ↑ The name Mettidoro thus added to that of Mariotto di Francesco, is not that of his family, but of his profession as a gilder, (metter d’ oro, to gild.)
