kneeling, one on one side of the picture and one on the other.[1] At Mantua, moreover, Giovan-Maria performed a considerable number of works for the Signor Luigi Gonzaga, with some others at Osimo, in the March of Ancona; and while the city of Verona was under the dominion of the Emperor, this artist painted the Imperial Arms on all the public buildings, an office for which he not only received good remuneration, but valuable privileges also by special grant, from which we see that many favours and exemptions of various kinds were conceded to him. Nor were these granted wholly on account of his services in matters of art, for Giovan-Maria was besides a man of a great spirit, brave and bold, nor ever averse to take arms in his hands, so that with these, which were also his familiar weapons, very good and faithful service might safely be expected from him.
Now this his disposition was all the more important and serviceable, seeing that he had great credit with all his neighbours, and drew after him the whole mass of the people dwelling iif the suburb of San Zeno, which is an exceedingly populous part of Verona, and wherein it was that GiovanMaria was born. He had besides taken a wife there, one of the family of the Provali, and for all these causes he was so implicitly followed by all the people of his district that he was called in the city by no other name than the “Red-head ” of San Zeno. Thus, when the condition of Verona was once more changed, and the town returned to place itself under the rule of its ancient masters the Venetians, GiovanMaria, as one who had attached himself to the Imperial party, was compelled to depart thence for the safety of his life: he therefore proceeded to Trent, where he remained for some time, painting certain pictures in the meanwhile. But when matters were at length somewhat arranged, our artist repaired to Padua, where he was first presented to and afterwards greatly favoured by the most reverend Monsignore Bembo, who subsequently made him known to the illustrious Messer Luigi Cornaro, likewise a Venetian gentleman of a truly regal mind and most exalted intellect, as is
- ↑ This picture, which is an Annunciation, is still to be seen in the former church of San Giorgio, now called San Pietro Martire, and used as a private school.
