Girolamo painted the story of the Descent of the Holy Spirit for the physician Messer Francesco Lombardi, and that work he completed in the year 1512. Other paintings also were undertaken by our artist for certain parts of Romagna, and from these also he derived both honour and profit.
The Duke having then returned to his states, Girolamo also reinstated himself in his native city, where he was immediately retained by the Duke and appointed architect for the restorations then undertaken in the old palace, as well as for the erection of a tower added to that of the Imperiale above Pesaro. The last-named Palace was decorated under the direction and after the designs of Genga, with historical representations, the subjects for which were taken from the life and actions of the Duke himself, and were executed by Francesco da Forli,[1] and Raffael dal Borgo,[2] painters of good repute: the Mantuan artist Camillo,[3] who was most excellent in the delineation of landscapes, and remarkable for the beauty of the verdure which he depicted also took part in that work.
Bronzino likewise, who was then a very young man, was employed at this palace, as has been related- in the life of Jacopo da Puntormo;[4] the Ferrarese artists, the Dossi,[5] were also invited for the purpose of decorating an apartment, but the work completed by them not pleasing the Duke, it was destroyed, and the decorations were re-painted by the artists above named. The tower before-mentioned was a hundred and twenty feet in height, and had thirteen flights of wooden steps whereby to ascend to the summit, these being so ingeniously arranged, and connected with the wall in so judicious a manner, that each flight can be withdrawn, story after story; a circumstance which renders that tower wonderfully strong.
- ↑ Francesco Minzocchi, or Menzochi, as he is called in a succeeding page.
- ↑ Better known as Raffaellino dal Colle. See his life in vol. 2.
- ↑ Many fine frescoes by this master are still to he seen in his native city, but he would seem to have worked more in Venice, Urbino, and the Ducal Palace of Pesaro, than at Mantua. There was an apartment in the above-named palace painted by Camillo, and afterwards turned into a stable, the pictures of which are finished with so much care, that every' leaf on the trees may be counted. — Lanzi.
- ↑ See ante, p. 369.
- ↑ See vol. iii., p. 257, et seq.
