most beautiful works ever executed by Giulio, from whose hand there are indeed but few paintings in fresco to be found.[1] In a picture, painted by commission for Messer Ludovico da Fermo and intended for the church of San Domenico, Giulio represented the Saviour Christ dead, and about to be prepared for the tomb by Joseph and Nicodemus; near them is the Virgin Mother, with the other Maries, and San Giovanni Evangelista. Another small picture, wherein our artist likewise depicted the Dead Christ, is now at Venice in the house of the Florentine Tommaso da Empoli.
Now, it happened about the time when Giulio was occupied with these and other pictures that the Signor Giovanni de’ Medici, having been wounded by a musket ball, was carried to Mantua, where he died. Then Messer Pietro of Arezzo, who had been a most devoted servant of that Signor and was a fast friend of Giulio’s, desired that, thus dead as he was, the latter would make his portrait. Our artist took a cast from the face accordingly, and from this he executed a likeness which remained for many years in the possession of the above-named Messer Pietro.[2]
When the Emperor Charles V. arrived in Mantua,[3] Giulio made many magnificent preparations for his reception by order of the Duke: these consisted of arches, perspective scenes for dramatic representations, and various matters of similar kind, in the invention of which Giulio Romano never had his equal, for never was there any man who, in the arrangement of masquerades, or the preparation of extraordinary habiliments for jousts, festivals, and tournaments, displayed fancy and variety of resource such as he possessed: this was acknowledged with astonishment and admiration at the time by the Emperor Charles, and by as many other persons as were present. Besides all these things Giulio Romano prepared numerous designs at different periods for the city of Mantua: chapels, houses, fronts of palaces,[4] gardens, all were
- ↑ The Count D’Arco, Vita di Giulio Romano, affirms that no trace of this fresco is now to be found in Mantua.
- ↑ The fate of this work is not known.
- ↑ In the year 1530.
- ↑ That of the Marchese Torelli for example, which he decorated with mythological paintings in fresco, many of which still exist, although the palace has been rebuilt. A description of these frescoes, with plates, was published in the year 1832.
