prudent princes to consider how, when, towards whom, in what manner, by what rule, and in what measure, they are to exercise their liberality in the case of artists and other men of distinction, I return to Sebastiano, and say that he executed with much delay (for he had then been made Frate del Piombo), a commission which he had received from the Patriarch of Aquileia; the subject of the work being Our Saviour Christ, a half-length figure painted on stone. This picture was much commended, more particularly for the head and hands, parts in which Sebastiano was indeed truly excellent. No long time after this, the niece of the Pope, who afterwards became and still is Queen of France,[1] arrived in Pome, when Fra Sebastiano began to paint her portrait, but never having completed the same, the unfinished work has remained in the Guardaroba of the Pontiff.
About the same time, the Cardinal Ippolito de’ Medici fell in love with the Signora Giulia Gonzaga, who then dwelt at Fondi; the said Cardinal therefore sent Sebastiano with four swift horses to that place, for the purpose of taking her portrait, and in about a month, the artist completed the likeness, when, what with the celestial beauties of that lady, and what with the able hand of so accomplished a master, the picture proved to be a most divine one.[2] Having brought his work to Rome, he received a rich reward from the Cardinal, who acknowledged, as was the case, that this portrait greatly surpassed all that Sebastiano had ever before accomplished. The work was afterwards presented to Francis, king of France, who placed it in his palace of Fontainebleau.
This painter having discovered a new method of painting on stone, very greatly pleased the people thereby, since it appeared that by this means pictures might be rendered eternal, seeing that neither fire nor the worm could injure them. Thereupon Sebastiano began to execute various works in this manner, surrounding them with ornaments made of other stones, varied in colour, and which being polished formed a most beautiful decoration to the same. It
