prepare the Hall and other apartments of the Medici Palace, and executed nearly all the decorations of the same, in company with his disciples and assistants, causing Pontormo to paint the Chapel as we have before related. He also took part in the preparations made for the marriage of the Duke Giuliano and that of the Duke Lorenzo, for whom he executed the scenic ornaments for the dramatic spectacles which were then exhibited. Being much esteemed by those Signori for his abilities, he was subsequently appointed to various offices by their intervention, and was received as an honourable citizen into the council.
Now Pidolfo did not disdain to paint banners, standards, and matters of similar kind, and I remember to have heard him say that he had three times painted the banners for the Potenze,[1] who were accustomed every year to hold a tournament and give a festival to the city on St. John’s day. At a word, he permitted all kinds of things to be done in his workshops, insomuch that they were frequented by numbers of young men, each one of whom could there learn what best suited him.
Antonio del Ceraiolo was one of those who, after having been with Lorenzo di Credi, went to Pidolfo, and having subsequently begun to work for himself, he painted numerous pictures and portraits from the life. In San Jacopo-tra-fossi, there is a picture by the hand of this Antonio, which represents San Francesco and Santa Maddalena, at the foot of a Crucifix;[2] and behind the High Altar in the Church of the Servites he painted a picture of the Archangel Michael, which he copied from one executed by Ghirlandajo, in the Ossa di Santa Maria Nuova.
Mariano da Pescia was also a disciple of Pidolfo, and acquitted himself exceedingly Avell; the picture of Our Lady with the Infant Christ, Sant’ Elizabetta, and San Giovanni, which is in that Chapel of the Palace, painted as we have said, for the Signoria, by Ridolfo,[3] is by the hand of Mariano,
- ↑ Gentlemen forming a company or association, and popularly called “Le Potenze.”
- ↑ This work is in the Gallery of the Uffizj at Florence. The figures of the two saints are in tolerable preservation, but that of the crucified Redeemer has suffered much, from the fact that the colour has peeled away in minute scales.
- ↑ The work of Mariano da. Pescia still retains its place.
