scapes, foliage, and other fancies, as also presenting borders of much beauty. Giovanni did, indeed, on that occasion exhaust every effort, so to speak, that art can make in works of such a kind, and he not only equalled the antique in this performance,—so far as we can judge from such things as have been hitherto discovered and as we have seen,—but even surpassed them, since these works of Giovanni, for the beauty of their design, for the rich invention displayed in the figures, and for the colouring, whether in stucco or in painting, are indeed to be preferred to those of the ancients; his productions being infinitely superior in these respects to the antiques found in the Colosseum, or painted in the Baths of Dioclesian[1] and other places known to us.
Nay, where, in the works of any other master, will you find birds more truly natural, so to speak, or which come nearer to the truth, whether as regards the colouring, softness of the plumage, or other praiseworthy qualities, than do those of the friezes and pilasters of the Loggie now in question, where are they to be seen of every kind, and in all instances more truthful and life-like?[2] where, indeed, can we see them of equal merit? We have them exhibited, too, in variety as rich as that of Nature herself, some represented in one manner and some in another, but all of different kinds; many of these exquisite birds, for example, are perched on ears of corn and sheaves of maize, buckwheat, millet, and grain of all sorts; but not of grain only, they are seen among fruits and berries also, of such kinds as the earth has always produced for the sustenance of birds. As much may be affirmed of the fish and every other manner of water animal and marine monster, which Giovanni represented in the same place; but since it is impossible to say so much but that it shall still be too little, it were perhaps better to be altogether silent, than to set one’s self attempting that which cannot be accomplished.
What, indeed, can I say of the innumerable varieties in fruits and flowers which are here depicted in every possible
