perspective are observed in every particular, and whether near or far, each portion of the work maintains its due place and is viewed with surprise and admiration; the trees, to say nothing of other parts, are so well done that they seem to have been made in Paradise.
In the stories and inventions of these pictures there is the most admirable design; in the compositions the most perfect order; the vestments are singularly rich and varied; while the whole work is conducted in such a manner that one thinks it could not possibly have been executed by the hands of men; wherefore it is perfectly true, as we said at the first, that in this performance Don Giulio has surpassed both the ancients and moderns, having been the Michelagnolo in little of our day.
The same artist executed a small picture, with minute figures, for the Cardinal of Trent; and this was so beautiful that the Prelate sent it as a present to Charles V. He subsequently executed a Madonna for the same Cardinal, with a Portrait of King Philip IL, which were in like manner presented for their beauty to the Catholic King above mentioned.
For Cardinal Farnese, Giulio painted Our Lady with the Divine Child in her arras; Sant’ Elizabetta, the little San Giovanni, and other figures being in the same picture, which was sent to Rigornes in Spain. In another picture, which the Cardinal Farnese still retains, this artist painted San Giovanni Battista in the Desert: the work exhibits a beautiful Landscape with Animals; and Don Clovio made a second, exactly like it, for the same Prelate, who sent the work into Spain for King Philip. A Pieta by his hand was also presented by Farnese to Pope Paul IV., who kept it in his own apartments till he died. A story exhibiting David cutting off the head of Goliath, was given by the same Cardinal to Madam a Margherita of Austria, who sent it to King Philip her brother, with another, which that most illustrious Lady caused Don Clovio to paint, as the companion of the above; this last is a Judith taking off the head of Holofernes.[1]
Many years since, Don Giulio stayed for some months with Duke Cosimo, and during that time he executed several works for his Excellency; some of these were sent to the
- ↑ Della Valle, in the Sienese Edition of Vasari, has given the letter written to the Princess Margaret by Don Clovio, and sent with this work.
