or from some other cause, I did not entirely satisfy myself, although others did not appear to be displeased; Michelagnolo more particularly, was not dissatisfied. I also painted another picture for the same Pontitf, in a Chapel of the Palace namely; but'this, for the causes before related,[1] I afterwards took to Arezzo, and placed at the High Altar of the Decanal Church.[2]
If, however, I had satisfied neither myself nor others in this picture any more than in that of San Piero a Montorio, there would have been no cause for surprise, seeing that I was in perpetual attendance on the Pontiff, who kept me constantly in action, either for architectural designs or other works. It was myself, for example, with whom originated the first arrangement and plans of the Yigna Julia, which the Pope then caused to be constructed at an incredible cost; and although the works were executed by others, it was I who made drawings of all the fancies which Pope Julius invented for that place, and which were afterwards examined and corrected by Michelagnolo; when Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola completed various apartments, halls, and chambers of the Vigna, with their appropriate ornaments from his designs.
The lower Fountain, however, is after my own design, and was executed by Amraannato, who subsequently remained to construct the Loggia, which is above the Fountain. That artist could, nevertheless, not show what he was capable of, nor do anything in its due order in that place, because the Pope was daily taking into his head some new fancy, which had then to be instantly put into execution,[3] under the orders, given daily, of Messer Pier Giovanni Aliotti, Bishop of Forlì.[4]
In the year 1550, I had to go twice to Florence for certain affairs, and on the first of these occasions I completed the picture of San Sigismondo. The Duke, who came to see it in the house of Messer Ottaviano de’ Medici, where it was that I executed the same, was so much pleased therewith,
- ↑ In the Life of Francesco Salviati.
- ↑ This picture forms the front of the Altar in the above-mentioned church.— Ed. Flor., 1846-51.
- ↑ The exterior of this edifice is not wanting in a certain inelegance of proportion, but the deformities of the interior amply justify the remark of Vasari.—Masselli.
- ↑ This is the prelate whom Michael Angelo called Tantecose, or Busy-body.
