RANUTIUS FARNESIUS, PAULI TERTII PAPÆ AVUS, EUGENIO TERTIO P.M. ROSÆ AUREÆ MUNERE INSIGNITUS, PONTIFICII EXERCITUS IMPERATOR CONSTITUITUR, ANNO CHRISTI 1435.

In short, there are on this vaulting vast numbers of most beautiful figures, besides the stucco-work and other ornaments overlaid with gold.

On the walls are eight scenes, two to each wall. On the first, in a scene on the right hand as one enters, is Pope Julius III confirming Duke Ottavio and the Prince his son in the possession of Parma and Piacenza, in the presence of Cardinal Farnese, Sant'Agnolo his brother, the Camarlingo Santa Fiore, the elder Salviati, Chieti, Carpi, Polo, and Morone, all being portraits from life; with this inscription:

JULIUS III, P.M., ALEXANDRO FARNESIO AUCTORE, OCTAVIO FARNESIO, EJUS FRATRI, PARMAM AMISSAM RESTITUIT, ANNO SALUTIS 1550.

In the second scene is Cardinal Farnese going to Worms as Legate to the Emperor Charles V, and his Majesty and the Prince, his son, are coming forth to meet him, with a vast multitude of Barons, and among them the King of the Romans; with the proper inscription. On the wall on the left hand as one enters, in the first scene, is the war fought against the Lutherans in Germany, where Duke Ottavio Farnese was Legate, in the year 1546, with the inscription; and in the second are the above-named Cardinal Farnese and the Emperor with his sons, who are all four under a baldachin carried by various persons portrayed from life, among whom is Taddeo, the master of the work, with a company of many lords all around. On one of the head-walls, or rather, ends, are two scenes, and between them an oval, in which is the portrait of King Philip, with this inscription:

PHILIPPO HISPANIARUM REGI MAXIMO, OB EXIMIA IN DOMUM FARNESIAM MERITA.

In one of the scenes is Duke Ottavio taking Madama Margherita of Austria as his wife, with Pope Paul III in the centre, and portraits of Cardinal Farnese the younger, the Cardinal of Carpi, Duke Pier Luigi, M. Durante, Eurialo da Cingoli, M. Giovanni Riccio of Montepulciano, the Bishop of Como, Signora Livia Colonna, Claudia Mancina, Settimia, and Donna Maria di Mendoza. In the other is Duke Orazio taking as his wife the daughter of King Henry of France, with this inscription:

HENRICUS II, VALESIUS, GALLORUM REX, HORATIO FARNESIO CASTRI DUCI DIANAM FILIAM IN MATRIMONIUM COLLOCAT, ANNO SALUTIS 1552.

In which scene, besides the portrait of Diana herself with the royal mantle, and that of her husband Duke Orazio, are portraits of Caterina de' Medici, Queen of France, Marguerite, the sister of the King, the King of Navarre, the Constable, the Duke of Guise, the Duke of Nemours, the Admiral Prince of Condé, the younger Cardinal of Lorraine, Guise not yet a Cardinal, Signor Piero Strozzi, Madame de Montpensier, and Mademoiselle de Rohan.

On the other head-wall, opposite to that already described, are likewise two other scenes, with the oval in the centre, in which is the portrait of King Henry of France, with this inscription: