THE MARTYRDOM OF S. CATHARINE
(After the painting by Sermoneta. Rome: S. Maria Maggiore)
Alinari
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After his return from Lombardy he painted in the Minerva, in the passage of the sacristy, a Christ on the Cross, and another in the church. Then he painted in oils a S. Catharine and a S. Agatha; and in S. Luigi he executed a scene in fresco in competition with Pellegrino Pellegrini of Bologna and the Florentine Jacopo del Conte. In an altar-piece in oils, sixteen palms high, executed not long since for the Church of S. Alò, opposite to the Misericordia, a Company of the Florentines, he painted Our Lady, S. James the Apostle, and the Bishops S. Alò and S. Martino; and in S. Lorenzo in Lucina, in the Chapel of the Countess of Carpi, he painted in fresco a S. Francis who is receiving the Stigmata. In the Hall of Kings, at the time of Pope Pius IV, as has been related, he executed a scene in fresco over the door of the Chapel of Sixtus; in that scene, which was much extolled, Pepin, King of the Franks, is presenting Ravenna to the Roman Church, and is leading as prisoner Astulf, King of the Lombards; and we have the design of it by Girolamo's own hand in our book, with many others by the same master. And, finally, he has now in hand the Chapel of Cardinal Cesis in S. Maria Maggiore, for which he has already executed in a large altar-piece the Martyrdom of S. Catharine on the wheel, which is a most beautiful picture, as are the others on which both there and elsewhere, with much study, he is continually at work. I shall not make mention of the portraits and other pictures and little works of Girolamo, because, besides that they are without number, these are enough to make him known as a valiant and excellent painter.

Having said above, in the Life of Perino del Vaga, that the painter Marcello Mantovano worked many years under him at pictures that gave him a great name, I have to say in this place, coming more to particulars, that he once painted in the Church of S. Spirito the whole Chapel of S. Giovanni Evangelista and its altar-piece, with the portrait of a Knight Commander of the same S. Spirito, who built that church and constructed that chapel; which portrait is a very good likeness, and the altar-piece most beautiful. Whereupon a Friar of the Piombo, having seen his beautiful manner, caused him to paint in fresco in the Pace, over the door that leads from the church into the convent, Jesus Christ as a boy disputing with the Doctors in the Temple, which is a very lovely work. But since he has always delighted to make portraits and little things, abandoning larger works, he has executed an infinite number of these; and among them may be seen some of Pope Paul III, which are beautiful and speaking likenesses. In like manner, from the designs of Michelagnolo and from his works he has executed a vast number of things likewise small, and among these he has depicted in one of his works the whole façade of the Judgment, which is a rare thing and executed excellently well; and in truth, for small paintings, it would not be possible to do better. For which reason, finally, that most gentle Messer Tommaso de' Cavalieri, who has always favoured him, has caused him to paint after the design of Michelagnolo an altar-picture of the Annunciation of the Virgin, most beautiful, for the Church of S. Giovanni Laterano; which design by Buonarroti's own hand, imitated by this Marcello, Leonardo Buonarroti, the nephew of Michelagnolo, presented to the Lord Duke Cosimo together with some others of fortifications and architecture and other things of the rarest. And this must suffice for Marcello, who has been attending lately to working at little things, executing them with a truly supreme and incredible patience.

Of Jacopo del Conte, a Florentine, who like those named above dwells in Rome, enough will have been said, what with this and other places, after certain other particulars have been given here. This Jacopo, then, having been much inclined from his earliest youth to portraying from the life, has desired that this should be his principal profession, although on occasions he has executed altar-pictures and works in fresco in some numbers, both in Rome and without. Of his portraits—not to speak of them all, which would make a very long story—I shall say only that he has portrayed all the Pontiffs that there have been from Pope Paul III to the present day, and all the lords and ambassadors of importance who have been at that Court, and likewise the military captains and great men of the house of Colonna and of the Orsini, Signor Piero Strozzi, and an infinite number of Bishops, Cardinals, and other great prelates and lords, not to speak of many men of letters and other men of quality; all which has caused him to acquire fame, honour, and profit in Rome, so that he lives honourably and much at his ease with his family in that city. From his boyhood he drew so well that he gave promise, if he should persevere, of becoming excellent, and so in truth he would have been, but, as I have said, he turned to that to which he felt himself inclined by nature. Nevertheless, his works cannot but be praised. By his hand is a Dead Christ in an altar-piece that is in the Church of the Popolo, and in another that he has executed for the Chapel of S. Dionigi in S. Luigi, with stories, is the first-named Saint. But the most beautiful work that he ever did was in two scenes in fresco that he once painted, as has been told in another place, in the Florentine Company of the Misericordia, with an altar-picture of Christ taken down from the Cross, with the Thieves fixed on their crosses, and the Madonna in a swoon, painted in oil-colours, all beautiful and executed with diligence and with great credit to him. He has made many pictures throughout Rome, and figures in various manners, and has executed a number of full-length portraits, both nude and draped, of men and women, which have proved very beautiful, because the subjects were not otherwise. He has also portrayed, according as occasions arose, many heads of noble ladies, gentlewomen and princesses who have been in Rome; and among others, I know that he once portrayed Signora Livia Colonna, a most noble lady, incomparable in her illustrious blood, her virtue, and her beauty. And let this suffice for Jacopo del Conte, who is still living and constantly at work.

I might have made known, also, many from our Tuscany and from other parts of Italy, their names and their works, which I have passed over lightly, because many of them, being old, have ceased to work, and others who are young are now trying their hands and will become known better by their works than by means of writings. But of Adone Doni of Assisi, because he is still living and working, although I made mention of him in the Life of Cristofano Gherardi, I shall give some particulars of his works, such as are in Perugia and throughout all Umbria, and in particular many altar-pieces in Foligno. But his best works are in S. Maria degli Angeli at Assisi, in the little chapel where S. Francis died, wherein are some stories of the life of that Saint executed in oils on the walls, which are much extolled, besides which, he has painted the Passion of Christ in fresco at the head of the refectory of that convent, in addition to many other works that have done him honour; and his gentleness and courtesy have caused him to be considered liberal and courteous.

In Orvieto there are two young men also of that same profession, one a painter called Cesare del Nebbia, and the other a sculptor, both well on the way to bringing it about that their city, which up to the present has always invited foreign masters to adorn her, will no longer be obliged, if they follow up the beginnings that they have made, to seek other masters. There is working at Orvieto, in S. Maria, the Duomo of that city, a young painter called Niccolò dalle Pomarancie, who, having executed an altar-piece wherein is Christ raising Lazarus, has given signs—not to speak of other works in fresco—of winning a name among the others named above.

And now that we are come to the end of our Italian masters still living, I shall say only that no less service has been rendered by one Lodovico, a Florentine sculptor, who, so I am told, has executed notable works in England and at Bari; but, since I have not found here either his relatives or his family name, and have not seen his works, I am not able (as I fain would) to make any other record of him than this mention of his name.

DIVERS FLEMINGS