to
execute in their stronghold, over a gate placed on the main road, an
escutcheon of Pope Leo with two little boys, which was very beautiful;
but already it has been little less than ruined by rain.

[Illustration: THE VISITATION

(_After the fresco by =Jacopo da Pontormo=. Florence: SS. Annunziata,
Cloister_)

_Anderson_]

At the Carnival in the same year, all Florence being gay and full of
rejoicing at the election of the above-named Leo X, many festive
spectacles were ordained, and among them two of great beauty and
extraordinary cost, which were given by two companies of noblemen and
gentlemen of the city. One of these, which was called the Diamante,[5]
had for its head the brother of the Pope, Signor Giuliano de' Medici,
who had given it that name because the diamond had been a device of
his father, the elder Lorenzo; and the head of the other, which had as
name and device the Broncone,[6] was Signor Lorenzo, the son of Piero
de' Medici, who had for his device a Broncone--that is, a dried trunk
of laurel growing green again with leaves, as it were to signify that
he was reviving and restoring the name of his grandfather.

[Footnote 5: Diamond.]

[Footnote 6: Trunk or branch.]

By the Company of the Diamante, then, a commission was given to M.
Andrea Dazzi, who was then lecturing on Greek and Latin Letters at the
Studio in Florence, to look to the invention of a triumphal
procession; whereupon he arranged one similar to those that the Romans
used to have for their triumphs, with three very beautiful cars
wrought in wood, and painted with rich and beautiful art. In the first
was Boyhood, with a most beautiful array of boys. In the second was
Manhood, with many persons who had done great things in their manly
prime. And in the third was Old Age, with many famous men who had
performed great achievements in their last years. All these persons
were very richly apparelled, insomuch that it was thought that nothing
better could be done. The architects of these cars were Raffaello
delle Vivole, Il Carota the wood-carver, the painter Andrea di Cosimo,
and Andrea del Sarto; those who arranged and prepared the dresses of
the figures were Ser Piero da Vinci, the father of Leonardo, and
Bernardino di Giordano, both men of beautiful ingenuity; and to Jacopo
da Pontormo alone it fell to paint all the three cars, wherein he
executed various scenes in chiaroscuro of the Transformations of the
Gods into