al Alessandro Farnese, who became
Paul III; by the divine Michelagnolo Buonarroti; by Signor Francesco
Maria, Duke of Urbino; and by a vast number of noblemen and senators
of Venice. At Verona he was much the friend of Fra Marco de' Medici, a
man of great learning and infinite goodness, and of many others of
whom there is no need at present to make mention.

Now, in order not to have to turn back in a short time to speak of the
Veronese, taking the opportunity presented by the masters mentioned
above, I shall make mention in this place of some painters from that
country, who are still alive and worthy to be named, and by no means
to be passed over in silence. The first of these is Domenico del
Riccio, who has painted in fresco, mostly in chiaroscuro and partly in
colour, three facades of the house of Fiorio della Seta at Verona, on
the Ponte Nuovo--that is, the three that do not look out upon the
bridge, the house standing by itself. In one, over the river, are
battles of sea-monsters, in another the battles of the Centaurs and
many rivers, and in the third two pictures in colour. In the first of
these, which is over the door, is the Table of the Gods, and in the
other, over the river, is the fable of the nuptials between the
Benacus, called the Lake of Garda, and the Nymph Caris, in the person
of Garda, from whom is born the River Mincio, which in fact issues
from that lake. In the same house is a large frieze wherein are some
Triumphs in colour, executed in a beautiful and masterly manner. In
the house of Messer Pellegrino Ridolfi, also at Verona, the same
master painted the Coronation of the Emperor Charles V, and the scene
when, after being crowned in Bologna, he rides with the Pope through
the city in great pomp. In oils he has painted the principal
altar-piece of the church that the Duke of Mantua has built recently
near the Castello, in which is the Beheading and Martyrdom of S.
Barbara, painted with much diligence and judgment. And what moved the
Duke to have that altar-piece executed by Domenico was his having seen
and much liked his manner in an altar-piece that Domenico had painted
long before for the Chapel of S. Margherita in the Duomo of Mantua, in
competition with Paolino,[11] who painted that of S. Antonio, with
Paolo Farinato, who executed that of S. Martino, and with Battista del
Moro, who painted that of the Magdalene; all which four Veronese had
been summoned thither by Cardinal Ercole of Mantua, in