o return, but I was forced to execute for
Messer Bindo Altoviti, not being able to refuse him, two very large
loggie in stucco-work and fresco. One of them that I painted was at his
villa, made with a new method of architecture, because, the loggia being
so large that it was not possible to turn the vaulting without danger, I
had it made with armatures of wood, matting, and canes, over which was
done the stucco-work and fresco-painting, as if the vaulting were of
masonry, and even so it appears and is believed to be by all who see it;
and it is supported by many ornamental columns of variegated marble,
antique and rare. The other loggia is on the ground-floor of his house
on the bridge, and is covered with scenes in fresco. And after that I
painted for the ceiling of an antechamber four large pictures in oils of
the four Seasons of the year. These finished, I was forced to make for
Andrea della Fonte, who was much my friend, a portrait from life of his
wife, and with it I gave him a large picture of Christ bearing the
Cross, with figures the size of life, which I had made for a kinsman of
the Pope, but afterwards had not chosen to present to him. For the
Bishop of Vasona I painted a Dead Christ supported by Nicodemus and by
two Angels, and for Pier Antonio Bandini a Nativity of Christ, an effect
of night with variety in the invention.

While I was executing these works, I was also watching to see what the
Pope was intending to do, and finally I saw that there was little to be
expected from him, and that it was useless to labour in his service.
Wherefore, notwithstanding that I had already executed the cartoons for
painting in fresco the loggia that is over the fountain of the
above-named Vigna, I resolved that I would at all costs go to serve the
Duke of Florence, and the rather because I was pressed to do this by M.
Averardo Serristori and Bishop Ricasoli, the Ambassadors of his
Excellency in Rome, and also in letters by M. Sforza Almeni, his
Cupbearer and Chief Chamberlain. I transferred myself, therefore, to
Arezzo, in order to make my way from there to Florence, but first I was
forced to make for Monsignor Minerbetti, Bishop of Arezzo, as for my
lord and most dear friend, a lifesize picture of Patience in the form
that has since been used by Signor Ercole, Duke of Ferrara, as his
device and as the reverse of his medal. Which work finished, I came to
kiss the hand of the Lord Duke Cosimo, by whom in his kindness I was