ke mention here of the vast number of statues that
accompanied the above-named pictures and others on that arch, for the
reason that it is enough for me at the present moment to describe that
which concerns Battista Franco, and it is not my office to give an
account of all that was done by others in the festive preparations for
those nuptials and described at great length; besides which, having
spoken of the masters of those statues where the necessity arose, it
would be superfluous for me to say anything about them here, and
particularly because the statues are not now standing, so that they
cannot be seen and considered. But to return to Battista: the best thing
that he did for those nuptials was one of the ten above-mentioned
pictures which were in the decorations in the great court of the Medici
Palace, wherein he painted in chiaroscuro Duke Cosimo invested with all
the Ducal insignia. But, for all the diligence that he used there, he
was surpassed by Bronzino, and by others who had less design than
himself, in invention, in boldness, and in the treatment of the
chiaroscuro. For, as has been said before, pictures must be executed
with facility, and the parts set in their places with judgment, and
without that effort and that labour which make things appear hard and
crude; besides which, overmuch study often makes them come out heavy and
dark, and spoils them, while lingering over them so long takes away the
grace, boldness and excellence that facility is wont to give them. And
these qualities, although they come in great measure as gifts from
nature, can also in part be acquired by study and art.

Having then been taken by Ridolfo Ghirlandajo to the Madonna di Vertigli
in Valdichiana (which place was once attached to the Monastery of the
Angeli, of the Order of Camaldoli, in Florence, and is now an
independent body in place of the Monastery of S. Benedetto, which, being
without the Porta a Pinti, was destroyed on account of the siege of
Florence), Battista painted there the scenes in the cloister already
mentioned, while Ridolfo was executing the altar-piece and the
ornaments of the high-altar. These finished, as has been related in the
Life of Ridolfo, they adorned with other pictures that holy place, which
is very celebrated and renowned for the many miracles that are wrought
there by the Virgin Mother of the Son of God.

Battista then returned to Rome, at the very time when the Judgment of
Michelagnolo had just