nd
it seemed that his Excellency cared nothing for those complaints,
Francesco began to fall from his position in such a manner, that his
adversaries, taking courage from that, sent forth a rumour that his
scenes in the hall were to be thrown to the ground, because they did not
give satisfaction and had in them no particle of excellence. All these
calumnies, which were pressed against him with incredible envy and
malice by his adversaries, had reduced Francesco to such a state, that,
if it had not been for the goodness of Messer Lelio Torelli, Messer
Pasquino Bertini, and others of his friends, he would have retreated
before them, which was exactly what they desired. But the above-named
friends, exhorting him continually to finish the work of the hall and
others that he had in hand, restrained him, even as was done by many
other friends not in Florence, to whom he wrote of these persecutions.
And Giorgio Vasari, among others, answering a letter that Salviati wrote
to him on the matter, exhorted him always to have patience, because
excellence is refined by persecution as gold by fire; adding that a time
was about to come when his art and his genius would be recognized, and
that he should complain of no one but himself, in that he did not yet
know men's humours, and how the people and the craftsmen of his own
country were made. Thus, notwithstanding all these contradictions and
persecutions that poor Francesco suffered, he finished that
hall--namely, the work that he had undertaken to execute in fresco on
the walls, for the reason that on the ceiling, or rather, soffit, there
was no need for him to do any painting, since it was so richly carved
and all overlaid with gold, that among works of that kind there is none
more beautiful to be seen. And as a finish to the whole the Duke caused
two new windows of glass to be made, with his devices and arms and those
of Charles V; and nothing could be better in that kind of work than the
manner in which they were executed by Battista del Borro, an Aretine
painter excellent in that field of art.

After that, Francesco painted for his Excellency the ceiling of the hall
where he dines in winter, with many devices and little figures in
distemper; and a most beautiful study which opens out over the Green
Chamber. He made portraits, likewise, of some of the Duke's children;
and one year, for the Carnival, he executed in the Great Hall the
scenery and prospect-view for a comedy that was p