o favour him; but Francesco paying no more
attention either to Pirro or to any other after he had begun to work,
this was the reason that Ligorio, from being his friend, became in a
certain sort his adversary, and of this very manifest signs were seen,
for Pirro began to say to the Pope that since there were many young
painters of ability in Rome, and he wished to have that Hall off his
hands, it would be a good thing to allot one scene to each of them, and
thus to see it finished once and for all. These proceedings of Pirro's,
to which it was evident that the Pope was favourable, so displeased
Francesco, that in great disdain he retired from the work and all the
contentions, considering that he was held in little estimation. And so,
mounting his horse and not saying a word to anyone, he went off to
Florence, where, like the strange creature that he was, without giving a
thought to any of the friends that he had there, he took up his abode
in an inn, as if he did not belong to the place and had no acquaintance
there nor anyone who cared for him in any way. Afterwards, having kissed
the hands of the Duke, he was received with such kindness, that he might
well have looked for some good result, if only he had been different in
nature and had adhered to the advice of Giorgio, who urged him to sell
the offices that he had in Rome and to settle in Florence, so as to
enjoy his native place with his friends and to avoid the danger of
losing, together with his life, all the fruits of his toil and grievous
labours. But Francesco, moved by sensitiveness and anger, and by his
desire to avenge himself, resolved that he would at all costs return to
Rome in a few days. Meanwhile, moving from that inn at the entreaty of
his friends, he retired to the house of M. Marco Finale, the Prior of S.
Apostolo, where he executed a Pieta in colours on cloth of silver for M.
Jacopo Salviati, as it were to pass the time, with the Madonna and the
other Maries, which was a very beautiful work. He renewed in colours a
medallion with the Ducal arms, which he had made on a former occasion
and placed over a door in the Palace of Messer Alamanno. And for the
above-named M. Jacopo he made a most beautiful book of bizarre costumes
and various headdresses of men and horses for masquerades, for which he
received innumerable courtesies from the liberality of that lord, who
lamented the strange and eccentric nature of Francesco, whom he was
never able to attract