that kingdom.

The little hall in the Farnese Palace having remained unfinished on
account of the death of Salviati (wanting two scenes, namely, at the
entrance, opposite to the great window), Cardinal Sant'Agnolo, of the
Farnese family, gave them to Taddeo to execute, and he carried them to
completion very well. But nevertheless he did not surpass or even equal
Francesco in the works executed by him in the same apartment, as certain
envious and malignant spirits went about saying throughout Rome, in
order to diminish the glory of Salviati by their foul calumnies; and
although Taddeo used to defend himself by saying that he had caused the
whole to be executed by his assistants, and that there was nothing in
that work by his hand save the design and a few other things, such
excuses were not accepted, for the reason that a man who wishes to
surpass another in any competition, must not entrust the credit of his
art to the keeping of feeble persons, for that is clearly the way to
perdition. Thus Cardinal Sant'Agnolo, a man of truly supreme judgment in
all things, and of surpassing goodness, recognized how much he had lost
by the death of Salviati; for, although he was proud and even arrogant,
and ill-tempered, in matters of painting he was truly most excellent.
However, since the best craftsmen had disappeared from Rome, that lord,
for want of others, resolved to entrust the painting of the Great Hall
in that Palace to Taddeo, who accepted it willingly, in the hope of
being able to prove by means of every effort how great were his ability
and knowledge.

The Florentine Lorenzo Pucci, Cardinal Santiquattro, had formerly caused
a chapel to be built in the Trinita, and all the vaulting to be painted
by Perino del Vaga, with certain Prophets on the outer side, and two
little boys holding the arms of that Cardinal. But the chapel remaining
unfinished, with three walls still to be painted, when the Cardinal
died, those fathers, without any regard for what was just and
reasonable, sold that chapel to the Archbishop of Corfu; and it was
afterwards given by that Archbishop to Taddeo to paint. Now although,
out of respect for the church and from other reasons, it may have been
well to find means of finishing the chapel, at least they should not
have allowed the arms of the Cardinal to be removed from the part that
was finished, only in order to place there those of the above-named
Archbishop, which they could have set up in another