struck with astonishment that an old man of such an age,
with only one eye, should have executed works so large and so beautiful.

On every feast-day for twenty whole years Benvenuto worked for the love
of God in the Convent of the Nuns of S. Bernardino, where he executed
many works of importance in oils, in distemper, and in fresco; which
was certainly a marvellous thing, and a great proof of his true and good
nature, for in that place he had no competition, and nevertheless put no
less study and diligence into his labour than he would have done at any
other more frequented place. Those works are passing good in
composition, with beautiful expressions in the heads, not confused, and
executed in a truly sweet and good manner.

For all the disciples that Benvenuto had, although he taught them
everything that he knew with no ordinary willingness, in order to make
some of them excellent masters, he never had any success with a single
one of them, and, in place of being rewarded by them for his lovingness
at least with gratitude of heart, he never received anything from them
save vexations; wherefore he used to say that he had never had any
enemies but his own disciples and assistants. In the year 1550, being
now old, and the malady returning to his eye, he became wholly blind,
and he lived thus for nine years; which misfortune he bore with a
patient mind, resigning himself completely to the will of God. Finally,
when he had come to the age of seventy-eight, thinking at last that he
had lived too long in that darkness, and rejoicing in death, in the hope
of going to enjoy eternal light, he finished the course of his life on
the 6th of September in the year 1559, leaving a son called Girolamo,
who is a very gentle person, and a daughter.

Benvenuto was a very honest creature, fond of a jest, pleasant in his
conversation, patient and calm in all his adversities. As a young man he
delighted in fencing and playing the lute, and in his friendships he was
loving beyond measure and prodigal with his services. He was the friend
of the painter Giorgione da Castelfranco, Tiziano da Cadore, and Giulio
Romano, and most affectionate towards all the men of art in general; and
to this I can bear witness, for on the two occasions when I was at
Ferrara in his time I received from him innumerable favours and
courtesies. He was buried with honour in the Church of S. Maria del
Vado, and was celebrated in verse and prose by many choice spirit