tioned above
he made the design of a Nativity with the Magi, in chiaroscuro, wherein
it is a marvellous thing to see the horses, the equipage, and the courts
of the three Kings, executed with supreme beauty and grace, as are also
the walls of the temples and some buildings round the hut. This work was
afterwards given to be coloured by the Count to Girolamo Trevigi, who
brought it to fine completion. Baldassarre also made the design for the
door of the Church of S. Michele in Bosco, a most beautiful monastery of
the Monks of Monte Oliveto, without Bologna; and the design and model of
the Duomo of Carpi, which was very beautiful, and was built under his
direction according to the rules of Vitruvius. And in the same place he
made a beginning with the Church of S. Niccola, but it was not finished
at that time, because Baldassarre was almost forced to return to Siena
in order to make designs for the fortifications of that city, which were
afterwards carried into execution under his supervision.

He then returned to Rome, where, after building the house that is
opposite to the Farnese Palace, with some others within that city, he
was employed in many works by Pope Leo X. That Pontiff wished to finish
the building of S. Pietro, begun by Julius II after the design of
Bramante, but it appeared to him that the edifice was too large and
lacking in cohesion; and Baldassarre made a new model, magnificent and
truly ingenious, and revealing such good judgment, that some parts of it
have since been used by other architects. So diligent, indeed, was this
craftsman, so rare and so beautiful his judgment, and such the method
with which his buildings were always designed, that he has never had an
equal in works of architecture, seeing that, in addition to his other
gifts, he combined that profession with a good and beautiful manner of
painting. He made the design of the tomb of Adrian VI, and all that is
painted round it is by his hand; and Michelagnolo, a sculptor of Siena,
executed that tomb in marble, with the help of our Baldassarre.

When the Calandra, a play by Cardinal Bibbiena, was performed before the
same Pope Leo, Baldassarre made the scenic setting, which was no less
beautiful--much more so, indeed--than that which he had made on another
occasion, as has been related above. In such works he deserved all the
greater praise, because dramatic performances, and consequently the
scenery for them, had been out of fashion for a long