d to Verona, and finding no opportunity of exercising
himself in architecture, since his native city was in the throes of a
change of government, Giovan Maria gave his attention for the time to
painting, and executed many works. On the house of the Della Torre
family he painted a large escutcheon crowned by some trophies; and for
two German noblemen, counsellors of the Emperor Maximilian, he executed
in fresco some scenes from the Scriptures on a wall of the little Church
of S. Giorgio, and painted there life-size portraits of those two
Germans, one kneeling on one side and one on the other. He executed a
number of works at Mantua, for Signor Luigi Gonzaga; and some others at
Osimo, in the March of Ancona. And while the city of Verona was under
the Emperor, he painted the imperial arms on all the public buildings,
and received for this from the Emperor a good salary and a patent of
privilege, from which it may be seen that many favours and exemptions
were granted to him, both on account of his good service in matters of
art, and because he was a man of great spirit, brave and formidable in
the use of arms, with which he might likewise be expected to give
valiant and faithful service: and all the more because he drew after
him, on account of the great credit that he had with his neighbours, the
whole mass of the people who lived in the Borgo di San Zeno, a very
populous part of the city, in which he had been born and had taken a
wife from the family of the Provali. For these reasons, then, he had all
the inhabitants of his district as his following, and was called
throughout the city by no other name but that of the "Red-head of San
Zeno."

Now, when the city again changed its government and returned to the rule
of its ancient masters the Venetians, Giovan Maria, being known as one
who had served the party of the Emperor, was forced to seek safety in
flight; and he went, therefore, to Trento, where he passed some time
painting certain pictures. Finally, however, when matters had mended, he
made his way to Padua, where he was first received in audience and then
much favoured by the very reverend Monsignor Bembo, who presented him
not long afterwards to the illustrious Messer Luigi Cornaro, a Venetian
gentleman of lofty spirit and truly regal mind, as is proved by his many
magnificent enterprises. This gentleman, who, in addition to his other
truly noble qualities, delighted in the study of architecture, the
knowledge of w