ther engraved stones
and jewels in such a manner, that there was nothing more faithfully
imitated or more diminutive to be seen. Among his little figures there
are seen some, as in his imitations of cameos and other stones, that are
no larger than little ants, and yet all the limbs and all the muscles
can be perceived so clearly that one who has not seen them could
scarcely believe it. Girolamo used to say in his old age that he knew
more in his art then than he had ever known, and saw where every stroke
ought to go, but that when he came to handle the brushes, they went the
wrong way, because neither his eye nor his hand would serve him any
longer. He died on the 2nd of July in the year 1555, at the age of
eighty-three, and was laid to rest in the burial-place of the Company of
S. Biagio in S. Nazzaro.

He was a good and upright man, who never had a quarrel or dispute with
anyone, and his life was very pure. He had, besides other children, a
son called Francesco, who learned his art from him, and executed
miracles of illumination when still a mere lad, so that Girolamo
declared that he had not known as much at that age as his son knew. But
this young man was led away from him by a brother of his mother, who,
being passing rich, and having no children, took him with him to Vicenza
and placed him in charge of a glass-furnace that he was setting up. When
Francesco had spent his best years in this, his uncle's wife dying, he
fell from his high hopes, and found that he had wasted his time, for
the uncle took another wife, and had children by her, and thus Francesco
did not become his uncle's heir, as he had thought to be. Thereupon he
returned to his art after an absence of six years, and, after acquiring
some knowledge, set himself to work. Among other things, he made a large
globe, four feet in diameter, hollow within, and covered on the outer
side, which was of wood, with a glue made of bullock's sinews, which was
of a very strong admixture, so that there should be no danger of cracks
or other damage in any part. This sphere, which was to serve as a
terrestrial globe, was then carefully measured and divided under the
personal supervision of Fracastoro and Beroldi, both eminent physicians,
cosmographers, and astrologers; and it was to be painted by Francesco
for Messer Andrea Navagiero, a Venetian gentleman, and a most learned
poet and orator, who wished to make a present of it to King Francis of
France, to whom he was ab