ced that there fell into his hands a beautiful piece of green
jasper, marked with red spots, as the good pieces are; and he engraved
in it a Deposition from the Cross with such diligence, that he made the
wounds come in those parts of the jasper that were spotted with the
colour of blood, which caused that work to be a very rare one, and
brought him much commendation. That jasper was sold by Matteo to the
Marchioness Isabella d'Este.

He then went to France, taking with him many works by his own hand which
might serve to introduce him to the Court of King Francis I; and when he
had been presented to that Sovereign, who always held in estimation
every manner of man of talent, the King, after taking many of the stones
engraved by him, received him into his service and ordained him a good
salary; and he held Matteo dear no less because he was an excellent
musician and could play very well upon the lute, than for his profession
of engraving stones. Of a truth, there is nothing that does more to
kindle men's minds with love for the arts than to see them appreciated
and rewarded by Princes and noblemen, as has always been done in the
past, and is done more than ever at the present day, by the illustrious
House of Medici, and as was also done by that truly magnanimous
Sovereign, King Francis.

Matteo, thus employed in the service of that King, executed many rare
works, not only for His Majesty, but also for almost all the most noble
lords and barons of the Court, of whom there was scarcely one who did
not have some work by his hand, since it was much the custom at that
time to wear cameos and other suchlike gems on the neck and in the cap.
For the King he made an altar-piece for the altar of the chapel which
His Majesty always took with him on his journeys; and this was full of
figures of gold, partly in the round and partly in half-relief, with
many engraved gems distributed over the limbs of those figures. He also
engraved many pieces of crystal in intaglio, impressions of which in
sulphur and gesso are to be seen in many places, and particularly in
Verona, where there are marvellous representations of all the planets,
and a Venus with a Cupid that has the back turned, which could not be
more beautiful. In a very fine chalcedony, found in a river, Matteo
engraved divinely well the head of a Deianira almost in full-relief,
wearing the lion's skin, the surface being tawny in colour; and he
turned to such good advantage a vein