of red that was in that stone,
representing with it the inner side of the lion's skin at its junction
with the head, that the skin had the appearance of one newly flayed.
Another spot of colour he used for the hair, and the white for the face
and breast, and all with admirable mastery. This head came into the
possession of King Francis, together with the other things; and there is
an impression of it at the present day in Verona, which belongs to the
goldsmith Zoppo, who was Matteo's disciple.

Matteo was a man of great spirit and generosity, insomuch that he would
rather have given his works away than sold them for a paltry price.
Wherefore when a baron, for whom he had made a cameo of some value,
wished to pay him a wretched sum for it, Matteo besought him straitly
that he should accept it as a present. To this the other would not
consent, and yet wished to have it for the same miserable price;
whereupon Matteo, flying into a rage, crushed it to powder with a hammer
in his presence. For the same King Matteo executed many cartoons for
tapestries, and with these, to please His Majesty, he was obliged to go
to Flanders, and to stay there until they had been woven in silk and
gold; which being finished and taken to France, they were held to be
very beautiful. Finally, Matteo returned to his own country, as almost
all men do, taking with him many rare things from those foreign parts,
and in particular some landscapes on canvas painted in Flanders in oils
and in gouache, and executed by very able hands, which are still
preserved and treasured in Verona, in memory of him, by Signor Luigi and
Signor Girolamo Stoppi. Having returned to Verona, Matteo took up his
abode in a cave hollowed out under a rocky cliff, above which is the
garden of the Frati Ingiesuati--a place which, besides being very warm
in winter and very cool in summer, commands a most beautiful view. But
he was not able to enjoy that habitation, thus contrived after his own
fancy, as long as he would have liked, for King Francis, as soon as he
had been released from his captivity, sent a special messenger to recall
Matteo to France, and to pay him his salary even for all the time that
he had been in Verona; and when he had arrived there, the King made him
master of dies for the Mint. Taking a wife in France, therefore, Matteo
settled down to live in those parts, since such was the pleasure of the
King his master. By that wife he had some children, but all so unl