ht of Our Lady into Egypt, with Joseph holding the
ass by the halter, and some Angels bending down a date-palm in order
that Christ may pluck the fruit. The same master engraved, also after
the designs of Giulio, the Wolf on the Tiber suckling Romulus and Remus,
and four stories of Pluto, Jove and Neptune, who are dividing the
heavens, the earth, and the sea among them by lot; and likewise the
goat Amaltheia, which, held by Melissa, is giving suck to Jove, and a
large plate of many men in a prison, tortured in various ways. There
were also printed, after the inventions of Giulio, Scipio and Hannibal
holding a parley with their armies on the banks of the river; the
Nativity of S. John the Baptist, which was engraved by Sebastiano da
Reggio, and many other works engraved and printed in Italy. In Flanders
and in France, likewise, have been printed innumerable sheets from
designs by Giulio, of which, although they are very beautiful, there is
no need to make mention, nor of all his drawings, seeing that he made
them, so to speak, in loads. Let it be enough to say that he was so
facile in every field of art, and particularly in drawing, that we have
no record of any one who has produced more than he did.

Giulio, who was very versatile, was able to discourse on every subject,
but above all on medals, upon which he spent large sums of money and
much time, in order to gain knowledge of them. And although he was
employed almost always in great works, this did not mean that he would
not set his hand at times to the most trifling matters in order to
oblige his patron and his friends; and no sooner had one opened his
mouth to explain to him his conception than he had understood it and
drawn it. Among the many rare things that he had in his house was the
portrait from life of Albrecht Duerer on a piece of fine Rheims cloth, by
the hand of Albrecht himself, who sent it, as has been related in
another place, as a present to Raffaello da Urbino. This portrait was an
exquisite thing, for it had been coloured in gouache with much diligence
with water-colours, and Albrecht had executed it without using
lead-white, availing himself in its stead of the white of the cloth,
with the delicate threads of which he had so well rendered the hairs of
the beard, that it was a thing scarcely possible to imagine, much less
to do; and when held up to the light it showed through on either side.
This portrait, which was very dear to Giulio, he showed to