ng. But just when Il Moro was making progress, he came
to words with I know not whom, and handled him so roughly, that he was
forced to leave Venice and return to Verona. There, abandoning his
painting, since he was somewhat ready with his hands and associated with
the young noblemen, being a person of very good breeding, he lived for a
time without doing any work. And associating in this way, in particular,
with the Counts Sanbonifazi and the Counts Giusti, two illustrious
families of Verona, he became so intimate with them that he lived in
their houses as if he had been born in them; and, what is more, no long
time passed before Count Zenovello Giusti gave him a natural daughter of
his own for a wife, and granted him a commodious apartment in his own
house for himself, his wife, and the children that were born to them.

It is said that Francesco, while living in the service of those
noblemen, always carried a pencil in his pouch; and wherever he went, if
only he had time, he would draw a head or something else on the walls.
Wherefore the same Count Zenovello, seeing him to be so much inclined to
painting, relieved him of his other duties, like the generous nobleman
that he was, and made him give his whole attention to art; and since
Francesco had all but forgotten everything, he placed himself, through
the good offices of that patron, under Liberale, a famous painter and
illuminator of that time. And thus, practising under that master without
ever ceasing, he went on making such progress from one day to another,
that not only did all that he had forgotten awaken in his memory, but he
also acquired in a short time as much more knowledge as sufficed to make
him an able craftsman. It is true, however, that, although he always
held to the manner of Liberale, he yet imitated the softness and
well-blended colouring of Giorgione, his first instructor, believing
that the works of Liberale, while good in other respects, suffered from
a certain dryness.

Now Liberale, having recognized the beauty of Francesco's spirit,
conceived such an affection for him, that he loved him ever afterwards
as a son, and, when death came upon him, left him heir to all his
possessions. And thus, after the death of Liberale, Francesco followed
in his steps and executed many works, which are dispersed among various
private houses. Of those in Verona which deserve to be extolled above
all others, the first is the great chapel of the Duomo, on the vau