ara in the heavens, in the centre, and a S. Anthony below, with
his hand on his beard, which is a most beautiful head, and on the other
side a S. Rocco, which is also held to be a very good figure; whence
this work is rightly looked upon as one executed with supreme diligence
and unity of colouring. In a picture on the altar of the Santificazione,
in the Madonna della Scala, he painted a S. Sebastian, in competition
with Paolo Cavazzuola, who executed a S. Rocco in another picture; and
he afterwards painted an altar-piece that was taken to Bagolino, a place
in the mountains of Brescia.

Il Moro executed many portraits, and his heads are in truth beautiful to
a marvel, and very good likenesses of those whom they were meant to
represent. At Verona he executed a portrait of Count Francesco
Sanbonifazio, who, on account of the length of his body, was called the
Long Count; with that of one of the Franchi, which was an amazing head.
He also painted the portrait of Messer Girolamo Verita, which remained
unfinished, because Il Moro was inclined to be dilatory in his work; and
this, still unfinished, is in the possession of the sons of that good
nobleman. Among many other portraits, likewise, he executed one of the
Venetian, Monsignor de' Martini, a knight of Rhodes, and to the same man
he sold a head of marvellous beauty and excellence, which he had painted
many years before as the portrait of a Venetian gentleman, the son of
one who was then Captain in Verona. This head, through the avarice of
the Venetian, who never paid him, was left in the hands of Francesco,
and he disposed of it to Monsignor de' Martini, who had the Venetian
dress changed into that of a shepherd or herdsman. It is as rare a
portrait as ever issued from the hand of any craftsman, and it is now in
the house of the heirs of the same Monsignor de' Martini, where it is
rightly held in vast veneration. In Venice he painted a portrait of
Messer Alessandro Contarini, Procurator of S. Mark and Proveditor of the
forces, and one of Messer Michele San Michele for one of Messer
Michele's dearest friends, who took the portrait to Orvieto; and it is
said that he executed another of the same architect, Messer Michele,
which is now in the possession of Messer Paolo Ramusio, the son of
Messer Giovan Battista. He also painted a portrait of Fracastoro, a very
famous poet, at the instance of Monsignor Giberti, by whom it was sent
to Giovio, who placed it in his museum.

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