practised master. This, so it is
said, was the reason that the people of Milan caused him to paint a
panel in distemper with many figures for the Friars Minor, in their
Chapel of S. Ambrogio. On the altar of the Risen Christ in the
Church of S. Antonio he painted the scene of Christ appearing to the
Magdalene and the other Maries, in which he made a very beautiful
view in perspective of a landscape receding into the distance; and
in another chapel he painted the story of the Martyrs--that is,
their crucifixion--in which work he made more than three hundred
figures, what with the large and the small, besides a number of
horses and trees, an open Heaven, figures both nude and clothed in
diverse attitudes, many foreshortenings, and so many other things,
that it can be seen that he did not execute it without extraordinary
labour. For the altar of the Madonna, in the Church of S. Giobbe in
Canareio, he painted her presenting the Infant Christ to Simeon, and
depicted the Madonna herself standing, and Simeon in his cope
between two ministers clothed as Cardinals; behind the Virgin are
two women, one of whom has two doves, and below are three boys, who
are playing on a lute, a serpent, and a lyre, or rather a viol; and
the colouring of the whole panel is very charming and beautiful.
And, in truth, Vittore was a very diligent and practised master, and
many pictures by his hand that are in Venice, both portraits from
life and other kinds, are much esteemed for works wrought in those
times. He taught his art to two brothers of his own, who imitated
him closely, one being Lazzaro, and the other Sebastiano; and by
their hand is a panel on the altar of the Virgin in the Church of
the Nuns of the Corpus Domini, showing her seated between S.
Catherine and S. Martha, with other female saints, two angels who
are sounding instruments, and a very beautiful view of buildings in
perspective as a background to the whole work, of which we have the
original drawings, by the hand of these men, in our book.

Another passing good painter in the time of these masters was
Vincenzio Catena, who occupied himself much more with making
portraits from the life than with any other sort of painting; and,
in truth, some that are to be seen by his hand are marvellous--among
others, that of a German of the Fugger family, a man of rank and
importance, who was then living in the Fondaco de' Tedeschi at
Venice, was painted with great vivacity.

Another man w