hem into a more secure place in the same convent.

He painted, also, over one of the gates of that city, a Madonna who
has the Child in her arms; and it is an astounding thing to see the
lovely colouring of this work in fresco, through which he has won
from passing strangers, who have seen nothing else of his, infinite
praise and honour. For S. Antonio, likewise in that city, he painted
a panel wherein is a Madonna, with S. Mary Magdalene; and near them
is a boy in the guise of a little angel, holding a book in his hand,
who is smiling, with a smile that seems so natural that he moves
whoever beholds him to smile also, nor can any person, be his nature
ever so melancholy, see him without being cheered. There is also a
S. Jerome; and the whole work is coloured in a manner so wonderful
and so astounding, that painters revere it for the marvel of its
colouring, and it is scarcely possible to paint better.

In like manner, he executed square pictures and other paintings for
many lords throughout Lombardy; and, among other works, two pictures
in Mantua for Duke Federigo II, to be sent to the Emperor, a gift
truly worthy of such a Prince. Giulio Romano, seeing these works,
said that he had never seen any colouring that attained to such
perfection. One was a naked Leda, and the other a Venus; both so
soft in colouring, with the shadows of the flesh so well wrought,
that they appeared to be not colours, but flesh. In one there was a
marvellous landscape, nor was there ever a Lombard who painted such
things better than he; and, besides this, hair so lovely in colour,
and executed in detail with such exquisite finish, that it is not
possible to see anything better. There were also certain Loves,
executed with beautiful art, who were making trial of their arrows,
some of gold and some of lead, on a stone; and what lent most grace
to the Venus was a clear and limpid stream, which ran among some
stones and bathed her feet, but scarcely concealed any part of them,
so that the sight of their delicate whiteness was a moving thing
for the eye to behold. For which reason Antonio most certainly
deserved all praise and honour during his lifetime, and the greatest
glory from the lips and pens of men after his death.

In Modena, also, he painted a panel-picture of Our Lady, which is
held in esteem by all painters, as the best picture in that city. In
Bologna, likewise, in the house of the Ercolani, gentlemen of that
city, there is a work