. In the ninth the same Pope is placing in the catalogue
of saints--or, as the saying is, canonizing--Catherine of Siena, a
holy woman and nun of the Preaching Order. In the tenth and last,
while preparing a vast expedition against the Turks with the help
and favour of all the Christian Princes, Pope Pius dies at
Ancona; and a hermit of the Hermitage of Camaldoli, a holy man, sees
the soul of the said Pontiff being borne by Angels into Heaven at
the very moment of his death, as may also be read. Afterwards, in
the same picture, the body of the same Pope is seen being borne from
Ancona to Rome by a vast and honourable company of lords and
prelates, who are lamenting the death of so great a man and so rare
and holy a Pontiff. The whole of this work is full of portraits from
the life, so numerous that it would be a long story to recount their
names; and it is all painted with the finest and most lively
colours, and wrought with various ornaments of gold, and with very
well designed partitions in the ceiling. Below each scene is a Latin
inscription, which describes what is contained therein. In the
centre of this library the said Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini,
nephew of the Pope, placed the three Graces of marble, ancient and
most beautiful, which are still there, and which were the first
antiquities to be held in price in those times. This library,
wherein are all the books left by the said Pius II, was scarcely
finished, when the same Cardinal Francesco, nephew of the aforesaid
Pontiff, Pius II, was created Pope, choosing the name of Pius III in
memory of his uncle. Over the door of that library, which opens into
the Duomo, the same Pinturicchio painted in a very large scene,
occupying the whole extent of the wall, the Coronation of the said
Pope Pius III, with many portraits from life; and beneath it may be
read these words:

PIUS III SENENSIS, PII SECUNDI NEPOS, MDIII, SEPTEMBRIS XXI,
APERTIS ELECTUS SUFFRAGIIS, OCTAVO OCTOBRIS CORONATUS EST.

When Pinturicchio was working with Pietro Perugino and painting at
Rome in the time of Pope Sixtus, he had also been in the service of
Domenico della Rovere, Cardinal of San Clemente; wherefore the said
Cardinal, having built a very beautiful palace in the Borgo Vecchio,
charged Pinturicchio to paint the whole of it, and to make on the
facade the coat of arms of Pope Sixtus, with two little boys as
supporters. The same master executed certain works for Sciarra Colonna