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panel there is a Madonna seated on a throne, with many other
figures, and the said Messer Bartolommeo portrayed from life. This
work, which was wrought in oil with the greatest diligence, was
painted by him in the year 1490; and it gave such satisfaction in
Bologna, that Messer Giovanni Bentivogli, desiring to honour his own
chapel, which was in S. Jacopo in that city, with works by this new
painter, commissioned him to paint a panel with the Madonna in the
sky, two figures on either side of her, and two angels below
sounding instruments; which work was so well executed by Francia,
that he won from Messer Giovanni, besides praise, a most honourable
present. Wherefore Monsignore de' Bentivogli, impressed by this
work, caused him to paint a panel containing the Nativity of Christ,
which was much extolled, for the high-altar of the Misericordia;
wherein, besides the design, which is not otherwise than beautiful,
the invention and the colouring are worthy of nothing but praise. In
this work he made a portrait of Monsignore de' Bentivogli from the
life (a very good likeness, so it is said by those who knew him),
clothed in that very pilgrim's dress in which he returned from
Jerusalem. He also painted a panel in the Church of the Nunziata,
without the Porta di S. Mammolo, representing the Madonna receiving
the Annunciation from the Angel, with two figures on either side,
which is held to be a very well executed work.

Now that Francia's works had spread his fame abroad, even as his
painting in oil had brought him both profit and repute, so he
determined to try whether he would succeed as well at working in
fresco. Messer Giovanni Bentivogli had caused his palace to be
painted by diverse masters of Ferrara and Bologna, and by certain
others from Modena; but, having seen Francia's experiments in
fresco, he determined that this master should paint a scene on one
wall of an apartment that he occupied for his own use. There Francia
painted the camp of Holofernes, guarded by various sentinels both on
foot and on horseback, who were keeping watch over the pavilions;
and the while that they were intent on something else, the sleeping
Holofernes was seen surprised by a woman clothed in widow's
garments, who, with her left hand, was holding his hair, which was
wet with the heat of wine and sleep, and with her right hand she was
striking the blow to slay her enemy, the while that an old wrinkled
handmaid, with the true air of a mo