ce any painters according to his fancy,
he wrote to Giorgio Vasari, who had not then arrived in Florence, that
he should think out the inventions and send him designs of all that it
might seem to him best to paint on that facade of his. Whereupon
Giorgio, who was much his friend, for they had known each other from
the time when they were both in the service of Duke Alessandro, having
thought out the whole according to the measurements of the facade,
sent him a design of most beautiful invention, which embellished the
windows and joined them together with a well-varied decoration in a
straight line from top to bottom, and filled all the spaces in the
facade with rich scenes. This design, I say, which contained, to put
it briefly, the whole life of man from birth to death, was sent by
Vasari to Messer Sforza; and it so pleased him, and likewise the Duke,
that, in order that it might have all its perfection, they resolved
that they would not have it taken in hand until such time as Vasari
himself should have arrived in Florence. Which Vasari having at last
come and having been received by his most illustrious Excellency and
by the above-named Messer Sforza with great friendliness, they began
to discuss who might be the right man to execute that facade.
Whereupon Giorgio, not allowing the occasion to slip by, said to
Messer Sforza that no one was better able to carry out that work than
Cristofano, and that neither in that nor in the works that were to be
executed in the Palace, could he do without Cristofano's aid. And so,
Messer Sforza having spoken of this to the Duke, after many inquiries
it was found that Cristofano's crime was not so black as it had been
painted, and the poor fellow was at last pardoned by his Excellency.
Which news having been received by Vasari, who was at Arezzo,
revisiting his native place and his friends, he sent a messenger
expressly to Cristofano, who knew nothing of the matter, to give him
that good news; and when he heard it, he was like to faint with joy.
All rejoicing, therefore, and confessing that no one had ever been a
better friend to him than Vasari, he went off next morning from Citta
di Castello to the Borgo, where, after presenting his letters of
deliverance to the Commissioner, he made his way to his father's
house, where his mother and also his brother, who had been recalled
from exile long before, were struck with astonishment. Then, after
passing two days there, he went off to Are