n another place, like a
vain fellow had taken a portrait of himself with a mirror, also while
he was working under Jacopo. But his master, thinking that the
portrait was a poor likeness, took it in hand himself, and executed
a portrait that is so good that it has the appearance of life; which
portrait is now at Arezzo, in the house of the heirs of that Giovanni
Antonio.

Pontormo also portrayed in one and the same picture two of his dearest
friends--one the son-in-law of Beccuccio Bicchieraio, and another,
whose name likewise I do not know; it is enough that the portraits are
by the hand of Pontormo. He then executed for Bartolommeo Ginori, in
anticipation of his death, a string of pennons, according to the
custom of the Florentines; and in the upper part of all these, on the
white taffeta, he painted a Madonna with the Child, and on the
coloured fringe below he painted the arms of that family, as is the
custom. For the centre of the string, which was of twenty-four
pennons, he made two all of white taffeta without any fringe, on which
he painted two figures of S. Bartholomew, each two braccia high. The
size of all these pennons and their almost novel manner caused all the
others that had been made up to that time to appear poor and mean; and
this was the reason that they began to be made of the size that they
are at the present day, with great grace and much less expense for
gold.

At the head of the garden and vineyard of the Friars of S. Gallo,
without the gate that is called after that Saint, in a chapel that is
in a line with the central entrance, he painted a Dead Christ, a
Madonna weeping, and two little Angels in the air, one of whom was
holding the Chalice of the Passion in his hands, and the other was
supporting the fallen head of Christ. On one side was S. John the
Evangelist, all tearful, with the arms stretched out, and on the other
S. Augustine in episcopal robes, who, leaning with the left hand on
the pastoral staff, stood in an attitude truly full of sorrow,
contemplating the Dead Saviour. And for Messer Spina, the familiar
friend of Giovanni Salviati, he executed in a courtyard, opposite to
the principal door of his house, the coat of arms of that Giovanni
(who had been made a Cardinal in those days by Pope Leo), with the red
hat above and two little boys standing--works in fresco which are very
beautiful, and much esteemed by Messer Filippo Spina, as being by the
hand of Pontormo.

Jacopo also wor