received very warmly; and while it was being considered what I should
first take in hand, I caused Cristofano Gherardi of the Borgo to paint
in chiaroscuro after my designs the facade of M. Sforza Almeni, in that
manner and with those inventions that have been described at great
length in another place. Now at that time I happened to be one of the
Lords Priors of the city of Arezzo, whose office it is to govern that
city, but I was summoned by letters of the Lord Duke into his service,
and absolved from that duty; and, having come to Florence, I found that
his Excellency had begun that year to build that apartment of his Palace
which is towards the Piazza del Grano, under the direction of the
wood-carver Tasso, who was then architect to the Palace. The roof had
been placed so low that all those rooms had little elevation, and were,
indeed, altogether dwarfed; but, since to raise the crossbeams and the
whole roof would be a long affair, I advised that a series of timbers
should be placed, by way of border, with sunk compartments two braccia
and a half in extent, between the crossbeams of the roof, with a range
of consoles in the perpendicular line, so as to make a frieze of about
two braccia above the timbers. Which plan greatly pleasing his
Excellency, he gave orders straightway that so it should be done, and
that Tasso should execute the woodwork and the compartments, within
which was to be painted the Genealogy of the Gods; and that afterwards
the work should be continued in the other rooms.

[Illustration: LORENZO THE MAGNIFICENT AND THE AMBASSADORS

(_After the fresco by =Giorgio Vasari=. Florence: Palazzo Vecchio_)

_Brogi_]

While the work for those ceilings was being prepared, having obtained
leave from the Duke, I went to spend two months between Arezzo and
Cortona, partly to give completion to some affairs of my own, and
partly to finish a work in fresco begun on the walls and vaulting of the
Company of Jesus at Cortona. In that place I painted three stories of
the life of Jesus Christ, and all the sacrifices offered to God in the
Old Testament, from Cain and Abel down to the Prophet Nehemiah; and
there, during that time, I also furnished designs and models for the
fabric of the Madonna Nuova, without the city. The work for the Company
of Jesus being finished, I returned to Florence in the year 1555 with
all my family, to serve Duke Cosimo. And there I began and finished the
compartments, walls, and ceilin