ernia and went to those places. And finally, not being able to settle
in any other in such a manner as to have facilities for attending both
to drawing and to the salvation of his soul, he became a friar in the
Ingesuati at Florence, without the Porta a Pinti, and was received by
them very willingly; for they gave their attention to making windows of
glass, and they hoped that he would be of great assistance and advantage
to them in that work. Now those Fathers, according to the custom of
their life and rule, do not say Mass, and keep for that purpose a priest
to say Mass every morning; and they had at that time as their chaplain a
certain Fra Martino of the Servite Order, a person of passing good
judgment and character. That Fra Martino, having recognized the young
man's genius, reflected that he was little able to exercise it among
those Fathers, who do nothing but say Paternosters, make windows of
glass, distil waters, and lay out gardens, with other suchlike pursuits,
and do not study or give their attention to letters; and he contrived to
say and do so much that the young man, going forth from the Ingesuati,
assumed the habit among the Servite Friars of the Nunziata in Florence
on the seventh day of October in the year 1530, receiving the name of
Fra Giovanni Agnolo. In the next year, 1531, having learned in the
meanwhile the ceremonies and offices of that Order, and studied the
works of Andrea del Sarto that are in that place, he made what they call
his profession; and in the year following, to the full satisfaction of
those Fathers and the contentment of his relatives, he chanted his first
Mass with much pomp and honour. Then, the images in wax of Leo, Clement,
and others of that most noble family, which had been placed there as
votive offerings, having been destroyed during the expulsion of the
Medici by some young men who were rather mad than valorous, the friars
determined that these should be made again, and Fra Giovanni Agnolo,
with the help of some of those men who gave their attention to the work
of fashioning such images, restored some that were old and consumed by
time, and made anew those of Pope Leo and Pope Clement, which are still
to be seen there, and a short time afterwards those of the King of
Bosnia and of the old Lord of Piombino. And in these works Fra Giovanni
Agnolo made no little proficience.

Meanwhile, Michelagnolo being in Rome with Pope Clement, who desired
that the work of S. Lorenzo sho