n regal, and which will be described in his Life), but also in many
other undertakings, the same men, from emulation, and from a desire not
to be unworthy of their Academy, have achieved marvellous things, and
particularly in the nuptials of the most illustrious Lord, Don Francesco
de' Medici, Prince of Florence and Siena, and of her Serene Highness,
Queen Joanna of Austria, which have been described fully and in due
order by others, and will be described again by us at great length in a
more convenient place.

And since not only in this good father, but also in many others of whom
we have spoken above, it has been seen, as it still continues to be,
that good Churchmen are useful and serviceable to the world in the arts
and in the other more noble exercises no less than in letters, in public
instruction, and in sacred councils, and that they have no reason to
fear comparison in this respect with others, it may be said that there
is probably no truth whatever in that which certain persons, influenced
more by anger or by some private spite than by reason and love of truth,
declare so freely of them--namely, that they devote themselves to such a
life because from poverty of spirit they have not, like other men, the
power to make a livelihood; for which may God forgive them. Fra Giovanni
Agnolo lived fifty-six years, and died on the last day of August, 1563.

FRANCESCO SALVIATI

LIFE OF FRANCESCO SALVIATI

PAINTER OF FLORENCE

The father of Francesco Salviati, whose Life we are now about to write,
and who was born in the year 1510, was a good man called Michelagnolo
de' Rossi, a weaver of velvets; and he, having not only this child but
also many others, both male and female, and being therefore in need of
assistance, had determined in his own mind that he would at all costs
make Francesco devote himself to his own calling of weaving velvets. But
the boy, who had turned his mind to other things, and did not like the
pursuit of that trade, although in the past it had been practised by
persons, I will not say noble, but passing rich and prosperous, followed
his father's wishes in that matter with no good-will. Indeed,
associating in the Via de' Servi, where his father had a house, with the
children of Domenico Naldini, their neighbour and an honoured citizen,
he showed himself all given to gentle and honourable ways, and much
inclined to design. In which matter he received no little assistance for
a time fro