erformed, and that with
such beauty and in a manner so different from those that had been done
in Florence up to that time, that they were judged to be superior to
them all. Nor is this to be marvelled at, since it is very certain that
Francesco was always in all his works full of judgment, and well-varied
and fertile in invention, and, what is more, he had a perfect knowledge
of design, and had a more beautiful manner than any other painter in
Florence at that time, and handled colours with great skill and
delicacy. He also made a head, or rather, a portrait, of Signor Giovanni
de' Medici, the father of Duke Cosimo, which was very beautiful; and it
is now in the guardaroba of the same Lord Duke. For Cristofano Rinieri,
who was much his friend, he painted a most beautiful picture of Our
Lady, which is now in the Udienza della Decima. For Ridolfo Landi he
executed a picture of Charity, which could not be more lovely than it
is; and for Simone Corsi, likewise, he painted a picture of Our Lady,
which was much extolled. For M. Donato Acciaiuoli, a knight of Rhodes,
with whom he always maintained a particular intimacy, he executed
certain little pictures that are very beautiful. And he also painted in
an altar-piece Christ showing to S. Thomas, who would not believe that
He had newly risen from the dead, the marks of the blows and wounds that
He had received from the Jews; which altar-piece was taken by Tommaso
Guadagni into France, and placed in the Chapel of the Florentines in a
church at Lyons.

Francesco also depicted at the request of the above-named Cristofano
Rinieri and of Maestro Giovanni Rosto, the Flemish master of tapestry,
the whole story of Tarquinius and the Roman Lucretia in many cartoons,
which, being afterwards put into execution in tapestries woven in silk,
floss-silk, and gold, proved to be a marvellous work. Which hearing, the
Duke, who was at that time having similar tapestries, all in silk and
gold, made in Florence by the same Maestro Giovanni for the Sala de'
Dugento, and had caused cartoons with the stories of the Hebrew Joseph
to be executed by Bronzino and Pontormo, as has been related, commanded
that Francesco also should make a cartoon, which was that with the
interpretation of the dream of the seven fat and seven lean kine. Into
that cartoon Francesco put all the diligence that could possibly be
devoted to such a work, and that is required for pictures that are to be
woven; for there must be fa