ndeed, that the work received its final completion,
not from him, but from Taddeo Zucchero of Sant'Agnolo, as will be
related in the proper place. He gave completion and proportion to the
Chapel of the Popolo, which Fra Sebastiano Viniziano had formerly begun
for Agostino Chigi, but had not finished; and Francesco finished it, as
has been described in the Life of Fra Sebastiano. For Cardinal Riccio of
Montepulciano he painted a most beautiful hall in his Palace in the
Strada Giulia, where he executed in fresco various pictures with many
stories of David; and, among others, one of Bathsheba bathing herself in
a bath, with many other women, while David stands gazing at her, is a
scene very well composed and full of grace, and as rich in invention as
any other that there is to be seen. In another picture is the Death of
Uriah, in a third the Ark, before which go many musical instruments, and
finally, after some others, a battle that is being fought between David
and his enemies, very well composed. And, to put it briefly, the work of
that hall is all full of grace, of most beautiful fantasies, and of many
fanciful and ingenious inventions; the distribution of the parts is done
with much consideration, and the colouring is very pleasing. To tell the
truth, Francesco, feeling himself bold and fertile in invention, and
having a hand obedient to his brain, would have liked always to have on
his hands works large and out of the ordinary. And for no other reason
was he strange in his dealings with his friends, save only for this,
that, being variable and in certain things not very stable, what pleased
him one day he hated the next; and he did few works of importance
without having in the end to contend about the price, on which account
he was avoided by many.

After these works, Andrea Tassini, having to send a painter to the King
of France, in the year 1554 sought out Giorgio Vasari, but in vain, for
he said that not for any salary, however great, or promises, or
expectations, would he leave the service of his lord, Duke Cosimo; and
finally Andrea came to terms with Francesco and took him to France,
undertaking to recompense him in Rome if he were not satisfied in
France. Before Francesco departed from Rome, as if he thought that he
would never return, he sold his house, his furniture, and every other
thing, excepting the offices that he held. But the venture did not
succeed as he had expected, for the reason that, on arriving i