dsmith of Siena, who was very much his friend. This Giovan Battista
made for Duke Cosimo de' Medici a plan of Siena, all in relief and
altogether marvellous, with the valleys and the surroundings for a mile
and a half round--the walls, the streets, the forts, and, in a word, a
most beautiful model of the whole place. But, since he was unstable by
nature, he left Duke Cosimo, although he had a good allowance from that
Prince; and, thinking to do better, he made his way into France, where
he followed the Court without any success for a long time, and finally
died at Avignon. And although he was an able and well-practised
architect, yet in no place are there to be seen any buildings erected by
him or after his design, for he always stayed such a short time in any
one place, that he could never bring anything to completion; wherefore
he consumed all his time with designs, measurements, models, and
caprices. Nevertheless, as a follower of our arts, he has deserved to
have record made of him.

Baldassarre drew very well in every manner, with great judgment and
diligence, but more with the pen, in water-colours, and in chiaroscuro,
than in any other way, as may be seen from many drawings by his hand
that belong to different craftsmen. Our book, in particular, contains
various drawings; and in one of these is a scene full of invention and
caprice, showing a piazza filled with arches, colossal figures,
theatres, obelisks, pyramids, temples of various kinds, porticoes, and
other things, all after the antique, while on a pedestal stands a
Mercury, round whom are all sorts of alchemists with bellows large and
small, retorts, and other instruments for distilling, hurrying about and
giving him a clyster in order to purge his body--an invention as
ludicrous as it is beautiful and bizarre.

Friends and intimate companions of Baldassarre, who was always
courteous, modest, and gentle with every man, were Domenico Beccafumi of
Siena, an excellent painter, and Il Capanna, who, in addition to many
other works that he painted in Siena, executed the facade of the house
of the Turchi and another that is on the Piazza.

GIOVAN FRANCESCO PENNI OF FLORENCE AND PELLEGRINO DA MODENA

LIVES OF GIOVAN FRANCESCO PENNI OF FLORENCE

[_CALLED IL FATTORE_]

AND OF PELLEGRINO DA MODENA

PAINTERS

Giovan Francesco Penni, called Il Fattore, a painter of Florence, was no
less indebted to Fortune than he was to the goodness of his own na