Martin on
horseback, with many beggars who are bringing votive offerings, in a
building in perspective.

[Illustration: THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI

(_After the fresco by =Giovanni Antonio Licinio of Pordenone=. Treviso:
Duomo_)

_Alinari_]

This work, which was much extolled and brought him honour and profit,
was the reason that M. Jacopo Soranzo, having become his intimate
friend, caused him to be commissioned to paint the Sala de' Pregai in
competition with Tiziano; and there he executed many pictures with
figures seen foreshortened from below, which are very beautiful,
together with a frieze of marine monsters painted in oils round that
hall. These works made him so dear to the Senate, that as long as he
lived he always received an honourable salary from them. And since, out
of rivalry, he always sought to do work in places where Tiziano had also
worked, he painted for S. Giovanni di Rialto a S. John, as Almoner,
giving alms to beggars, and also placed on an altar a picture of S.
Sebastian, S. Rocco, and other saints, which was very beautiful, but yet
not equal to the work of Tiziano, although many, more out of malignity
than out of a love for the truth, exalted that of Giovanni Antonio. The
same master painted in the cloister of S. Stefano many scenes in fresco
from the Old Testament, and one from the New, divided one from another
by various Virtues; and in these figures he displayed amazing
foreshortenings, in which method of painting he always delighted,
seeking to introduce them into his every composition with no fear of
difficulties, and making them more ornate than any other painter.

Prince Doria had built a palace on the seashore in Genoa, and had
commissioned Perino del Vaga, a very celebrated painter, to paint halls,
apartments, and ante-chambers both in oils and in fresco, which are
quite marvellous for the richness and beauty of the paintings. But
seeing that Perino was not then giving much attention to the work, and
wishing to make him do by the spur of emulation what he was not doing by
himself, he sent for Pordenone, who began with an open terrace, wherein,
following his usual manner, he executed a frieze of children, who are
hurrying about in very beautiful attitudes and unloading a barque full
of merchandise. He also painted a large scene of Jason asking leave from
his uncle to go in search of the Golden Fleece. But the Prince, seeing
the difference that there was between the work of Perino and