wise a Parisian, Maestro Lorenzo of
Picardy, and many others. But the best of them all was Domenico del
Barbieri, who is an excellent painter and master of stucco, and a
marvellous draughtsman, as is proved by his engraved works, which may be
numbered among the best in common circulation. The painters, likewise,
whom he employed in those works at Fontainebleau, were Luca Penni,
brother of Giovan Francesco Penni, called Il Fattore, who was a disciple
of Raffaello da Urbino; the Fleming Leonardo, a very able painter, who
executed the designs of Rosso to perfection in colours; Bartolommeo
Miniati, a Florentine; with Francesco Caccianimici, and Giovan Battista
da Bagnacavallo. These last entered his service when Francesco
Primaticcio went by order of the King to Rome, to make moulds of the
Laocoon, the Apollo, and many other choice antiquities, for the purpose
of casting them afterwards in bronze. I say nothing of the carvers, the
master-joiners, and innumerable others of whom Rosso availed himself in
those works, because there is no need to speak of them all, although
many of them executed works worthy of much praise.

In addition to the things mentioned above, Rosso executed with his own
hand a S. Michael, which is a rare work. For the Constable he painted a
panel-picture of the Dead Christ, a choice thing, which is at a seat of
that noble, called Ecouen; and he also executed some exquisite
miniatures for the King. He then drew a book of anatomical studies,
intending to have it printed in France; of which there are some sheets
by his own hand in our book of drawings. Among his possessions, also,
after he was dead, were found two very beautiful cartoons, in one of
which is a Leda of singular beauty, and in the other the Tiburtine Sibyl
showing to the Emperor Octavian the Glorious Virgin with the Infant
Christ in her arms. In the latter he drew the King, the Queen, their
Guard, and the people, with such a number of figures, and all so well
drawn, that it may be said with truth that this was one of the most
beautiful things that Rosso ever did.

By reason of these works and many others, of which nothing is known, he
became so dear to the King, that a little before his death he found
himself in possession of more than a thousand crowns of income, without
counting the allowances for his work, which were enormous; insomuch
that, living no longer as a painter, but rather as a prince, he kept a
number of servants and horses to r