vrea, he painted
three loggie in fresco, each containing two scenes, executed in colour
from designs by other painters, and yet finished with much diligence. He
painted in fresco a chapel in S. Jacopo, and for Madonna Benozza a
panel-picture in oils, which was not otherwise than passing good. He
made a portrait, also, besides many others, of Cardinal Francesco
Alidosio, which I have seen at Imola, together with the portrait of
Cardinal Bernardino Carvajal, and both are works of no little beauty.

Innocenzio was a very good and modest person, and therefore always
avoided any dealings or intercourse with the painters of Bologna, who
were quite the opposite in nature, and he was always exerting himself
beyond the limits of his strength; wherefore, when he fell sick of a
putrid fever at the age of fifty-six, it found him so weak and exhausted
that it killed him in a few days. He left unfinished, or rather,
scarcely begun, a work that he had undertaken without Bologna, and this
was completed to perfection, according to the arrangement made by
Innocenzio before his death, by Prospero Fontana, a painter of Bologna.

The works of all the above-named painters date from 1506 to 1542, and
there are drawings by the hands of them all in our book.

[Illustration: THE MARRIAGE OF S. CATHARINE

(_After the painting by =Innocenzio da Imola=. Bologna: S. Giacomo
Maggiore_)

_Alinari_]

FRANCIABIGIO

LIFE OF FRANCIABIGIO

[_FRANCIA_]

PAINTER OF FLORENCE

The fatigues that a man endures in this life in order to raise himself
from the ground and protect himself from poverty, succouring not only
himself but also his nearest and dearest, have such virtue, that the
sweat and the hardships become full of sweetness, and bring comfort and
nourishment to the minds of others, insomuch that Heaven, in its bounty,
perceiving one drawn to a good life and to upright conduct, and also
filled with zeal and inclination for the studies of the sciences, is
forced to be benign and favourably disposed towards him beyond its wont;
as it was, in truth, towards the Florentine painter Francia. This
master, having applied himself to the art of painting for a just and
excellent reason, laboured therein not so much out of a desire for fame
as from a wish to bring assistance to his needy relatives; and having
been born in a family of humble artisans, people of low degree, he
sought to raise himself from that position. In this effort he was